His first real smiles for his mom and dad!

During our week with my mom, Dane started smiling his first smiles in response to other people. It's so exciting to start seeing his personality coming out! I didn't believe my mom at first, since we hadn't been able to get anything out of him but crabbiness lately. However, I was able to get a couple giggles and smiles during the week as well, and then Sunday, Mark really got him going. He was smiling and laughing for about 20 minutes, in response to his dad's antics. Here are some fun pictures of his good day!

3 month old comparisons

So just for fun, here are a couple comparison pictures to show how much our babe has grown. He was born at 3 lbs 13 oz and 16.5 inches. He now weighs 8.4 lbs and 21 inches. He's huge! (Or at least he seems that way to us :))

Holy busy, Batman!

As you can tell from the frequency of our posts, and especially by the frequency of Mark's posts, we're both back at work now. Life has gotten even more crazy very quickly; we didn't think that was possible after the last couple months! Mark has been in his first couple weeks of his intern year orientation, which have actually been treating him pretty well, hours-wise. They've been going through the basic stuff like tours and benefit information, etc. Sort of boring, but necessary for starting his next three years of work. He officially starts next week, July 1st, and will be starting on his first of 6 hard months of the year, inpatient family medicine. His average hours per week will be between 60 and 70, with around 3-7 overnight calls at the hospital per month. Yuck. His commute has turned out to be not as bad as we thought it would be; it's been between 25 and 40 minutes on the average (not including a really bad hour and a half during a foray onto a construction area). Commutes in general still stink, but I'm so thankful he's allowing me to be closer to work, as that transition has been pretty tough on me as well. Because I'm so close, I've been able to run home for around 30 minutes during lunch to pump and hold the babe for a few minutes before I have to head back. I'm really glad I can do this, as it's hard to go from being with Dane every hour of every day for the last three months to being away from him for 8ish hours a day all week. Dane is in the very capable care of my mom, who has been enjoying being able to bond with our little dude. We're so lucky to have our moms here to watch him, since one of the hardest things about going back to work would have been not knowing if he was in loving, knowledgeable care during the day.

While he's still not doing a super-consistent job of sleeping, he is getting better, and most nights, we can get a block of five hours of sleep. Still not enough to be functioning on our highest level, but better than the 2 or 3 we'd been getting for the last couple months. He's still really struggling with gas, sobbing uncontrollably for about two hours between each feeding. It's definitely stretching our sanity. It's still incredibly difficult to know that there's sometimes just nothing to do for him. Tonight, in desperation, we made a heating pad out of a sock and some barley, with only moderately beneficial results. One more solution down...huh...what now?

We also went to Mark's residency department picnic Wednesday afternoon. It was great to meet the folks who he'll be spending so much time with for the next three years. We had hoped to bring the Daner-bear, but because it was near 100 degrees and humid, we decided it was better to leave him at home until the weather turned more newborn friendly. Work for me has started with a vengeance, as I'm working on a book tour for NASCAR celebrity Joe Gibbs. His marketing manager with Tyndale is on vacation for a couple weeks, so I'll be coordinating the details of his signings. It's a fun project, but one that's forcing me to get up to speed very quickly. I'm also working on the marketing for a book called Letters to Darcy. It's about a high-risk pregnancy that ultimately ends in the birth and then death of a Trisomy 18 baby girl. The theme of sanctity of life is really brought out, so we'll be working with a number of pro-life organizations to spread the word. It was a hard book to read, as it consisted of a mom's letters to her unborn baby, knowing that she would likely never make it past a few days old. Darcy ended up living to be 11 days old, and the book is a powerful story about respect for life, no matter how short. Check out www.darcyanne.weebly.com to see pictures and learn more about the story. While it was hard to read now, I'm super glad I wasn't reading it while pregnant, as it opens a whole new door of worry about what could go wrong...it was very inspiring though.

Anyway, I've just added a bunch of the latest pictures below. We had one of Mark's swimmer buddies visiting from Boston, Dustin, and he was able to lull Dane during his nightly crabby time, so we suggested he visit more often :) We also painted the living room, which Dane was very unhappy to help me with, and then headed down to the Wheaton Band Shell to listen to a Kids' Night concert. Dane made it through about 20 minutes, and then let us know it was time to head home. I found that Dane likes laundry day because he got to snuggle into the warm laundry until I needed to fold it. It was good for an hour of quiet! Dane will suck on just about anything put near his mouth when hungry, as evidenced by his enjoyment of Mark's nose. The other photos are just random ones from the last week or so. Enjoy!


Grandma Moyer holding Dane after a feeding. Also, we painted a couple of walls in the living room. Like the pattern?






The three of us at Wheaton's Concerts in the Park.








Notice that Dane's arms are still not quite long enough to have his hands touch above his head... I guess that's what having a head in the 50th percentile and a height in the 15th percentile gets you...

Happy 3 months! (maybe we should call it the Weekly Dane)

Given the sparse posting schedule, perhaps we should change the blog name. However, we're working on an update, which will tell you all about WHY we've gotten kind of lazy at posting. Also, it's our little guy's three month birthday today! Yay! We'll post some comparison pictures when we get a chance over the weekend. Sometimes we still can't believe how big he's getting!

Sleeping...apparently a thing of the past

Our latest challenge with Dane just started about a week ago, and we wonder if anyone has experienced a similar situation or has ideas for why it's happening or how to get past it. Basically, Dane was doing pretty well, giving us a 2.5 hour block and then a 5 hour block in between his night feeds. Right around Mark's graduation however, he started having a regular screaming spree, starting around 10 each night and going progressively longer. Last night, Mark was up until 2 after his 10:30 bottle. We tried everything, changing him, giving more food, walking with him, putting him in his swing, changing how we held him every few minutes and nothing seems to work. It's like he's chosen this time of night as his angry time and we're just praying it won't last long. Mark starts residency tomorrow, and I start work the following week, so we're going to have a long week, where I'm alone with him all day (which basically means the entire day is taken up by feedings, as when I feed him alone - due to pumping and breastfeeding - each feed takes between 1.5 and 2 hours). Mark will be pooped from all the new stuff he's learning and will have to be out of the house by 7 am, which doesn't allow much for sleeping in if we've had a rough night. For the last few nights, I've gone to bed after breastfeeding and pumping, around 11:30 or 12, and Mark stays up to finish his bottle and put him down. Then, I let Mark sleep through the 5 or 6 am feed, giving him (since we've been getting up around 10), around 7 or 8 hours of sleep. However, once work starts, we'll have to be up much earlier and won't have the benefit of sharing feeds. We're both pretty nervous for how this is going to go, and I'm definitely looking forward to my mom arriving to help on the 22nd. We think Dane may have colic, given the number of hours and time of day that he's been crying lately and have tried Hyland's Colic Tabs and Little Tummy's Gripe Water, to no avail. If anyone has any suggestions for either what works to curb this, how to schedule him better, or when their little one finally got out of this phase, PLEASE let us know! We're feeling a little desperate, as most babies are out of this stage long before 3 months (but since he was a preemie, this is probably normal). We feel like we've been dealing with struggles for him since he came home; every time we feel like we're figuring something out, he changes, so we're really just looking for some hope that he'll start to be happier/more consistent soon.

Oh, the craziness!

Finally, we're emerging from our move-, graduation-, sleep-deprivation-induced cocoon, which we've been in for the last week or so. After returning from our time spent in Green Lake and Madison with Mark's family and the night in Reedsburg with my fam for Steph's reception, we had barely enough presence of mind to start packing up and get ready to move Thursday evening and Friday. My parents were nice enough to take a few days off of work and (possibly) crazy enough to stay on our futon during all the chaos to help us move. Originally, we were supposed to have two apartments starting Thursday evening, so they wouldn't have to deal with being the same one-bedroom as a screaming Dane at night, but the previous tenant in our new apt moved out late, moving all the cleaning, repair and painting back as well. Hence, we all got to spend a very busy evening moving things downstairs to the center of each room, then a very long night as Dane had his normal meltdowns before and after feedings. Fortunately, my folks were able to get out a bit and enjoy the Taste of Wheaton, which was happening the weekend they were around. They had dinner and saw a cool car exhibit, along with being shocked at the $4.15 price tag for a pastry at L'Anne. Yes, we're definitely aware that we're not in WI anymore!

The next morning we all got up pretty early and started another long day of moving. Fortunately, we had a bit of help from Tim Meisenheimer, so my dad and Mark weren't the only ones around to carry the big stuff. We had some very sore muscles by the time Mark's mom arrived, bearing lunch, which was a good break for all of us. After lunch, Mark's brother and grandmas also arrived, which was fun. They got some time in singing Swedish songs to and just doting on Dane, which he seemed to be entranced by. It was nice to have him occupied so we could finish up the moving stuff. That evening, after everyone left, Mark and I were able to run out for a 15 minute Target date while my folks watched the babe. He had another really hard night, which made Saturday kind of a blur for us. Mark had an honors ceremony, which we decided to go to alone, as we had no other time for a celebration for just the two of us as we hit this big milestone in our family's life. It was a good break, and I was very proud to see him honored for his hard work.

We then rushed back to the apartment to get read for dinner with Mark's parents and numerous friends and relatives who made a special trip to celebrate the big day with us. We had a wonderful dinner at Weber Grill, one of Mark's favorites. It was incredibly nerve-wracking, as it was Dane's first time at a restaurant. All I could think about, in my sleep-deprived/moving-exhausted state, was that I needed to keep him from bawling. I didn't want to be THAT MOM, the one whose child is sobbing while those around, trying to enjoy a special dinner, are thinking, "Really?! You needed to bring a newborn?" Dane did have a number of tantrums, but because we had him in his carseat, he was much calmer and the crying was a little more controlled. For future reference - baby-changing tables, even in nice restaurants, are kind of gross. I was glad to have brought my own stuff to change him on!

Following dinner, we headed home again, for yet another 2-hours-of-sleep night with Dane. We aren't sure why he's struggling so much, but the pattern of his crying lately suggests that he has colic. We're trying a couple of homeopathic remedies, which we're not sure are working, but are willing to give anything that will lessen the hours of crying each night.

We awoke bright and early to get ready for our big celebration the next day, Mark's graduation ceremony at Navy Pier. We were worried about time, as we had a large group and wanted to get good seats for everyone, so we got there over an hour early. This meant that Dane's feeding schedule was off, and I ended up having to feed him during the ceremony. Fortunately, Mark's administrator from school suggested I sit up in the balcony, which was much more private and allowed Dane to make some noise without disrupting the other audience. It was a nice set-up, as my mom helped me watch him so I could take a video of the ceremony. I got almost all of it, but in our busyness in the last few days, we forgot to charge the video camera, so I had to keep running back to the bathroom during the non-vital moments and charge the camera. Mark did a great job, not a single stumble and Dane was so proud of him that as he exited the stage, our little one did a big one in his diaper, managing to get stuff all the way up to his armpits. Good thing we had him in multiple layers! After the ceremony, we mingled with everyone in for the weekend, including Mark's Uncle Steve, both his grandmas, his mom, dad and brother, and my parents. We managed to take quite a number of pictures and I know I'll always love the ones of my two boys, Dane and his proud Dad, now a doctor. It's crazy!

Things have been slowing down a tiny bit for the last couple days, letting us recuperate, and while it was our anniversary yesterday, there was too much on our minds to really enjoy it, or even have energy to celebrate. We're planning on doing something fun in a month or two, when Dane is big enough to get a babysitter for an evening. Then we'll take the time to look back on our two years together, and all the things that led us to where we are now. We're both bracing for the next year as Mark is an intern (he was at ACLS training all day today), but then very excited for what lies ahead, as we'll finally start to have a little more choice about what our life looks like.

The Big Move

Today we got the keys to our new apartment (3 floors down from our current apartment)...which is awesome because it is a 2 bedroom / 2 bathroom. It feels really big compared to our current apartment (~50% larger square footage). We are excited to get all moved in. Larissa's parents came down this evening to help with the move and attend my med school graduation on Sunday, so we all carried a number of boxes down already. My parents are already down for a couple of days worth of meetings for work for my dad, so we'll see my mom tomorrow morning to help move. My brother and grandmas will also be driving in tomorrow afternoon to help with the move and with Dane and to attend graduation on Sunday. Tomorrow morning we'll be working on all of our big furniture (beds, dressers, etc) and will spend tomorrow night in the new apartment. We would've maybe slept there tonight, but the guy that was supposed to move out this past Monday actually moved out today, Thursday. Because of his late departure, the maintenance people didn't get into the apartment to start cleaning and vacuuming until after noon and the painters didn't get in until after 7pm to repaint the walls. Larissa is very excited to finally be able to "nest," since we'll likely be in that unit for the next 3 years (until residency is done). She's already looking at paint colors and furniture configurations (ok, so am I). Anyway, we'll put up some pictures when things calm down.

PS- Dane is doing well. He became un-constipated after coming back to Illinois (dare I say, the state is a bit crappy? - Larissa cringed when she read this) and we are all happy when he manages to sleep well at night. Last night he gave us two 4 hour blocks of sleep in between his feeds, which is great, as we have a super busy couple days ahead of us with moving and graduation stuff.

Dane can suck his thumb!

Over the last week or so, Dane has been increasingly consoling himself more and more. At first, he would calm down after sucking on his arm or some fingers but we have now been seeing him sucking his thumb. It is fun to see him developing and growing up! It was also crazy today that as we went through Dane's baby clothes we had to put most of his preemie clothes away because he's grown out of them. At almost 8 pounds and almost 19 inches, he seems so big to us!

Snake Oil?

Like any parent, if we knew of something we could be doing to better help our child we would do it. After Dane was so colicky over the past week or so, Larissa and I read online about several products that can help babies with colic. But I am somewhat skeptical. If these things worked so well, why wouldn't I have learned about it in medical school? or had the pediatrician tell us about it? We are currently trying two products:
- The first is Simethicone (baby-strength Gas-X).
- The second is "Gripe Water". This is the one I am most skeptical about. It's like an herbal tea for babies containing sodium, ginger, and fennel.

So, have you tried them? How did they work for you? Or, better yet, what helped you with colicky kids?

Whether it is snake oil or miracle oil, Dane's colic has seemed to calm down over the 2 or 3 days that we have been using these.

Funny videos

Here are two videos from last week that we found pretty funny.

First, Dane has a really good startle reflex, as evidenced by this video. Plus, if getting startled helps him stop crying then all the better.



And second, Dane also still doesn't like his Zantac and will give us an awesome face almost every time we give it to him (twice daily).