Army Crawls, Detox Diets, and Decisions

How Roan is Doing...

Still not crawling! Well, not conventional crawling. I really wouldn't be surprised if he went from army crawling straight to walking. I mean, he's pretty fast doing the army crawl...so I guess if it's working.... Although he's not as fast as if he were crawling, so we haven't quite started baby-proofing yet because it's not hard to catch him before he gets into something he shouldn't. Probably should get on that, though.

Not sure on his measurements...his next appointment is the 2nd. No shots this time, woo! He always takes the shots like a champ. Never had any side effects. It's worth him not getting some random fatal illness. 

Putting him to bed is somewhat of a struggle because we were rocking him to sleep...but we've decided it's time to put that to a stop. He's getting too big...the boy is almost 9 months old! I've officially started to carry him in to the store, etc., because him + the car seat is way too heavy! We also want him to have healthy sleep habits so it doesn't take an hour to put him down when he's older.

How Mom & Dad Are Doing...

I'm starting a detox diet next week. It'll be a week of fruits and veggies and then slowly reintroducing food into my diet. I have tummy/digestive troubles, so I need to figure out what sets it off. Spring Break is the first week of April and I cannot wait!

Sean has had pretty consistent work, which, as always, is good.

We need prayer because we've got some decisions that need to be made...not immediately, but soonish. Sorry to be vague, but we just really want to make the right decision for our family and that's a lot of pressure. And no, it does not involve having another baby!

8 Months

One of my favorite shoots with my boy to date!

New Daycare

How Roan is Doing...

For the daycare ladies :)

Roan is starting at a new daycare on Monday. He has been going to the Child Enrichment Center at Holt United Methodist and we truly love it there...this new daycare is just a better fit for us. The ladies in the nursery have been saying how they're going to miss him, and that makes me sad, but we are excited about this new place, too!

The new daycare is a home daycare that a friend from work told me about. And it just so turns out, the owner is a cousin of one of our friends from church!

So, I took pictures of Roan holding a "Thank You" sign as a gift for the ladies in the nursery & the lady who runs the daycare. He got a little cranky...I think my noises to get him to look at the camera backfired and I'm a little concerned I've traumatized him:

I think he's ready for more hearty food. So far, he's only had fruit and veggies. Those are obviously good, but they're not filling in the long-run. So I looked up some recipes for how to incorporate pureed meat (starting with chicken) into his diet. I think we're gonna try black beans, too. 

How Mom is Doing...

Officially at pre-pregnancy weight! Well, I weigh myself Saturday and Sunday and take the lowest one so I miiight be lower, but I weighed myself this morning and that's what I got. Although last week I was only 1lb away from pre-pregnancy, so.... I'm definitely at the point now where I need to tone more. It's just so hard for me to form good work-out habits. Even though we have the Xbox back so I could do Your Shape again. Honestly, it'd be a lot easier if I weren't working. I already wake up at 5:30ish...2 hours and 15 minutes before we have to leave...to get ready & get all of Roan's stuff ready for the day and even then I'm rushed most days. 

How Dad is Doing...

He's in the background of this one :) 

Work...work...work! A few band practices, guitar lessons (he teaches), and life group thrown in there, too, but mostly work. We are grateful for that, though! They really have steady work for a while, which is what we were praying for. There's almost always stuff in the works that they're bidding on, so our prayers are always that they get the work. One big job in particular would mean months of work, but likely overnight stays out-of-town for Sean; though likely only a few nights at a time because most of the guys have families, too, so they'll take turns. Again, we're just grateful for the work they do have!

Tests and Teeth

Before I get into the grossness (I will try to censor as much as possible, though), here's some cuteness:

"I bet you wish you could wear a onesie and look this good." 

Roan had diarrhea for about 4 days total last week. After day 2, I called his doctor. I also told them about our concerns about him going through about a week of throwing up and eating less about every 2-3 weeks.

The doctor ordered some stool samples and recommended switching to soy formula. Collecting his stool was obviously not fun (naturally, momma did it...but I have a stomach of steel, so I was ok with it). Being that he's still in diapers, obviously, most of the diarrhea was absorbed by the diaper. So I did have to collect it a second time for the lab. The sample for the rotavirus test needed to be collected within 2 hours, so that complicated it a little. And, side note: when I dropped off the samples, I had to take it to the hospital. My first thought was "Oatmeal cookies!!" Their oatmeal cookies are THE best (although they might have tasted better when I was 1-2 days post-partum haha). But they were out :( Just had to share that little disappointment.

Anyway, all the tests came back negative. I feel better knowing that those things are ruled out.

As for the switching to soy thing.... I'm not a fan of soy. Even for myself, but especially for my infant son. There have been studies and, well, I won't get into it. You can Google if you really want to.

If it came down to it and we knew Roan was lactose intolerant, obviously he needs to eat & if soy formula was our only option, so be it. However, according to my memory, we didn't have any issues with him throwing up until we switched formula brands. We had been giving him Earth's Best, but we changed to Parent's Choice organic because it was cheaper, frankly. I'd heard they were pretty comparable, but I never compared them ingredient-by-ingredient (bad mom?). So, that's what I did.

Turns out Parent's Choice has magnesium phosphate in it and Earth's Best does not. I looked up the side effects of magnesium phosphate (I think some people take it as a supplement?) and sure enough: nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea were listed.

So, thinking that maybe Roan is possibly sensitive to this, we are trying Earth's Best again for a month to see if he throws up. If he can go the rest of the month without going through an "episode", then I'll pretty much be convinced that the new formula is the culprit. Earth's Best is about twice as expensive, but it's worth it to not have him throwing up. And I really, really don't think his vomiting and diarrhea was from teething because it didn't line up at all with his teeth coming through.



Speaking of teeth...tooth #2 finally broke through! I don't have a picture just yet because I just noticed it tonight as I was putting him down for bed.

He's seriously so close to crawling, too! Seems like every day he's getting closer and closer. I have a feeling we're going to be buying baby gates and putting up all our baby-proofing gear soon.