Austin is 4 Months Old

Oh my goodness, our baby is 4 months old today. Where has all the time gone already? He is getting so big so fast! He weighs 16 pounds and is 25 inches tall. He is now able to stand up with support. We got him an exersaucer. At first he did not like it too much but now he loves it. We also let him stand next to it to get practice standing. He loves the fishy toy on it. He is also trying to learn to crawl. He scoots himself around on the floor. He is so cute!

Our lives have continued to be an adventure. I have been back to work full time for 5 weeks now. It has been extremely difficult. I am at work at least 9 hours everyday. Some days are longer than others. Being the supervisor and having a new baby at home has been challenging for me. I am trying to do my best at work and home but sometimes I feel like I am failing. Other days I feel like things are going okay. Brian and I are trying this out to see what happens. We have some decisions to make.


Brian is also busy at work. He has always been good at what he does and enjoys it. But his job is demanding too. So with both of us with managerial jobs, it keeps life interesting for us. Brian found out this week that he will be traveling for work soon. Neither of us are too happy about it but understand that it has to be done. Brian is going to miss Austin a lot. I am going to miss Brian a lot! Brian and I have been great partners in raising Austin but with him gone for two weeks that leaves everything up to me. Let’s hope I can do this!

Austin checking his email

Earlier this week, Austin decided that he should get up every two hours during the night. That was miserable! He usually gets up at least once a night and sometimes twice. We are okay with that. But every two hours and working all week makes things very difficult. Luckily that only lasted three nights. Austin seems to be back to his normal routine. We think he was starting to teeth. No teeth have broken though yet. He also had a stuffy nose so that may have contributed to his non-sleeping nights.

We get reports from daycare. So we know when he sleeps, eats, and gets his diaper changed. Well Monday, Austin slept in daycare from 7am until 11:45am! We wish we could sleep until 11:45am. Austin decided to keep us up all night and sleep all morning while we had to be at work. He is so silly!

The weather is finally nice. We try to walk around the block every night with him. All the neighbors stop and talk to us and want to see Austin. Yesterday we took Austin for a long walk to Subway for dinner. He enjoys his walks. As long as his tummy is full we can go anywhere with him. He enjoys seeing everything.


Also yesterday we were out shopping with Austin. Most of the time when we go to the store, we leave Austin in his car seat so it can easily go onto the shopping cart. In his car seat, I have a pacifier just in case and a rag for when he drools. We stopped in Best Buy to look at dishwashers real quick. Brian took him out of the car seat and carried him inside. We were looking at dishwashers then all of a sudden Austin spit up. Brian looked at me and asked if I had a rag. I didn't. Everything was in the car. Then Brian come up with the idea to take his socks off and use them. I thought that was genius. I was too embarrassed that I did not have a rag to think of that! Next time we go into a store I will be sure to have a rag with me! All the simple things, I have to learn about being a mom.


Two other noteworthy events is that Austin's passport arrived in the mail and we had a tornado warning. Our city's tornado sirens were going off and I had to take Austin downstairs and into a center closet which we think it the safest option. We don't have a basement, but a lower level that is partially underground.




Today we are going to visit Grandma and Gramps and also my parents. It is suppose to be another nice day. We are going to enjoy it before we start another long week.



Recent Austin Videos

Austin Laughing

Austin Standing and Falling

Austin in his Exersaucer

Amy is sick too (15 weeks)

This was my third week back to work full time. It has been challenging. We have had many issues. Austin had been sick which made things really difficult. Then I got his cold which turned into pneumonia! I was so sick. I had a fever of 101.1. Because I was so sick, Brian had to take care of Austin mostly by himself for a few days. I was sad I could not spend time with them. Brian was wonderful!

Austin and I have been on antibiotics for a while now. We are both feeling much better! Being sick was so miserable. I am so happy everyone in our house is well again. Amazingly Brian never got sick!

This week my milk supply has decreased. It’s so frustrating. I think it was a combination of being sick, stress, and pump issues. I had to use two frozen servings for Austin this week. I was hoping not to use any frozen milk yet but I had to. I guess that is why I have so much frozen. I am currently pumping five times a day. I use to be able to make a bottle in 15 minutes now it is more like 25 minutes. It is really time consuming. I am starting to get sick of pumping. My goal is to feed Austin breast milk for 6 months. I have two and half more months to go.

Today is my first mother’s day. I love being a mom. Brian and Austin were very good to me. Austin got me a picture collage with several pictures of us together. It is so cute. Austin used diapers as wrapping paper. He did not know any other way to wrap it (according to Brian). At least the diapers were clean. Brian got me two other cute pictures of Austin. They are now hanging in our living room. I love it!!




My mom and dad are coming over later for mother’s day. We will have dinner together and they will get to spend time with Austin. It is amazing how fast Austin is growing. They usually see him once a week. He changes so much in a week.

Austin can now roll over on to his side easily. He still does not roll over much from his stomach to his back but that is coming (he's only done it 2 times to date). He now holds on to things very well. He has a butterfly toy that he loves to play with. We ordered him an exercise saucer yesterday. He still loves his little play gym. We are amazed how much he can now reach. At first we never thought he would be able to reach everything in it. It is fun to watch him grow.

Austin's First Cold (14 weeks)

Austin started daycare last Monday. By Wednesday, he already had a stuffy nose. By Friday, he had a harsh cough. However he did not have a fever and was acting his normal self. This second week though, his cold got worse.

On Thursday, I had to take Austin to daycare by myself for the first time. On Wednesday, Brian and I both took him to daycare so I would feel more comfortable on Thursday. Brian had to take my car to get fixed Thursday morning so I needed to take Austin. Plus it was about time that I started taking him since again the daycare is at my work. So Thursday morning was going okay. We were a little behind schedule but I figured everyday is not going to go perfect.

Before this week, we only had one car seat for Austin. We had a carrier that was also a car seat in the Escape. So even when Brian would take Austin to daycare, he would have to go switch cars with me because I am the one who always picks him up. We bought a second car seat for the Accord that is a convertible car seat that he will have until he no longer needs a car seat or booster seat. Right now I like the carrier car seat better because it is easier to carry him around in it. Since the weather is getting nicer, it is not as bad though.

Back to my story... On Thursday morning we got Austin in the convertible car seat and I drove him to daycare. While driving, he was coughing but he had been doing that for a week now. Well when I went to carry him into daycare I was in for a big surprise. Austin had vomited everywhere! I do mean EVERYWHERE! I could not believe it. It was all over him, all over the car seat, and all over the back seat of the car. Oh my! At first I really did not know what to do. Luckily I had extra blankets so I used them to help clean up a little bit. Then I took a clean blanket and wrapped Austin in it and carried him inside. Once we got to his room, I changed him into some clean clothes.

Finally I got to work. I knew something was not right with him. Austin does not vomit. He usually does not even spit up much. So I was beginning to worry about him. After work, he felt warm so I took his temperature. It was 99.6 axillary. Now I knew he was getting worse.

Thursday night was an ugly night. Austin was miserable, crying all the time. He would not even sleep in his crib. He has always slept in his crib but not Thursday night. Actually he did not really sleep at all. Brian stayed up with him until 1am so I could get a few hours of sleep. Then I was up with him the rest of the night. I let him sleep in his bouncer chair when he would sleep down stairs with me. I felt so bad for him. Plus I was now sick. So we were miserable together. He was still vomiting after eating so we learned not to feed him too much. He was crying a lot.

Brian stayed home Friday morning for a few hours and then took Austin to daycare in the late morning. I went to work early on Friday. That was awful. I do not like being up all night with a sick baby and then going to work. Austin no longer had a fever so that was good. I still wanted to take him to the doctor to see what was going on. I knew something was not right. I got an appointment in the afternoon. The doctor diagnosed him with a bilateral ear infection. No wonder he was so cranky. He is now on an antibiotic for 10 days.


Austin does not like his bubblegum flavor medicine. We have now learned to put it in a little breast milk (about 0.5 oz or so) and he will drink it with the milk. Otherwise he just spits it back out. Also at first he was still vomiting, so he would vomit the medicine back up. Finally he has stopped vomiting and we have gotten several doses of antibiotics in him. He is starting to feel better and acting more normal again. He is back to chugging bottles again so we know he is feeling better. He still has a harsh cough. Hopefully that will go away soon.

Last night he slept in his crib again. He only got up once too. He was so tired. Today he has been sleeping a lot. We are letting him sleep so he can get better. We have a vaporizer in his room. That seems to help him at night. Brian uses the bulb syringe to clean out his nose for him. As you can imagine, he hates that. I wish he could just blow his nose but he can’t.

Let’s hope this week is a little better for all of us!