Stage 1 Foods for a Monkey Baby

We introduced Leo to his first solid foods about 2 weeks ago. The spoon took some getting used to, but I finally figured out that if I left the spoon in his mouth he would chew on it and then actually swallow some food instead of spitting it out the moment I put it in. We started with sweet potatoes, here a couple of pictures from one of the first feedings:

Of course our silly little monkey baby loves bananas!! About a week or so after introducing sweet potatoes we started bananas. This was even a bigger success, especially when we mixed it with rice cereal. Leo then started sliding the food off the spoon and eating it off of his fingers. As of this morning, he was slurping it off the spoon!!!

I tried feeding Leo avocado a few days ago and that didn't go over well at all! A few hours after breakfast he threw up all over Grandma! (Sorry Tami!!) Needless to say, we will be holding off on avocados for a while!

Merry Christmas from the Schreiners!!!

We took our Christmas pictures this week. Leo wasn't feeling too well because of his croup, but we still managed to get a few good ones. We originally wanted Cooper in the picture, but with all the excitement of us sitting on the floor next to him and grandma & grandpa visiting he was completely freaking out! Hopefully he will be able to pull himself together a bit more for next year's family photo!

Here are our favorite silly shots:

4 Month Old Monkey Baby

Where does the time go? Leo is now 4 months old! He can now jump in his jumperoo which delights him to no end. We call him a little Monkey these days because he absolutely loves to be bounced and swung around - the higher the better. There is no need to be gentle with this little boy! Leo can bear weight on his legs now and loves to be walked around the house. He can also scoot some when he is laying on his belly. An early crawler maybe? Who knows, but it seems that he is never where I left him when I come back into the room!
Here are a few in his jumperoo.

At 4 months Leo is 14 pounds and 25 3/4 inches long. Like his Daddy, he is long and skinny. As I mentioned before there was a little bit of concern regarding his weight, but the Dr. is no longer worried at all. Leo gained 6 ounces and grew 1/4 of an inch in 2 weeks with the addition of rice cereal! We have now been approved to start Stage 1 foods too!

As for Leo's health issues, the reflux reared it's ugly head again. Leo was on Zantac & Previcid and doing wonderfully. The Dr. took him off of the Zantac after 2 weeks of both meds. Typically, after 2 weeks the Previcid has kicked in and the Zantac is no longer needed. About a week after taking Leo off of the Zantac we saw major problems. (Crying during feedings, refusing food all together, crying for hours, etc) The Dr. agrees that Leo needs two medications to keep the reflux at bay. We got the impression that he has never had a patient who needed both the Zantac and the Previcid. Leave it to Leo!

Leo is continuing to do much better on the new formula. At his 4 month appointment they took another round of blood to test for food allergies. Again, the blood test can give a false negative, but if something comes back positive at least we will be ahead of the game. Leo gave that lab tech a run for her money! We warned the lab tech before she inserted the needle that he was very strong but I don't think she believed us. When she was done she said that he was the strongest little one she has ever had!

Leo managed to catch his first virus....He has croup, poor little guy barks when he coughs. Dr. said he should feel better by the end of this week.

Many people continue to ask how Cooper has adjusted to life with Leo. Let me just say that Charlie and I have NO doubt that those two will be thick as thieves when Leo gets bigger. Leo stares and stares at Cooper and will reach out to pet him on the nose whenever he can. Cooper loves this and takes any opportunity that he can to get in Leo's face and give him a big sloppy kiss.

And, in case any one cares about the rest of the family :)....Charlie finished up his fall semester of graduate school. It was a tough class and he is very happy to have it over and done with. Word of advice, don't try graduate school, full time work and an infant all at once...it's makes for a hard semester! I am very happy to report that I have lost my baby weight! I still have more I want to lose and I certainly need to "tone" up more, but the pounds are slowly melting away.

Here's a couple more of Leo from his 4th month.

Leo's First Picture with Santa!

Leo had his first picture with Santa today and did wonderful!

It's Snowing!!!!

Leo in his first snow!!

Thanksgiving & Rice Cereal

Leo made his first long car trip for the Thanksgiving holiday to the New Orleans area. We stayed with Leo's Great Grandmother and had Thanksgiving dinner at Tim & Louise's lovely home (His Great Aunt & Uncle). Leo was quite a charmer and behaved wonderfully!

I noticed on this trip that some pants that used to fit Leo well were a bit looser in the waist so the following Tuesday I brought him in for a weight check. Luckily, he had not lost any weight, but he had only gained half an ounce (Now 13 lbs 10 ounces). On a hunch, I asked them to measure him to see if he had grown at all, and I was right, Leo put on an inch in one month. He is now 25.5 inches long!

Dr. LaCour decided the best plan of action was to put rice cereal in 3 of his 5 bottles each day to give him some more calories. Leo loves these bottles!! He also suggested that we try spoon feeding him rice cereal...this did not go over quite as well. I'm not sure if it's the taste or the texture, but something about it makes him grimace every time. We tried a couple of days with no success, so we will try again next week.

We go back to the Dr. for Leo's 4 month well baby check in about 2 weeks. Hopefully he will have put on some more weight by then!

3 Month Old Inch Worm

What a funny little guy we have! Leo giggles like crazy (sweetest sound I have ever heard) and makes the goofiest little sounds. He squeals and babbles to us and his toys. His favorite games are airplane, helicopter and the hokey pokey. He still loves his activity gym. He was recently introduced to his jumperoo which he has a lot of fun with as well. At 3 months he is 13 lbs 9.5 ounces and 24.5 inches long.

Leo rolled over more times from his belly to back, and once from back to belly. He can also hold up his head unassisted and bring his hands together.


The biggest news this month was that Leo graduated from sleeping in our room in his bassinet to sleeping in his own room in his crib. One morning Charlie's alarm clock woke Leo up; that was when we knew it was time to move him!! He has done great in his crib so far and never seemed bothered by the move at all. In fact, given his new wiggle worm status it seems that he may like it even more than the bassinet.

So we had made the decision, Leo would no longer be in our room, he was ready to be on his own. We rocked Leo to sleep, laid him down and snuck out of the nursery. We then promptly went to our bedroom to watch him on the video monitor. Leo slept peacefully and Charlie and I drifted to sleep watching him on the monitor. We each woke up periodically to check on him. A few hours later Charlie woke up and looked on the monitor and was surprised to see that there was no baby there. After a brief moment of panic he realized what had happened; Leo had moved! See, the camera was only getting one half of the crib and Leo had wiggled himself (still in his swaddle) to the other half of the crib. Our little inch worm not only wiggled down to the other end, but he turned himself around and wiggled back to the side he started on. After a few nights of this we repositioned the camera so that it views the entire crib. He still inches around his crib each night, you never know where he will end up!

On the allergy front, Leo is doing better. His first round of allergy test came back negative. This was great news, but it was also a bit inconclusive. A blood test only tests for one way that our bodies react to allergens, so you can test negative on the blood test and then test positively on a skin prick test (which we can't do until Leo is 2). We talked to the Dr. about the results and the improvements we had seen since Stubby, our cat, had left the house. He agreed that if we had seen an improvement we should keep the cat out, there was no reason to take a chance of Leo backtracking. Since the milk allergy test had come back negative Dr. La Cour told me to go ahead and have a glass of milk and see how Leo reacted to my breast milk afterwards.

So that Friday I had my first glass of milk in 6 weeks...yummmm!!! Saturday Leo had my milk and Sunday he had a rash. :( I decided at that point that it was time to give it up, I had managed against every odd to breastfeed Leo for 3 months. Now that Leo could make his own antibodies I knew it would be better for him to get 100% on formula so we could try to isolate the cause of his diarrhea and rashes.

Charlie had a corn allergy as a child and I was starting to wonder if corn could be another source of Leo's issues. It sort of made sense, the first time we saw blood in his stool was after he was started on a daily vitamin supplement that contained corn syrup. Then he was placed on formula that contained corn. He continued to have episodes of bloody stool and then began having diarrhea with every feeding. His stool was cultured and it came back negative so we knew it wasn't an infection. I laid out the timeline with Dr. LaCour and he agreed that a corn allergy was a definite possibility with everything I had seen. We switched Leo to Similac Alimentum Ready to Feed (the ONLY corn free formula on the market, it's also free of Cow's milk protein) and saw immediate improvement. No more diarrhea!!! His eczema still flares up here and there, but we are able to manage it with the steroid ointment.

The reflux is also under better control with the new medication, though it took a little longer than usual for it to kick in. All in all, we are really pleased with the progress Leo is making under the new pediatrician.

Here are some pictures-enjoy!

Happy Halloween!!

Our Little Pumpkin.



Our little man rolled over on November 1st! Of course, he only did it for mama and hasn't done it since. :)

I am thrilled to report that Leo has a new pediatrician, Dr. LaCour, and Leo is finally getting some relief. Over the last couple of weeks Leo's eczema continued to get worse and worse. Our first pediatrician was very nice, but he was not aggressive enough and Leo was suffering because of it. Dr. LaCour prescribed a steroid lotion that has done wonders for Leo's rashes and also ordered blood work. The blood work is testing for sensitivities to environmental allergens (pets, dust, tress, etc..) and milk. We should receive the results at the end of this week. He also gave us a stronger acid reflux medication and we are starting to see some improvement in Leo's feedings. Lesson learned? LISTEN TO YOUR INSTINCTS!!! I had been thinking of getting a second opinion for weeks. I am glad I finally did and wish I would have done it sooner.

I'll post more pictures soon!

Leo - 2 Months Old

I am happy to announce that our little 2 month old Leo is feeling a bit better. We are starting to have feedings that are less fussy (though not all of them!) and we haven't seen any more blood in his poop. He is taking half formula and half breast milk and has adjusted to the change well. He does seem to have a mild case of eczema, but for now we have been able to stay ahead of it. Most importantly, he is sleeping through the night most nights!!

Leo now weighs 12 lbs 13 oz (75th%) and is 24.5 inches long (90th%). He LOVES to play! So much so that he actually fusses until you put him on his play mat. When he is bored with the mat, he fusses until you come over and entertain him. His favorite toy is still his purple hippo that hangs from his play mat. We have named the hippo "A-Goo" because that is Leo's favorite coo sound. Leo smiles like crazy at Charlie and I and continues to melt our hearts every day.

Our friend Lauren came over and took a ton of pictures with her amazing camera. Here is a slide show of our adorable little man.

I just had to share...

Long Awaited Leo Pics!!!

Look at the happy boy!!!

RIP: Bumpy Schreiner (1/20/2000 - 10/2/2009)

Our sweet boy Bumpy was laid to rest early in the afternoon on October 2nd. His decline was fast and unexpected. Cynthia noticed that he had peed in Leo's room and in the guest bathroom. At first we thought that he was just being tempermental, but the accidents continued. He would pee in the litter box, then 5 minutes later, he would pee on the carpet. Charlie woke up early to feed Leo on Friday morning to find Bumpy's rear end covered with pee and poop. Bumpy then struck at Charlie when Charlie went to pick him up. Those of you that know Bumpy, and know the relationship that Bumpy and Charlie shared, know that this behavior is not normal. After some heartwrenching discussions, we decided it would be right by Bumpy to put him out of his misery. We also could not take the chance of Bumpy turning on Leo. Bumpy took his last breaths while in his daddy's arms.

Charlie picked Bumpy from many candidates at the San Marcos Humane Society. Bumpy never forgot that Charlie saved him, and spent his life repaying the favor with love, loyalty, and companionship. Bumpy and Charlie spent almost 10 years together.

The Mad Scientist and The dirty "C" Word

Leo has recently been dubbed the "Mad Scientist" and here is why:

From Leo 2nd month

From Leo 2nd month

His hair continues to grow longer each week and really only has 2 styles; comb-over and what I call the mad scientist look. Everywhere we go people are constantly commenting on his funny hair. If his personality ends up matching his funny, crazy hair we are certainly in for it!!! We have a new camera now, so I'll try to catch some better pictures of his funny do.

Now for the dirty "C" word...Colic. Leo does have a touch of Colic, but it is no where near as bad as it could be. Luckily, we were steered towards a good book early on and it has been a life saver (Dr. Karp's "Happiest Baby on the Block"). His techniques work like a charm on Leo. Contributing to Leo's over all fussiness has been his tummy issues too. The medicine for his GERD kicked in after about two weeks. Leo doesn't throw his head back in pain when he burps anymore, but that issue got replaced with another one; the "2 ounce freak out".

Like clock work, 2 ounces into a bottle Leo gets incredibly fussy. We can change his diaper, try to help him move some gas out, burp him and swaddle him, but nothing works consistently. After he calms down and takes a break he will finally finish the bottle. Then, last Thursday I noticed blood in Leo's poop. The pediatrician confirmed what we were afraid of, Leo has a Cow's Milk Protein Allergy. (Charlie had a milk allergy as a child so we weren't terribly surprised). So what now? Well, we immediately switched Leo over to a hypoallergenic formula with no milk protein. It also contains some probiotics to help heal his digestive tract. In the mean time I had to cut ALL dairy from my diet and dump my breast milk for a week. (So freaking heartbreaking to dump it down the drain, not to mention everything I have pumped and frozen that is now no good). After a week of no dairy for me I'll be able to let Leo have breast milk again, and we will probably supplement with formula as well. So far, removing dairy from his diet has helped further with the fussiness. Cutting dairy has been a challenge!! No milk, no cheese, no butter, no yogurt...the baby weight will be off in no time!! (I've lost about 4-5 pounds in the first week of my new diet!).

Aside from the fussy eating, Leo is still an absolute joy. He is starting to coo like crazy and makes the sweetest little noises I have ever heard in my life. We purchased a play mat for him and he loves it. (Tiny Love Kick n Play) He will lay there staring at the hanging animals and even bats at them with his hands. His favorite one right now is the purple hippo; he just stares and stares at it. He loves tummy time and is holding his head up more and more each day. I do have to watch him when he is on his tummy though, he is quite a scooter. I left him to play on his tummy for just a minute the other day while I was cooking dinner. When I came in the living room to check on him he had scooted himself half way off his mat. We might have an early crawler on our hands! :)

I'll post more pictures as soon as possible!

Leo - 1 Month Old (Plus some CNC updates, as if anyone cares about anything but Leo now!)

It's really hard to believe that Charlie and I have been parents for a solid month already!! Our little fussy pants now weighs 10 lbs 12 ounces! (I measured him, which is sort of hard, but by my calculations he is 22.5 inches long)

Leo is doing great so far. Our only real hurdle has been acid reflux. The day before he turned one month old he was diagnosed with GERD, which is acid reflux disease. We had a really rough few days where he would refuse to eat after he burped midway through his bottle. The acid is literally burning his little throat...so sad. Dr. John started him on infant Zantac. We have seen a slight improvement but real results will take 1-2 weeks. The medicine tastes like Peppermint and he HATES it, but it will be worth it to not seeing him throw his little head back in pain when he is eating. This was the day he was diagnosed.

From Leo - 1st month

Otherwise, Leo is really a great baby. He can now focus on our faces, move his head to follow a toy or sound and hold his head up for brief moments. We are starting to hear some coo's and getting a few smiles that don't seem to be gas (though he has LOTS of gas, so that's hard to say!!). He's only peed on me twice, but he did manage to squirt poo clear across the room and on Charlie during his first week home. He also pooped all over himself during diapers changes for both grandmothers. Leo absolutely LOVES bath time, he gets this total look of calm on his face when we put him in the warm water and he never fusses until you take him out. He also loves tummy time and is really soothed by classical music.

From Leo - 1st month

The big question I get is "how is he sleeping?. He sleeps great, just not very long yet. Usually he sleeps in 2-3 hour stretches before he wants to eat, every once in a while we will get a 4 hour stretch, but that is not the norm yet.

We are still exclusively on breast milk, but he now gets it all via a bottle. He has struggled with his latch since day 1 due to a high palette. Then to make it more difficult, he gets snuggled up next to me and wants to fall asleep. Around his 3 week growth spurt, he would start eating, fall asleep 10-15 minutes into the feeding and then wake up 30 minutes later screaming with hunger. It was a really frustrating cycle for him and me. But, if we gave him a 4 ounce bottle he was happy as a clam. After 2-3 days of this I gave in to what he needed and started pumping exclusively, giving him all of his feedings via a bottle. In return, Charlie and I had a MUCH happier little Leo (and a happier Mommy). It was a tough decision for me though. I had all these "breast feeding visions" in my head. Like most women, even though I had heard how hard it could be to breastfeed, I believed in the back of my mind that it would come naturally and it would be this beautiful easy thing in no time. Geez was I wrong!! When I finally put my preconceived notions aside and looked at what Leo truly needed the answer was quite clear. Needless to say, it was an emotional few days. Pumping has turned out to be a little bit of a pain some days (it's hard to hold him while I am pumping) but, like anything, you adapt and make it work for you.

Leo has been with Charlie and I many places. He's been with us out to eat, grocery shopping, and most importantly, Leo attended his first Astro's game. On Labor Day, we ventured out as a family to the Juice Box and watched the Astros win a ball game. Really only Charlie and I watched the game, Leo slept through the entire thing except when he woke up to eat. I think this kid could sleep through anything. We were in a fairly loud section as the announcers were literally right behind us, the train went off for a home run, and a ball came right into our section; Leo hardly stirred thorough any of it!

From Leo - 1st month

Now, for the part no one really cares about, Charlie and I :) We are tired, but having a blast being parents. Charlie bought me a new car when Leo was about 3 weeks. It's a beautiful charcoal grey Nissan Maxima. The car drives like a dream, and I just LOVE it. It's also much easier to get Leo in and out of for me than the Xterra was. Charlie had a minor injury to his toe last Thursday and had to have the entire nail removed (ICK!!) That's really about it for us, our entire world is revolving around our new little guy.

Here are a few more pictures of Leo. Enjoy!

From Leo - 1st month

In my car seat. My acne is starting to clear up now that Mom switched me to California Baby soap

From Leo - 1st month

Officially fitting into 0-3 month clothes. Thanks Auntie La for my way cool outfit.

From Leo - 1st month

Chicken Head! What funny hair!

Leo's First Professional Photo Session

As many of you know, my father is a professional photographer(www.photographybymarks.com). The day after we came home from the hospital I had him over here to take some pictures of my little prince. Here are a few from the session:



Isn't he adorable??

Doctor's Visits & Leo's First Play Date

Leo has been to the doctor a few times now and as of Friday was finally up to his birth weight (well one ounce off, but close enough)! Dr. John gave us his blessing to let Leo sleep as long as he wants to at night without waking him up for feedings. The last two nights Charlie and I have gotten 4-5 hours up uninterrupted sleep! We are praying that it isn't a fluke! Leo has also grown almost an inch; he's got long legs like his daddy.

Here are some pictures taken yesterday, 2 weeks and 4 days:

From Leo - 1st month

From Leo - 1st month

Leo also had his first play date on Friday with Drake (Niki & CJ's son) who is 1 week younger than Leo. Aren't they a rowdy group? :)

From Leo - 1st month

We are trying to have daily tummy time, and Leo's head is already getting much stronger. His appetite is also increasing and we are moving up to 4 ounces on his bottle feedings. He loves to have Goodnight Moon read to him at night and his favorite songs so far are Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Zippity Doo Dah , Tomorrow (from Annie) and the Foot Song (This is a song Charlie made up about Leo's toes and feet. He sings it when he is trying to releive Leo's gas.). He is such a joy and Charlie and I are still in awe that he is here and he is ours.

A lot of people have asked how Cooper is adjusting to the new arrival, and we are happy to report that so far he is doing well with Leo. He is of course curious, but we have forbidden him to sniff or lick Leo and he is doing well with staying clear of the little one. I am sure that will be next to impossible to control once Leo is mobile, but for now, Cooper seems content that we are at home more with him. Cooper doesn't even stir when Leo is screaming his head off.