Rice Cereal

At 5 months of age, we have started Zachary on rice cereal. He is not thrilled about it, but he will eat it. He gets very frustrated with Mommy because that darn spoon just doesn't constantly drip cereal. I think more may get on his face, in his hair, in his ears, in his eyes, and down his legs than actually in his mouth.

Pneumonia

Well, Zachary gave Mommy and Daddy quite a scare at the beginning of the month. On Tuesday, March 3rd, I (Mommy) went to Urgent Care because I could hardly get out of bed. I was diagnosed with strep. Scared to death that I had been breast feeding my 4 month old, I stayed away from him for 24 hours (thanks to mom). By Friday, I noticed that both kids were getting a cold. On Saturday both kids had a cough, but Zachary's was much worse than Kylie's. On Sunday, it was still terrible.

In the evening I called the pediatrician's office, and the nurse practitioner said that it sounded like a common cold, and as long as he was eating, peeing and pooping normal, he was probably fine. On Monday the kid just seemed to be worse, and by Tuesday he had a fever. I took him to the doctor and saw the nurse practitioner (there is a pattern here). She took a listen to his chest and diagnosed him with bronchiolitis (farther down the bronchial than bronchitis). She sent us home with a breathing machine and meds to do every 4 hours. She said to expect him to sound worse in the next 24 hours before he got better. Frankly, Tuesday he seemed fine after going to the doc. On Wednesday he started in with a fever again. I called and spoke to the doctor, and she said that the fever was OK and to give him Tylenol. If his breathing changed, take him to the hospital. The Tylenol kicked the fever and Zachary seemed in pretty good spirits, still eating and sleeping just fine. On Thursday (over 24 hours on the breathing machine) he didn't seem any better. He had a low grade fever, and I gave him more Tylenol. I put him to bed, and when Mike came home at 1 am, he woke me up to tell me that he could hear Zachary breathing downstairs. He decided to go get him to have him sleep with us where we could listen to him breathe. The next thing I hear is Mike's panicked voice telling me that Zachary had a white film around his mouth and was breathing deep. Off to the emergency room! Good thing I am married to a cop...I'm sure we flew.

The ER doc diagnosed Zachary with pneumonia and scared us to death by contemplating transferring him to a PICU. The on site pediatrician decided to take the case, and we stayed for 3 days at the hospital.

Poor Zachary...he was the classic case of Pavlov's conditioning. By day 2, every time anyone walked in with a stethoscope, he started crying. Thankfully, he is much better now. He has a Well Baby doctor appointment this Thursday to follow up.

Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, etc. etc! I think I can honestly say this has been my favorite Christmas to date. Kylie showed me the true meaning of the holiday - being with family. Mike and I sort of stressed about what to get her this year - really needing to stay on a budget. We wanted to really wow her since she seemed to totally be into it this year, but all she asked for was a "pink Barbie" from Santa. She got a couple of Barbies but was happiest with a $1 set of princess crayons and a $1 mini Tinkerbelle lunch box for them to go in. (Michaels had awesome stocking stuffers - keep that in mind for next year if you have little ones.) She was super sweet, opening her Barbie saying "This is exactly what I asked for!" (Mommy wipes back tears.) But quite honestly, Kylie would have been thrilled just having Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and baby brother home in the same room together playing with her. She is pretty easy to please in that regard.

Uncle Nick's nephew Dave spent Christmas with us. It was nice to have company. We had ham, green bean cassarole, cheesy potatoes, salad, cheesecake and cookies. We kept it pretty simple this year, and it turned out really nice. The best thing is having a yummy, home cooked meal with plenty of leftovers!

Of course, Zachary slept most of the day. I had to add this picture of him with Grandma because it is beautiful. Dave brought his super-dooper camara and took some awesome pictures. Kylie and Mom are so darned photogenic. Nice.

The night ended with Kylie cuddling up to me in bed. "Merry Christmas Mom," she said to me. I said, "Merry Christmas Kylie." She gave me a big hug and a smacker right on the lips. "I love you so much," she said to me. She makes my heart melt.....

One Month Old

Time sure does fly! Zachary is one month old. He had his one month check up at Dr. Pendleton's on Monday. He sure has been busy growing over the last three weeks! He is 10 pounds 3 ounces and 22.5 inches long. He is doing really well....in the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for length. His baby acne is still pretty bad, and the doctor said it will clear up somewhere between 6-8 weeks. He had his second hepatitis shot today and handled it like a champ. (I hate watching those shots!) Mike is such a chicken that he conveniently stayed in the waiting room with Kylie so she could "play." Ha!
Zachary's favorite thing to do is to eat. Unfortunately he really likes to do it at night. He is up every two hours or so. He sleeps longer periods of time during the day. Needless to say, Mommy is tired!
Mike goes back to work this Friday, and I go back next Monday. We have both been home for the last six weeks. Time has gone by so quickly!

Phoenix Zoo

Today we took the kids to the zoo. Kylie is such a wimp. We have got to get her out more. It took her about an hour to get used to the idea of being at the zoo. Luckily, my friend Stephanee and her son Nicolas were at the zoo, so Kylie got to visit a while before walking around. Seeing Nicolas fine with being there was helpful.

After eating lunch with Stephanee, Max, Nicolas and their friends, we were off. Kylie was immediately fascinated by the giraffes and the ostrich. Then, we were off to the lion enclosure. It took a few minutes to get Kylie out of the stroller to look at them. Once she climbed up on Mike, she was alright. We didn't stay long though. After the lions, we saw the rhinos. Wow, are they huge animals or what? One was breathing really hard, and puffs of dust would go up all around it each time it exhaled. Ky got a kick out of that. Then, we went to see the baboons. Did you know that baboons have the largest fangs in the animal kingdom? Anyhow, I didn't take any pictures of them because baboons just don't seem to do anything appropriate. Kylie immediately noticed their red butts and asked Mike why their butts were so red. Then another sat in front of us and started, um, entertaining himself. We left, only to turn around to the turtles. Check out that picture above! Mike commented that the poor animals at the zoo get no privacy. Kylie responded, "Why Daddy? They are only playing." Alright, off to the next.....

It turned out that today was kind of a bum day at the zoo. Apparently today was "vet day" and all of the animals got their shots and check ups. Really, they should close the zoo on days like that. They were either hiding or sleeping (just like Zachary!).

Poor Zachary has really bad baby acne right now. I know there is nothing I can do about it, but it looks terrible. It almost looks like it hurts! He slept most of the time at the zoo. (As you can see!) He likes to be carried around in the Baby Bjorn or pushed in the stroller. Both kids were clearly exhausted by the time we left, not to mention Mom and Dad were pooped too.

Swinging....

Mike got out the baby swing today and put it together. Zachary loves the swing. I know he looks like a pile of sweet baby mush here, but he is so stinking adorable. He snuggles in, grunts a little, and then he is out. Kylie really doesn't get the concept of it going automatically and wants to push him in it so badly.

Zachary is still doing most of his sleeping during the day. Mike and I try to keep him awake, but it doesn't work. He is sleeping 2 1/2-3 hour chunks at night. So, I get some sleep. Last night he had a tummy ache and was up from 11:50 until about 3:30....urgh. Really, he is a good baby though. He rarely fusses.

Kylie is doing a little better with him. She gets jealous. I have a pillow that I lay Zachary on when I nurse him. She likes to come over and lay her head on it too. Today, she even fell asleep on it. Too sweet....

(BTW, yes I realize the pictures are off center. I'm not THAT bad of a photographer...it's just that the swing was ON when I took them!)

Zachary's Favorite Place

Beginning at the hospital, Zachary's favorite spot has been laying on Mike's chest. He curls himself up into a little ball and snuggles his chin into Mike's chest. It is adorable!