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| -Suzy |
Anthony’s umbilical stump finally fell off last Thursday (June 4th). I was a little sad to see it go because it was such a constant reminder of how connected to me he used to be. It happened while Tony was getting ready for work and I was feeding him. It just popped right off. It was hanging by a thread anyways and the silver nitrate treatment really seemed to help. From what I can tell, it’s going to be an innie. I called the doctor’s office right away to find out if I needed to come in again or not (we had an appointment to get another dose of the silver nitrate that very same morning). They told me that it was fine and that I didn’t have to come back in. I am so happy that it’s finally gone. I was so worried about hurting him when it would snag on his clothes and diaper. We’re also tired of sponge bathing Anthony in the kitchen sink downstairs. We gave him one more sponge bath now that his stump has fallen off. On Saturday (June 6th), we gave him his first real bath in his special bathtub in his own bathroom. He was so cooperative and cute. When he got out and as we were drying him off in his crib he got super excited and chatty. Waving his arms around animatedly he kept looking at us, trying to tell us, “I feel great! Thank you so much for giving me my first bath! Now all that filmy, greasy, leftover soapiness that I have been feeling the last month or so is gone.” We were really surprised at how happy he was after his first bath.
Our little guy’s hair is falling out. I don’t want him to lose it, but slowly it is going away. Especially in the front, it looks like we have just kissed it all off of his head. Anthony really has a bad receding hairline. At least his face is finally really clearing up. He has a few blemishes here and there but nothing like he had in the beginning. His cradle cap problem is completely gone too. He really likes his hair washed with the brush they gave from the hospital, so it hasn’t been a problem to get rid of it. We are still using the J&J All-Over Body Wash that they gave us as well. Anthony has also been growing out of his clothes so fast. I decided to dress him up like a doll one day. We did a fashion show of Tony’s retro baby clothes. Anthony was okay with it for a little while and then he got sort of mad at me. I think that I can dress him up only a little bit at a time. I’m a little sad because we have some favorite outfits that we are going to have to retire. I still haven’t put him into the 3-6 month old clothes yet but I can see it happening soon. Oh well. He can’t stay little forever. Over the past week, Anthony has really become aware of his surroundings. I have noticed him looking at things more intently than before. I will try and follow his gaze but what he is looking at doesn’t make sense. Maybe it will become clearer to me in the weeks to come.
We took Anthony to Sears this past weekend to get Tony a garage stool for his work bench. Tony and I just recently decided to get the garage in order after all this time. We have officially moved everything into the house. Finally! I unpacked all my collectible glassware. We brought in all of our books. Tony unpacked all of his tools and organized them. We got these special racks to organize all of our garage storage for Christmas and Halloween. We just need to find a place for the bikes and finish organizing some things. I can actually park my car in there so that I won’t be putting Anthony in an oven anytime I want to go somewhere during the day. The A/C just doesn’t reach the back seat fast enough in one hundred degree weather. Ultimately, I think that having the baby really has grounded us to this house for awhile. We have even begun the process of refinancing the house for a shorter term loan. It’s a little weird to think that this might be where the story ends. Or is it just the beginning of something new?
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| tags: anthony | umbilical stump | fashion show |
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| -Suzy |
Well it's our fifth week together and Anthony's umbilical stump still hasn't fallen off. The pediatrician said that if it didn't fall off by week four to bring him in and get some silver nitrate put on it. Well I waited another week and aggressively cleaned his belly button with alcohol and it still doesn't look like it is going to fall off. So I finally took him in and had her put the silver nitrate on it. She said to hold him still while she did it and he was getting really crabby. I talked to him really sweetly which seemed to calm him down some. The pediatrician told me that he recognizes my voice, which made me feel better about the whole procedure. The stuff she put on there turned his skin black; I hope it helps his stump fall off soon. She weighed him and he weighs a whopping 10 lbs. 6.8 oz. I can't believe that he is growing so fast! He already has grown out of his newborn onesie that he wore home from the hospital.
Lately, I have been noticing that Anthony has been smiling at me just after eating a big meal. It's so cute he looks like a happy Buddha as he settles into this blissful state of relaxation. His smile is so cute and sweet. Sometimes he just passes out while eating like some sort of drunk. We have been sponge bathing him every other day because of his umbilical stump and by the end of the second day he looks like a little homeless man. With his wild greasy hair and drunken look on his face, we call him our little homeless baby. Thank God his cradle cap has started to go away along with his face clearing up. Not only is Anthony starting to smile as he falls asleep, he also seems to be starting to chuckle in his sleep. His entire body just shakes while he's laughing. The parenting books all say it is passing gas, but I think that he is dreaming about something funny. I wonder when he will do it when he is awake.
We have been having a couple of outings recently because I just can't sit in the house any longer and I figured that he isn't really coming into contact with anyone that would make him sick. We are close enough to the six week mark that the pediatrician was recommending before taking him anywhere public. So we went to a barbeque at our friend Steve's house this weekend. All the food was so good and it was nice to get out and socialize with some adults in a party setting. We got to see some people that we hadn't in awhile and it was really pleasant. What a process getting ready to go there was! We had to pack up everything and load up the car and hope that we had everything we needed. I think that we will have better methods by next time. I might be naïve in thinking that just getting up and going somewhere will get easier and easier as time goes by. Anthony is pretty portable right now. He slept through most of it, even when things got really noisy. I am glad that he's learning to be a deep sleeper. However, I had to keep ducking out of socializing to feed him. I am still not comfortable nursing in public. I haven't figured it all out yet and I need to make a nursing cover or make sure that I have the whole blanket thing figured out.
Later on in the week, I had to nurse him in the car prior to a lunch date that I had with my friend, Laura. We all ate at this restaurant called Natural Planet Grill up the street. They have a really nice playscape and we sat outside due to my germ phobias with Anthony. The food was okay; I had a salad that was pretty good. Anthony slept through most of lunch after he was happy and fed. It was nice to get out of the house during the week while Tony was at work. It was too funny that there were all these other moms there with their children doing the same thing. It dawned on me that this is why we moved here, to this neighborhood, so that I could stay home with my child and have the convenience of restaurants and shops so close in the neighborhood. It was nice to see other moms doing the same thing during the day. I think that so far, I like being a stay at home mom.
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| tags: anthony | umbilical stump | homeless baby | buddha |
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| -Suzy |
Anthony Mudd 4.0 is on his fourth week. We’re living in the digital age. No need for Roman numerals. Little Anthony is the fourth one in a line of Anthony Mudds. We can’t tell if he looks like Daddy or not yet.
I can’t believe that it has already been a month that Anthony has been with us. It has gone by so fast! My little Mr. Mr. is getting so grown up. Unbelievable! We are all finally starting to get used to each other. We even have a somewhat predictable eating and sleeping schedule. I had given up trying to make Anthony lie flat in the Pack and Play bassinet. We have been letting him sleep in the bouncer and he finally bottomed out in it. He kept squirming to the bottom of it and was almost out of it anyways. So I took it away this week and propped up one side of the Pack and Play mattress and he is sleeping just fine. Finally!
I have also started a process of putting Anthony into a sleeper outfit before he goes to sleep. I read to him while nursing him in the rocking chair and that seems to put him out. He is in bed by 9:00PM at night and doesn’t wake up until 12AM for his first nightly feeding. I feed him again around 2-3AM and then once more at 5AM. It has been going on like this for a few days now, so both of our schedules are more predictable.
This was our last week of MOMs Club provided meals and I am a little bummed. It has been so nice to not have to worry about making dinner three nights a week the past few weeks. I will be glad to be getting on our own schedule though. We have a bunch of food in the freezer that I bought the week before going into labor that I would like to use up before it goes bad. I also need to start watching what I am eating if I am going to take off this baby weight. It’s been hard to make that transition though because I was eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, for the past nine months.
My hormones have been wreaking havoc on Anthony’s skin. He has broken out all over his face with bad acne, especially on his little cheeks and forehead. Poor baby! His pediatrician also mentioned that because of my hormones he would be producing his own “baby milk” and to massage his breast buds periodically to relieve some of the pressure. What a weird thing it is to see your male baby producing his own milk. Now if Tony could somehow help with some of the feedings that would really be something.
Anthony has gotten more and more chatty with me lately. I keep talking back to him hoping to inspire him to keep talking to me further. Hopefully, he’ll start telling me a little more specifically what he wants more often. He has been doing pretty well with not crying too much, he doesn’t shriek and wail like he used to. He just sort of fusses and we either change him or feed him which seems to keep him pretty calm. I have taken to using the pacifier as needed, there are some times that he just wants to suck and I cannot feel guilty about not nursing him 24/7. We have also been using his swing as a tool to get him to sleep when he does not go to sleep that easily. He really seems to like to swing to sleep.
Against the pediatrician’s orders, we went on an outing to Garden Ridge to look for a kitchen table. I just had to get out of the house and it has been too hot to hike around in the park. We figured that in a big box store warehouse environment, he is not going to get meningitis which is the primary reason for not taking the baby to a public area for the first two months. The pediatrician looked at how healthy he was and said that we have only two more weeks of house arrest and then we can start taking him public places.
We do need to start “tummy time” as much as possible, again with the doctor’s orders. Anthony seems to get frustrated when he has been on his stomach for too long and he starts to fuss. It is kind of a hassle to do it but we can see our little guy getting stronger and stronger each day. He is cute on his back though and reminds us of one of those “Peanuts” characters, especially when his arms and legs flail about, it looks like he’s dancing. “Do, do do, do do do do do…”
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| tags: anthony | peanut | baby milk |
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