One Month and Myrtle Beach

I am a bit late in this post...forgive me!

Andy turned one month on June 18th.  We were down in Myrtle Beach for Eddie's summer regional meeting-- they have this every summer and growing up, it was always so much fun to go to.  I was a little lot nervous about the thought of all four of us in a hotel room for 3 nights, but we thought, hey, let's do it.  I was going to stay at home with the boys, but my parents were going to be in Myrtle Beach too, so I wouldn't have had much help at home if I had stayed here. 

Long story short, the boys did much better than I anticipated.  Cal played SO hard during the day that he was exhausted at nap time and night time-- so much so that Andy screaming didn't wake him.  Phew!  There were two beds in the room, so Eddie stayed in one, and I stayed in the other with the bassinet (pretty romantic, huh???).  Cal's pack n play was in the corner and the room was full! Cal had the BEST time with his cousins, Jackson and Catherine.  We were all in a row of hotel rooms so we pretty much took over the floor with all of our stuff :)  Cal and Jackson were so much fun to watch together.  They are going to continue being the best of buddies.  They would run down the halls together screaming at the top of their lungs.  I am pretty sure the hotel was ready for us to leave....

Like a ding bat, I forgot my memory card for my camera, so I only took a few pictures with my iPhone:

Poolside: pimping in the shades

Hugging it out

Jackson put his own glasses on

Swimming with Daddy

June 2011: Cal, Catherine, Jackson

My little Coppertone Kid!  I loaded the sunscreen on him every 20 minutes and he got soooo tan still!

A funny story about the regional meeting-- Saturday night is the awards night where the financial advisors receive recognition for various things from the previous year (Eddie won a bunch of awards: yay, Ed!  So proud of him...).  Well, you get all dressed up and have a nice meal, etc.  They provide a sitter service for the kiddos.  Cal was having a great time with Jackson, and Andy was still having a tough time with his spitting up/screaming spells.  The ladies who were the sitters were SO sweet and loved having Andy there.  I told them to call me when it was time to feed him.  I sat down at the table for 5 minutes and my phone went off that he was ready to eat.  I went out and sat in a chair with a blanket over me and started feeding him.  Well, I was wearing a one shouldered dress.  The side without with shoulder slipped right down and I could feed without problem.  Then, I tried to switch him to the other side...and I couldn't get the strap down.  He was screaming and rooting and trying to latch onto anything in sight.  I calmly went into the bathroom and into a stall where I was able to lift my dress up using one hand while holding him with the other.  I stood in the stall while he nursed and I started thinking about getting my dress back down.  It was fully lined and fit closely enough that I would need two hands to shimmy the thing back into place.  Hmmm....  I texted Eddie that I needed my mom to come to the bathroom.  By this point, I am having a hot flash, I have spit up running down my belly and my leg and I am about to freak out.  My mom comes into the bathroom and in my ever-so-dramatic fashion, I flung open the stall door and stood there in black heels, hanky panky undies, a dress around my neck, a baby eating, and spit up pouring down my body.  My mom bent over laughing at the scene.  Just picture that, will ya?  HAHAHA!

We got home on Sunday night (father's day!) and I was up and at 'um for Andy's one month check up Monday morning.  I dropped Cal off with my mom and they headed to the pool together and I took Andy to the check up.  I was nice and early.  24 hours early, apparently.  I made the appointment for TUESDAY, but when I entered it into my iCal, I must have hit Monday instead....ugh!!  Luckily they were able to fit me in that same day, at noon.  My mom was fine to keep Cal a bit longer, thankfully... me=MESS.

ANYWAY, the check up went MUCH better than the previous visit.  I was anxious to talk to her about his spitting up (still doing it A LOT) and also if the medicine he was on was even working. 

Here are little man's stats:
Weight: 10 pounds, 14 ounces--- 75th percentile
Height: 21.88 inches----50th percentile
Head circumference: 38.5 cm---- 50th percentile

Interesting things about the above stats:
- homie has gained 18 ounces in 11 days.  Doctors aim for 1/2 an ounce to an ounce a day...homie is getting enough food from me! He is thriving!
-Since Andy is reluctant to take a paci, he takes to food for comfort-- hence the spitting up (he's getting too much and has to regulate) and hence the massive growth spurt...
- Cal boy has always been in the 90th or above percentile with his weight...Andy might be on his way to catching him!
- Cal's head is ALWAYS in the 95th percentile (hehe)-- Andy has a little nugget head!  (AND I LOVE IT!)

We decided to stop the Zantac since I haven't noticed a huge difference in the spitting up.  We think it might be colic that is causing his crying spells.

We also decided that I would continue trying with the paci.  I have started doing the face down football hold that I did with Cal and that seems to be working-- it calms him down more and he keeps the paci in (he doesn't have a choice, I am holding it in for him!). 

Sleeping:
This is still a tough area for us.  Andy is not sleeping in bed with us (like Cal did); he's been in the bassinet next to the bed.  Our doctor encouraged us to move the bassinet out of our room, and into his room-- that way, he wouldn't hear our every turn, cough, yawn, etc, and we wouldn't hear him working to get comfy.  I moved him out that night and I slept much better... even though he was up, I was sleeping harder with him not in the room. 
I am still putting him on his side to sleep since he spits up SO much and so frequently.  It was almost choking him in his sleep...plus, he seems to prefer his side.  Actually, he really prefers his tummy.  Many of you long time readers will remember my struggles with this with Cal.  I was terrified of SIDS and didn't want to let him sleep on his stomach...but that was the only way he would sleep (not in his swing...).  Our doctor is encouraging us to place him on his back, as that has been proven to be the safest...  (as I write this, Andy is napping on his tummy and is snoozing away.  I won't do it for night time, but a little nap on his tummy might be okay now and then... Oh, and I think being on his stomach helps alleviate some of his belly pains he has.

Our check up was on a Monday, we had Andy's one month pictures/family pictures with Tamara Lackey on Tuesday and Eddie's family was arriving Tuesday night, and we were leaving for the mountains of Virginia Wednesday morning!  BUSY few days!  More on those shortly...

(the boys are sleeping so I am trying my best to catch up!)