Wednesday, December 19, 2012

My Little Pirate

Spencer wearing his eye patch

When Spencer was 4 months old our pediatrician noticed that his left eye was wondering out and suggested that we see an eye doctor as soon as possible.  We were able to get in a couple of days later.  After waving a bunch of things in front of him, and looking through glass pieces at his eyes, she seemed quite concerned.  He wasn't tracking things with his eyes very well and she was worried something might be wrong with his vision. She decided to dilate his eyes so she could look behind them and make sure everything was working right.  It turns out that his vision is perfect and that he has Amblyopia,- a lazy eye.  We have seen the eye doctor several times since then and he has improved a ton.  He now tracks things really well with his eyes and he is reaching for things and playing.  We really only notice his lazy eye when he is tired.  This last appointment we saw some improvement but she noticed that both of his eyes were wondering a bit.  We decided to start patching to strengthen his eyes.  We patch once a day for an hour, alternating eyes.  I really thought he would hate it and try to take it off, but he doesn't even seem to mind.  We call him our little pirate, and I think he looks quite cute with the patch.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

O Christmas Tree!

 
red and gold Christmas Tree

We started setting up our tree the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Once the tree came out of the box, and we began setting it up, Preston became extremely hyper.  I couldn't believe how excited he was.  He was everywhere and was touching everything.  After we the tree was all set up we realized that half of our lights had burned out.  We sat there forever switching light bulbs from one strand to another and nothing seemed to work so we decided forgo decorating the tree until we could get new lights.  It was about a week later that we finally bought new lights and were able to decorate it.
 
 Sam & Preston setting up the tree

 undecorated tree - protected from Preston

We decided to keep the Christmas tree behind a fence because Preston is way too rough with it.  He's getting better, I let him in to look out the window and see the tree.  I just knew that one day I would see the tree knocked over.  Also I thought Spencer would be crawling by now so I thought it would need more protecting.

our beautiful tree

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Name brand or generic store brand?

When Spencer was around 6 months old I was having a really hard time breastfeeding him.  It just didn't seem like he was getting enough from me and he really liked the bottle.   It didn’t help that every time I tried to feed him he would bite me.  I originally planned on breastfeeding until he was around 9 months so wasn’t quite ready to quit.  I eventually made the decision to stop and switch to formula.   

The thing I don’t like about formula is that it is so so expensive.  I feel like it is the most expensive powdered drink out there.  We were spending about $36 every 9 days.  About a week ago I was trying to print some Enfamil coupons that were emailed to me by the company.  For some reason it kept saying that I had already used my allotted amount.  I was really mad and even considered writing an email to the company.   Then Sam mentioned that he had checked out the target brand formula and that maybe we should consider buying that instead.  I was really hesitant.  I was afraid Spencer wouldn’t get the nutrients he needed and that he wouldn't like it.  A couple of weeks ago I was trying to make the formula stretch a couple more days so I mixed all of the breast milk I had in the freezer with formula and made a bunch of bottles.  Spencer hated it and refused to drink any of it.  So I was really hesitant on trying something new.  After reading a few reviews online I decided that we should make the switch.


Target brand Up & Up infant formula

Enfamil formula:  $36 (we usually go to Smith's, it could be cheaper somewhere else) for 2 - 17.5 oz packages for a total of 35 oz of powder.

Target brand Up & Up infant formula:  $22 for a 40 oz can of powder (not only is it cheaper, but it has more in it).

We have now been using the target brand for about a week and I am so excited to start saving money.  Also Spencer like it just as much as the Enfamil formula.