Spit-Up Woes

From the time Jackson was born, he has been a "spit up" baby. He even spit up in the hospital. For the first 3 weeks of his life, I solely breastfed him, only to have to start supplementing when I found out he had only gained 2 ounces in 2 weeks at his 3 week check-up. I just never could give him enough milk, and after a few more weeks of supplementing, I dried up completely and just had to give him formula only. However, even on breast milk he would spit up.

I started out giving him Similac advanced because thats what we got in the hospital. He did alright on that, but would spit up a few times a day. It was never a large amount and he didn't seem bothered by it, so I didn't really think much of it. After we went through all the Similac advanced formula we had gotten from the hospital, doctor's office and from Similac themselves, I asked the pediatrician if we could use some Similac formula I had gotten that was for sensitive stomachs. (Similac sent us a couple cans to try.) The doctor said sure, that it wouldn't hurt anything to give him that since we had a couple cans, and it might even help with the spit up. So I gave it to him and never really noticed a change with the spit up. I even tried buying the Similac for spit up and that never really worked either. He was still spitting up on a pretty regular basis, but it still didn't seem to be bothering him, it was just bothering me. Haha.

As time has gone on, it seems to be getting worse. He spits up with almost every bottle, multiple times, and sometimes even several hours after he's eaten. Its still not a huge amount at any one time and he's gaining weight just fine. In the last 2 weeks I've tried giving him Enfamil's Gentlease formula, because several people who have babies that spit up said it helped their babies. It doesn't seem to be helping Jackson. :-( In fact, I think it has even gotten a little worse. Last night he spit up a couple times, once way after he had eaten and the other time during a feeding, and they were both quite a bit of spit up. I had to change him and the boppy pillow cover.

 
So now I don't know what to do. I've mentioned it to the doctor and he said they have medicine they can give him for reflux, but if he doesn't seem bothered by it, then he'd rather not prescribe it. I agree with the doctor, and would rather not give him medicine that he doesn't really need. I just wish there was something I could do to at least calm down the frequency of spit up. I know there are just some babies that spit up more than others and if he's just one of those babies then I guess I'll have to live with the dirty laundry and spit up stained clothes, but I just wonder if there's something more I could be doing or trying to maybe make the spit up a little less frequent. I don't want to keep changing his formula all the time to see what works best for him, but I'm just not sure which one I should continue giving him. There are so many options and I'm not sure which one is really best for him.

So I was wondering if any of you moms out there, might have some suggestions for me. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has dealt with this problem before and I'm hoping someone has a suggestion for me to try. Is there some secret out there to helping your baby with spit-up that this first time mom doesn't know about?? If so, I'd love to know about it. Or am I just being paranoid?? Any and all suggestions/remedies are welcome. ☺

Our Weekend

We had a great weekend! I hope you did as well.

Friday night we had my parents over for pizza and a movie. We needed a new garbage disposal put in, so my dad came over to do that for us. Its nice to have a garbage disposal again after a month of our old one being broken. After he got that done, we ordered pizza and watched The Ides Of March. It was a good movie and very intense. Gotta love any movie with George Clooney and Ryan Gosling. ☺

Saturday, we just hung out at home. I had intended to clean the house, but never really got around to it. My sister, her husband and their 2 boys came over later that afternoon and I helped my sister make a blog. Check it out here. Its still not really finished as she has some more things to add, but its looking pretty cute so far.

At 7, we all went to some friend's of ours house for dinner and a movie. We watched the Help again, since our friends had never seen it before. (Our Blockbuster is closing and they are selling all their movies, so I got a good deal on The Help along with a few other movies.)  It was a really fun night and great time together. We don't see these friends as often as we'd like or should, so it was fun to get together with them.

Sunday we went to church and then we went to a bowling tournament with my co-workers. Our team came in 6th place out of more than 20 teams! Not too shabby. After the tournament, we went home and spent the rest of the evening relaxing and playing with Jackson. He's such a cutie and is really smiling and talking a lot these days! Heres a picture I took of him before we left for church yesterday. He's getting so big!

Jackson is 14 Weeks Old!

Jackson turned 14 weeks old this past Thursday. He has had his hands in his mouth constantly these last couple weeks and I couldn't keep them out for his 14 week photo shoot. Not sure if he's beginning the teething stage or what, but he sure does love his hands right now. He's started looking at his hands too. He'll just stare at them, its so cute! He also started grabbing at stuff this passed week, and he still loves blowing raspberries. He'll look at me and blow one just to get me to blow one back at him. Then he'll give me a big smile. Its sooo cute! He's such a happy baby and we just can't give him enough kisses. I said its a wonder he doesn't have chapped cheeks with all the kisses he gets. His chubby little cheeks are just so irresistible. ☺

Fill in the Blank Friday

Happy Friday Everyone!

I'm linking up with...

 1.   My favorite place I've ever traveled to is Maui on our honeymoon.  

2.   Australia is somewhere I'd love to go someday.  

3.  I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by reading a book/magazine or watching a movie/playing a game on the laptop.

4.  My three must-haves when I travel are my ipod, laptop and a book/magazine.    

5.  My favorite travel companion is my husband Jake.  

6.  The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is: Nothing too crazy has ever happened that I can think of, but a funny story we talk about all the time is when I was with my friend Carley, her mom and my mother-in-law (before she was my MIL) in California back in 2000. My friends Mom left her wallet in the rental car. She didn't realize this until we were getting off the bus to go to the airport. All of a sudden she yells MY WALLET!!! She did end up managing to get the driver to take her back to the rental car place and thankfully her wallet was still in the car. We still joke around all the time and scream "MY WALLET", when we're all together.

7.  The most exotic food I've ever tried while traveling is: Nothing exotic for me. I'm a pretty picky eater and don't usually try crazy foods. We could have tried Poi while we were in Maui, but I was warned before we went that it wasn't very good, so I didn't try it. I kind of wish I would have at least tried it now. Oh well, maybe next time.    

8.  If I could live anywhere else, I'd live in Maui, Hawaii.      

9.  I have been to 20 states in the U.S.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!

Thoughts for Thursday

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday (Super Bowl Edition)

I'm linking up this week for Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday!

Super Bowl XLVI

With the Super Bowl coming up, I thought I'd devote this post to cute Superbowl party ideas I've found on Pinterest. We have a party every year and I've been pinning some cute ideas for our party this year.

What kind of fun Superbowl Party ideas have you had or come across??

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm linking up here this week for What I'm loving Wednesday.

*Today I'm loving my new blog layout. I think I finally have it the way I want it. I've been playing around with it for the last few weeks, trying to get it just right, and I think I finally LOVE it!

*I'm loving that Jackson has slept til almost 7 a.m. the last 2 nights. My Mom usually gets to our house at around 7 to stay with Jackson for the day and I leave for work at around 7:15, so 7 is a great time for him to sleep til. I'm usually ready for work by 7 and it gives me a little time with him before I have to leave. He had been getting up at around 6 which makes it kind of hard for me to get ready in the morning.

*I'm loving that I got to spend the evening with all these babies last night. My sister and I take care of the babies in the nursery during bible study on Tuesday nights at church. We have four babies in there (her 3 month old, my 3 month old and her 9 month old twin nieces) and we also have one toddler who is almost 2. Babies are so much fun!

*I'm loving that since we've had Jackson, my husband has been doing a majority of the laundry, all the cooking and all the grocery shopping! He's pretty much always done the cooking, but its been a big help that he's taken on a majority of the laundry.

* I'm loving that a friend of mine at church is going to have a little sewing class for those of us who want to learn how to sew. Its next Saturday and she's going to teach us how to sew a bag, using a pillow case. :-) She's very good at sewing and sews a lot of her girls' dresses, among other things. I've been wanting to learn to sew for quite some time now, but just haven't taken the time to sit down and learn. This will be a great opportunity to learn how. Here's a picture of the bag we are making.

* And last, but not least, I'm loving my family! I have the best family ever and love them all dearly.

Jackson is 13 Weeks Old!

Jackson turned 13 weeks old this past Thursday and his 3 month old birthday was this past Friday. It's going by so fast. He's really starting to get a cute little personality. He's so fun and so sweet! I just want to kiss his sweet chubby cheeks all the time! :-) Here are his 13 week pictures! Enjoy.

TGIF!!

Yay! Its finally Friday! And its a 3 day weekend for me!! Hooray!

So far we don't have a whole lot planned for this weekend and I'm pretty happy about that! Tonight we are just relaxing at home. I think my husband is planning on grilling steaks, which sounds wonderful to me!

 

We may go bowling tomorrow night to practice for a tournament we're in with my office next weekend. I haven't bowled since last years tournament in January. I was pregnant a majority of the year so bowling wasn't really an option. Jake thought we should probably practice since its been so long for both of us.

Sunday we have church in the morning. Then we'll probably just hang out at home and watch football that afternoon. Sunday evenings we always go to some friends of ours house. We usually have dinner and sometimes will play a game.

Monday I'll probably meet up with my Mom and Sister for lunch and a little shopping with the kids.

So thats my plan for the weekend. Do you have anything fun planned?

Jackson is 12 Weeks Old!

Jackson turned 12 weeks old this past Thursday and had his 12 week Dr. appt. this past Saturday. He weighed 14 lbs. 13 ozs. (he's in the 75th to 90th percentile on his weight) and is 24 3/4" long (he's in the 75th percentile on his length). He's such a big boy. Unfortunately he had to get 2 shots and drink the Rotavirus vaccine. He drank the medicine fine but did not care for the shots at all. Of course Mommy and Daddy didn't like that Jackson had to get those mean old shots either. :-(  It makes me cry every time and Daddy couldn't even look.

The Dr. said that Jackson is doing great. He said he's holding his head up like a 4 month old and growing and gaining weight like a champ!! He's still doing well with 6 ozs. of formula every 4 hours. The Dr. said he can start having rice cereal at 4 months, so we're looking forward to trying that then.

We also tried putting him in his crib at night for the first time this past weekend. He has done great so far. The first night we tried, he slept from midnight til 6:30. Then last night we tried again, but it kind of got messed up because we had some thunderstorms come through and the tornado sirens went off. He slept from around 9:15 til I guess it was around 2 or 3 when the sirens went off. I got him and put him in his little bed in our room when I heard the sirens, but he slept through the whole storm and even moving him into our room didn't wake him up. He didn't wake up again until 5. I fed him then, and put him back in his crib awake (but tired), where he fell asleep on his own and was still sleeping when I left for work this morning at 7:30. My mom said at close to 9 he was still asleep!! He's such a good sleeper and I'm SO thankful for that.

One other thing I wanted to document for this week is, he has been mimicking me blowing raspberries and its the cutest thing ever. He started this on Saturday and I couldn't believe it at first. He was really watching my mouth when I would blow raspberries at him and then he started trying to blow them back at me. He even makes the same sound as me. Its so cute. I really need to try to video it.

I feel so blessed to have a happy and healthy baby. Here's his 12 week picture...

Fill in the Blank Friday

Link up here for Fill in the Blank Friday

1.   The last thing I ate was:  Breakfast egg rolls here at work.

2.   The last song I listened to was:  "The Living Proof" by Mary J. Blige at the end of the movie The Help that I watched again last night .

3.  Using the letters in my name I can spell:  {Amy}...yam, may, my and am. I think thats probably it .

4.  If I had to dress in one color for the rest of my life I would pick:   I guess I would have to say blue because I could wear jeans and there are so many different shades of blue that it wouldn't get too boring .

5.  If you were to look in my bag right now you'd find:  My wallet, gum, receipts, check book, sunglasses, chap-stick, keys, my cell phone, camera and coupons.

6.  When I finish filling in the blanks I'm going to:  Get back to work, Haha!

7.  My all time favorite song to dance to is:  Gosh, I have no idea. I guess I would have to say dancing with my husband to our song, "You're Just too Good to be True" by Frankie Valley.

I'm so glad its Friday! Its been a long week and I'm so ready for the weekend. Tonight I plan on just relaxing at home with my husband, Jackson and our fur-babies. Tomorrow, Jackson has his 12 week Dr. appt. in the morning. I'm looking forward to seeing how much J.T. has grown, but I think he will probably be getting shots at this appt. and I'm really not looking forward to that. Then we are going to an open house at my MIL's workplace in the afternoon. She works for a new company and they're having a open house for family of the employees to come and visit the new location.

Sunday morning we'll go to church and then probably just hang out at home the rest of the day. Then Monday I have a couple appts. and I plan on doing some shopping with my mom, sister and the kids.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Winter, Winter Go AWAY!!!

We woke up to freezing cold temperatures and about an inch or so of snow this morning. By the end of the day we are expected to have 2-3 inches. Yuck!! Yesterday it was in the 50's and this past Friday it was in the 70's. On my way to work this morning it was 20 degrees and its supposed to get even colder as the day goes on. But thats St. Louis for you. The weather changes constantly. :-/

Even though there's only about an inch or so of snow, the roads are terrible!! After dropping Jackson off at my mom's this morning and making the trek down to the city, it ended up taking me an extra hour to get to work. However, I'm grateful I made it here safely and it does look kinda pretty from my nice warm office. I took a picture from my 24th floor office window so you all could see.

 Here's to hoping Spring is just around the corner. I really hate winter!!

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesdays

I'm linking up with...

This is such a cute bib. I really want to get one made for Jackson.

 Such a clever idea.

I really want to do this with Jake and frame it for the family collage wall in the living room that I'm working on.

This is so beautiful and makes me long for summer nights.

Such a cute shirt. I need this for Jackson for Valentines Day!

I'm dying for a DSLR camera! Hoping to get one in April for my birthday!

 I love this bag!