Baby’s first Christmas was super fun…and a little scary!

This was a special trip for many reasons – Kaiden’s first visit to Atlanta, his first Christmas, etc.  The only missing piece was Vishnu. 🙁  But we made sure to FaceTime as much as possible so Kaiden didn’t ‘forget his daddy.’

As far as celebrating Christmas goes, we don’t do so in a religious sense, but culturally, we are all in!  I’m sure Kaiden was a little confused by all of his boisterous and giddy family members opening presents and yelling over one another!

Because my sister and Adarsh flew out on Monday, we decided to celebrate the holiday a day early on Christmas Eve.  My MIL and BIL drove over to my parents’ house in the early afternoon and spent the day with my parents, my sister and BIL, Kaiden, and me.  My FIL ended up having bronchitis and was unable to join us.  A TOTAL and COMPLETE bummer.

We started the fun by opening presents.  My BIL was our designated Santa, and at first we went person by person, gift by gift, but then we had to restrategize because K looked sleepy.  We handed out everyone’s presents and opened them all at once to save time.  To ensure we included EVERYONE, we FaceTimed my FIL and Vishnu.  Chaotic and fun all at once!

For dinner, I made Green and Panang Curry.  Totally forgot to snap a picture, but they both turned out great (in my humble opinion…ha!).  We ended the meal with my MIL’s banana, pecan, chocolate pie.  Yum!

And this is where things got a little scary…

As part of our plan to transition K to formula, we’re essentially phasing out my breast milk and adding in formula until he’s 100% on formula.  Well, Christmas Eve just so happened to be the day he had his first bottle of formula, and let’s just say it didn’t agree with him.  When Kaiden woke up around midnight, I went in to check on him.  After changing his diaper, I lifted him up, and he immediately threw up a ton of milk.  My sister, who was in the room with me, called out to my mom, and the three of us ran Kaiden to the bathroom.  After giving him a quick bath, we got him ready for bed when he threw up a ton of milk again.  After another bath, we tried to put him back down, but he still looked sick, so I held him while my sister kept an eye on him.  Thank goodness because he threw up one final time (but a much smaller amount this time around).  I called the pediatrician, more so for my own peace of mind, and his recommendation of easing into the formula wasn’t much different from my sister’s (a pediatric resident).

Kaiden finally fell asleep (and stayed asleep) around 2 am.  My sister slept in the room with us just in case something happened.  Thankfully nothing did.

I have never been so scared in my entire life!  I know this is just the start of experiences like this one, but man…I will never forget the sight of all that milk pouring out of his mouth.

Kaiden’s doing great (fingers crossed!) now that we’re gradually phasing in the formula two ounces at a time.

As for me, my plan to wean off the pump is on hold for now…anything for my baby boy.  I’ll ease back into that when we’re in Chicago next week.

Other than that, I’m battling a pretty intense cold right now – sore throat and all.  Also, Kaiden and I are staying at Vishnu’s parents until Sunday (when my MIL, Kaiden, and I fly back to Chicago) and are looking forward to spending quality time with this side of the fam!

Well, from my family to yours, I hope each and every one of you enjoyed a fun and memorable Christmas holiday!