Christmas

Sadly, we didn't take nearly as many Christmas pictures as we thought - especially not pictures with family. Here what we've got!

Christmas eve we spent with the Sweeney family in the Poconos!We hung out all day, ate delicious food, and opened presents by the tree.

Logan was "Santa's Little Helper" and Riley was "Gift to all the Ladies"

We stayed over night, and it snowed, making the boys first Christmas a white one! 

On Christmas day, we traveled to NJ to the Sasso house! Mema couldn't resist giving the boys presents all day long. Every time we thought she was done, she came out with something else! (Great Grandpa really liked helping open presents!)

That afternoon Uncle John, Alicia, Joe, Tina, Mike, Mikey, Ryan, Sean, and mommy's best friend Sarah joined the normal Sasso clan (plus Great Grandma and Great Grandpa of course) and we ate too much as always. Mikey, Ryan, and Sean may have enjoyed the boys' new toys more than they did!

The next day we finished opening gifts - yes, there were still more! We couldn't believe it either! By that time Riley was an absolute pro and the sight of presents (whether or not they were his) got him really excited!

Toys are great and all, but nothing is as much fun as tissue paper and boxes!

We really enjoyed our first Christmas together! We can't wait to do it again!

10 months!

10 months already? For real?

10 months!

Size

According to our home scale, Riley is about 16 lbs 3 oz. He is still in 3-6 month onesies and clothes for the most part. He still wears some 3-6 month sleep and plays as well. We dress him in a couple 6-9 month outfits, but they are big on him – especially the pants. Logan wears 6-9 onesies and outfits, but mostly 3-6 month jeans. He wears 6-9 month sleep’n’plays, but there is a brand or two that is pretty snug.  According to our home scale, he is about 17 lbs 2 oz. He lost a little weight with being ill, but we think he’s about to have a growth spurt – he ate more than usual today.

Their shoe sizes haven’t changed – Riley wears a 2 and Logan wears a 3, but Riley will be switching over soon, I’m sure.

Eat-Sleep-Play

Riley and Logan are still getting sensitive formula, but we will be switching to the regular stuff soon, to use up what we have before the boys turn one. They still don’t drink a whole lot, but feeding is no longer stressful. They still take 2-5 oz at a time, 4 bottles a day. Riley is no longer on Zantac, and seems fine. We stopped it right after the 9 month appointment. They still get solid food three times a day; still a yogurt in the morning, rice or oatmeal mixed with fruit in the afternoon, and a “dinner”, a veggie, and a fruit or dessert in the evening. We have tried a variety of table food since the dr gave us the go ahead – cooked baby carrots (whole),cheerios, egg yolks, scrambled eggs, pancakes, mashed sweet potatoes, tilapia, mini meatballs, noodles, soft pretzels, and black beans. So far their favorites are the meatballs, egg yolks (mostly Riley), black beans, pretzels (Logan loves bread) and noodles. They did NOT like the scrambled eggs or pancakes. We will keep trying! We are going kind of slow because the boys were sick (they both got a cold and Riley got an ear infection directly after they got over the noro-virus), Logan has a very sensitive gag reflex, and well, we are letting them guide us. A lot of it is playing with the food, but I guess that’s typical. More and more seems to find its way to their mouths (or at least on their bibs near their mouths).

Sleeping has been a little better since daycare began. They tend to be in bed between 7:50 and 8:30. We have had a rough few nights from sickness, but generally they have been waking up less during the night.  When at home, the boys take a longer nap in the AM – anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours around 10:00, and a shorter nap in the PM – 30 minutes to an hour around 3:00.  The morning nap they take in their cribs. At daycare, they are still getting used to a schedule, but Logan consistently takes his AM and PM nap, and often takes an extra. This week, Riley started to regulate himself better and took two naps a day! We were relieved – he is so much less cranky when he comes home if he takes two naps at daycare.

Riley is still the fastest crawler in the west, and has started furniture cruising (he holds on to things and makes his way around, walking slowly). Logan has been army crawling faster and faster and is getting his legs into it. All he needs is to get that belly off the ground. He’s so quick with it, he even stopped butt scooting. He started pulling himself to standing on 1/19. Maybe he will never do the standard crawl – he may go straight to walking.

Both boys still love, love, LOVE toys, and they have plenty of them, thanks to Christmas and Mema Claus. Their current favorite and the standard rings that have been around forever (see the 10 month photos). They also really love the activity table my mom bought them, and the fire truck/police car steering wheel that Uncle Chris got them. They still like to hold balls and small things they can bang together, like the ice cream scoops that go with the toy Rosanne bought them. They have started to “dance” when their toys play music (especially the Elmo song on the mp3 player from the Hoods)

Logan continues to get physical therapy sessions, but they will start transitioning to every other week soon. We are still working on having him stand with his feet pointed forward and not out, but I think his PT will be very pleased that he started pulling himself up.

Personality

Riley and Logan have won us over a million times with their amazing personalities (and their cute faces!) Riley is very giggly and playful. He understands “no” and gets better at following it every day. He is so loving and smiling and so very happy!. Since daycare started, he seems a little less wary about strangers than he was last month. Logan is still fine with everyone and is still more easy going in general. He still likes to hug, snuggle, smile, and play. They are still wonderfully behaved both at home and when we are out and about or visiting family or friends. We are constantly stopped by people telling us how ridiculously cute and well behaved they are. They do like to steal each other’s toys and pacifiers, but they also like to play together. When we separated them because Riley had a cough, they were so unhappy!

Likes:

Riley: Logan, toys, standing, playing, computers/phones, Penguin/dogs in general, stuffed lion, banging toys together, stealing Logan’s pacifier, fruit, other kids, and eating puffs.

Logan: Riley, Penguin, his bottle/ feeding himself, his pacifier (he is addicted. We are in trouble), stealing Riley’s pacifier, being held, playing, other kids, toys, banging things, the jumparoo, stuffed animals, computers/phones, fruit, and eating puffs.

Dislikes:

Riley: Not having his pacifier when he’s tired, sleeping on his back, being woken up early for daycare, and being left alone (when can’t see mommy or daddy, like if we go change Logan’s diaper).

Logan: Waiting for his bottle, not having his pacifier, teething, pooping, being woken up early for daycare, and being left alone.

New this month: Riley standing up in his crib, Riley “cruising”, Logan pulling up to standing, Logan waving, Riley holding his own sippy cup (but not bottle), and "dancing" when they hear music.

Norovirus attacks Sweeney house!

Okay, so I do have full intentions of recapping Christmas, but we haven't uploaded pictures yet, so instead here is a post about our first major sickness and the start of daycare.


Daycare :

The boys started daycare last Monday (Jan 7th). They go 3 days a week - M,T,W and Mema watches them Thurs and Fri. The boys went to visit twice before starting and seemed completely fine. On Monday, Steve dropped them off and stayed for a little. He took Riley out of the carseat first, and he played with a teacher while Steve unloaded Logan. When he finished, Riley went back to Steve and clung to him. After Steve held him for about 10 minutes, he was okay, and that was the end of the 1st week jitters! The boys seem to like it, and Logan adjusted well to the change in his sleep schedule, taking 2-4 naps per day, and putting himself to sleep when he's ready. Riley, on the other hand, only took one nap per day and was a cranky mess when he got home (except for Mommy!). The best part though is picking them up - they get so excited! Here's to hoping that week 2 goes as well (and that Riley takes 2 naps per day).

Pictures from their first day of school:

Norovirus attacks!
As you probably know, alongside the flu, there is a norovirus going around (otherwise known as the "puke and poop virus"). It hit the Sweeney family pretty bad. On Thursday the 3rd, Riley started getting diarrhea. He's a baby, and that happens occasionally, so we were really only concerned with the nasty diaper rash he got. The diarrhea kept happening intermittently (maybe twice per day) through Sunday, but the diaper rash seemed to clear up. Monday, Logan started with the diaper rash/ diarrhea  combo on Monday and he seemed to really be hurting from the rash - we felt so bad. It kept up intermittently all week but the rash cleared up so we weren't worried. On Friday, my mom called to say Logan had diarrhea ALL DAY. We took him to the doctor and they told us to give him pedialyte and no formula for 24 hours (which he won't drink, by the way) and directed us on what to feed and not feed him. Saturday, Logan seemed to feel a lot better, but Saturday night, Steve got sick. In fact, he felt so sick he decided to go to the ER at 2am. That meant I was on my own with the boys, which would have been fine, but Riley started off the day with a blow out and had diarrhea all day long. After I picked up Steve and sent him to bed, Logan threw up his lunch. I got concerned when Logan started refusing to drink anything, but he seemed happy enough. When I gave him a few cheerios as I got their dinner ready, Logan threw those up too. That didn't concern me - he gags and hurls occasionally - but I decided to just give him bananas. When he threw those up I got really concerned. I got him to drink pedialyte with a syringe, but 15 minutes later, he threw that up too. We called the nurse line through our dr's office. When she heard he had only taken in 4 oz that weren't vomited back up and that he hadn't had a wet diaper since 1:45 (and only had 2 on the day) she told me to take him to the ER, just to be safe.

Now you should know, my kids are amazing. Despite the fact that they were having constant diarrhea and vomiting, they were smiling, laughing, and playing. They only complained when being cleaned up. They gave me no hard time at all - you would not know anything was wrong.

***Side note: how are we so lucky? Riley has such a winning smile and is always laughing. He is so playful and sweet, and above all, so loving! He wants to cuddle with us and play and he smiles at me like I am the absolute best person in the universe. Logan is so chill and sweet and he doesn't let anything bother him. His big eyes and chubby cheeks steal the show, he loves to snuggle and is always showing us how much he loves us. If I could describe each of them in one word, Logan would be sweet, and Riley would be charming.***



My friend Jenn is awesome and drove Logan and I to the ER, since Steve's car was still in the ER parking lot from his trip. When we got there, maybe 8 people were waiting, and 3 were kids. A stream of kids came after us - the children's ER was hopping.  We waited 40 min or so in the waiting room, which was not too bad, especially since Logan was asleep. When I took him into our assigned room and woke him up, that was really the only time he was fussy all night - he was tired and confused and the blood pressure cuff did not make him happy. They gave him some pedialyte but he threw it up immediately. After they took his vitals and put him in the smallest hospital gown I've ever seen, we waited...

and waited....


and waited.. We saw people we were in the waiting room with get discharged. We saw kids who were still in the waiting room after we were taken in get discharged. 2 hours and 15 minutes after we were taken back I asked the guy running the floor when we'd see a doctor. He seemed surprised and asked the doc, who said "eventually". He then said "You really weren't in there yet? I thought you were." In other words, they forgot about us. About 20 min later, we finally saw the doc. He said Logan seemed okay, so he was going to order a medicine to stop the vomiting and if we would get him to keep some pedialyte down he could go home. About 15 minutes later the floor guy came in with the meds and played with Logan. He said in 10-15 minutes the meds would work and we could try the pedialyte. About 20 min later the doc stuck his head in and asked if he kept anything down. I said he hadn't gotten any yet. The floor guy asked the same question 15 minutes later, and I told him he never gave me any pedialyte to give Logan! After he kept spitting it on me because the syringe they gave was too big, I got him to finish off the 4oz they gave me. They were ready to discharge us 5 minutes later, not even waiting to see if he kept it down (which he did, thankfully). Meanwhile, what makes me the most mad is that Logan got really bad diarrhea (starting right after he got the medicine), and he had a blowout that messed up his sheets and gown. I told the floor guy, but they did not replace the sheets or gown. Logan sat in just a diaper and I had to change him on top of a towel on the poopy sheets. I could not sit him on the bed. What the heck, Lehigh Valley Hospital? Your maternity floor is awesome! Why is your ER so awful?


But I must give credit where credit is due. Logan.was.AMAZING. He was so happy and playful. I got him to take a short nap, but our room was by the ice machine and their employees are loud. Anyone who passed by had to smile at him - he was smiling and laughing and just being so darn cute!

That's right, I can make anything look good.

Have you ever seen anything so sweet?

Good news is, Riley's diarrhea stopped completely and Logan seemed hungry today and drank normally. He even had some cereal for dinner and kept everything down! Hooray!