3 Months Old! (plus a few days!)

Life's been a little nutty lately. The last few weeks have been busy as we prepped our house to sell. It was on the market last week and lucky for us, sold quickly. Despite the craziness, we did manage to Logan's 3 month picture taken! Our little man is officially out of the newborn stage!

There are two pretty major updates on Logan from a health perspective. 

• At birth, our midwife noticed that he has hypospadias. It is a condition where the opening of his urethra is in the wrong place. Fortunately, he was able to pee normally, so immediate action didn't need to be taken. We did need to see a paediatrician when he was 2 days old. She referred us to Sick Kids, the children's hospital in Toronto. We recently saw a paediatric urologist. His case is fairly straightforward, but will require surgery. They will need to reconstruct his urethra, using his own tissue. It is a 2-hour procedure that is best done when the baby is about 8-9 months old. While I'm grateful that it is straightforward, the thought of my little guy being put under scares me. Lucky for us, we have one of the best children's hospitals in the world. I've already looked the surgeon up and discovered that he is "the man" when it comes to this procedure. He will be in good hands. 

• He failed his initial hearing screening in his left ear. The nurse attempted two different tests, but his left ear failed both. His right ear passed immediately. As a result, we were referred to an audiologist at the hospital. The test that they run at the hospital is far more involved. The baby has to be completely asleep during the test. A tricky feat for Logan and I considering he isn't the best napper. I fed him, rocked him, bounced him, rocked the carseat and finally put him in the carrier. I eventually got him into a good sleep state for the test. His left ear was not responding, so she switched to the right. She managed to get the information she needed from the right ear in 5 minutes. She went back to the left ear and tried higher frequencies, but it still was not responding. He woke a few times during the test, so she wasn't able to get all of the information she needed. She was confident that he does have permanent hearing loss, but could not say how much. He will be going back for more tests. Thankfully, his speech and language should not be affected since he has perfect hearing in his right ear. While this was hard to hear, I'm trying to remain positive and put things into perspective. His right ear works well. Hearing aids are pretty incredible these days. It might be an inconvenience, but it won't stop him from living a normal life. We will have more answers in the next month or so. 

Naturally, when I need him to be asleep, he stays awake chomping on his hands and giving me big smiles!

• In other (more fun) news, he is chatting like crazy! I need to get a video of it. He has been trying out all sorts of sounds, including shrieking. He thinks it's pretty fantastic. Quinn, in particular, talks to him often. He usually responds with various sounds and she adores him for it! He is super smiley now too, particularly with the people he knows well. 

• Tummy time is a work in progress. He can't stand it, but really, what baby enjoys it at first. He has a pretty large head, so I can only imagine how tough it is for him to keep it up. He does manage to get his head up and is starting to prop himself up on his forearms. Admittedly, I need to get him on his tummy a little bit more often. 

• He has become more predictable with morning naps. He has set a routine for himself, falling asleep around 8/8:30 and will usually sleep for an hour. This falls right around the time when I need to take the girls to school, so this nap takes place in the carrier. He is usually ready for the next nap around 10:30am. This one is on the go, in the stroller or carrier. I haven't had great success getting him to nap in his crib yet. He usually wakes after about 20 minutes. Soon enough, I need to crack down and get him napping at least once per day in the crib. It would be nice to have a few minutes to get things done around the house. 

• He has discovered his hands! He loves to chew on them, play with his fingers and cross his hands. 

• I still haven't had much luck on the bottle front. It breaks my heart to throw milk down the drain. We went out for dinner the other night. The little monkey waited for me for nearly 5 hours. I really hope that he will start taking one to give me a little more freedom and make it easier on the person babysitting. 

Look at these faces. How lucky am I?!

2 Months Old

Logan turned 2 months old on April 10th. I'm embarrassingly late posting this, but I swear I started it on the 10th! At least I'm posting it before 3 months, right?!

• He's a total meatball! We guess that he is weighing in at about 12lbs. At our 6-week midwife discharge appointment, he weighed 10lbs 15oz. Based on these stats, it probably isn't surprising to learn that the boy loves to eat! Currently he is eating every 1.5-3 hours during the day. On the flip side, he is consistently sleeping for a 7-8 hour stretch at night (followed by another 3ish hours after he eats). He has yet to take a bottle from Jenn, but I really want to keep trying. I had to throw out 4oz of milk yesterday after two failed attempts and a few days in the fridge. It was painful. I loved having the option of giving the girls a bottle so that we could go out to dinner/have a life outside of the kids and would like that to continue! It's tough though because he LOVES the boob. I've realized that it is less about the milk and more about the boob. Jenn would put drops of milk on his lip but he would spit it out! It is clearly his comfort. He refuses to take an actual soother, so he uses me instead!

• Napping during the day is still not his strong suit. He does get a good nap each morning but it is always in the Moby wrap or the car seat. I end up wearing him a ton during the day because he will not sleep for long in his crib, bouncy chair etc. I love having him in the carrier, but my poor back is taking a beating because there are days when he will spend hours in it and I need to keep moving.

• He started smiling at about 6 weeks old. I forgot how amazing it is when they first start "giving back". He doesn't give them out easily, so you have to work for it! It is well worth the effort though because he has the most adorable little smile. It melts my heart when he smiles at Teagan and Quinn. They get so excited and make sure that everyone in the vicinity knows about it!

• He knows what he wants and will let you know! We have realized that he loves to face out when being held, especially with me. I don't think he wants to miss anything. I also find that when I hold him against my chest, he starts "hen-pecking" even if he's eaten already. 

•  He's strong! He has great head and neck control already and will even try to lift his head while sitting in his bouncy chair. He also tries to stand up when I hold him on my lap.

Our trio

The beanie twins

Love from Riles

…and Carlee

Midwife discharge day (with Sarah)

First smiles caught on camera!

February 10th

As Wednesday approaches each week, I think about the day that Logan was born. I also think about the day before he was born - I went to acupuncture, to the midwife and then to the grocery store to stock up before going to pick up the girls for Teagan's appointment with the naturopath. On every Wednesday for the past 8 weeks, I would think back to what I was doing at a particular time. The afternoons are always the hardest when I think back to how much I was struggling physically, mentally and emotionally. And then 4:17pm hits. Sometimes I notice it on the clock and sometimes I don't because I'm too busy with the kids. That fateful Wednesday.

I've said over and over again how grateful I am for Calla's photos. I look at these photos and watch the incredible slideshow that she made for us (if you'd like to see it, let me know) and now think about that day in a much more positive light. Here are just a few of her photos...

Calla said that she asked the girls if they were allowed to do this. I'm sure you know that they replied...

Teagan, Quinn, Calla, Adrienne and I were all fascinated by the placenta. The girls put on gloves and got right in there. (Skip over these photos if blood and placentas make you squeamish!)

That's a artificial knot in the cord. I can't remember the name
for it, but it didn't cause problems for Logan's growth.

Atty and her grandson. 

Logan's first chiropractic adjustment!

Cousins!