Can’t Get Enough

What do you get when you add a half plate of lasagna, a bowl of spaghetti, 2 cheese ravioli, and various croutons and assorted snack foods? If you guessed "a very full little boy", you'd be wrong. But don't be too hard on yourself… we thought the same thing, and yet his mouth opened and he cried for more. If this is a growth spurt, then we're going to need a bigger house!

That was the scene at Meloni's restaurant in Uniontown, PA last Friday night. Grandma & Grandpa Sheppard took us out to dinner with Aunt Ann. Everyone was amazed by our bottomless-pit-in-a-highchair. I, for one, see the silver lining on this cloud of insurmountable grocery bills. As he eats more off my plate, the oversized portions that restaurants give you don't end up going into my belly. Think of it as a sort of baby food diet.

We had a nice time spending Thanksgiving with the family. Folks that hadn't seen Jeffrey in a while were amazed at how much he'd grown, and those that met him for the first time and had only seen his early preemie pictures were very surprised. He's life sized!

And what does this baby, clearly a fussy eater with no appetite, eat for Thanksgiving? 4 slices of turkey, 2 scoops of mashed potatoes, 1 scoop of stuffing, 1 scoop of sweet potatoes, some broccoli & cheese and a slice of pumpkin pie. What's even more amazing was that he kept it all down. All told, it made for some monumental after-Thanksgiving diapers. I guess that's why they call it Black Friday.

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Teeth

The last 6 weeks of drool has finally paid off. Jeffrey's first two teeth came. We were feeding him and he chomped down on my finger. Imagine my surprise finding two small razor-like protrusions coming out of his lower gums. Danielle was excited too, but hers is more of a mixed emotion. Sure, it's great that he can start to eat more solid food, but he's still nursing and that poses its own set of concerns.

Monica, our physical therapist came to visit along with Jeffrey's Early Intervention service coordinator, Michelle. They met with us to discuss his progress in the program. They were very pleased with his progress, but based on the recommendation from the NICU follow-up clinic, his visits from Monica have been increased from monthly to bi-weekly. That's fine with us, because we really like her and it's like having our own personal user's manual for Jeffrey.

Although every doctor in the world will swear that it's just not true, Jeffrey got his first ear infection to coincide with his shiny new mouth scimitars. We took him to the pediatrician (our awesome pediatrician with late evening and weekend hours, I might add!) and they prescribed amoxicillin. It got better for a bit, but came back en force. He really handled it quite well. At his weight check, Dr. Smith-Burke noticed that he still had an ear infection. She gave him a stronger medicine this time. That was all it took, and 15 days later he was cured.

Now if only the next two top teeth would come in, our son/drool fountain might finally dry up. In the meantime, he's enjoying the many uses of his new pearly whites… tastier table food, crunchy snacks, cats, blocks, my arm… oh, anything that fits in his mouth, really.

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Splish Splash

It's fun to swim at the Y-M-C-A! Jeffrey started swim classes today at the local YMCA. We were unsure how he was going to react. Over the summer, we took him to Six Flags Darien Lake for the Gates Ambulance picnic and he certainly did not like the kiddie pools there. But in his defense, they were very cold and full of obnoxious children.

Armed with towels, a camera and a bag of swimmie diapers, we ventured forth to the pool where the class was held. At first, he was a little concerned by the water. Thankfully, it was pretty warm. Soon, he was splashing and kicking with the other babies.

As you can see from the picture, it's not really swimming lessons. To my dismay, Jeffrey will not be able to do the 400m Butterfly after this. The whole class consists of parents walking around the pool while singing to the babies as they hold them. Sometimes they get to sit on a floating mat in the middle of the pool – that's when we sing "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". Sometimes we put the mat on the edge of the pool and "slide" the babies into the pool.

Jeffrey especially likes singing "Pop Goes the Weasel". Mom & Dad have had a tough time, forcefully pushing out the words "Pop pop goes the Weasel, the weasel… pop goes the weasel cause the weasel goes pop" in favor of the more traditional verses. This has posed the toughest time for Danielle, as we're not sure she ever really knew the real words. Her verse sounds like this:

Round and round the mulberry bush,
The monkey chases the weasel.
Something happened, I don't know what,
Pop Goes the Weasel!

We have hope for Jeffrey that he may yet learn the real words to nursery rhymes. After a half-hour, we said good bye to our class instructors and brought him home for a well deserved nap.

Down With the Sickness

It only took Jeffrey 3 days to get kicked out of daycare. He's been having a lot of fun with his friends, squealing, sharing toys and swapping viruses. I received a call from Miss Ana while I was in class to come get Jeffrey, he's got a fever of 102.

Thank goodness we have such an awesome pediatrician. They've got weekday hours until 8PM and weekend hours both Saturday and Sunday. Dr. Smith-Burke took a look at our little boiling boy and told us that his ears look fine. His throat, while it always sounds junky, was clear and there was nothing in his lungs. Therefore, he most likely had some sort of virus and it would be gone on its own in about 6-9 days. Then she shared with us the magic of baby Motrin.

Even though he was sick, Jeffrey was fairly playful the next day. I didn't have any classes until afternoon, so our friend Heidi helped us out by babysitting for Jeffrey. She's a pediatric nurse and she shared with us some advice on keeping him comfortable while he gets better.

By Monday, Jeffrey was ready to go back to school and play with his friends.