Picking Pumpkins

For nearly a decade we've been visiting Rombach's Pumpkin Farm. When I was still a little girl, my Dad's then-girlfriend took me there and I still have the cheesy pictures in front of the pumpkin pyramid taken with my little 110 Fisher Price Camera. Now my girls want the Fisher Price Digital Camera! Things have certainly changed, but Rombach's hasn't. Well, I don't remember the funnel cake stand (yum!) but other than that - they're reliably consistent. We paid $12.45 for five huge pumpkins - they were on sale, I suppose, or the gentleman with the eyeball glasses didn't exactly have math as his strong suit. :)

Anyway, it was a gorgeous day here - 70 degrees, sunny, and (as you can see) very windy. The girls had a great time riding ponies, picking out their pumpkins, and creating a virtual powdered sugar storm in the car with their fried doughy deliciousness. JB did well. He was decked out in his Bulldog romper and his little knitted pumpkin hat - and got many "awwws" from passers-by.

Without further ado (if you click the picture you can see the collage in larger format):

That's A Winner!

Big JB says little JB has to play ball now - "It's a sign!"

Here's my other boy ;)

The quest for the perfect stroller

In 37 days we leave four our 10th Anniversary Trip. We're going to Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons, in Savannah, GA. Then we go on to Orlando for 7 days at Disneyworld. We're veterans of the resort, but this is our first experience staying onsite and we're all very excited. You know that commercial where the little boy says "I'm too excited to sweep" and the Dad says the same - that's our house. J and I are like little kids. I think we get just as excited as they do!

So, in this countdown to the biggest, bestest vacation yet, I am trying to find the perfect stroller. I will bring a few carriers for JB - a sling, an Ergo, maybe a wrap, too. But, I know that at some point he'll need to be strolled. I also know that Pi will need a seat most of the time, and will likely need a seat comfy enough to sleep in. And even little Jae will need a resting place on occasion.

The rental strollers down there are awful - hard, molded plastic. Not ideal at all for napping and definitely not an option for a little baby. We have (ahem) a few strollers but none of them is perfect for this situation and I'm on a quest to meet the needs of our ever-growing crew.

I need a stroller that can fit through the tram lines - which are roped off and have concrete poles *just* narrow enough that my side-by-side won't fit. It's hard to wait for trams while your littles are unharnessed, and really hard to wait for trams when they're sleeping and you have to wake them up, but they can't bear their weight on their tiny legs because they're just so sleepy. However, I'll also need to bring it on Disney Transportation busses once in a while - like in our resort because the cabin will be so far from the dock for the ferryboat. So, I need to be able to collapse it pretty small.

I need a stroller that I can collapse like my Graco - it has a touch-button collapse mechanism that lets me do it totally one-handed. I love it, but it's huge - and bulky - and heavy. And it only seats one.

I'm thinking about the Joovy Caboose - which is a single stroller that has a funky little seat in the back.






The problem is - it isn't a seat that can be slept in by any means, if Pi should want to nap, which is inevitable at Disneyworld. Technically she could ride in the front and Jae could sit on the back while JB slings or is in the Ergo. That might work.
It also solves my line problem - in that it fits through the lines for the tram.

Another option is the Zooper Tango - but that is a side by side that won't fit. The Baby Jogger double is easy to fold, but again, won't fit through the tram lines. A Combi Twin Savvy folds small, and then book folds in half, but it may not fit through the tram lines.

We may be able to get a diamond parking pass from AAA. If we can, the parking spots are usually close enough to the park that you don't have to take a tram. Except Magic Kingdom, but that's on the ferryboat line from our resort, so we can just go down to the dock.

The quest for the perfect stroller has become my Holy Grail.

Almost 11 weeks ~

As he starts smiling and interacting more every day, I am capturing a few better shots. :)

Yesterday he got his first baseball hat. Polo.com has a "custom" option that allows you to monogram or initial one of their items, as well as pick the color of the garment and the polo symbol. We ordered a navy polo guy with the initials "JB" on the back (Daddy's initials and sometimes work-nickname). It looked so small I thought fat boy slim would have already outgrown it, but we lucked out...a bit of growing room in it yet!



We also fell in love with the (limited) "Rock and Crawl" line by Old Navy - I picked up this shirt for him a while ago, and a friend made the pants to match. They're black with a funky bandana "skull" print down the sides - very pirate-y :)

He's so "hard core!" (hahaha)

I am SO DARN CUTE!

How can you not love this little boy???

Those dimples are going to break hearts one day :) (as if they don't already!)

Pediatric Gastroenterology appointment

Forgive me - Jack is waking up and I don't have much time to type, so I'm going to C&P the email I sent to a friend earlier today.

I guess I'm sort of frustrated because we don't have any real answers and we've been doing some things wrong
(which reinforces my desire to go to a pediatric gastroenterologist in the first place).

She was awesome - did a thorough exam and said he looked great and she didn't see anything alarming. She said to try some different things -she wants him laid on his tummy for 30 minutes after he eats when he's awake, and she wants us to only burp him at the end of a feeding. (which we already do) She also said that the studies show babies
should lie flat - on their tummy is best but with the risk of SIDS they have to do back or side sleeping. She recommends back when sleeping, tummy when awake, and NOT inclined in his seat. I didn't have the nerve to do it last night, since he sleeps so well in his seat, but we got another sheet at PBK last night so I could try it tonight. (He only has one sheet because he doesn't actually sleep on it, so I was never worried about having a backup). The cause of reflux is an immature sphincter muscle at the top of the stomach, and since his esophagus is only a few inches long, it doesn't take much for it to back up into his throat. When they lay on their tummy, because of the positioning of the stomach, it allows the air bubbles to rise to the top and escape instead of forcing the food back out.

She wants to see him back in a month and said if we're still having problems, she's going to have speech therapy do a swallow test on him (not sure what that entails). She said Zantac doesn't work at all, and that if we were formula feeding there was a formula we could try - but that breastmilk is best and is more rapidly and efficiently digested so she didn't want us to try that (um - good thing, sista!).

So, no real answers - just kind of getting a baseline going and trying to figure out where to go from here. She said she suspects he'll outgrow this without any problems, and I am starting to think all the doctors are just stalling and waiting for nature to help him keep the food in his tummy.

A few little updates

A few updates

First - the shoes ended up going back. John noticed, as did I, that the edges were scalloped and frilly when they arrived. Duh, mom - you have to look at these things now! The joys of having all girls for 10 years! I didn't even think about it. But, we lucked out and a local shoe store swapped them out for some Pirate shoes. They're a size too big, but we'll have them for the fall.

Second - we're going to a pediatric gastroenterologist today. Suddenly Jack's reflux has gotten much, much worse. He is having almost a dozen really bad gasping/choking episodes a day now, and yesterday was the last straw. He was choking so badly yesterday morning that he wasn't breathing properly for a good two minutes straight. He'd suck air in, but then would flail and couldn't breathe in between because he had too much liquid in his upper esophagus and sinuses. We called the local Children's hospital and spoke with their pediatric gastroenterology department. They wanted us to come in immediately, which is a relief, but also concerns me because they see things like this ever day - yet they had a sense of urgency, too. I'm hoping to get some answers, discuss treatments, and get some answers about the safest sleep positioning for him (whether to continue having him sleep in his carseat/bouncy seats or get a crib wedge and sling). I also would like some answers about the risk of SIDS and aspiration pneumonia as related to reflux and his sleep position. We leave here in about an hour, so I'll update when I can.

Finally, a new picture of chubba lubbs - we estimate he's about 14 1/2 pounds now! At two months!!! He'll be outgrowing his infant seat in a month if he keeps this up!