Mommy's First 4 Months Curse

I won't even go into all my excuses for not being able to blog for 2 months (oops! Now it's 4 months b/c for some reason I never hit post on this post after I typed it!)! Having a new baby should be good enough...BUT leave it to me to have a "special" baby the first 4 months. Just so happens that's how it turned out with BOTH of my boys! With Riley it was the tongue tied thing. Now with Conley - I find out at his 4 month checkup 2 days before I return to work that most of the "high maintenance" tendencies he has are due to reflux! It explains that "button on his back" that Kelly and I joked about was there b/c he would immediately scream bloody murder anytime you laid him down on his back even if he was in a dead sleep! It explains why Mommy holding him wasn't always enough - he wanted you to WALK and hold him - I can only assume because it would keep him perpendicular to the floor and helped with his reflux. It explains why he would only sleep in the swing b/c it was sitting him up at a good angle. It explains why he took forever to nurse and would gag and cry when my milk would letdown. It explained why he would scream like crazy in the car seat b/c we usually put him in it right after we fed him! It explains Oh so many of the Conley conundrums Kelly and I were struggling with! It also explains why I had NO chance to blog! LOL! I was busy holding my HIGH MAINTENANCE baby! :) So at least we figured it out near the time I was returning to work - or I might be dead from pure exhaustion at this point! 

I'm glad to know I only have the first 4 months curse though because I don't think I could survive more! I have NO idea how those parents that are stricken with colic do it! Although I suspect colic may very well be reflux. Kelly joked around before we knew what was driving all the crying that Conley smiles or cries more than any baby he's ever seen. Although..I guess he means Riley b/c he's never really been around babies! And it was true..when he's happy - he's the sweetest, smiley face EVER! But when he's NOT happy - get your earmuffs and brace yourself!

I'm trying to rack my brain on how to summarize the last 2 months...we pretty much just went with the flow until about 2 weeks before I was due back to work - then we started trying to get into a routine and get Conley to sleep out of our bed. Riley was still excited to see him every day and showed no signs of jealousy. Conley hit the stage where he smiles with his ENTIRE body around Christmas...and there is just NO better joy than seeing such a sweet, innocent smile like that! If that doesn't melt your heart...you have ice running through your veins.

Oh yeah....one of the biggest things that came together during this time was us getting our DREAM Nanny! I can't even talk about it without crying, but I feel SOOO blessed as a working Mom to have been fortunate enough for BOTH of my boys to stay home with someone that was perfect for them and perfect for Mommy! :) Riley had Ms. Emily, and now Conley has Ms. Ashley. Ms. Ashley is actually Riley's teacher from last year at Sloan. It's a long story, but the lord works in mysterious ways on how it all came to be that Conley could stay with Ms. Ashley! She text'd me that she would be available to stay with him literally the day after I had a total meltdown about leaving him in the infant room at Sloan or anywhere for that matter. This was during the time when we didn't understand what was wrong with him - and I knew how high maintenance he was - that he had to be held all day every day..even when he was sleeping or he would scream! So I just had this vision of him being 1 of 8 and lying there crying all day! It broke my heart! So when Ashley text'd me...my heavy heart was immediately lifted! Having Conley stay with Ashley is as good maybe even technically better than having him stay with family! She loves him as if he is her own, AND she's experienced and qualified! :) Pretty much the same as it was with Ms. Emily! Just to give it perspective...Riley and she would say I love you to each other. That's how much we ALL love Ms. Ashley! She's the one that used to bring Riley home from school so Kelly and I could have date night. And Riley LOVES her daughter Aubree too, so it would be like a play date for Riley! And she's just one of those people that has so much love in her heart...and patience...that she's just made to be with children! We all feel so fortunate to have her! Like we won the lottery!

Having 2 children is WAY harder than 1! I mean like 5X harder! OMG! I have NO idea how people have 3+! I am just NOT equipped for that! I know it will only get easier from here on out, but I can't imagine people who have stair-stepped kids under 5! They deserve a special place in heaven! For REAL!

Anyway - the good news is that we've pretty much turned the corner with Conley. There are a few things we're trying to workout still, but now that we know he has reflux - we are able to "work around it" without giving him medicine because you know how I feel about all these medicines! It's still a struggle some days, but for the most part we've figured it out.

Oh yeah - there was a little more stress during this last month too. Both my parents were in the hospital - they finally figured out my Dad needed his heart valve replaced, but it took a few weeks, ICU and hospital visits to figure it out. Then my Mom ended up in the hospital at the SAME time as my Dad with severe pneumonia. REALLY bad! Like the Dr. said she was lucky to be alive b/c she waited WAY too long to come to the dr - they immediately admitted her to the hospital. The hardest part was me not being able to go there and be with them...I hadn't pumped extra milk, so I couldn't be away from Conley and I didn't want to take a little baby to the hospital. That was REALLY hard! And I seriously don't remember either of my parents EVER missing a day from work because they were ill. EVER...even if they didn't feel well, they both went to work. So having them both be so severely ill at the same time totally freaked me out!

My friend Courtney and her husband Alex came to visit the weekend of the Cotton Bowl too. She was actually here 2 weeks before I had Conley too so it was good to see her so soon again! It's always good to see her, and she's good with kids so she always helps me figure things out. Conley got a stomach bug the weekend they were here...and it started during the 2 hours they watched the boys so Kelly and I could go to the movies! So at this point, I had only been away from Conley 4 times - dinner when Kelly's parents were here, dinner for Kelly's bday, dinner and dancing New Year's Eve's Eve - yay! We still got it! :) Then the movie while Courtney was here...those were the only times I had been away from Conley until I went back to work. So having him come down with a tummy bug one of those times made the Mommy guilt kick in! But the bug lasted a whole WEEK, so Mommy got plenty of time to nurse him back to health! What's even MORE funny about this is that I went back and was reading some of Riley's old blogs...and Courtney was here when Riley got his first tummy bug too! How WEIRD is that?!

Nancy went with me to a couple of hair appointments too - we just took Conley with us. She held him while I got my hair done, then I could go to a private room and nurse him if needed while we were there.

Other than that - it was a miracle if I got dressed during the day. No time to get ready when you can't put your baby down without him crying! And him not crying was way more important than me getting ready! I'm actually setting a record still every day for the LONGEST I have EVER been without a pedicure! I know exactly how long it's been because I luckily got one the day before I had Conley! Hopefully I'll get to get one done here soon before it warms up enough for sandals! Update since I originally wrote this - I got a pedicure FINALLY! Just before St Paddy's Day, so now I'm in desperate need of another one already! ha!

What else...I'll have to ask Kelly...that's all I can think of for now!