Happy (belated) one month to Mason Andrew! :)

Mason is starting to be more alert now and is falling into some sort of a routine/schedule. He was 8lbs 5oz on Friday. We go back for a quick weight check August 2nd to see if his Zantac dose needs increasing (she thinks it will by then). For the last week he has been sleeping from 11pm to 3:30 or 4am! Very nice. :) He is fairly fussy in the late evening (6-9ish pm)...which can be a bit tiring. Really starting to like his baths which we've been doing every other night. I find that he does calm down easier on those nights so I think we'll start trying to do them every night like Austin. Makes for more work obviously but oh well!

Austin got his first "big boy" haircut today...we went to Great Clips and they cut off all the curls and really made the rest of it short. The girl was extremely fast and did a great job! He was pretty nervous and started crying a few times. I think he is used to his Aunt Cassie. :)

I've finally got all my fees paid and the rest of my paperwork submitted for credentialing & privileges for work. Long process. The peeps that decide everything meet again on Monday (they meet once a month). Hopefully all my stuff is approved the first time around. There is a possibility that I wont have to do the on call hours....or at least not right away. That would be fabulous! I'll know about that next month. They also still havent finished deciding my salary & benefits....that makes me a bit frustrated. Hopefully its all finished soon.

19mts & 3wks

Hard to believe we have a 19 month old and a 3 week old now! Life is BUSY! :) But we love every minute of it! :)

Austin is learning about one or two new words a week. He's recently added "door", "bye dogs", and "whale". He is getting taller and some 18mt shirts are getting short....more incentive to go shopping haha! He brings me his shoes several times a day to go outside...unfortunately, lately I've had to say no, its too hot. We did let him go outside last night right before his bath since its wasnt terrible out but he still came in sweaty! Needs a haircut and we are trying to decide how short we want to go.

Mason is still refluxing alllll the time. He does have his good days where its not as frequent. I took him back to the dr yesterday to see if his Zantac dose needed increasing or if there was something else we could do or try in addition to the other reflux precautions we were doing. He weighs 7lbs 14oz now! So he's gaining just fine with the reflux. She didn't increase his dose, she wants me to try to only do one side per feeding and see if volume restricting him a lil bit will help. He, of course, wanted to eat more frequently last evening but the reflux did seem a little less. We'll see. We go back Friday to see if his weight is affected at all by the new plan.

My to do list is very slow to get things crossed off lately. Work has already started emailing me about my about the rest of my nnp paperwork and orientation. Realllly need to start studying more for boards. Pray that I can find time to fit it all in!

Weight recheck showed Mason to be 7lbs still. Dang it! I'm glad he didn't lose but wished he would have gained. We are starting Zantac tonight and have another weight check Monday morning. The reflux/spitting up has not gotten any better as the week has gone by. Was hoping it would.

Pictures this morning for his birth announcement turned out well...she must have been somewhat slow in her office since we were able to go pick up the disc this afternoon. :)

Austin had his first act of meanness towards Mason. He slapped him on the forehead this morning while we were packing up to go to the Pedi & our picture appt. Both babies cried. :( Not sure what provoked him to hit his brother. The rest of the day he's been giving him kisses...lets hope that continues!

Mason had his NICU follow up appt with Dr. Camille today. She said he looks great! :) His weight was 7lbs even ...she thinks that he is just peeing out all the IV fluids he had while in the hospital. But to be safe we are going for a weight recheck on Friday. He did grow in length though...hes now 19.75in long which puts him in the 20th%! His weight is currently in the 10th% as well as his head circumference. He's a tiny guy. She didn't see a need to have us supplement with formula since he is peeing with every feeding and pooping with most feedings.

She looked over his penis and decided that she agrees with the other pedi that was on call this past weekend. He will have to see a urologist if we want a circumsion. She will make the referral for it at his 2 mt appt. The pediatric urologist is in Indy at Riley Childrens Hospital. She said he will want to evaluate him around 4mts of age and then if we proceed with wanting him to have it done it will be performed sometime between 6mts to a year of age. Guess we have some time to think about it. It is an outpatient surgery but would require him to go under general anesthesia.

Mason is also still spitting up with every feeding no matter how much you pace him or burp him. Dr. Camille said we could start Zantac after Fridays appt if he is still doing it so frequently or we could wait it out and see if it gets better by his 2mt appt. Austin was on Zantac for a looooong time so we may be heading down that road with Mason as well. He doesn't seem to be in pain from it (like Austin was) but he does gag right before some of times...to warn us I guess!

Austin continues to be a great big brother! :) He now says "brother"! :) It is fairly clear but doesn't sound exactly like how we would say it.