Germ-a-phobe.

That's right. I'm admitting it! For the longest time Kerri has claimed that I am a germ-a-phobe, and I have denied it up and down and just said that I am very hygenic. Now that I have had Carter I have realized that I am a full blown germ-a-phobe. I mean, I don't think it's an extreme case, but I definitely have a big problem with potential of germs being on me and my baby (and Chad).
Now that I think about it I have 5 bottles of Germ-x in the house. One for each diaper bag, one for my purse, and two for the house. I use it after I go in a store, when I leave Church, when I pump gas, and various other times when I feel as if I have touched something 'germy'.

Now that Carter is about 4 months old and out and about in public, I find myself cringing at the sight of people I don't know touching my child. Usually I'm fine if I know you and you touch him because I am aware of whether you are sick or not. Also, if you know me then you know that Carter has had the Whooping Cough and any other type of respiratory illness he gets right now can make the cough worse....so most are kind to stay away if they are sick- thanks :)
But anyways, these folks I don't know at church that grab Carter's little fist (which he puts in his mouth) and give it a shake or SQUEEZE HIS CHEEKS with their hand are causing me to have a heart attack on the inside.
Seriously, I am trying not to freak out, and in my head I am reciting over and over that he needs to be exposed to things so that he can have more immunities, so I really am trying. I mean I can't keep him in the house all the time because the few times we did get out I'm sure he would come down with something!
I really do think I am at my worse ever since Carter caught the Whooping Cough.
Also, it's funny because it's like my ears are now in tune to any cough I hear at any store and when I hear it I RUN in the opposite direction. Trust me, if you had been what we have been through with this cough, then you would too. You're probably thinking...oh it's just a little cough...well it's not just a little cough when your baby turns blue from lack of oxygen while he is trying to swallow the thick mucus that he has just coughed up. Then once he finally does take a breath, he screams bloody murder because it scared him so badly. I have to remain calm to calm him down (which usually works), but the whole process is just stressful and scary. He is doing much much better, but still has a pretty bad cough at night. - ok so that was all just a little side note- sorry :)

Anyways, I am currently a germ-a-phobe and I admit it. I feel as if it might get better as the summer draws closer, but as of right now I am STRESSED! Anyone else been like this with their first? Hopefully it will get better with the next kid.
Oh, and I am sending a bottle of germ-x with Chad to work tomorrow. Money is DIRTY. And the strangers that come and sit at his desk and use his pens I'm sure aren't much cleaner :)
I'm trying, I promise :)

The Lip

Carter has been doing the pouty lip from the moment came out of me...whenever he is fed up with something or "done" we get the lip.

This is video of Carter pouting at the crazy bunny rabbit my Mom got him for Easter. He is done with it after about 3 rounds of singing Little Bunny Foo Foo. I realize that 1 minute and 32 seconds is a long time in home video world, but he does the best pouty lip at the end of the video, so watch the whole thing if you have a chance. We think it's hilarious!

*excuse the wet onsie...spit-up is a way of life for us right now :)

"Couponing"

So this seems to be the latest craze these days. I LOVE LOVE the idea of couponing. Being a stay at home Mom I realize it is a fantastic was to save money. I cut coupons ALL the time. Ask Chad. They are all over our refrigerator, folded in the large compartment of my wallet, in the side pocket of my purse, and in the first and second drawers to the left of the stove. Any time the clipper magazine comes in the mail I lay it beside the couch with a pair of scissors for me to look through and cut out coupons at my next available break to sit down. I have even stopped at the gas station on Sunday to buy a paper to cut coupons. Seriously, I swear my mouth waters at coupons....but here is the thing...I NEVER use them. NEVER. Seriously.
I guess I just don't get how people save so much money. Kerri and I have discussed this countless times. There are a million coupons to cut, but there may be only 1 thing that I actually need and/or buy out of the coupons that are EVER being offered. So here is my question...are you supposed to buy an item just because you have a coupon for it? I can't wrap my head around doing this because it seems like I am wasting money on something I don't even need. Am I just buying it because I will get it for 50 cents less than normal? If so, I feel as if it's a mind game. If you buy an item just because you have a coupon for it then I feel like the manufacturer/store is winning this mind game they are playing with coupons. I'm not saying that is the case, I'm just saying that is how I feel.
Also, I am furious with expiration dates. They are ridiculous. Yes, I need Lysol toilet bowl cleaner, but I don't need it right now...I will need it in about 5-6 weeks. But wait, the coupon expires in 4 weeks. I keep it just in case I happen to clean the toilets a lot within the next month. Then it becomes a useless coupon that I have to clean out of my wallet at a later date. The thing is, I know I'm not going to use it but I keep it anyways because I love the idea of couponing.
I had the bright idea the other day that I might be a better coupon lady if I actually had a coupon holder. So I went on a search for a holder. I had been told the Dollar Tree had some in the kitchen section... after 25 minutes of searching...nothing. I know they were selling them in the Target dollar bins a few months ago but they were all scooped up and by the time I decided I wanted to buy one, they were gone...I mean come on, it was a dollar...was I too cheap to spend a DOLLAR?! Apparently.
I really, really, really want to use coupons. Any advice would be great. Is it what I think it is? Do you just buy it because you have a coupon for it? Surely not!

Pertussis a.k.a. The Whooping Cough

Well let me tell you, it has been a fun two weeks. After 3 doctor appointments and one trip to Children's Hospital, we find out that Carter has come down with Pertussis. Now, if you look this up on the Internet, it sounds pretty scary...oh, and it is, but luckily Carter is not having to be hospitalized for it. Basically it is a terrible cough that takes your babies breath away...they cough so hard they turn blood red/blue, they stick their tongue out, and their eyes water. They cough until all air is out of their lungs and then they take a big breath in that sounds like a loud "whoop".. hints the name Whooping Cough.
Babies are vaccinated for this but it takes 3 rounds of vaccinations to be completely covered. The vaccinations come at 2, 4, and 6 months of age. Obviously since Carter is only 3 months old, he has only had one vaccination and was still susceptible to the disease. Dr. Webster told me that there has been a recent outbreak of it, and Carter could have gotten it from ANYWHERE. The grocery store, church, Target...ect...it is airborne, so anyone who had it and coughed and we were near...well that's how he could have gotten it.
When Children's called this past Tuesday to let us know he tested positive, not 5 minutes later we get a call from the Health Department. Anyone who had been in close contact with Carter had to be treated. So that meant that Chad and I, Kerri, Jared, Mom, Dad, Steve, Debbie, and Grandma all had to be put on a Z-pac just in case we had contracted it.
I laughed and told Chad that they were going to come and zip up our house in plastic!

Anyways, Carter seems to be tolerating it okay. Dr. Webster said they had a 6 week old almost die from it the other day, so I deem ourselves lucky that Carter didn't have to be put in the hospital and we can just deal with it at home- that is a praise to our Lord.
But, that doesn't mean that Chad and I aren't on edge 24-7. We wait all day for when the next coughing fit is going to happen, and all we can do is pick him up and pat him on the back and tell him it's going to be okay. One good thing is that he is perfectly normal between attacks, so he is still smiling, laughing and playing as usual.
The cough is worse at night, so we have had to call on our Moms a few times to take the night shift so we can get some sleep. Last night, Chad and I trucked it up to the Lake to spend the night at Mom's. He was going fishing today so this way I don't have to be by myself.
His night cough seems to be getting better, it isn't a violent every time and he is waking up only like 2-3 times a night instead of 5-6 times. There have been nights where Chad and I were both in tears trying to figure out if we needed to take him to Children's again, but the last few days he has seemed to have gotten progressively better. So the Lord has definitely been answering our prayers. Chad and I prayed and told Him we couldn't do this by ourselves and we needed some help, and He has answered.
Carter is on an antibiotic that will help him not spread the sickness to anyone else. Unfortunately since we didn't find out he had Pertussis until he was in the second stage, the antibiotic will only help with the spread of the sickness...basically the bacteria has already done the damage that causes the cough so his body will just have to heal itself, which will take a few weeks. But the cough should get progressively better and less severe as the days go on. There is no set amount of time the sickness lasts, it could go on anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks.
He finishes his antibiotic next Wednesday and then we are safe to get out of the house with him and into public again. So if you see us coming and Carter still has the cough, don't worry, he's not contagious anymore after he's done with the antibiotic, but he will still have a cough for a little while. I wouldn't dare wish this on any other parent, so I will make sure we keep him in until all is clear.
Well that is our story thus far. Sorry I haven't had any blog updates lately, we have had our hands full!
Hope everyone has a good Easter...we will be watching a service from the couch this year :)

March 23rd....

The first time I have ever heard Carter laugh! It was the cutest thing I have ever seen! I was changing Carter's diaper in his room on his changing pad, and I had this little Duck that his Grandmother bought him sitting on the table. It's almost like a little hand puppet where you can put your fingers in it's legs and make them move around...well I did just that and started talking to him and making the duck give him kisses and he thought it was hysterical! I was laughing so hard that Chad came running in the room. He said he thought I was crying and came to see what was the matter...I said "nothing, look he's laughing for the first time"! It was great.

I figured he probably wouldn't do it again for another couple of days, but I was sitting in the recliner with him propped up on my legs and Chad came by; he just happened to still have on his work clothes and he started putting his tie over Carter's face and saying "where's Carter"?!...well he thought this was funny too and started laughing!
I will have to get a video of it if I can catch it because it is the cutest thing! Of course, I'm sure that every Mom thinks their child laughing is the cutest thing ever, but it was the first time and I was so excited!!

In other news, I believe the Lord has answered our prayers and the Zantac seems to be working. It's not full-proof, because he will fuss some if it has worn off and it's time for his next dosage...but it is SOOOOO much better. Praise the Lord! Unfortunately, we did have to take him off the cereal because he was getting extremely constipated. Even with Karo! And his constipated scream is 10 times worse than his reflux scream. It just stinks that you can't fix one end without ruining the other! But all the cereal was doing was helping with spit-up, so now we just have to wash lots of clothes, but the Zantac takes care of the pain of the reflux, so basically, we just deal with spit-up. I can deal with that!

Also, we have figured out that Carter despises huge crowds...in particular, noisy ones. Basically he hates cookouts where there are a lot of people talking/kid's screaming, Sunday School parties, large family get-togethers, etc. And he hates anywhere in which he cannot get down on the floor and kick around. We went to a cook out this past weekend and there were 4 dogs running around and we couldn't put him down on the floor, so he was held for 3-4 hours and he SCREAMED. There was way to much noise and on top of that he couldn't play, so he was not happy. We have a Sunday School party this Saturday and we have already called on the Grandparents to keep him so we can enjoy ourselves and he doesn't have to suffer. My baby book calls it over stimulation...he should eventually grow out of it, but right now it's just too much for him.

So, it looks like so far we have figured out the cause of the fussiness the past few months. Now that we know what is causing it, we can prevent it or nip it in the bud quickly when it starts. I never knew that parenting was such a guessing game! It is crazy! I seriously feel like Chad and I are part of this big game where we have to figure out what this baby is thinking.

Geez....

This is what our living room looked like on Sunday night. Carter had a pretty bad day...with fussiness that is. Nothing would calm the child down; as you see we have the bouncy, swing, his contoured changing pad he is obsessed with, blanket in the floor with toys, the vaccuum cleaner for 'white noise', me reading the book "What to expect the first Year" holding pappy in Carter's mouth, and of course, the thing that finally worked...Carter naked.
Once he finally calmed down, I looked around and started laughing and realized what a wreck the living room was with everything we had tried! I told Chad to get the camera, that we had to remember this night.
I thought he was just fussing for no reason, but now looking back on yesterday and pinpointing some particular symptoms I have realized that Carter has a TERRIBLE case of Acid Reflux. I knew that he has had it for a while, but it never seemed to bother him this much. Mostly he just spit up....so much that we almost use every burp cloth in the house, and I change his outfit 3-4 times daily. I said as long as it wasn't hurting him that I wouldn't worry about the medicine or telling the Dr....well that all changed today! We got a prescription called in for Zantac this morning and we are doing 4 tsp. of cereal in every bottle. He has only taken the Zantac once today, and it seems a little better...also the cereal may be helping out a good bit too. It is so heavy it stays on his little stomach better. Hopefully this combo will nip it in the bud, and my little guy can get some relief from the hurt. I am praying that the Lord will make the Zantac work because the next step would probably be Prevacid and it is WAY expensive.

Tagged

I got tagged on Facebook, and I find it easier to write on my blog so here goes..

1. My brother and sister used to always make me watch Unsolved Mysteries when my Mom and Dad went out for the night, therefore, my biggest fear as a child was getting abducted by aliens.

2. I am constantly thinking of what color I can dye my hair next. I don't know what my natural color is.

3. I have found it is virtually impossible to type on the computer with a 5 week old in your arms. No matter how much I know I can't do it, I still try it almost every day.

4. I am obsessed with chocolate.

5. Chad and I have called each other 'babe' since before I can even remember. If you ever hear us call each other by our first names, we are either ill at each other or trying to get oneanother's attention.

6. Swiss cake rolls must be eaten skin first and then the cake part. It's just not as good if you do it any other way.

7. I love to people watch.

8. I used to pretend that Fraggle Rock was in my bedroom when I was little.

9. I enjoying seeing how tightly balled up I can get a dirty diaper before I shove it into the diaper dispenser.

10. I think it's hilarious that Chad will not touch a tightly balled diaper to push it down into the diaper dispenser, he has to use Carter's baby brush or a wash cloth.

11. I am a germ freak. I have hand sanitizer with me at all times, and a small can of Lysol.

12. I loved every minute of high school and hate thinking about how long ago it was.

13. I knew Carter was a boy from week 8 on. I also knew that Liz was having a girl. Since then my brother has told me that he doesn't believe in my Voo Doo.

14. Growing up, Kerri and I used to always get the exact same stuff for Christmas, just different colors. I would get pink and Kerri would get blue. If either of us got anything different from the other one, we pitched a fit.

15. Kerri and I always do something called "Momisms". It is where we say something that our Mom always says and we try to say it in her voice. We think it is hysterical whenever we do it. We have even gotten Kevin and the other siblings-in-law into it.

16. My Mom has two dogs at the lake that have to have electric collars on because they like to roam and eat my parent's log house. They are awful and my Mom thinks they are angels!

17. I cringe whenever I know baseball season is around the corner...I know then that my husband will be glued to the television for hours at a time watching the Braves.

18. I could not live without DVR.

19. I love making paper airplanes out of any kind of paper...this includes any kind of candy paper.

20. I have pretended to be on my cell phone to avoid an awkward situation.

21. I joined the tennis team in High School because I loved their uniforms. I can't believe I actually made the team, I was terrible and never won a match.

22. I love Marinara sauce. I have been obsessed with it ever since I saw the Saved by the Bell episode where Screech was making his famous spaghetti sauce. It just looked so good!

23. I love Rock City.

24. When I was little I always looked forward to getting a new pair of white Keds every year. I was ecstatic the year my Mom got me the leather ones.

25. I am pumped about losing my Baby weight, I never thought I would be so excited to try to eat healthier and exercise!