The sadness.

-mpg

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMA!!!

Today is my momma's birthday! She's the best mom in the whole wide world. I love her sooo much. She is my whole world!

Since I'm a little young, and have no idea how to work a camera, Dad helped me with a little project, so I hope you enjoy it. We took some video of me dancing around and added some music. Then I channeled my inner "America's Next Top Model" and posed for a birthday photo shoot.

I WAS FIERCE! I rocked that photo shoot!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMA! ENJOY!

Birthday Video

Photo Shoot

-mpg

My two new favorite words.

Reglan.

Zantac.

The two words have absolutely made all the difference in the world for Zane Michael.

REGLAN: Metoclopramide (pronounced /ˌmɛtəˈkloʊprəmaɪd/ or /ˌmɛtəˈklɒprəmaɪd) is a potent dopamine receptor antagonist used for its antiemetic and prokinetic properties. Thus it is primarily used to treat nausea and vomiting, and to facilitate gastric emptying in patients with gastric stasis. It is available under various trade names including: Maxolon (Shire/Valeant), Reglan (Wyeth), Degan (Lek), Maxeran (Sanofi Aventis), Primperan (Sanofi Aventis), and Pylomid (Bosnalijek). It was protected under U.S. patent 3177252 until 6 April 1982.

Ok, to boil this down for you, it helps move Zane's formula faster from his stomach to the small intestines. Thus reducing the time the formula has to kick up his acid reflux. That's the antiemetic part. The prokinetic part tones up and works out all the muscles used in digestion, including the pyloric sphincter, which keeps acid from bubbling back up into Zane's esophagus.

Following along so far? Good! Phil, have Rebecca draw some pictures for you if you get lost.

ZANTAC: Ranitidine (pronounced /rəˈnɪtɨdiːn/) is a histamine H2-receptor antagonist that inhibits stomach acid production. It is commonly used in the treatment of peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). It is currently marketed over the counter under the trade name Zinetac and Zantac by GlaxoSmithKline and by many other companies under various other names.

Wanna know what ZANTAC does? Well, if you'd bothered to read the description you'd know that it inhibits stomach acid production.

What does this mean to Zane? It means there is less stomach acid in his tummy, which means less chance of it bubbling up into this esophagus and burning his poor little throat. And when that happens, Zane doesn't eat, gets screaming mad, doesn't sleep well, and is in general misery.

Let me illustrate my point with some pictures:

Here is Zane while taking Reglan & Zantac (Yes, this could be an excuse just to post more pictures!)...






And here is our lovely boy when he wasn't taking Reglan and Zantac...




Can you see the difference??????

Now Zane is only on the Reglan for a total of 6-8 weeks. So he has about 4 more weeks to go. The Zantac he will probably stay on until his GERD goes away. I believe they say he should outgrow it when he is 6-9 months old.

For mom & dad, there have been two immediate benefits. The first is that we have our happy little boy back. The second is we no longer live in constant fear or getting a "formula shower" right after Zane eats.

*whew*

So in summary, I'd like to thank the fine folks at GlaxoSmithKline and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals for their most excellent work!

-mpg

FEAR THE POOH GANGSTA HAT!

The Z-Man was in an agreeable mood and allowed me to capture him sporting his Pooh Gangsta Hat...

The Pooh Hat "Hey, how you doin'" look...



The Pooh Hat "scowl"...


And finally the Pooh Hat "happy face"...

The Five Stages of Alertness

So tHGP has started sleeping through the night this past week. Obviously we are SOOOO thrilled with this development. Which is great but in me it has spawned a new sort of hyper-alertness.

Now Court is a pretty heavy sleeper so I don't know if she's experiencing this or not.

I liken it to the Five Stages of Grief (Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) except my Five Stages of Alertness happen at a much faster pace, and multiple times during the night.

And unlike the Five Stages of Grief, I can usually go through the Five Stages of Alertness in about 2-3 minutes time. I just do it over and over at night, probably to the tune of 5 or 6 times a night.

In my head, the Five Stages of Alertness are as follows:

1. Aware
2. Confirmation
3. Diagnosis
4. Reassurance
5. Peace

Aware: You've heard the phrase "Sleep with one eye open?" I sleep with one ear open. Ever vigilant and constantly aware of what's going on in the room, particularly aware of what Zane is up to.


Confirmation: This is when the other ear (Ear2) wakes up to listen and confirm what the first ear (Ear1) heard. Sometimes a bit of time passes before confirmation happens, so the body utilizes the tactic of freezing the body completely still so to maximize the other ear's capabilities. This strategy is deployed when the head quickly raises up, exposes the second ear, and then goes into 'paralyze mode.'

• I am sure you are dying to know this, so here's how it works. The decision of which ear is Ear1 and which is Ear2 is determined by which way I am facing at the time the need arises. The ear NOT smooshed into the pillow is Ear1, as it is exposed unimpeded to the rooms noises.
  

Diagnosis: So now the brain gets into the game. It wakes up, absorbs and processes the info that Ear1 gathered and Ear2 confirmed. It then quickly makes a decision on what to do. 99.9% of the time, the brain tells the body to "stand down." This is like going from Defcon 4 down to Defcon 3. The brain has decided it was nothing to be alarmed about so take it easy. The brain now turns control over to the Heart.


Reassurance: This is where the heart comes in. The ears have picked up sound, the brain has diagnosed it as probably nothing to be alarmed about, and now the heart is asking for a little more patience. The heart wants absolute reassurance that eaverything is A-ok. By giving the heart reassurance, this staves off the gremlins of the mind waiting in the wings: Guilt (what if something really was wrong!) ... Paranoia (He's been sick, is it getting worse?).


Peace: After reassurance has been acquired, the mind now tells the troops to gear down and relax. All is well. There is nothing to worry about. There was nothing really to worry about in the first place. Go back to sleep and get some rest. Ear1 will remain vigilant.



So usually it goes like this...


[ACT 1]

Ear1: Was that a noise Zane made? Ear2 wake up! Zane made a noise, was it a cough or spit up?

Ear2: I'm here! Let me listen for a bit to get confirmation. Let me go into paralyze mode.

Ear2: Yes, I hear a noise, it sounds like spit up. Alert the brain!

Brain: Let me look at the data. Yes, it sounded like spit up, but it was just him making a noise with his mouth. Move along, nothing to see here.

Heart: Wait, are you sure? I really need to know if he is ok.

Guilt: Yeah! What if we just sit here and he's in real trouble!

Paranoia: Ya know, he has been spitting up a lot lately! How can you be sure?

Heart: Yeah, how can you be sure?

Brain: I've listened to this noise a few times now, and it is nothing to worry about. Besides, he's snoring now...so all is well.

Heart: Oh ok, if you say so. Go back to sleep everyone. Zane's all right.


[ACT 2]

Ear1: Was that a noise I heard?

---------------

I know that eventually this alertness will go away, but for right now I just have to deal with it. Try as a I may, I just can't rest until I reach the 5th stage of Peace. I need to hear him snore, or sigh, or rustle around. It's just the way it is.

I mean, how can I NOT be like this...we're buddies.

SELF PORTRAIT!

-mpg

Miles and miles of smiles

Over the last few weeks tHGP has developed or refined a few of his latest tricks.

Our little guy has been smiling for the last few weeks or so now, but it's only been lately where he will smile in response to something you do or he sees. And he's gone from the little smiles that took a lot of coaxing to big grins at the drop of a goofy face.

He's also taken to mimicking your facial expressions...well, to the best of his currently limited abilities. It's so neat to know that his mind and control has grown enough that now he can see something he likes and imitate it.

Here's a sample of what we get to see on a daily basis. Mind you, this video clip is about 1 minute worth of the 15 minutes we've probably recorded.

By the way, feel free to email Zane now that he has his own email address: inZane@cox.net

FUN TIMES! Enjoy the video....

-mpg

Zane's first 'social engagement'

The other day, Zane put on his best outfit and prepared to socialize.

On Saturday, Feb. 9th, 2008, Zane attended his first social engagement of 2008, or of his entire life, actually.

The family across the street threw a birthday party for their twin girls. Mia and Yasmine were turning 4 and they were having a big shindig in their honor. Now these two, as you can tell by the picture displayed, are two of the cutest girls you ever laid eyes on.

They were all dolled up and were the belles of the ball. There were probably 12-15 adults and probably 10 kids who came the the party. Zane was the youngest, but it was good to see that he wasn't the only baby.

The birthday party had all sorts of fun stuff for the kids to do. Noel and Anthony, the parents of the above pictured cuties, had the whole house decked out in a 'Hello Kitty / Valentine's Day' theme.

The kids played 'pin the tail on the donkey,' which had the expected hilarious results. Anytime you blindfold kids, spin them around, and ask them to precisely pin a tail onto a bulletin board donkey, you get the entertainment all parents enjoy watching. You got "Pin the tail on the.... ear, leg, not even close to the donkey, etc." The kids were all over the map, so to speak. It was pretty darn funny to watch.

But if you think the 'Pin the tail on the Donkey' game sounded like the hardest game the kids played all day, you'd be wrong. The kids, and some grown-up kids, also participated in taking whacks at a pinata. Now usually the pinata gives up the goods after a few dozen or so whacks. But this homemade pinata seemed almost impervious to the beating it took. I'm not sure what Noel and her mom used to make it with, but I'm sure either fiberglass or Kevlar was in the mix somewhere.

Ok, so maybe it was just paper mache. But it sure was one tough kitty cat. Did I mention it was a 3-foot tall pink and white "Hello Kitty" pinata? It was pretty impressive, I must say.

Now in all fairness, there were a few things working against all of the mighty pinata-whackers.

First off, the dreaded blindfold came into play again. So no one was just lining up in a batter's stance and teeing off.

Second, a lot of the participant's in this game were under the age of 6, so it wasn't like we had Babe Ruth, Hand Aaron, and Alex Rodriguez taking whacks at it.

Third, the pinata is hung from the overhead porch by a rope threaded through a pulley. So if an older kid's turn came up, Anthony would pull the pinata up and down thus making it harder to hit.

So round and round we went, trying to hit the Kevlar-armored pinata, desperately trying to crack it to get at all the candy inside. Things looked pretty grim for the Birthday Girls and their guests. But little did we know, the Birthday Girls had a secret weapon they had yet to deploy...

...Grandma.

A veteran of many pinata dismantlings, Grandma knew exactly what to do. The mighty pinata killer herself stepped up and was ready to do battle. She knew full well that her son-in-law Anthony would be at the ready to pull the pinata out of harm's way. She knew full well that the children, and possible the success of the party, hinged on her powerful strikes unleashing the candy.

You already know how this was going to end. There was no way Grandma was going to let her grandbabies be disappointed. She crushed that pinata....candy burst forth....the children were elated...and the party was saved.

Well done, Grandma!!!

All in all it was a whole lot of fun. We had food, cake, ice cream, and most importantly, we got to hang out with our neighbors, who are two of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

And Zane did great for his first planned social outing of the year. He was totally over stimulated for a few hours after the party, but once he crashed, he crashed hard and slept for a long, long time.

Later that evening, Noel gave Zane some mylar balloons. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the fun Zane would have with them.

Zane + Balloons + Ceiling fan = Lots'o entertainment!

He was watching them, wiggling like crazy, he'd track their movements, smile a lot, and was completely captivated. Heck, these balloons served as a pretty good babysitter!

We must have something like 15 minutes of footage of him just having a blast. To me the neatest thing was watching his eyes track the balloons. Zane was mesmerized...as the video below will show...

P.S. Don't forget, Zane now has his own email address: inZane@cox.net

-mpg

"I'VE GOT EMAIL!"

Mom and dad have always lived in and embraced the technology age. So we only thought it was fair that Zane be introduced to this world.

So without further ado, we present Zane's email address:

inZane@cox.net

Click on his email link to send Zane an email!


Zane has promised to respond to any emails he gets...providing he's not asleep, eating, or at school.

-----------------------

It's been really cool lately now that Zane can lock onto you with his eyes, react to your talking to him, and now takes in interest in just about everything that moves or is bright.

He's also taken to 'tasting' anything he can get his tongue on. I'm guessing he's also exploring textures. It is kind of funny to watch him put his tongue on anything that gets close to his mouth.

Now that he seems to have moved past the bugs that were making him sick, we have our happy guy back, which is very nice.

More pictures of our little bug:





-mpg

Two pictures and a video clip...

He's now smiling when he sees something he likes...




A nice picture of contentment...





Ok, a little bit of fun with my son's sneeze...

-mpg

A little Monday morning Parenting Humor

Ok so these made me laugh...

Z and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Zane has had a couple of hard weeks.

- He caught a flu bug from me.

- He was diagnosed with GERD (Acid Reflux)

- Had an Upper GI performed on him

- He then caught a cold, I'm guessing from daycare.

And to add insult to injury, today was his two-month checkup, which as many of you know means one thing...shots.

He did pretty good. He was in a good mood when the first shot hit. It was sort of this slo-mo reaction. About 5 seconds after the shot his face scrunched up with a "What the heck was that" look...then about 5 seconds later came the cry of pain.

I think this is where both Court and I were thankful he had a hoarse voice from his cold. His crying from the shots was only at half volume. We were anxious enough and not sure if we could have taken a full-strength cry.

And the doctor and nurse do a smart thing. They figure Zane was already in pain and crying so they might as well do the other shots in rapid succession. So they administer the next three shots in about a total of 15 seconds. Standing just to the side was an anxious mom who swept in right after the shots were over and scooped up her little boy to comfort him.

Four shots. Two in each leg. He did great. He probably did better than mom and dad did.

But Zane had the last laugh. He'd had breakfast about an hour earlier, and decided to show off his acid reflux to Dr. Kutler. Yup, he shared all 5 ounces of formula with the good doc, the nurse, and us.

That'll teach us.

I guess there will be some lingering pain and possible fever in his immediate future. We were instructed to give him Children's Tylenol every 4 hours for the next 24 hours. So far he's doing great...just sleeping the day away.

Yeah, it's been a rough couple of weeks for him, but I think he'll rebound nicely.

-mpg

A tough few weeks for tHGP

Here at the Human Glynn Project (tHGP), we've had a tough couple of weeks.

It started off with me getting the flu or some other bug that pancaked me (mmmmm...paaancakes) for two days. I will spare you the details, but since most of you have had the flu at one time or another, you know what all happened over the course of 48 hours.

Then as any good parent does, I shared my new found "friend" with my son. The sad part her is that poor Z had no idea what was going on. Now he had the same events happening to him that were happening to me. The big problem here is that dad has a lot more, um, padding around the middle to help fight off hunger and dehydration. Zane doesn't have such luck. So we were very worried about him dehydrating quickly.

Enter...PEDIALYTE!

COMMERCIAL TIME!!!!

To help your child rehydrate and feel better quickly, choose Pedialyte® at the first sign of diarrhea and vomiting. Pedialyte is specially formulated to quickly replace lost fluids and electrolytes due to diarrhea and vomiting. No wonder it’s the #1 pediatrician recommended brand.


YEA!

The Pedialyte did provide one hilarious moment that I wish I would have caught on tape, but I didn't occur to me what the situation was or what was going to occur.

I had purchased fruit flavored Pedialyte. They had grape flavored, but if he spit it up I figured it would stain, so I didn't buy that one. They also had unflavored which seemed just plain pointless, so it was out too.

Anyway, so I load up a bottle of fruit-flavored Pedialyte and give it to Zane. About 5 seconds after the first suck, it happened. Zane's eyes flew open and all four limbs started flailing about wildly with enjoyment.

And then it dawned on me. Zane had never tasted anything else in his life but breastmilk or formula. So the generic flavor of fruit was literally and figuratively an eye-opener! It stirred his inner John Travolta and he was dancing like crazy.

...PARTY LIKE IT'S 2009, ZANE!

Now as with all good news, there must be some bad news. The bad news is that Zane's recent illness caused an event that I like to call:

"Dad's baptism by Pedialyte!"

The story goes like this... So I had fed Zane about 4 ounces of Pedialyte, and like a good parent I was holding him upright and gently patting his back to get him to burp. And like a good little son, he burped just fine. Then as he sat on my chest looking at me, he then proceeded to share all 4 ounces of his Pedialyte with me down the front of my shirt. Gross, sticky, orange-colored, fruit-flavored, half-digested, Pedialyte. It was inside my shirt, splashed on my face and glasses, on the outside of my shirt, on Zane, on his bib, on his clothes...it was everywhere. Fortunately I was able to contain this eruption to just me and him, not the chair or carpet.

Happy, happy...joy, joy.

The hilarious part was that right after he threw up on me...Zane just sat there in this big mess as I held him and smiled at me. He was just as happy as could be.

Somewhere in heaven my dad is just laughing away. He's thinking to himself, "PAYBACK!" You see, when I was little apparently I threw up in his ear.

Ah, good memories!

-mpg