Brooklyn and Brady

Meet Brady's friend Brooklyn....this is who Brady spends his days with now that I am back to work full time! Our awesome nanny Jana takes care of both babies. Brooklyn is 2 1/2 weeks older than Brady and is the adorable daughter of my friend Kristen at work. Brady is in his "I blew out all of my outfits, so I am wearing the "emergency" outfit mama packs in my diaper bag" sleeper.

The past two weeks Brady has been going to Brooklyn's house in Evanston every day until she moved back in to the city. While, I have not loved driving with him every morning and after school, Kristen and I have been riding to work together and it has been a morning chat, commute and coffee stop I have come to truly enjoy! They just moved back in to the city a mile away from us so Brooklyn and Brady are going to be seeing each other not only for the rest of the school year but hopefully lots this summer too!

Baptism

Okay, I know this post is a little late and overdue but I have a good, not great, excuse and that is I am back to work! Between getting up, feeding the little man, getting ready, getting both of us out of the house, working all day, picking him up, cleaning, sterilizing, making bottles for the next day, trying to assemble some sort of dinner, giving Brady a bath, bottle and putting him to bed, it is 9pm and I am exhausted. At this point, I am lucky to have a conversation with Glenn before I collapse in to bed every night. We are both running on fumes right now. I am SO grateful our wee one sleeps through the night but I am still dead tired. No, I know I should not be complaining because a lot of mamas have it a lot worse, but this is my plea for forgiveness since I haven't blogged in a while.

On Sunday, January 10th we baptized Brady at St. Alphonsous. It is the prettiest church and the first one I went to in the city when I moved her after college. Brady was a "good sport" and did not make a peep until the cold water hit his head! It was great to have our families there and we could not be happier that Uncle Todd and Aunt Laura agreed to his godparents!

Soccer Player Maybe?

As most of you know, I was a softball player but I think we might have a soccer player on our hands. Glenn and I have no idea what he is swatting at or how it amuses himself for HOURS doing this but every time we think he is getting tired, he gets a second, third or fourth wind and continues to kick his little legs and swat with his hands. Don't you love the rattle on his arm? All of this until he passes out....see below!

WARNING- SAPPY POST COMING

So, I was sitting on the couch updating the blog and I was thinking what an amazing year 2009 has been. We have been fortunate to buy and move into a new house (minus the plumbing and 10,000 other issues we have stumbled on), Glenn has started his own business but best of all, we brought a healthy, happy and beautiful boy into the world and into our lives.
People always told me that having a baby changes you. I never really believed that. I know that I am pretty serious most of the time and I act tougher than I am but I can't help but think that something has changed in me. I don't worry about me any more. I don't care if I take a shower until 8:00pm. I don't mind that I haven't been out to eat in months. I worry about him. I am more protective of him than I have ever been of anything else in my entire life. When he smiles every morning, it takes my breath away and reminds me what really is important. When he curls up in my neck and shoulder and takes a nap, I stop and for just a few minutes I rock him and think about how much my life has been changed for the better with him in it. When he hurts, I do too and want to fix all the things that are wrong.
And as I think about returning to work, I am sad that I will miss moments, but I remind myself that I have had eleven of the best weeks of my life with him and I wouldn't have changed one thing about it...well maybe a couple of things. :)

2 Month Appointment at 11 Weeks

Waiting at the doctor for the shots!

Sitting with dad on NYE waiting for everyone to show up and watching some football!

The usual evening routine...sitting on the couch kicking his legs before the bath!

Yesterday, we had Brady's two month appointment at 11 weeks. This also meant that we had to get his first round of vaccinations. Let's give you the stats first:

Weight: 15 lbs = 90th percentile
Heights: 24.5 inches = 75th percentile

Dr. P thought that he looked great and was adjusting and growing well! She actually thought we might want to increase his bottles by .5 to 1.0 ounces! The boy is going to be huge!

On to the shots... you know that look that people make when they are more shocked and then they realize that something hurts really bad too! Well, that was my kid. The nurse was quick and jabbed both thighs in literally five seconds but after the first one, Brady looked at me like he wanted to say, "I am stunned you let someone do this and it HURTS!" He wailed, his gave got really red and then just cried. Seriously, the kid has been stuck more times in the past eleven weeks than I care to discuss. So, after I picked him up and soothed him he went HAPPILY in to his car seat and we left for home. He slept for a while at home while the plumber was working (DON'T EVEN ASK ABOUT THIS ONE) and then woke up screaming bloody murder. The poor kid screamed for over an hour until Grandma Witherow kindly suggested to me that he might need some Tylenol for pain and a bottle. And, of course, it worked. He was still pretty fussy and slept on and off for the next hour. We gave him a bath and another bottle and he was sound asleep at 9:30. What time did he wake up? 7:00 AM. Poor kid... but as usual he is back to his typical self today!

Grandma arrives tomorrow, we see the pediatric urologist tomorrow for more insight on his kidneys and we are baptizing the little guy Sunday! What a busy couple of days before I return to work on Monday!

Brady's First Christmas

(Don't you love the overalls!)

Brady's First Christmas was a great one! Although the weather tried to make it a little bit tough on us (can you say POURING RAIN ON CHRISTMAS EVE DAY AND NIGHT), we were able to celebrate with both sides of our family and spend time with everyone! Brady and I headed to Bloomington on Monday (12.21) to get ready for the big events with grandma and grandpa. We did some last minute shopping for dad and were able to enjoy some time with grandma and grandpa before everyone else arrived.
On Christmas Eve, Brady did not make it to church because mama was worried about all the crowds and sickness in church so dad and grandpa got a pass and stayed home.
He slept through opening gifts at both Grandma and Grandpa Witherows and Grandma and Grandpa Fischers houses!!! However, Brady was still totally spoiled by everyone... books, clothes, a handknit scarf, a bumbo, a high chair, an farmland activity mat, and more money for his 529 college plan just to name a few things...the boy came away with tons of great gifts!
Next year should be even more fun when he can rip the wrapping paper open himself!

Almost Two Months and SICK

Eight Weeks on Monday... Two Months on Saturday!

As a continuation from the last post...on the last night that Brady and I were in Bloomington, he woke up screaming bloody murder at 3am and refused to feed. I kept thinking "this is not my child" because he loves to eat and he is always sleepy when he wakes up to eat. After attempting to comfort him for almost two hours with NO SUCCESS I woke up grandma and she took over. By 11am the crying/screaming did not stop. Once it finally did, we put him in the car and headed straight home to Chicago.
All day and night Glenn and I watched him and we KNEW something was not right. We took his temperature and it was 102.2 so we called the pediatrician. She immediately sent us to Children's Memorial at 6pm. Without going in to all the details, like the fact they stuck him 7 times in the ER and never managed to get an IV in, Brady had blood, urine and spinal fluid drawn. He was admitted around 1am after a shot of antibiotics. The temperature finally broke in the middle of the night but not before mama cried a lot of tears and Brady screamed anytime someone touched him. Mama called in the reinforcements...
After grandma made an "emergency trip" to Chicago and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Fischer, Brady was on the road to recovery. Mom and dad were in worse shape than he was. He was still the perfect baby as nurses and doctors examined him, checked his vitals and stopped in our room. We were released fianlly and saw the ped yesterday and she confirmed he has a urniary tract infections which is bacterial. He has had three shots of antibiotics since Monday am and will be on antibiotics until the 28th when we have to go back to Children's Memorial for an U/S and other tests to ensure his kidneys are working properly. We asked how he got it and the answer is that we and the doctor hope it was a fluke from a stinky/blow out diaper but there is a SLIM chance it is because he has kidney reflux like adults get acid reflux which is causing old urine (which has bacteria in it )to infect new urine and not drain properly.

We will keep you posted but all in all he is back to his old self...smiling, cooing, staring at the pictures on the wall and eating like a champ!

(As we were getting ready to be discharged...look at the band aid!)