We had Max's four month appointment today (exactly four months since the day he was born). He weighed in at 14 lbs and is 24¼" tall. His ear infections are clearing up nicely, and the doctor was happy with everything he saw. We were given feeding instructions for the next few months and will be introducing cereal via spoon in the coming week. I'm sure there will be great pictures of that adventure.
As you can see in the picture he's doing a great job holding up his head. He's growing even faster than we expected.
After what seems like months of extra fussy eating, Bobbie Jo took The Bean to the doctor yesterday. While his ear that has been being treated since the last appointment was now at a "two" (on a scale of 1 to 10), his other ear was now at a "nine".
He's been given some stronger anti-biotic and we hope it will help him fast. It can't work quickly enough for our (and Max's) sanity.
When Ben called today to see if I had heard the news that Tim Russert (NBC News Correspondent, Host of "Meet the Press") had died I was stunned. As a long time fan of Meet the Press, a part of my Sunday morning routine, I felt as though I had lost someone I knew well. 58 years old, what appears to be a heart attack killing him while he was at work.
I began thinking about him dying at that young age (I never thought I would consider 58 young), and Bobbie Jo's two acquaintances who had heart attacks in their 30s (the 32 year old dead, the 35 year old recovering). You really start to contemplate your mortality when you have a kid.
Over the many hours of coverage/remembrance of him, there was constant talk of the family man, the father, and the incredible friend he was. Someone with so much success and so much fortune, his family and his son were the real joys of his life.
I may never become the moderator of a major network news show, but I don't think that's what mattered to Tim Russert. I can continue to strive to be the best son, husband, father, brother, and friend that I can be. That I can do.
It seems like Max has been sick since the first day of daycare. Sniffles, cute little coughs, all of that kind of stuff. He hasn't run a fever yet, and hasn't had anything really serious.
This weekend he started refusing his bottle, and would cry when we would try to feed him. Bobbie Jo took him to the Doctor on Monday morning and he does have his first ear infection.
I really feel for parents whose kids cry and there is nothing they can do to stop it. We've both now had a few times with him screaming his little head off, and outside of waiting it out, there's nothing we can do to ease his pain. I think we caught it early on, and it hopefully won't last much longer.
It's so terrible to see him in pain, and not be able to help. It just breaks your heart.
Being woken up by my wife holding Max was the best way I could imagine to start my birthday. It's going to be a good day.
It's been really tough getting used to all of the new responsibilities we have. Trying to get all of the stuff we used to get done is a lot more difficult when you add in the responsibilities of taking care of The Bean. When I bring him home from daycare at 5'ish he usually wants to eat and play until Mommy comes home. Bobbie Jo will then be with him until his bath at 9, and then put him to bed around ten. Usually the time that he doesn't demand attention we choose to be with him anyway. That leaves us about 3 hours a day to do all of the things we used to have plenty of time to get completed (Make that 2 1/2 hours once we clean his bottles and get his stuff ready for "school" the following day. Trips to the bank, paying bills, mowing the lawn, doing laundry all vie for those precious few hours we have to ourselves.
We've been lucky and gotten to go out a few times in the last few weeks. We saw Tom Petty last Friday, and last night went to see CAKE at Fredrick Meijer Gardens. One of my favorite bands playing a great show the night before my birthday was pretty sweet. My Mom has been great coming over on short notice when we need her to help out and watch him.
I've taken today off to catch up on some stuff, maybe get some videos up, and try to organize the litany of pictures we keep taking of the quickly growing little dude. Maybe I'll get a haircut.
He's growing so fast. He smiles a lot, he's an incredibly happy baby. He laughs from time to time, and loves to talk to us, or any inanimate object that he thinks might want to hear what he has to say. He eats well, sleeps for about 8 hours straight at night, and has become less fussy. He's ben grabbing at things, he has a little blanket with a giraffe head he likes to rub on his face. He spends a good deal of time trying to figure out how to get both of his chubby clenched fists in his mouth at the same time. It seems like there is something new every day.
It's been a blast. And really, who gives a crap how tall the lawn gets anyway. He's only going to be this small for a little while.
We had Max's four month appointment today (exactly four months since the day he was born). He weighed in at 14 lbs and is 24¼" tall. His ear infections are clearing up nicely, and the doctor was happy with everything he saw. We were given feeding instructions for the next few months and will be introducing cereal via spoon in the coming week. I'm sure there will be great pictures of that adventure.
