Day in the life with Brayden, Jack and Riley : /

I love my pets but sometimes they drive me nuts! Jack is our orange tabby and Riley is an american eskimo mix that looks like a yellow lab. Today was another one of "those" days where it was one thing after another. Since Brayden was having a day of screaming because of his teething and reflux it was already a pretty stressful day. Sometimes i think it's a collaborative conspiracy to see who can drive me nuts first or be the most annoying. lol

Todays goals must of included:
1. Jack- interrupting all of Braydens feedings by insisting he MUST be pet and lay on top of the baby
2. Riley- incessantly barking right after i JUST get the screaming baby to close his eyes and take a nap
3. Jack and Riley - see how many times they can run in front of mommy and try and trip her
4. Riley- insist that the second i try and feed, change or rock Brayden is the PERFECT time to have to pee
5. Jack- try to sneak outside everytime the dog has to go out
6. Riley- try and sneak in to the other room and eat all of the cats food
7. Jack- put his paws in the water dish to play and try to drag the bowl across the floor
8. Jack and Riley - see how many times they antagonize each other so a chasing match starts resulting in them knocking things over

Needless to say they SUCCEEDED at all of thier goals for the day. LOL 

Of course AFTER the baby goes to bed they decide to cooperate!

Reflux take 2!!

Braydens reflux is still out of control. We finally had our pediatrican appointment to follow up with the dr yestrday. I was just greatful that despite the 15" of snow they were still open!  So based on his weight (he's now 14lbs and just shy of 27"!!!!) he is maxed out on the zantac at 4mls per day.  So i asked if we could bump up his prevacid to 2x a day. The Dr. pretty much agreed that it is our only option at this point, i just hope this does the trick. She said that at this point if this doesn't work we are going to have to take him the the baby gastro next month. Needless to say I would love to spare him that experience!

Apparently he didn't have such a bad time at the pedes, he was having fun amusing himself while we waited for the dr!

We are still doing our normal routine of "anti-reflux" behaviors and he gets cereal in each bottle. The cereal definitely helps with the sensitive formula but it makes him not able to go to the bathroom. So the pedes recommended we start giving him stage 1 type of baby foods like pears, plums and prunes a little each day.  So of course i was really excited to make his first batch of baby food! For his first food we tried pears and LOVED it!! He wasn't sure what to think of the texture but figured it out pretty fast!

MMMMMMMM!



Mom has a great time making Brayden's first batch of organic pears!!

Home made baby food!

I really can't wait for Brayden to be old enough to eat baby food!I know... in one breath I don't want him to get bigger and the next I'm jumping to months ahead! But the older he gets the more fun he is! So i decided that I'm going to try and make a bunch of his baby food! Should be an interesting venture. My goal is to give him as much organic as possible. I know that it may not always be feasable but if we can go organic thats great if not, I'm not going to obsess over it.

So I picked up some food containers from Babies R Us the other day and my food processor will be here on friday!  (Gotta LOVE amazon deals and free 2nd day shipping!) I know i'm a little ahead of myself but i just can't help it! I'm definitely saving money with my coupons/deals so I don't see a reason to not stock up now!

The Containers: they are too cute, and they come with a freezer tray (thanks for the recommendation Jen N!)

 the lids are cute they have fuits/veggies on them! :)

The new food processor!

                                     



Reflux rears its ugly head... Again :(

I feel SO bad for Brayden... His acid reflux has been so bad lately. Before he had the silent reflux(still painfun) and would only occasionally get sick or spit up.  But for the last 2 weeks it's been getting progressively worse and he is in a LOT of pain and spitting up all the time. Now we are to the point where even with the zantac 2x a day and prevacid 1x a day his breath still smells sour 24/7.  I can't add any more cereal to his bottle or it'll make him too constipated and we even started a little oatmeal cereal by spoon to help "coat" his stomach. It seems to help a little. Right now he is eating about 4.5- 6 oz per bottle every 3 hours. By the time we get to the next bottle he screams so hard b/c his stomach is empty and the reflux seems to bother him more. So between that and him teething early he has been nothing short of miserable. He does have his happy times where he smiles and laughs but he is definitely NOT himself and it absolutely breaks my heart. He also wants to be held all the time lately and hasnt wanted to nap anywhere but in my arms or in his swing. We were doing so good with transitioning to the pack and play for naps but with everything he's got going on we're back to the beginning. But i'll let it slide, if he needs me to hold him to make it better, I'm more than willing.

I was able to get us in for an appointment with my favorite pediatrician for thursday... i am just praying this so called snow storm we are getting doesn't close the drs office. Of course i called and called last week and they were converting the office to electronic filing so they weren't calling me back.  Ugghh.. they are usually SO amazing about getting me in asap and calling back fast I was so frustrated. I wanted to see if they could adjust his zantac dosage to correlate to his new weight (he gained a little over a pound this month). But apparently the dosage he is on 2ml 2xday is the max they can give them at his age regardless of weight.  Uggh so i am hoping that on thursday we can come up with a new game plan on how to keep this under control.  I am going to see if maybe we can do the prevacid 2x day?  I just want him to feel better.. It makes me upset and I feel helpless that I can't "fix" this for him. But we will figure it out.. I'm just keeping everything crossed he grows out of this sooner than later!

On the flip side.. he had so much fun eating Oatmeal for the first time. He did really good and made a huge mess but we had fun! He loved helping to push the spoon in his mouth and was "yelling" at me when he didn't get more fast enough. lol I had a hard time keeping his hands out of his mouth.. he loved sucking the cereal off of them. :)  Looking at his adorable face I can't help but smile!

CAN I HAVE SOME MOM !?!?!

OHHHH THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!!

Full tummy = sleepy baby!

NOM NOM NOM!!

Video: First time eating cereal!!!  1/24/2011

PACKERS VS BEARS!

SO excited that the Green Bay Packers are in the NFC championships! As good luck charm for tomorrows game here's Brayden in his Aaron Rodgers Jersey! (it's huge on him but he has to represent!) LOL GO PACKERS!!

WHAT?! Was my milk supply not sufficient for YOU!?

One of my pet peeves as a new mom is when other moms tell you that you are wrong for doing things a certain way or try to make you feel bad.  I had this lady today ask me if i was still breastfeeding my son. For those who don't know, b/c of PCOS I literally made almost no supply. Even after 3 weeks of breastfeeding/pumping I was only getting 1/2 oz instead of the expected 4-6oz per pump.  At that point i was breastfeeding for 30-45 mins and feeding a full bottle after each session. Needless to say I did everything to get my supply up but had no luck. After feeling defeated and talking to my OB (who is REALLY knowledgable about PCOS) I ended up stopping breastfeeding. I beat myself up so badly over it b/c i really loved doing it but it wasn't doing myself of brayden and good.  So... back to my story. So this woman asks me if i am still breasfeeding and i old her I was not. She SEEMED nice at first so i explained briefly that i have a hormonal medical condition that inhibited my milk supply. She then proceeded to tell me that i was wrong and that hormones have nothing to do with it. That your body knows it's supply based on demand and that i was wrong.  Oh.. and that she has twins (that are grown up now) and she was able to breastfeed and make enough milk to feed both of them. I seriouly wanted to punch this woman in the face. Not only did she try to discredit my "medical basis" but was trying to make me feel like an awful mother for not being able to breastfeed my child. She made it like it was my choice and i was just a lazy person.  Of couse she insisted on knowing how long i was able to breastfeed and her snide remark was "well i guess he alteast got the collostrum".  OH OK!... sorry not everyone can have a supply like you. Some people are SO ignorant to peoples feelings. It never ceases to amaze me how insensitive and judgemental people can be when it comes to infertility and how it can effect more than conception. All i know is people take for granted all of the things that come so easy to them and they just don't realize how good they have it!

Happy EMBRYO-VERSARY!

One year ago today our lives changed forever! On this day last year we had our frozen embryo transfer (FET) in our second attempt at IVF. Two beautiful embryos were transferred but only one survived after 6 weeks and we were blessed with our little miracle baby Brayden!!! Its been a rollercoaster of a year and being parents has been the most amazing experience of our lives!!   I can't imagine our lives with out Brayden! 

Words can't express how greatful i am for the technology that allowed us to be able to concieve. We had an amazing experience with our Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) Dr Check at the Copper Institute.  All of the nurses, techs and embryologists that worked with us were invaluable.  They definitely made our journey just a little bit easier despite all the ups and downs we experienced. 

Who knows what the future will bring... we can still only hope and dream that when the time comes for baby #2 we would be able to concieve natrually but if not we still have 15 Keyser Embryos on ice!

Our perfect little Embryos! 

Watching the process of conception unfold, it really is a MIRACLE that one little embryo can grow in to a beautiful baby!

 

5.98 Formula!

Every time i purchase formula at my local wholesaler BJ's I feel like i just won a big prize... YES my life has boiled down to being excited about buying formula! lol Actually my coupon/formula check skills are what gets me so excited. I was able to purchase TWO giant 2.14lb containers (14-16 days worth) for $5.98! Saving myself $50! Thanks to all the moms that trade checks with me (love you girls) and the awesome associates at BJ's who let me use more than 1 check and coupon combination Brayden can eat for a measly $2.97 a week! GO ME!

Ab work out while putting a baby to sleep?!

Sometimes I amuse myself...I realized tonight that if i rock the baby forwards and back while in a sitting/leaning back position on the bed it actually gives me an ab work out. LOL  It sounds kind of crazy but if I do it right i rock solely using my core. I need to patent this "new mom" work out! And since my core is rediculously weak as i so lovingly dub it my "roo pouch", i'll do anything no matter how rediculous to get in a few "mommy crunches"!!

FAIL!

UGHH so my transition from maternity leave to unemployment has NOT been smooth. I was really lucky that NJ has the new FLI (family leave insurance) program so i had my full 12 weeks of FMLA paid... well 3/4 of pay but i'll take it. But since my job closed while on maternity leave I get to temporarily be a stay at home mom. Rough financially but awesome that I get more time with little man!  But the state of NJ is NOT making things easy. I was technically laid off on jan 7th and still haven't been able to apply for unemployment.  I've been fighting with FLI for a week to close my claim so I can apply! Apparently all of the departments are connected and b/c of some glitch my FLI isn't "closed" in the computer.  Sorry but that's not my problem. So after days of calling, sitting on hold alteast 10 mins each time to actually talk to someone they tell me i have to call in a claim and can't do it online. That would of been nice to know a WEEK ago! OF COURSE it can't be that easy... every time i call it tells me the line is TOO busy and I have to call back another time.  SERIOUSLY!  Gotta love the state of NJ!  Here's hoping i have better luck tomorrow!

3, 6, 9!

Today my little man is 3 months old! I know all the moms say it but I really can't believe how fast time seems to be going by! Its amazing what a few weeks time can change!  He is now up to 6 oz per feeding and is sleeping 9 straight hours at night.  Any mom's gotta love that!  In a months time he's discovered his hands and feet, started TRYING to roll over, tries to sit up when laying and smiles and laughs so hard it melts your heart! Every day is an adventure and I'm loving every minute of it despite how stressful things can be at times. 

Things have been a little tough lately...we are still battling with Braydens reflux and he has been teething for 3 weeks. YES teething at 2 months! Poor kid! Looks like he will get teeth early like his daddy!  I'm just hoping at this point they just break through and spare him some pain! I am STILL waiting for the new prescription from the pediatrician for the new dosage in his reflux medicine. He's currently on Zantac(2xday) and Prevacid(1xday). As long as we keep up on it, it has been managable. I'm just praying for his sake he grows out of it sooner than later!

We also just got Brayden a doorway jumper which he seems to have mixed feelings about :)  He doesn't quite seem to know what to do but he's really good at spinning in a circle! 

Took Long Enough!

I FINALLY took the time to sit down and set up my blog! Now that i'm actually doing it I am really regretting not starting it when i originally wanted to.  Rewind 2 1/2 years ago we started our very LONG journey through infertility. Being diagnosed with PCOS and hypothryoidism finally made sense of a lot of issues but we never though starting a family would of been such a hard and stressful process! After 21 months of dr's, procedures, medication, injectables and IVF we were finally blessed with the news we were PREGNANT!  And the rest is history!
Today... we have a beautiful baby boy, Brayden Thomas who is 3 months old!  As a family my husband Jason and I are learning the ups, downs and craziness that comes with being parents... and loving every minute of it!