First Hair Cut!

James' hair was getting way too long. He was starting to look like an orphan child. I honestly was tucking his hair behind his ear. I knew it was time to give him his first hair cut.

4 Months!

The other day James had his 4 month check up. The dr. said everything looks beautiful.
Here are his stats:
Weight: 13 lbs 10 oz-25% percentile
Height: 25 in.-50% percentile

An update about the whole eating situation. This upper GI tract test came back clear. He has no anatomical problems. Wooohooo! What a relief. The dr. thinks he has a milk protein intolerance and some reflux. So, we are feeding him a formula for babies with a milk protein intolerance and supplementing with my dairy free pumped milk and making sure he is kept upright for 20-30 mins after he eats. He is doing soo much better. WAY less crying! I am so grateful. Happy baby makes a happy mom! Going dairy free isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I do miss milk the most! The soy milk is just not cutting it.

Other noteworthy things about James:
-He rolls! Actually he has been rolling for the last two weeks. Now that we is mobile I know life will never be the same again!! When I get him after his naps he is usually on his back smiling up at me so proud of himself that he rolled.
-He puts everything in his mouth and drools!! His hands are his favorite. He can now grasp toys and they go straight for his mouth.

Here are some recent pics of the cute guy.

We are so excited to go to Houston for Thanksgiving break! However, we are not so excited about the 9 hour car ride with a baby who hates his car seat! Wish us luck!

Milk

A while ago I posted about James' eating troubles. They have continued. He still would eat a little then arch his back, throw back his head, and scream bloody murder. We are are going on week 8 of this. Through much trial and error I figured out the he would only eat if he was asleep or falling asleep. This made for a very cranky and sad baby since he wanted to eat but it seemed like it hurt him when he did and he would just have to wait until he fell asleep again to eat. This also made of a cranky and sad mom.

A night last week he was having a really bad screaming episode and I just kept feeling in my gut that this is just not right. A baby shouldn't have an aversion to eating like this. This was not just a weird phase or stage he was going through. It had been 8 weeks. So, the next morning I called my pediatrician and requested an appt for that day. My dr. was out of town but they said I could have an appt with her PA. We went to the appt and the PA diagnosed him with reflux. Actually silent reflux. I didn't even consider that he had reflux because I just associated reflux with excessive spitting up and James doesn't do that. But I found out that silent reflex is just when the acid comes up the esophagus and then the baby swallows it back down and they don't spit it up. Thus, burning/hurting him when he eats and causing him to have an eating aversion. He would eat when he was asleep because he was just too tired to fight it. Yes, a diagnosis! She gave us a prescription and said we should see improvements in the next 72 hours. YEA! I went home and searched the internet about reflux and the symptoms he had seemed to match. I was so excited that we were on our way to recovery.

After a week went by, no improvements. Back to the dr. Our dr. was back in town so we were able to see her. I told her our situation. She agreed with me that this was not normal behavior and something needed to be done. She arranged for us to have an upper GI tract test done on James on Friday. Basically they will have him drink some kind of formula that will dye his insides and they will watch him digest the formula and see if there is any glaring problems with this esophagus, stomach, and intestines. My dr. also said that I have to stop nursing. I quickly teared up. She reassured me that it wouldn't have to be forever but I needed to go dairy free and just pump and in the mean time James would have to be on a special formula for babies with milk protein intolerance and I could go back to nursing once all the dairy was out of my system after a week or two. Seriously, going without dairy is like taking away my happiness. I am a daughter of someone who grew up on a dairy. The love for dairy is in my blood. I probably drink a gallon of milk by myself every week. I drink it with every meal. Sam thinks that is weird. I think it is delicious.

So, we are still not sure what is wrong. He might have something wrong with his GI tract. I really hope not. He might have a milk protein intolerance and it is hurting him and making him so upset. Or it might be reflux and he needs to be put on a different med. Hopefully soon we will know. We did start the formula yesterday. Expensive and gross. Sam and I decided that it smells like a combination of cheeze-its and dog food. Gross. I was afraid he would hate the formula. He doesn't love it but he doesn't hate it either.

There is the long story. In the end we just want our baby to be healthy and happy. I will even go dairy free.

Fraternal Twins??!!

Nope. He just looks like his mama! Check out the hair! My mom showed me this picture when I went home and we couldn't believe how much James looks like me. He is all Cribbs. My mom said when she held James it was like a flash back in time!

Girlfriends

While I was at home a few of my high school girlfriends came over to meet James. It was so great to see them and catch up! I am grateful for their friendship! I miss them!

RachelWhit and her cute girl, Pearson. James was having a little moment.

Lauren, I'm sad that we didn't get a picture together.

During Thanksgiving break the rest of "my girls" from high school get to meet James. I am so excited!

Noni and Papa!

James loved hanging out with Noni and Papa! I wish we lived closer!!

Actually, I think Uncle Jacob loves James the most!! He will probably be embarrassed that I am telling this story about him. Well, I "babysat" Jake for a few days while my parents went up to Utah to drop off Ryan at the MTC. I didn't bring James' bath tub with me so I decided to bathe him in my parents' big tub. Every night when it was time to bathe James I had Jake get on his bathing suit and hold James as I bathed him. James loved it and, secretly, so did Jake!

Elder Cribbs

It was great to go home and spend time with Ryan before he left on his mission. I was so happy that he was able to meet James before he left. He will be an amazing missionary!! He entered the MTC last Wednesday. We love you, Elder Cribbs!

Halloween Party and Our Little Lion

Our Jack-o-lantern.

The cake we brought to the party. It was so fun to make!

Check out the bubbles on his chin! He looks pretty proud!

First Plane Ride

Contrary to this first picture, James did really well on his first flight. We flew to Houston to be with Uncle Ryan for a few days before he left on his mission.

Note to moms: You say the word nursing and you get to have a whole row to yourself. Soo nice!

Since I was traveling with a lap child I was able to board the plane first. As I was getting on the plane we saw the pilot and he started talking to us because he had a little boy about James' age. As we were deplaning the pilot stopped us and asked if we wanted to come in the cockpit and take pictures. Of course! One of the bonuses of having a cute boy!