Brandon and I really wanted to make sure that Mr. Cheeks was getting the absolute best food that he could possibly get. Breast feeding was number 1 on our list, and then I was planning on making his food myself. Because my milk dried up a LOT sooner than I had planned, we had to figure out next best thing and did a lot of research on formulas. Not only did we do research on the quality, but pricing as well. Formula is not cheep and it goes extremely fast. I also looked into making my own homemade formula – but that was just way too time consuming for me and I had to be realistic about the time I honestly could and wanted to (..just being real.. some things I just don’t want to do out of pure laziness) spend on making formula and now food. I really wanted to make baby food.. but after two weeks I just realized that time could be better spent somewhere else.
So I have for you two of our favorite organic brands we have been using!
Baby’s Only Organic Formula
I absolutely love this formula for many reasons!
– It DOESN’T SMELL! Seriously I don’t know what they use in the other formula, but it smells horrible.
– It is easy to clean – Doesn’t clump in the water
– Better and natural ingredients.. duh that’s why we get it!
– Cheaper then other formulas
– Mr. Cheeks LOVES it – most important.
The only con I have with this formula is that you cannot buy it in stores and must order online
BUT I get it for sometimes half the price.
Normal Price Difference:
12.4 oz SImilac (@Wally World) – $15.78
12.7 oz Babys Organic $9.59 w/ free shipping
This last order we made – we got 10 cans for $7.79 per piece. They normally get here within 2-3 days.
You can purchase this at http://www.swansonvitamins.com//
Earth’s Best Organic Baby Food
Honestly there are a million great organic baby food brands out there, but the reason we like this the most is because we seem to always find awesome deals at (surprise) Babies R Us. We have always gotten 20 for $10 or 2 cases (of 10) for $16.
As I said, here are soo many great organic brands out there! Try them out! If you know of other smoking deals, share them below so we can all keep track!
Xo Kayla
Hey KS moms reading this! I greatly appreciate you stopping by and keeping up with Mr. Cheeks process!
Not a lot of the symptoms have changed from the first post as far as attitude and what not. I have noticed that with the shots, it allows Cheeks to really take those milestones head on. What I mean by that is within about two weeks of his shot he was crawling instantly. There was really no down time to learn and practice.
His peepee had grown and we were very excited about that!
Other then that there was really nothing to updated as far as the shot is concerned.
I will however say that I am extremely glad we made the decision to get it for him. I can tell its helping his development immensely, not just his penis.
I do however worry about what is going to happen in the next 6 months (that’s when our next appointment and without shots). I feel the shots have really helped with his mental development and I would hate for him to take a step back. We will just have to monitor it.
I am still keeping a log on his milestones as well as any weird twitches and stimulatory rituals he has been doing. It’s really hard for me to keep a balance between watching for Autism and not tracking typical baby things. At this point I am tracking everything, and if he is never diagnosed with any form of ASD, then we will have this nice notebook of silly things he used to do to share when he is older. That is totally fine with me!
This post is kind of scattered everywhere, sorry haha
I have a couple more KS posts that I am going to write today so keep watch!
xo Kayla
My family is the most important thing to me and #1 on my list. With my work and burlesque schedule so busy.. I use every ounce of spare time I have with my family. It’s these walks that I cherish so much.
I am a creature of habit.. I have been for the longest time and it takes a minute for me to jump into a new routine… Add baby and I’m lost.
I have no memory… I stop mid sentence… I’m like mom brain to a T.
I’ll make this one short and simple and get to the point here..
I didn’t realize until recently that Cheeks was supposed to be eating solids 3 times a day.. Oh ya… rookie move Kayla… Rookie move. The days and months go by so fast and I just wasn’t thinking and with my busy life I missed the point where I am supposed to google when my son should eat solids and blah blah blah. It wasn’t until a convo with my best friend that I realized. “Oh when I was feeding Jamison breakfast..” ……….. Wait…. What? Breakfast? Fuck… Is Aiden supposed to be eating breakfast? Oh ya. He was. hahaha needless to say he went from one time a day to 3 the following day. He’s much happier now!
We all have our moments 😉
Written with my iPhone… Sometimes my fingers are drunk… Often my phone can’t translate.
Good lord it has been a busy April and May! I have been so busy it’s unreal! I finished up a fantastic show with Bohemian Burlesque in April (which I have a post coming shortly… Just waiting for some pictures) and then the weekend after I was in a tattoo pageant (didn’t place in the pageant, but took 2nd and 3rd for the tattoo competition), then I went to Vegas with my best friend for Mother’s Day weekend, I joined a new burlesque group which I’m super stoked about – The Whiskey sirens and I have been working with them on their Facebook and then now rehearsing for our first show…. Finally I have slowed down. All I have on my plate is work and The Whiskey Sirens and my family! Hopefully I will tend to this blog every week as I originally intended!
Brandon has been pretty busy as well! He has completely secured our home with the finest security system around… He’s been kind of geekin out with it which has been adorable. He has also showed great progress with his BBQ skills and has voiced interest in eventually starting a company! I’m all for it…. Especially if it involves me being the taste tester 😉
Cheeks has a new babysitter now.. Which at first was extremely difficult for me.. But as the weeks go on I am really happy with the new adjustment. She has been giving him a lot of one on one time and trying to help us with his development and I have really been seeing a difference. Cheeks is also happy which makes me happy!
We got a new dog.. Her name is Maggie and she is amazing. I have not really gone public about our new member only because I am still having a hard time with the fact I had to give our last dog away due to my issues I had when I first had Cheeks. We felt that I was finally ready and we found the perfect dog! She is a german Shepherd… Though I’m pretty sure she is either mixed with something or a Belgian Shepherd. We got her from the pound… Fully command trained, potty trained, cat friendly, baby friendly…. I mean score?! The introduction with the kitties was timid at first.., but now they all love each other!
Karloff and Nyx are still driving us up the damn wall! But it’s not just us anymore.. It’s Maggie too. They fuck with Maggie all of the time and try and get her in trouble lol they want her to chase them.. But then they realize how big she is and get scared haha it’s hilarious.. Oh… And I’m pretty sure Karloff thinks Maggie is his girlfriend… It’s an adorable romance of two unimaginable companions.
That’s a general quick update on us 🙂
We are coming up on Mr. Cheek’s second testosterone shot this week and I figured I would give an update on his progress and talk a little more about our journey with Klinefelter Syndrome.
First – I want to talk about his visit with his pediatrician…
We had to take Cheeks to his Dr. A couple of weeks ago and I was disappointed to find out that the specialist had not informed him of his new diagnosis. Do Dr.’s not talk to each other anymore? Really irked me…On the plus side – his pediatrician (whom I love) was actually very familiar with Klinefelters Syndrome! The first thing be said after B told him was, “We are going to have a tall one on our hands!”
He has never had a patient with it before, but he has worked with many patients with other chromosome syndromes and has many patients now with autism. It was nice to know we have someone in our corner on this new journey with us. He said that as of right now his development and motor functions are very advanced for his age (yes!) but he knows as well as we do that that could change in the months to come. We are all on the same page right now as far as watching for signs of autism and that’s all I can ask for. It gave me a sense of relief knowing A. The Dr. truly cares about Aiden (we have known that since his personal call on Christmas when he called to tell us, “I have been thinking.. And I thought about what I would do if this is my son… And id like for Aiden to see a specialist.”) and B. He knows about ks (from what I have read many drs don’t know much). So this is really great for us!
On to the testosterone shot:
– First and foremost there were no side effects that we saw with the first shot. If anything he was much happier and energetic! Which is never a bad thing.
– Within the first week we noticed a significant different in his willie! Before we couldn’t see it at all and now it’s poppin right out!
– I think the biggest change we have seen is in his muscle strength. He was able to lift himself much easier after his shot and has definitely been able to move quite easier.
– As far as his mental development he has been doing pretty good. He has found his screaming voice and has decided to scream and yell at anyone in his sight… Which was really funny at the mall this weekend. Brandon and I have been working really hard object training with him. Anytime he touches something we make sure to repeat the objects name.. Which seems to be working. I plan on starting sign language with him which I hope will help.
He has still been doing his stimulators wrist and ankle rolls.. Which I have been keeping an eye on.
That’s pretty much it on the update. We go into the specialist next week to have his second shot and I will update before his 3rd of this first series.
Also – if you missed my update on the first post about this.. These were the two sites that have me the most valuable info on Klinefelters Syndrom
http://www.openingautism.com/Genetics/ConditionDetails/26
Genetics.org
Written with my iPhone… Sometimes my fingers are drunk… Often my phone can’t translate
I think a fear in every mom’s mind is something to be “wrong” with their child. Regardless of the outcomes, that amount of love we feel for our child will never leave our hearts; if anything its enhanced.
I was struck with the fear chord a week and a half ago when I found out that my son has been diagnosed with Klinefelter Syndrome. KS is caused by the gain of genetic material – a whole X chromosome. Basically normal boys have a XY chromosome Aiden has a XXY.
Hearing my Dr. sadly say, “I’m so so sorry I have to give you this news… are you ok?” was an angry shock to me….. BITCH. NO IM NOT OK! I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT! WHAT THE FUUUUUCK IS KLINEFELTER SYNDROME?! IS MY SON OK? WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING SAD LOOKING RIGHT NOW LIKE YOU FEEL SORRY FOR ME?
So the Dr. gives me a one pager on KS….not exactly the best one she could have given me (I might actually put in a request for a more sensitive one).
Let’s run down the list of symptoms as per the one pager and Kayla’s thought process while reading:
- Tall in height (ok… cool Mr. Cheeks will be tall and handsome!)
- Smaller Testicles… (eh. That’s fine)
- Infertile (well that fucking blows… but it’s doable.. not the end of the world)
- **in all caps on the paper** MENTAL RETARDATION (……..ummmm..)
- Severe learning disabilities, social difficulties/withdrawal, intellectual disabilities, speech and language delay, neurodevelopmental disorders (……ummmm soooo what are you saying here….)
At this point I was just so in shock I didn’t have any questions for her. Instead I went to Google when I got home.
The one thing that pisses me off beyond belief is that there is hardly any websites that fully go into the real parts of KS. Websites only have the general info I stated above. The problem with this is that it’s so fucking vague! For instance, I know that Aiden does not suffer mental retardation, but as for the other disabilities listed, what exactly does that look like? What typically happens in this case? What do we normally see happen? Are we talking he is going to have trouble with math or are we talking he is not going to be able to comprehend the universe around him? These are things I need to know and Google is not giving me any fucking answers!
After I contemplated for a good 2 hours if I should write a very frustrated and mean letter to Google, I took to facebook, my home away from home and found some private groups of parents with boys who have KS. This was good… and bad. I learned a lot going onto those groups and realized why it is that really just don’t like people.. A. I can’t believe how negative people can be about things. B. I learned that many (and my many I mean the majority of the parents on this site) boys that have KS also have some form of autism.. normally not super severe. C. There was almost TOO much information about their lives and negative experiences… which started to overwhelm me to the point of stress related sickness. However, it did lead me to look on some autism websites – which actually had the BEST and most information about Klinefelter syndrome. The sites also made it not seem so scary, which was helpful.
Automatically my mind goes into a worried mamma bear freak out and I just panic.. What if he has autism? What do I need to do to help him? Blah blah blah you know the drill. The fear of unknown just kills me. Unknown information, unknown future, unknown feelings! And then with my previous postpartum anxiety crisis we wrote about early, I just want to explode.
To answer what is on everyone’s mind at this point.. is Aiden autistic? I can’t tell you right now.. I don’t know. We will have to wait and see. I would like to say right away absolutely not, but there is a chance and the probability is higher because of his diagnosis, but we cannot get him tested until he is about 1… which is all honestly, I will probably get done regardless if he is showing signs or not.
Is he showing signs? He’s a baby – he excels in this and then doesn’t in that.. babies do weird shit at this age. I will admit there are some things he does that are questionable, but I would have never questioned them at this point had I not found all of this out.. I can’t keep looking for things that aren’t there. What I can, and will do is keep the signs in the back of my head. If he ends up showing autistic signs, I want to get it handled ASAP. Sooner the better for treatment.
All in all.. it has been a really hard week and a half for me.. My control issues and a “fix-it” mentality as my dad says is getting in my way. I think the thing that kills me the most is that I just don’t know and I don’t know how to prepare. Which is like every child I know.. but it’s harder when you know the probability with your child. The few people who I have told about this just don’t understand the feelings that I have… a common response is that ‘any child can have autism’…and I get it, but when you see that the majority of boys with KS have autism…it’s hard to shut that off and ignore. It’s really hard to explain, but I’m sure some of you know what I am talking about. SO – after last Tuesdays almost nervous breakdown from stress illness, I have decided to shut off my brain and let it go for now. I have to be strong for not only my son, but for Brandon. We cannot live in fear, dwell on what could happen, and definitely not try and make it into something that it isn’t before we know for sure. We have to enjoy these baby years because they are not going to last that much longer! I have to keep my PMA up!
To wrap this up first I would like to apologize with how all over the place this post is.
I will start a small segment with him called ‘XXY Super Cheeks’ with updates on his testosterone therapy, development, and everything else for my readers who are dealing with this same thing. This is going to be an interesting ride and I hope that you all send positive prayers and vibes our way.
http://www.openingautism.com/Genetics/ConditionDetails/26
Genetics.org
^^best sites I found for explaining Klinefelters^^
PS – He was tested for this because of being born with a smaller then normal penis. They were testing his testosterone levels, estrogen levels, t4, and sex chromosome. 😀
If anyone reading this has any hands on experience with Klinesfelter Syndrome I would love love to hear from you and get feedback and hear your stories and tips! You can either message below or message me at mammabluette@gmail.com.
I’m sure some of you are wondering where I have been!… Or not lol either way I apologize! I have been very busy and after a recent Dr visit for Mr. Cheeks my mind has been elsewhere.
I have about 5 posts to catch up on!!
Topics include:
– My amazing burlesque show and the power to keep doing what you love after children.
– Mr. Cheeks’ new diagnosis
– moms weekend to Vegas
– doulas
Those are just a few off the top of my head.
Stay tuned!
Written with my iPhone… Sometimes my fingers are drunk… Often my phone can’t translate.
I’m starting a new segment in this blog called ‘Sleeping Cheeky’. Right now I’m vowing to take a picture of Mr. Cheeks for 100 nights in light of #100daysofhappy. I have been horrible about keeping his baby book up to date.. And I’m kind of a social media whore.. So I thought this would be fun 🙂 after 100 days of sleep shots I’ll move on to the next segment 🙂
Enjoy my sleepy baby cheeks 🙂
written on my iPhone… Deal with
the typos
I travel for work a couple of times out of the year. So far since Mr. Cheeks has been born, I have traveled about 4 or 5 times, this last time being the hardest.
I would have thought for sure that when he was smaller I would have been more upset while gone. But it seems as though as he grows older with more personality, it really makes traveling much more difficult.
I just recently got back from a short 2 day music conference in LA. I found myself more then ever trying to keep my mind busy so I would stop thinking about going home to be with my family. I missed playing and snuggling with my son…it was kind of sad. Sometimes I worry that I am going to miss something.. what if he magically starts crawling while I am away!? It is times like this where I truly wish I was A. Rich as shit, and B. capable of being a stay at home mom.
Mamma Bluette 