3rd Year Wellness Check

Colin had his 3 year wellness check on Thursday and things went great! As usual, I could not believe that it was already time for the visit and was thrilled to see his official stats. They are:

Height: 38.3 inches (3'2)

Weight: 32.3 lbs

He is in the 75th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight, which is exactly the same as last year. Colin eats like a bird, so I was anxious about his growth. Dr. Martin assured me that he is very healthy, has a low BMI, and is growing right on target. I asked about needing Pediasure (or something like that) since he seems to eat so little, but he told me that was unnecessary and that Colin is clearly getting everything he needs. Whew! I felt much better after that! He had to have two vaccinations, which went over like a ton of bricks. At his two year, he did not need any, so Colin has not had a shot in recent memory and had no idea what was coming. It actually went worse than I imagined...the nurse laid him down and I held his arms, which he had no problem with. Then she put the first needle in and he absolutely flipped out. She was super fast and it was over in a flash, but Colin was beside himself. He was screaming at the nurse, "WHY?! WHY DID YOU HURT ME?? WHY?! MOMMY! SHE HURT ME!"...yikes! In retrospect, I clearly should have explained what was coming rather than blindside him. He would not have been thrilled about getting a shot, but it probably would have gone a lot better if I had explained it to him first! OOPS! He cried for the rest of the time, despite being given a lollipop, three stickers and a coin for the toy machine. That nurse better hope Colin doesn't lay eyes on her again. ;-)

During the visit, Dr. Martin spent time with Colin and we were finally able to sit down and talk about a lot of things that have come up in the past couple of years. He thinks that Colin is probably dealing with sensory processing disorder, which goes hand in hand with ADD and being highly gifted, both of which he shows the major markers for. Now, this was not at all a surprise to me and was not upsetting in the least. It actually made me feel better! Colin has so many "quirks", a lot of which I have blogged about and many that I haven't. Dr. Martin was able to give me lots of help and good ideas, even in our relatively short discussion, and even shared his own personal story with me. It turns out that he shares Colin's exact diagnosis! I already felt blessed to have such a wonderful pediatrician and now it seems he really is the perfect person for the job! He talked to me about himself and shared a little about his own life as a highly gifted kid with sensory issues. It was wonderful and at the very least, I now assume that Colin will also be a doctor. ;-) Colin is now on a 5 month long waitlist to get into a wonderful therapy group, which our insurance covers, thank heavens. Once he gets in, he will be assigned his own therapist that will stay with him for as long as it is deemed necessary. I am so excited for this next stage. They will do extensive testing and we will find out exactly what we are dealing with and a lot more specifics about Colin. I have talked to their office at length and I have a great feeling about this. It will be so wonderful to have someone teach Colin (and ME!) how best to help regulate his responses to life and how to learn and grow going forward. Our family has a long road ahead of us and as time goes on, it becomes more and more evident that Colin's success in school (and childhood in general) depends largely on me being his advocate. I am more than ready to help him navigate the world and I know that he is going to do great things...we just have to take it one day at a time.

Lots of Stuff, Not Necessarily in Order!

I can't believe that I let two weeks pass without posting. I HATE it when I do that. Our giant snow storm prompted me to finally post a few days ago, but I am just not happy about the big gap. There are several reasons for my disappearing act, the main being that Colin does not take naps anymore. I always posted during Colin's naps...even if I could not get a post finished, I could at least get it well underway. Then when I put Colin to bed at night, I could quickly tie up the loose ends of the post and get it up. I don't have a moment to myself during the day anymore, which means that when Colin goes to bed, I have loads of things to do. If I sit back on the computer and post, I don't get any time with Jer. Therefore, I have not been posting. I have to re-organize my time during the day and work on posts in little intervals when I have a free moment rather than wait for a large chunk of time to devote to writing. I started my cooking blog and have made no less than 50 meals that have gone unposted. I just have to prioritize and spending some precious time with Jer comes before writing about my dinner escapades. All of this made me think about Pioneer Woman...how on God's green earth does that woman work a ranch, home school four children, keep up two giantly famous blogs, and cook all of that food???? She is obviously a supermom and there are moments when I look down at the sweatpants that I have been wearing for 3 days straight and wonder if I am doing a good job. I think that all mothers worry about this, so I know that I am not alone. Plus, winter gives me the blah's. So that is part of my problem, too. :-)

In other absolutely not fun news, I am currently undergoing all kinds of tests to figure out what is causing a big pain in my side...literally! I started hurting on Sunday evening and it has not let up at all, although it has not gotten worse. I just have a really annoying pain on my right side, sort of right in the middle of my side. I had a CAT scan yesterday that included drinking large amounts of something called "barium", which was not fun. So far they have found gallstones, which makes me feel old. :-) I had an ultrasound this afternoon to get a better look at my gallbladder and hope to have more answers soon. It is hard to chase a two year old around when your side constantly hurts, but I feel very lucky that it seems to be nothing serious at all. I was worried it was my appendix or kidney stones and I am VERY glad that neither of those are the problem!!

Jer's step-brother Andy and his family are in town at the moment and we shared dinner with them last night at my in-laws house. It was a WONDERFUL night, even with the pain in my side! Andy and his wife Sue are the sweetest people and their sons, Jake and Noah, are the most precious boys. They are so amazingly well-behaved and they were incredibly sweet to Colin. In fact, Colin has been talking about them all day long. They were so patient with Colin and showered him with attention, which made the night so lovely. Colin was taken with everyone and during his "goodnights" last night, he added Andy, Sue, Jake and Noah in without my prompting. It was absolutely precious! Another family friend was also in attendance and she had her four year old daughter Katie there as well. Watching Colin play with all the kids reminded me how much fun I can look forward to when Colin has a sibling. He does not need my constant attention when he plays with other children and he seems so happy. I am looking forward to the day that we have another little one around here!

Oh, and I can't forget to add that I attended a surprise 30th birthday party for my very good friend Kimberly last Saturday! A big group of us showed up at Kim's parents house right as they finished up their "Valentine's" dinner and I think we got her good!! :-) Jer had to stay home with Colin, but I still had the best night celebrating with Kim. I absolutely adore my precious friends! Here we are being giant dorks, which is EXACTLY why I love these girls. It makes my heart happy! :-) We have big plans coming up in March to attend Phantom of the Opera in Dallas, complete with dress up clothes and dinner! I literally cannot wait!!

Another Year, Another Loving Ode to Dr. White

Today, I went to see The Best Doctor Ever, otherwise known as my OB/GYN. If you will recall from last years post, I am utterly and completely in love with this wonderful man. He is a saint in my opinion and I was just as excited to see him this time as I was before. My sister came over to watch Colin and I stopped on the way to get a Pumpkin Spice latte from Starbucks. Have I mentioned how much I love fall? Anyway, I arrive at the office and park it on the giant leather couch in the waiting room and proceed to drink my lovely coffee (despite the "no food or drinks" sign) and read emails on my phone. It occurred to me during this moment that it is a sad day when your yearly gynecologist visit is the most relaxing morning you have had lately. Being a mom can be a very humbling experience at times. Typical of my very busy doctor, he was running behind but I did not mind and enjoyed my moments to myself. When I finally got called back, my favorite two nurses were there as usual and I (of course) talked all about Colin and how I could hardly believe that two years have passed. The best part of the visit was the weigh-in...I had them check and I lost 15 lbs since my last visit! I still have much more that I need to lose, but I was VERY excited to see that I am on the right track. When Dr. White finally walked into the exam room, I was overcome yet again by how much I adore him. Just his presence sends a calm feeling over me. I have trouble accurately explaining how I feel about him; he has a way about his speech and mannerism that is just so serene. He was born to be a doctor, of that I am sure. We talked about all sorts of health things and about Colin. We talked about being parents and me having another child soon. (hopefully soon!) When we started talking about it, he said "I really enjoyed your pregnancy with Colin...I think you should surprise me with a treat instead of a trick for Halloween! What do you think?". Could he be any more wonderful!? :-) Halloween may be wishful thinking, but I must say that I look forward to being cared for by him again during my next pregnancy.

In other news, my sister is still pregnant. STILL. We have all been placing bets on the day and I say she is going to give birth on 9/4. Just putting that out there, universe. :-)

Colin's ROUGH Week!

Yet another week has past since my last post, but I promise that I had good reason this time! I was back to single mama status for 11 days with Jer on his trip to Europe and insanity ensued as usual. Things went downhill last Saturday morning. Colin was in very poor spirits all day, but I assumed he was in a bad mood because his dad was gone. The older Colin gets, the more upset he gets about Jer leaving town. I chalked up his bad mood to that and carried on with our day. Our good friends were throwing a 2nd birthday party for their son on Saturday night and I really thought it would cheer Colin up. Sadly, I could not have been more wrong. I had to go solo to the party, obviously, and after about 15 minutes I really really needed a second pair of hands. Colin was in such a bad mood...he was crying endlessly for no reason and things that normally would not bother him were only making things worse. There was a beautiful display of cupcakes on the kitchen table and Colin went to reach for one. When I told him we had to wait a bit, he completely lost it (and knocked my full wine glass out of my hands). I tried to get him back on track by taking him outside to play and at that point he spotted the beautiful pool in the backyard. He made a beeline for it and I had to snatch him up rather quickly, which startled him...thus pushing him past the point of no return. I have never seen him this upset in all his two years. It was unsettling to say the least. At this point, I was heading into panic attack mode. Dinner was being served and it was a packed house while Colin was screaming and laying on the floor. In an effort not to completely ruin the party, I literally ran out the door with my poor child in tow. I thought to regroup in the car, but Colin continued to scream bloody murder, so we just drove straight home. I left the party without even a nod to our host and felt horrible about it!

The next morning we packed up and left for my parents house...I decided that he needed a change in scenery and I needed another set of hands! The drive was great and Colin seemed just fine at first, but he woke up that night with a screaming fever. By the time morning rolled around, Colin and I were the first arrivals at Direct Care to see a doctor. The pediatrician took one look in his ears and cringed, calling me over to look for myself. It was HORRIBLE! Both ears were severely infected to the point that it gave me chills! Colin got a shot of antibiotics immediately and we were sent home with an oral prescription as well. He was completely lethargic for two days...he did not get out of bed at all. I certainly had my answer for his bad mood the weekend before! The poor little man was sick as a dog and I had no idea! We ended up staying at my parents house for a few days longer, but we are finally back home now. Colin is still sick..he took two naps today (unheard of!) and spent most of the day laying in bed with me ( REALLY unheard of!). He is obviously better than he was, but is still far from 100%. Today was his last day of antibiotics and he now has a red rash all over his stomach, legs and cheeks. I think this is from the meds, but I still plan to take him back to our pedi on Monday morning to double check his ears and make sure he is totally well. I don't like that he still feels so exhausted and under the weather. Hopefully he will be a new man tomorrow.

The good news is that Jer is home! It is so great to have our little family back together! I was able to go out shopping this afternoon...my sister is having her baby shower next weekend and I had a blast getting to finally shop for girly stuff! I am like a kid in a candy store! YEA FOR BOWS!! :-)

The Official Two Year Stats!

Colin's two year well baby check was today! Here are the stats:

29.5 lbs (50-75th percentile)
35.5 inches long (75-90th percentile)

His giant noggin is still in the 95th percentile just as it has been since the day he was born. :-) We had to see a different doctor in the practice for this visit, which I was not exactly happy about. Dr. Fricker has always done the well visits and I don't like change. However, we have seen the other doctor before and she is incredibly sweet, so it turned out just fine. She was impressed with his speech and noted that she understood most everything he said, which is awesome at his age. He did very good despite the visit taking forever because of a switch to some new software (I swear that I only show up at that office when things are falling apart!) and got two lollipops on the way out as a reward. We got up to date on his shots at his last visit, so no pokes today at all! That was good news all the way around. She informed me as we were leaving that he does not have another well visit until he is THREE! In a YEAR. It made me feel kind of like we graduated today...almost as if it was the final exam and babyhood is officially over. Sniff sniff!

In other news, Jer left today on a giant trip that includes stops in New York, Canada, Switzerland and Russia. I really should have been a pilot. Don't worry about me...I will just be here watching Noggin. haha! Honestly, we do already miss him a ton, but we are sure looking forward to seeing some cool pictures and getting good presents when he gets home. :-)

No Words

My back went out AGAIN on Sunday. There are not enough words to express how tired I am of this! Luckily, it locked up without completely knocking me to the floor, so I was able to carefully sit on the couch while Jer was working and still take care of Colin, albeit from a laying down position while hollering at him. After the ambulance experience of a year ago, I am scared to death of being rendered helpless again. If Jer had not been home when that happened, I don't honestly know what I would have done. I went back to my family doctor yesterday morning and he sent me to a new sports therapy physician. I saw him today and he ordered an MRI and spinal x-ray, which obviously will require yet another doctors appointment. I am glad, however, that this doctor seems to be taking an aggressive approach. I will be very happy to follow whatever instructions he has in an effort to keep this from happening again. I have never had an MRI before, but I don't imagine it will be that big of a deal.


I have quite a story from yesterday to share. My doctor called in a prescription for a round of steroids and a small amount of pain meds. I have never had a problem taking prescription pain meds...they don't bother me in the least, don't upset my stomach, and don't give me a rush at all. However, they are absolutely the only thing that will touch the pain in my back when it locks up. When my back goes out, it knocks me to my knees, literally. As I have written about before, I am scared to death of being alone with Colin when this happens. Therefore, if my doctor gives me pain meds, I make those 20 pills last for six months. I take them ONLY in an emergency, so that they are around when this happens. I don't touch them unless I am desperate...I save them in the back of the medicine cabinet. I share this because of what happened yesterday. Jer picked up my prescriptions and headed over to get the car inspected. He put the medicine in the center console of the car, still stapled in the CVS bag they came in. After the inspection, he got in the car and opened up the console. He noticed that the bag was tampered with...just slightly smudged and a little wrinkled. He opened up the pill bottle and sure enough, three pills were missing. The script was for 20 pills and there were 17 in the bottle. Jer came straight home with the bag and told me what happened. I can honestly say that I have NEVER in all my life been SO MAD. The hair on my arms is standing up even as I type this. I called CVS and made sure the prescription was filled correctly before I started my rampage. Of course, the pharmacist assured me that they count and recount pain meds. The guy at the lube shop definitely stole my pills. I called the police and filed a report and then called the shop and spoke to the manager. In all fairness, he did seem upset and alarmed that this happened and assured me he would get with the owner and they would get back to me. I figure that we at least deserve a free service of some kind for the theft. Of course, I have not heard a peep back today from anyone. I know it is only three silly pills, which really makes no difference in the long run of life, but I feel SO VIOLATED. Some asshole put his grubby hands into my private prescription medication and helped himself to it. He also thought we were stupid enough not to notice if he only took "a few". As if we would not see that the tightly stapled bag had been messed with. I feel sick about it....I would give anything to do physical damage to this person. Whether it be three pills or a stereo or a car...the feeling of someone stealing from you is horrid. I suppose that it is a good thing that Jer noticed it first because if I had been the one there, I would have raised some serious hell in that place. Level headed Jer forced me to call the police first, then call the manager and would not let me go down there to do bodily damage to that jerk. I am STILL SO MAD! Jer put it well yesterday...that piece of sh*% had no idea if that script was for someone with a bad back or terminal cancer. What a low life. I swear that I lost a good bit of faith in humanity. To cool off, I will post pictures of my precious baby. At least HE is pure goodness!

18 Months Old, A New President, and Wellness Appointment!

Colin turned 18 months old yesterday and I really can't believe it! He had quite the historic day on which to celebrate...we watched Fox News literally ALL DAY LONG. Although I did not vote for Obama, I was overwhelmed with happiness that our country has progressed to the point to put an African American in office. Being the sappy person that I am, I cried throughout the day. I love being an American, I love that we are a nation that has peaceful exchanges of power, I love the pomp and circumstance that accompanies the inauguration of a new president, I loved that Obama and Michelle got out and walked during the parade, I loved how precious their little girls looked, I loved how young and beautiful they looked at their first ball when they danced to "At Last" (which is also our wedding song!) and I especially love that Colin will never know a time that a black man had not been our president. I don't believe that there is any place for partisanship on inauguration day and I felt the day was simply beautiful. During all the coverage, it was so evident that it was a special day, regardless of party affiliation. Now if we can elect a woman in the coming years, all will be right with the world!

Today was Colin's 18 month appointment with Dr. Fricker. Here are the stats:

27.5 lbs (75th percentile)
33 1/4 inches long (75 - 90th percentile)

All the percentages are still the same as always, although he did have a bigger growth spurt than the last time we were there. His head circumference is still in the 95 - 97th percentile...I laughed when Dr. Fricker pointed it out. We sure do have some big heads in our family! I can't remember if I ever told the story on the blog, but when I was in high school, I had to have a custom drill team hat made because my head was too big for the ones in stock. I am really not kidding, we have some big noggins! :-) The doctor said, "Bigger head, bigger brain!". hehehe! I love it!

Colin is doing great, but still not a big talker. He says cookie, oh no, I did, no no no, toodles (from Mickey Mouse) and Mama and Dada (although those two are still more "maaaaa" and "dadada"). We talked at length and the pedi said his honest opinion is that we don't need to get any evaluations for it yet. He said that two years old is the magic number for boys and speech and that Colin is obviously easily understanding me and following instructions. He told me to relax and just keep doing what we are doing. He has the six words they look for at this age and is on track. He also talks in his own language all day long, so I know lots of new words are around the corner. I was glad to hear Dr. Fricker agree with me...I am no longer worried about his speech. He is so smart and intuitive and amazes me daily with everything he comprehends. I know he will talk more when he is ready. He again told me that I was doing a great job and that Colin was such a handsome, happy boy. What more can you ask for!? :-)

I was shocked when I headed up to the front desk on my way out...I always make the next wellness appointment while I am there and stick the card on the fridge when I get home. This time, the receptionist looked at me and said, "Is there something else?" and I said, "I need to make his next appointment.". Her response? "Our computers don't go out that far." WHAT?!?! That's right...Colin does not have to go back until he is two! In JULY! SIX MONTHS FROM NOW! I, of course, turned this into a mushy moment and kissed him extra hard when I put him in his car seat. He is getting so big...no more frequent baby appointments!!!

My Aching Back

Well, my back problem is rearing it's ugly head at the moment and I am none too pleased. Yesterday morning, I noticed the exact same strange pain in the dead center of my back. This was the same pain that I felt about 24 hours before ending up in the damn ambulance, so needless to say, I flipped out. There is no way that I am going through that again. I called the back guy that helped me last winter and called in my sister to drive out here and babysit. I showed up at the appointment only to find out that 1) the stupid receptionist is still incredibly rude and a gigantic idiot and 2) I had to get a new referral from our family doctor to make sure my insurance would cover it. That seemed odd since we have PPO on purpose to avoid referral messes, but I digress. I had to LEAVE and make an appointment for today with Dr. Green. Jer stayed home from work to make sure that I did not pick Colin up and have to call 911 again and allow me a chance to go to the doctor. It took literally all afternoon...my doctor was running over an hour and a half late and then it took CVS almost an hour to fill the scripts. Luckily the visit paid off...I now have pain pills and and a series of steroids that should keep me from locking up before I can visit the back doctor again on Friday. I have not been doing any of the exercises that I am supposed to be doing for my back...I know that Dr. Smith will have something to say about that when I see him. I hope he can work his miracle again because lord knows I don't want to deal with this over Christmas!!! I have stuff to do!!

Monday - Tuesday Updates

Well, Colin threw up again all over the place last night before bed. He had been having such a great day, too! I thought we had turned the corner, but not so much. He was acting just fine, although I did notice that he was not very hungry at dinner. He seemed okay, so I decided to give him a bottle at bedtime...bad idea. It was not pretty. I was rocking him at the time and now we have to have the cushions on my beautiful glider replaced because the stupid covers don't come off. Trust me, there is no salvaging the ones we have. Needless to say, it was not a good night. I ended up in tears simply because it is making me crazy seeing Colin sick like this.

I called the nurse this morning to ask about getting more nausea meds and they called back and told me they wanted to see him in the office. So we went for another doctor visit. After a ton of questions, we were basically directed to wait and see. They sent me home with five plastic vials and all kinds of instructions for poop samples. If he is still sick by Thursday, they want to see the poop in the office. Once again, he seems better....I am really hoping that last night was honestly the end. He went to bed tonight without issue, thank goodness!! He seemed happy this evening, so my prayers tonight are that he is done with this. I sure don't want him to miss Halloween!!

The big question is where did he get this? The only place he really could have gotten it was one of the playgrounds we went to last week. I know I can't keep Colin inside like a hermit, but I would really like to after this one!! UGH!

SICK SICK SICK!!!!!!!!!!

I am here and alive. BARELY. This has been the worst five days ever. After I wrote my last post, Colin woke up on Thursday morning literally covered from head to toe in vomit and diarrhea (sorry in advance for this gross post!). I spent the whole day cleaning his room from top to bottom. The poor little angel was so sick and it literally broke my heart. By Thursday night, I just managed to get Colin into bed before it hit me like a ton of bricks. I have can honestly say that I have not been that sick in probably 12 years or so. After several hours of throwing up, I called my mom in a panic. My saint of a mama got in her car and drove to me in the middle of the night. She arrived at 3:30 in the morning and it was the most wonderful moment of my life. Before I knew it, she was putting ice cold wash clothes on my forehead and scurrying around me making everything better. Thank the Lord above for Mama's, that is all I have to say about that. I was up sick for 12 hours straight, so no sleep for me. Friday is a complete blur of my mother taking care of both of us. Colin was better on Friday, but woke up throwing up again yesterday morning, so we spent the better part of the day at the children's urgent care place. Once we finally made it home, we had to disinfect everything in the whole house. Then my poor wonderful mother comes down with it late last night! UGH!!!!! Seriously, this is HORRIBLE!!! Jer just got home from his work trip a couple of hours ago, so I am sure that he will have it by tomorrow, although I am sure praying that he somehow avoids it.

Colin is not well, but he is getting better. He has not thrown up today, which is such a blessing. He got some great pills from the doctor yesterday that melt on his tongue to help with the nausea and vomiting and those have been a huge help. I can't wait for him to be well...it kills me to see the light out of his eyes like this! I feel like our house is under siege at the moment!! I do feel much better today, so that is good news. What a MESS!!!

Happy 15 Months, Colin!

Today is Colin's 15 month birthday! We just got home from his well baby visit and the newest stats are:

Weight: 25 lbs, 5 oz (50 - 75 percentile)

Length: 32.5 inches (75 - 90 percentile)

The stats are in the exact same percentiles as the last visit, which is great. Dr. Fricker was very happy to see Colin and was impressed as usual at how happy he is and how very tall he is. He is looking so much more like a little boy than a baby these days. Most everything was good news and standard procedure. Colin still drinks milk from a bottle at naps and bedtime, which I am going to begin weaning him from now. He has molars coming in and one has already hit the surface, which I did not notice until the pedi opened Colin's mouth and showed me. It looks really painful! I also brought up my concern about Colin not talking much yet. Dr. Fricker said they do like to see 4 to 5 words at 15 months and Colin is just not a talker yet. The pedi did not seem worried, but did tell me that the state will send a speech therapist out to the house to evaluate him if we would like. He pointed out that speech tends to happen in large jumps, like going from no words to 5 words in a day or two and that at this point he is not too far behind. It really can't hurt to get him evaluated and if he does need help talking, I certainly want to start sooner than later! We take Colin back for his second flu shot in 4 weeks, so at that point we will make the appointment with the therapist if he is still not talking then. He babbles a lot and the doctor was glad to see that he clearly understands me, just does not talk back. But again, I don't want to put off helping him if he needs it!! We shall see!

14 Months Old and Trying to Get Well!

Colin is officially 14 months old as of a couple of days ago...he was so sickly this weekend that I totally forgot to write about it! On Sunday we took him over to his Mom Mom and Pop Pop's house (Jer's parents) for lunch and some play time with their wiener doggies. He had a great time playing and was in good spirits, but crashed and burned when we got home. His stomach aches keep waking him out of his naps and his horrid poops are still going on!! We went back to the doctor today because the diarrhea is not improved at all, although the number of them has gone down from about 15 on Saturday to 6 today. The doctor checked him out and he is still not dehydrated (thank the lord he loves Pedialite!) and doing okay. We have to keep up with the bland diet and Pedialite for the time being. She said if the diarrhea does not go away by Wednesday, we will have to do some kind of cultures on his poop or something to that effect. I am praying he is better tomorrow!! I am starting to think that he might have picked this up at the petting zoo last week. He barely touched the little goat on his head, but I forgot to immediately wash his hands afterwards like an idiot. I just don't know where this mess came from, but I wish it would go away!!



In other news, Jer lowered Colin's crib to the last notch today. The crib has three levels and has been set to the middle one for some time. It was past time to lower it since he climbs with ease now and could easily have toppled out. I have been resisting simply because I hate to mess with anything related to sleep. I was nervous as hell about it today, but Colin went to sleep tonight with no problem. The crib seriously sits on the floor now!!! It is SO LOW! Gone are the days of my pretty crib all dressed up in it's finery...now it sits practically on the ground with no more bells and whistles. It look so strange to me, but I know I will get used to it. Jer pointed out that the next time we change the bed, it will not be a crib at all anymore, but a toddler bed! So of course I am now all emotional about it. :-) I can't believe how big my little man is.


Here is a picture I took of Colin after dinner tonight. It is not a good quality shot, but he is offically 14 months old, so I had to get a quick picture. He is such an angel baby!!

Tummy Aches

Is there anything worse than your baby being sick? Well, of course there are technically worse things...but this is indeed horrible. Colin has a stomach virus and has had severe diarrhea for two solid days now. We went to the doctor today and sure enough, the virus is making it's rounds in our area. The pedi said she has seen it all week in her office. We think he caught it when I took him for a picnic in the park a couple of days ago. He was playing around lots and lots of little ones and probably touched something infected. Besides the horrible tummy ache, he has had no less than 10 horrible diapers today and this brought on a bleeding...yes, bleeding...diaper rash the likes of which I never thought possible. It takes my breath away. He screams so hard when I take him into his room to change his diaper that he made himself hoarse today. It is breaking me into a thousand pieces, I swear. The pedi told us that Colin can only have broth, rice, bananas, and Pedialite until we clear this up. We have a prescription for the rash, but it is not doing a damn bit of good since he has these acid filled diapers every five minutes. The only bit of good news is that Colin loves Pedialite. He has never had it before and he drank over 40 ounces (I kid you not!) since we got home from the doctor. That is really great news because I can at least stop worrying so much about dehydration. I hate how powerless I feel right now...to see Colin screaming in agony and writhing in pain is torturing me. I want to make it better and I just can't!! I really hope that tomorrow is better. He had rice and bananas for dinner and has not had any thing else in his system besides the Pediatlite since lunch. I am hoping that another full day of the special diet will help his tummy. It better!!!!

Stuff

Things are quiet around here this weekend. Jer is back in training for a new jet, which is awesome. He is in class almost every day for the next few weeks, so today felt like a week day for me since Jer was not home with us. I got bad news this week...my cholesterol screening results came back from my ob visit last week and they are literally horrible. They were bad enough to get a call directly from my doctor, which you know is always a bad sign. I am not going to share my numbers with all of the Internet, but suffice it to say that I am a ticking time bomb. This is not exactly news; my father has always battled major problems with cholesterol and turned into a health freak about 25 years ago because of it. Even with his flawless lifestyle (and I mean flawless), he still has to take medicine. My numbers have never been great, but they are really bad this time. It looks like I am going to be forced into medication and I have an appointment with our family doctor next week to work out a plan. I am not pleased about this...I don't want to be on medication that you can't take when pregnant. Even though we are not planning to get pregnant for a while yet, it still makes me terribly nervous. I am sure that my doctor will have a plan that will work for me. I am obviously going to be forced to step it up on the elliptical and start cooking a heck of a lot more out of my "Cooking Light" recipes instead of the Paula Deen cookbook. HA! :-) In all honesty, I don't want to be careless with my health one single bit now that I am a mother. To have such horrible numbers this young means that I need to make changes now. I have a lot of years to take care of my little man.

Colin has been in a very different mood as of late. For the past week he has wanted to be rocked again at night. It came out of left field and I am not sure of the reason. I thought it was a fluke, but he has been like this all week, at naps and bedtime both. He has turned into a little cuddle bear, not only wanting to be held before bed, but also when he wakes up and randomly during the day. This morning he laid in my arms with his head on my shoulder for a good 10 minutes before he would allow me to put him down. This is very different for Colin...he usually hits the ground running. I (of course!) love to hold him and am enjoying the heck out of all this new lovey time with Mama. He is still as happy as ever, so maybe he is just going through a "Mommy" phase. It is so much fun watching him pass through all these different stages. Just when I think I have him figured out, he throws me for a loop! :-)

Doctors and Bedtime Changes

You will all be proud to know that I made it through my visit with Dr. White today without crying. I am obviously a pillar of strength. Both of the nurses that I loved so much were there and since I brought pictures of Colin, I got to show him off to everyone. Dr. White was his usual wonderful self. He walked into the exam room and exclaimed that I looked fantastic and had lost weight. That is complete hogwash...I most certainly have not lost weight, but rather than point this out, I did my best "aw shucks" expression and then stuck my pictures of Colin under his nose and said, "LOOK!!! I BROUGHT PICTURES!". Yes, being this big of a dork is hard work. He looked through all my pictures, declared Colin beautiful, pointed out his dimples (this kid is going to get whatever he wants with those dimples. I think I should be worried) and asked if I was ready for round two. I told him I needed just a bit more time. :-) It was great to see him and the exam went well. Apparently I am the picture of health. Thank goodness!

There has been a major change in the world of Colin and to be honest, I am both elated and sad about it at the same time. In what can best be described as flipping a switch, Colin has stopped letting me rock him to sleep. I have always put Colin to sleep using motion...either walking around holding him while singing to him, or rocking him. He would always cry if I put him in the crib awake, so I would just rock him to sleep first. About a month ago, he started changing slightly. He would let me rock him for several minutes with his head down on my shoulder but then as I laid him in his crib, I would notice he was still awake. He did not cry, so I would just leave him in the crib awake and he started putting himself to sleep the rest of the way. I was so pleased with this change and happy that he had started this on his own rather than me forcing him into it. So great! Well, about a week ago, he snapped! He will not let me rock him at all! This includes naps and bedtime! We go into his room after our routine and I sit in the chair with him and sing to him while he drinks his bottle, which is still the same as always. But after the bottle is done, so is Colin! He kicks his legs out and pushes against me with all his toddler might! So, I just get up and deposit him into his bed where he rolls over onto his blankets and snuggles down all by himself. What just happened here?!? I have been waiting for him to snap out of it and want to be rocked again, but I decided tonight that it is pretty much officially done. My little man goes to sleep all by himself now. He snuggles with "Peanut" and "Bear Bear" and his blanket and just goes to sleep on his own. He can't be bothered with being rocked by Mama anymore. I know this is a good thing, but I sure did love rocking him. Tomorrow he is going to be driving and bringing home some girl that I already don't like. :-)

The Best Doctor Ever

My ob/gyn office called today to remind me that my annual exam is tomorrow afternoon...and I am actually excited about it. Yes, I am fully aware that it makes me a bit of a freak to be thrilled about a gynecologic examination, but none the less, I am happy as a clam. Before your brains explode from the illogical nature of such a statement, let me tell you the back story.

My doctor is just about the closest thing to a real-life angel, in my humble opinion. Dr. White has been my doctor since my move out to the suburbs and he was the one who I consulted with when Jer and I were ready to give parenthood a go and he was the one I saw when I found out I was pregnant for the first time ever. He was also the one to tell me that I was losing that baby. He was the one who held my hands and told me it would be okay when he had to perform a D&C when my body refused to miscarry on it's own. (yes, I am crying now, and yes, I am totally sorry for going all emotional, and yes, it gets better! Keep reading!) I will never be able to put into words what it felt like when we lost that baby and I will also never be able to explain how much Dr. White helped me. He knew that a woman losing her very first pregnancy that way was bad...much worse than I was prepared for emotionally. The problem, of course, was that when I got pregnant again with sweet Colin, I was petrified. Incoherently, uncontrollably, feverishly petrified. My first pregnancy had started having problems almost immediately. I was not producing enough of a certain hormone and I had to be put on a supplement. It was too late and there was ultimately nothing we could do, but the drama played out for two horrible weeks of "will she or won't she lose the baby". So imagine the second positive pregnancy test. Oh LORD did I freak out. And sweet, amazing, wonderful Dr. White was there every step of the way. I was a wreck for the first trimester. I called him all the time. I had FOUR ultrasounds in the first trimester alone. He knew things were fine, but he humored me and understood my fear and held my hand (figuratively speaking) the whole time. He checked my numbers all the time for me, he let me come in and have the nurse check the heartbeat on my lunch breaks, whatever I wanted. His nurses became like family...they returned each one of my "nurse line" messages without a single giggle at the thousands of silly questions..."No, Chalna...you can't boil your child in a bathtub. Yes, I am sure."...and they always treated me like a daughter when I was in the office. All my mommy friends know how often you visit the office when you are expecting and at the end, I swear I thought I would have to move in. Colin was supposed to be so big and they were keeping a close eye on me. Of course, I was just one of tons of pregnant ladies that Dr. White was taking care of, but he always made me feel like I was the only one, which I think is the true testament of an excellent physician. I went through so many life altering moments in such a short amount of time and this doctor was right there taking good care of me for all of it. Which brings me to last year at exactly this time. Colin had just hit the ripe old age of six weeks old and I was back in the waiting room that had become as familiar to me as my kitchen, waiting to be seen for the last time as related to my new son. I remember that it felt surreal to be there, with my hair freshly washed and make-up on for maybe the second time since the birth. My sister Alieson had come to watch the baby and I was out for the first time by myself as a mother. I was sitting there, not pregnant, and waiting to be "released" so to speak. It was all very strange.

I was so nervous in those first days...I was scared to death to leave Colin and hovering around him at all times trying to preempt his every need. I would sit on the couch for literally hours with Colin sleeping in between my thighs wrapped in a tight blanket cocoon, just watching him breathe. It always kept him calm and happy to sleep in between my extended legs and I recall giving Alieson specific instructions on that position before I left for the doctor. She was such a sweet sister...she probably wanted to smack me in the head, but instead she listened intently to my freak-like instructions and waved me off for my first moments out alone. At the office, I was finally called into the exam room and moments later Dr. White walked in. At this extremely hormonal stage (nobody ever warned me about those post pregnancy hormones...YIKES!) I started to cry immediately. As usual, he comforted me instead of telling me that I was crazy (which I totally was). He handed me a Kleenex while I cried to him that I could not believe that I did not have to come in weekly anymore and who was going to take care of me now and did he know that I had a baby now?!? I clearly recall him patting me on the knee and telling me that this was always the hard part for new mommies and that I was going to be amazing and that I was stronger than I knew. Yes, he is the best doctor ever. Not many people can talk an overly hormonal woman off a ledge so fast. :-) Then he checked my c-section scar and told me that I could peel the glue off the scar. I felt like an idiot because I was so scared of that damn wound that I had not laid a finger on it and had no idea those black marks were glue that should come off. The damn thing looked much better once I did that. What a dork. And nope, he never laughed at me. Not once. I sat up once the exam was over and he told me that he did not need to see me again until next year for my yearly check-up. He smiled at me one last time and said, "Well, Chalna...let's do this again sometime!". I thought that was the cutest thing ever, promised him that he would be the first to know when baby number two was in the works and proceeded to tear up. Again. As I left the office, I stopped at the front desk and made my appointment for one year later. The woman said, "okay, how about August 28th, 2008?" and I was all sorts of blown away, imagining making it a whole year, having a toddler, being an old pro and maybe not being scared to death anymore. So I agreed to the appointment and then BOOM, tomorrow is the day and I did indeed make it one whole year, I have a toddler, I am totally an old pro and I am still scared to death. :-)

Who wants to place bets that I cry tomorrow when I bust out the photo album that you just know I am making Dr. White look through?

Diaper Rash and a New Pedi

Colin has the worst diaper rash in the history of man. Okay, I might be slightly exaggerating, but it is not good! We have been battling this on and off for probably three weeks now...I will get it almost healed and then it rears it's ugly head again. I have used absolutely everything you can buy and nothing cleared it up. Things reached a fever pitch on Sunday and into Monday. Colin was screaming bloody murder when he even saw his changing table. We finally went to the pedi yesterday and got real help! The pedi gave him a prescription steroid cream that we will use for three to five days and that should knock it out. Colin is learning to handle his new diet without formula and as a result he has had a lot more poopy diapers. The pedi gave me a long "I went to medical school" story about what is going on with his system, but I will save you from rehashing it. (This is only partially because I understood every third word of what he said)

Anywho...I have two things to report from this visit. First of all, Colin weighs 25 lbs, 8 oz! That is one heck of a jump in a little over three weeks! A whole pound! Now, Colin was dressed this time, so he might actually be 25 lbs even, but he was right at 24 lbs at his 12 month. WOW!

Secondly, I tried a new pediatrician this time. A beautiful new practice opened up within walking distance of our house (no kidding..really close!) and I have been thinking seriously about trying a new practice. As you all probably recall, I love our normal doctor, but I hate his practice and hardly ever get to see him. I decided diaper rash was a good one to test out the new doctor with and I really liked it! The office is brand spanking new and filled with toys and bright colors. The nurses and office staff were beyond sweet and just ate Colin up. I had to drag him out of there! The doctor (yes, just ONE! hallelujah!) was an older man of Indian descent who I liked immediately (and Colin thought was hilarious). I quizzed him about several things and liked his answers a lot. I will definitely be trying them again. If things continue to be so great, we might have a permanent new doctor! Not to mention the fact that I don't have to leave my neighborhood to visit them, which is huge plus. I am also thinking that the new scale might have something to do with Colin's jump in weight...but I am not sure. A whole pound. GOOD GRIEF!

I will leave with a funny Colin story...last night we all had dinner at a new cafe that opened close by. We were sitting next to an older couple and the gentleman was sitting directly behind Colin. Towards the end of our meal, Colin turned all the way around in his high chair and started "talking" to the couple. The man was a giant guy and he leaned way back in his chair and started making funny grunting noises back at Colin. What does my son do? He mimics the guy!!! He leans all the way back in his high chair just like the man and starts grunting back at him. It was hysterical. Of course everyone wanted to eat Colin up. He really is the cutest thing in the world. :-)

Colin's 12 Month Checkup

Today was Colin's official appointment at his pediatrician as a one year old little man! I was excited to find out the latest stats and discuss feeding plans.

Weight: 24lbs, 1 oz (50 - 75th percentile)

Length: 31 1/2 inches (90 - 95th percentile)

Colin slowed down slightly on the weight gain with all this moving around. Last visit he was in the 75-90th percentile for that. His length and head circumference continued to grow at the same pace; his head was in the 95 - 97th percentile again. The pedi noted that Colin is a big guy...very tall and very healthy. He said that his growth rate has remained perfectly even throughout his first year and he is really happy with his progress. Yay Colin!! I brought up Colin's pacifier and he was very laid back about it (which is why I like this pedi!). He told me that the paci is not really a worry for teeth problems until he is two, so to go at my own pace with taking it away. He said not to stress about it and it does not bother me that he likes it. He does not need me to put it back in his mouth for him at night, so as far as I am concerned, he can use it for awhile yet. I will probably start putting them away more during the day just to encourage his speech with me. My main goal on this visit was learning about weaning Colin from his formula bottles. The doctor thinks cold turkey is the method to try first and see what happens. Colin has tried milk in the last couple of weeks and likes it, so maybe it will be easy! I sure hope so!! I am going to give him a six ounce (instead of 8 oz) bottle of whole milk at the normal times and then the doctor thinks he will naturally begin eating more at meal times to compensate for the loss of "meal in a bottle". :-) I sure hope this works...I will be saving $30 a week in formula costs very soon!! I am going to finish up the can that we have open now and then see what happens. He also told me that babies are notoriously picky at this age, so I am prepared for that. So far Colin will eat anything that I give him, so I hope he will be the exception to the rule. I am dreaming, huh? :-)

Colin was all smiles when he saw the doctor (the pedi always says "he is the happiest baby I have ever seen!" during our visits) but soon after we had a major meltdown. Like an idiot, I scheduled the visit at 9:15, which is exactly Colin's nap time. I realized what I had done last week, but they could not get him back in with our specific doctor for another three weeks, so I stuck with the appointment. UGH!! Colin was crying almost the entire time we were waiting for the doctor, was briefly happy when he saw him, and then lost it completely when he started the check-up. He was out of control sobbing by the time the nurse came in with the shots, so you can imagine how that went. The poor little guy cried so hard that he could barely breathe! Once I finally got him back in the car, he was sound asleep before we got out of the parking lot. I brought him home and carried him inside to bed and he slept for two solid hours. He is up playing now and in great spirits again. Thank goodness!!

Colin's 9 Month Appointment

We attended Colin's 9 month well baby checkup today (yes, on the correct day!) and things went pretty well, considering! The stats:

22 lbs, 11 oz (75 - 90th percentile)

30 inches long (95th percentile)

My little man is such a big boy!! He went up in both percentiles and he also went up on his head circumference percentile, too. Now he is in the 97% for that! The pedi is not worried at this point, however. Big noggins run in my family (obviously!) and Jer's and he said that the soft spot on his head is almost completely closed and he looks great overall. He is just a big guy! He also told me not to stress out that Colin does not seem to want to crawl yet. He said he has seen babies that skip crawling all together..it is up to Colin. He has met all the other milestones that he needs to, including pulling himself up and standing (which you can see in today's adorable picture!), so he told me to not worry about it. As usual, this is easier said than done! :-) Colin gets up on all fours in his sleep, but he does not do it outside the crib yet. We shall see what happens!!

The time has come to start feeding Colin his solid meals prior to his bottles so that he is having a little less formula and more solids. He is taking about 32 oz of formula a day, as well as breakfast and dinner consisting of two tubs of stage two foods (or one jar of stage 3). We are going to start 3 meals a day with bottle afterwards to take him down to around 20 oz a day, give or take. I also have to start working on the sippy cup more. Colin just plays with it at this point and the time has come to really let him start practicing. We went to Wal-Mart this afternoon and picked up some new cups that Melanie told me worked great. The ones we have require Colin to really suck hard to get anything out and he just cannot figure them out. Mel pointed out some that have a light flow that will come out without Colin doing all the work, but light enough not to be a huge mess. Hopefully these help! I can't believe that I am already having to think about weaning Colin from the bottle! This is all going too fast!!! Colin's next appointment is his 12 MONTH! I just don't know how we got so far so fast.

The bad news is that Colin had to have wax removed from one of his ears, which he HATES. He did not even need to have it irrigated...just a little wand was used to scoop it out. He screamed like someone was stabbing him and then cried for the remainder of the visit. YIKES! Then, to add insult to injury, he had to get a CBC today! Let me tell you, having to hold your child with all your might while he screams bloody murder while a nurse spends minutes draining blood from his tiny finger is just as bad as it sounds!! I almost cried seeing Colin so upset! All that on top of his shots was a bit much. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and then proceeded to sleep for two more hours when we got to the house. He has been in good spirits since he got up, so hopefully the worst is over and he won't have the bad night that he had after his 6 months shots. :-) So that is our visit in a nutshell. Colin is growing up!!

Losing my mind and other assorted stories...

This morning started out horribly. I got myself and Colin to his doctor's appointment bright and early at a few minutes before 8:00am. After I had been sitting there for around 10 minutes waiting, I get called up front. Apparently, today is not April 16th after all. That's right, folks...I thought today was April 16th and went to our appointment on the WRONG DAY. Lovely. I mean, I knew I was tired, but I did not know I had lost sanity completely. I have been a day off for some time. I planned my trip home from yesterday so that I could attend the appointment on the wrong day. I felt like such an idiot and the 18 year old at the front desk was not helping matters at all. She looked at me like I had two heads. I would now like to point out how very annoying it was that it took them 10 minutes to realize that I was there on the wrong day...but I digress. Later on today, I got the usual phone call reminding me to be there tomorrow. I laughed at the girl calling and told her that, yes...I was aware. ;-)

This brings me to another problem with the pediatrician. (Don't forget the last appointment when they almost kicked me out of the building for being on time instead of early!) When the girl called to remind me of the appointment, she asked me to arrive at 7:45 in the morning. That would be 30 minutes prior to Colin's appointment. Now, it has bothered me for awhile that every time we schedule, we are told to be there 15 minutes early. They say it over and over again and they remind you when they call. "Colin's appointment is at 2:30, but you must arrive at 2:15." That kind of thing. I have never heard this before, but figured oh well...I have never had a baby before either. It must have something to do with the pedi's office. Well, cut to today. Why on earth should I now be there 30 minutes early?!? The twit that called me said something about extra paperwork with Colin's updated insurance. She can't take care of that when I arrive at 8:00?? What on earth!? I also have a new insurance card and when I went to my doctor last week (arriving at the actual appointment time! oh my!) it took them 30 seconds to make a copy. My child's clinic is making me feel like I am in elementary school! I am thinking seriously about changing practices, but it is so hard to start over!! Colin has been seen by them since the day he was born and it seems like a nightmare to move practices, but this just may be the last straw. I am going to say something tomorrow and see what happens. It just should not be this hard to go see the doctor! UGH!

The day did perk up, however. I met my mothers group for lunch and then we all played with the babies under some shade trees in a nearby park. It was so nice!! The weather was great and all the moms were so sweet. Colin seems to really like interacting with the other kiddos. It was so nice to be out in the sun and hanging out with other moms. It feels good to vent to people who really know exactly what you are going through at this exact moment! I am really happy that things are turning out good with that!!