Raising Eli & Zachary

It has been a very odd year for us, so I have to apologize for the lack of posts since Zachary was born. Not as if anything is wrong, but we have been extremely busy with all the new changes in our life and some projects we have under-taken.

Zachary is doing great, he is such a big boy and an incredibly easy baby (so far). We had always feared and heard that if you have an angel of a first child, that the second comes out with horns and a spiked tail. This has not been the case so far! We are very lucky!

Zach is a chubby little one, we call him our tank because already he is weighing more than an Aegis Fast Attack Frigate and displaces more water than one also. Zach was born at 8 pounds 2 ounces and left the hospital in the 7 pound range. At Zachary hitting three months yesterday he is over 13 pounds (exact weight to be calculated today as he gets more inoculations). He is also a great sleeper, zonking around 10pm each night and waking at about 5, although last night he woke up at 3 with a thirst only a Vampire can know at that hour. He is a big, growing, healthy boy!

Eli has also had a great year, overcoming a lot of the issues associated with his PDD NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified, but still having some of the issues that make me as a parent break down and cry. He is such a wonderful boy, very caring, extremely brilliant and solid, yet I still see the behavior and mannerisms occasionally that just tear my heart out. I was hoping that by the time Kindergarten came around he would be declassified and these issues would be long behind us. But the reality of the situation is clear, even though he has accomplished so much and grown and excelled past all of our expectations, he still has issues. As a dad, all I can do is love him for who he is, and provide the best support I can. He is my best friend, and all of my happiness in life. He is everything to me.

We also started the house hunting this year and finally selected a house we wanted to buy. As I type this I wait for the bank to give me a closing date. We have passed all of the stringent financial requirements and signed and dotted every document in triplicate five times over . It is just a waiting game and we hope that we are closing on the 28th, just five days from now.

So I will be posting more now, work is beginning to quiet down a bit with many of my big projects starting to close. I am not happy with work at the moment, having been denied training too many times this year, having raises postponed, no increase in pay, no increase in vacation days. I know I am lucky to have a job, and although I LOVE what I do, I am losing respect for the company I am doing it for. I don’t want to have to leave, but they are making it more difficult to stay. I hope the company turns around, I really do.

As for Jodi and I, we are doing well. Packing and planning, arguing and laughing. Normal adult marriage stuff, but I think things are going well. I think everything will settle down about a year after we move into the house. It is time for us to take a vacation together, recharge the batteries and have a little fun. It has been a stressful but rewarding year, and I look forward to spending at least another 50 years with my wife and kids.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

I know, I have been bad, not much activity on RaisingEli for three weeks and it has all been due to a crazy busy schedule and some major changes upcoming in our lives. First and foremost Eli is doing very well, and has conquered his fear of the water. I owe a great debt of gratitude to his swim coach for making it all possible. Eli has gone from a scared little cat in the water to a swimming duck and it has been a really cool transition to see.

Eli has also gone into a stage that is driving me absolutely crazy. He whines a lot, and is not listening. When corrected he cries and runs to mommy. When mommy corrects him, he runs to daddy and whines about wanting mommy. He whines about wanting mommy when mommy is holding him. No win situation. Best thing we can do to not support the behavior and eventually he will realize it is not working and give up.

As for Zach, he is a tank, eats like a champ. Poops like one too, and is growing bigger each day. He is an easy baby and it reminds me how much fun kids at that age can be. Looking forward to hearing him giggle.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

At Eli’s swimming class you get to ring the bell when you reach certain achievements in your program. It is a big deal and in the multiple lessons I have watched, I have never seen a kid ring it. Call my unlucky or something but with all the laughing, splashing, crying and temper tantrums it is just something I have missed. Last night, I get a phone call from my wife and she tells me Eli has something to say….

“Daddy! I rang the bell, and I jumped into the water all by myself!” Like music to my ears this was great news. Eli has always been scared of jumping in, and going underwater, and after weeks, if not months of swim class he has finally conquered his fear!

I am extremely proud of him!

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Eli received three new games recently and two of them are sure hits for every toddler. The first is a “Guess Who” which is a mystery game in which the players have to ask each other yes/no questions in order to narrow down the field of suspects until only one remains. This game is a logical thinking game that is awesome for the kiddies. Some examples of questions:

Does the mystery person have blue eyes? If the answer is yes, the person flips down the players who have any color eyes other than blue…. etc etc.

The second game is a listening game. The players separate into two types of players, one person gets to be the guy ordering the pizza, and the other players get to make the pizza. It is simple, the player who orders says they want a pizza with X number of toppings and places cards representing the topping in order in front of them. He repeats the items twice and flips them over. Now, each player making the pizza has to remember the toppings, and what order they were given. If the player makes the pizza with the right ingredients, then they get 1 point. If they make the pizza with the right ingredients and in the correct order, they get two points. The level of difficulty is changed by adding/removing the number of toppings.

The third game, which is not one of my favorites simply because it is way too repetitive is another NoodleBoro game where you have to use proper manners to take tokens representing food out of a picnic basket and place them in the proper spot on the picnic blanket, always using manners. The game is over way too fast and it is entirely too easy with little value, but to the kids, they love it just the same and it does encourage good manners.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Ok parents, what does one “do” with a two week old baby? All they do is eat, sleep, poop, pee on the wall or the unsuspecting parent or eat…wait did I say eat twice?

Well there are a lot of things you can do, most importantly there are a lot of basic rules to follow:

How many times per day do I feed my baby?
I believe you feed on demand, but you have to understand the difference between the I am hungry cry, and the I am tired cry, and the I am bored cry. Only experience will teach you the difference. But in terms of how often? Breast feeding means every 1-3 hours. Bottle Feeding is more like every 2-4 hours. Of course, the older your baby gets, the more per serving and less frequency.

How often do I give my baby a bath?
Two to three times a week, but only wash the hair with shampoo once per week at most. The rule of thumb is bathing a baby is about using a very soft cloth and luke warm water. Babies don’t get dirty like toddlers do, so use your best judgment. Make sure however that you comb the babies hair to help avoid cradle crap. Also, don’t submerge the belly button until the umbilical cord breaks off on its own.

What position should the baby go to sleep in?
On the back, with the head alternating sides. Use a support system to keep baby in place. SIDS research also points to allowing an infant to use a pacifier, but don’t force it on your baby, especially if they let it go.

How much belly time is appropriate?
When your baby is alert and awake it is a good time to do some basic exercises. Things like a boppy pillow and some belly time (always supervised of course). Back time with mom or dad talking to the baby. Gently moving the legs, hands and arms in the babies normal range of motion is always good

How much is too much swing/bouncer time?
I don’t know the answer to this, but I do know that there can be a problem holding a baby too much. Although you can’t spoil a baby until it is three months old, it is always good to have the baby out of your hands and in the swing or bouncer. Just make sure you watch out for the cat, dog or little brother.

Walks!
Walks in the carriage is always a great thing. Fresh air does a baby great, and if your baby is jaundiced, the sun is a great healing mechanism. Make sure the baby is dressed for the weather and go for a walk.

Hope this all helps. As a new dad all over again, I tend to forget things. There is always google!

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Zachary is getting me in trouble right from the start! Twice, yes twice I have been changing his diaper only to have him pee all over the place. The first time, it was my fault, I just simply was not covering him up in case the cold air caused him to pee, the second time I did have him covered but just didn’t account for the angle!

The first time, Zach just urinated on the wall, the second time, he urinated all over himself. Not a good start to diaper changing! You would think I would remember all the tricks to the trade.

Dad’s out there, if you have a boy, make sure you have the new diaper ready before taking off the old

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

It seems that there are two different types of schedules Zach is capable of following and it all depends on whether or not we were able to keep him awake and active during the day.

I know this sounds like common sense but yesterday was just brutal for Jodi, Zachary and I. The ancient and totally barbaric Jewish ritual of circumcision was performed and this screwed our schedule completely, and at 3:15am we are suffering.

On a normal day, we try to keep and feed Zachary on a schedule where at around 1am he is fed and then primed for at least 4 hours of sleep. In the eight days since Zachary was born we have had plenty of great nights and a few whooper late night craziness.

So how do we manage great sleep nights? Simple, by providing plenty of wakeful stimulation. When Zach is awake during the day we stimulate him with active play that extends the time he is awake. For example, after a feeding babies tend to take a nap, but we put Zachary in the floor gym and play with him, stimulating his brain with music, high contrast colors etc. Zach absorbs this and stays awake longer. This tends to give us longer sleeps at night, and hence happier parents and child at 3am. Don’t get me wrong, we let him sleep when he wants to sleep, he is a baby after all.

It is a learning process for all of us, and we have to adjust each day. It will be like this for a few months and all we can do is enjoy the ride.

(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Our second day home was chaotic but we are getting into a rhythm. The morning looks something like this:

Wake Eli Up
Get Eli Dressed
Get Eli to use the potty, brush his teeth
Make Eli Breakfast and let him watch Super Why before school
Load up the car and drop Eli off at NIS
Run various errands
Run more various errands
Run around even more
Get home, help with Zach
Clean the house
Run more errands
Run more errands
Go to babies R Us for the 12th time
Pick up Eli from School
Come home to house full of people
Setup Bouncer for Eli and Friends
Get ready to cook dinner
FUCK I am out of propane! Run to Lowes, get new Propane.
Cook dinner
Pediatrician comes over (thanks Dr. Bob for the house call)
Discuss how much I love to ride (Thanks again Bob…I am hooked)
Everyone goes home
Eat cold hamburger I made three hours ago
Refuse to clean again, go to bed.
Jodi let me sleep the night through (Zach was up every four hours to feed)

Whew…wake up, rinse…repeat.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

The first night at home was harder than I thought it was going to be. What most parents would call normal is now a bit abnormal for us. Although we have experience as parents, our experience with newborns is four years old. There are things we remember, and things we wish we remembered. It is quite normal, but last night…it was hard.

Giant Tar Poop: The first of the events of last night was the giant tar poop that went through the diaper, down his back, into his hair and all over his body. Because we can’t really submerge his body into water until the umbilical cord falls off, we had to sponge bathe him with baby wipes. It tar poop was everywhere and it took four hands to clean him up.

Sleep? Talk about Zachary not staying on the hospital schedule. At the hospital, he slept soundly at night, but last night I finally got him to pass out on my chest at 3:45am. Jodi and I got a total of 3 hours of sleep last night. He just wouldn’t go down, and nothing helped except for him resting his head on my chest listening to the rhythm of my heart.

So we are tired, Jodi is breastfeeding every 2-3 hours, and now I am off to take Eli to school. Eli by the way, went to bed at 9:30 and was asleep in record time. I guess the physical and emotional strain of everything combined with swim class and toy shopping wiped him out.

Cheers from a tired Horowitz Clan!

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

It was a pretty rough delivery and we have been concerned about Zach’s facial coloring. When he came out, he came out very bruised with dark reddish-blue facial patches. We immediately thought it was bruising but quickly became concerned when the nurses said it could be beauty marks. The doctors came back this morning telling us that they feel that the marks are all facial bruising and that they will clear up.

More thumbs up is the simple fact that Jodi is able to breastfeed with success. With Eli, Jodi was unable to breast feed like we wanted. She has been super committed to doing it this time and she is proving quite the trooper. With the hard delivery, and now the breastfeeding troubles behind all looks good. I can’t say enough about how proud I am of Jodi and her performance yesterday. She never gave up and was wonderful.

Now I have to do some daddy hunting and gathering. I have a laundry list of things to find and bring to the hospital.

Oh, and if you are wondering how Eli is doing? He is an awesome big brother, holding his little bro a few times, comforting him when he was crying and being very supportive and gentle. It is amazing to see how responsive Eli has been. He didn’t want to go to school today because he wanted to go see Zach and Mom.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...