No More Monkey's Sleeping in the Bed

One little Monkey (Toby) was cosleeping in our bed
decided he'd roll over and bonk his head
Mom (who's a PA) and is kinda like a doctor
And the mama says,
"No more Toby co-sleeping in our bed!!!"

Given Toby's extra fussiness and fever, oh, and the fact we were exhausted from now 3 nights of frequent awakenings, we attempted to soothe him by letting him sleep with us. Bad idea. Nothing will wake you up like a loud thud and a loudly screaming (not the usual whining) infant.

I loved co-sleeping. It made us all feel close. But I dislike head injuries and loud thuds with a screaming baby even more. It's the bassinett for Toby from now on. And he is fine. Acting exactly the same, no bruise or bump. It's like it never happened. Physically at least.

I feel like such a bad parent. We had just talked to our doctor that day about him needing to start sleeping on his own so he can learn to self sooth a little and I deduced-especially since he can roll from his belly to his back- it isn't safe. How did we NEVER drop Jesse Jay and only 2 months into Toby have already had him fall out of bed? Parents-0 Toby-3*

*prior offenses commited by said parents include: not protecting him every moment from not so gentle 21 month old brother, shots/vaccines, and the newest incident.

More money headed for the therapy jar, I am certain ;)

Toby's 2 Month STATS

Toby went to the doctor's today for his shots and a well-child check. He went in happy and cooing and left.... asleep?!?

In terms of growth he is making much improvement! He now weights 11 lbs and 6 ounces. This puts him in the 36th percentile for weight. He is 22 and 3/4 inches long (which keeps him in the 35th percentile) and his head is now 15 inches in circumference, which weirdly puts him from the 20th percentile into the 10th. I could swear to you his head is huge.. but apparently I am wrong. Jesse Jay's head was always in the 90-95th percentile. Toby must have his father's head. We all know I have a big head. :)

The doctor checked him out. He still has a red throat from his reflux. The medicine, the expensive stuff, has decreased the episodes somewhat. But they still occur quite frequently. Luckily his lungs don't rattle for a good 5 minutes afterwards anymore. His head is also, a little misshapen. He favors his right and its starting to slant a little more that way. Hardly noticeable, but we were prescribed more tummy time. Don't worry, it isn't so bad they are thinking he will need a helmet or anything. Daddy and I had already noticed and were working on positioning already.

Then, they gave him the shots. His reaction was different from Jesse Jay's. The moment the needle hit his thigh- he was screaming frantically. It's interesting to me, because Jesse Jay looked over at me on his first shots and gave me this "how DARE you betray me mother!" look. At lunch today, I was joking with a friend that.... since we haven't done a great job of protecting Toby from Jesse Jay, that maybe his standards were much lower. :)

A nice lady came in to give the shots. She is very good at her job and wanted to explain each shot to me and tried to assure me that its only natural as a mother to be upset too about him getting shots. -Now, I don't like my babies to hurt, but since I work in medicine I understand the need for these things. So I am the kind of mom that will hold them down and not cry or get uncomfortable.- I told her I understand the shots and she didn't have to give me a run down if she didn't want to.

She looked confused, so I told her I worked next door and I am a provider. She looked relieved. Apparently she hates giving that spiel and it was nicer to just go in and do what she had to do. We gave the shots. Toby cried hard. And this time, it did bother me a little. Toby is always shrieking or making some whiney noise.. but he cried so hard his little eyes turned red. I have never seen that from him. And that hurt my heart.

I cuddled him and put him in his car seat. And he instantly fell asleep! I showed him off to friends at work and took the boys home.

Our doctor recommends NOT giving Tylenol to babies who receive immunizations because there was this study done that showed lower immunity levels in kids who prophylactically got Tylenol than those that did not. Jesse and I already heard about this study and choose not to use Tylenol prophylactically anymore. It was wonderful while it lasted, Jesse Jay slept and had such little problems after his shots. But so far, it hasn't been bad at all. Toby has been a tired guy and not as fussy as he has been the past few nights.

Toby isn't our sleeper. He wakes up every 3-4 hours for a feeding and some cuddling. Luckily he goes back to sleep within a half hour, but it hasn't improved at all. We need to start putting him down tired but awake and let him learn to put himself to sleep. I'm so worried I will lose my cuddly guy. He is pretty much the best snuggler ever.

And I know I've already gone on and on about his smile.. but it's truly killer. Watch out ladies.. Toby has a killer smile. And the cutest coo's too. It's absolutely adorable.

Happy 6th Anniversary

Today, my wonderful husband and I celebrate our 6th anniversary. It's amazing how far we have come in just 6 years. I feel like we just got married, so I am amazed it's already been 6 years! And I can honestly say I love my man MORE than the day I married him. We spent the day with friends walking the downtown Boise Farmers Market. We stayed home this evening and had delicious orange chicken and rice (I love Costco!)

The boys have been a handful lately. Toby is getting bigger and more alert. He is getting into a spit up phase because he decides he is hungry, even when he is full. And then spits up every where.

Jesse Jay has always LOVED brushing his teeth and staring at himself in the mirror. I don't blame him because he IS adorable. We need to work on being a little more humble :) Teeth brushing has become a not fun part of his day though as the dentist instructed us that we HAVE to brush his teeth thoroughly twice a day and even floss. We aren't the greatest of flossers yet. We play around with it some, but the kid bites.

We set up the jumper for Toby. And as always, Jesse Jay thinks its a new toy for him. We let him get in it and check it out. You know, to make sure it's safe and all. It was adorable, as I am sure you can see.

Tonight Toby is unhappy for no known reason. We are all watching Melinda's wii Netflix adaptor disc and relaxing. Tomorrow is Father's day. I still haven't come up with a perfect enough plan for the day for the world's best dad. Hopefully I will figure it out by the morning.

The Adorable Mini-Maddux Men

My guys are getting so cute! I snapped this photo of the two of them snuggling on the couch the other day and I am absolutely smitten with it. Jesse Jay continues to be a good big brother. He still showers Toby with kisses and now likes to put his arm around him or have him nearby. As you can see Toby is working on chunking up.

I'm not sure how much Toby weights now, but I plan to schedule his 2 month well child check with the pediatrician soon. He is doing well though. He has an amazing smile and giggle that lights up his whole face and it's just amazing! He is pretty laid back, like his brother. However, I am starting to see less and less similiarities between him and Jesse Jay. It's so fun to watch him take on his own looks and personality. I am told Toby looks more like his dad. But he definately has my chin.

I wanted you to see how long those eyelashes are on Jesse Jay. They are just beautiful! He is now sleeping in his toddler conversion bed. We are switching rooms soon. Daddy plans to move the convertible toddler bed into the new room first, then switch beds to minimize too many transitions at once. He was doing so well and would stay in bed until we came and got him out. Over the past 3 days he has rediscovered that he could open his door. So it's been a bit more of a struggle.

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As for the parents of these handsome boys, nothing has changed for us. Jesse is still applying for jobs to teach and we are praying an excellent opportunity opens up for him. One of my patients promised to put a good word in for him at one of the local districts, which was so nice.

I enjoy my job immensely. It's so exciting and never ceases to amaze me what I learn- about people and medical conditions in general. I work with some pretty fantastic people and that brings me such joy.
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Well, off to bed. I've thoroughly snuggled my boys and it's time for this mama to get some needed rest so we can get to church in the morning.

First Day Off Since Returning From Maternity Leave

So I am back at work. Four 12 hour shift back to back, a 4 hour shift yesterday and today- finally a day off! I spent the day snuggling my guys, and playing outside in the garden. We had the boys come out with us. Toby love it outside under the sports umbrella again. Jesse Jay is just too curious for his own good. He liked to help me pull weeds though. Well, really he loved just throwing dirt in the bucket and digging in the dirt with sticks. Personally, I am just excited he didn't eat the dirt this time. And he decided he was scared of the sprinkler today. No idea why.

Our garden is starting to produce strawberries. Birds and ants are trying to eat them though. Time to put up some CD's in out willow tree and ant stakes are already up. Jesse was bummed because all the rain we have had are killing his cucumbers. God is good though, the neighbor kids came over and gave him some more cucumber plants out of nowhere!

I had my 45 day evaluation at work. It went really well and I got an excellent evaluation. I really do like my job. And it's nice being just down the street.

Things are going well. We ended tonight with all of us in our bed watching Glee. It was so fun. Especially the part when Jesse Jay started dancing and giggling to the music. What a goof ball.