Michigan Trip

We had the most beautiful Michigan weather we could have imagined.  I think it rained once or twice and it was at night! We spent most of our time up north in Frankfort, Michigan at the MacKenzie family cottage.  We were a day behind due to Rohan getting sick the morning we were to depart. Aaron and I both agreed that it was one of the first vacations that didn't seem to fly by and we enjoyed every moment of it.  This was probably because we are ALWAYS on the go when we are visiting family.  It was nice to stay in one place. 

Saturday morning we flew into Detroit.  Rohan did very considering he wasn't feeling well.  He slept for most of it and was a little whiny on the descent, but we were in the back of the plane with other families so it kept him distracted.  We picked up our rental vehicle, which seemed like eternity, (note to self: always sign up for the fast lane at any of those,its not worth waiting in line) and we headed to East Lansing.  Rohan started crawling and moving his legs at my parents house and was finally starting to look like he was back to normal.  Soon after we headed up north, three hours, to Frankfort and the family cottage.  We celebrated my mom's birthday, my parents anniversary, and my moms retirement at The Manitou.  We celebrated with Rohan's Uncle Mike, Nana Jules, Poppa John, Great Grandma Mary Ann, Great Aunt Mary Ellen, Great Aunt Judy, Great Uncle Larry, and his cousins Colleen, Jeff & little Eleanor.  It was prime witching hour for the little ones but we got through it and had to leave shortly after the Rohan Birthday Song was sung. 

Sunday, Aaron woke up early to play Arcadia Bluffs with Mike.  I headed into town with Rohan to hang out with my parents for breakfast.  Rohan enjoyed playing with "new toys" Nana and Poppa had for him.  He was a crawling maniac.  Aaron, Rohan and I took a walk into town and along the marina - the weather was awesome. We enjoyed the beach and boat rides.  Rohan took his first boat ride and fell asleep.   We finished the day with a dinner at the Cherry Hut.

Monday we headed to Interlochen to meet up with our friends the Kitzmillers.  Rohan met his girlfriends Kasen & Eden - it was just too cute.  We headed into Traverse City and had a great lunch and a wonderful tour of the town narrated by Kyle.  I randomly ran into a friend from high school in the middle of a crosswalk too.  We realized we were holding up traffic and no one even honked at us! What a nice northern Michigan town. :) The whole gang met up at the cottage and the night concluded with more boat rides and Rohan entertaining the crowd.  Rohan wanted to console Eleanor every time she cried it was so cute. I thought he was going to crawl up Colleen's leg to get to her. 

Tuesday we had a relaxing day at the beach.  Aaron and Rohan had fun floating in the motorboat tube.  We headed back to Traverse City for dinner and to pick up Mike who was flying back from a business meeting in Chicago. 

Wednesday we headed back to East Lansing to regroup.  Aaron and I had a dinner date at Noodles and Company (we don't have one in Fort Myers). 

Thursday we headed to see Janies new house near Detroit. Grabbed lunch at Mongolian BBQ (Aaron's favorite) and did some GO BLUE shopping in Ann Arbor.  We stayed the airport hotel that night because we had an early flight home.  Rohan was not happy we were going home and stayed up almost all night.  So we were a tired pair when we got home. 

We cannot wait for my parents to be down in Florida for four months this winter season.  Rohan is going to enjoy having them close.  It will be a new adventure for all of us. 

August Fogust

I'm typing Rohan's August update and I see that it is already August 20th! Once again the month is passing in a blink of an eyes.  August has been filled with highs and lows - but that's what Rohan's Ride is all about, right? 

August started out with Nana Jules coming to visit for a long weekend to visit with Rohan (of course) and to look for a seasonal rental.  We are thrilled and looking forward to my parents staying in Fort Myers for a few months during the winter season.  Rohan will be one when they come down (crazy to think about!) and he will be up for all the new adventures with Poppa John and Nana Jules.  Rohan will continue to go to daycare (he loves it - and it wears him out).  They will just be here to enjoy their retirement and spend time with Rohan (and Aaron and I) as they please.  Don't get me wrong I'm sure there will be times we would love for them to spend alone time with Rohan so Aaron and I can see more of each other or get things done, that's what four extra hands are for, right?

Rohan was just getting over a viral rash (most likely from daycare) when my mom came to stay. But that didn't stop him from having a raspberry war with Nana Jules.  They were both covered in spit but with big smiles on their faces.  Unfortunately he continued to do this after she left especially when he was eating and Aaron and I needed raincoats when feeding him! Rohan showed Nana Jules how he crawls everywhere and pulls himself up on anything he can get his hands on. 

Rohan's started to eat chunkier baby food but if it's too chunky he pockets it in his cheeks and he spits it out.  So we've pulled back from the real chunky food (which really isn't REALLY chunky).  They go at their own pace I hear, and he's showing us that is true.  He is eating puffs like a mad man and got the hang of the cheddar puffs (they look sort of like puffed up Cheetos).  When we first gave him these he was coughing on them but now with his two top teeth and two bottom teeth he can bite down on them.  His facial expressions are priceless when we first starts eating.  It is like you can tell he's thinking about it.  "Do I like this or not?" 

Getting ready for Rohan's second plane ride to Michigan seemed like another great feat.  But I took some tips from other traveling moms and I put all of his outfits in Ziploc bags! I got more than enough travel items for him - I even found disposable bibs! I thought these would be easier than bringing our waterproof/washable bibs for eating meals.  (And it was!) The night before we took off I went to check in and noticed our flight was delayed already.  There was a mechanical problem and Delta was using a new aircraft that was coming in from Detroit.  So we took it as we had longer to sleep!  Rohan slept 10 hours that night.  He usually sleeps a good 8 hours sometimes 8.5-9 hours . We figured wow that's great.  But we found him waking up whining unlike he usually does he was just laying in his crib not moving.  We got him up and gave him a bottle and he just sat there.  Rohan is a wiggle worm and squirms out of almost everything.  As soon as you put him on the floor he's off and crawling and into something.  I thought it was unusual he was SO chill.  Every time we put him on the floor he whined and cried.  We thought he was just waking up - taking forever too.  I told Aaron he wasn't even trying to crawl.  We tried over and over again to get him to crawl and he would either just plop down on the ground or get frustrated.  After multiple tries we both got worried because we knew something was wrong we just didn't know what.  We had taken his temperature when I was feeding him because he felt warm but it was 98.9.  Fever or infection was the last thing on my mind.  We called the nurse line and after her triage she said he needed to be seen within four hours.  We had 45 minutes until the pediatrician office was open and that didn't guarantee he'd be seen.  After talking with my parents they suggested to take him to the ER.  Being a nurse I wouldn't bring him to the ER if I wasn't concerned enough because I know that ER's are usually packed and can be full of people who could go to their doctor if needed. 

We live less than a mile from the children's hospital so we headed that way.  Surprisingly the waiting room was basically empty.  Our ER trip lasted about 1 hour.  Started with vitals taken: 24 lbs, 99.9 temp rectally, 135 pulse (normal), 100% oxygen saturation, and a crying baby.  The nurse in triage looked at me like I was crazy.  (Side note: Children's ER triage wasn't open on Fridays for some reason so the techs weren't used to infants) Rohan's reason to be seen: Weakness.  I felt as though a big explanation needed to come along with it because it is completely out of his normal.  (Our pediatrician always tells us if he isn't acting his normal to call)  We were finally brought back into a room and when the doctor came in he was playing hide and seek with Rohan (of course now Rohan perks up). He listens to his lungs, he puts him on the bed to see if he holds himself up (he did this time but didn't crawl), and the doctor tells me he is fine and we are expecting too much out of him.  He said at his age I shouldn't expect him to be crawling some babies don't crawl till later and Rohan is appropriate for his age and that he knows that because he saw him playing with me before he came into the room (I was singing Old MacDonald to him to keep him distracted and happy) - my fault.  I explained to him this wasn't his normal behavior.  He replied we can't jump on everything, just because he sneezes does not mean he has pneumonia.  I couldn't believe he didn't do any blood work - nothing.  Treated us like we were ridiculous for bringing him in. 

Meanwhile we had made an appointment at the pediatricians office in the afternoon.  Oh and we've missed our flight by this time - rightfully so.  The nurse at the office was shocked the ER didn't do any blood work - and nothing to make us feel OK with his behavior.  Finally the Pediatrician we saw explained that when babies feel so icky and tired from a virus they become so weak.  Just like adults do but we can express that in words.  Babies become floppy.  Blood work was done and results were normal-viral with an O.K. to fly from the doctor.  We kept him hydrated with only bottles all day, he wasn't in the mood for anything else.  Rohan slept, took a bottle and went back to sleep, it felt like we had a newborn that day.  It also felt like we had gone backwards.  Bright spot among all this - at the doctors office Rohan was looking at himself in the mirror and started clapping! I'm thinking you start clapping the day you stop crawling??? How does this work - what a RIDE!

We were not sure what to do about vacation - stay or go - but we decided to go for it and we were happy that we did.  We got out on another flight the next morning.  We had a few rough nights, but by the end of the vacation Rohan was back to his normal happy self.  Rohan was back to crawling Saturday afternoon at Nana Jules house and it was like the first time we saw him crawl all over again.  We would have kicked ourselves for staying in Florida. 

Rohan gave us a scare, thankfully it was not a big deal, but he sure did get our emotions running. 

Vacation post coming soon.....

July Update

Once again I've gotten lost in life with a now 8 month old (omg!), work, school and family time.  I am almost done with my class and I cannot wait for the two weeks off!  It's amazing what can happen in a month!

Rohan's top teeth are FINALLY popping out!  It's seem like a lifetime.  Over the last couple days the left tooth has shown through the skin and the right one is on its way!  We had a rough night but thankfully I didn't have to work the next day so I stayed up with Rohan while he played for two hours before Aaron took him to daycare at 6 am. You have tried more foods and we just bought some baby food that has turkey and chicken in it and you seem to be liking everything so far.  I am thrilled, Aaron doesn't always like what he feeds you but he is still feeding it to you so I have to be grateful for that.  I hope Rohan is not a picky eater! With his top teeth showing came babble (Finally!) I tried not to worry about it but I was worried he wasn't babbling at the right time, but all of a sudden he started babbling. He does make dada sounds now and baba gaga sounds it's super cute.  Can't wait to hear more! :)

I can proudly say Rohan has been sleeping LONGER at night! (I hope I'm not jinxing myself again) Unfortunatley he is falling asleep with a bottle but I am ok with that because he sleeps longer. The one thing I have learned about Rohan is that as soon as we get comfortable with one thing he does a switcharoo on us.  Last night we got home after dinner and grocery shopping a little later than he usually goes down for bed but we hoped it would mean he'd sleep later and he did sleep a little later but Aaron said Rohan was tossing for a good hour before he finally woke up.  Aaron has got Rohan into a routine where once he wakes up he takes a bottle and he will go back to sleep but only if we are lying with him on the couch or in our bed.  I've mentioned before I try not to sleep with Rohan because I can't sleep when I do but so he doesn't get used to it.  I fell into the trap and this morning I brought him into bed as Aaron left for work and Rohan slept for an hour and a half and I slept for 25 minutes.  ha!  With the longer stretches at night I am feeling more put together and I feel like I can think straight these days... at least in the morning. 

Rohan is off and crawling now and is on to pulling himself up on the coffee table, couch, bouncer, anything he can grab on to. And when you come after him while he is crawling he picks up his pace it is too funny. The last couple days he brings toys with him while he crawls so he limps a bit because they get in the way but he's got a tight hold on them.  He is still enjoying daycare.  He got a viral rash from daycare and Aaron had to pick him up to get a doctors note that he wasn't contagious.  Poor little guy didn't even itch it and it was all over his body.  I was at work worrying to death about him and the rash and I come home to a smiley happy boy and that just melted my heart. 

Rohan started swimming lessons last week and it went well.  He loved watching all the other kids splash around.  He is the youngest so he can't do too much yet and thirty minutes definitely wears him out so he sleeps on the way home.  I did get encouragement from other moms in the class that they took their kids when they were his age and they love the water now so I hope that's the case.  The class after us had 2 kids in it and one of them screamed at the top of his lungs in the water while his dad watched.  Aaron said he didn't see the kid on wednesday.  I don't even hope that Rohan becomes a swimmer just that he feels comfortable in the water and knows how to swim. 

We had an early birthday surprise party for Aaron with our friends and his coworkers. It was nice to have people over and hang out.  We probably don't do that enough.  Somehow it worked out almost everyone could get together on the same day.  Amazing! 

We are gearing up for Rohan's second flight (to Michigan)!  I am a little more apprehensive about this flight since Rohan is used to crawling but we've done it and at least have some idea of what all we need and how it will go.  We have a seat for him again and his carseat. We are also starting to plan our trip to Minnesota in the fall.  I'm excited for Rohan to see different parts of the country and our family and friends at such a little age!

Update

I am not sure where the time has gone since I last posted! (May 17th eeek!).  I suppose it's been filled with teething, drool, teething gel, Tylenol, school projects, six month checkup & shots, work, daycare, preparation for first flight with Rohan, Aaron's parents visiting, and maintaining sanity. 

Teeth & EatingWe thought Rohan's top teeth were coming in but they haven't appeared yet! I thought they would just POP down one day, but apparently it's going to be a long drawn out process - why not?  We are used to Rohan have his two little "chicklets", as the pediatrician referenced them, instead of all gums.  We started brushing his two teeth now and he cooperates pretty well with it.  He is still eating cereal and has tried veggies and fruits - he wasn't a fan of pears so much.  We have added a third meal to Rohan's day, and it seems to help make the bottle last longer (duh?) He is a messy eater, but aren't most infants??? It is the one time in your life you can get away with it.  Well I guess there are some adults who still get away with it.  ha!

Sleeping
I felt like we were the only parents in America who have a 7 month old who isn't sleeping through the night, but then I saw postings on some facebook blogs that indicate there are a few others out there.  As our pediatrician told us some grow out of it and some don't.  We can try the cry it out method (I can hear the shrieks and dirty looks already) or the water bottle at night methods.  Of course there are tons more sleep methods that I tried with Rohan earlier on and he still woke up for that 2-3am feeding.  Aaron wakes up with Rohan every night  - he's superman.  It is interesting to see the surprised reactions when people find out Aaron is getting up with Rohan in the middle of the night and not me. Of course I am a horrible mother, but dad's can do this job too.  Unfortunately my job is a little more important in the grand scheme of things as far as other peoples lives in my hand.  I wouldn't want a nurse that was up with a baby and is lacking sleep.  Would you?  Ok enough defense on my part.  But Aaron is just better sleeping less hours, my body is a waste on little sleep. Prior to the grandparents visit, Rohan was falling asleep without the bottle. All of a sudden he was over that and will not fall asleep without the night time bottle.  The last couple nights we have tried to cut out the bottle at 1-2am.  I am off school this week and have 3 days off in a row so I figured it would be good a time to try it out. The first night we tried Rohan slept 8.5 hours - woke up around 130am and I gave him his binky and he went back to sleep.  The second night he woke up, I changed his diaper, and let him whine it out - lasted about 10 minutes and he slept till 530 - took a bottle and slept till 830am.  The third night he woke up around the same time, I changed his diaper, popped in the binky and he turned over to sleep.  Not a minute later as I am snuggled into bed thinking we conquered the night feeding - he starts to cry.  This time it lasted about 20 -30 minutes at which point Aaron was ready to give in and feed him.  Once he was outspoken with his frustration (because we all know 20 min of crying seems like 3 hours of crying), Rohan didn't make a peep and slept until 630am! From what I have read online people have had 2-3 hours of crying so I will take the 20-30 min.  I am a little scared to see what happens tonight.  I was reminded we are almost half way through a week of doing this so we have to be making some headway (I hope!).  In conclusion, we don't have the perfect sleeping baby that all parents long for and I am sure that is part Rohan and part our fault. Life goes on right? 

Play
Rohan is moving more than ever.  He's rolling over and over, getting up on his hands and knees, he does what looks like is going to be a pushup, he turns himself around on his hands and knees, and he rocks back and forth, he just hasn't taken off yet.  But I'm sure it will happen when we aren't looking.  Eeek!  He loves the exersaucer (not sure if this is the correct terminology) where he can stand and bounce - his legs get going and he is all smiles.  It's been so fun to see him hold toys and try to eat them (of course!), he is moving objects back and forth from each hand and picking up toys like a pro.  He loves to pick up books and turn them over and open and close the first page.  We found that he loves to play with tags - the tag on the boppy was the coolest thing to him for a while.  His Aunt Veronica and Uncle Donny got him a stuffed football with tags all over it that he loves.  Last but not least he still loves his Sophie giraffe that Aaron loves to call Geoffery.  ha!  Rohan is loving daycare and loves being around other kids. 

First Flight
Rohan took his first flight with his own seat (in his carseat) while getting his own skymiles! He was really great on the flights.  The flight there he woke up mid flight so we took him out and played with him, I stood up with hiim for a little bit for a change of scenery.  We were in the bulkhead so of course everyone was staring at us - but I was happy they weren't staring at us because he was crying his eyes out.  We gave him a bottle and a binky on the way up and way down.  On the descent he was whining and we started sweating thinking he was going to lose it.  It felt like the plane was never going to land.  But as soon as we landed he was asleep.  The family behind us commented that he did really well - so we were proud parents and fliers! On the way home we were in the last row of the plane amongst other families with kids.  He fell asleep on the way up in the air and slept all the way until we landed!  There was horrible turbulence and he didn't make a peep!  It was pretty amazing.  As we were waiting to deplane another mom with 3 boys commented on how their little ones would scream on the plane and they would sweat through their clothes.  So I am hoping Rohan is a good flier for our next flights this year, I hope that wasn't our only good flight. 

Packing for a flight is a whole other blog.  The space for parental items got smaller and smaller because of the "might need" items! Thankfully we did buy Rohan a ticket so we had more space.  We will never fly without his own seat - I really don't know how people do it.  Well I can if they have easy babes.  

Rohan is now 7 months old and it is crazy to think he is over half way to one year!  eeek!  He continues to make us smile and laugh everyday!

Here are a few shots from his 6 month pictures. 

Show me your teeth

After a few rough nights Rohan's first tooth came through on his bottom gums!  It is so cute!  The only thing we have found to help is Tylenol and all-natural teething tablets (thank god for a friend who gave us some of theirs).  Unfortunately the tooth right next to this one is also coming through so we are in for a couople more rough nights and fussy moments.  Poor guy, it must really hurt -eek!  The pictures below are not fantastic but if you look close you can see a little white speck of tooth!  When we sing to him the lady gaga song "Show me your teeth", he giggles enough so you can see his tooth and a half. :) 

We are so blessed to have a giggly happy baby.  His fussy moments can be extreme, exhausting and frustrating, but when he flashes that smile it changes everything.  So by the text book we do not have an easy baby (got that question a lot when he was first born), but we don't have a difficult baby either.  And in between it all he laughs at our silly songs and silly voices and finds his environment funny.  I told Aaron I think he gets his laughing from me - he agreed.  I now know the love that people try to explain between a parent and a child that fills your heart, it is extraordinary. 

Rohan the food critic :)

Rohan started vegetables a week ago!  Like all other baby advice - everyone says something different.  So I went with the color veggie plan.  Start with orange or yellow veggies first, then green, then fruit.  What veggies are yellow?  Some may start with the everyday carrots, but since this is our first child I decided to start with Roasted Butternut Squash made by Sprout (Tyler Florence's Organic Baby Food Company).  Let me tell you - it smelled good.  And really that should be what babies eat, something we would eat too!  Being a naive parent I got one packet of this squash which was good for two sittings I found.  Well once my brainfart went away and I realized that we need to introduce one veggie at a time for one week and we were already out of it.  It was a Monday evening, Rohan was heading to daycare in the morning and I couldn't fathom giving him a new veggie the next day - what if he had reaction - we wouldn't know what veggie it was from and I would be a horrible mother.  All of us got in the car, because car rides are never a bad thing for a little one, and we headed to Ada's Whole Foods store where I purchased this wide variety of baby food.  Closed.  Shite.  I headed to Target knowing they didn't have the brand but hoping I would find other organic squash, and I did.  Mission accomplished.  I am not a bad mother! Quick recovery.  Rohan has done great with the squash - it is quite a trip to feed him.  I think we had one meal that I could say wasn't messy, even though it was all over his face.  Every time I end up laughing because he is just too cute.  He takes the spoon and tries to feed himself.  We have been giving him a sippy cup after to wash out his mouth, and to get used to the feel of a sippy cup - he's done well and likes to hold it. 

This week on the menu is Carrots!  What I hope for Rohan is that he tries lots of foods and enjoys all different kinds of foods, not just American food.  It is amazing the amount of great food out there that people are missing out on.  Hopefully Rohan will teach his daddy this too!  :)  Speaking of Aaron, he seemed interested in trying to make baby food at home - I told him he could take that on and would be awesome.  Baby Chef Aaron. 

Family Time

Monday we had lunch at Fort Myers Beach with Judy & Larry (my aunt and uncle).  They drove from Ft Lauderdale area.  The last time they saw Rohan he was almost 3 months old.  Besides the fact that he was being a pooper because he is teething now - it was fun to see how he interacts and grabs now.  Judy even got her hair tugged on.  We live so close to the beach but try to stay away during season because of all the traffic and lack of parking.  For a monday in May the beach was busy, but the traffic was not bad. 

Rohan loves seeing Judy & Larry because they have all the time in the world to devote to him (unlike his parents who have chores to do at home).  But Rohan was act shy for once and I could not tell if it was teething, tiredness, or just shy.  As soon as we got home and put him in his crib to chill he started doing raspberries which we all tried to get him to do on the spot at lunch.  Maybe it was overload and he just wanted us out of his faces. haha. 

We live so far away from our families that when we do get to see family down here we cherish it.  Aaron's aunt and uncle, Myrna & Miland, live in Bonita Springs (20 min south of Fort Myers), and we get to see them when they are down during the winter.