Nothing Interesting to Say

I really can't think of 1 single interesting thing to write about, but I decided to post anyways since it has been a week since my last post. I think that I have a terrible case of "Mommy brain" because I am not near as creative as I used to be - did Collin actually take part of my brain from me?

I am so happy that tomorrow is Friday. I always loved weekends, but lately I am cherishing family time even more. Last weekend on Sunday I told Son that I thought the weekends were much shorter since we had the baby & he agreed! It just breaks my heart to have to drop Collin off at day care every day & I think on the weekends I want to take advantage every single second that I have with him & Son.

Tomorrow night we are going to help our friends Tama & Stuart move - they are moving back to Kentucky so that Stuart can go back to school. They are an amazing couple & will be missed dearly!! Son also helped our friends Josh & Rebecca move on Tuesday night. They are moving to Alabama so that Josh can go back to school also. We are losing some great close friends here also - but I am happy for all 4 of them to be pursuing what they want to do and following God's plans for their lives!

Then on Saturday we are going over to our friend Brad & Whitney's house to help them with some stuff in their garage. The are expecting baby Maxwell in August & are trying to get organized before he makes his appearance!

My little sister Becca turned 23 yesterday! I can't believe it!! I am soooo old! Happy belated birthday sissy!

It's all about the Details

So I had been feeling pretty good lately and hoped that the new medicine I had started taking last week was begining to work - until yesterday & today when I started feeling worse. At first I attributed it to the stress of Collin starting daycare today until I got out my medicine at lunch and was looking at the prescription label...I had been taking the medicine 3 times a day, but I just noticed that it says "take 3 tablets by mouth three times daily". I guess in my grogginess from the anesthesia last week when I filled the RX I misread the label and thought I was supposed to take 1 tablet three times daily!

So, basically I have only been taking like 1/3 of what I am supposed to...oh well, I hope that means that it will start working 3 times better :)

Good news = tomorrow is Friday!

Life is good

Collin is sleeping through the night!! I have hesitated to make a big deal out of this since I really don't want to jinx it, but for the past few weeks he has been sleeping for about 8 hours each night - this is major!!! It has been awesome to get caught up on my sleep - I actually feel like a normal person again.

Before he was sleeping through the night I would have to rush around to try to get in bed around 8 so that I could get some sleep, but now Son & I can both hang out with Collin until we put him down around 9pm and then we can go to bed together...little victories!

Since I was sick we had to supplement with some formula, and I was afraid that it was because he was on formula, but for the past few nights I have fed him myself right before bed & he still slept all the way through.

He also started watching his Baby Einstein DVD's today - aunt Becca put him in the Bumbo and turned on the video for him. What a cutie...

TGIF

Okay, so I know that it isn't actually Friday, but it is kind of Friday for me because my office is closed tomorrow which means that I will get a much needed 3-day weekend. Yea for 4th of July!

They were able to complete the test yesterday (answer to much prayer!!). The results were positive and negative. The disease has doubled in length (bad news) but there is another medication that I can try now (good news) and the best part is that I can take it and continue to breastfeed Collin (even bigger answer to prayer)!!! I had spent a lot of time crying & praying over what to do if I had to decide between taking a new medication or continuing to breastfeed, but thank the Lord when I called my pediatrician yesterday to check on the medication they said that it was safe to take! This is amazing because we had thought that we had tried everything that was safe!

We had to supplement with some formula for the first time today - because of the sedation I couldn't feed him for 24-hours & we had pretty much gone through the frozen supply I had last time they attempted the procedure. Plus, being on a liquid diet for several days doesn't exactly help when you are trying to build the supply back up! I really didn't want him to have any formula, but there wasn't anything else that we could do. The good thing is that we have all weekend to get back on track!

In other Collin news, he is just growing so much every day! Lately he has really discovered his hands and loves to grab things & pull on them (including his ears to the point where he cries - my sister said that she had to hold his arms down this morning because he was pulling on them so hard). He can hold his head up better now & he can turn it from side to side when he is laying on his tummy.

He also talks to us much more now & his favorite word is "Ah-goo". I'm not sure what that means, but it is pretty darn cute!!

Here he is in one of his favorite activities lately - riding around the house in his stroller!

Lately...

This post is way overdue! I have no idea where the time goes these days. I thought that once I was back at work that I would have more time to update the blog, but all of my "free" time at work is spent pumping!

Also, I have been not feeling well lately, so I am just trying to get through the days. My Ulcerative Colitis has been flaring up ever since I had Collin, but none of the medications that they had given me to take were helping (at least not the ones that I can take while breastfeeding), so I went last Friday to have a test done to see what was going on. Well, my sister & Collin took me to the appointment since I can't drive afterwards, and they put me out to start the procedure, but I was so severely dehydrated & my blood pressure was too high that they couldn't finish it...super frustrating!

They sent me home to hydrate :) and gave me some really yucky medicine (please excuse the limited details on my medical condition as it's very personal) to take and they rescheduled the procedure for this Wednesday (tomorrow).

I felt pretty terrible Friday & Saturday, but am actually feeling much better now & am just anxious to get the test done tomorrow to find out what's going on. Hopefully they will actually be able to complete it this time!!

On a more positive note - it has been an amazing blessing to have my sister here during all of this drama. She has been so helpful & has really gone above & beyond in taking care of both me & Collin. Here are some more pictures that she has taken recently.

I know all moms say this, but I really do have the cutest baby in the entire world!

Back to Work...

Well, unfortunately it had to happen some time. I returned to work yesterday...boo! I would give anything to be able to stay at home with my little angel & these have been 2 of the hardest days of my life. Fortunately my amazing sister Becca has given up 4 weeks of her summer (she is a teacher in Dallas) to come and keep baby Collin for us so that he doesn't have to go to daycare quite yet.

She has been so amazing with him - although I am extremely sad to not be able to be with him 24/7 anymore, I know that he is in more than capable hands...she actually is probably more qualified to watch him than I am :)

The best part of my day now is when she sends me pictures to let me know what they are doing during the day. Here are a few of my favorites from the past 2 days.

What a sweet boy to write his mommy a note!

Perspective

Last week on Friday while we were sitting in the surgery waiting area at Wolfson Children's hospital before Collin's surgery I will admit, I was feeling pretty sorry for ourselves & like this was the end of the world. Well while we there were waiting we saw so many other babies with worse problems - heart conditions, etc - that it really made me stop for a moment and thank God for all of the many ways that he has over abundantly blessed our family.

While no one ever wants their 7-week-old baby to have surgery, in the big scheme of things his procedure (fistulaectomy - I know that it not how you spell it) was relatively minor, the entire procedure lasted less than an hour, and we took him home with us after only a few hours in recovery. God is good!

Thankfully Collin is recovering well & I don't think he has any idea what happened.

In other news, my sister is coming on Monday to visit!!!! I unfortunately have to go back to work next week, so she is going to be able to keep him for us for a few more weeks before we have to put him in daycare - Collin is one lucky baby to have such a sweet aunt Becca. I can't wait to see her!