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Hunter: Week 36

12/31/2016

This poor kiddo had a cold all week, but it didn't even faze him. He had a cough and stuffy nose for most of the week (and it's still going strong), but I took him back to the doctor yesterday and she said he was fine. So that's good. I was never really worried about him, but I did sit in a steamy shower with him on Saturday morning because he seemed to be pretty congested. It's the cutest thing when he coughs, too. He sticks his tongue out (picture below). So adorable. I'll be sad when that goes away. Thankfully even through his cold, he's still been a happy baby!

Hunter had fun on Christmas....it really was just another day for him. We bought him a few things, but we didn't even wrap our gifts. He got to open other presents, and this kid still has more toys than he knows what to do with. It's pretty crazy. Next year is going to be a lot of fun.

It's been so great spending all week with him. He constantly is on the move! When he's nursing, it's the worst. He wants to reach up and pet Chase or grab the remote. He likes to have a good latch and then whip his head around to see what's on tv, which hurts so bad. He is so distracted now. I gave him a bottle at the doctor yesterday, and it was nearly impossible. He refused to sit back and eat, and he kept turning his head to look around. He is so curious.

He's also rolling around a lot now, and he can turn circles so that he can see what he wants. He'll maneuver himself over to toys on the floor so he can play with them. I've seen him push his knees up under him, so I think he'll start crawling in some fashion before too long. He's pretty steady when he's sitting now, but he can't get there by himself.

Hunter is also babbling a lot, and he has been saying mama. It's awesome! I don't feel like he says it intentionally or that he knows that I'm mama, but it's fun hearing him say it!

This week we've been giving him cereal at breakfast and dinner and baby food mid-day. He liked the chicken and apples and the chicken and veggies purees, so he's been getting some protein. Hooray! I asked the doctor about giving him more textures, and she said to try scrambled eggs and puffs. I'm still nervous that he's going to choke, but we will try it out. He can't drink milk and eat purees forever. Or can he?! Ha.

He's been napping pretty good thankfully. Only a couple days did we get him to sleep twice, but he's usually going down for at least one nap in the afternoon. And he's back to sleeping through the night. He coughs during the night, but it doesn't even wake him up. It wakes me up because the monitor screen flashes on, but as long as he's still sleeping, I'm good.

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Hunter: Week 35

12/23/2016

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Week 35 has ended with Hunter's first cold. He's all congested and is starting the fun seal cough, but I took him to the doctor this morning and he said that everything looked and sounded clear. So we just have to wait it out. He thought that Hunter would be over it by the middle of next week, and there's no medicine for him. Hunter really is a champ and doesn't act like much is wrong...unless it's the middle of the night. He has had a hard time the last two nights putting himself back to sleep. I think because he gets really worked up and then can't breathe well. So I've been going in there after awhile and rocking him back to sleep. Poor kiddo. I moved our humidifier into his room, so hopefully that helps.

He also got his second flu shot today, and he did not cry. What a champ. I was pretty surprised. I gave him the pacifier before she did it, and he put it in his mouth and he didn't make a peep. Here's hoping that works for his next round of immunizations!

He's excited for Christmas! Actually, he's totally not. He has no clue what's going on. I don't know that I'm prepared for the influx of toys...he already has more toys than he knows what to do with! He can sit up pretty good now...but I'm usually right there sitting with him. I sit him between my legs and then he plays there. His balance isn't great yet, but it's getting better every day. He hasn't tried to sit up on his own yet, unless he's propped up, but it will come. He's rolling like crazy, and can definitely move to where he wants to be. These weekly pictures are getting very tricky!

This kid has finally started napping for me! Hooray! On Saturday, we were on our own, and I put him down in his crib, he cried for about 15 minutes, and then he slept for an hour. He took two naps on Thursday (first time ever!), and he's napping right now. I have a feeling that the napping yesterday and today is because he isn't feeling well, but I'll take it!

At the doctor today, he weighed 17 pounds, 12 ounces and was 27.5 inches long. Growing like a weed! Shamus wants to cut his hair, but no way! It's too soon! His hair is fantastic.

We've started feeding him more cereal around 5pm to get another solid meal in him. The paper that the doctor gave me about feeding solids said to introduce pureed meats to him as well. Not surprisingly, he doesn't like them. They are gross. We started with the beef in beef broth, and it smells like tuna. The texture is basically like you've chewed a piece of beef for 30 minutes and it's stuck in your mouth. So gross. I only made him try a bite two nights and that's it. I also bought some pureed chicken and turkey as well as chicken mixed with veggies or apples. I think that's going to go over much better than the plain pureed meat. So he's getting cereal in the morning and evening and a thing of baby food (usually a fruit) in the middle of the day. I think I'll hold off on the chunkier finger food until I can get the doctor's advice at his 9-month checkup. But who knows...a lot can change in a month!

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Hunter: Week 34

12/16/2016

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It's the last week of going to daycare five days/week! Hooray! I'm so excited to spend more time with this little love bug.

Hunter has been sleeping a lot better this week. I'm letting him cry it out if he wakes up in the middle of the night, and it usually takes less than 10 minutes for him to go back to sleep. If I go in there, it's at least an hour process. Although there was one night where he woke up, cried for 8 minutes, but then was wide awake for another 45 minutes or so. I never went in to him, but he was looking around and had no desire to go back to sleep. That was a little rough. Overall, it's going much better, and I'm much happier about the amount of sleep I'm getting these days.

Hunter is definitely more and more curious these days. If you're holding him, he's always reaching out to grab anything and everything, and he's always looking around. He's rolling so much more now...across the floor and rolling to get something. He can sit for a little bit if you're supporting him. When I sit him on the bed, he can usually only last a few seconds before he goes toppling over. Although it's not really a firm surface. He hasn't yet figured out how to push himself into a seated position, and I've never seen him try unless he's reclined. If he's on his back or belly, he won't even try to sit up.

This kid talks and growls so much, and it's a great soundtrack in the mornings especially. This morning he was laying on our bed while I was getting dressed just playing with his plastic keys and chatting away to himself.

I'm going to start feeding him another meal of baby food because I think we probably need to start increasing that and decreasing his milk gradually. I'm pretty sure he shouldn't be subsisting on a meal of breast milk when he's 18. I need to figure out when to start feeding him chunks of food, too. I'm thinking bananas, avocado, etc. I'm kind of scared to start giving him whole food because of the whole choking thing, but I'm sure he'll be fine.

I'm also going to start eating dairy every three days with one day off to see how he handles that. I really want to wean him off the medicine that he's on because it can have some liver problems, but obviously he has to be over his reflux first. Plus, he can't eat him own dairy until he can handle mine, and he needs to experience the wonderfulness that is cheese!

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Hunter: Week 33

12/9/2016

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This kid just kills me with his cuteness!

We had four nights of sleeping through the night, and then it went downhill again. But finally last night, he woke up at 11:45 crying. I watched him through the monitor, and he was staring at the door waiting for me to come in. Since I had just gone to sleep an hour earlier, I waited him out. After less than ten minutes, he was back asleep. I knew that if I went in, it would be an hour process of getting him back to sleep. I was much happier with less than ten minutes. We both need the sleep.

He is a true roly poly now, and he rolls and rolls. In fact, one night I watched him barrel roll on the monitor. That did not make him happy! It's fun to put some toys on the floor and watch him roll around to get them. He is generally a very happy baby thank goodness! I can't wait for the next couple of weeks to be over so I can hang out with him more! I really miss spending a lot of time with him.

Hunter can also sit on the bed by himself for a little tiny bit now. He's going to get it soon! I also held him in front of a mirror this week, and he had so much fun looking at himself (or another little boy as he thought). He was reaching out for the boy and slapping the mirror. It was fun to see him interact with himself.

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Hunter: Week 32

12/2/2016

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This week has been brutal with sleep...until last night. Last night, I kept the sound machine on all night and he slept amazingly! It was joyous. Every night before that was not so lucky. In fact, on Wednesday night, he was pretty much up from 2:40-5:30. He slept about 20 minutes here and there, but I didn't sleep. I finally brought him into bed with me and he slept from 5:30-7:40. I feel like he's learning and growing so much that sleep is hard to come by. Or he wakes up and is too interested in learning? I'm not really sure what's going on with him, but let's hope the sleeping through the night continues. Please please please!

This week we took Hunter to see Santa at the library. As expected, he cried. Santa had the kids yell, which scared Hunter and he started crying. It's so funny. Then when we gave him to Santa, he was not having it. He was so upset, which made for some really funny pictures. So classic. He doesn't have to do it again until next year, so that's good for him.

This kid has been all about his tongue. He often has his fingers in his mouth, but it's not because he's chewing on them, it's because he's grabbing and holding onto his tongue. So hilarious. I will miss the days when he does these cute things. This particular thing won't be so cute at 2 years old!

He's still nursing like a champ. Although when he's home with me all day, he really doesn't want to eat every two hours anymore. So that's nice, although it hurts my milk supply when he's not into it as often. I'm still pumping every two hours while I'm working though.

Our morning routine has been set for a little while now. When he wakes up, I bring him into our room and prop him on my pillow. Then I give him his medicine and he hangs out there while I brush my teeth. Then we head downstairs, let the dogs out, and I change his diaper and get him dressed. Then he hangs out on the changing table while I eat oatmeal, get his cereal stuff together, and unload the dishwasher or do something else in the kitchen. Thirty minutes after his medicine, I nurse him for about 20 minutes and then he goes into his high chair to eat his cereal. Then we head upstairs and I get dressed and he plays on the bed with a couple of toys. Then we head back downstairs, I put him in his car seat, gather his stuff and we hit the road. I love this routine, but I know it's going to start changing soon once he starts sitting up and crawling. He's not going to want to just lay still on the bed, and I'm not going to be able to keep him on those places without being right next to him. I definitely don't want him to fall off of the bed or the changing table! It's so crazy how fast they grow and change!

He's such a roly poly now; these weekly pictures are starting to get a lot harder because he wants to grab things, roll over, and play. He definitely doesn't want to look at me and smile!

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Me and Him

We have been trying to conceive (TTC) since July 2012, and it's been a long road. After 4 unsuccessful IUIs (artificial inseminations) and countless heartache, we have decided to move forward with in vitro fertilization (IVF). Even though it's insanely expensive, it has the highest chance for success (75%) and it's our best hope. One of the most frustrating things about our infertility is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with either of us (that they can test). Oftentimes IVF also is diagnostic, so along with hoping for a happy, healthy baby, we are hoping for some answers. This is our journey, and we appreciate any prayers along they way.

I'm writing this so I can look back and reflect and also because I want a place to let it all loose. I don't expect many to read it but at least I can get thoughts, feelings, and experiences out of my mind and onto "paper." Hopefully there's a positive outcome and I can look back and say remember when we had to deal with all that crap...

We also want to give hope to others who are dealing with infertility. We know what you're going through, and it sucks. Try to keep hope in your heart. Let me know if I can help in any way.

Update: We had our miracle baby! Hunter, born April 22, 2016, is the light of our lives!