Gran visits again!

We had another wonderful week with Gran. She's pretty much been here every few weeks - this was her 4th visit over and if it were up to me, we would build her a private apartment addition if she'd move out here! :)

Clark is doing great and is on his first week with no upsets. A few weeks ago, he got a virus from his big brother, who also had it, and it lasted for 3 weeks and brought lots of mucus, a cough, and a nasty rash. We are glad it's almost over! His 2 month appointment was great - it was his 11th trip to the doctor, but after much trial and error with milk issues, hand foot mouth, a mystery virus, and severe diaper rash, he's doing GREAT! I figured out that he is allergic to all wipes but Costco brand, so changing the wipes and slathering on Triple Cream has really helped. And, after many sleepless nights, we finally have a diagnosis of milk allergy... not just an intolerance, but an actual allergy where he cannot have anything with even a milk derivative. Since we determined this, he's been so happy, eating well, and not vomiting! He is the most content little baby and smiles and coos all the time. Unlike Harrison, who was in a quiet house with mama all day, Clark is so used to loud noises, from my little laughing hyena. I am always amazed at how Harrison's boistrous personality doesn't phase him. I love seeing him develop and comparing him to how different/alike Harrison was. He's got a VERY tight grip on my heart - I am so in love with this little guy, as we all are.

At 2 months, Clark is on the same weight/height track as Harrison was:
Weight: 10lbs 13oz 20th%
Height: 24" 80th%

Harrison has been LOVING going to summer camp 3 days a week. Every week has had a different theme, and camp has been constant playtime instead of the rigorous curiculum in his preschool. LOL! Just kidding - but, they are definitely having more "playtime" this summer. His girlfriend, Vivian, is in his class and continues to dote on him daily. Harrison, being the "man" he is, loves this ofcourse! The last day of summer camp is this Friday. We are all very sad. :) David and I took Harrison to "The Greatest Show on Earth" this past Saturday, and had a blast. All 3 of us loved it, and loved sharing the experience with our good friends, the Castellanos Family!


A footlong, cotton candy, smores, and cookies - we were sugared out afterwards!



My #1 snugglebug - and a tired mommy who had a few too many glasses of champagne on date night the night before, then had to wake at 330am for the 2 month old, and 7am for the 2 1/2 year old! (this is why i'm headed to NYC in less than a month!!!) :)

Watching the preshow with Daddy and his new Elephant!

The dimples - a Slye trait that I LOVE!

He's just so sweet! LOVE HIM!

Mom has such a special bond with Clark - not only the name and hair color...

Harrison calls Clark's room "Gran's Room"

Harrison cannot keep his hands off Clark - he wants to make him clap and do "patty-cake" all the time...

Family photo opp before date night - we took 10 and this was the best, haha!

If Harrison could give Clark a big bear hug without me catching him, he totally would!

Thursday playdate with the Slyes: Every Thursday, Harry has coffee with some men down near our house. He comes by around 930am, and is immediately greeted by a huge smile and a packed suitcase. Harrison becomes giddy the moment he wakes up on Thursdays! Harry usually takes him on an excursion - to Daddy's work, to the Zoo, to Home Depot, Sears, the park, the library, you name it - they've been. Then, they head to Katy, eat lunch, take a nap together, eat dinner, then come home. And, they even bring him home bathed and in PJs!!! Harrison LOVES these days with Granma and Papa and looks forward to seeing them every week!

Once again, Harrison is trying his hardest to "play gently" with Clark! I know he's running out of patience and is so ready for Clark to be of the "playing age!"

Clark loves to smile at people - who's that cute baby in the mirror?!

Retro Post - Clark at 3 and 6 weeks old

In addition to being the best night nanny, day nanny, maid, chef, babysitter, and Mom, my Mother has really helped in the picture department. When things were crazy and taking photos was the last thing on my mind, my Mom captured some great ones and brought a CD on her visit this week.


6 weeks

Happy 38th, Daddy! Can you guess what he got from his boys from the clues above? (That's the letter "I" that Harrison is holding!)

3 weeks

Harry painted some amazing jungle pictures for Clark's nursery...

Harrison is SO in love with his brother. He wants to be "hands on" ALL the time and hardly ever has a jealous moment unless I am holding Clark when he wakes up from a nap... I try not to make that mistake often because it inevitably results in a total meltdown! Both boys are quite the snugglebugs and I LOVE it!

6 week photos

Thank you, wonderful God.

We are so thankful that we have finally figured out the culprit responsible for Clark's painful screams and sleepless days and nights - MILK PROTEIN! With the help from our proactive and thorough pediatrician (and the fabulous internet!), we have a happy and content baby. We've had 5 nights with a peaceful baby who only cries when he's hungry, wet, or tired. It's truly amazing how the milk was affecting him, and how eliminating the irritant has made him so pleasant. We were able to take him off the Bethanachol and will be pulling him off his Prevacid in a few weeks to see if his little GI system has had time to repair itself.

Pictures from the last 6 weeks

Harrison loves being a big brother so much. He watches Clark play, eat, and sleep and loves to be my helper/babysitter! :) He is SO ready for Clark to play with him...

Clark at 1 week old

Clark at 2 weeks old

Clark at 5 weeks old

Clark at 5 weeks in a "hat" made by big brother (this sort of reminded me of making my little brother dress up in tu-tus when he was little!)

5 weeks

5 weeks

3 weeks

1 week

"Donuts with Dad" Day at Summer Camp!

The week that both boys came down with Hand, Foot, Mouth, Harrison decided that he wanted to wear big boy underwear. We started the process a few days before all heck broke loose, and had to push through during the virus and screaming. Amazingly, it only took a few days before Harrison was "house broken" (as my Dad calls it), and he's doing really well still. He still has the occasional mess up, but for the most part is fully potty trained! YAY!

Harrison on his last day of Preschool - this is the poster he took with him on his first day back last August! I was SO emotional about his last week of preschool (I guess I did have a few extra hormones running through my system though) - he's grown up so much and having a newborn in the house makes me realize even more how BIG he is. Time is going toooo fast. :(




My sweet Boo Bear last August... he wasn't even TWO!

Harrison and his VERY best friend, "Vivi" (he nicknamed her)

Vivian is a doll. She has so much personality and I'm told by the teachers that she and Harrison would hug each other so tight that they usually would fall down. I was also told that she's very overprotective of her man, and always wants his full undivided attention (the teachers have told her that Harrison has other friends also!). I witnessed this first hand when I went to pick him up at school last week and she saw me before he did. She and Harrison were having a ball playing and when she saw me, she told me "NO!" She wasn't ready for her man to go yet! haha!

He loves his "horse" shirts - he's still SO into horses and will only wear his Polos. I have to hide them and tell him they are in the wash for him to wear something else. And, I have about 10 smocked and appliqued short alls that he has no interest in wearing anymore now that he's a big boy and is potty trained.

Our Sweet Baby Clark

It's been a tough first 5 weeks for our new little addition. Clark came home from the hospital and we thought we were in the clear for any sort of reflux or colic. We made sure people sanitized and washed up before holding him, but things changed quickly.

At 2 weeks old, Clark came down with congestion in his nose and chest, then a severe diaper rash. We made our 3rd trip to see the pediatrician. (We had already been to visit on Day 3, per out physician's orders in the hospital since we were discharged early, then again at his one week appointment.) Days and nights were starting to be tough for Clark, as his little bottom was completely raw with rash. He screamed in agony for several hours straight those first few nights, and even worse when I applied Desitin. Yes, we found that Clark was allergic to desitin and got a Rx diaper rash medication. Within a few days, and after many hand-washes and air-drying, it had cleared up, thank goodness. This was all new to me, as Harrison never really had bad diaper rashes.

At 3 weeks old, and after the diaper rash cleared, Clark continued to scream in agony at night. I noticed the clear cut signs of acid reflux, as Harrison did the same.... arching the back, gasping for breath, spitting up, vomiting. I tried eliminating dairy, but saw no results so, I got the pediatrician to immediately call in 2 Rxs. Clark did not get better right away, as Harrison did, and his discomfort spread to the daytime.... screaming and crying constantly, unless he was sleeping (which he could only comfortably do for 15min increments). During this time, I noticed blisters on Harrison's toes. The next day, many red dots popped up and this coincided with him losing his appetite and not wanting to swallow his food. I knew what it was - we've seen it before - the popular preschool virus, Hand, Foot, Mouth. We made our 4th trip to the physician - both boys had appointments - confirmed reflux for Clark, and confirmed HFM for Harrison. The next day, Clark woke with 2 red dots on his scalp. Emergency Saturday appt at the doctor - trip 5 - confirmed Hand, Foot, Mouth on Clark. He's officially the youngest patient that the practice had ever seen with HFM. My heart just ached for him.

At 4 weeks old, the prevacid and bethanechol started to show signs they were working - the screaming became more isolated at night and decreased from 4-5 hours to 2-3 hours. But, he also began to have erratic screaming episodes of pain during some days of that 4th week. On Friday June 10th, he screamed for several hours during the day and I witnessed his first tears come streaming down his face as he looked in my eyes, begging for help. Harrison was in his room napping, as Clark screamed and I cried with him, feeling helpless. I booked our 6th trip to the doctor and went into Harrison's room to wake him and head to their office. He was lying in his bed, covers pulled up to his chin, wide awake and worried. We all were. It was so scary. We booked it to the doctor, who suggested a milk allergy. Since I had already tried to eliminate the milk in my diet, the ped wanted to isolate everything and we started on a very expensive and specialized formula called Alimentum and saw results over the week, as the screaming decreased even more from 2-3 hours to 1-2 hours, however, the discomfort was still there and you could see it in his eyes and hear it in his shallow, fast breaths.

At 5 weeks old, this week, Clark began to projectile vomit. With more than 3-4 episodes in 24 hours, I booked yet another appointment (7th) and took him in. The pediatrician feels strongly that Clark has a very bad milk allergy and pulled him off the Alimentum to put him on a Rx formula called Neocate. (Insurance pays for this, thank goodness) We just finished the first 24 hours on Neocate. He's still vomiting some, but seems to be more content. We are constantly praying for him. Our freezer has loads of frozen breastmilk, as he probably has bad allergies to several proteins, and who knows what else. And, am hoping that if he does indeed have a milk allergy, it will resolve itself and he can once again have breastmilk.

Clark is the sweetest, most adorable little guy. He's got dimples like his Daddy and brother and smiled at me last Sunday, before he turned 5 weeks. He's snuggly and smells delicious - I love him so much.

David has been amazing and has been such a rock for me. And my parents flew out on the 11th when I called them in tears about Clark. Mom stayed for 5 nights and just left on Thursday - this was her 3rd trip out in 5 weeks. She was such a support for me - I could not have gotten through this week without her. Harrison has been a true sport. He started summer camp on June 6th and it's been a lifesaver. He also gets picked up by his Grandpa once or twice a week to play. Harry and Audrey have been having him to their house, which he LOVES! I know we're going to get through this, but WOW - what a rough first month of life for my sweet baby.

Week One Happenings

Clark had his one week appointment and passed with flying colors! He's surpassed his birth weight and is doing great. There are, however, those couple of hours between 730-9pm when he decides to cry uncontrollably/scream/let out all his daily frustrations, as many newborns just do those first 6 weeks of life. I am so thankful for David during this time - we tag team to calm Clark, and once he's calm he sleeps all night without making a peep but to feed every 3-4 hours. I'm only waking up twice to feed, but am READY for that to be only ONCE! :)

He's so calm - cried a little during the heel prick but feel asleep before she even finished the procedure!

Clark gets his calm nature from his calm Daddy, who was always so good at being patient with Harrison during his colic and acid reflux days.

Playing in Grandaddy's plane - we cautioned Grandaddy that the buttons might have been changed around a bit! :)

Harrison has tried out all the "baby stuff" in the house, including the swing and pack and play.











It's all about discovery right now - one of my favorite things about being a Mom is just observing Harrison do this. I was able to get the thought process of the "discovery" below on camera on my phone...

checking it out

checking them out

checking to see if it worked! "I like boobies." - Harrison Slye