Figuring It Out

Almost three weeks ago, I started writing a post about how we were all (Ayden included) adjusting to having a new member of the family. I was writing about how Allison and I were handling taking care of a newborn for the first time and how Ayden was coping with not getting as much attention as he used to. That I never got around to finishing the post speaks volumes about how different things are now and how much less time we have.

The short version is we all are doing the best we can. Allison and I are learning as we go, as I imagine most parents do. The difference is most parents don't also have to contend with a toddler running around during this learning experience. And make no mistake about it, Ayden has, over the last three weeks or so, become 100% toddler. He is getting into everything, testing boundaries, talking back to both of us, running away from us in a store, etc. Another sign he's pure toddler? He thinks doing all of those things is funny, especially the running away in the store part.

 

Nevertheless, we are starting to figure some things out and settle into some sort of routine, at least overnight. Occasionally, Brogan will decide he isn't interested in sleeping at some point, but for the most part, we have a system that gets us about 2.5 hours of sleep at a time. We're hoping those intervals get longer over the next several weeks.

For now, we are keeping Brogan in our bedroom, but an early move into the nursery is being strongly considered, mainly because the kid is so stinking loud. I don't mean when he's crying (though, to be sure, he can scream with the best of them - he's woken Ayden up multiple times during the night with his crying). I'm talking just generally. He grunts. He moans. He whines. He cries out randomly. He makes several other sounds I don't know how to describe in words. And he makes all of these noises while he's sleeping, which is why we might move him to the nursery sooner rather than later - Allison is having trouble sleeping while he's making all these noises (I haven't had this problem). A few nights ago we moved the bassinet to my side of the bed to see if it made a difference. Early returns have been positive, but that may be due to Brogan starting to sleep longer between night feedings.

I suppose, all things considered, it hasn't been too bad. If Brogan wasn't so dead set on being held when he's awake, things would be a lot better. Because it's hard to lay him down without him screaming shortly thereafter, it's hard to get things done (e.g., finishing a blog post). Hopefully, that will improve as he gets older. I know it would make Allison's days a lot smoother, especially now that I've gone back to work.

Of course, when compared to what we were going through with Ayden during this time, there's really no reason for us to complain.

***

The last post on Ayden covered a lot of ground. Since then, he and I have worked really hard on his eating. It was slow going for quite a while. We also continued to have gag reflex sensitivity, resulting in some serious vomiting episodes (often after or even during his bath, making it extra frustrating for me). Over the last week, however, things have gotten significantly better. I was able to reintroduce breakfast (I had substituted more fluid in place of his morning yogurt, hoping it would make him hungrier at lunchtime). We are back to normal sized bites, so mealtimes don't take so long anymore. He's back to eating yogurt and pudding. We've even gone to Sweet Cece's. The one thing I haven't tried to add back in yet is pureed vegetables. I might actually give that a go tonight for dinner.

One thing that is still in place is a modified evening schedule. After he threw up his dinner right before bedtime 3 out of 4 nights, I flipped the script. Instead of giving him dinner, then letting him play for a while or give him a bath before putting him to bed, dinnertime now immediately precedes bedtime (taking away opportunities for him to get too excited or upset after eating dinner is the idea, here). This schedule isn't ideal, but it works for now and, for the most part, has avoided an evening incident. I'll probably want to go several weeks without one before we switch back, with the hope being that the sensitivity of his gag reflex will have subsided through lack of use.

If there is a benefit to be found from any of this, it's that his daily fluid intake has increased. Before I put breakfast back in, he was drinking 34 ounces each day (if you recall, maintenance fluid level is 36 ounces). I was giving him more to make up for the fluid and calories (the toddler formula is high in calories) he was missing because of eating less. Because he was taking in so much fluid by mouth, we didn't really need the feeding tube.

It's been a little over three weeks now since we pulled it.