I don't think he could smile any bigger

This smile makes everything else worthwhile though. I absolutely love it and can't get enough. Derek is crawling around everywhere and we need to do a bit more baby proofing. The other night he went out of "safe area," his rubber mats in our room with all his toys and such, and as soon as he made it to the hardwoods he proceeded to drop his head. Hard. I thought he was never going to calm down. Silly boy. Yesterday he fell down while walking behind his toy and seems traumatized since he cries when you put him in front of it now. Poor thing. We have a busy few weekends ahead. We're traveling to visit family this weekend in Alabama and next weekend we're getting pro pictures taken (after I get my hair done again because it's in dire need of an update and I finish gathering our outfits) and then probably more organizing the living room Sunday. Spring has sprung and my allergies have gone on strike. They didn't affect me as quickly as they did Derek since he hasn't been able to breathe well for weeks, but in the past week I can't seem to breathe well at all and it's awful. Crazy pollen! I had some retail therapy and found some new shoes for summer, cute brown sandals. Love love love them. Can't wait for summer! Speaking of which, I need to get on the ball with planning Derek's bday since it's coming up so quickly. How did the past year pass so quickly? Where did my sweet little baby go? It's so bittersweet watching him grow up into a cute little toddler.
I think this might be the last time he'll be in his seat with his "babies". He's getting so big!

5 am comes really early

But really how can I complain when this greets me as I stumble weary eyed out of my bed.

 

 

Fist pump for Mama!

Insurance companies: 0

Mama: 1

Honestly, when I found out about this I was literally doing a cabbage patch-esque white girl dance in front of my desk silently as I was still hearing the news from Derek's nurse. Apparently Derek has MSPI, aka Milk Soy Protein Intolerance. We tried him on all kinds of milk-based formulas and he was still spitting up half of what he was eating. After talking to the pedi, she recommend Similac Alimentum which is hypoallergenic and hella expensive. However, before trying that we decided to try soy based formula to make sure that he didn't do better with that than the milk-based formula. Ha! Instead of spitting up half of what he ate, he was spitting up the majority of what he ate. Exorcist style. While smiling the.whole.time.

Yeah, you know you're jealous of having spit up projected onto your face by an adorable smiling wee one. Admit it.

Thus, we moved onto the hypoallergenic formula. Ready to feed works wonders, powder = big.fat.fail. I tried calling the insurance company to see if by chance they covered the formula. The lady laughed at me and said formula would never be covered by insurance. I was so pissed that she'd laugh at a new mom like that who was more than willing to pay for formula, prepared even, however since this formula is 3-4 times more expensive than the regular kind I was just checking. Off to the pedi we go with Derek for a weight check and ask her if he might have an intolerance, and we mention we'd researched that some babies that need the hypoallergenic formula have MSPI. She said, well that makes sense and talked to her nurse. She proceeded to write us a prescription for the Alimentum and said she'd talk to the referral specialist who would talk to our insurance.

And then the miracle happened.

I received the call from the nurse that the specialist had talked to the insurance company and that the Alimentum was approved for a 30 day supply every month until 2011.

So who's laughing now insurance lady who said no formula was covered?!?! Yeah that'd be me. Loudly in hysterics. This will save us $250/month which equates to $3k a year. He won't be on it a year, but seriously yo. I'm fist pumping the air in excitement as that's a boatload of savings!!

It's my prerogative, so I'm changing my mind

In a previous entry I said I was really excited about going to see Dear John, the movie based on the Nicholas Sparks novel. However, after re-reading the novel last week, I'm not so sure. I won't ruin it for anyone who isn't planning on reading the book and wants to see the movie, but I just wasn't happy with the ending. I'm a hopeless romantic and it just didn't sit right with me. *humph* I sat pouting for a while afterward because I hadn't remembered it ending like that.

It's going to be a rough McFatty Monday week this week. Chris starts his new job today and with both of in a typical routine, it's going to be a big transition of us trying to jumble getting home, cooking dinner and eating, feeding and playing with Derek, trying to relax for a bit, and finding time to work out. I do plan to do it though. We have planned a huge extended family vacay trip to an indoor waterpark March 19th. Therefore, in T-minus 39 days (AHHH) I'll be donning a swimsuit again. This time I don't have the excuse of just birthing a bowling ball, er baby, either like last time we went. Mother fletcher. We're going to try to work out together since both of us managed to add a little weight with our lovely addition.

In other news, I'm honestly not sure whether Derek is going to crawl. The pedi said that some babies don't crawl and just walk. He is quite content to just drag himself around without pushing up on his arms. He does a sort of combination of drag/army crawl. I wouldn't be surprised if he was cruising (standing and pulling himself around) soon though because he wants to hold himself up on the couch/bed. My baby is growing up too fast!!

I'm a little crunchy

Crunchy. Adjective. Used to describe persons who have adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons. Crunchy persons tend to be politically strongly left-leaning and may be additionally but not exclusively categorized as vegetarians, vegans, eco-tarians, conservationists, environmentalists, neo-hippies, tree huggers, nature enthusiasts, etc.

I've been described as hippie and tree hugging before. It doesn't come as a big surprise to those that know me that I'm a little on the crunchy side. When it came to my baby, I'd love to be as crunchy as it gets. However, a few things stood in my way. First off, my sweetly smelling newborn babe didn't co-sleep well. When we try, neither him nor us sleep well. Strike one. We thought we'd be putting him in childcare so while I would love nothing more than to cloth diaper, we didn't see it as an option. Now since we haven't needed childcare, I mildly regret that. Strike two. I think I get a semi strike for strike three. I was induced since the baby and I were in danger with him still being the womb. The entire 8 months he was bouncing around inside me, I would teeter totter the line of whether I wanted an epidural or not. I finally decided I did want it and I wanted a nice labor. Well thanks to the Poison (as my husband lovingly calls it), err, Pitocin, labor advanced very quickly. Within 2 hours, my sweet bambino was evicting himself and not taking NO for an answer. Then came the words I'll never forget.
"It's too late for the drugs"
I wish we would have a video camera on my face when the nurse said that sentence.
"NO DRUGS?! You've gotta be kidding me!!!"
Then stepped in the begging, screw all those crazy tree hugging hippie women, Rachel and I started begging.
"I can't do this. Pleeeeeeaaaaase. I won't do this. " (Yeah like that was an option)
Unfortunately Derek had other plans and he proceeded to remind me that he was coming out regardless and I better get on board. So strike three shouldn't be a whole strike, I went through labor naturally. Even if it wasn't my decision.

There are several other things that make me less crunchy, like for example that at 6 months Derek started formula instead of breastmilk. That was the best solution for both of us because of his reflux and now we pay outrageous amounts for hypoallergenic formula because he can't handle the cheap stuff. He has expensive demands like his Mama. :) I'm all about crunchy though and love organic food for him. If I had it my way, he'd be a cloth diapered, breastfed, co-sleeping, organically fed, crunchy baby. But if I've learned anything by being a Mama, it's that I've lost all control to make any of these decisions. And I'm ok with that so long as he's my happy bouncing baby boy.

This might a bit crunchy for me


But this one seems pretty neat!

Who needs the sippy

Derek wants to move right on to the mamba jamba quart sized cups.

Weekend bliss

"I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things."

This weekend was great. It had a few rough moments, namely a horrible headache Saturday, but overall it was wonderful.

Friday:
Date night. Dun dun dun. It'd been a while since we'd been able to get out and enjoy each other's company and have adult conversation so that in and of itself was nice. We went to see Legion first. Hadn't seen previews for this although from what Chris said the previews were a bit misleading but it was actually very good. A little biblical for both of our tastes but the message was good. Doesn't everyone love looking at ripped half naked angels with machine guns? ;-)



We then went to eat sushi, which was very delish. I seriously love sushi, it's one of my favorite foods. The Japanese bagel roll (salmon, avocado, and cream cheese) is what I get just about every single time. It's also the only roll Chris will eat, but since he's a tad on the picky side, I'll take what I can get.


After eating we stopped by BRU and picked up Derek a surprise kick toy for his crib. Our wonderful baby doesn't alert us that he's awake by crying in his crib, no no, that'd be far too predictable. He likes to be different and turn in his crib so his feet are against the wall and proceed to kick the wall in between the slats thats between our room and his his. It's not his monitor, it's not him crying, it's not even usually him talking (although sometimes it happens), it's him kicking the wall. Soccer player in training I tell you, watch out Beckham!



After that we went to B&N. MMMM heaven on earth. The one by my work we went to though, doesn't have as many books and is a little on the sad side. Nonetheless, I still managed to spend my gift card and a little more on some good books.

Saturday:
We went to the IL's to visit with them and see the little guy. Mama and Derek had some good 1:1 time while Chris and FIL went to get something to eat. The rest of the day we just hung out and did a whole lotta nada besides spending time with Derek.

Sunday:
A rainy day perfect for even more snuggle time as a family. I stayed in my pj's all day and we watched tv and played with Derek. Most of the day was spent cleaning up Derek's smelly soy spit up and we established that soy isn't what works for him either. We're going to try something hypoallergenic to see if that helps him. Man does that stuff smell awful though!!

How was everyone else's weekend?