Going ons

So Izyk has a little acid reflux. We have him on a small dose of zantac twice a day. That's the only thing they saw on the x-ray. I'm thankful it's not anything worse. Although, I was a little confused that it was reflux because all the research I had done said they spit-up/vomit after every feeding. Also, they are usually really fussy and don't sleep that well. None of this described Izyk. He puked once or twice a month. He slept like a champ...better than Charley did at this age. He's a very happy little boy. Every now and then he'd fuss but it wasn't continual and usually he'd do it right before he burped. Regardless, we'll see how this zantac does. We won't see "results" until after about 2 weeks. The nurse said he may sleep better (boy sleeps from 10 to, at the earliest, 7am <- when I wake him up), or eat more (he eats a lot as it is), or be less fussy. So...we shall see. Izyk is 17lbs, 10oz at 3 months 3 weeks old. (Charley was 15lbs at 6 months) Boy is HEALTHY. He screamed and hollered when they tried to get the barium down him. Was not happy at all. He was choking the stuff down and coughed and spit it up. Ryan and I left the hospital spattered in white. Haha! It took 4 hours to get all the x-rays they needed. He kept falling asleep at small increments because we had to keep getting x-rays. Thank you to our neighbor, Nina, for watching Charley-man. They had fun tromping through the outdoors and getting dirty.

Potty training...we had to abandon our attempt at potty training 2 days earlier than planned due to Izyk's projectile vomiting and the hospital visits. But as it stands now, he tells us he has to go by saying "Sssssss" and climbing up the stairs to the restroom. He's still in a diaper (sometimes running around in the nude) but whenever he makes that sound, we take him. He's gone in the toilet a whole bunch but not consistently. One of these days we'll go straight to underwear and never look back. He will not go in the little potties. Even though that's where we started. He's better at going in the toilet so we'll leave it at that. Also, on a sad note, he broke half of my collectible figurines. He made it past the child-proof locks while Ryan was feeding Izyk. *sigh* Oh well...I should've moved that stuff when I had the chance. My mom is sending me the ones she has...thank you!! Those will stay packaged away FOREVER, or at least until the kids are out of the house. :) Pictures below are from Tate's Farm and other random times.

Monkey for Halloween.

My Charley-man.

My happy little chunk.

Long week...

And I know everyone has those weeks that feel like they're never going to end but I did preface this blog with my last blog about the whole traveling and having to pump thing. I figured I'd let you all know how it went.

Conclusion: I never want to do that again.

While some people may have NO problem pumping, I do. Now, in familiar places, I have absolutely no problem pumping, in fact, I think I've gotten pretty good at it. Now the whole trip, in general, went well. I didn't get stuck anywhere and my flights were actually running early. The only thing that put this trip in the "never want to do that again" category was the pumping. Now, I'm sure y'all are saying I just got myself worked up and caused myself to stress out.

*Ding ding ding ding*

"What do they win, Johnny?"

Yes. I stress. Yes, I cause myself to stress. No, not on purpose. Let's re-cap on my 36 hour trip.

Morning of...I attempted to time my last nursing with Izyk right before I left so I wouldn't have to pump until I got to the Detroit airport. I just realized that I lied a couple of sentences ago when I said all of my flights were on time. My departing flight was an hour delayed (which was a good thing because I was running late...go figure). I checked my baggage in (yes, I had baggage for a 36 hour trip. This bag was mainly for my cooler...which was for the milk that I had pumped) and the dude said that my flight was delayed. Oh goody. Surprisingly enough, I got my own row! So now you may be thinking "Perfect! I can pump in peace...sort of." Believe it or not, Detroit is in the EASTERN time zone. I hadn't realized this until the captain told us to turn off all electrical devices. I lost my opportunity. I was angry with myself. Next opportunity would be while we were on the ground (we were suppose to stay on the same plane but we know how STATIC flight plans are. They aren't). I had to change planes. Found my next gate, tried to get into the family restroom at the airport but it was LOCKED.

*grumble grumble*

I ended up pumping...on a 29 minute, FULL PASSENGER flight into Erie, PA. Now that means I had about 10 minutes...TEN WHOLE MINUTES...to set myself up and pump as much and as fast as I could. And everyone knows how easy it is to pump when you are under a time constraint and 160 curious onlooking eyes. *ahem*

Okay, okay...they weren't ALL staring at me but it sure felt like it. Only the lady next me was trying her darnedest to ignore whatever contraption I was hooking myself up to.

We landed in Erie...the SMALLEST airport EVER. Six terminals all bunched together in a room. Seriously small. When we landed, the pilot had the throw the engines in reverse because he almost missed the right turn to the terminals.

Fast forward an hour, check in at the hotel. I sat down and relieved the pressure for a good 25 minutes. Morning came...it took me 45 minutes to pump. Ouch. I had to rush out of there to make it to my meeting. Luckily, they had a room set aside for my pumping pleasure. Hooray! Some solitude. So I pumped whenever I could and as often as I could because I could feel myself stressing out and filling up. On our way to the airport, I realized that my ice pack in my pump bag had thawed. I was worried that all my ice packs were going to thaw but everything actually made it home. I had planned on pumping at the Detroit airport, which I did, in a family restroom. Did...not...happen. I mean, I tried but, dear me, I couldn't get anything out. Why? Well, it didn't help that every 5 minutes someone was trying to get in the locked door. It was maybe 30 degrees in that bathroom...I thought it was going to start snowing. So I ended up at home with several clogged ducts and an extremely sore chest that lasted a couple of days.

So that was the trip in a nutshell. I survived, as did the rest of my family. Izyk apparently ate fine while I was gone and I think he made up for some when i got home. The next night he woke up in the middle of the night to eat and then was nursing every two hours the next day. Either a growth spurt or he was making up for lost milk. I'm just really glad it's over with and hope that I won't have to do that again especially with a 3 month old at home.

So...

It has been awhile. Lots of random little things going on but nothing too exciting. I've had pinkeye three times in a row. I caught it when Izyk and I were at the hospital getting his chest x-ray. Surprisingly enough, no one else in this household has gotten it...*knock on wood*...let's hope it continues that way. There's way too much going on at work right now. I'm slightly (kind of a lot) stressed out and overwhelmed. My milk stash is impressively huge which is a very good thing considering I'm having to travel next week <- one source of stress of which I shall complain about later in this post. We went to Tate's Farm and had a grand time. Charley could've stayed in the corn pools ALL DAY and would've been fine. He didn't care too much for the petting zoo. Like I said...he LOVED the corn pools. All of 5 of them. I will post pictures soon. We bought a 75lb pumpkin.

Why?

Because we can.

It is now sitting out in the corner of our lot with 2 smaller gourds of similar color. Izyk is sleeping 9 hours at night. It's a beautiful thing. Although, he totally knows when it's bedtime because he starts pouting and fussing as we are singing the bedtime song. Charley and him are still doing great together. My house is in total disarray. I apologize to everyone who comes over and has to experience said mess. I made an awesomely delicious caramel apple pie this past weekend using apples from Isom's. Nothing like baking a pie using local produce. I'm thinking I may try making fried pies using the rest of the apples. I have tomorrow and monday off from work. I can't decide if I'm going to relax or freak out and use the time to clean my house. I was involved in an accident. The Nissan now has a dinner plate sized dent in the driver side rear bumper. So much for selling the car. I'm trying to decide if I want a new phone or if I'm going to take Ryan's Droid (and Ryan gets the new phone). I've been helping Ryan a lot lately with this last Research and Statistics class. I despise Statistics. Not my favorite subject but it's nice to know I remember confidence intervals that I learned 8 years ago.

Back to the business trip next week...not looking forward to it. Whilst I've figured out the logistics of pumping during the supplier visit, I have yet to figure out how/where I'm going to pump mid-flight and at airports. I'm EXTREMELY nervous about it as I've never PUMPED in PUBLIC.

The thought of it STRESSES the SNOT out of me.

I've thought about waiting to pump until I get to the hotel room but 6-7 hours is way too long and I'll be engorged before then. I've heard horror stories of the TSA holding up mothers bringing their pumps as carry-ons thinking they were bombs. Really? A pump looks like a bomb??? And do I LOOK like a threat?? I will be gone for pretty much 2 days which really isn't that long but it is. :) I've had to request a freezer/fridge and a microwave for my hotel room. I have to figure out how I'm going to bring the milk back with me. I'll probably buy a bunch of gel packs and a cooler and pray it all makes it back to Huntsville. Hate hate hate hate hate hate having to do this...I can't think of a more precise word...just hate. Talk about an emotional wreck. It's pathetic. One moment I think it's all good and I can handle it...the next moment I'm having a psychotic emotional breakdown in which my husband has no way of consoling me. I'm a walking friggin' disaster.

I'll post pictures tomorrow when I have...time...which means I won't get to it for another week. But does anyone really care? Probably not but it sure is fun to pretend.