Thankful Thursday - 83

Another week down, and lots more to be thankful for!

1. Spring is coming! 

2. Answers! I always knew Dom was a fussier than average baby. He rarely seemed settled or comfortable, often fussing and crying throughout the day. The last couple weeks the fussing and crying turned into inconsolable screaming fits. It was truly heart-breaking. I could see how much pain he was in, and there was nothing I could do. He was refusing to nurse, taking very short naps, and losing his mind at the drop of the hat. Finally my gut told me this was more than just baby crying. Not a growth spurt, not a leap, something was wrong. Some research led me to believe he has reflux. We went straight to the doctor during a particularly bad fit, and they gave us a prescription for Zantac, an antacid. The meds worked great the first couple days and he was like a different baby! He is still hit or miss, but we can definitely tell reflux is the problem. I'm just not sure whether the meds are as effective as we need. He had a couple good nights and days, and then last night had frequent wake-ups, and things are tough today... 

Happy boys like to read books!

Taking  snooze with Oma

3. Toller Family. On Saturday we got together with our Toller family and went for a nice walk at Derby Reach!

I don't know why I didn't get in on this photo... Oh well! Sherlock is the one with/in front of Shel :)

{Dogs Back Row L-R: Rebel, Ripley, Sherlock, Ranger}

{Dogs Front Row L-R: Charlotte, Ruby, Duke}

Baby-wearing mama! (This is the Ergo I got from the shower at church. I asked for a black one, but upon opening it realized how much dog hair it would collect. Looked nice, but turned ginger before long! Had to exchange for something lighter haha!)

Dominic - 3 Months Old

Well. This age is just way too fun! Every day is a new myriad of noises, faces and skills!

Weight: 14 lb 0.4 oz
Length: 65 cm

Likes:

• This kid is obsessed with watching us eat. It is hysterical. Every time you take a bite he grins and giggles, as if to cheer you on! My little chunker!
• Car sounds, especially on the TV
• Watching TV (covers face)... 
• His crib. He sleeps so well in there. Naps and night-time. He is usually pretty good at self-soothing. May cry for a couple minutes until he wiggles and gets comfortable and then konks right out!
• Batting at his toys
• Bright patterns and shapes. He gets mesmerized by his polka dot blanket sometimes. 
• Daddy changing his diaper in the morning, after a full-night sleep! Super special seeing Dad's face in the morning!
• Being naked. If he's being fussy, I'll just take off his diaper and put him on the floor with a toy and he'll entertain himself for a while. Weirdo!
• Smiling and talking to himself in the mirror.
• Nursing. He will sometimes get distracted looking up at me and start smiling and chatting mid-feed. Melt my heart!

Dislikes:

• Tummy Time (usually. The odd time he will love it, but usually he fusses and cries until he's picked up or turned over). However, he sleeps on his tummy in his crib. So much better for his reflux and gas problems.
• Being put down. If he's awake, it is rare that I can put him down for more than 5-10 minutes without him crying (unless he's naked). This makes it difficult to get things done (like blog, eat, clean...), but thank goodness David is around sometimes to help me out for 10 minutes so I can at least have breakfast/lunch!
• Acid reflux. 
• Bath time and car seat. All of a sudden in the last two weeks he has decided to scream bloody murder every time we put him in the bath or car seat. I'm really hoping he grows out of this soon... these two things used to be our "go to's" for calming him down and making him happy. Now what?!?!

Notes:

• Blows spit bubbles
• Wearing Size 2 Diapers and size 6 month clothing
• Has started new noises like clicking his tongue or using his lips to make more sounds, or even making high pitched screams in excitement!
• Smiles & giggles when he finds something especially hilarious/exciting (like us eating)
• He is now sleeping in his crib in his own room. We have him on his tummy. He sleeps much better that way. Better for his gas, reflux, reflexes... And he has great neck strength :)
• He's started grabbing our fingers and putting them to his mouth. I tell ya, this boy is going to be an early eater!
• Will follow you with his eyes/head if you walk across the room
• He has been sleeping 10-12 hours at night, with one (mayyyybe two) wake up(s) in the middle. I'm not looking forward to the 4 month sleep regression! This is too great!
  Last night he slept 8 hours straight! That's a game changer!!!
• Doesn't seem bothered to be held by different people. 
• So chatty when he's happy. I hope I never forget that sound. It is way too precious. 
• At Public Health baby class he clearly notices and makes eye contact with, coos at, and smiles at the other babies. 
• Breastfeeds every 3-4 hours during the day. 
• Lifts his legs up during diaper changes or when laying on his back. 
• Can pretty much hold himself up in the Bumbo. I can't wait for exersaucer and jolly jumper!
• Went to the doctor for the first time on March 26. His screaming fits were escalating and I couldn't handle it any more. Doctor gave us a prescription for Zantac for reflux. It has already made SUCH a difference. He slept amazing that night, and is wayyy happier! Thank goodness! :)
• Just in the last couple days he has started to grab onto objects instead of just hitting at them. It is not consistent yet, but it's a start!

Photos of Dom's third month! Oldest to newest :)

Best buds!

This is seriously his face every time we eat.

Every. Time.

First St. Patrick's Day!

Naked bum time!

Talking to his favorite polka-dot blanket

Staring at my shirt... haha. I love this kid <3

Someone has discovered his tongue!

Spit bubbles!

Is it just me, or is he super beautiful?

Chunky Monkeyyy!!

When we want to eat together, we put him in the bumbo and he gets to watch us eat AND bat at his crinkly book! What a life eh?! 

Trying to squeeze one last wear out of some of his adorable 3 month clothes... Tight squeeze.

And again, as usual, here are the other monthly photos we did so you can see how far he's come!

Thankful Thursday - 82

Thankful Thursday time again...

1. Little bits of Holland. All my grandparents immigrated here from Holland many years ago. There's not much about my life that pays tribute to that, but there are a few reminders I have every day! 
- Words I use: Dookie (I have no clue how to spell that, and couldn't find it online.. probably way off!), dropje, eet smakelijk, Oma, Opa, een klein beetje, gezelligheid, boerenkool
- Photos around the house (see below)
- Foods I eat: Boerenkool, chocolate letters for Christmas, spekulaas, dropjes, stroopwafels, hagelslag, croquettes, etc. 
- Memories of our trip to Holland in 2014

My Eet Smakelijk sign I made that sits behind our kitchen table

Croquettes met Broodje

 The leaning tower of Leeuwarden, the town where my Oma DJ grew up.

The house Oma DJ grew up in

I mean who DOESN'T have this photo from IKEA in their house?!

2. Getting out of the house. I feel like I've used this one before. Oh well. My life is full of repetition. I try at to get out at least once per day. Every Tuesday I go to Public Health for their baby classes. This week we learned about Speech & Language Development. This came with some fun songs, and lots of chatting babies (age 0-6 months). Tons of fun!

Dom enjoys getting out too! Here he is at our baby class at Public Health this Tuesday

And this is why it is so nice to get out. I spend so many hours a day in this room, on this couch. I love many parts of it, but the clutter and mess gets to me at times! No matter how many times I tidy/clean, it always comes back to this! (Now you know... this is what my real life looks like. If you ever come over and it's clean... then I deliberately cleaned for you!)

3. Sleep! Oh am I ever dreading this 4 month sleep regression that is supposed to be happening in the next few weeks... The last couple nights Dom has been sleeping so amazing. He will sleep from 10-4ish, then feed, and then sleep till 730 or 8. Exception being last night, where he was up at 3 and 6, but went back to sleep until 9! When he is up for a feed it only takes us 30 minutes until he's back down again. I have no troubles falling back asleep most of the time, as we keep it a very low-stimulation environment. Every time I mention what a great sleeper he is I feel like I'm jinxing it. He's bound to become disastrous soon! For now, I cherish!

Dom sleeps and Mommy blogs! If only I could learn to use this napping time more productively... Like for cleaning above-mentioned dirty house... 

Lately

I feel like I haven't had a chance to blog! Or anything to blog about really...

This is what we've been up to lately.

March 12th we had David's birthday. I posted about this briefly in another post, but didn't have the pictures of the brunch from my camera as I forgot it at his parents' house!

 

Yesterday I went to Aly's Bridal shower. Aly and my brother Adam are getting married this summer in the Okanagan! Can't wait!

Such pretty invitations!

Gorgeous High Tea at Aly's Great Aunt's house! She had all these tea sets already! Amazing.

I went out and bought a Convertible Car Seat... We're not ready to move out of the bucket seat yet, but the one we wanted went on sale for 25% off! We got a 2016 Clek Foonf in Shadow. It is regular $599.99, but we got it for $449.99... Gulp... I never thought I'd spend so much on a car seat! But, it is the "mother of all car seats". It will be worth it I'm sure, and it will last a long time!

Gotta keep this guy safe!

On Saturday we had Scott over during the day. I had band practice in the morning (first time playing bass in church since November!), and went to the grocery story afterwards. As I was browsing I noticed red meat was majorly on sale... I got 1300g extra lean ground beef, 4 top sirloin steaks, and a top sirloin roast! The steak and roast were like 60% off! And not because they were old stock... what a STEAL!! We decided to cook the roast that day, and invited my parents over too, because they normally make roast for US! Boy... it was soooooo delicious!!!

We stuck D in the Bumbo to watch us eat. He's almost sturdy enough for it... but it worked for the short amount of time!

Dom is so predictable... he just LOVES to watch us (especially me) eat. Every bite this is his face. Love it! Haha

Teaching him young!

Father & Son

Fuzzy picture, but I just LOVE this face <3

 I have very few pictures of Dom & I. I already wish I had more, so I can't imagine when he's all grown up and I look back and hardly have any! :( I should work on that... asking people to take photos of us. 

So bad, but here is a video of Dom watching TV with Dad... (covers face)... apparently he likes car shows! Haha cooing away. 

Anyway, there has been more going on, but at least I could unload these pictures! :)
I had to squeeze in this post during a nap!

Until next time!