5 Months

Our little Austin is growing up so fast! He is now 14 lbs 13 oz and 24 3/4 inches tall. I think Austin has the most hair of any of my kids at this age. Still no head full but more than any of my others and we get quite a few comments on it. It also seems to be darker then any of the other kids. I would really love if that kept up and he had dark brown hair! Austin is still wearing 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers.

This kids LOVES being around people and entertained. He is so smiley when anyone is talking to him and he doesn't hold back his laugh either which I love. I'm pretty sure his smile is attached to has abs because anytime he smiles really big he doubles over and crunches into himself. It's pretty funny. He laughs multiple times a day and especially loves when Jacob plays with him and smiles and laughs at him all the time.

Ida has also started trying to play with him as well and it's so fun to watch them all interact with each other. He does not like being left in a room by himself at all and usually isn't even ok if people are in the room but nobody is paying attention to him. I'm trying to find the balance between trying to leave him alone enough to figure out how to self entertain and not leaving him alone too much so he just cries anytime I put him down. It is a fine line and I don't think we have figured it out yet. He also just really likes being held a lot. Which isn't my favorite. So we are figuring it out. He has also decided that laying back in the swing is for newbs and now only sits up in the swing.

Austin is really drooly and loves to spit and blow bubbles with his spit all the time. Earlier in the month whenever he would get really mad he would just spit the whole time and it was really funny except his shirts were always soaked. He has stopped doing it for the most part now although he still drools quite a bit. He spent a few days this past week sucking on his bottom lip and I wanted to get a picture of it but didn't and now he has stopped doing it. He also seems to really like faces and tries to grab and touch your face if you are holding him facing you. I feel like Austin has such good control of his hands and it just gets better all the time. Lately I notice him concentrating so hard to move his hands just how he wants to move them to grab onto and play with things. It's fun watching him concentrate so much. He is my most grabby baby. If you are holding him and anything is within his reach he lunges for it! It makes holding him and doing anything else very difficult... He has also learned how to anticipate and enjoys when we play anticipation games with him.  Austin has the least attachment to the pacifier then any of my other kids. I really like pacifiers so I will keep using it and encouraging it as much as I can unless he flat out refused to take it anymore. If he is hungry and we are trying to give it to him he does not accept it as an acceptable replacement to food. haha

Austin still does not really like the car seat and traveling is still hard with him. I think part of the reason is because he still can't put himself to sleep so when he gets tired he just starts screaming and screaming and has a hard time calming himself down enough to go to sleep. He also has kind of done a regression in tummy time. I feel like he used to do quite well with tummy time and had started learning how to roll from his tummy to his back but now he isn't even close and really doesn't like tummy time anymore. He usually just superman it and doesn't use his arms at all which makes him really mad. He can very easily push himself up on his arms but he doesn't. And isn't even close to rolling over anymore. He also doesn't roll over at all from his back to his stomach anymore. He did start sitting about a week ago and seems to really enjoy that and seems much happier playing that way. But if he knows something is behind him he will get lazy and fall back onto it. Austin also doesn't like bath time. I wonder if it's because I always bathe him at night when he is already kind of grouchy... I think I will try bathing him in the morning when he is more happy.

I feel like the last week or so life has seemed pretty good. Austin is usually pretty happy in the mornings and as the day goes on he gets more grouchy and wants to be held and entertained pretty much constantly in the evenings. I think this just might be his personality. But he has seemed to be doing better and doesn't seem to be in as much pain which makes me happy! We are still going to the chiropractor once a week and he just has a couple problem spots they keep working on in his neck and in his middle back. (Maybe why he stopped liking tummy time?) I think we are getting there though!

I think Austin is my best nurser! He also seems to really like nursing. He has gotten to the stage where he plays with my shirt while he nursing and I just love that and think it's the cutest! He also will rub his head sometimes when he nurses. When he is tired he rubs his eyes so he will also rub his eyes while he is nursing if he is tired. I think Austin is very interested in solid food but I'm just not ready to start him! Plus this next month is going to be really busy and we are going to be doing a lot of traveling so I don't want to have to worry about bringing his food everywhere with me and feeding him when it's just so much easier to just nurse him. So I think we will start in a month or so. He will be very ready when we do start and I think he will enjoy solid food.

Austin's sleeping is better some days and not so much others. Although it does seem more common for him to do a long 3 or 4 hour stretch at night, unfortunately it's just in the mornings when I have to be up with the other kids. But it is progress! Also as of this past week he has started to do one long hour to hour in a half nap during the day! I think this might be to stay but I don't want to get my hopes up... He has started having longer waking periods and will now have 1 or 2 three hour waking periods a day. We still have to bounce or walk Austin to sleep but I'm hoping next month we will be able to teach him how to fall asleep on his own. He does seem to fight going to sleep even when we are holding him a lot of the time. So I don't have any idea how it's going to go. I hope well. But he is also a night owl and doesn't usually go to bed until 10 or 11 at night. So getting his bedtime earlier would be really nice as well! We are no longer using the squirrel suit! We only used it for about 3 weeks before Austin was able to sleep well with it or being swaddled.

What picture taking often looks like with Austin. :)

Austin with his cousin Cooper.

4 months old and 6 weeks old

Austin with his cousin Hyrum.

4 months old and a few days old

2 Week Post-Op: Baby Cyst

I went in for my 2 week post-op appointment for baby cyst and now I don't like the doctor even more then before. First off he came into the appointment completely unprepared. He sent a sample of my tissue to be tested to make sure it wasn't cancerous and instead of reading the report before hand and being prepared with answers, he reads it right in front of me. It turns out my baby cyst wasn't a cyst at all but a borderline tumor. But because he wasn't prepared he wasn't able to give me any answers to what that meant or exactly what the next step would be. He did say that although the tumor wasn't cancerous now it could grow back and become cancerous in the future depending on what kind it was and then told me he had to make some phone calls to the place that tested the tissue to figure out what to do next.... Yup... That was my appointment.

I spent the next 24 hours freaking out because I was going to get cancer and unfortunately Scott was out of town and out of service at the time for work so I wasn't even able to talk to him about it. I literally didn't sleep at all that night. By the next morning I had calmed down. If it was going to turn into cancer it was. And if it wasn't, it wouldn't. I didn't even know if I had anything to be freaking out about in the first place.

Dr. Robinson (I don't recommend him to anyone) was supposed to call me the next day but didn't. After two days I called them and they made a bunch of excuses and said they had been playing phone tag with the test lab. I don't believe them. Either they hadn't tried calling at all yet at this point or had maybe tried once and hadn't gotten through. Finally, 5 days after my appointment he called me right at closing time and left a message with me. I talked to him on the phone a week after my appointment and finally got some answers.

After talking to him at sounds like there is a 20% chance of the tumor coming back at all and a 3% chance of it ever turning into cancer. I've decided Dr. Robinson is terrible at explaining things and still don't really understand the difference between a tumor and cyst because it sounds like it still had all the looks of a cyst. He did say they found intestinal cells in the tumor that are also found in the appendix, which I have already had removed, so we wouldn't have to worry about a tumor growing on my appendix. That is about all I got. So we will be doing a follow up ultrasound to make sure the cyst didn't come back in 4 months. If it hasn't come back we will do another 6 months after that. If it hasn't come back by then it sounds like I don't really have to worry about it coming back. If it does come back they will probably do surgery to remove my left ovary. So it sound's like there isn't really a big chance of it coming back at all so I don't really need to worry about it. If it does come back I am definitely changing doctors.

4 Months

Austin is now 14 pounds 2 ounces (25th percentile) and 23 1/2 inches tall. He only weighs 2 ounces more than Jacob did so I think his growth is going to start evening out like the rest of my children. He is wearing 3-6 month clothes soon. (When I get the desire to switch all his clothes again....) and size 2 diapers. Austin's hair seems to be pretty dark still. Even all the new hair growing in. We get compliments on his hair all the time but I'm not really sure why. haha He does have hair. Although not a ton of it, but it is on the darker side so maybe that just makes it more noticeable? I'm not sure. Austin also had his next set of shots today which he handled like a champ! I'm pretty sure he cries a lot harder when we are letting him cry it out or just mad then when they gave him the shots. And then as soon as Scott picked him up he was done crying.

I feel like Austin is so attentive! He is definitely very aware of you and loves to be around you. He does not like being left alone and loves attention! And when you are giving him that attention he rewards you with very big smiles. He loves to smile and is the best at cry smiling. haha Yes, even when he is mad he is willing to flash the smile. Austin has also become quite the talker!

He loves to talk to himself when he is playing with toys or in the car seat. (Which he still doesn't really like, sometimes he hates it a lot more than others. You just hope on trips he's having an ok car seat day) It is so fun and I love hearing him talk. I also love hearing him laugh! He laughs so much more than my other kids did and I am loving it!

Some other things Austin discovered this past month were blowing raspberry spit bubbles and gurgling spit in the back of his throat. He has started sucking on his hands more but I don't feel like he does it very often. I think if any of my kids end up being a finger sucker he is the most likely. It seems he usually sucks on his hand the most to comfort himself, not for fun. And at night he wiggles his hand up and I can hear him sucking on it sometimes. So we shall see.

Jacob playing with Austin

Because Austin loves to be entertained and has a short attention span we pretty much rotate him through toys all day long. So he rotates through the play mat, walker, jumper, swing and bouncy chair. You would think all these toys would keep Austin entertained but it doesn't. Myself or the kids usually have to also be in the room and he still just likes being held a lot. He has started liking sitting in the lazy boy with toys all around him to play with.

Austin seems to have pretty good hand coordination. He has gotten really good at grabbing onto toys and has started bringing them up to his mouth. He also discovered his toes a little over a week ago and now likes to grab onto them as well. We are reaching the hard stage of the wub when Austin likes to pull it out every time you put it in his mouth. But he has also put it in his mouth by himself a handful of times this past week and seems to be getting better and better at it everyday!

About two weeks ago Austin rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time! And after he started doing it he didn't stop doing it... That is.... Until a few days later when I think he discovered rolling over meant he was then stuck on his stomach which he didn't like being so he kind of stopped. But for those couple days he was a rolling over machine! Since then he has done it a few times but usually just sticks to laying on his back.

So about a month ago I was so frustrated with Austin's fussiness and or seeming pain that he was in and I felt like I had tried everything and nothing was working. I was chatting to my friend Laina about it one day and she suggested I take him to a chiropractor. (Which was actually the second time she had mentioned it but the first time I actually listened) We took him the next day and it was so validating to me because with out me mentioning these things first, he talked specifically about three things he noticed about Austin that wasn't quite right. And these three things were the same three things Scott and I had noticed as well and asked the pediatrician about, who said it was fine. So the things the chiropractor saw was his head wasn't symmetrical and it was more slanted on his left side as well as his face being more scrunched on that side. He also mentioned that Austin wasn't able to turn his head as far to the left as he could the right. And the third thing he saw was that when Austin was laying on his back his body kind of naturally curved to the left making his stomach bulge out to the right. He then explained to me that he thinks when Austin was developing in the womb that instead of being curled into a ball with his spine straight, that he was curled into a ball but his spine was slightly curved to the left giving him a left pelvic tilt and pressing his head against the womb making it so his left side couldn't expand as much as the right side of his head and kinking his neck. Kind of like how he is in this pic....

After examining Austin, the first thing he told me was, "If I didn't know anything about this baby the first question I would ask you is, does he cry a lot?" He then told me that the tightness in Austin's neck muscles was something you would usually see in an 8 to 9 month old but very rarely in a 3 month old. He also said that with the pelvic tilt, if left alone, would probably have caused some problems when it came to crawling because his left side wouldn't have been as efficient as his right side and he probably would have drug his left leg a bit.

Since then we have been going to the chiropractor twice a week. He was able to fix Austin's head and face bone structure and get the left side expanded out like the right and the pelvic tilt pretty easily but his neck is still tight and causing some pain. Austin is still fussy and needy but I think he is a lot more content then he used to be. And I don't feel like he is in pain all the time now which is a relief! And as he gets older and can entertain himself better he seems to be less fussy as well if we keep a variety of toys in front of him all day. He seems to just get more fussy throughout the day. So in the morning he is a pretty happy camper. But as the day goes on he get more and more fussy and by the time evening hits he pretty much wants held or entertained at all times. We are still currently going to the chiropractor and will until we can get Austin's neck to stay where it is supposed to.

Austin's sleeping has been the biggest challenge. The chiropractor believes the pain from his neck is the main cause of this. Although I feel like Austin's sleeping schedule at night is all over the place, he pretty consistently will only sleep 2 hour stretches and on bad nights be up every hour. He has occasionally sleep 3 or 4 hour stretches though and we are trying to get that to be more consistent. I do feel like Austin must have a pretty awesome internal alarm clock though because I feel like on nights he is only sleeping 2 hour stretches it's like clock work and he gets up every 2 hours. On nights he is sleeping 3 hour stretches, again, like clock work, every 3 hours. And during the day he takes 30 min naps and you can time them! It's like exactly 30 mins every time! I do feel like we are getting a good sleep schedule during the day. Yes, he does only sleep 30 mins at a time but he also takes like 5 naps a day every 90 mins. He is kind of transitioning to going to bed earlier which means between 8-9. But will still occasionally go to bed later around 10. Just depends on the day. He will also very very occasionally take a longer nap then 30 mins. But that's like once a month. haha Austin still needs help being put to sleep but he didn't really like being rocked and walking around got old so we decided to try an exercise ball and he likes it! So apparently he isn't a rocker he is a bouncer! :) Also the past week or so Austin has not really loved being swaddled. Plus he would break out of the swaddle and every night I'd have to re-swaddle him like 5 times! But I have tried just laying him down with nothing and he would like wake up every time. So.... Drum roll please... Introducing the squirrel suit! (aka homemade zipadee zip that cost me $3 dollars vs the $40 it would have cost if I bought it offline) (Thanks again Laina for letting me borrow your sewing machine! And for telling me the squirrel suit reminds you of Blanky off of the Little Toaster! :)

I discovered this online, It's actually off of shark tank, and the design is supposed to help transitioning from being swaddled to not needing to be swaddled. So it gives them some room to move but is also slightly restricting as well as comforting. I used it the first time yesterday and he seemed to do well with it! Last night I ended up swaddling him but I think it was just a rough night. (Falling off the couch and landing on your head with an already bad neck can do that to you) So I'm going to try it again tonight and see if we have more success with it! (It was a success! He slept for 6 hours then 4! Hopefully it's not a fluke and just because he got his shots. Fingers crossed!) So far he seems to like it more than being swaddled and doesn't get super angry when I'm putting it on him. So we shall see! It seems to be working so far! He is still also sleeping in our room because I don't feel like he is sleeping well enough yet to be moved to the kids room.

Austin rockin' the exercise ball and squirrel suit!

Austin's eating is going very well. He is eating every 2 hours. Sometimes a little longer. We tried him on some formula this past month when I had my surgery and that didn't really go very well. He didn't like it.... Not that I can blame him really... Cuz that stuff stinks! It's a good thing I had plenty of breast milk saved up in the freezer. The one problem I do keep having is clogged milk ducts. I think I've had 5 of them since Austin was born and I'd never gotten any with the other kids. I wish I knew what caused them cuz they are no fun and wipe me out! For a day or so I get achy and chilled all over my body on top of the very painful milk duct that is clogged.... It is interesting...

20 Week Baby Cyst

I suppose I ought to give an update on my ovarian cyst that was discovered during my pregnancy with Austin. At my 6 week week postpartum checkup we did another ultrasound and it was discovered that the cyst did not go away on it's own but hadn't gotten any bigger. (15 cm or 5 inches in diameter). When I talked to the midwife about getting it removed she said the cyst was big enough and in the right position that if I didn't get it removed I would probably just look 20 weeks pregnant until it was removed or went away on it's own. Hence, the name of my cyst. :) I think cysts are pretty common but I don't think it is common for them to be this big. That's what it seems like anyways. I think it's funny because whenever I go in the nurse checking me in is always excited that I'm the one with the cyst that is so big you can feel it from the outside. haha

20 week baby cyst bump :)

So my doctor was Dr. Mathew Robinson. He was so so. When he first looked at the ultrasound of the cyst he wasn't quite sure the best way of going about getting it removed. The two options were doing a laparoscopic surgery which is how they usually hand cysts and is only like a week recovery. Or because it was so big needing to do a full on cut which would take 4ish weeks to recover from. After discussing it with another doctor he ended up getting back to me a couple days later and said he thought they could do it laparoscopically and if it didn't work after they got in there they would just make a regular cut. He thought the surgery would last 2-3 hours because of the size of the cyst and I would need to pump and dump for 24 hours after the surgery before I could nurse again.

Because of the crazy summer it's been and because I was training for the GTR and then Skyler and Janessa's wedding the week after I decided to hold off doing the surgery until after everything had settled down a bit. Getting the surgery itself scheduled was a hassle of it own! Apparently the hospital only does surgeries Tuesday through Thursday. Between noon and 4pm. Every other week. haha So we settled on September 8th and after much more hassle finally decided noon would work for the surgery. I had to do the normal fasting from food 12 hours before the surgery and stop drinking 4 hours before.

Now... I didn't really think anything would go wrong with the surgery but by the time that September 8th rolled around I was just anxious, nervous and ready for it all to be over with. After getting all the labs done and prepped we were finally ready for surgery! We dropped the kids off with Scott's parents to watch over night and the next day but kept Austin with us so I could feed him one last time before going in. I got to put on this super awesome purple robe thing and super cute tan socks provided generously by the hospital. haha. Don't
I look great! The Dr. came and talked to me right before surgery and apparently on all the documentation it said the cyst was on my right side when I was about 99% sure it was on the left. So after I asked him about it he said, "Well, I guess I'll let you know when I get in there what side it was on" haha I think because of the procedure they would be doing two small incision on both my right and left side so it didn't really matter.

The last thing I remember before being wheeled back for surgery is kissing Scott goodbye, being rolled out of my waiting area. Then I was out before I even went through the doors to the OR. Which is saying something because my waiting room was kiddy corner to the OR doors about 15 feet away. haha It was 12:30 when they took me back. The next thing I remember is waking up in recovery and groggily asking the nurse what side the cyst was on. haha It was on the left. Just as I had thought. Then asking her the time. 2:20. Scott was able to come join me shortly after.

I was able to go home at 4:30. But I ended up being really annoyed because the doctor never did a follow up visit with me so I could ask him about the surgery and how everything went or what stuff I should do for recovery. Nothing. I don't even know if they were able to preserve the ovary! Which they were 95% sure they would be able to. But I don't know! Not even a nurse came and talked to me about anything. I've actually been pretty annoyed by this and get more and more annoyed the more I think about it. Heck. For all I know they cut into me and didn't even take anything out! It just would have been nice to be talked to and told everything went well and as planned. But nope... I know nothing. But anyways... Everything did seem to go planned and I hope if it didn't I would have heard something. I am now sporting 3 new incisions on my stomach but discovered that they used my old appendix scar as one of the incision spots so I actually only have two new incisions!

So that was thoughtful of them. :) I am currently home and doing well. Feeling pretty sore. My right incision seems to be bigger then the other two and it is bothering me a lot more than my other two although the one right below my belly button hurts as well. The incision on my left side feels pretty good considering and doesn't seem to be bothering me that much. So I'm off to a good recovery and enjoying the time away from kids to recoup! The biggest annoyance has been trying to let down to the pump so I don't lose all my milk supply which has pretty much been awful. But other than that I'm feeling good! And Scott brought to my attention that now both of my boys have caused me to have some kind of abdominal surgery. First with Jacob's c-section and now the cyst I got from being pregnant with Austin. I guess I better have girls from now on!

18 Months

Although Ida is still very small she is making her way up on the scale! She is now 31 inches tall and 18 lbs 2 ounces putting her in the 8th percentile for weight! As of about 15 months she is wearing 12 month clothes, size 3 diapers and size 4 shoes. Ida's hair has lightened up in color quite a bit and her eyes are like a denim blue color with quite a bit of grey mixed in with blue. Her hair is so fine and thin that she doesn't seem to have much there. But I was finally able to get some adorable pig tails just a few weeks ago! Something I've been waiting for for a long time!

This little girl has attitude, sass, and a strut to her walk. And a small part of me loves it! I'm sure I may not always feel this way when she uses that attitude and sass on me. The little bits and pieces that she has already shown me might terrify me just a little for her terrible 2's. But I wouldn't change her personality for anything. I wish that I could follow her around with a video camera all day because I feel like that is the best way of really capturing her personality. It's just so hard to try and put it into words. I hear so many positive comments about her. She just has this personality that draws people to her and that people love.

Ida is a screamer. She always has been and the more she wants something the louder she screams! Especially when it comes to food. She loves food and is the perfect definition of hangry. She gets so mad when she is hungry. She is really trying to talk but her ability just hasn't caught up to her desire yet. Much like her walking. But she will try to repeat anything you ask her to, it just usually all sounds the same. :) She never really picked up on the signing. She will sign all done, please and milk, although I'm no sure she knows exactly what the sign for milk means. And I think she uses the sign please more for when she wants something. She went through a small period of signing more but it was short lived. She also has said a couple words like Austin and Dad. She is starting to get into more things like cupboards and climbing onto the table. She is also a lot more destructive than Jacob ever was. I have to be a lot more careful with books because she will rip the binding off or rib flaps off or color on books, walls, furniture. I've had to be more careful with leaving things out.

Ida has a million facial expressions. And she has started trying to explain things to me and she is so cute because she makes so many different facial expressions while she does it. As well as her arms and hands. Even though she doesn't talk much she is extremely good and letting people know what she wants through her continual grunting. Which is pretty much nonstop every day. She may not use words but you know what she wants. And if you pretend you don't know what she wants, she looks at you like yours super dense. She is really funny when she gets mad because her expressions change in like .2 seconds. One second she is crying and the next she has a completely straight face with no emotion. When she is throwing a fit she lays flat on the ground, face first, and spreads her arms straight out. She also has the best frowny eyes when she is sad or upset. Even though she has grown into her eyes, I still think they are big and have so much expression in them. She is very easygoing and has little to no stranger danger. If someone wants to hold her she pretty much goes to anyone. She just has a way of making everyone feel good and happy. She is also very observant and a fast learner. She definitely observes to learn and not just for entertainment. She picks things up so quickly. She still has a bubble and doesn't love when people get in that bubble without permission. (Especially Jacob) But has also started to enjoy playing with Jacob more and more.

Ida has some funny quirks. Something she really enjoys doing is picking the lint and toe jam out from between her toes. As soon as her socks come off or she is laying down or in bed she is picking between her toes. She is also the cutest when she is going to bed because she gets so happy and when you put the blanket on her she grabs it and pulls it close to her laughing and smiling the whole time. She also likes to stick her finger in the hole of her pacifier when he is going to sleep. She likes to have multiple pacifiers when she is going to bed so she can have one to rub her eye or stick in her ear but I'm trying not to let her have more than just one. If she is having a rough night or we are staying somewhere new then I will usually let her have two. When you are holding Ida she likes to absentmindedly dig at your nail bed with her finger nail. Which does not feel very comfortable as well as rub her nail under your finger nail between the nail and the skin. She doesn't do it on purpose. Just does it when she's not really thinking about it.

I feel like it's hard to pick out favorites for Ida because I feel like she likes mostly anything. But she does really seem to like animals. Especially cats and horses. When she is upset or gets hurt all we have to say is "Where's the kitty" and she will immediately stop and start looking for the cat. She also likes dogs and loves when we visit my parents and she gets to see Cricket. Although I'm sure the feelings are not mutual.

When it comes to food I feel like it is also hard to pick out a favorite. She just eats and doesn't seem to like one thing more than the other. But if I had to pick right now it would probably be watermelon. She eats so much better then Jacob and it is really nice. I do think she has a sniffer built into her for food. She can find any snack bag of food anyone has. Also if she wants something you are eating she will come up to you with huge doe eyes and sign please and you pretty much can't resist her. :)

She also really likes soft blankets or pillows and anytime she comes across one she lays on it. When she gets really excited about something her whole body shakes with excitement! And when she is laying on the pillow or blanket she will almost bounce her legs with enjoyment. She is kind of going through a phase where she doesn't like the vacuum but up till this point has never had a probably with it. She also doesn't like being tackled by Jacob.

Ida is a pretty good sleeper except when she is teething or sick. Then she becomes the worst sleeper! If she is teething or sick and she wakes up in the middle of the night she does not go back to sleep for hours! Usually 3 hours. Probably because she doesn't feel well but it is so exhausting! When she is feeling fine though she sleeps really well. She is now down to one nap a day and takes naps really well as well. She loves her lion wub and I don't think will be ready to give it up for awhile. We love this little girl and her contagiously happy personality! She makes life so fun!

And more pics just because she is cute. :)