A Peek at Life as a Natic

Check out our photo gallery to see pictures of Preston’s Trip to PA or click here.

My cousin Denae was having her bridal shower and my Mom and Kara were planning to fly up so they could attend.  I was going back and forth on whether or not to go due to Preston being so young. I talked to his Pediatrician and I was given the okay so I figured it would be alright to go. 

I decided that since my Grandparents had not yet met their Great Grandson I would surprise them by “just showing up”.  I also wanted to surprise my Denae as she did not think I would be coming either.  But, for some reason I thought she found out about it so the surprise was less than enthusiastic. Sorry again Denae!

Our flight left at 8:30am on Saturday..ugh!! I got up at 4am to get ready and finish packing up the last minute things.  Preston slept for his usual 6 or so hours and gave me plenty of time to get dressed and ready while he slept.  When he woke up I nursed him and passed him off to my Mom so I could finish packing and she could dress him. Lin was kind enough to take us to the airport, so off we went, making sure to stop by D&D on the way of course!

When we got to the airport I put Preston in the Moby Wrap and off we went (man did that make things so much easier) we managed to breeze thought the airport only having to stop at security for them to check P’s medications and then  we were off.  We got to the gate with time to change P’s diaper and then be the first to board.  We found our seats and shortly after the flight attendant brought Preston his fist pair or wings!!  I got comfy and nursed Preston and off to sleep he went! He slept most of the flight waking up about 20 minutes before we landed and he was in a great mood! I let him lay out on the tray table and do his favorite thing, stretch! (only after I sanitized the entire thing)!! Once we landed I put him back in the Moby Wrap and we were off to baggage claim. Kara got us our rental car and we headed towards Greensburg!

We ran into a lot of traffic for no apparent reason and ended up needing to change and get ready at my Aunt and Uncle’s house rather than my Grandparent’s.  This is where Denae came in and stated “I hear a baby”! Preston was fussing while we were getting him dressed.  This should have been my cue that she had no I idea I was coming but I still had no clue so I threw out a “hey” and kept dressing P. Again, SO sorry Denae!!! I am however glad that it was a surprise after all!

After getting dressed we headed to Denunzio’s Restaurant and this is where we surprised Grandma! Check out the video, it was so sweet! She was thrilled and just kept asking how we did it! Needless to say I only saw Preston to nurse him while we were at the shower! He was passed around to many but mostly held by his Great Grandma!

After the shower he headed to my Grandparents house to surprise Pappers!  He was so happy his Great Grandson was there and loved on him all weekend!  Saturday evening I could not help myself and I had to go play in the deep untouched snow in my Grandparents back yard!! I had so much fun! Later that night  we went to Jioio’s for dinner (not sure why everyone loves it so much).  That night P took a bath in Great Grandma’s sink  and then was off to bed about an hour early and slept for a full 8 hours nursed then back down for another 2!!! He was WORN OUT!!

Sunday Grandma made a wonderful breakfast for us and I defiantly ate my fair share! We then headed out so my mom could meet her friends for brunch (she didn’t eat breakfast) and show off her grandson! Preston and I stayed around for a little while then Kara picked us up and we headed to Tasha’s house to see her and Edward. He is growing so fast and is so smart!! We then headed back to my Grandparents house where Angie stopped by and we all headed to Hosses (yum) for an early dinner.

After dinner we were off the airport again and this time with no traffic. I put P in the Moby again and we actually made it to the gate just in time as they decied to board us early. Ugh..bad move! We got our seats and I decided to repeat our ride there since it worked so well. I nursed P but instead of falling asleep this time he pooped! People were still filing onto the plane as some were unaware of the early boarding so the “early” thing was pointless! Anyway, I grabbed Preston and his stuff and headed for the bathroom, I managed to use the bathroom while holding my son and then proceeded to change him.  Everything was going just fine until we were walking out of the bathroom..Preston began to scream a HORRIBLE scream and I could not get him to calm down!! Back in our seats I tried to nurse him, cuddle him, give him is passy, taking off his pants and socks thinking he may be hot, NOTHING worked! I felt horrible for him because it sounded like such a painful cry!! One of two things was all I could think of may be wrong; 1. As we were leaving the bathroom I flushed the toilet, turned off the light (it turns off when you unlock the door) and an announcement came on nice and loud. Maybe this over stimulated him? Or 2. The diaper cream I used on him was burning his precious little bottom!? Well, I had my Mom wipe off the cream as we sat in our seats and tried nursing him again. He nursed a little this time and the crying stopped!! Phew!!  Poor guy!! He slept most of the flight again and was decent when he woke up even though they kept us on the ground when we landed for about 30 minutes waiting for our gate ugh..all with no circulating air!

It was a whirlwind of a weekend but it was so worth it!! I am so happy I got to introduce Preston to his Great Grandparents!! What a precious moment!!  Preston has been recovering from his busy weekend and we spent all of today at home napping and lounging! 
–
~Alisha Natic~

Check out our photo gallery to see pictures of Preston’s two month pictures or click here.

Our Preston Michael (or as we like to call him, Stoney Michael) is now 2 months old!! Really?!?! Time has gone by so fast! It is amazing how much they change in such a short period of time; he is already getting such a personality.

He started smiling and we love it! He is defiantly stingy with them but when you catch one it will brighten your day for sure! He loves to smile at Grandma and does it every morning when he sees her for the first time and she says hello to him.  So sweet!  

Along with his smiles he will often “coo” when he is happy.  He gets wide mouthed and lets out the cutest noises with a squeal here and there, it’s as though he is trying to talk to you. I love it!

Preston is one sassy little boy! As you saw in the video we posted a few weeks ago if you bug him while he is sleeping he will be sure to grunt to show you his disapproval. It is so funny.  He also will just let out screams occasionally when he is unhappy about something, not a cry or a wine, a little sassy scream! Such a sass!

He loves lying on his back on the floor, if you lay him down he will just start stretching away and smiling!  He is defiantly a big stretcher, he loves it! But, unfortunately he does not care for his play mat that we spent a nice amount of money on for him that is supposed to provide endless entertainment.  Nope, he starts to fuss the moment you place him on that expensive mat, ha, he would just rather lay on a plain old blanket.  Typical huh?

He is not rolling over yet but will make it to his side once in a while lying on his back. He is not a big fan of tummy time but will ONLY sleep on his tummy at night.

Preston is such a snuggler! He loves to be held and demands it most of the day.  Not only does he enjoy being held, but,  when you are holding him he will just melt into your arms if you wrap a nice warm blanket around him and place his NUK passy in his mouth (the ONLY passy he will take).  I love snuggling with him! Soon enough he will not want anything to do with being held so I am eating it up right now.

He LOVES his baths! We do bath time every night around 10 or so in a low lit music filled bathroom and he LOVES it! He just melts into his bath letting his arms and legs float all while being totally silent just taking in the moment. It is so cute!  It totally calms him!

Preston is sleeping GREAT!!! After our nightly baths, I nurse him and put him down around 11-11:30 and he sleeps until anywhere between 5 and 6 am!!! That is 6-7 hours! He nurses again and goes back down for about another 2 hours! This is wonderful for me as I am a person who defiantly needs my sleep!

Bath time!

He just discovered his hands last week and will suck on them every now and then. Today he actually got just his thumb in his mouth and it was adorable!

Preston’s tummy is doing MUCH better and we could not be happier about that. He has been to a specialist and is now on Zantac(2x a day), Prevacid(2xa day), Carafate(3x a day), Hycosamine(every 4 hours) , and Mylicon and Maalox when needed.  He is spitting up a lot more these days but that is par for the course with a reflux baby.

Sucking his thumb

I cannot believe he is growing so fast, it is so bitter sweet! We love this little boy so much and could not be happier that our dream has finally come true! We are doing our best to enjoy every moment and we love watching him grow and learn new things along the way! What a joy!!

Check out our photo gallery to see pictures of Preston’s shots and chillaxin in the swing or click here.

Preston had a doctor appointment last week and got his first two shots   One in each leg.  Poor little dude!  He apparently

Preston full smile

Last week was also the first time he was placed in his swing as well as the first time he watched TV.  I have been against the swing because I don’t want him to get used to the rocking motion all of the time.  This is especially true for when we are out and don’t have the ability to do put him in a swing.  I just don’t want to be in a position where we cannot properly console him when we need to.  When Alisha put him in his swing she was scrolling through the tv when she found that DirecTV was doing a special for a premium babies channel for free for the weekend.  Little Preston seemed to actually watch it and did so for at least 15 minutes or so.  It was so cute.

Friday night we went with Dan, Bobby, and Kara to Gordon Biersch down in Buckhead.  Gordon Biersch is a brewpub / restaurant chain that has a few locations in the Atlanta area.  I had been wanting to try it out for quite some time but my fear of lagers has kept me away.  Well I was wrong.  I should have gone there years ago.

I am a big ale person and love my dark, bold, thick beers.  Since most of the American popular beers are lagers, I have built up a large amount of hate for this type of beer.  I should have opened up sooner.  These beers at Gordon Biersch were quite good!  They are not as heavy or as bold as the stouts that I typically like, but they were still quite tasty smooth and flavorfull.  I am a fan and will be sure to give more lagers a shot when out drinking at Taco Mac or similar bars.  I will certainly look for ales first, but I will not turn my head to the lagers anymore.  Well most of them that is.  I still dont care for the typical American Lager, but the darker more complex styles were good. 

The food there was also very good.  We had some hiccups with our order but they were polite and very quick to resolve them with no questions asked.  The management staff came by to make sure all was corrected as well which was nice.  Without a doubt, I would return to Gordon Biersch.  I really enjoyed it!

I would certainly recommend you give them a shot!  We loved it!

Check out our photo gallery to see Pictures of Preston or click here.

We uploaded some more pics of Preston for you to browse through.  He is now showing so many more facial expressions and reactions to things!  It is crazy to watch it all happen.

Daddy's Little Boy

He is a great baby!  He sleeps anywhere from 4-6 hours at first at night, then wakes up to eat, and then back down for another few hours.  His little tummy is much better now and he is all in all a happy baby.  The only time he is really fussy is in the morning.  He seems to need to poop in the morning and gets fussy and restless.

Check out our photo gallery to see Pictures of Waking Preston or click here.

Such a yawn lol

Preston is a total trip!  LOL  If you try to wake him while he sleeps he makes the funniest of noises and resists.  It is so cute and so funny.  Sassy little thing!  The link above has some pics of us waking him up.  The video below is of us getting him to make his little noises.  They are even better when he is completely asleep but he still did it a little bit here.  Make sure you turn your speakers up as the volume isnt very loud. 

Check out our photo gallery to see Preston and Kaitlyn’s Playdate or click here.

On Friday Alisha and Preston headed over to Mike and Aubree’s house to hang out for the day.  I met them over there after work to chill and grab dinner with them.  Apparently Kaitlyn loved Preston.  It was cute!

Kaitlyn kissing Preston

We had a great time hanging out with Mike, Aubree, Kaitlyn, and Jessika out in Canton.  Another start to a great weekend!

Preston had been doing quite a bit better recently.  He was back to being a happy little boy but we could certainly tell when we were nearing the 4th hour from the last time that he had his medication.  He would get a little fussy and you could tell he was starting to feel pain a little bit.  We called the Dr and they decided to move him from his current prescription of Zantac over to a medicine called Prevacid.  The first night that he got the Prevacid was not a good one.  He began to get fussy and we gave him his first dosage of Prevacid – things went way downhill and unfortunately we had no way to tell if it was the medication he was given, the adjustment that he had earlier, or just pure coincidence.  He was miserable yet again for about 3 hours or more. 

The picture says it all

Thankfully he did well after about midnight and he slept for Alisha.  In the morning we debated giving him the Prevacid but we needed to know what was going on by ruling out some possible causes.  We didn’t know if it was the Prevacid or not, but we decided to keep giving it to him to determine if that was the cause or not.  Fortunately we found that it was not the cause as he had a very good day the next day.  We still to this day dint know the cause and can only say that maybe it is a coincidence.  It just seems to be quite a bit more frequent lately that he is bothered by his little tummy.

Preston is currently taking Zantac (for only a few more days), Prevacid (going forward), gripe water, and hycosamine for his poor little tummy.  It kills me to see him in pain when he is, and makes me wonder what in the heck else could cause all of this…. is it really just acid reflux????  ugh.  All in all he is a good baby and a happy baby… but when he has his miserable times it is heart wrenching.

So Alisha has been trying to come up with ways to keep Preston awake during the day so that he will sleep at night a little better.  Here are a few pictures of her setting up a few things to play with.

You know us… always need to be doing something, so on Friday I decided to make a run up to Dahlonega to try out a few places that I have not been to.  Since I wanted to head up to try out a beer, I made sure to call Bobby up and see if he wanted to join us.  He of course decided to come along.  On the way up we took a few minutes to show Bobby the NGCSU campus and then headed off to grab dinner and drinks.

We were told about an Irish Pub just off of the square in Dahlonega called Shananigans.  It was in the basement of a house that was turned into a restaurant / pub which was pretty cool.  The place was quite full (not very large though) and had a great vibe to it.  Everyone was kinda seated close to each other and the decor was like you would expect for an Irish Pub.  The food was quite delicious and the wait staff was on point as well.  Everyone there seemed to know each other and the friendly table next to us occasionally carried on a nice conversation about everything from food to beer to Preston.  It was great.

After we ate we headed over to Caruso’s to try out the stout that they brewed for the season.  On the way out the friendly table next to us warned us about the beer but we did not take their advise and shrugged it off.  Holy crap were they right!  We headed over to Caruso’s and ordered just the beer.  It was the worst beer to ever touch my lips.  When I say it was bad I mean it was TERRIBLE!  The beer had a very distinct sour taste to it and was just freaking awful!  I would rather drink Bud Light by far… hell, I’d drink a keg of Bud Light to not drink that again.  While we were sittingn there just looking around, Alisha spotted a rediculous painting of Dale Earnheart.  It was a picture of him above his car about to be spun into the wall that killed him… all in the middle of an Italian restaurant next to a nice mural.  WTF?!?!  Bobby and I left a full glass of terrible beer on the table, got our checks, and got the hell out of there.  UGH!

Check out our photo gallery to see Preston’s one month pics or click here.

I can’t believe that our sweet little boy is already 1 month old!  He has already gotten so big!  I remember when we were in the hospital, I would just hold him in my arm like a football.  Yeah… not anymore.  He is already out of most of his newborn clothes and weighs somewhere around 10 lbs.  Jeez.  His facial features have changed so much.  He moves so much more, and has many more expressions.  He feels much more solid and has quite impressive head control.  He is no longer the limp baby that we took home from the hospital. 

This month has been tough from getting used to the lack of sleep and constant care to the issues with his poor little tummy.  Everytime we think we make some headway on that situation it seems to rear its head yet again.  Man… we HAVE to find out what the heck is causing him so much discomfort and / or pain at times.  It is heart wrenching to see him like that.  He is so young, but already dealing with things like that.  He is currently taking Zantac (not for much longer), Prevacid, gripe water, and a tummy relaxer.  It is like he is an old man already – jeez! 

Even through the tummy issues it has been such a great month and we love our little boy so much.  We cannot wait to see how much he changes in the coming months!  While I am away I just want to rush home and hold him as he sits so contently in my arms.

 So this past week has been kinda tough on us, especially with us being new, first time parents.  We took Preston in for a well visit last Friday.  Everything seemed to be doing well and our little munchkin had made it to a whopping 7 lbs 15.5 oz!!!!  My little guy is growing so fast.  While we were there we brought up the fact that we noticed that his little tummy seemed to be bothering him a little bit.  Almost like he was slightly uncomfortable.  They stated that it happens sometimes and gave us some meds that would calm his tummy down a little bit. 

On Tuesday we noticed that his stomach was not getting any better at all and was in fact getting quite worse.  He began to grunt throughout the day and while nursing which was heart wrenching to watch.  He is such a tough little guy and never really screamed or cried much.  You would just see him wince and cringe in pain as he would grunt and kick his little legs or bring them up and then back down.  We could definitely tell that he was not feeling very well.  They stated that it is most likely something called Silent Reflux and prescribed a medication called Zantac.  In short, silent reflux is the acid coming back up from him stomach due to an immature digestive system.  Many babies spit up (reflux) but in this case, the acids just reach his throat and it burns it.  Over long periods of time this could cause permanent damage. 

Preston's first time in the snow!

We have a family friend who is a chiropractor and told us about newborn adjustments.  We decided to take him in, as anything that will make him better we are in for.  The adjustments are very subtle and Preston seemed to not even care in the least.  He was relaxed and quiet and did very well.  I don’t know enough about the details of how this works, but many say that it would prevent or fix colic as well as keep him healthier in general. 

After putting him on the Zantac and taking him off of the other medication things got much more noticeable.  He didn’t really sleep all night.  Every time he nursed he would wince and pull off in pain, again never really crying, just in VERY noticeable pain.  We reached out to our pediatrician and they did not get back to us before the end of the day.  From the sounds of it, there was a mix-up at the office about returning our call.  We decided that we could not watch or listen to it anymore.  He was not comfortable and we could not let it continue without trying to do something about it.  In addition I wanted to get tests done that would show that it definitely was acid reflux or wasn’t so that we knew how to approach medicating and comforting him. 

We took him up to Scottish Rite in Atlanta last night to have him checked out.  While we were there we did not get much accomplished.  The dr was quite quick to write the whole thing off as collic (which I am finding is as often diagnosed as ADD is) and sent us home.  Even though I asked and asked to have test run, they would not do so.  The only plus that really came out of this whole run to Scottish Rite was that they told us that we were able to give him the Zantac as well as his other belly meds around the same time. 

We got home at about 11:00 last night and headed off to bed.  For the “colic” Alisha’s mom bought a product called gripe water which is basically purified water with herbs known to relax digestive issues.  This stuff has been used in the UK forever and is finally making its way to the States.  Like all other colic remedies, it either works wonders or not much at all.  I guess we will find out which is true soon.  After getting his belly meds, gripe water, and Zantac he had a great night sleep. 

Preston's first time in his stroller

He still occasionally has times where you can tell his little tummy is hurting him, but he is MUCH better than he was yesterday.  We had an appt to follow up with the pediatrician this morning and although he seemed much better we wanted to see what they had to say and what they thought.  We saw Dr. Carter this time and he still thinks that the symptoms are pointing to reflux and wants to continue with the Zantac.  Preston has occasionally started to spit up after eating prooving that there is some reflux.  It is never projectile or anything but just a little bit.  We had Preston weighed today and he weighed in at 9lbs 2 oz!  Damn he just keeps jumping by leaps and bounds.  After the dr, we headed up to my office to get some stuff done and then back to Watts Chiropractic in Cumming to have him adjusted again per Forrest’s advice.

This evening has gone quite well and it is very obvious that he is feeling much better.  We are hoping that he continues to stay happy.  Thanks for everyone that thought about us during all of this.  We can’t thank you enough!

I have added a few more pics of little Preston on our photo gallery.

Envy holding Preston

Click here to take a peek!

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Preston’s Bath here

LOL!  Alisha is big on baths for little Preston.  She certainly doesn’t overdue it but just like to keep him smelling good and clean.  His umbilical cord fell off on December 30th so this was his first bath that he could be submersed in the water.  He liked this MUCH better than the sponge baths that he was getting before.  He would scream his little head off but he didn’tseem to mind this one much since he was not just naked sitting around with the cold air. 

Thanks Krystle for being our photographer for this bath – ohh and for the Steak and Shake shakes you brought us!

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Preston’s first New Years Eve here

LOL!!!

We debated a few times whether or not to go out this year being that Preston is so young.  Alisha really needed to get out of the house after being kept in for the past two weeks.  This turned out to be a day of firsts for little Preston. 

We headed out to get some things done and headed down to Alpharetta to join and do some shopping at Costco.  That place was a total MADHOUSE!  It was insane!  You literally could barely walk in there.  After leaving Costco without buying a single thing (just not worth the lines) we headed off to Walmart (the nice one off of exit 12) but not before stopping at the Phillidelphia Pretzel Company for some delicious soft pretzels!!  mmmmmm!  We then headed off to Bobby’s house to check out his new tile backsplash in the kitchen and take Preston to another first – Taco Mac!!!  We sat down and had two beers before heading up to Danny’s house to bring in the New Year.

Danny, Kelly, Bobby, their parents, a couple from Chicago, Hector, Reagan, Geni and Edwin were all there.  It was a nice chill night with good food and family.  We had a few beers and some great times.