Yay Spring!

We're so glad it's getting nice out! It was 70 degrees out today so Xavier and I decided to take an adventure and walk from our house to Crane coffee. It's about a mile each way and Mommy still has baby-weight (and other weight) that she wants to lose. On the walk there Xavier fell asleep 5 minutes into the walk. I'm glad we have the super awesome monster stroller, because the City of Omaha does not believe in making sidewalks accessible. When we got to Crane I had a coffee and Xavier watched the lights, and enjoyed attention from our favorite manager. On the way home Xavier didn't like it when the sun got to bright, but he did seem to like the feel of the wind on his face. Hopefully we'll be able to do this once or twice a week all spring.



Xavier ready to go to Crane, His shirt says "let go exploer the city"

Xavier at Crane. Don't worry, it's decaf.

Smiles and Coo's

Over the last week Xavier has started smiling and talking to us. It's really exciting to have him interact with us! This isn't a great video, but at least you can get the idea.

Three Posts in One

Wow, I can’t believe a month has gone by since my last post! It’s amazing to me how much time a baby demands. I thought Babies slept all the time so keeping up a blog would be easy, man was I ever wrong J To make up for it I’ll do three posts in one this time.

GERD

In the One Month Old post I mentioned that we were working on figuring out why Xavier was so unhappy so often. After many calls to the pediatrician and an appointment at the Boy’s Town Pediatric GI clinic Xavier has been diagnosed with GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease).

Long story short, the muscle between the esophagus and the stomach is not fully developed at birth which is why babies “spit-up”. However, in some babies the muscle is less developed or there is a lack of coordination in the digestive tract that causes excessive, painful, frequent/constant regurgitation called GERD. Luckily almost all Babies out-grow this somewhere between 4-12 months old. Until then there are a range of medical and non-medical treatments that we’re using to try and make Xavier more comfortable.  

Some of the non-medical treatments are, having him sit up while being fed and for 30 min after feeding, burping him every ounce during feeding, feeding him smaller amounts more often, and having him sleep more up-right (in his bouncy seat).  Medically we’re giving him baby prevacid twice a day and Mylanta if he seems really uncomfortable after a feeding.

Our First Road Trip

When Xavier was 6 weeks old we took a trip to go see our friends by Des Moines, and to go stay with Grammy and Papa (my parents) in St Louis for a week.

Dru drove us to Des Moines and dropped us of at our friends Kip and Gloria’s house. Xavier slept the whole way from Omaha to Des Moines so that was nice. Once we got there the whole Lepke/York/Kelling/Childers family had dinner together. Xavier was thrilled to have so many people to hold and bounce and cuddle him. Cousin Sadie seemed to have the magic touch; he stopped fussing as soon as she picked him up.  It was so nice to stay there and to have so much great help!



Cousin Sadie





"Aunt" Emmie





Nanny Gloria



Xavier and I rode to St Louis with my parents the next day, which was about a 6 hour drive. Luckily for us Xavier likes the car and only fussed for about 45 minutes out of the whole ride. During our week in St Louis we mostly just stayed at home and let Xavier bond with Grammy and Papa, and let Mommy catch up on some much needed sleep. My Mom’s dogs were causally curious about what was making such strange sounds. They were very good around him, mostly just looking at him, and sniffing him. They were a little jealous of him getting all of my Mom’s attention.  

We did go to my Mom’s bible study group so she could show off her first Grandbaby to all of her friends. Everyone said how cute Xavier was. We also went to the school where my sister was student teaching a first grade class. It was fun to see her 6-7 year olds interact with Xavier. They all crowded around her and Xavier, and kind of “petted” him. The funniest thing was one of the little kids, after touching Xavie’rs hair, exclaimed “It almost feels like human hair!”



"Miss Kelling" Introducing Xavier to her class





Ashley and Xavier



It was really nice to have a week that I didn’t have to think about what to make for dinner, and to have lots of help with laundry, washing bottles and feedings, but we were ready to come home too. I was surprised at how much I had developed a routine at home and how much being somewhere else changed that. Dru met my parents, Xavier and I in Kansas City to bring us home. Xavier was good during both legs of that drive too, only waking up when we stopped for dinner.

Two Month Check-Up

March 4^th, Xavier had his two month check-up at the doctor’s office. He was so good while we were at the appointment; he didn’t fuss or cry even when I had to strip him down to his diaper for the check-up. He is officially 11lb 9oz which puts him in the 50^th percentile for weight, 23 inches long which is the 60^th percentile for height, and his head circumference is in the 45^th percentile. He also got his first set of vaccinations at this appointment. He drank the whole liquid one and didn’t spit any up, then he got three shots. When he got the first shot he looked at me for a second like, “why did you let them do that?” and then let out a great big scream, and cried big fat crocodile tears. I thought he might be fussy after his shots, or get a fever, but he didn’t; he just slept the whole next day.