9 months/10 months

I am running behind on everything as usual. Andrew turned 9 months in August. And now in September he turned 10 months on the 10th. He is changing so fast and getting so big. He got his first hair cut this month so the mullet is gone. I love his new hair and it still sticks up and probably always will. He has my super fine hair.  Andrew has suddenly started nursing less which is a blessing because he was nursing constantly for a long time. He still nurses several times a day but eats food a lot too. He refuses to be fed by us. I finally decided to stop fighting him so he eats baby food from a pouch or crackers. He LOVES Ritz Crackers. He has had some rough times with sleeping and last month I felt like I was on the verge of a breakdown. But the last few days he has napped better and slept better at night. He is still in our bed a lot but I think it is getting better. As long as he isn't teething or sick he is such a happy baby. He loves to be chased. He loves to play and is really into reading now. He learned how to clap and wave in the last 2 months. He also learned to say uh oh and mama as of the 22nd of September, when I am writing this. He is starting to stand more and wants to walk but gets nervous and sits back down.

Jackson's imagination has exploded lately. We have been doing a lot of play dough lately, especially when he is getting wild. It is the perfect way for him to calm down and be creative. He was making car parts and putting them on his vehicles the other day. He also says the cars are "stuck in the mud." Yesterday, Jackson made a car seat and a seat belt out of play dough. He also will create things with his food. The other day he was eating toast and made it into a bucket truck and then a bus. He frequently makes things into buses or sees buses in the shadows. I love his love of buses. He has a ton of crazy energy and mostly doesn't nap anymore so that has been a new challenge. The goal is for him to still have quiet time everyday but he resists it some. He goes from being sweet and helpful to Andrew to hitting, pushing, yelling. It is hard to deal with that behavior but I love when he is sweet and comforts Andrew. Sometimes if they are playing alone I will hear Jackson tell Andrew about certain things or say things like "Daddy had to go to work but he will come back later." Or, "It's ok Andrew, Mommy will be right back." This melts my heart. They also love to play hide and seek together.

Andrew at 9 months, I guess I forgot to take the usual pictures. 

10 month pictures

in his race car costume, he decided to make the box a race car

he wanted the police to get him for speeding. haha

wanting all my ice cream

I may have bribed Jack for these pics but it was worth it.

These boys keep me going constantly and sometimes drive me crazy, but I love them with my whole soul.

The Eye Drama

Sometime in May around Memorial Day, I started having redness in my right eye. It became bloodshot and slightly irritated so I quit wearing my contacts for a few days. That same weekend Jackson came home from our trip with pinkeye, so I assumed I had the dreaded eye of death again. Yuck. Well I didn't have any pink eye symptoms so after a week or so of minor problems and no contacts, I went to my eye doctor. The eye doctors at my office rotate so I got a doctor who was young and inexperienced, He had to look up his doctor's license number when writing my prescription. Anyway, young doctor guy said it was allergies and sent me home with some drops and a follow-up appointment. A week later at my follow-up, my eye looked better so I was approved to put in contacts. I was so excited that I put my contacts in on the way home. (I hate wearing glasses). Before the night was through, after only a few hours in my contacts, my eye was red again. So it seemed the contacts were the issue.

I switched to a new eye doctor closer to home and went to another appointment. The eye doctor said it appeared I had a clogged oil duct. I had a lot of red bumps in my eye which is an issue contact lens wearers have. He suggested a steroid drop and the wanted to switch me to daily lenses once the infection cleared. When I went back in, they fitted me for contacts, even though my eye wasn't better. Bad idea. Then, I came back a week later, to see how my contacts were, but I told the doctor I hadn't even worn the contacts because my eye was still irritated. This time I was with a different doctor at the new place and she was not very nice. She said, "look at my eye, it has redness too. Eyes do that sometime." I was annoyed because she hadn't read in my chart about how this had been going on for a month. She thought I was just making stuff up.

After some investigation she realized my eye really was having issues and both eyes were actually. She flipped my eyelid upside down and then tried to pop a bump on my lower eyelid. She wanted to put me on a strong drop but after realizing I was breastfeeding, she placed me on an allergy drop, again. This drop made my eye worse and not better. This doctor really had no clue what drugs were safe for nursing and she was googling it while I was there. It was so weird.

So then I went back to see the main doctor I had been seeing. He was a little stumped but put me back on the steroid drop for a month with tapered use. My eye looked a lot better all month. Basically as soon as I stopped the drop, the redness returned. I was stressed about using all of these drops because they can lead to glaucoma and cateracs. ahh! So I went back to the eye doctor and he was surprised I was still having problems. He noticed that I have a small bump on my lower eyelid. This bump appeared around the same time as all of my other issues. He referred me to a plastic surgeon. He said it was a shot in the dark but the bump could be emitting a virus that is causing the redness.

Off to the plastic surgeon I go for a consultation. This was last Friday. She was cold and not friendly at all. I told the nurse I was breastfeeding and also noted that on the medical forms I filled out. We scheduled surgery for Monday. I was really nervous but also excited to get this whole ordeal over with. I prayed to know if it was right and got a blessing from Jon. I felt nervous but good about it all. I arrive for the surgery and decide to double check about the breastfeeding thing, just to ensure it is all safe. The nurse assures me it should be fine and gets me prepped for surgery. I paid, sat on the table, put a blue surgery cap on. As the doctor walks in, the nurse asks about the breastfeeding. The doctor says, "did I know you were breastfeeding?" When I told her it was on the forms I filled out, she admitted she had not read the forms. She said I could withhold breastfeeding for 24 hours just to play it safe because the medicine can cause rapid heart rate in infants. I was so torn, I didn't know what to do. I have been wanting to work towards weaning but I didn't want it to be so abrupt. I also wanted to get the surgery over with. So we discussed for a few minutes what to do and since it is a "benign lesion" as she calls it, we decided to wait until I wean Andrew.

So when I finally think I have this whole several months long eye issue resolved, I have to leave the surgeons office with eye bump in place and red eye still there. It was hard but what else could I do? I couldn't risk harming Andrew. I just wish I had been more assertive before hand to ensure they were aware of me breastfeeding. That same day I also realized that my lovely eyelid bump was indeed touching my eyeball. All the dang time. So no wonder my eye is red and getting worse. There is something rubbing on it 24/7, even when my eye is shut. So after calling my mom for advice, she suggested calling the doctor to get the list of medicines and then calling the pediatrician to see what they said. I did this and they referred me to a lactation consultant.

The lactation consultant ensured that the drugs would be fine and would not harm Andre!w at all. She thought it was silly that the doctor withheld surgery and said they were basing their opinions on 40 year old information. So I have rescheduled the surgery for September 12. That is the soonest they can do it. Until then, I am anxiously awaiting to rid myself of this tiny pest and hope it will solve all of my eye problems.

So hopefully my eye will be better soon!

8 Months!

Andrew is 8 months old now! He wants to walk so badly but lacks the balance. He crawls really fast now and can cruise (walk while holding onto things). He pulls himself up to stand whenever possible. And he is now a major climber. He can climb stairs and anything else, it is so natural to him. He has been taking much better naps now and sleeps better at night and in his own bed more. He still wakes up several times at night to nurse. Andrew is working on his 4th tooth now. He is a magnet to water and loves the toilet and swimming and baths. He has already been caught playing in toilet water. :( He loves to play with Jackson and still has no stranger danger. He has also been healthy all month which I think is a first.  Andrew loves music and goes nuts when we play piano or guitar. Jackson will also play on the melodica which sends both boys and mommy into a laughing spell. It's hilarious! He loves to climb all over us, especially our faces. He claws and/ pinches our eyes, lips, and skin. He also loves to pull hair. He will claw at my face and hair while nursing too. He can hardly sit still to nurse because he is on the go constantly. He will also roll and kick when nursing. He is a funny guy who is so sweet. The first thing people always notice are his big brown eyes and how big he is. He really isn't that big but he is pretty solid and is so strong. We love him so much and he definitely keeps us on our toes.

first time sitting in the cart!

fist time in the cart together

Time is flying by

And just like that, 6 months turned into 7. Andrew is so strong and so mobile. He crawls now, although he isn't too fast yet. He will leave rooms and comes to find us if we leave him. He can sit up now and pull to stand. He loves walking while holding fingers and loves to play tag. He will run faster if you are coming to get him, it's hilarious. He will also turn the other direction to get away. He is so fast on his feet and I'm amazed he understands how to run away (with help). He is strong and way more of a dare devil than Jackson. He loves water and being around people. He prefers big boy toys to baby toys. He is so happy even though he is constantly sick. He is the most easy going dude ever.  Totally like his daddy.  He is finally getting over another bad cold and even had to be on a nebulizer for wheezing. 😞 He still prefers to nurse but will eat baby food when I'm gone and he's with Jon. Andrew has had formula a few times when he is too congested to nurse but sometimes he will refuse it. He isn't sleeping great at night due to being sick but hopefully that will improve when he gets better. We did move him out of our room and that was weird at first. Andrew will be taking his first camping trip this week, we are excited to test our new to us little pop up camper.

That tongue is always out!

Six Months

Andrew Man turned 6 months old in May! This little guy is on the move. He is really good at scooting on his tummy and will scoot really fast if he sees something he wants. He scoots really fast to get to Jackson and gets so excited to see him. He will gasp and smile and kick or scoot like crazy. He also scoots really fast towards Jon's keys when he sits down on the floor. Andrew loves seeing daddy and sometimes will babble and smile at Jon to make sure he gets his share of daddy time since Jackson sometimes hogs it. He has started saying dada! It is so fun to see the boys interact. They love each other so much. Andrew has slowed down a little with growth and doesn't seem as huge to me anymore. He is super strong and so close to crawling. He gets up on all fours and will rock and fuss in frustration. He also does some cool downward dog yoga moves. He can also walk while holding my hands really well and loves to stand and play by Jackson (with me supporting him). He can almost sit and will support himself with his hands. He also has a funny side laying position as he tries to go from scooting to sitting. Andrew is still happy and easy going. He doesn't much care for baby food yet but Jon can get him to eat it if I'm not home. Andrew is content to play on the floor for a long time but prefers us to stay in the room. He gets sad if we all leave him alone. He is so fun and happy. He sleeps well but still wakes up to nurse a few times. He generally goes back to sleep quickly so that is nice. He sleeps from about 8:30pm to 6am with a few wake ups to nurse. He is such a happy and sweet boy. He is strong and wants so badly to be big like his brother.

with one of the girls I babysit

 

5 months

I seem to only update about once a month lately but life is crazy and I just can't do it much right now. Andrew is 5 months old and Jackson has been 2 for 3 months already! Time is flying! Jon has 2 class meetings and 1 seminar meeting left for his grad program. He is close to finishing his internship hours and over halfway done with his big portfolio project! I cannot tell you how excited we are to be done with that!

Andrew is basically mobile now. He can roll and scoot all across the room. He rolled off of the bed once in the night time but luckily he was fine, just scared. He tries to get on his hands and knees to crawl but isn't strong enough for that yet. He also loves to stand (with us helping) and I swear he wants to walk so badly. This kid is big and strong and is ready to take on the world already.

Andrew is so patient and will hardly fuss or cry when hungry or tired. He had a rougher time this week and appears to possibly be teething. He has been a drooling mess and chewing a lot. He also wanted held more and would only sleep well if in our bed. We haven't seen any teeth yet, but I am sure it won't be long.

Andrew is always full of smiles and laughs. He is a very loving baby. He loves watching his brother and his daddy and loves when he can get our attention. He has tried rice cereal twice, sweet potatoes once, and bananas once. He nurses every 1.5-2.5 hours typically but goes a little longer at night.

Jackson continues to make us laugh constantly. We are in awe of all he knows and remembers. The other day he described eating some crackers with my uncle and that occurred last summer. But he hasn't forgotten! He can say several word sentences and is just talking non-stop at home but is much more timid in public. He doesn't talk much around others. He says funny things and picks up on all we say and do.

first taco!

first time eating rice cereal

monster hunting

he started on the mat and rolled across the room

planting strawberries