***WARNING – Rant from a picky mother below***

I’m a very picky person about pretty much everything. I’ve realized in the last several months that I’m also excessively picky about baby stuff, especially clothes.  Cute boy clothes are so hard to find.  Just because he’s a boy doesn’t mean that every single thing he wears has to be sports related.  Ugh…It’s not that you can’t find cute stuff, but you have to look much harder than you do for cute girl clothes and the cute boy stuff is so much more expensive!  WHY?  Anyway…I feel so sorry for them and for their moms.  I’ve decided I’m going to be purchasing most of Parker’s clothes at TJ Maxx & Marshall’s where I get the expensive clothes for way lower prices than other stores.  TJ Maxx has the best selection of Ralph Lauren for babies and it’s dirt cheap!

I hate, absolutely loathe, ‘separates’ for babies.  I can’t stand putting pants on my little guy.  I will not put it on my child if it’s not a one piece outfit.  I just have this thing about them not wearing separates until they’re mobile.  I know, you can always do a onesie with pants and that will prevent the shirt from riding up, but like I said, I don’t like pants on babies…at least not on my baby…not yet.  I’m just not ok with making him look like a “little man”…he’s a baby and I want him to look like one as long as I can.  What happened to that “classic baby look”?  You know, the jon-jon’s (one piece outfits for boys) with the big buttons on the shoulders and monogram on the chest, or that adorable smocked apparel, and babies in those precious white shoes?  I should have had children many years ago, I guess!

I’m also annoyed with all the outfits that have to say something about mommy, daddy, or grandma.  We all know that our baby loves us, why do their clothes have to announce it?  Every once in awhile its cute, especially if its small & doesn’t take over the whole outfit… but the clothing manufacturers have gone a little overboard.  And don’t even get me started on ‘character’ clothing.  I’m ok with old fashioned Winnie the Pooh for some reason, but the rest of it really bothers me.  I know eventually we’ll have shoes or a tshirt or backpack with spiderman or mickey mouse & I’ll come to grips with it then, but not until he’s old enough to actually request something like that.

I know, I’m picky…I warned you.

***End of Rant***

The Manges household is just full of changes as of late.

Change #1
This particular change really started about 4 weeks ago when we started Parker on formula.  We started him on Similac Advance because the taste and smell is reportedly extremely close to that of breast milk.  He was on a mixture of breast milk and the Similac for about 2 weeks when he started having major upset tummy problems immediately after eating and lasting for a couple of hours.  This all happened when he and I were in Abilene visiting my parents…of course!  After a quick call to the Dr., we switched him to Similac Sensitive which has smaller proteins for sensitive tummies and things seemed to improve.  Everything seemed ok until Tuesday night.  A call to the Dr. on Wednesday morning landed us an appointment for later that morning and by the time we left, my sweet little man had been diagnosed with a severe milk allergy.  We left with a case of prescription formula, which I now affectionately refer to as “liquid gold” because it’s so darn expensive.  We’re working with our insurance company to see what (if anything) they’re willing to pay and should have an answer soon.  I was a little skeptical of the doctor’s diagnosis when we left, but after coming home and doing some research on milk allergies and the symptoms, my doubts began to disappear.  Then after feeding him the “liquid gold”, I’ve already started to notice a difference and all doubt has been erased from my mind.  Hopefully he outgrows this allergy in the coming months, but only time will tell.

I might have to get a 2nd job to pay for this stuff!

Change #2
Tuesday night we also decided it was time to move our little man to his crib upstairs.  I’m not going to lie…I’ve been dreading this transition.  I knew it was going to cause him to regress a little in terms of sleep patterns and I’ll be honest, I really liked having him in our room, close by in case something happened.  But, he had outgrown the sleeping arrangements we had made for him in our room, so it was time.  Tuesday night was the longest night of my life (at least in while).  I slept on the couch in the game room upstairs so I was near him and I think I got up 4 or 5 times.  He didn’t sleep very soundly at all and I heard every little thing on the monitor.  Last night was better…MUCH better.  I only got up twice last night, once to put his pacifier back in his mouth and then again to feed him.  I’m hoping we continue to improve as each night passes and hopefully now that we’ve figured out his allergy issue, maybe he’ll sleep more soundly since his tummy doesn’t hurt and he can breathe better.  I’ll probably camp out upstairs for a few more nights though ;).

He woke up so happy!

Change #3
I’ve been completely dreading this next change.  After 12 glorious weeks at home with my sweet angel, I have to return to work on Monday.  I’m trying my best not to think about it excessively, only enough to make sure I get lunch stuff at the grocery store and have picked up my clothes from the cleaners.  I’m ok with going back to work.  I like the routine it gives me.  I’m not ready to leave my little man though.  I’m going to miss him terribly during the day.  I’m so thankful that Jillie will be here with him…at least I don’t have to worry about leaving him in some strange daycare with strange people.  I just keep reminding myself that the spring semester always goes by very quickly and in 14 short weeks I’ll be back home with him on summer vacation!

And just because it’s adorable, here’s my sweet little man sound asleep on his daddy’s chest last night.

I mean, seriously…how cute is this?