Currently…

I am counting down the days before we go to Michigan for the holidays (& there are more hands to help hold Theo!) Before the respite though, there is a lot to do: re-crate train the dogs; vet appointments; 2 month visit for Theo; weekly PT for Theo (& arrange PT for Theo in Michigan). And just plain packing.

Oh packing. My mom reminds me that I need to be thinking about it each time that I talk with her. We’ll probably have about a million bags on top of the two extra large dog crates. I’m already trying to scheme about how to get to and from the airport.

But instead I’m thinking about the now. Theo smiled at me — a real smile — for the first time yesterday! And this morning I got more smiles after he ate, so thankfully yesterday’s smiles weren’t just a fluke. Having him acknowledge me in such a positive way is so rewarding. It makes talking to him and reading to him seem like I’m not just crazy — he does know that I exist to do more than feed him, hold him, and change his diaper.

He seems to be growing out of his colic a bit — each week I see an improvement. But just in case he’s not just going to grow out of it, Justin is making me conduct an experiment this week: I’ve been dairy free since Friday night (& oh my gosh it’s hard! Milk, cheese, and butter are basically food groups in and of themselves for me!). And I’ve also been giving Theo probiotics each day to see if that helps his tummy. I don’t think that either is really making a difference — he still seems particularly uncomfotable early in the morning as he’s making his ginormous morning poop, so I’m going to be re-introducing dairy into my diet again next week. The probiotics aren’t that hard to give to him and it helps him practice with a bottle too, so I’ll probably continue with those. They certainly can’t hurt.

I had a doctor’s appointment this past Saturday and got the go-ahead to resume all my normal activities. It felt like reason to celebrate, so we took a long run / walk around the park late that afternoon with the whole family. It’s about 5 1/2 miles around the park and we ran for at least 2 of the miles. It felt great. We’d like to do a turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning, but the option closest to us is an 8k and while that’s nothing for Justin, I’m not sure that I’m going to be quite at that level yet; a 5k will be much more my speed.

(I recognize this won’t be interesting to anyone but me..)
And finally, for documenting’s sake, this was Theo’s day at exactly 6 weeks old:
12:15 am — diaper change
12:20 — 1 am — eat
1:20 — back to bed
4:30 am — diaper change
4:35 — 5 am — eat
5:10 am — go back to bed with mom (either that, or it’s awake for the day…)
5:15 — 7:25 — sleep off and on, crying because of impending poop
7:25 — diaper change
7:30 — 8 am — eat
8 am — get up, get dressed for the day
8:30 — 8:50 am — eat again.
8:50 — 9:20 — tummy time, PT stretches
9:20 — 10:20 — Facetime with Grandma; ends in tears
10:20–10:30 — Cry until he falls asleep
10:30 — 11:15 — Nap
11:15 — diaper change
11:30 — 12:00 — eat
12:20–2:00 — walk in the park / nap in carseat
2:05 — diaper change
2:05 — 3:00 — eat
3:00 — 5:00 — tummy time, PT stretches, crying on and off
5:00 — 5:30 — cry / cat nap all while bouncing on ball
5:30–6:10 — eat
6:20–7:00 — bath & get ready for bed
7:00–8:15 — snuggles before bed
8:15 — 9:00 — eat
9:00–9:20 — rock & be put down
(9:21 —Abby goes to bed!)