Friday

Unedited phone pics from last Friday.

I love my days off.

Sleep Study

{May 8th}

Braxton's ENT doctor recommended we get a sleep study done.  When you have a cleft lip/palate, there are often other syndromes that become more common and the Pierre Robin syndrome is one.  A small chin means the tongue can be pushed back further in the mouth, creating breathing problems.  They haven't diagnosed Braxton with it, but they (his ENT and cleft palate surgeon) are still concerned about his breathing.  We haven't experienced any problems when he sleeps, but he can get pretty restless and the ENT informed us last time we were there that that wasn't normal. 

A sleep study is where they hook up a ton of sensors all over your body, face and head and measure all kinds of things while you sleep (they also video you).  I don't think its normally that big of a deal but it was a pretty traumatizing experience for a baby. 

We weren't scheduled for one until June 20th but they called at noon and said they had an opening for that night.  We should have just waited so we were prepared but I honestly just wanted to get it over with.  They only allow 1 parent to come and stay due to space limitations in the room so it was hard wrangling all of our stuff and handle the Nug all by myself.  He did awesome when they started hooking up the sensors on his body...didn't make a peep.  When they started putting sensors on his face/head, they dipped the sensor in a glue paste and pressed it down really hard on him for it to stick.  That's when he lost it.  It was so sad to hold him down when he freaked out!  After all sensors were placed, they wrapped his head in gauze to keep him from pulling them off and then came the oxygen tubes, followed by more sensors taped down to his face. 

{right after they wrapped him up}

It looks worse that it was, although it was a really crappy experience overall.  We had a less than personable nurse/sleep tech who was pretty insensitive the situation.  I had to sit in his ghetto hospital crib and hold him to calm him down and get him to sleep, but he passed out pretty quickly since it was already 9:30 at this point.  I think he did really well all night except for the fact he woke up fussing/crying every 45 minutes or so all night long (which means I woke up every 45 mins all night long).  I think he would just get scared when he went to switch positions or move and he would feel his face all wrapped up.  Thankfully he was pretty happy when he woke up and did great when they removed all the wires from him. 

We'll find out the results in about a week or two when they analyze all the data.  If there are issues, there is a chance they'll recommend some kind of operation to add on to his cleft surgery later this summer... but hopefully its just something we can correct by having him sleep on his tummy.

 

{happy boy again in the morning}

  

8 Months

{April 28th}

8 Months

The last month as been ROUGH...

Since Braxton started daycare, we've been sick for the last 4 weeks straight.
Braxton's had an ear infection, we ALL got the stomach flu, we ALL got some horrible sore throat/cold/virus, and now Braxton has another bad ear infection...
All in a row.

Sick baby = no sleeping for anyone.

At one point, he was getting up 6+ times a night... which is worse than when he was a newborn.

He also doesn't eat well while he is sick, so I think his empty belly also wakes him up more at night.
The poor kid is on his 3rd antibiotic and has been on them for basically 30 days straight.

They have scheduled his surgery to repair his cleft palate for August 14th and they put tubes in his ears as a routine part of the procedure.  I really want to call his ENT and demand they put them in now, ahead of time.  We cannot handle another 3.5 months of straight ear infections (....no eating, no sleeping) and antibiotics.  I don't want Braxton to be miserable the entire time and I have a very strong feeling that's where we are headed knowing he has fluid in his ears and it probably isn't going anywhere until the tubes are put in. (having the cleft makes him more likely to have the fluid/infections)  They want to wait until his cleft surgery so they don't have to put him under twice so close together but right now we are willing to take the risk.  We'll see how the next 10 days go and if he can finally start feeling better.

Although we've had lots of sickness and long nights... our Nug is still as happy as ever most of the time.

He stopped sucking his thumb just before he turned 7 months.

We are sad... it was one of my favorite habits of his.

(the self-soothing also stopped...ugh)

Sits up so good on his own. 

He was still a little wobbly at 7 months but does great now.

He is content to just sit by himself and play with his toys for quite awhile.

He LOVES the kitty cats (or any other animal).

No matter what his mood is...if he sees them, he always gets happy and excited.

If they are anywhere close, he immediately reaches out to 'pet' them

(pet = grab fistfulls of fur)

His favorite is trying to grab their tails and attempt to put it in his mouth.  They will waft their tail around and if it his him the face, he cracks up.  Once he can grab a hold of it, he just sits there holding on! 

Both kitties are pretty tolerable.

Bonnie also loves to sleep in his room.  She usually just lays curled up all night on his changing table pad.  And if they hear him crying at night, they will always follow me in there and sit there watching him until he is back asleep.

Says MAMA.

Sometimes I think he says it with some purpose, and sometimes it comes out b/c its the only word he knows.

Either way... melts my heart!

{oh man.... I LOVE these chubby cheeks!}

Has started to give kisses.

If you ask for one and pucker up, he'll intently bring his face to yours, mouth wide open, and hold it on your face for a second. 

LOVE this.

When we prop him up, he can sit on his hands and knees for a bit. 

He starts to rock back and forth a little but I think we're still a ways away from crawling.

Has learned that really fun game where you hand him something and he throws it on the floor.
Over and over again.

{I mean seriously... I cannot even handle his 'excited' face!! I love this little boy so much!}

Loves it when you clap and cheer for him.
He gets so excited and scrunches up his nose... it is so fun!
He's learning to clasp his hands and kind of get the clapping motion down himself.