Happy 6-Month Birthday

Braeden is 6 months old today - where did that time go? It feels like weeks, not months since he was born.

He was awake early, playing in his crib, almost like he knew this was a special day. He constantly sleeps on his tummy now, and no amount of flipping him over works. He rolls right back onto his tummy before I leave his room. He can roll over from tummy to back though, so I don't worry as much as I did when he had trouble doing that. So I let him sleep on his tummy, although it still makes me a little nervous. DH set up the tripod so I could videotape today's events for posterity.

In the past few days he's started pushing up on his hands during tummy time. He's desperately trying to crawl, but so far it looks like he's swimming - he's not moving an inch. He's found a way to move around though - he keeps rolling over in the same direction.

He's had such a wonderful and busy day that he's fallen sound asleep in his play yard with his toys. He was on the go almost all day. DH bought him some new teething rings last night on the way home. No teeth yet, but from all the drooling and chewing on everything, I think they aren't far from breaking through. His new teething rings are fantastic. One's shaped like a dragonfly, the wings being different textures but soft so he won't hurt himself when he bites down on them. The other is round, with "bubbles" of soft material he can chew on. I haven't chilled either in the fridge yet, but both suggest doing that.

DH also got Braeden a puppet for he and I to play with. He loves the puppets on his Baby Einstein DVDs, and seeing one for real, being able to touch it, he's thrilled. A couple of board books rounded out Braeden's half-year birthday gifts. He's more interested in chewing on the books than looking at them..hehe.

We're moving right along with the #1 fruits and veggies. Bananas were on the menu for the first time today - not a big hit by any means. In fact, they're the first food he really didn't like. He ate them, but made a face at every spoonful. He wasn't too fond of pears at first either, but seems to like them now. All the veggies have been a hit. I really think he finds the fruits a bit too sweet, not a bad thing.

In a couple of weeks we head back to the pediatrician for the next round of the dreaded vaccinations, and his well-baby exam. We're certainly not looking forward to that, since he had pain and a slight fever with the 4-months shots. Hopefully it won't be as bad this time, but from what I've heard it will be.

I hear him talking to himself in the other room, so I'm off to see what he's doing. It's nearly time for his DVD. Tonight he'll be watching the new Baby Einstein DVD "My First Signs" hopefully to teach him sign language so he'll be able to communicate sooner than he'll be able to talk. I'll keep you posted on new developments.

New Veggies

Braeden's been enjoying his peas and pear juice the past 5 days, so we gave him his first taste of green beans this morning (the other veggie his doctor recommended for his little "stinky" problem). Everything seems to be settling down there now, and he seems to like the green beans even more than he does the peas. Cool, so far so good.

I had an awful ordeal Friday with the eye surgeon. To recap, I had eye cancer nearly 2 1/2 years ago, for which I had radiation treatment. The good news is that the cancer is gone, the tumor along with it. Sadly though, the radiation did damage to my retina, blood vessels left over from the tumor were leaking fluid. Six weeks ago I underwent laser surgery to kill off those leaking blood vessels. Friday was my post-surgery check-up.

Not good news. There was more fluid in there. They decided the best way to treat the problem was to give me an injection of steroids, then and there. I'm almost glad I didn't have to wait a week, because I'd have been a raving lunatic knowing it was coming. I really hate waiting for medical appointments, and/or results. So as unnerving as it was, I agreed to let them do the injection. This steroid medication needs to be positioned at my retina, so the injection was right through my eyeball (sorry to gross you out - it did a number on me too). Even though they numbed my eye with a bunch of gel, when that needle went through my eye and out the back side, I screamed in pain. It was horrendous, but at least it's over. The medication will remain in there for 3 months, before it dissipates on its own.

My vision's doing very weird things now - I can see the medication in there, in the form of floaters that look to be the size of a dime, and some areas of vision are totally black. They warned me about these phenomena, and said things should clear up in a couple of weeks. Then I have to go back for another sound of laser surgery - does it ever end?

Other than the excruciating pain of the injection into my eye, the worst part of having it is that I have to be extremely careful for the first three days, the hardest thing being that I can't pick up Braeden. Thankfully it's the weekend so DH has been taking care of him for the most part. Still, it's so hard not to pick the little guy up. I've done it a couple of times anyway - they said if I keep the lifting it to a minimum it should be ok. I'm also not allowed to lie down for three days and nights - tonight will be my last night sleeping in the recliner. I have antibiotic drops to put in four times a day for four days, but that's not a biggy. It's not being able to pick up Braeden that's so hard, but I'll have to a day early, since DH goes back to work tomorrow and there's nobody else to help me. Brae will have to settle for minimal snuggling Monday, but after that, I'll make it up to him.

I hope you are all having a great weekend. Counting down to spring - yipee!! Oh yeah, don't forget the time change is next Saturday night/Sunday morning - and the clocks go forward. I actually did it one year, turned them back in the spring - duh..hehe.