Day in the Life: Megatron at 13.5 months

It's been about 3 months since I did a "day in the life" post so I thought I would do it again.  Mostly for myself.  Time seems to be flying by lately (I mean, this kiddo is SIX months post-transplant this week!) and I don't want to forget these baby days.  So here is what we did on August 28.

My alarm went off at 6 am but thanks to an hour long Jillian Michaels workout the night before, I was sore and exhausted.  I finally dragged myself out of bed around 6:20 am and shuffled my way downstairs to get Megatron's meds ready.  The past couple weeks he's been sleeping soundly in the morning and we have to wake him up to take meds at 6:45.  I hate waking him up but luckily he's usually pleasant.  Today though?  He was tired.  As soon as I picked him up, he laid his head on my shoulder.  Something he rarely does.  

After meds and a bottle (7 ounces still but now we are mostly on whole milk with a splash of formula-mostly just using up the last canister of formula), he's usually ready to play but today he was very clingy.  He wanted up, but not really.  So I put him down.  Then he tried to bite my leg.  

He finally entertained himself by emptying his diaper bag while I made breakfast for myself.  When he got quiet, I looked over to find him trying to pick a piece of dried food off the floor.  Looks like I missed it with the mop the night before.  Gross.

After chasing him away from the cat water bowl and from trying to pull a lamp over, he finally played with his toys while I ate.  After I was done, I took him upstairs so I could get dressed.  We have some toys in our bathroom but recently he likes to play with the hangers that are on the floor waiting to go to the basement with the laundry.

We went back downstairs and played with toys until it was ready for his second breakfast.  I made him a whole grain waffle with butter and some bananas, a cup of whole milk and one of his after breakfast meds.  

Yup, a Valentine's Day bib.  Might as well get more than one day of use out of those holiday items!  He looks proud because he finally figured out the sippy cup and loves to do it himself.

As soon as I cleaned him up from breakfast, I put him in the Pack'n'Play so I could run to the garage to set up the run stroller.  I also ran to the backyard to dump the water from his baby pool.  We were splashing around the day before when a pop up storm rolled in.  By the time I got a chance to go dump the pool, it was prime mosquito time.  I am already recovering from being a buffet for the mosquitoes a couple nights ago, so I left the pool in the middle of the yard.

I came back in to find Megatron chewing on the rail of the Pack'n'Play.  Teething and boredom makes for a slimy play pen.  He smiled and inhaled sharply as I picked him up.  It's his way of saying he was excited I picked him up and got him out of baby jail.  I put him in the run stroller, handed him a toy and we were on our way.  Normally he falls asleep within the first half mile, but at mile 2.5 he was still awake.  He finally fell asleep a few minutes later, but I really only planned to go about 3 miles.  I had to keep going because I knew he wasn't asleep enough to be picked up and taken to his crib and stay asleep.  I was really losing steam by 4 miles so I did a lot of walking that last mile.  I was about to just go home and sit on the front porch while he slept, but he woke up sooner than usual, so I started to head for home.  We got in a smidge over 5 miles.  And I was feeling it!  

I feel bad picking him up when I'm all sweaty so I kind of held him out and plopped him in the family room.  He played while I attempted to stretch.  So sore!  More from Jillian Michaels than the 5 stroller miles I think.  I took Megatron upstairs and put him in the baby jail that is in our bedroom while I took a quick shower.  When I got out of the shower, this little face was peering at me from around the corner.  I sprung him from jail again.  He crawled around the bathroom and played with hangers....they make a lot of noise when they hit the hollow bathtub....while I finished getting ready.

Time for some laundry.  We went to the basement to get some laundry started.  Back upstairs I had to pin him down for a diaper change.  He tries to escape every.single.time.  I've tried books and toys, diaper changing supplies, cat toys, everything to try to get him to stay on his back for the diaper changes but no such luck.  He's wild.  

We read some library books (he actually sat through 4 books!) and played a little more until it was time for lunch.  We had some leftover pasta so I added a little Romano/Parmesan cheese to his (we are still trying to add calories wherever we can for him).  We also had some mixed veggies with edamame, and grapes for him.

While we ate, I iced my knee, which decided it was cranky.

After I cleaned him up from lunch and put him on the floor, he made a bee line for his new car seat which is still sitting in the living room.  I think we have a climber on our hands!  He face planted into the seat and crawled right in.  He tries to climb on everything!  He didn't get the memo that he's only 27 inches tall and a little too short to climb on too much.  That doesn't stop him from trying though. 

Since he only slept about 30 minutes in the stroller (instead of his usual hour), I was worried about him being cranky for his 2 pm physical therapy appointment.  I take that back.  I was worried he would fall asleep on the car ride there and I'd have to wake him up after a 10 minute cat nap.  I decided to leave early so he could sleep longer.  I brought a book to read in the car.  It was a perfect plan.  Ha!  For once, this child didn't fall asleep in the car.  I kept driving around thinking he would be asleep any second.  Nope, he just sat there, squealing.  I finally gave up and headed to his PT appointment.

We haven't been to PT in a month because he's been doing so well.  She wanted to see him again to make sure he was staying on track with his "emerging" skills: crawling on hands and knees and walking with assistance.  She was amazed with his progress!  She had him crawling and climbing on obstacles to gauge his strength.  He really doesn't need her help anymore, but they are going to keep him on their service until after his abdominal closure surgery in early October.  He might need some help catching back up after surgery.

After the 45 minute appointment, kiddo fell asleep in the car within minutes of pulling out of the parking lot.  Luckily he was still conked when we got home and I easily transferred him from his car seat to his crib where he slept for an hour.

While he was asleep, I worked on a few things on the computer, including printing a cover for a photo album we are in the process of making for him to look at.  

Once he woke up, he got pinned down for another diaper change before heading downstairs to have a small bottle and to play.  We are slowly decreasing that bottle and will replace it with a snack soon.  Once he was done, he was more interested in walking around than playing. He's getting more and more stable but still needs to hold on with both of my hands.  Sometimes he will take a few steps while holding one hand but then he starts to whine and reach for your other hand for help.  

I got him distracted with the box of ribbons that I showed him back when I did the last "day in the life" post while I made dinner.  Tonight we had grilled cheese but it was fancy!  Provolone, muenster and spinach.  I've been trying to sneak more spinach in our food because he recently stopped taking an iron supplement and because we are raising him vegetarian, I want to make sure he's still getting enough iron through his diet.  He also had a hard boiled egg, veggies and banana.  I had a salad too.

He was a clean plater!  And only a few pieces of corn made it to the floor and that wasn't intentional.  They stick to his fingers and fall out.  :) Notice the cat in the background enjoying a few minutes of rest without worrying about Megatron trying to "pet" her.

After getting cleaned up from dinner, we took some selfies.  He loves to look at himself on my phone.  I love his onesie.  

One can only take so many selfies so we headed outside to play on the swing set.  I love that the swing set is in the shade in the evening so we can go out without being blinded by the sun.  He likes to swing, but he's still a little small and starts to slump down in it.  He also loved going down the slide and walking barefoot in the grass.  He got a kick out of me holding him and then pushing the empty swing and watching it go back and forth.  I have no idea why but he was giggling every time I grabbed it and then let it go again.

I try to have him inside and heading towards the bath by 6:15 at the latest so he's all ready for meds and his bedtime bottle at 6:45.  He loves the water and now that he can stand, he likes to stand and the edge of the tub and watch it fill up.  This picture cracks me up because he wanted so badly to climb in.  He kept raising his right leg but obviously he's short and wasn't going to get anywhere.  

After the bath, it was back downstairs to get his meds and bottle ready.  Evenings are getting easier and easier.  We only have two meds given through syringes and one pill.  This is a lot fewer syringes at night than a couple months ago.  Progress!  At 6:45 I gave him his meds and then a bottle.  Again, it's formula and whole milk mixed.  He's still drinking 7 ounces before bedtime and when he gets up in the morning and since he's still so small and needs to gain weight, I'm not in a hurry to get rid of those bottles.  Plus he's still very interested so we will just transition from the bottle to drinking from a sippy cup for those "meals."

After he finished the bottle, I took him upstairs and read him a book, turned on his music, put him in his crib and didn't hear from him again until 6:45 the next morning.  Well, sort of.  He sleeps through the night but he's a noisy sleeper.  He sometimes randomly cries out, sometimes for a minute or so but then settles down again on his own.  I've read that some kids taking the same immunosuppressant have sleep disturbances, but he almost always falls right back to sleep so I don't have go to him.

I wasn't as productive around the house because of my run and then his PT appointment so I got to work after he went down.

From 7:30 to 11:00 pm I raced around:

I got some laundry started.  I called my mom while I picked up toys in the family room.  I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher.  While I cleaned the kitchen counter, I looked over and realized that the cat was watching PBS.  I had flipped on a documentary, Earthflight, all about birds.  Needless to say, the cat was in love.

Once the kitchen was clean, I made another mess.  I realized the bananas I had were looking really sad, and I doubted I'd have time the next day so I went ahead and made a batch of banana chocolate chip muffins.  Yum!  I also threw in another load of laundry.

While the muffins were in the oven, it was time for my least favorite chore: washing syringes.  Of all the chores associated with the baby, I hate this one.  It's not hard, it doesn't take that long, it's just something I really dislike doing.  Once they were all washed, I stuck them in the drying rack and moved on.  More laundry!

I washed up the mess I made from the muffins and then moved on to clean up the kitchen table, Megatron's booster chair and the floor around his chair.  That child can make a heck of a mess during meals.

Once everything was clean and I dealt with more laundry, I finally sat down to stuff some cloth diapers.  The cat tried to help but ultimately sat down to watch as I put the absorbent inserts into the diapers.  It's a mindless chore that I can do while relaxing in front of the the TV.

All ready to be pooped in!  :P

I finally went upstairs to go to bed.  I laid down and read for a few minutes to help turn my brain off.  I also reassured myself that The Pilot would be home the next afternoon.  Usually after a couple days of being on my own with Megatron, I start counting down the hours until I have some backup.  And after two really hard workouts while he was gone, plus taking care of Megatron, I was exhausted!