Label Reading

I have become accustomed to label reading the past month as I live a dairy free diet to help Preston (at least I hope). But today I failed! As I was eating a pasta salad- more specific a "Broccoli Slaw" from the grocery store, I just so happened to glance at the ingredient list as I was putting it away- mind you I already ate my portion for lunch. And it contains milk ingredients! Who would have thought! I am very good about reading labels on crackers, breads, cereals, frozen foods, etc. but I would have never thought a broccoli salad from the deli would have milk ingredients in it. Well, I guess we will see how Preston does today and tomorrow and I can see if it affects him at all.

Reese has been a little pistol lately :) She is definitely at the "limit testing" stage and boy does she test. I think she knows exactly what buttons to push of mine, and she likes to push them on a daily basis. I say go, Reese says stop. I say yes, Reese says no. This past Sunday I thought it would be a fun family outing for us all to get to go grocery shopping together. Usually I do it during the week when the crowds are smaller, that way I can manage both kids by my self. But with Kyle in tow, I thought I would actually get to enjoy this experience and really do some "quality" grocery shopping (instead of throwing things in the cart quickly and "running" up the aisles to keep up with Reese.) We headed to Janesville to go to Woodman's for the first time. For those of you unfamiliar with Woodmans, it is a giant grocery store- like a Costco or Sams Club. Except you need no membership here, and alot of the produce is locally grown. We arrived to a PACKED store. It was like Disney World! I assigned Kyle to Reese as Preston was in the cart with me. Let me just say, the experience was far from enjoyable. I saw many kids Reese's age walking by their parents, helping them choose groceries, and having fun with it. Not us. We looked like the crazy family who everyone stares at I'm sure. Reese was bolting up and down the aisles and screaming when we threatened to carry her. "Fake" tears flowing and all. I could barely concentrate on what I needed, let alone try to get everything I had on my mental checklist (that shot out the door when we walked in.) So, note to self- never try a new grocery store (especially a HUGE one) for the first time on a Sunday with two little kids (more so if one of them is strong willed and not the greatest listener), and always remember the grocery list. My enjoyable Sunday morning turned into a disaster. This coming Sunday I will be grocery shopping alone :)

Rolley Polley

Preston is officially a roller! He rolled a few weeks ago, one time from tummy to back, but not much since. Now today, he is rolling all over the place! I laid him on his stomach as I do everyday to get some tummy time in, and he flipped right over. Not thinking much of it, I put him back on his tummy, and he did it again, and again, and again! Yay Preston!

It's all about the rice

I decided to start rice cereal with Preston this past week (mainly in a last ditch effort to get this child to sleep!) I was hoping it would fill him up a bit more, and he would sleep longer through the night. Well, that wasn't really accomplished, BUT he did love it! I waited until 5 1/2 mo to start with Reese, and with Preston being only 4 1/2 (well, almost 5 mo) I wasn't quite sure it was going to go so well, but I thought it was worth a shot. On Thursday I tried it with him before his night bottle, and he LOVED it. He giggled through the entire feeding, and ate the whole thing. I was afraid he was just going to push it out with his tongue, but that was not the case. So, he has been having it for breakfast and dinner (along with his regular feedings.) He seems to take it just fine, so I am glad I started.

We didn't have much on tap this weekend. We had some friends over for dinner Friday night, and Reese had a blast playing with their daughter, Elanor (almost 2). Yesterday, we didn't leave the house :) It was a day of relaxation, which was quiet nice.

Crackity Crack

With feeling as though I have exhausted all options to try to help Preston, and feeling quite defeated, my wonderful sister sent me an email yesterday about babies going to a chiropractor. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before, as my parents took me to one as a baby. So, first thing this morning I set up an appointment. I was in desperate need of an adjustment too, so both Preston and I were seen by the doctor. With a few adjustments in his neck and back, we are going back Friday for a re check and hopefully this will provide him some relief. After talking with another mom about her baby's reflux, she said she was giving him Zantac and that seemed to help. I tried it when Preston was 2 months old, and really didn't see any improvement. But, with his lack of sleep lately, I am willing to try anything. So a few days ago I started giving it to him again, and he is spitting up much less than usual. He still burps quite a bit, but he is not spitting up nearly as much as he was. So, I hope the combination of a dairy free diet, Zantac (for reflux and heartburn), and seeing a chiropractor is the magic formula. He is still waking every 2 hours (literally on the dot) and has a hard time getting back to sleep, so hopefully getting adjusted will help him sleep more comfortably.

Kyle left today for a work trip in Atlanta until Friday, so I won't have any extra helping hands. I may be in serious need of a huge glass of wine Friday night when he returns! :)

Back to Reality

Back to reality today. The holiday break is "officially" over for us. Kyle had all last week off, so I had an extra helping hand around, and boy was it nice. I was able to sleep in each day and get some extra needed naps in too. Preston is back to his waking up every 2 hours (or less) every single night,  so I am back to being a walking zombie. I try to lay down at least 30 minutes each afternoon when they are both sleeping, but it is rare I actually fall asleep in that time. More like a "rest period".
Kyle and Reese went to the Dells this past weekend with some of Kyle's family, and it sounds like they had a great time. Reese woke up today asking to go back :) With Preston being so little and not being able to go in the water, I figured it was best we didn't go on this excursions. Instead, we went down to my parents where I was able to get in a few naps and relax for a bit.
We are busy putting together and playing with all the new toys from Christmas. Reese got a train table from my parents, so Kyle is in the process of getting it all set up. It came with 100 pieces(!) so it is keeping him quite busy. Reese loves playing with the trains and tracks- that along with her pretend food are her two favorite Christmas presents this year.
We got back on schedule today and headed to play group this morning. Reese was so excited to see all her friends and do circle time today. She got to tell everyone what Santa brought her, and even told them what Preston got too (baby toys) :) Tomorrow we have a play date with a friend and her daughter, Wednesday is story time at the library, Thursday we head back up to our old neighborhood for a play date with a close friend and her daughter, and Friday are having some friends over for dinner. Busy week!!

4 mo appt

We had Preston's 4 mo appt this morning, and I left with a feelings of frustrations and being "under-whelemed." I was hoping for the "magic answer" today as to why he spits up SO much, and why he is waking every 1 1/2 hours through the night. Well, there was no "magic answer" (I think I had my hopes set too high.) First things first, his stats:
Weight: 15 lbs. 15 oz (49%tile)
Height: 26.5 in (87%tile)
Head Circumference: 42.2 (56%tile)
So, above average for height and right in the middle for weight. Nothing unexpected there.

Then we began the continuing discussion of his "GI issues". Since having been dairy free since Dec. 15th, and not really seeing much change (even though his diapers seem to be better) Dr. said I don't have to stick to dairy free diet if I don't want too. I am just not quite convinced that is still not an issue, so I am going to continue until I am done breastfeeding. I just don't feel as though we know entirely yet if he does has a dairy sensitivity. So we moved on to his issues of waking in the night, and may contribute it to gas as he cannot get comfortable enough to sleep. He prescribed two medications I am to try with him to see if it helps give him so relief with gas, thus letting him get a better nights sleep. I am to try them for 10 days, and if we see no improvement, we will be referred to a GI doctor. I also asked if it was possible that he was allergic to something else I may be eating (fish, nuts, eggs) but he said there is almost no evidence that any of these foods that pass through breastmilk trigger allergies in children. So, me eating them would not affect him. The two major causes of gas and fussiness in breastfed babies are caffeine (already cut out of my diet) and dairy (cut out as well.)

So, with that, I left the office feeling frustrated that again. I am to try two more medicines and see if they work. I really do not want to medicate him, but if it is going to help, I suppose it worth a shot! I will be giving him liquid lactase (an enzyme that helps people to digest proteins better) and the second medication is a probiotic. These issues are to target his gassiness, which is what the doctor wanted to concentrate on first before addressing the reflux (in hopes that would in turn help the reflux as well.) His diapers are imrpoving, leading me to think that dairy does have some affect on him, so hopefully with a dairy free diet and these medications, we can get it under control!

2012 Recap

Happy New Year! Wow, what an eventful 2012 the Montgomery family had. Looking back, we did ALOT this past year, and it all began one year ago on this day that we found out little Mr. Preston was gong to join our family. Unexpected and much to our surprise, but he is such a joy and we couldn't be happier that things worked out the way they did. As if adding one to our family wasn't enough excitement for a year, we also decided to sell our house and move- all in hopes before baby boy got here. But, things didn't go as planned, so we moved out of our house the week Preston was born (in August) and lived with my parents in Illinois for a month (end of Sept) until we closed on our new house in Evansville  Looking back, we were crazy. But, we survived and are so happy in our new home and new community. It was all worth it in the end. I also went from working full time to being a stay at home mom, a change I welcomed. I have had such a blast with these two kiddos the past 4 months, and I can't figure out how I used to get everything done when I did work full time with Reese. I am lucky enough that Kyle's job allows me to stay at home, and to that we are both very grateful.
Our hopes for 2013 include continued good health for our family, hopes that we can figure out if Preston really IS sensitive to dairy (which we should be talking more about tomorrow at his 4 mo appt), and enjoying watching Reese and Preston grow up. Everyday bring something new with these two, and they are so much fun.
We rang in the New Year last night by going out for dinner as a family, and by me going to be by 9:30 :) Kyle made it to midnight- but he wasn't the one waking up with a baby all night long ;)


*On a side note, we took the plunge and turned Reese's crib into a toddler bed yesterday. She wasn't sure at first what to think of it, but slept fine last night and adjusted very well!!

Happy New Year!!!