November 28- Pictures and updates!

Hi Everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Life is just so different with a baby! Not a whole lot of time to sit and type. When Kaleb is sleeping, I'm either sleeping, too, or I'm trying to get SOMETHING done.

But anyway...

We're doing really well. Kaleb gave us a bit of a scare a few weeks ago. He just wasn't feeling good- we thought it was a cold, as Greg and I were coming down with one, too. He was coughing at feedings, very fussy and just not acting like himself. Finally, Saturday night, I decided to take him to urgent care, and from urgent care, they sent us directly to the emergency room. He was breathing way too fast-- 80 breaths per minute. Normal is 40 for an infant. Well, the ER sucked. They hooked him up to an IV, which was INCREDIBLY TRAUMATIC for both Kaleb and myself. I think I cried almost as hard as he did. He also had his first real tears. I still chock up just thinking about how upset he was 3 weeks later. They did a chest x-ray and a couple of other tests and generally ignored everything we told them and decided to call it diahrea, since he wasn't breathing fast like he was at urgent care. I was NOT happy. We took him into Dr. Stephanie on Monday. She noted that he was still breathing 80bpm and heard a heart murmur, (although she didn't tell me this part until 2 days later) and decided to send us up immediately for an ultrasound on his heart at a pediatric cardiologist at St. V's. I was in panic mode at this point. She decided we were going to rule out the scary stuff and then move on to the more mundane.

The echo on his heart turned out to be okay-- he has a few minor issues that are typical in infants, and they will monitor at his regular checkups, but should clear up on their own in a few months. In the meantime, we looked up information on reflux, including a list of the symptoms in infants. He has all 16 of the symptoms. The doc put him on Zantac and rice ceral in his bottles (when he gets them) and things have been much better ever since!

Kaleb was baptised last Sunday. It was wonderful. He was SO good the whole time. Pastor Dale baptized him and he didn't even flinch! He was so calm and relaxed and just a good little boy. And he's got wonderful Godparents to watch over him and to help Greg and I to teach him about God & Christ's love for him. Afterwards, we had a luncheon with family and friends. I made a ham. Our Mom's and sisters helped with the prep and clean-up and did SUCH a good job. There is NO WAY I could have pulled it off on my own.

Thanksgiving was good, too-- Although I didn't really feel like it was Thanksgiving. Is that weird? I didn't go to bed feeling like I was stuffed to the gills, (which maybe that's good) and I just dont' feel like I got enough turkey. I told Greg that I think I'll probably go over and buy a turkey breast to roast later this week. I'd love some turkey sandwiches. I think a lot of it was that Lindsey Annie was there this year. I really miss her.

We're planning to put up the tree this weekend. Woo HOo. I'm ready for Christmas, now. Kaleb had his first picture with Santa over at Klotz' last weekend. The Santa there was okay-- he's makeup was a little blotchy. I think we'll have to take him to see another Santa. We usually go up to Toledo to the Children's Wonderland. I wonder if we'll do that again this year. We'll see! We also did the Holiday parade with my dad, Sami, Cole and Evan last weekend. THey collected a TON of candy, which all ended up in my office. Evan, Greg, Kaleb and I went with Rick & Myra to see the Christmas Tree lighting at the BG LIbrary. That was fun, too. Evan hung ornaments on the tree and then we all walked down to Grounds for Thought for coffee and cocoa. Brrr! It was cold!

Anway. There's tons of pictures, since we've been lacking in that department. Sorry about that.

Love y'all,

Jenn

Week of November 1st. Back to work..

Hey everyone! I thought I'd write a short message to update you on our lives!

Things are going well. Kaleb continues to grow so fast!! It's shocking how quickly he's growing. I'm having a hard time with it already! He's no longer a curled up little ball in my arms, though he continues to be a little snugglebug. He would much prefer to be held rather than to lay down on his own. And I can't help but snuggle with him.

I'm also doing really well. In fact, I'm doing so well that I've decided to go back to work this week. I'll be starting back on Wednesday. We've found a fantastic babysitter named Cindy Craze, who lives here in BG. We're really excited about her- she has fantastic references and we think Kaleb will be happy there. I'm both excited and dreading going back to work at the same time. I'm climbing the walls at home and I'm just ready to be back to work. At the same time, I hate the idea of leaving my baby with someone that I really don't know that well and allowing her possibily witness Kaleb's milestones before I do. =-( That's really hard for me. BUT, I was never meant to be a stay-at-home-mom. I miss my clients and caregivers. I miss my co-workers and I'm always dying to know what's going on with them. I've talked to my scheduler at least once a week since I've been gone, getting updates!

Kaleb continues to be a good baby, and I think we're catching onto his routine, although he's up a couple of times a night still. Greg's going to be in for a reality check when he has to take over one of Kaleb's nighttime wakeup calls- I've been doing all of them since Greg went back to work with the exception of weekends. There's no way I'll be able to do all of the nighttime feedings and be functional for work the next day- especially since I drive a lot. SO, we'll have to split them. I'm going to have to get a cattle prod to get Greg out of bed, though.

Love you all!
jenn