Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to my friend Patty's house. We went to Patty's 2 years ago as well for Thanksgiving. I'm so thankful that she opens her house up to us when we stay in Chicago over Thanksgiving. We took the pac 'n play and Austin's bouncer. He was such a good boy! He was flirting with all the new women that were there. All in all it was a great Thanksgiving. This was a Midwest Thanksgiving, so there wasn't any cornbread dressing or pecan pie, but we will get that at Christmas. Also funny story. I made Green Bean Casserole. They had NEVER had it!! HAHA!! It didn't go over well either so John and I have been eating it the last couple days. I couldn't believe it!

So wet

The other day Austin ate 45 ounces in one day! He usually eats between 28 and 33. He slept about 10 hours that night. When he woke up I went in his room to get him and it stunk! I flipped him over and this is what I found...he was SOAKED and he was wearing a disposable!! We have started having him in disposables at night and cloth during the day, You would think this would wake him up, but it didn't! Silly boy :)

Pasta Making Class

I have another GroupOn story. This past weekend I went to a pasta making class down the street from our house at "Cooking Fools". It had been a GroupOn that I bought a while back. It was SO much fun. We made pesto sauce, vodka sauce, ravioli, and papadele (or something like this) noodles all from scratch. I would love to say I would do it again, but I'm not so sure. It was a lot of work and it didn't taste that different to me. I would like to do ravioli again because you could get creative with that. The only problem is there are so many things you need that I don't have...starting with a counter to roll the pasta out on. Oh well it was a lot of fun and I got the recipes, so if I ever have enough space I can make it.

Austin Doesn't Have a Hernia!!

The pediatrician called tonight and Austin is fine! His testicles are still swollen but at least it isn't because there is an obstruction or a hernia. Yay! They should just continue to go down on their own.
On another note, Austin and I are going to the suburbs tomorrow to go to Hobby Lobby. Sometimes I really miss the suburbs!! I have pictures of Austin that I want framed and hung up before they are too old! Haha! I will post pictures once I'm done. This will be the first time Austin has been in the car for longer than 15 minutes. I hope it goes better than my trip to my ob today. We drove most of the way with my finger in his mouth, which isn't easy since I'm in the front seat and hes in the back! Haha!

Update on Kim and Austin

Austin had his sonogram on his scrotum tonight. We will wait for the results to know if there is anything wrong. I couldn't see anything and the sonogram technician didn't say anything.
Yesterday my milk duct became unclogged, but now it is killing me every time I pump! When I went to the doctor it was showing signs of being mastitis, which is a staff infection in your milk duct. Thankfully I didn't have that since mine wasn't infected. Breastfeeding has been nothing but trouble since the beginning! I'm going to stop once I get back from TX. I wanted to make it at least 6 months, but it just isn't worth it anymore. When I went to the doctor they recommended I pump every 2-3 hours around the clock to insure I don't get anymore clogged ducts. Well I just can't keep that up. I was trying to go longer at night so I could finally get some sleep and that's how I got a clogged duct. I've been doing every 4 hours around the clock for 10 weeks now and I NEED SLEEP!! I'm going to try going an extra hour between pumps and see how that goes.

Falling apart

I wanted to let everyone know about what has been going on here the last week. Austin has been sleeping longer and longer at night! Yay! This means I was trying to go longer at night without pumping. There is nothing more frustrating then having to wake up at 4 am to pump and you baby doesn't wake up until 8! Haha. Anyway I went 7 hours Friday night and 7 hours Saturday night. Well I woke up Sunday and now I have clogged milk ducts. Everything I try isn't working, so I've called the ob and am waiting for her to return my call. Clogged milk ducts isn't anything to mess with. If I develop an infection I could have to stop breast feeding. I've caught it early, so I'm hoping it will go away on its own.
Second, since Austin was born he has had rather large and swollen testicles. I didn't realize this at first since I don't have a pair of my own and had never seen a little boys testicles before. The swelling has started to go down, but at his 8 week appt last week his ped wasn't sure they are looking right. We are going tomorrow to have an ultrasound done on them to make sure he doesn't have a hernia or something else.
If everyone can just keep us in your prayers. By the way John is fine :). Hes healthy as can be. I've read that clogged milk ducts can happen because of stress, so I'm sure finding out he might have a hernia isn't helping....

Squirmy Wormy Strikes Again

I got some pictures this time! We put him down in the middle of his crib and by this morning he had squirmed his way over to the edge. He woke up because his arm was stuck and his foot was hanging out as well!! Haha! He was squirming around with his eyes closed trying to get it out. After I laughed at him I helped him :).

Chicago Chocolate Tour

Austin and I. Hes in the Moby wrap
Waiting for the chocolate tour to start
Waiting on the red line. Austin's first time on the train
Austin's first ride on the bus
Hes so cute all wrapped up!

I have another GroupOn story. Over a year ago I bought a GroupOn for a Chicago Chocolate Tour. It was winter so we didn't want to go. By the time it warmed up I was huge and not really in the mood to go on a 2.5 hour walking tour, even if there was chocolate tasting involved. So now here we are again in winter with a 9 week old and the GroupOn expires on December 4th. I went ahead and booked it for yesterday since I figured it isn't getting any warmer. As it approached we started watching the weather and realized it was going to be the coldest day we've had so far. We decided we didn't want to take Austin. I started calling friends and I couldn't find anyone who would go with me... TO EAT CHOCOLATE FOR FREE. Haha! So then I called to see if we could change it to Sunday since it is going to be close to 60 today. Well no such luck, the tours are completely booked up until it expires...SO we all went. This was the first time Austin rode on the bus and the train. The chocolate tour was fun, but once again Austin will not sleep in his car seat. We knew if he didn't sleep we would be in for a rough night. At the last minute I grabbed the Moby wrap that I was given recently. We had never tired it. It ended up working great! He was in it for 3 hours and slept almost the entire time. And I was able to zip my jacket up around him so he was so warm. All in all it was a good Saturday and we got to taste some delicious treats.

Squirmy Wormy

Well Austin was a squirmy wormy last night! We always put him down in the middle of his crib. We went in to get him this morning because he wanted out and he had wiggled his way over into the corner! He had an arm hanging out of the crib and his head was in the corner of the crib. I was SO shocked! I told John we need to set up a web cam to see how he did that. I wish I would have taken a picture. I will next time!

Halloween 2010

Austin was a monkey for Halloween this year. We felt he was too small to go trick or treating, so he dressed up for church! I do not understand why the bottom of his feet say "Cheeky Monkey" instead of chunky monkey...but I couldn't resist buying this costume anyway. I think it should say Chunky Monkey :). What does Cheeky even mean????

2 months

Its hard to believe that Austin will be 2 months old tomorrow. We have been concentrating on making sure he doesn't stay up for more than 2 hours at a time for about 2 weeks now. It is going great! We had some bumps along the way, but he only got up twice last night. At 11:15 then at 4:20. Then he slept until 8:45! He is getting so much better. Also when he wakes up at night hes usually up less than 30 minutes, just enough time to change his diaper and get some food in him. I would be getting much more sleep though if I didn't have to pump. Basically by the time he goes back to sleep then I have to stay up for another 40 minutes or so to pump. On the weekends John will feed him while I pump, but during the week John and I have an agreement. When John comes home at 6:45 or so I get "Kim time" and he takes Austin. I wish "Kim time" were spent doing fun things, but usually "Kim time" consists of doing the dishes, taking a shower, eating, and sleeping. Then I pump again around 11:30 or so and after midnight John doesn't get up again so he can try to get his 5 hours of sleep in before his alarm goes off at 5. Once I'm not so sleep deprived I will be able to do fun things during "Kim time" and while he sleeps, but right now I try to sleep when he sleeps and keep this house running.
I feel like its taken me 8 weeks to really get the hang of things. I'm still exhausted but I get more naps in now. I think this is a combination of me learning and Austin being older. He doesn't have to be held all the time and is ok by himself. Also hes sleeping in his crib and he doesn't need t be fed every 2 hours. I'm so glad that we are fortunate enough for me to stay home with him, but I feel like I never leave the house. Plus its starting to get cold here so we don't get to go on as many walks anymore. I can't wait for spring :).