DITL February 26th

I have always wanted to do a day in the life (DITL) post, but never could pick a day. I finally realized no day was going to be the perfect day so I needed to just pick one! I think it will be so neat to look back at this some day and remind myself what it was like with two little boys at home. This DITL was on Wednesday February 26th. Wills is 2 years 7 months old and Ephram is 4 months old.

6:45 My alarm goes off and I pump. Wednesdays are my day off work, so it is set a little later than usual. Both boys are still asleep, which is shocking for Ephram.

7:00 Charles is home from the gym. He comes home about once a week between the gym and work. Ephram wakes up for the first time since bedtime last night! This is awesome, because it has been 5:45 on the dot lately. Charles goes in there twice to comfort him and ends up changing his diaper and reswaddling him. I am still pumping during all of this.

7:15 Charles leaves for work. Must be nice to be a man and be able to shower and be ready in less than 10 minutes! Both boys are still in bed. Ephram is back asleep and Wills is awake playing with his trains. I take a few minutes to check facebook, email etc.

7:30 I get up and make breakfast and a bottle

7:45 Ephram is up for real now. I check his diaper and change his clothes. Seems like the poor kid is constantly sick, so he gets some benadryl. I put him in his bouncy chair so I can go get Wills up. He gets a diaper change and then we all sit down for breakfast.

8:30 Ephram and I are done with our breakfast, but Wills is still going. I put Ephram back in the bouncy chair so he can keep Wills company. I start diapers (we cloth diaper and it is wash day) and pack our bag for the day.

8:45 Wills is finally done with breakfast. He plays with his trains and I move Ephram in his bouncy seat over to the train table so he can watch. I go get ready.

9:00 Change both of their diapers (they are on the same poop schedule right now), get Wills dressed, jackets on and Ephram in his car seat.

9:15 We are out the door. My goal was to leave at 9:15, so I am pumped that we are on time. I go to put Ephram in the car and the base for his car seat is missing! I have never put him in without the base, so I have to read the directions to figure out how to put it in using the seat belt. Now we are 5 minutes late. Heading to Edmond for Ephram's 4 month pictures. He naps in the car on the way there.

9:48 Only 3 minutes late! Ephram does great for his pictures and Wills is happily occupied with the iPad.

10:40 After pictures, we swing by my office since we are in Edmond. Wills loves my office. We have a train table and a Mr. Potato Head that he really likes playing with.

11:30 We leave my office and head for lunch. Wills said he wanted Chik fil a because he wants to play, but by the time we get there it is way too packed. I feel guilty because I already said yes, so we head to McDonald's instead because they have a play space too. We all eat and then Wills plays for a while.

1:10 We get home and I move the diapers to the dryer and then start some of our laundry. The boys play for a little bit.

1:50 Ephram goes down for his nap. He is asleep almost immediately.

2:05 Wills goes down for his nap.Takes him about 20 minutes to wind down and fall asleep. Both boys asleep! It's time to see how much I can accomplish until someone wakes up. I pump again, do more laundry, workout, take a shower and then I sit down for what seems like 5 minutes.

3:50 Ephram is awake. This was a great nap for him! He is ready to eat again though. Change his diaper and feed him.

4:20 Wills is awake and playing with trains in his bed. Ephram is taking his sweet time eating, so Wills gets to hang out in his bed a little longer.

4:40 Get Wills up and offer him a snack. He turns it down, says he wants to play.

5:05 Wills decides he does want a snack. Tells me he wants pretzels, a fruit snack and "cold milk". He has never had anything but cold milk, so I have no idea why he always makes sure to tell me it needs to be cold. It's pretty cute though. We FaceTime with Grammy and Papaw during snack.

5:20 Snack is over. More laundry, we play some more and Ephram hangs out on his activity mat.

6:20 Get everybody ready to head out for dinner. We eat out with friends every Wednesday night and tonight we are headed to Taco Bueno. Charles calls while we are in the car to let me know he won't be making it.

7:40 Home from dinner. Ephram gets a bath and a bottle while Wills watches an episode of Curious George.

8:20 Ephram in bed and now time to get Wills ready. He sits on the potty (nothing happens), gets a quick bath, brushes his teeth, puts on his PJ's, we read one story and he is in bed by 8:50. Wednesdays are always a later night for bedtime since we go out. Even later than usual tonight since I was solo.

8:50 I pick up the house and get Wills' backpack ready for school tomorrow.

9:30 Charles gets home from work. I do more laundry, watch some TV, play on my iPad and pump one more time.

11:15 Lights out!

Ephram at Four Months

Ephram has had a bit of a rough go in his fourth month of life. This month we had to go in and see Dr. Smith for a steroid shot on his lip scar because he was getting a keloid. We had to swaddle him up and they gave him the shot. He was definitely not a fan. Poor guy also came down with RSV this month. RSV has caused him to have a pretty strong cough, which in turn causes him to vomit up all his food. Not great. Here is hoping he will be healthy in month five!

We did follow through on our plan to move Ephram to his own room and to sleep train this month and it started out pretty successful. Then he got RSV and it kind of got pushed aside. He is still sleeping really well all things considered. He naps for 30 minutes to an hour in the morning sometime between 9:30 and 11 and he sleeps for 1 to 2 hours in the afternoon sometime between 1:30 and 4. He also takes a little cat nap most evenings, usually around 6. His bedtime is the same as Wills' and they go to bed between 8:15 and 8:30 every night. Ephram's wake up time is so variable. It is any where from 5:30 to 7:30. You just never know! The earlier it is, the more likely he is to go back to sleep after some cuddles, otherwise, he is up for the day.

Considering all he has been through so far in his short life, Ephram is a really happy baby. I am still missing his cleft smile. This article in the NY Times blog takes the words right out of my mouth. Especially when she says "But I’ll always carry with me this ache in my heart that wonders what he would have looked like (and what his life would have been like) if we had not changed him.". There is no doubt having the surgery was the right thing, but still... His new smile is beautiful and his smiles are easy to get and his little laugh is just too precious. He still loves having the aquaphor rubbed on his cheeks. He is starting to tolerate the lip massage a little better. He doesn't start screaming immediately anymore, which is nice.

Ephram is definitely a people watcher, particularly Wills or anyone that has food. I am not sure we will be able to hold him off for too much longer when it comes to our food. He definitely stares you down and follows the food from the plate to your mouth. He is doing great with tummy time, but hasn't quite mastered rolling over yet. I am sure it will be soon though!

Four Month Stats:
Weight: 15 lbs, 11 oz (46%)
Length: 26 1/4 inches (84%)
Head: 43.7 cm (92%)
Clothing Size: 3-6 months, some 6 months
Must Haves: The Lillebaby carrier is still a must. It gets used a ton by me, Charles and our nanny. So much so, that Ephram actually doesn't like the stroller very much because he isn't used to it! Pacifiers are still very important, as are his fingers.

Brothers side by side:

Wills                                      Ephram

Wills is doing better with Ephram. He has quit telling other people to take care of him when he cries. At bedtime he tells Ephram goodnight and that he loves him. Just melts my heart when he says it!

Valentine's day 2014

I was able to go to Will's school Valentine Party on the Thursday before Valentine's Day. They did a little music program and then had snacks and treats. He does not really participate when I am there. His teachers assure me when I am not there, he is really involved.

Since this is our first year in school, this was his first year to do Valentines. He is really into Thomas the Train and Star Wars (Aunt Janice gave him a Star Wars book for Christmas and we read it multiple times a day). I couldn't bring myself to do Thomas Valentines this year, so I found some cute Star Wars ones and went with those. 

Wills and Ephram made Valentine hats with Miss Michelle.

On Valentine's Day, I made Wills an all pink breakfast and he had his Valentine gifts at his high chair. Ephram had his on his bouncy chair.

Strawberry yogurt, strawberries and grapes, and cherry kringle

He was super excited about getting Belle the train, because she has water cannons!

We went to Arkansas for Valentines weekend.

This is Wills on the monitor. Saturday morning, he pulled his glasses and a book into bed with him so he could "read" while he patiently waited for someone to come get him up. This made me so happy!

Impossible to get all 3 looking at the same time. Or without one crying (It was Wills, because he was having to sit by Ephram)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Ephram at Three Months

So I started back to work for a week. Then I took off for a week for Ephram's surgery. Then I went back to work for good. I was dreading going back to work and I was dreading Ephram's surgery even more. It's nice to have both of those things behind us. Now we can get into a normal routine!

Ephram has still been in our room this month. His surgery completely messed up his sleeping and eating schedule, so for a while there it was like having a newborn again. Thankfully he is getting back on track. He will be getting evicted from our room very soon and the sleep training will commence!

He is smiling machine these days. We miss his old smile, but his new smile is beautiful as well! We aquaphor his face every night and he LOVES it. He just smiles and laughs the entire time. I usually do this after I have massaged the vitamin E oil and put the scar ointment on his scar. He does not like that at all. I had read from other cleft mommies that their kiddos didn't like it and they weren't kidding. He gets really ticked when we do this. Luckily putting the aquaphor on his cheeks settles him back down pretty quick.

He really loves to people watch. Whether it is Wills or the other babies in his kindermusik class, people watching can keep him pretty occupied. He also loves his activity gym, particularly in the light mode. He is halfway rolling over from back to front. He gets on his side, but hasn't quite figured out how to get his arm out of the way to get all the way over.

Three Month Stats:
Weight: 14 lbs 12 oz
Clothing Size: 3 months are out, 3-6 months are the best fit now.
Nicknames: Buddy, Brother
Must Haves: Lillebaby carrier is still my best friend! Wubanubs are also still very important. His activity gym is a favorite of his.

Brothers side by side:

Wills                          Ephram

Wills hasn't really made any advancements in regards to Ephram over the last month. I am sure all the extra attention Ephram required post op and me going back to work had something to do with this. Hopefully now that we are into a routine things will improve.

Lip Repair

Our pre op orders were no formula 8 hours prior to surgery and no breastmilk 4 hours prior to surgery. My plan was to wake him up and feed him at midnight and 4 am. It is like he knew what needed to be done, and actually woke up at 11:30 pm and 3:30 am to eat. This meant he was going to have to go 5 hours before surgery without eating. That was a long stretch for our big guy and he had only done it a handful of times. I was extremely nervous that we were going to have one ticked off baby on our hands while waiting for his surgery. I had nothing to worry about. We had to be at the hospital at 6:30, so we got him up at 6 and put him in a disposable diaper and then put him in his car seat. He stayed asleep during all of this and did not wake up until we had been at the hospital for about an hour. When he did wake up, we got him out of his car seat and he was perfectly content to watch all the other kids. They called us back around 8 and asked us all the pre op questions about last time he ate, is he taking any medications, etc. We answered these same questions for probably 5 different people. We met two nurses, a social worker, the CRNA and the anesthesiologist. We changed Ephram into his tiny hospital gown and walked him back towards the OR.

On our way, we actually saw our surgeon, fellow and resident arriving. Dr. Smith told us he had had his breakfast and coffee and he was ready to go! The OR nurse took Ephram from me and headed back to the OR. I saw her showing him off to everyone on her way back. They told us they never get tired of seeing the babies and always want to oh and ah over them. She told us if they were still going at 9:40 she would call us. I did really well handing Ephram over and was so proud of myself for keeping it together. Charles' expected me to be a hot mess, so I think he was pretty proud too! My mom arrived at the hospital right after Ephram went back for surgery. The three of us decided to get some breakfast and coffee at the hospital while we waited. At 9:40 the nurse called to say it would be another 20 minutes or so. About 20 minutes later, Dr. Smith called to let us know he was out of surgery. We headed over to recovery and he showed us a picture of the repair before he covered it up with the tape.

He answered Charles' questions about stitches and some other things I wasn't really paying attention too. Then we got to go see our sweet boy. He was awake from the anesthesia and he was not happy. They had us feed him with the syringe and he took almost an ounce of breastmilk and then he was back asleep in my arms. This is when I lost it. Ephram looks like a completely different baby and it has been really hard to get used to. Almost 2 weeks later, I still look at him and marvel at how different he looks. We were in recovery for almost an hour, and then we were taken to our room. The care at Children's was wonderful. The rooms are not. Our room was very small and had one chair that stretched out to a twin size bed and was extremely uncomfortable. We had to ask for extra chairs and there was no table. I thought it was really strange that the sleeping arrangement was for one person. Charles and I had both planned on staying the night, but due to the sleeping options, we decided he should just go home to sleep. Ephram was given morphine, Motrin and Tylenol with codeine for his pain. He was also given three doses of an antibiotic. At one point, the IV that was in his foot came out. Since the antibiotic and morphine were given through the IV we had to have it put back in. This was probably the worst part of our stay. They tried in his right arm and couldn't get it. They eventually got it in the left, but it took a long time and there were lots of tears. It felt like we were back in the hospital after his birth because they came in frequently to check how much he was eating and his wet/dirty diapers. The next morning our resident came by to check on us. They said his eating was good and we were cleared to go home. We stopped at the pharmacy on our way and were home before noon.

Discharged!

Ephram had to be fed by syringe until Sunday. This was the part we had been dreading and it was as awful as we anticipated. He ate 2-3 ounces by syringe every 2-3 hours and screamed and cried the entire time he was eating. It was hard on all of us! He was so happy on Sunday when he got his bottles back and so were we!

Yay for bottles!

Tape fell off, but nasal stints still in.

Our post op appointment was the Tuesday after surgery. His taping had fallen off on Sunday, so they just had to remove the stitch and nasal stints. Dr. Smith looked at him and was pleased with the results. They gave us some cleaning/treatment instructions. For the next week we were to clean with a hydrogen peroxide/water solution and then use something like aquaphor on the scar. After the week is up, we will start massaging vitamin E oil onto the scar and finish with a scar fading ointment they gave us. We are supposed to do this twice a day for four months. Ephram has a follow up scheduled for 3 months post lip repair. It has been almost two weeks and it is amazing how well he has healed already!

1 week post op.

2 weeks post op.

Pre Op

Ephram had his lip repair surgery on January 8th. Before he could have the surgery, we had a few pre op appointments to get through. 

He had his two month well check on Friday January 3rd. Charles wanted me to ask our pediatrician about Ephram's breathing. When he breathes in, his chest sinks in a lot more than expected. His doctor said it is called pectus excavatum. Don't google it, because I did and it totally freaked me out because they only show worst case scenarios. Turns out Charles had it when he was little and he out grew it, so hopefully Ephram will too. Our pediatrician did recommend an echocardiogram at some point because there can be some heart issues associated with it. Since we were scheduled for surgery the next week, we decided to go ahead and have it done. We didn't want to risk the anesthesiologist being uncomfortable with it and canceling the surgery. 

On Monday, January 6th we had our pre op appointment with our surgeon. They gave us our instructions which were no formula 8 hours before surgery, no breast milk 4 hours before, and clear pedialyte or water 2 hours before. We were told to check in at 6:30 Wednesday morning and that Ephram was first up at 8:30. 

We then went over to Children's to check in for the echo and EKG. Definite benefit of Charles still being at OU was that they worked us in so quickly and he talked to the pediatric cardiologist directly. Ephram did awesome for his testing and looked pretty cute too!