Code Red

It's been fairly quite week on the Aubrey front the past week. She is smiling, making faces, cooing, eating, fussy and still peeing and pooping. Since it's hard to describe the smiling/cooing/playing, lets talk about what is easy to describe - her poops. Ever since we started supplementing her feedings with formula her poops have reduced to about once every other day or two which is nice because wets are much easier and quicker to change and more importantly they have been happening with Andrea during the day. Last night Aubrey and I were hanging out in the chair and she is just as happy as can be. She is smiling, kicking her feet and sliding down in her boppy. I would but pick her up and put her higher and she would work her way down by kicking her feet. About the third time, I grabbed her and I felt wetness. It was on her side and front. My first fatherly instinct was that she had spit up but that was quickly ruled out and moved down the possibility chart to she had t-ted and the diaper was full or was improperly sealed and had leaked that was also quickly ruled out. Upon closer inspection, we had a major CODE RED situation on our hands. I called mommy and told her - we had a diaper breach of number 2 out the front of the diaper and had a major haz mat situation and all hands were needed to respond. Wow, I am not sure how to describe it or if you even want me to but the first thing that comes to my mind is mud - everywhere. I assessed the situation after taking the diaper off and called for the bath water to be prepared. This was no match for baby wipes. Mommy got a throw away pad. I disposed of the diaper and mommy began the first wave of cleaning with the wipes. We got the water ready and cleaned her from head to toe just to make sure she was completely clean. We were glad this happened at home and not while out somewhere or glad someone else wasn't holding her. Anyway, sorry this is the funniest story of the week...maybe it's just funny to LA and I. We were laughing the whole time. I guess we are going to have to train her not to poop on the weekends - just M-F 8 - 3:30pm while at Andrea's. I am still interested in making a girls diaper that prohibits the mess from coming forward. Any takers?

I am also looking for someone to re-engineer the car seat so that it is easier to carry and isn't constantly hitting your knee. I have the idea but not the design skills...autocad anybody?

Busy week with Thanksgiving and shopping. Too bad Aubrey won't get any turkey this year...Mommy will eat her portion since "she eats like a man" (LA's quote from Saturday night 11/22 w/witnesses). Actually, daddy's going to take her share....wink,wink.

Here's some good news she slept from 9pm until 7am on Sat night to Sun am and last night she slept from 9:30pm to 6:30am with us having to wake her up this morning. She is skipping her last feeding at 10/11pm. We are so blessed. We pray it will continue. The sleeping gene she's got must have come from her mother. We will have to wait to see if she got the lazy gene from me.

CU Weekend and 2 Month Check Up

o, LA and I began packing for our weekend trip on Thursday evening for our first weekend trip with Aubrey to Clemson for Homecoming. Wow, it takes a lot of work to get everything together. The pack and play is an interesting thing. Something that is supposed to be portable isn't the easiest thing to get back into its bag to transport. We attempted to do it without the directions, why would you need them? We found out why - because it is impossible to do it without reading them and dissecting every word. I am glad we kept them. We had all the pieces moving in the right direction but it would not collapse all the way. Evidently the autocad person at Graco took the day off when they completed the drawings in the instruction manual. They have like 12 steps and 2 drawings. Anyway, we finally got it and I will say that now that we have read the directions (very slowly) and done it twice it is easier.

Aubrey is a great baby. She slept the entire way to Alex and Alisha's house. Even with mommy and daddy fussing about all the traffic. We hit Columbia at 5:00pm - they have a rush hour problem on I-26 from our side of Columbia to the Newberry side of Columbia. What a pain in the butt. It was 80mph to stopped back to 60mph then down to 30mph - a big slinky. We pit stopped at Alex's in G'Vegas to feed her and then head to Lieu's for dinner - the spicy chicken is the deal, worth a stop if you are ever in G'Vegas and are hungry! It's a Timmy D favorite. Aubrey slept the entire time at dinner, she has the best table manners. We loaded up after dinner and headed to Townville - just outside Clemson on Lake Hartwell. Lake Hartwell is having a serious water problem. I don't know how far down it is but it has to be down 15-20 feet. There are a lot of docks sitting on dry ground. You could repel the bank down to the water or climb from the water to the bank.

Aubrey had a good night sleep and was ready for a long day on Saturday - tailgating and the game. The day turned out to be a pretty good day based on the forecast - 70% chance of rain in the morning and highs in the upper 50' - low 60's and windy. Your not going to believe this but it didn't rain and it was actually sunny with some clouds moving through and windy. They got the wind and temp right but missed the rain. My opinion is that we now allow the weather to control our lives. We have too much information available about the weather (sometimes it's right and most of the time it is wrong) and we have become obsessed with it. Aubrey slept through the most exciting 25 seconds in college football - Tigers running down the hill, the first quarter and second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter. I don't think she is going to remember much about the whole Clemson experience but her blood now runneth orange. We applied for early acceptance and are awaiting CU's response. We have pictures to help her remember and many more trips to Clemson in her future. She is going to know that you don't root for chicken, you just eat them. Just for the record Clemson is 1-0 when she is in attendance. I am going to write Dabo and TDP and tell them of Clemson's success when she is at the game and see if they could upgrade my tickets to the 50 yard line about 25 rows up. She is their good luck charm. We took her to Howard's Rock after the game and she committed to giving 110% to CU.

Aubrey had a pretty good evening Saturday but a busy Sunday morning. She was up at 12:30am to feed, 3:30am to feed and 6:30am to feed. She seemed like she was a little congested which made mommy and daddy feel horrible about taking her to the game and having her outside in the wind for most of the day Saturday. Were such good parents - were from the your not going to interfere with our plans/what doesn't kill her will make her stronger school of thought. Anyway, it seems everyone was a little congested on Sunday morning. It was probably from us knocking all the dust around the house. She bounced back and was fine on the ride home and has been good so far this week - see we not such bad parents after all.

I guess we will see if we are invited back next year or if they had all "the traveling Carter's" they could stand. They say she was a good baby and they didn't mind but the truth will be found out next year.

We had her two month check-up today and her first series of shots. The doctor did the old "Heee/She trick" when he walked in the room. I guess the pink isn't enough of a giveaway. The measurement and percentiles first. She weighed 11lbs and 10oz (an increase of 2lbs 7oz from her two week check-up) and is still in the 75th percentile (which is good...she doesn't have a weight problem - no need to put her on a diet yet). She is 23.5 inches (an increase of 2.5 inches from her two week check-up) and is the 90th percentile. Her head circumference is 15" (an increase of .5 inches from her two week check-up) and is in the 25th percentile. I told her and everyone after her two week, we would not be satisfied with her "C"/Average performance and would be consulting with a baby trainer to boost her performance. It is helping and we are seeing results. We will continue to work on the weight - more feedings. We are pleased with her growth. We are going to give her a smiley face sticker for her hard work but not too much praise because we don't want her to be satisfied. We are not real worried about ther head size. If you have an area to be behind in we will choose that one. Don't be discouraged with the "C" on the weight, we can overcome this lack of effort on her part. Although, we could have bumped her weight up a little, if we would have feed her before her appointment or if we would have kept the wet diaper on her.

She got a couple of shots shortly after she was born while in the hospital but none since then. She got shots today to prevent the following diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hib, hepatitis b, polio, pneumococcal and rotavirus. She got three combo shots and one orally. The nurse came in and gave her the orally administered one first and then asked LA to put Aubrey on the examining table and to hold her arms. So Aubrey is staring at mommy while the nurse gives her three quick shots - two in one leg (thigh) and one in her other leg (thigh). So now she thinks mommy is the bad person that hurt her. Daddy just hung out and was there to console her after the shots. She has a destinctive cry for pain. There is no build up to it. The nurse stuck her and her eyes got big (looking at mommy and saying "what are you doing?, holy, crap that hurts") and she let out a loud cry and before she knew it she had been stuck two more times. I will give the nurse credit. She was quick but as a job that has to be a bummer making innocent babies cry everyday - not much to look forward to each day but she is helping to prevent diseases. Mommy and Daddy did real good and didn't cry. Aubrey let out a couple of cries and wimpers but starting sucking on her pacificer and was calmed down in a couple of minutes. She is a tough baby, probably more like a very short memory. Anyway, it wasn't near as bad as we thought it would be. We will see how she does over the next couple of days - looking for a temperture or her being fussy. We have some children's Tylanol ready, if she gets a fever or is fussy or if we just want to get some rest (just kidding).

Mommy and Daddy were recommended to get a Flu shot to help prevent Aubrey from hopefully getting the Flu. Aubrey is too young to get one herself. She will get some benefit from mommy getting one. Daddy is real excited about having to get a shot.

Next appointment is at four months - next year. We get more shots and talk about introducing her to rice cereal. So it's the natural stuff and formula for the time being.

PS - We did ask about her being so gassy and the doctor told us it was normal. Her digestive system is having to switch back and forth processing the natural and formula and her being gassy is just part of it. He told us to deal with it. If she's around and something smells, guess what it's her (It's going to be nice having a free pass.)

Survived

I am not sure if 4 days qualifies as "it's going to be ok" but we are surviving the first week of day care. LA is adjusting to being back at school and all the fun that her job entails. I am dropping off Aubrey in the morning and LA is picking her up after school. We are still working getting everyone settled into a schedule but we will get the system figured out just about time for Thanksgiving. It makes it easier to drop Aubrey off each morning because she has been such a good baby. It would be hard for us to leave a fussy, crying baby with someone (that will be a hard morning, when daddy drops her off and she is crying. Hopefully, that won't happen.) Aubrey loves Andrea and her new boyfriend - Kerrick (I am going to check on the spelling). She is enjoying her new toys - bouncy seat. Andrea confirmed what we already knew - Aubrey is gassy and it smells. If we are out somewhere and she drops a bomb, it is going to hard to point the finger at her and someone believe it. One good thing is that she has decided to poop about every 1-2 days and she likes to do it while at the baby sitter. Mommy and Daddy haven't changed a poopy diaper all week. I apologized to Andrea today but it sure is easier to change her when it just a wet diaper.

She will be two months on Friday and this is going to be a big weekend for her. It will be her first overnight (with mommy and daddy). We are going up Friday for the Clemson game on Saturday and stay on Lake Hartwell with some friends. it will also be her first Clemson game. Maybe she can become their good luck charm. Look for pictures (I think some funny pictures could come from this weekend) and say a prayer that we still have eight friends when we come home (none of them have babies yet - this could be a call for more birth control for them (and a reminder not to invite "The Carter's" next time) or it might push a couple of them into having a playmate for Aubrey).

Next Tuesday is a big day - Two month check-up and shoots. That should be fun. We are planning to give her a big dose of baby sleep, sleep medicine. Say a prayer that mommy doesn't start crying when they give her the shots. Anybody want to guess her weight? I know she is growing because she has very little NB clothes left to wear. It is getting hard to pull her head through the small opening and just a difficult to take it off (and by the way she hates you pulling thing over her head.) The 3 month clothes are a little big but much easier to take on an off. My guess is 10-11lbs and 24-26 inches.

D-Day

D - Day (An invasion or dropping off your child for the 1st day of day care)

Well today is officially the first day of "day care" for Aubrey and LA is back to school. Here's a summary - Not a good day. Our days now start at 5:00am, which is early. This morning Aubrey must have known something was up because she spit up on two outfits while daddy was changing her. We were running out of clothes to put her in. I will drop Aubrey off in the mornings and LA will pick her up. Anyway, not going to bore you with the details but it was a weird feeling leaving Aubrey with Andrea this morning. It was easy because, we know Andrea will be great with Aubrey and this is a much better option than day care but hard because it's not what I or LA want to do but hey, we aren't the first and won't be the last. Put us down not being the parents of the year for 2008 (maybe in 2009). It will be good for Aubrey to have a playmate in a couple of months when she is becoming more active. Plus as I talked about earlier, she will want to stay there with all the toys. My biggest hope is that LA will survive school. It is not going to easy and those kids are in for a rude awakening. There little 8 weeks vacation has come to an abrupt halt. They better buckle down and walk the line or it isn't going to be pretty. I probably should have gone in last Friday and had a talk with them.

Aubrey went to her first Summerville Green Wave game on last Friday (November 7, 2008). She cheered (slept) the Green Wave to victory on homecoming. Maybe 18 years from now she will be the homecoming queen. Friday was LA's birthday so Aubrey got mommy some pretty flowers and a card. Daddy got mommy a camera to take pictures of Aubrey. Aubrey went to two 1 year old birthday parties this weekend - Sims and CJ. She had a blast (sleeping) and daddy ate her portion of cake and cupcakes. This being a parent is tough work.

Between the last post and this post we started giving Aubrey some formula to supplement and prepare her for daycare. This was at about the six-seven week time frame and she decided to stop pooping for three days after having been pooping two-three times each day. We knew that she was ok because she passing gas and it was terrible (it still is, much worse than mommies). So what do you do when you don't know what to do? Call the doctor? no way. You consult the baby book, internet and friends with small children. The doctor is option four. The baby book said that at six weeks her bowels begin adjusting so pooping might not be as regular. So we had two contributors to the problem - formula and the six week growing/changes. Kayro syrup was found to be a remedy that had worked so daddy went out and bought some. We mixed it into her bottle and after another day passed nothing had happened. So not what do you do? You call the doctor who you should have called in step one. We had the right solution but wrong type of Kayro syrup - you need the dark. I had picked up the light. 50/50 chance and I chose wrong - not surprising. It happens everyday. Looks like we will be doing some baking w/ the light - pecan pies, yummy, yummy. It worked like a champ, messy as all get out. In case anyone was wondering, formula poop is horrible! Hopefully, we will not have to continue to do this.

Aubrey is eight weeks old + one day - 58 days old. So the question is - At eight weeks is she two months old? or Will two months old be on the 14th of November? I say she will be two months old on Nov 14 - two calendar months after her birth date. One other question, When do we tell people how old she is in months instead of weeks?