Derek Dislikes Blankets

This weekend wasn't one of our better weekends - Derek was pretty unhappy this weekend and only wanted to be upright and held.   We did have a few moments of fun where he was happy and this was one of them.  We were playing a fun game called "Kick off the Blanket":

I feel like we tried everything...and still have no idea why it was such a rough weekend.  Thankfully by Sunday night (once he finally went to sleep), things were back to normal and he was his happy self.  

Date Night

Tae & Steve happened to be down in the area Saturday night and offered to babysit for us.  We jumped at the opportunity for some time to ourselves.  This was the second time we had been out without Derek.  The first time when my mom was down but it was more stressful than enjoyable because we were working against time constraints.  We learned our lesson and this time we hung out a bit first and then headed out to dinner at Enjoy.  The food all looked good and was a toss up between two dishes for me.  I choose the blue & bacon sirloin steak and their famous mashed potatoes.  It was good but not as wonderful as I remembered it.  (It seems to be a common theme lately with me - I'm beginning to wonder if my tastes have changed.)  When we go back, I'm ready to try the other dish.  It was enjoyable to go to a nice dinner out at probably one of the nicer restaurants in Apple Valley and not have to pay a dime for it or worry about rushing home.  And we've got enough left on our gift card for another future date night (Thanks Christopher!).  Then we headed out to Grand Slam for some mini golf.  The course was not one of the better designed courses as many of the holes ran right into the start of the next - no separation between the greens but we still had fun.  I lost by 3 strokes!  We did get a glimpse into the future about 13 years from now seeing all of the middle school kids hanging out.  It was about 8:30 pm and we were exhausted and headed home for the babysitting report.  Derek was a wonderful little boy for them - quite a change because he had been kind of fussy for us.  He must love his babysitters - thanks Tae & Steve!

Busy Week

This week has been one of the busiest of my maternity leave.  I'm so thankful it's the weekend and am hoping for some rest and relaxation this weekend.  Monday started out with the test of the "cat lady" daycare.  Derek and I went there at 9 am to just hang out for a few hours.  Lori, the daycare lady, confessed that she was really nervous to have me over.  The time together went really well and we got along really great.  Plus, I had the opportunity to see her interact with the kids more and she got the opportunity to ask questions about Derek (and get to know us better).  The cat didn't bother me at all.  I don't know why some bother me and others don't - maybe it's the type or the person's home....who knows.  We do have the question of how an allergic reaction would present in Derek on our list of questions to ask the pediatrician.  The kids loved playing with Derek and he had a lot of fun - he was exhausted after 2 hours and just crashed which was wonderful because our next stop was the Mall of America to go walking.

Since being cleared for exercise, I have really enjoyed walking at the MOA  (Derek likes it to and we try to time the walks during one of his naps).  On Monday, I was walking and ran into one of the moms from the Parents and Baby class Mike and I are taking.  We chatted for a bit and made a walking date for next Monday.   :-)  Her little girl was born on Derek's due date so it will be nice to have another person to compare stories and strategies with.

Tuesday we didn't have any plans which turned out to be good because Derek was quite fussy.  It was a lot of holding him and rocking.  I was sure glad when Mike got home and even skipped water aerobics so I could take a nap.

Wednesday we went grocery shopping and got some great deals on food and then had our Parents and Baby class.  We learned more songs to sing with Derek.  I need a little hand out because most of them I've never heard of or have a hard time remembering the hand/feet/arm/etc actions.  Thursday was my work out day - I walked at the MOA with a friend and since Mike didn't have volleyball, I got to go to water aerobics.  It was a physically exhausting day, but I felt great when it was over.  Today we had to run a few more errands to get the necessary paperwork completed so I could go back to work soon.  Whewwww..what a busy week.

Baptism Date

We heard back from all of the godparents and grandparents regarding dates that work for Derek's baptism.  The big day will be April 10, 2011 @ 9:45 am at Shephard of the Valley Lutheran Church with lunch to follow back at our house.  Mark your calendars!

Birth Photographer

Like our wedding, the birth of our child is one of those "once in a lifetime" moments and we wanted to experience it versus be caught up in the craziness of trying to take pictures.  So we decided to hire a birth photographer.  She just finished up the work and sent us all of the pictures, slideshow, and our birth book.  Here's the link to view the slideshow (we think she did a pretty wonderful job) - there is sound, so be sure your volume is turned up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJWfwUlqMs

And the birth announcements have been ordered!  

The Magic of 6 weeks

I had heard that something magically happens to babies around the time they turn 6 weeks old and it was a few days after Derek turned 6 weeks that he started sleeping longer at night (some nights are still a struggle) and is much more active and talkative during the day.  It's actually kind of fun to watch him get so excited about his toys and learning the world around him.  This was taken after changing his diaper today:

Derek at 7 weeks old

Struggle to Find Daycare

Finding daycare for Derek has been the thorn in our side.  We have a center lined up as a back-up if needed but we would prefer to find someone in home for daycare that is located close to our work.  Given that location, we created a spreadsheet with the list of licensed providers and started calling people.  Mike must have made close to 30 phone calls and only found 3 people with an infant opening.  There are strict restrictions on how many children under the age of 2 a licensed provider can have.  Most people can only have 3 total kids under 2 and once the spot is filled, it's filled for quite a long time.

We interviewed the first lady and really liked her but struggled with the size of dedicated daycare space in her home.  There really would be no way to keep Derek from the "big kid toys" with small parts because it only the size of a small living room.

The second woman we really liked - especially her home.  She was a bit more timid and reserved that we would like and got the impression that we were some of the first people to interview her.  She had been doing daycare for about 10 years but just become licensed earlier last summer so she could take on more than one family. We felt confident that she would follow our wishes and we knew that we would have to just take more of the lead in directing his care.  I wanted to interview one more person because both woman were so different.

So a week later we interviewed a third woman who has a very strong personality and a nice home, but has a cat.    And there are some big questions with that.  Will Derek be allergic like I am?  How much hair would he bring home with him?  Would it affect me, especially if I want to go and nurse once during the day?

We talked about it and decided to go with the second woman.  We left a message for her Wed to figure out next steps (sign contract, deposit, etc).  Thursday comes and goes without hearing back.  Then nothing on Friday either.  Finally, Friday evening, she emails us to tell us that the spot is no longer available.  To say I was upset would be an understatement.  Mike had to write back to her because I would have not been able to bite my tongue.  I just felt like it was so unprofessional to not tell us sooner and to do it over email.

So the scramble began and we called references for the cat lady and decided Sat morning to go with her and left her a message to see about next steps.  We didn't hear back from her either.....until Monday.  Thankfully she said that the spot was ours.  The big question hanging over our head is the issue of the cat.   She is willing to work with us on the issue and we are going to arrange a time for me to go over and just hang out and see if the cat bothers me.  Until we know for sure though, we are not letting go of our spot at the daycare center.

VCUG

Derek had his next appointment to follow-up on his enlarged kidney.  His appointment was for a VCUG, which stands for voiding cystourethrogram, which is basically a procedure where a catheter is inserted into to the bladder and dye is injected.  We arrived at Children's Hospital, parking in the close ramp this time, and went to radiology.  We had to wait for some time for a radiologist to become available.  When he did, Mike and I had to help hold Derek down while they inserted the catheter.  He normally cries during his diaper changing, and this was that plus more.  There was no comforting him during this procedure.  Once they got it in, we got to give him the bottle we brought and he was finally happy.  In the meantime, they injected the dye into his bladder and we watched it (through a series of x-rays) move through his system.  Then the nurse poured water on Derek to get him to try to pee.  He is great at this during diaper changes, but not when he needed to.  She had to use two full big cups to get him to go.  Needless to say, when we were done with the test he was soaked.

The radiologist saw no sign of reflux and explained that the next step was to do the test to check for blockage.  Uuuggghhh....this was not what we wanted to hear.  Then we went upstairs to meet with the Urologist at Children's to officially tell us the bad news.  He took a look at the scans, asked some questions about Derek's eating/peeing habits, and examined him.  Then the doctor shocked us both.  He said we should discontinue Derek's amoxicillin and come back in two months for a follow-up ultrasound.  The doctor did not think it was a blockage.  WOW!  We go back in two months to continue to monitor his kidney but no more tests (or possibility for surgery) right no.  Yay  :-)

Growing Little Boy

Around New Year's we weighted Derek again to see how he was progressing.  He's definitely our growing little boy - he weighed 9 lbs and is no longer in newborn diapers. 

Today, we weighed him again and he's up to 9 lbs 13 oz!!!  He is eating well and getting bigger - he hardly fits in the box any more.  We'll need to find a new way to weigh him.  All of his newborn clothes are packed away now too.  I remember looking at those newborn clothes when we received them at the baby showers wondering how a baby that was coming out of me was going to fit into something so big.  He's growing up so fast!