rough week...

It all started on Monday morning. Fussy, fussy, fussy can best describe Vaughn all week.

On Sunday, after picking Dave up from the airport, we all (Dusty, Jamie, and our family) decided to go get something to eat. Since Dixie was at the groomers, we didn't have a ton of time. We ended up going to NYPD right off the exit. Dave was positive that I'd be able to find something to eat at a restaurant that only serves pizza and Italian dishes. There was basically no dairy free dishes except for one salad and a few sandwiches. I actually was not sure about the sandwiches because of the bread, but Dave insisted Vaughn's stomach is stronger and it would be fine. So, I ended up eating the sandwich to find Vaughn's horrible poop the next morning. It didn't end there. He was fussy, seemed irritable, and acted very uncomfortable. He ended up pooping four more times that day when he has been going once every other day. It was awful. It smelled so bad that Rocco wouldn't even go into his room! At one point, I opened his window to let a draft in. Rocco ran right over to the window with his nose pressed up against the screen. He was triyng not to smell the squalid smell!

The doctor told us that when this happens, it can remain in the baby's system for five to seven days. While we were waiting it out, two teeth decided they wanted to come in which bothered Vaughn even more! I could see the whites of the teeth and swollen gums really well by Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, Vaughn was miserable. He did okay during Stroller Strides on Friday and any other time we were out, but while we were at home, it was not a pretty sight. No matter what I did, I couldn't make him happy. Last night, I finally felt the teeth come through the skin.

Today, he was finally a happy smiley baby again from the moment he woke up. The only time he cried  was when he had to be in the car. He may had been a lot happier, but unfortunately his poop still doesn't look good and the poor little guy also developed a small cough today. Dave and I have both been sick so I'm praying he doesn't get what we had. With the week Vaughn had, I hope he feels much better this week for both his sake and mine :).It breaks my heart to see him not feel well when there is nothing I can do about it.

Ssss... [Smiley] [Slobbery] [Sweaty] [Stinky]

***6 MONTHS***

Lately, I find myself using the following four "s" words often when it comes to Vaughn...Smiley, Slobbery, Sweaty and Stinky! In fact, the inspiration for this post came from me using all four words in one sentence earlier today.

Smiley

All it takes for Vaughn to smile now is for anyone to look at him. As soon as I look into his eyes, he returns my gaze with a huge smile. Often, the tongue comes out, the nose crinkles, his eyes get big, his head moves around, and then there it is, a huge smile. It is often followed by some kind of noise or squeal. He is starting to laugh more but it doesn't happen often. To get him to actually giggle, I have to do something pretty silly. His smiles truly do light up my world. It signifies how happy he is and in turn, how happy I am to be his mommy. 

Slobbery

When Vaughn smiles, there's often slobber dripping out of his open mouth. Well, there's slobber with every kind of Vaughn face. When he's happy, sad, crying, yawning, hanging out, you name it, there is slobber. Since he was two months old we have said, "he must be teething" because of how much spit comes out of his mouth daily. That was four months ago and guess what! No teeth! Vaughn is just one of those super slobbery babies.

On good days, I only have to change his bib two or three times. On an extra "wet" day, he sports up to seven or eight bibs. I remember thinking we had way too many bibs and hoped that people would stop getting them for us. Now, I wish people would keep them coming! Sometimes, I have to do laundry only because there are no bibs clean. Once he uses them once they need washed because they get all hard and crunchy once they dry. Also, since we're on the subject of bibs, I wish I didn't have to use them because it hides all his super cute clothes. I guess I rather the clothes stay dry.

The question remains as to how long this slobbering will last since babies teethe for a long time. I better load up on the bibs now!

Sweaty
The boy can sweat! In fact, this morning we went for a hike with Alicia and Jayce at the White Tank Mountains. I dressed him in a tank one piece outfit since it was going to warm up quickly (calling for 90's today). During the hike, he only got a little clammy, but once we were home, as I lifted him out of the car seat, I noticed his clothes were soaked. I had to change him since he was so wet...from sweat!

Any time he sleeps, he wakes up in a pool of sweat. I asked the pediatrician about it a while ago and she just asked if either Dave or I sweat? Dave said he kind of does, but I know he does not sweat nearly as much as our little man.

As it heats up outside, I'm noticing that poor little Vaughny Poo is perspiring by the gallons (that's what it seems like). He has a pair of sandals but I don't even put those on him anymore because of the sweat. It actually leaves a white residue on the shoes from all the salty sweat. I have no idea what we're going to do when it's in the 100's this summer.

Stinky
When we had to introduce formula to Vaughn, his poo got stinky. But now that he's getting fruits, vegetables and cereal, watch out! Man, he stinks so bad, I have to air out his room. Thank goodness we have a Diaper Genie to help trap all the smell. His poops are so stinky, it even makes Dave gag. The one thing I'm thankful for now is that it's not extremely soft so it actually stays in the diaper. Yay for harder poop. Haha! I have no idea how I would cope if it was that smelly in his diaper and on his clothes. One thing I do know is that the boy can blow it up!

Choke Hold

***6 MONTHS***
Apparently, Dave has been letting watch Vaughn watch too much UFC as he has conquered the choke hold! Okay, so he doesn't really know how to do a choke hold, but he has caused my vision to start blacking out. Ever since Vaughn was a few weeks old, he has been very strong with a super tight grip. Yesterday and again today, he has decided he likes to grab my throat. It's typically when he's tired. He tries to put his head in my collar bone and give me a tight squeeze. Then out of nowhere, he grabs my neck so fast, I don't have much time to stop him. His tiny hand wraps around my neck muscle (the one that goes from my head down to my collar bone; I think it's a muscle) and he doesn't let go. Yesterday, before I was able to pry his fingers off of me, I started to lose my vision. Thankfully, we were next to the bed so I put him down and regained full vision. Today, I was able to keep him from doing it too long.

I hope this doesn't become a habit of his. If it does, I guess I will need to learn some jujitsu to keep him from choking me out. haha!

*Baby Steps* Milestones and Benchmarks...5 MONTHS OLD

Our little boy celebrated his half birthday yesterday. I feel like I say this every month, but these past six months feel like it has taken a long time to get to but at the same time, it has flown by. Life without Vaughn would be so weird because he is our life now. Although he's only been in our lives for six months, it feels like he's always been apart of us. We love him so much. At five months, Vaughn has been so much fun. We've introduced some fun foods, he started to sit up, he is mobile via rolling from one end of a room to the other, he smiles and laughs all the time, he is easily entertained, and he is very aware of his surroundings. Something else I feel like I'm going to be saying a lot is, "I love this stage!" Five months was a stage I absolutely loved. I am excited to see what Vaughn at six months adds to our family.

3/12/10:
To celebrate Vaughn's fifth month of life and Grammy's visit, we went camping! Vaughn did a great job in the cold weather. Thank goodness we had a pop-up camper to stay in.

Vaughn weighs 12 pounds (according to our home scale)!

3/16/10: At the Buckeye baby story time this morning, Vaughn tried sitting up all by himself. Over the past few days, he has been leaning forward trying to sit up to look at the world around him.

3/18/10: Vaughn rolled a complete roll. He started on his back and went right on to his stomach and back onto his back again. He did it while in the living room on the floor so I could start dinner. He was pretty happy about it with a huge grin on his face.

3/25/10:
Today was the first day in over two months that when Vaughn pooped, he was able to stay in the same outfit! We were at baby story time at the Litchfield Park library this morning when I smelled him. I was afraid to look so I waited until we were out at the car. I slowly unbuttoned his outfit to find NOTHING on his legs, back, outfit or socks. I was super excited. I changed him then we went to TJ Maxx.

CARROTS! Vaughn has moved from rice cereal to his first veggie. I am going to make all of his baby food. I was nervous I wouldn't know how or know what to do, but it wasn't that difficult at all. I was expecting Vaughn to make a face when I first put the carrots in his mouth. Instead, he opened up and swallowed then wanted more. Later at Stroller Strides, he was on his tummy and puked some of the carrots up. Hopefully, he doesn't have any other bad reactions...3/27/10: We noticed a red patch of skin on Vaughn's face. We think it's an allergic reaction so we are going to hold off on carrots and other veggies until after we go to the pediatrician. He's still loving his rice cereal! 4/5/10: His face is still red so Dave was a detective and solved the mystery! Instead of the redness being from the carrots, it's from Vaughn sleeping with his face down in his spit all night. Carrots are back in his diet which is a good thing because he sure loves them!

We are almost out of Size 1 diapers (yes, his little baby butt is still in one's) so we decided to try Size 2 and they fit very well. He's officially into 2's. Go Vaughn!

3/28/10: First haircut. Dave trimmed Vaughn's bangs since they were in his eyes and he finally cut the tail off! It was pretty difficult to do since Vaughn's hair is so thin but we managed to cut his hair for the first time.

3/30/10: Tonight, Vaughn sat up all by himself for 15-20 seconds at a time. I even got it on video!

4/4/10: Vaughn celebrated his first Easter and peed in the tub for the first time tonight. It was like a mini water fountain. He had a huge grin on his face after he was finished. Dave was looking elsewhere so he didn't notice it until I told him to look on his arm (yep, he totally peed on daddy).

4/7/10: Our big boy ate his first dinner in his high chair. It was so much easier having him in there instead of the chair on top of the table. He seemed to feel apart of the family. He did a great job eating all of his cereal.

4/9/10: Vaughn had his first official play date/day at the mall with Ryder, Lisa and me. The boys did a GREAT job hanging out in their strollers for a few hours. He chewed on Dino (his stuffed animal lion) the whole time. When we were done shopping, we took them play at the indoor playground. Vaughn surprisingly, loved hanging out in the little boat they had. 

4/10/10:
PEARS! I finally introduced pears. It was hilarious. He opened really big for his first bite, but as soon as the fruit touched his tongue, he started to gag. Poor baby! Even though he continued to make funny faces, he kept opening his mouth super wide ready for more...4/11/10: I mixed the pears with rice cereal; Vaughn tolerates them a lot better.

Vaughn weighs 14.05 pounds (according to our home scale). I was so excited, I got online to see where he is on the baby weight chart to have my bubble bursted because he's still below the 5th percentile. However, he's gaining weight and it's apparent that he's gaining weight (love the newfound rolls on his legs, neck and arms).

Vaughn's first E's

Easter and Earthquake!

The night before Easter, we went to the evening church. We got to enjoy service with our friends, Alicia, Brian and Jayce. After service, we walked through the courtyard to check out the carnival festivities. They had balloon arches everywhere that Vaughn kept looking up to see. He's loved all the different colors. It was the first Easter since we started attending Radiant that I didn't volunteer. We decided to spend Vaughn's first Easter just with him.

On Easter morning, Vaughn was excited to see that the Easter Bunny came to visit him. We had to wait for a long time to go through his Easter basket though because daddy was a little sleepy and wouldn't get out of bed. Once he got a shower, our family gathered in the kitchen so Vaughn could see what goodies the Easter Bunny brought him! Vaughn got some toys, swimming trunks, bibs (as the Easter Bunny notices how much he drools), a car seat toy, book, a colorful pinwheel (his new obsession) and a Johnny Jump Up. His basket was so big, he was able to fit inside, so of course, I had to get pictures.

Dave left to go get our dinner while Vaughn and I stayed at home. Shortly after he left, he called to tell me he had been hit :( A woman rear-ended him without ever touching the brakes. Dave was fine, but the 4-Runner wasn't. A few hours later, Dave finally made it back home with some ham so we could enjoy Easter dinner.

In the afternoon, our family away from home (Nay Nay and Laura) joined us for an early Easter dinner. We had an "Arizona" version of the traditional ham dinner - grilled ham and pineapple kabobs. Nay Nay and Laura brought some other yummy food for our little dinner. Vaughn napped through most of the afternoon until we had to go wake him because of the earthquake.

Well, it wasn't an earthquake, but instead, aftershocks for an earthquake that happened in Mexicali. Regardless of what it acutally was, we were a little scared. We were halfway through our meal when we started to feel something. Laura made a funny face, and Dave told her it was just the air conditioner. Then I looked up to see the dining room light and large house plant swaying from side to side, and said, "that is definitely not the AC." Then, the blinds starting banging against the wall. It was freaky.

We all sat there staring at each other. Laura started to laugh and then said, "I'm laughing, but am kind of scared," as we could feel the ground beneath our feet shaking. It almost felt as if we were on a boat. Dave turned to me wanting me to go get Vaughn, now! I ran up and opened Vaughn's door to find him lying there wide-eyed. He must've felt the shaking, too.

Once we had the baby downstairs, all of the movement stopped. It was only a few minutes after we felt the earthquake when Dave got online to see what was going on. Sure enough, there had been a large earthquake near the Mexico, Arizona, California border and what we felt were aftershocks.

Uncle Dusty came over after the girls left since he was golfing all day. We all hung out and enjoyed the rest of the day together as a family. Dusty even got to see Vaughn try out his Johnny Jump Up for the first time. He was a little confused but totally loved it.

Vaughn's first Easter was an Easter I know that Dave and I will never forget and will retell Vaughn when he's older. Easter Bunny. Car accident. "Family" dinner. Earthquake. Johnny Jump Up. Rest. And of course, celebrating what Easter really means...that our Lord and Savior died on the cross for us so that we could be forgiven. What an amazing day.

We survived...

...the first time I was sick. I always get sick every winter usually a few times. This winter I was sick-free the entire season. As soon as Spring officially started though, I caught some kind of head cold. It started on Friday, March 26 with a super bad headache, sore throat and stuffy nose. I felt fine on Saturday, but then became fully sick by Sunday. The sickness lasted about a week and a half. I sitll have a little bit of a runny nose, flem in my throat and a sore throat in the morning. But...

we survived. It was definitely challenging taking care of a little baby when I didn't feel good. Thankfully, Vaughn stayed healthy the entire time. The breast milk he's getting probably had something to do with that. In a way, I also felt as if he knew I was sick because he was extra cuddly. Typically, when I lay him on my chest, he arches his back and tries to look at me. Or he cries and fights to get off of me. While I was sick, he would just snuggle in, wrap his arms around me neck and love on me. We were also thankful that I wasn't extremely sick with the flu or anything. I'm saving that for next year.