Tanner's New Toy

When I picked up Tanner at daycare on Thursday, he was sitting in an Exersaucer. WHAT?! I didn't even know he was old enough for one of those! With a couple of blankets for support, he was quite entertained and enjoyed being upright and able to look around the room. It was so cute to see him in one of those. I just happened to mention it to a lady at school the next day, and she offered her son's Exersaucer for free. She also offered to sell me this other "entertainer" for $20 if I was interested! SCORE! She even delivered them to our house!

This thing is AWESOME! It takes up a lot of room, but I still feel that it is worht it. I spent Sunday cleaning it from top to bottom. The removeable toys and food tray went in the top shelf of the dishwasher, while the cloth seat went through the washing machine. I used about 20 Clorox wipes on the rest. Tanner is still a little young for it, but as he grows I'm sure he'll love it! The idea is for the baby to feel like he is mobile by zooming around the outside of the entertainment. I don't have to worry about him literally being mobile because he really doesn't go anywhere! It occupied his attention for about 30 minutes on two different occasions this weekend which is a LONG time for Tanner to do any one thing. He seems to get bored with most activities very easily. As you can see, he watched Sunday football with Daddy while sitting in it. I can see him doing laps around this someday soon too! I love his lil' expressions as he discovers some new toy on it or some new sound from the piano part. Check him out as he looks at the palm tree! LOL!! Another perk is that the seat can be removed if you just want the center part as an entertainment center. I'd say this was definitely worth the money!

Tanner's 1st PAT meeting

What is the Parents As Teachers Program?
The Parents As Teachers Program is a FREE year-round program which offers parents:

• research-based information on how children grow and develop;
• types of activities and toys that will foster learning and nurture development;
• methods of positive discipline; new techniques for problem solving; realistic expectations of child behavior;
• and attitudes that will raise children's self esteem.

Tanner was evaluated last Monday by one of the PAT instructors in my school district. We were contacted by the representative from the school district in which we live, but I was more comfortable going with one from MY school. He was assessed from two perspectives: one being the corrected age being preemie, and the other being his chronological age. The age groupings are quite large, so here is how it all panned out. She went down a list of things that a baby should be able to do by the age of 2.5 mo. Tanner was 16 weeks old at the time of our appointment, but being 7 weeks premature, he was first viewed as 9 weeks old. Tanner had mastered or shown signs of doing ALL of them. So, we moved on to the list of milestones that a baby should accomplish between the ages of 3-5 months old. Tanner was doing about half of of them. For instance, he doesn't try to grab things that are out of his reach, but he can get a very strong grasp on things that ARE within his reach (like my hair!). The list was quite lengthy and there was a lot of Q&A going on. His P.A.T. Educator asked me if we had ever had a conversation back and forth. I said no. Right at that time, Tanner coo'd and I mimicked him. He coo'd right back. This went on for a little bit until all of a sudden it hit me! THAT was a conversation! haha

Waaaaaahhhhh!!!

Tanner had his 4-month old check up yesterday. I had to entertain him in the exam room for a little while, after the nurse and prior to the doctor. That is what the smilie pics are from because he sure wasn't smiling during the 3 shots! He now weighs 15 pounds and 3 ounces. His length is 24.25 inches. His corrected measurements (compared to a baby born 7 weeks early) are all really high because he sure doesn't look preemie anymore! His head circumference and length were in the 70-95%, but his weight was a flat 95th percentile!!!!! LOL!! Meaning, only 5% of kids born 7 weeks early are larger than he is! Too funny! I don't think he looks outrageously fat, but he is a healthy lil' chub-chub these days! When his measurements were compared to 4-mo old babies born full term, he was average on all counts.

I had the option of splitting up his shots yesterday, but decided against it. Not sure why, I had to make a quick decision and panicked. He had done fine the time before, as far as after effects go, but who knows about long term. He did cry so hard that the nurse commented on his "good set of lungs." He cried harder when she showed me how to correctly use a bulb syringe. I had never been shown to occlude or hold one side of the nose shut in order to get a better suction. It makes sense, and sure is way more productive!

My doctor said that due to my concerns about the MMR shot and possible autism connections, she will allow me to split up the measles, from the mumps, from the rubella vaccine. However, I will need to find some other mothers to go in on the vaccines because each separate vial is over $200. I would have to buy them from the pharmacy and do all the legwork. Then, my doc will administer the shots on different occasions. I am very pleased that she is willing to work with me on this. My last pediatrician was not and he is even in the same office!!! Since we do not know what causes autism, I plan to do my best to contact others in this area that have the same concerns that I do...documented or not, they have not proven that there isn't a correlation between the timing of the MMR shots and the rise in autism rates.

Who's your daddy?

Tanner,
I want you to know how WONDERFUL your daddy was while you were a baby. I feel the need to document this so it can be a part of the story about your care through the stages of preemie, newborn, and infant.

Your daddy is very HELPFUL around the house. He takes care of the yard, the trash, and the recycling. He keeps mommy's car filled up with gas and washes and vacuums it when necessary. He washes the baby-related dishes most of the time and microsteams them so they are sterile. He also cooks dinner for mommy! He is not only FABULOUS on the grill, but plans, purchases, and prepares the meals for about 6 nights out of the week! I have to clean up after dinner which is a pretty sweet deal.

Daddy also feeds you the bedtime bottle and he is the one that gets up in the middle of the night if you wake up hungry! You guys have quite the routine and I am afraid to mess with it. Daddy puts your jammies on, changes your diaper, turns on your monitor and sound machine and/or humidifier, and gets your crib mobile going, which is the only light in the room when you go to bed. He is the BEST at putting you in your swaddle, which he does halfway through the bottle as you are getting sleepy.

Daddy also HELPS by taking care of you in the morning while I get ready for us to go to school. I already have your outfit picked out, but Daddy dresses you and puts you in your swing to watch the news. I get your medicines ready, if you have any at the time, and make your bottles while he loads the car with diaper bag and my school things. We snuggle you a little bit before I take you to daycare.

Overall, your daddy is the GREATEST and I wanted you to know that!

Just a little hello.

Well, today is another day off and I plan to take a nice, long nap!!! Prior to that, I have some things to do around the house, tests to grade, phone calls to make concerning insurance and Tanner's NICU bill, and I really need to make the next layout for Scrapbook Club. I also need to design a shirt for Science Club! UGH! Now I feel overwhelmed again!

Tanner is doing very well both here and at daycare. As shown, he loves the "ocean" that they put him in at school. It is a Baby Einstein, ocean-themed concave vibrating seat that makes sounds and has little stuffed ocean animals on it. He has lost most of the hair on top of his head, but has this little ring of fairly long brown hair that goes from ear-to-ear along the base of his neck! It's hilarious looking! I can't make myself cut it and make it a more uniform look, but it does cross my mind!

He has really started smiling a lot lately, finally! He recognizes our voices and will track us across the room. He'll also look around if he hears us, but cannot see us. He has been much happier now that he is back on breast milk and hardly ever has crying fits anymore. Maybe when he's sleepy, or right before bed. A bottle and his swaddle blanket and he's right to sleep. Speaking of sleep, he is doing amazingly well and sleeping for up to 8 hours at a time. Over the night, he went for two nights in a row without needing an overnight bottle. He did the same thing last night too! That is WONDERFUL!! I still have to get up in the night and pump, but I get back to bed within 45 minutes or so.

Tanner is growing like crazy! He is around 15 pounds now and about 25 inches long. He has fat rolls and chubby thighs. I have two big bags of clothes that he has grown out of already! He is on the edge of 0-3 and 3-6 month outfits. Chronologically, he is 3 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days old, but that is a different story developmentally. Due to being 7 weeks preemie, we have to work with his corrected age. So, that is something I have to keep in mind when comparisons are being made. He should be doing what a 2 mo/1 week old baby would be doing. He has his 4 month doctor visit next Wednesday and we plan to go over all of that stuff percentile-wise. Plus, shots, I think. YUCK!

Tobin is definitely gearing up for hunting season. He shoots his bow every night and keeps track of it on the garage wall! He watches deer hunting videos in the garage (his cave) each night. He has even done many loads of scent-free detergent laundry and hung it outside to air dry. Next week is his first trip and my om will stay with me. (primarily to help with Tanner in the mornings when I am getting ready for school/work) This weekend, we also have the annual Elliott family reunion.

I have been busy with school and baby, like usual. I am on the career ladder committee and that has been a little time-consuming. It will pay off next summer, but in the meantime, there is a TON of paperwork and plans to review for each person in my building. I'm thankful that our school is finally able to participate in the program though.

Well, I think this is one of the longest blog posts for me, so I'll end here. We're having some beautiful fall weather this week; I hope everyone is able to get out and enjoy it!

Pediatric Surgeon appt~

Tanner sure liked his doctor today, as he was smiling and cooing the whole time! This IS noteworthy since the guy was squeezing Tanner's scrotum and pushing in on his belly button the whole time he was with him! LOL! Tanner's PCP thought it would be a prudent move to go ahead and have both areas checked out by a specialist, thus the appt. A specialist copay is more money than regular, but totally worth it for peace of mind. His umbilical hernia has gone down quite a bit, so the doctor wasn't alarmed at all by it and said that it should resolve itself. They don't even consider surgery until 4 years old and most hernias are gone by then. He does not have a hernia on his testicle either, so that was good news. The doctor said we would have known something was wrong because they are extremely painful. Instead, he has a communicating hydrocele. Normally, as the testicles descend from the kidney area before birth, the opening into the abdominal cavity closes up. If this does not occur, then the fluid that surrounds the abdominal organs seeps into the scrotal area. As many as half of all newborn boys have this problem; however, it usually disappears within one year without any treatment. We have a follow up appointment in April.

I attempted to clean up my scrapbook area and found two more pages barely started. I went ahead and finished those while Tanner was at his Grammie's on Monday night. It sure feels good to have some productivity in my life. On just about every other area of my life, I feel swamped and behind (school, laundry, Tanner's baby book and album, exercising, planning science club activities, scrapbook club at school, decorating the house with fall decor, the list goes on and on)

Tanner is spending the evening at his Great Aunt GeGe's house tonight. They will have some good quality time while Tobin and I go to Olive Garden for a nice dinner together. Amanda will be going over to see lil' Tanner too. She hasn't seen him for quite awhile, so he will probably look very different to her especially since he is smiling a lot lately and probably weighs 5 pounds more than the last time he saw her. I know they will all have a good time with one another!

Chiefs Football

Funny story:
Daddy was rummaging through Tanner's closet asking about Chiefs clothing around 9am this past Sunday. We found an outfit for Tanner, but it was a smidge too big. Didn't matter. Tanner needed to get ready for pre-game at 10:30 and get his game-face on!! So, Tobin dressed him in the outfit and the booties and they had some "father-son" time!!

I scrapbooked! Can you believe it?

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was able to finish some pages that had been started many months aqo! I began both of these pages during early pregnancy, I believe, and Tanner is well over three months. They are both Allison Davis page designs, but I had to change the Quality Time one to fit an extra picture. It felt so good to get to work with my stuff again; I had truly missed it. I am happy with both pages and I'm sure Tobin is happy to have it off of the kitchen table finally.

I'm quite pleased

Tanner's new pediatrician is great! She walked in and immediately sat on the patient bed, Indian-style, and asked me to fill her in on everything. WOW! Where do I start? She vigorously took notes while I rambled on and asked questions here and there. They measured, took temp, checked his ears, eyes, throat, nose, privates, and umbilical hernia area. She showed me graphs on the computer and gave me info for his baby book. She commented that she'd never seen a baby book filled out so completely! HAHA! (Kodi, she hasn't seen yours!) In the beginning, she did NOT want to put Tanner on any antibiotics, which I fully supported. I had to give him a bottle while there, and she decided to squeeze in another patient. When she returned, she heard him breathing and heard him get quite congested. You could hear his breathing change and then he coughed a little bit. At least she got to see the symptoms...I was afraid he was going to appear better than he really is since he is actually worse in the evening. She changed her tune and wrote a script for an antibiotic. She also gave me two free samples of Axid, his reflux medicine, which are normally $40 per 15 mL. I was thrilled with that!

She also completely changed his diet! She decided that he needed to be on full breast milk bottles with the exception of the bedtime bottle. She does not want him on any milk-based products for a week. If I feel that he needs a formula bottle at bedtime, then I can use soy formula. I plan to steer clear of that though! Soy is not good fo9r boys!! I am to put one tablespoon of rice cereal in the 4 oz bottles to thicken them up and take him off of the Enfamil AR, for now at least. We are going to try this for one week and see how it affects his gas issue and his late-evening fussiness. He will no doubt need to eat more often since the breast milk won't hold him as long. But, she said that it is much more easily digested and since supply isn't an issue, that is the plan.

She gave me a few of his percentiles, even printed them out for his baby book, but it gets so confusing because when he is compared to the growth charts for his chronological age, he ranks quite low. Example: For length, he is 24 inches long and that is only in the 5th percentile. Meaning, 95% of kids his age are longer than he is! If you look at the corrected age, due to being 7 weeks early, then he will rank out much better. She said we would go over all of that at his 4 month appointment on the 24th of this month. I am so very pleased that she is the type to cover everything I want to cover before she leaves the room. She smiled a lot and was very down to earth , but got down to business as well. She didn't put thing sin lay terms everytime and I appreciated that due to my degrees and background. She would say, "Well since you're a science teacher, I'll explain it like this..." I love that! I feel very good about this and think it is a much better fit for my personality and Tanner's quality care.

Pediatrician Switch...already!

Tanner has a doctor appt. tomorrow, but it is with a new ped. I have never warmed up completely to his original pediatrician, and recently found out that he is switching to half days. I took that as my sign to switch to another doctor that I could get into easily and one that was not so hurried. I expect my doctor to be willing to answer any/all questions and not be flying out the door. I am the same with Tanner's doctor, if not more so. This evening I decided to call and ask the doctor if Tanner was taking in the right amount of nutrition for a 24 hour period. I read that babies his age drink 4-5 bottles per day and each bottle has 6-7 oz in it. Well, he is no where near that. He takes no more than 4 ounces per feeding and eats every 2-3 hours. Overnight, he has been sleeping up to 5 hours at a time, so he goes much longer then. The nurse said that he was doing great and getting the same amount. Not to worry at all. While on the phone, I asked the new nurse if she would listen to Tanner breathe over the phone...weird, I know. He has had the sniffles and has been very congested for about two weeks. We are constantly using saline drops and the aspirator. Tobin and I thought it was probably allergies. It hasn't gotten any better, so I brought it up while she seemed willing to answer my questions. She asked me a series of questions and decided that they needed to see Tanner in the morning. Luckily, Tobin and are both off tomorrow! So, more on that after his appointment.

Daycare is going well. He really seems to like it there. He smiles a lot and enjoys his tummy time there much better. He raises up on his forearms and looks around!! It is sooo amazing to see him lift up like that! His little legs just get to going like crazy! The daycare ladies said that we should not leave him alone on a bed because he should be rolling over soon. He is getting his shoulder and leg in position and gets frustrated when he can't get his body in forward motion! They expect him to be the first to roll over and the first to crawl and he is the youngest one there! There is even a 7 mo. old baby there! Good grief! Who knew a little fighter from the NICU would be so determined to be mobile!