Too, Too Cute!

Photos taken 03/20/2011...finally posting today!

Pictures! Finally!

I could have titled this post "March Madness" because it is a sweeping look at what Jack has been up to this month. I also could have written several quippy posts to go with each set of pictures and just pretended that I've been posting all along, and that you, Dear Readers, have just been remiss. However, if any of you are still following me, waiting for me to get off of my duff and actually write a post, you would recognize the lie. So here we are, Jack's month in pictures: His new trick is transitioning to sit. Use your imagination please, because he doesn't fully sit up without something for support At the cardiologist's office in early March The persistent cardiac defects are not slowing him down one bit It took a decree from God before the nurse would believe that I would NOT allow him to fly off the table...she finally left the room, but refused to close the door on us! Kneeling practice...wherein the skill is to stay upright while using his arms to play Which led, eventually, to pulling up... ...with a little stabilization thanks to The Dear Daddy... ...and he's standing tall to see his doggy Sopha-Loaf! Here he is showing off how well he sits up with the confidence prop of a sturdy box of filing-to-be-done but in actuality won't-happen-any-time-soon! He has to visit Princess too! Which all eventually led to this! I was sitting on the couch just wondering when he'd pull to stand on furniture, and up he went! Apparently, the Kleenex box is a powerful motivator! ...and Big Sis stood by on guard... Now for some leisure reading with Daddy And more standing skills. You know, just to prove it wasn't a fluke! I love this happy boy! He gets everywhere in the house now in lightning speed. He has a fondness for the vacuum cleaner Bad hair day Discovering his shadow... ...and trying to kiss it! The Girlie was highly amused with a story I told her about when she discovered her shadow. The Pod wanted to know about when he'd found his. Sadly, I had nothing. Finally I said, "Honey, when you were little like that, you didn't stop long enough to create a shadow! You were always on the move!" Happily, he was satisfied with this. I was a little sad. But, it is what it is, no? The boy LOVES his bath! And he adores Grandma Emmee... ...and the ball she brought him for St Patrick's day Let's help with the dishwasher... ...it makes a fabulous racket when you shake it! And there it is...his month in pictures. I love you baby!

Bathtime Fun

The boy knows how to get some turbulence going in the water!

And how to sit up without falling down!

Now for some conditioner...

...to make the curl extra Kewpie!

Bu-Bah-Nuh

That's what he said! In case you didn't catch it, he was trying to say Banana! Yep, my boy tried to say banana.

Some more recent favorite sounds, shouted in piercing decibels and then modulated to mere whispers:
B-B-B-B-B-B-BEEEEEEEEEEG-G-G-G-G-G-G
B-B-B-B-BEEEEE-B-B-B-B-B-B
BEEEEEEEEEG-BEEEEEEEEG-BEEEEEEEG
B-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-G
BEEE-BEEE-BEEE-BIP!
BIP! BIP! BIP! BIP! BIP! BIP! BIP! BIP! BIP! bip-bip-bip-bip-bip-bip
He really likes this combination of sounds and it goes on for hours! He played around with variations of P, I, E, D, G, B but one clear favorite finally emerged

PEEEEEEG!

Funny, funny boy!

New Posts

If you haven't been here in a while, I can hardly blame you...I haven't been here in quite a while! I am here in spirit...just too tired and worn out to be here in body! I've written several posts, and I promise to get pictures inserted with them soon! Please keep checking back!

RATS!

I surprised the kids with pet rats last week! The Middle Little named his Emily...she's the one with some tan. The Girlie named her ratty Squeakers...she's all white. Rats are actually very clean animals, are smart and easily trained, and they are highly social. They make very good pets and can live up to eight years...unlike hamsters who are guaranteed to break your kids' hearts by dying within two years.

This Month's Pedi Appointment

After Jack's last appointment and the new asthma diagnosis, we were told to come back in a month to check his pulmonary status. Which really, was fine with me so we could track his weight with the switch to soy milk. So, first up was that fight. At this pedi on February 18th, Jack weighed 20 pounds and 14 ounces. At his cardiology appointment on March 3rd, he weighed in at an even 21 pounds. Today he weighed 20 pounds and 4 ounces. He measured 29 1/4" but he'd lost 10 ounces. I informed the doctor that I had not switched him entirely to soy milk, that on my best judgement and the advice of Dr Elaine, his SLP, I was alternating soy milk with formula. He maintains that Jack needs to switch entirely to soy milk. I argued. He said there were more calories and grams of fat and protein in soy milk, to check the labels and I'd see for myself. Well, I already thought this was crap, otherwise, we'd be feeding our babies soy milk instead of formula when we can no longer provide breast milk. With the evidence in front of me in a 10 ounce weight loss, (which is really 12 ounces if you count the cardio weight!) when I got home I decided to take his advice and check the labels. It's easy to see why he might think that, even though he should know better. The nutrients listed on the soy milk are per eight ounce servings. The nutrients listed on the formula can are per 100 calorie servings. Duh. That's five ounces. And there are far more nutrients and grams of fat and protein in 8 ounces of formula. Why do I know this and his doctor doesn't? Crap! I wrote it all down on a piece of paper in neat little columns and compared formula to Traders Joe's organic soy milk, Wal-mart's Great Value organic soy milk, and even went into our local WIC to write down the nutrients in their brand of organic soy milk. I plan on rubbing his face in it when we go back in a month. We left that argument off with me refusing to change to full soy milk and stay on the alternating soy and formula and work like mad to get more solids into him. And I will quietly give soy milk in every third bottle instead of every other. Which brings us to his pulmonary status. I am so sick and tired of this doctor telling me that I am wrong and that I am not seeing what I am seeing. At last month's visit I asked for a refill on Jack's albuterol, because he was using it for a lot of wheezing at night. That got us the Q-Var inhaled steroid and a refill for the albuterol. At this visit when the doc asked if Jack wasn't doing better, I reported that no, in fact, he was having a greater number of wheezing episodes, particularly at night. Any of this sound familiar to any of you asthma Moms? Knowing that this doctor has a penchant for denying the obvious, I listened to Jack's lungs before he came into the exam room. He clearly had wheezing in the right lower and middle lobes, inspiratory and expiratory, as well as some rhonchorus sounds in the left mid and upper areas. The doc said he was clear. I said to listen again, and of course he refused. So I pulled my own stethoscope out and had another go at it. And I pointed and said Right there. Wheezes. And here and here. Rhonchi. His answer? "Those are not really there. They are referred sounds from somewhere else in the bronchial tree." Okay, yeah maybe, but doubtful, and even so, they are referred sounds from somewhere else inside my son's bronchial tree. So again with the arguing. I wanted nebulizer treatments for the wheezing at night. For the episodic wheezing I can hear from across the room at night. I finally wore him down and he ordered saline by nebulizer to help with his thick secretions while he's teething. And finally, while he was at it, he finally said I might as well give the albuterol by nebulizer too, and ordered it. So back we go in a month. The nebulizer arrived the next day with all the little saline bullets and albuterol liquid and another Q-Var. Jack's a happy camper. On the up-side, Dr Owen, Jack's cardiologist said that he still has the open holes, hopefully they will close by his next visit, he's doing great, come back in four months.

The pedi said he thought Jack might have a sinus infection and said that his right ear was slightly inflamed. I already knew that, because I have my own otoscope and found the ear inflammation last night, but if I'd brought it up myself instead of letting the doctor "find" it, sure as shootin' he would have denied the obvious. He prescribed Amoxicillan. I wanted Augmentin. He said no. I said Augmentin had done so well on his two previous infections. He said no. I said there's Amoxicillan and Clavulanate in Augmentin, why not go with what we know works? He said no. So we have Amoxicillan. And there you have it. Our doctor fun for March. NOT!

The New And Improved 'Too!

Sleeves rolled up and getting it done... Lili pads and cattails... The Girlie took the pictures, and had the lens on zoom, otherwise you'd see a little bit more of Matt. This area in the fold of the elbow is called "The Ditch, because it hurts like a @&$#*" And here it is!!! This is my left elbow where the doctors left some severe scarring when we lost Hannah. I think I've mentioned before that I appeared to have track marks* any junkie** would be proud of. Now I don't! I have a cute little orange frog with blue spots, catching his breakfast! "...Underneath the ink on my tattoo, I try to hide my scars from you..."
P!NK, I'm Not Dead,
from the I'm Not Dead album

And here's the almost finished story-in-a-picture. I can go back in three weeks to have Matt fill in more purple to the powder puff and add some pixie dust!

*scars caused to veins when junkies inject drugs into their bodies
**junkies are sad souls who get high injecting illicit drugs directly into their bloodstreams