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?

1st Night in the Crib

Ok, so I often wondered why my friends who have blogs that actually got me started doing this (actually it was LA saying "you ought to do that for us" or "so and so has a blog, we need a blog - always trying to keep up with the Jones) have big gaps in posts or either the blog goes to blog heaven after the baby is born. I now know why...it's busy (4 hours between feedings actually means .5 hours with feeding, diapers and taking a nap), we are down to one computer, you take the small things for granted as they happen and forget to post about it, and the actual reason is the realization of the monster that you have created by ever starting a blog and the hope that it will just fade away if you don't post but it won't - people are demanding.)

So what’s been happening since the last post. I say not a whole lot but that goes back to the taking the small events for granted. Aubrey is still eating, sleeping peeing and pooping. She still sleeps about 4 hours at a time and about 6 or 7 after she feeds around 9, 10 or 11pm. You would think that we are spoiling her but actually she is spoiling us. If they were all as good as she has been we would have a population problem like China in the US. We are spoiling her but I think all parents do. It's just the nature of loving someone so much. Sometimes she will cry when we both leave the room and stops when we walk back in. She will cry to be held and loved on. It's not all the time but it's good when she does do it. Most of the time she is perfectly content to be propped up somewhere to look around or sleep. She is becoming more alert and is starting to focus on items. It is funny to watch her go cross-eyed as she tries to focus. She is starting to find her voice - making cooing sounds. She will now even give you a little smile. She has figured out that daddy's shirt is the burp cloth. You can use a burp cloth but it never seems to hit it. Her favorite game to play is to pee or poop without her diaper on. It goes something like this - remove dirty diaper, clean up mess with wipes, turn head to get a new diaper and turn around to find she has peed or pooped on the changing pad or she pees or poops on the new diaper as soon as you get it underneath her or on her. That is frustrating...Leigh-Ann says I am too slow (but it happens to her also). Aubrey is good at making "upset" faces just before she starts to cry.

We think she is going through a grow spurt because in the past week she is wanting more to eat. The other evening LA gave me a bottle with 6 ounces of milk and asked me to feed her. It looked like she was starving as she sucked down the first couple of ounces. When I took the bottle from her to burp her, you would have thought the world was ending. She was crying and getting upset and didn't stop until I gave her the bottle back. This went on for the rest of the bottle as she ate all six ounces. We were certain that she would give some of it back but it all stayed down. This has happened on a couple of other occasions in the past week. We know she is growing because she is starting to outgrow some of her new born items...great, week 6 and already needing a wardrobe change (this is going to get expensive).

LA is going back to work on November 10th. We have met with the Andrea and Andy who are going to be keeping Aubrey. They are a super nice couple and we know Aubrey will be well cared for from 7:30 to 3:00pm each day. They have a 9 month old son Garrick and two greyhounds that will be keeping Aubrey company each day. It is funny because we were apprehensive about taking her anywhere but now we are worried that she will not want to come home because of all the toys, swings, pack n' play and everything else that she doesn't have at home that she will have access to each day. Andy will be home on most days until around 12:00pm until he goes into work. This will be a good situation for Aubrey and much better than daycare. I would love for LA not to have to work but until a couple of condos disappear from our liabilities it just not feasible. Anybody out there want a condo cheap for Aubrey's sake...

Saturday night was the final night in the bassinet/pack n' play. We moved her to her crib on Sunday night and LA and I slept through all her crying - solid wood doors block the crying pretty good. Actually, she slept fine in her crib. The crib is so big for her right now. She has plenty of room to stretch out.

PS = We purchased a baby monitor yesterday. So we can sleep in peace, knowing she is ok.

PSS - A couple of other real quick things that she has done - She went to the State fair for another hog show (Aubrey 2, Daddy 1). She is real good in Sunday School...mommy and daddy are working on a schedule for church. She visited daddy at work. She has been to Summerville high school a couple of times (she hopes something new will be around buy the time she gets to high school, instead of the old buildings that daddy went to school in).

PSSS - Check back for Halloween pictures....they are going to be great! What's she going to be?

Hog Show/Hospital Bills

It was a pretty big weekend for Aubrey. She attended her first ever Hog Show (I am pretty sure it was my first ever. However, if you’re giving out points, I am a goat show veteran. It's got to count for something) at the Orangeburg County Fair on Friday night (What did you do on Friday night sit around the house? Thought so.) and attended her first ever birthday party (Emmy's) on Saturday night. She didn't get to see much at the hog show because she was doing what she does best - sleep. If she had she would have seen the Ulmer clan rack up the ribbons - Wes, Garrett, Hayes and Emmy all brought home the awards. She didn't see much of the birthday party except for her Uncle Wesley (who will no longer be mentioned in the blog after this post, along with Mike because of a little alligator hunting trip that allegedly took place where they killed a 12 footer. I have seen the photos but still I am not a believer) and Mama. The family rule is that once Mama has the baby no one asks to hold her...funny.

So we got the majority of the insurance claims from our hospital visit with Miss Aubrey. No one told us the $25 office visit co-pay we've been paying didn't cover EVERYTHING. I thought we were prepaying. Hope they have a payment plan. Wow, it's expensive to visit a hospital. We're glad we didn't stay an extra day. After reviewing the claims submitted by the hospital, doctors, nurses, and cleaning staff, if we decide to have another child we are going to look at a destination birth for $850 per night we can stay a couple of nights at a five star resort. When LA goes into labor if we can time it right all we have to do go to the lobby in a panic shouting "my wife is having a baby" and "ask if there's a doctor in the house" and before the ambulance can get there the doctor delivers baby number 2 - saving on two doctors charges, the cost of the epidural and "medical supplies". I am going to the post office tomorrow to tell them to hold our mail or either I am going to change our address and not forward the mail. That way we can tell them "we haven't received a bill from you, baby we didn't have a baby". We probably won't be answering our home phone anymore in case they start calling for payment. We are sure the bills with "Amount Due" will be arriving any day now. Better stick to email and calling us on the cell phone, if you want to get up with us.

PS - Since I had to actively participate in the delivery and not just be the support person, I am sending a bill to the hospital and doctor for my services and my counseling.

Two Week (Actually 18 Days) Doctor's Appointment

Aubrey had her two week doctors appointment today. The tell of the tape and scales were as follows - she weighed in at 9lbs 3oz and was 21 inches long. This puts her in the 75th percentile of all girls her age.


We weren't real happy with her performance. It's only a solid "C" performance - "C" equals comfortable. Were not going to let her be satisfied with "C's". Were not going to let mediocrity creep into her lifestyle this early. She's not going to be just average. We are expecting much more and I am sure you feel the same way (her dad was just average and we are expecting a whole lot more form her). All the effort (love, support, gifts,..etc) you are giving her and she's not excelling is disappointing. LA and I are taking this seriously and are addressing the current issues so she is a top performer at her two month check-up. Please don't give up on her, it's just going to take a more focused effort on everyone's part. We will be addressing the weight gain with more frequent feedings by waking her up to eat during the day and night. Tomorrow she will be meeting with a baby trainer to stretch her legs and arms to help them grow more.

Her head circumference is 14.5 inches which is only in the 25th percentile - little head, big body. All I can think about is the Carmax commercial where the guy brings a head shrink doctor to negotiate buying a car and a mechanic asks the boss to go home from work because his tiny head hurts (the head shrink doctor had evidently shrunk his head). Look it up on youtube. This is actually a blessing that she doesn't have a big head (there are those in both our families that have big heads and LA insists my head is big but I am pretty sure it is average). We not worried and the doctor is not concerned. We’re going to let her underachieve in this area. All it really means is that she is going to have to pack a lot of knowledge in a smaller area.

Don't worry about anything, LA and I have everything under control and are going to stick to the plan of action to remedy this case of "I'm going to be average blahs", Miss Aubrey is mired in. We will keep you posted and our next doctor’s appointment is November 18th - 4 weeks. This is going to take time so be patient but I am hoping for a strong "B" for the next visit.

PS - The redness around Aubrey's eye has nothing to do with LA poking her or us trying to make her eat (might be the cause next month) or Melissa F giving her a black eye. It simply is a place where she has a lot of capillaries and they burst during birth. They will eventually heal and it will no longer be noticeable. It might be six months or a year. However, the doctor did tell us that it will be her truth indicator. If she lying to us, it will turn red. This should be interesting. How long before we tell her about it - probably after college.

Nothing To Post

So for the past couple of days its been pretty low key with Aubrey, nothing much to post. So I wasn't going to post anything until tomorrow after her second visit to the doctor - two week checkup. However, something funny did happen last night during Aubrey's bath. LA got her bath water ready and asked me to undress her which as you know with a baby it is a dangerous time when she is without a diaper. You expect a number 1 or 2 is going to happen so you plan for it - if you must pick her up it is done at an arms length distance - no cuddling without a diaper. If you do it is at your own risk. So I picked her up and took her to the bathroom just knowing that she was going to something to show us who's in control. However, I successfully got her to her bathtub without incident which I thought was pretty good. She is beginning to like taking a bath which translates that she isn't screaming (some people call it crying) her head off but isn't cooing and laughing about it. So as LA is washing her, Aubrey explodes a number 2 into her bathtub. Now you might not be laughing about it but it was funny. I don't know why it's funny, it just is. So, here we are trying to clean her and she contaminates her bath water. We both looked at each other and laughed. So while we are cleaning up and changing out the bath water, LA gives Aubrey to me to hold which means I get to be in line for the follow-up shot (which didn't happen thank goodness - cause that might not have been funny) The best part is that we saved a diaper (which help save the environment, so were doing our part).

Nothing much else is happening. She does seem to get whinny from her late afternoon feeding until her nighttime feeding (4 - 9pm). We don't know why but other mothers have told us it is just a bad time for all kids.

Stay tuned for some more of our adventures.

PS - I know were not the first that any of these tales/experiences have happened to but those that have kids can relate/remember and those that don't can be prepared.