Jingle Bells

Andrew's development is growing each day and now that he is gaining motor skills he has begun grabbing at anything he can get his fingers around, including my hair.

He has always had a fascination with my dark curls and thoroughly enjoys it when I lean over and tickle his face with them. If I'm not careful while playing with him he will get a hand full of curls and give them a good hard yank.

The favorite toy, as of late, has been a small shaker with jiggle bells attached. Each time I get it out his eyes widen and light up with joy as he eagerly reaches for them. He is quite familiar with their high pitched sound and thoroughly enjoys shaking and banging them around. I can't help but sing the favorite Christmas song "Jingle Bells" each time I bring them out and subconsciously get a craving for some peppermint hot chocolate.

I always encourage him to hold the handle the correct way, with all fingers on top and his thumb on the bottom, but when the bells are dropped or thrown he often picks them up however he can reach them. He'll laugh and talk as he jingles and as always there is a smile plastered across his chubby little face as his dimples make their well known appearance.

He is a happy child who, currently, jingles his way through life with a smile on his face and his bells in hand. :)

This past weekend while Brandon was visiting family in Boston the boy and I headed home to Cinci for a long weekend with my family. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were busy with activity and by Sunday we all were exhausted. Making a final trip to the store Sunday night my sister, mom, and niece all piled into the car and headed out to Walmart. Checking items off our list we loaded our cart and quickly made our way to the check out line in hopes of getting mom home in time to go to church with dad.
Rushing to the car the rain poured down hard and we all felt a little drenched once inside the car. Thankful that we made good time mom turned the key and heard nothing more than click, click, click. She turned to me with a sour face and I fought back a smile. Turning the key again, click, click, click and I stifled a laugh while mom cried out "Crap!". As mom called dad the rain and wind picked up speed and it began to look like a hurricane out the car windows as the rain came down at a slant and the trees that littered the parking lot bent at odd angles.

Plan A was to have dad come and jump the car; however, we decided that we didn't want dad jumping the car in the current weather and called back asking dad to bring the van and just pick us up, plan B. Since dad had Andrew and Kyndahl with him it was decided that dad would leave Kyndahl with Jen and bring the baby. 5 minutes later our plan was shattered as we realized that Amanda's car blocked the van and Amanda held her keys in her purse. Yes, at this point in time I broke into full blown laughter and exclaimed that there would be a Mann Update about this. Planning to possibly have dad pick us up in shifts, in Jen's smaller car, Amanda called her husband Jeff to the rescue.

Of course it would stop raining the minute someone came to get us even though we sat in a humid car for a hour watching the hurricane of a down pour. As Jeff pulled in to save the day the clouds parted, the sun shone brightly, and it was as if the angels sang at his presence: "AAAWWWWWW". hehehe.

We loaded all our Walmart goods in his trunk but unfortunately left no room for Kyndahl's car/booster seat. Since I am the smallest I was volunteered to sit in it for the duration of the car ride home, of course! We all piled into the car and laughed as we noticed that I fit quite nicely in Kyndahl's seat. Making it safely home, thanks to Jeff, we relaxed for the rest of the evening.

The following morning we were up early to head up to Springfield to see the grandparents. Mom and I pulled out in the van at 9:AM with plans to stop at Dunken Donuts on the way for coffee. We made it as far as the top of the hill before puttering to a stop and coasting towards the curb. Unsure if the car would make it even to get coffee we headed home, made a plan B to take two cars and piled into the Escape, the car that had died at Walmart the night before. Click, click, click. Stranded at home we were unable to see grandma and sadly unable to go get coffee. hehehe.

What is it with the Kennedy family and car problems?!

4 Months

The boy is 4 months old and continuing to grow like a weed. On a daily basis I am finding onsies and pants that no longer fit and adding them to the storage pile. I am quickly learning that when it comes to children and clothing you just never know what you are going to need, especially since I live in KY and the weather changes hourly. Andrew is growing out of his long sleeve onsies but I don't want to buy more given that summer is coming; however, the last few days have been extremely chilly. This often causes a financial pickle sprinkled with uncertainty but luckily we have access to a Once Upon a Child and it is garage sale season. :)

As the boy gets older he has become more active and is now swallowing his rice cereal and not just swishing and spitting. He even tips his head back like a little bird and reaching for the bowl indicating that he wants more. :) His active nature and eating of "solid" food has really helped him sleep. With in the last week he uped the average eight hour night from 3 nights a week to 3 ten hour nights in a row! This upward trend has brought many more laughs to the Mann household as Brandon and my moods have gotten better with increasing sleep.

Since the boy currently has a bad case of thrush I have finally been puked on, pooped on, and just generally defiled in every way an infant can disgust his parent in the last two weeks. Brandon is loving it, hehehe. Despite my new found appreciation for clean hair, clothing and furniture I am thoroughly enjoying the extra time that I've been given with the boy this week.

Each month we learn new things about being a parent and this past month has been no different:
-The boy learning to "get around" is NOT always a good/fun thing (i.e. past Mann Update where he jumped off the couch).
-Babies are hardy and sturdy for a reason.
-The doctor is not always right and sometimes you have to put up a fight for your child.
-Trust your instincts.
-Cable is not necessary when you have a child to entertain you for free!

Thrush

For the past few weeks we have seen a downward spiral in Andrew's disposition and it wasn't until the daycare called requesting permission to give him Tylenol did I foresee a serious problem in sight. After a day of nonstop screaming and two doctor appointments Andrew was diagnosed with a bad case of thrush.

Thrush: (in simple terms) a yeast/fungal infection in the mouth.

Thrush is considered highly contagious and we were told that should anything go in the boy's mouth it will need to be sanitized. Given that he is almost 4 months old my eyes widened at the thought of keeping anything out of his mouth and cleaning everything that went in it. This also meant that he would not be allowed at daycare until the infection is gone. For once in the past four weeks I gave thanks that I was unemployed, allowing me to stay home with him.

Once home from the doctor Brandon went out to fill the boy's prescriptions while I searched the house for anything that might have been in his mouth over the last two weeks. Laundry was done and bottle nipples, toys, and pacifiers were boiled all while the boy slept.

I pulled out an old and empty wipes box to put contaminated objects in for boiling later, made sure to have the box of q-tips ready for the 4 times daily medicine application, and we have the wipes box out for constant hand cleaning. Since the boy is an avid sucker we have an ample supply of pacifiers; this should cut down the boiling time and frequency immensely.

If anything the boy sure does keep us on our toes, constantly!

One Heart Attack Down, How Many to Go?

It was a morning like any other morning in the Mann household, 700 AM. He laughed he giggled and he rose from the couch like a catapulting ball...scaring his mother. :) For those that caught that reference (Cash Cow- Steve Taylor, for those that didn't), I AM able to make light of my mini heart attack this morning although for the 30 minutes that followed I was vigorously holding back tears and repeatedly having to take deep breaths.

Just like we have an evening routine we also have a morning routine. The goal is to enable Andrew to nurse before going to work and despite my current unemployment I try not to detour from the routine as much as possible.

At 7AM I could hear my son talking to himself and acting as an alarm clock to my senses. I went in, said my good morning, changed his diaper and started to ready him for the day. As we walked from his room to the living room he dropped his pacifier that had been firmly plugged in his mouth due his chipper morning chatter. Per our usual routine I propped him up in the corner of the couch so he could see and turned to retrieve his pacifier or "O'Malley" as we call it. With in a matter of 5 seconds I heard an odd thud and my son screaming. Turning my head to the couch I found that Andrew was not where I had placed him and upon further inspection I found him 2 feet from the couch on the floor on his face. (*Picture is reenactment of where Andrew landed and taken during his morning tummy time- NOT taken during actual event) All thought flew from my head and instinct flooded my actions as I immediately picked him up and began rubbing his back and attempting to soothe him. Guilt rushing at me like a tidal wave.

Once he calmed enough to nurse we continued the morning routine Andrew seeming to have completely forgotten the entire incident. He was unharmed but my nerves were on edge. For the next 30 minutes Brandon and I speculated how he may have accomplished this feat and we came up with two scenarios:

1. He leaned forward and pushed off with his legs, something we've seen him do or attempt before, placing him on the edge of the couch where he then rolled off and onto the floor.

2. He got his legs up under him and pushed off like a catapult throwing himself upward and hitting the edge of the couch and flopping on to the floor OR he cleared the couch and flipped.

Either situation does not sit well with my nerves even as Brandon jokes that he wished we could have gotten it on tape. My son's acrobatic stunt this morning gave both of us pause and a sense of worry as to what kind of child we have and what other heart stopping moments he is going to give us in the years to come. Thinking back over the numerous stories I've heard from my mother-in-law about Brandon, that seem in line with this morning, I have no doubt that I will be completely gray by the time I'm 30!