No More Tears - Could This Be the End of Colic??

No more tears... good song. It would make for a good theme song at my house over the past few weeks. If you recall, Lucas, my soon-to-be-6-month old (OMG 6 mos!!) was quite the colicky baby - or at least that's what everyone tells me his problem was. If you don't recall, just read about some of our excursions: Babies Cry..Duh or Another Day at the Park. He was (keyword WAS) on Prevacid for acid-reflux. He WAS on probiotics. He WAS taking Mylicon. He WAS taking Miralax. He WAS screaming every time we left the house, put him in the stroller, sat him in the highchair, or did anything else he didn't like. But last week, something happened. I don't know what exactly changed but something certainly did.

I despise the word colic. I believe it is a doctor's way of giving a name to whatever they can't figure out. I read article after article about colic and while Lucas had every symptom they listed, the same symptoms are given for those who suffer from acid-reflux, gas, milk allergies, protein allergies, you name it. So, if you go by that, yeah Lucas had colic and about a million other issues. If you ask me, he just has a bad temper and it rages if you make him do something he doesn't want to, which happens to be a lot of things.

So yes, he still has his tantrums, and yes they are still nasty. You can't hold him. He screams his head off and claws at you and kicks like he's crazy. But, I've learned over the past 6 months what usually triggers the tantrums and have for the most part been able to avoid most of them. It wasn't until last week that I finally figured out why he was screaming for 2 1/2 hours a night before going to bed. Wanna know what it is? He didn't wanna go to bed. Yep, that was it. I simply left his room and stopped singing to him (a normal bedtime routine for us here) and it magically stopped (note: I had to leave his room not just stop singing.. so it wasn't just my singing!!). Pull out a Pooh toy and he'd smile. Put him in his exersaucer and he was giddy. He was happy because he knew he wasn't going to bed. You can tell me a newborn can't think that deep yet - but I won't believe you, I've seen it with my own eyes.

The other day if you saw my Twitter update (if not, add me!), I mentioned that we had a few errands to run - we went to the library, Blockbuster, Post Office, Meijer, the bank and met my sister for lunch. A few weeks ago, I wouldn't have even attempted this because Lucas would have a meltdown and would probably break another blood vessel screaming. It's torturous/heartbreaking to hear him scream that loud and none of us can stand it, yet we've become "used" to it. The doctor told us not to take him anywhere unless absolutely necessary because of how bad it was (she heard him still screaming when I came in for an appt once). But, the less we took him out, the worse it got. So about two weeks ago when I had the epiphany that all these screaming fits were just a tantrum, I decided to start taking him wherever I needed to go because I wasn't going to sit home all summer and dag nab-it this kid was gonna learn to love his carseat if it was going to kill me.

Maybe it's because I'm making him drive in the car everyday, or maybe it's just because he's almost 6 months old - I have no idea - but he didn't cry when we did all our errands. Not once. Ethan commented "Mom, if he would not scream like this every time we go in the car, I would just be so excited." I agreed with him. I came home energized from our trip versus exhausted because it felt like such a huge accomplishment. It felt invigorating to know that I got so much done, with BOTH of the kids in tow. I felt like a successful mother. I felt invincible. It was awesome.
I can't help but be hopeful that we may have finally turned the corner and have moved past this "colic" stage and can now truly enjoy Lucas like a family should be able to enjoy their newborn (guess he's not really all that new anymore is he??). Even though I'm excited to move past the colic, it makes me cry, because in some ways I feel I rushed his first 6 months in hopes of moving past the screaming day and nights. Now, all I can do is hold Lucas tighter because he is getting so big and I know that the baby stage is quickly passing and this will be my last time experiencing it (we are NOT having more children!!). All the times you are supposed to get to cuddle with your baby as they coo and giggle, I didn't get many of those moments. Lucas was a very irritable baby. Which made for a very irritable mama. Since this will be our last child, I was saddened - but only for a moment. The excitement of knowing we outlasted this stage (again! Ethan was colicky too!), was overwhelming. I actually got to rock Lucas yesterday and today without him screaming to get up. It was so sweet and how I had always envisioned spending time with my baby boy. I didn't want to get up, I didn't want to set him down. I just wanted him to stay in this moment, little and happy, forever. He's getting so big...sigh.

I am glad this stupid colic (or whatever you wanna call it) stage is over. I'm looking forward to the milestones ahead of us, like the crawling he started this week!! This is where it all starts to get fun for us. I can't wait!!

Here are some recent pics of my cute little guy.