It's About Time

Finally. Today is Friday--in fact, it's Friday night--and this is the first time this week that I've had to actually sit down and type a blog entry. I'm not kidding. I alluded in my last post to the fact that this week has been insane, but that doesn't even seem to approach what it's been like.

Just so you're all aware right off the top that this post isn't going to be one of my more humourous ones--I just can't muster it up. Okay, I can't help but be funny sometimes, but I'm not going out of my way. Just thought I'd explain my change in tone in case any of you are thinking we got kidnapped by aliens and replaced by near-perfect replicas (see, I told you it wouldn't be funny).

So here's the low-down. Wait, I just have to turn the radio on to get the Giant's game....That's better. 1-0 Giants. Right. They say that fussiness and colic and all that stuff peak around 6 weeks of age. Let me tell you, they're right (whoever "they" are). There hasn't been a night this week where we haven't had at least three or four hours of screaming child at night. No, not fussy--screaming. At the top of his lungs. For hours. It'd be better if he decided to do it at, say, 7:00. But the sad fact is that he usually chooses the hours of 9:00-12:00 to do it. Just when we're both so tired and so overwhelmed by the day that we feel like we can't take any more.

But wait, there's more. Steph went to the doctor with Theo earlier this week, and he seems to be doing fine. Oh, except for the fact that he's not getting enough nutrients by breast feeding. Although, I have to admit that we were starting to get a sneaking suspicion of that when he started wanting to feed every hour. I'm not kidding. So we've got seriously hungry, colicky child, who alternates between screaming and feeding for pretty much 24 hours a day.

It gets better. Before we go any farther, this is a bit on the gross side. We decided on Tuesday that we'd go back to formula 100% just to get his nutrition up. Well, that worked for a day, until he got the worst constipation I've ever seen. Well, I guess I didn't actually see it, which is kind of the problem, but you get the picture. I could go into what his diaper looked like when he finally managed to push it out, but I think that'd put this post way over the top. So let's add it up. Not only is he screaming for up to four hours a day, he's also having a nourishment problem and constipation. This is fun!

Here's the thing that really gets me about the formula situation. Formula is like a meal-replacement shake for babies, right? It's just completely loaded with vitamins and minerals and stuff. That's all good, except that 90% of formulas are made with cow's milk, which infants have difficulty digesting. 7% of the formulas are made with soy, which is also shown to have adverse affect on infants. The remaining 3% of formulas are actually lactose-free, which is what Theo has been needing (after a week of failed experimentation on the other ones). That's all fine and good, except that now we find out that a baby's system can't tolerate raw iron. In fact, babies can't tolerate iron until they're two years old. But guess what's in the lactose-free formula? Iron! So now we have to go find a lactose- and iron-free formula. Think it exists? I sure hope so.

In addition, Steph has to go in for some tests over the next couple of weeks at BC Women's Hospital. No, I'm not going into any more detail, but I'm mentioning it so that you can all pray for her as well. Nothing serious, hopefully, but still just another thing to add to the long and growing list of things to be concerned about.

What it all comes down to is the fact that Steph and I are getting roughly three to four hours of sleep at night, which has made for some fun times around our house! It's amazing, though, how much your body can actually do on 3-4 hours of sleep.

But it hasn't been all bad, as much as I'm vying for some sympathy here. We had a shower for Theo on Tuesday night, thrown by our amazing care group at North Langley Community Church. We got out to Grandpa Ted and Grandma Betty's last night for the Canucks game. And hey, he's still the cutest baby in the world, at least when he doesn't have his screamy-face on.

So that's the story of the blog slacker. My apologies for the lack of updates this week, but I hope you understand. I've got some great pictures to post, but they're going to have to wait, possibly until tomorrow or maybe Sunday. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back again soon.