Cream of Potato Soup

Well, Ev's regular doc is out of the office until next Monday, so today we bit the bullet and went to the fill-in. The nurse at Blues on Call told us we should take Evan as soon as we could, because it sounded like he had some severe esophageal problems that needed to be taken care of immediately, and he may need many diagnostic tests, and medication or surgery.

So Mike rushed home and we took E in and, after waiting over an hour to see the doctor, heard the verdict. He's got a weak muscle at the entrance to his stomach (all babies do) and it will clear up in the next year or so. Until it does, we should feed him less and more often. Great. I'm glad nothing major is wrong, but I don't know that feeding him less is going to solve the problem. If I feed him more often, when do I nurse? And do I just leave him still hungry if I think he's had enough? He's only 15 pounds, 4 ounces as it is, and I don't want to slow his growth any. It's just such a worry.

We'll keep an eye on it, and if this doesn't help, we'll go back in next week. I'm wondering if doing feedings this way will help with his night wakings and discomfort--if not, I guess I won't get any sleep until he's almost two. Oh well.

Tonight Ev and I went with Lisa to do her baby registry. It was loads of fun, and Ev tried his best to behave. He didn't do a bad job, so he got a toy from Lisa and one from me too, for being such a good boy. It was neat to help her out though--I got to give my opinion on everything, and tell her what she needs and doesn't, what she'll use and what she won't. I enjoyed it. We're beat now though, so it's a little play time and off to bed.

Posted by jenny at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evan and I have returned. It was a nice break but we are glad to be home again. The only trouble with taking Ev on a trip is that he gets totally thrown off his schedule. He gets so excited about new things and then sleeps poorly, and eats at weird times, and all that jazz. Hopefully we won't have too much trouble getting him back to the usual routine.

So I'll give you some highlights of our trip, in a numbered list, just for fun.
1. Ev is going to be a leopard for Halloween. His costume is super cute.
2. I just love Babies R Us. I wish we had one here in Erie.
3. I think E is going to be crawling within the next few weeks.
4. We've been testing some soft table foods with Ev. He loves pancakes, but hates watermelon.
5. I finally got a new nursing bra, since I think we're going to be nursing for a while yet. I actually went to the Motherhood store and got measured for one, and it turns out I've been wearing the right size all along. I won't share the size with you, because I don't want to frighten anyone.
6. Evan is sick of riding in the car.
7. My living room floor looks like a toy store threw up on it.

Speaking of which, I think E's having a bit of a problem with reflux. He's always spit up, but it's worse now than ever. I think this might be the source of his discomfort and night wakings. I'll see if I can get him into the doctor this week. I just want him to feel better.

And still, no teeth.

Posted by jenny at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evan and I are off to Cleveland for a few days. We'll see you all when we get back. Have a good week!

Posted by jenny at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today Ev was followed up by the Early Intervention folks for his six month (corrected age) appointment. He was evaluated for about an hour and a half, and was mostly cooperative. He wouldn't pull himself to standing for them, but what can you do. Babies just don't perform when you want them to!!

At his last eval in March, he was delayed in all areas of development according to his actual age. Today he was only delayed in gross and fine motor skills, where he tested at 6 months. In all other areas (cognitive, receptive and expressive language, socio-emotional, and adaptive/self-help) he scored at or above his actual age. These tests don't correct for prematurity, so it's a great improvement from the previous eval to this one. It looks like he's catching up.

It was a good evaluation for Ev, but also nice for me to ask questions and get ideas about his development. We were able to spend time and talk about areas I had concerns in, and that was really nice. They'll see him again in March 2003.

P.S. You'll be happy to know that Evan's head no longer has any traces of flatness. Woo hoo!

Posted by jenny at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evan is eight months old today. As we've been saying a lot lately, "Yay, Evan!" He's such a big boy now!

Posted by jenny at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was my 26th birthday. Woo hoo! I guess it's a little hard to get excited for my birthday now that I'm not a kid anymore, but I still hold some secret delight in getting that extra attention! Now I have Evan's birthday to get excited about instead.

The day started off terribly...I didn't get much sleep (partly my fault, partly Ev's doing) so I woke up feeling yucky. I asked Evan if he could be a super good boy as his present to Mommy. Of course that meant he was going to be extra whiny today. He knows just how to get me! But we muddled through.

Things picked up once Cara came to visit. She brought food and ice cream and general sunshine, and that helped a lot. She took Ev out of my hair for a little while and gave me someone to chat with, which was wonderful. She also found a new trick--she blew bubbles with her gum for Evan, and when they popped he would laugh and squeal with delight. This is going to come in handy. I even took some movies of the two of them together--it was so cute.

From there we went to my Dad's for pizza and cake, and we got to hang out up there for the evening. My mom even came up to spend some time, which was just really nice. Evan got some presents too--Grandma brought him some books to read. He was excited, especially liking the one about the five pumpkins. So the day ended out well, with the gang of us siblings and significant others watching the Muppet Show dvd's that Mike had given me. I found them hilarious, and an instant trip back to my early childhood. So the day ended on a high note.

Now Ev sleeps peacefully, his busy day ended. I am about to join him, as all this birthday stuff wore me out too. Thanks to everyone for the good wishes. I'm sure this next year will be a great one.

Posted by jenny at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you can, look at the webcam picture of Ev on the right side of this page. Why, it's Evan in his crib! What's he doing there? Well, he's STANDING UP.

And this is not a posed picture, friends. Ev was sitting up playing in his crib just now while I checked my e-mail, and I look over and he is standing up. I put him back down on his rear and watch him this time as he works his way over to the side, uses the rails to pull himself to his knees, and then reaches for the top bar with his hands to pull himself to standing.

And now he's just standing there, chillin', grinning widely with a sense of accomplishment. I clapped for him "Yay, Evan!" and he was just so pleased. Oh, it looks like he also just figured out how to lower himself back down. Amazing.

This is a phenomenal day.

Posted by jenny at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evan, that most beautiful, most wonderful, most loved baby in the whole world, is up this morning and playing in his car. And Mommy is smiling because Evan slept in his bed all night long (well, until 4:30, which is pretty much like all night long). I was so happy, and yet I did wake up several times during the night to peek at him and wonder why he was still asleep. When he got up at 4:30 and came to bed with us, he slept in until 7:30, so everyone is very happy this morning. Oh, may this continue.

Still no teeth. I've given up. He's just going to have to eat soft things for the rest of his life.

Yesterday Sarah (Jerry's gf) came over to observe/evaluate E for one of her master's PT classes. She did a good job with him, and knew what she was talking about, so that was good. I guess Ev is testing at an 8-9 month level which is appropriate. She said he was trying really hard to pull to standing, and is doing all the pre-crawling stuff, so we should probably get that baby gate in!

That's it for now. Today is baby laundry day as Ev is out of clothes and his hamper overflows.

Posted by jenny at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Love that highchair. I mean it, it is wonderful. Evan ate lunch in there today (mixed fruit and a zwie toast, if you must know) and it was so much easier. And E seemed to like it too.

Last night was another rough one (though not nearly as bad as Saturday night). We'll get to the bottom of this. Being a parent is sometimes like being a detective. Trying to figure out what's making your baby mad when he can't tell you--looking for clues, eliminating certain things. It's interesting, to say the least.

E's napping now though, so I'm going to take this time to get a bit done around the house. I'll start by getting all the sticky toast bits off the highchair...

Posted by jenny at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Update: still tired, but functioning. Evan seems none the worse for wear.

Today Evan got a highchair. Well, not a real highchair, a folding booster seat with removable tray highchair. It fits neatly into our cramped apartment and is just right for feeding a mobile baby. Plus it will be great for those visits to Grandma and/or Grandpa's house. We finally bit the bullet today and bought one because Ev upended his turkey with green beans all over that table during dinner. While I was tending to that mess, he got his fingers in the pork and sauerkraut and almost dumped the gravy. Bad scene. He's much quicker and craftier now than he was even a week ago.

And now, a word from our baby friend, Evan: ldsdsksuuiljkscccccccccccckxnhhhhhhhhhhhhhhjkjzkjdszikkjdxdj.

Posted by jenny at 08:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No sleep last night, none. And we can't figure out why. All we know is we are tired.

Ev had a busy day yesterday, visiting Mikaele at work and going shopping for diapers. In the evening, Grandma and Papa stopped by on their way back from Rochester, and they brought him some new toys to play with. He fell asleep around 8:30, but that didn't last long, and he was up screaming before his grandparents even hit the road.

I eventually got him back to sleep just before 11, and he did sleep about two hours, but that was it. He was up every hour for the rest of the night crying, and did not want to settle down. It wasn't his teeth, or hunger, or anything easy like that. So we just did our best for the rest of the night until we got up for good around 5:45.

Daddy's been up since then, but Mommy and Ev took a little nap around 8, which helped to take the edge off. We are all still really tired (at least Mike and I are) and we're not looking forward to the long day ahead.

In other news, Ev started second stage baby foods yesterday. His first meal was turkey and sweet potatoes, which he loved (sorry Aunt Jo). We're hoping that wasn't the cause of his night waking. It's excting though, because there is so much more to choose from now. He's got chicken and turkey, and mixed veggies and fruit with yogurts and such. We're taking it slow though--we don't want to rush into anything too crazy and have him not feel well.

Not much spitting up the last two days, which is good. We'll continue to watch. For now, Ev is off to have a fruit wagon wheel snack and then some sleep time.

Posted by jenny at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today is Friday the 13th (cue the scary music). You can be sure Ev and I are watching our backs. We don't want any bad luck around here.

No teeth yet, but I'm starting to suspect another problem. Evan has been coughing/choking a lot lately, mostly on his own spit or spit up breastmilk. He hasn't really been doing that since he started solids, so it's been a big surprise the past few days to get puked on. He got me good a few times over the last week, and he got Mike good last night. Even at his NICU appointment, Ev started sputtering and coughing over swallowing some drool, and he had a hard time recovering. His eyes tear up and get red and sometimes his lips even get a little bluish. I'm thinking we should have it checked out--I don't want it to become a major problem.

That's all the news from here really. We're looking forward to a quiet weekend, and hoping we can get some stuff done around the house. We'll see how that goes--we always enter the weekend with good intentions and end up doing not much of anything!

Posted by jenny at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Still................................no..................................teeth..................................................

Posted by jenny at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Everything went smashingly today at Ev's NICU follow-up. He tested at or above his actual age (7 months) for development of motor, cognitive and language skills. He's still a little small for his age (15 pounds now) but he's growing steadily and that's the important thing. So all is well, and they'll see us again in May.

We also stopped at the NICU to say hi to some of E's nurses. Luckily, quite a few of them were there. The NICU has less than half the babies it had in January and February, so there were less staff there as well. Everyone cooed at him and were excited to see how big he had gotten. They even took his picture to put on the "graduates" bulletin board. It was really nice to see everyone again, as they were such a big part of our lives for a while. Those nurses are just wonderful, caring people.

That's about it--Ev's beat so I think he's going to sleep through his first Monday Night Football game. But Daddy and I will stay up to watch. Go Stillers!

Posted by jenny at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another lovely weekend here in Erie, and we've spent it taking advantage of our fair city. Yesterday was free museum day, so Mike, Ev and I decided to hit the Maritime Museum and the Watson-Curtze Mansion, where Uncle Jerry was working. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon, and we learned much more about our history. Ev is never too young to start appreciating history and culture!

Today we went back downtown to the Bicentennial Tower because Mike has never been. It was a great view as always, though Evan wasn't really impressed. We took lots of pictures though, and even some movies. Mike really enjoyed it.

Still no teeth, but things seem a little better. Ev is still having pain, but I think we are managing it more effectively. We're only doing Tylenol when absolutely necessary, and instead using cold washcloths, teething rings, and baby cookies. All this really does help, but I'll still be relieved when teeth appear.

Tomorrow is a big day for Evan. We return to the NICU for his 6 month follow up evaluation. They'll measure his progress and let us know what they think of how he's doing. Mike's taking a half day to attend. I think we're all excited about it. Even though the whole birth/NICU experience was only a month and a half long, it's still something we think about every day. In some ways we're still processing what happened, especially since Evan's not going to be "caught up" for a while yet. It really had quite an effect on us, and became part of our lives. It will be nice to go back and hear what they think, and maybe see some of E's nurses. We'll update you all tomorrow night.

Posted by jenny at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've been taking a ton of pictures, so here is a new gallery. Enjoy!

Posted by Mike at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those of you on tooth watch with us, there are still no teeth. None. Not even nubs. What is going on here, I would like to know.

Last night E had bananas for the first time. He loved them, all mixed up with his cereal. So now he's through all the stage one foods (except prunes, which I refuse to give him. I mean, really, prunes?). I think we'll give him another two weeks or so on those before we move on to the more complex stuff. I might even throw in another cereal, like oatmeal. Who knows, I'm crazy like that.

I'm almost anxious for the weather to turn cool. I know it will by the end of this month. All of Ev's 6-9 month clothes are long sleeved and pants and stuff, so I want to get him wearing all the cute new stuff without puke stains on it. The summer stuff has served us well, but we are ready to move on. Plus, Mike bought me a sweet Allegheny sweatshirt yesterday that I am anxious to get into. I love fall.

Ev is done playing in his car, so I'm off. Hopefully we'll have good news over the weekend.

Posted by jenny at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Still no teeth. UGH!!! Ev is miserable, and so are we. Last night we went to K-Mart to get him some of that Zwieback toast at the suggestion of my mother. Now, I don't love K-Mart usually, but they did have those plus the size two silicone nuk binkies that I have been looking for all over the place. I was so pleased. We also got some biter biscuits.

Ev really liked the toast, he just kind of sucked on it until it was all mushy. The biter biscuits were something else though. He gnawed the crap out of those things and they would not break. They just made a lot of brown, sticky slobber all over everything--it was too funny. And he liked them, that's the important thing. Thanks for the good idea, Mom!

We still had a rough night though, and probably slept 8 hours between the three of us. Not great. I feel so bad that Evan's in pain, and I wish I could do more to make it better. I also wish we could get more sleep. I feel sorry for Mike driving to Meadville at 7 in the morning after a night like last night. Yikes.

Those teeth HAVE to be ready to come in by now...

Posted by jenny at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evan had a very busy weekend the past few days. Friday we went to Allegheny with Grandpa Feige to walk around campus, and then meet Daddy for a party at the president's house. Ev was a real star there and charmed all the ladies, and Mike and I had fun too.

Saturday was the German Heritage Festival. E dance to some good old German folk tunes and polkas, and had fun with all the extended family members that were there. He even got to have some knockwurst mit sauerkraut the next day, if you know what I mean!

Sunday was the Labor Day picnic, and E had a pretty good time there too. He played with everyone outside until it got too buggy and we were forced to go inside. We even took a walk down to the lake. But he was glad to get home to bed though, because being outside so much really wears him out.

Today was quiet, as Daddy had to work and we were tired from the weekend. We did go to Grandpa's for a little while though, and to the grocery store. Such excitement!

Still no teeth, and E still seems pretty bothered about it. We're making good use of teething rings and are keeping the Tylenol flowing. I can tell that it's helping, but you certainly don't want to be around when it wears off. Today I swore I could see those teeth just under the gums, but it's probably wishful thinking on my part. Mike and I are just dying for these teeth to come in--the last two weeks have felt like a year.

I am going to call the doctor back tomorrow or Wednesday if E's no better. I hate to keep him on medicine for days at a time. I just know we're going to wake up tomorrow and see two new white teeth on the bottom of his mouth. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Posted by jenny at 09:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)