Thursday, March 31, 2005

Job Hunt Update

As of right now Jamie has some good leads on jobs. He will be going up to Seattle on Thursday for an interview and hopefully will have another one with a different company in the San Francisco Bay area earlier in the week. Things seem to be moving pretty quickly for him in the job area which is a HUGE blessing.

We also found out that we will have insurance through April. That was a huge stress off my shoulders with how easily Kian gets sick.

Also, some friends from my Mom’s Group have volunteered their services to pack or play with Kian while I pack…either way I am SO grateful for those ladies! Right now I am overwhelmed with the thought of packing…but I better get a move on it very soon as we don’t know when we will be leaving.

Teething

The teething fiasco seems to be over for the moment anyway. Kian cut his fourth tooth yesterday or the day before. He was much less cranky today. It was sad to see those little bare gums go but he does look really cute with his little teeth :) I will take a photo of his new teeth when I get a chance. I have to say, I am so very glad that I am not breastfeeding anymore…those teeth are sharp!

Kian ate mashed potatoes tonight!

While we were eating we put him in his high chair and gave him a blob of potatoes. I wasn’t quite sure about them at first and we tried to put them in his mouth but he didn’t want anything to do with that and spit it out. What a little turkey! hehe Kian just played with them but eventually some made it to his mouth and he really liked them :) I am hoping he really starts making leaps and bounds toward eating whole type food. Right now he doesn’t even eat the Gerber puffs. He just puts one in his mouth, crunches a little, then spits it out. Then he puts another puff in. Needless to say there are a lot just barely wet puffs in the lip of is bib when I pick him up hehe

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Our Bad News….

Oddworld is closing down in two weeks. We heard last Wednesday that this might be a possibility but not likely. Jamie started to look for a job right away though just in case. He has a few leads with several different companies thanks to friends he’s made through Oddworld that are already gone or leaving.

We could use a lot of your prayers and positive thoughts right now. We are praying that Jamie gets a job soon…but the stress of moving will be even greater with a baby (not to mention the truck load of stuff that will be all his!)

I will post if I have more news.

Test Results, Real Food and Crappy Easter...

The Test Results Are…

ALL NEGATIVE! I have had this information for some time but haven’t had a chance to get it up in my blog. Jamie and I were pretty sure Kian was fine but we wanted to have those results to confirm it.

Crappy Easter :(

No, that is not a typo…it was pretty crappy. We went down to see my Aunt Lori, Uncle Dave, and cousin Maggie for the weekend. We decided to go down on Friday during Kian’s first nap – which is between 10:30 and 11AM. He decided not to nap at all during the 3 hour drive. We stopped right outside of Santa Barbara to give Kian a rest and feed him lunch (that’s about the half way mark). It was pretty nice – we found a place where we were up top a cliff that over looked the beach. We even saw a school of dolphins go by!

After we got to my Aunt’s I hoped Kian would nap…but he wouldn’t. I think that he was very over stimulated by his surroundings. All he wanted to do was look around…I didn’t realize until then that I usually have Kian in a low lit room when he naps and the room we were had a lot of light in it. I hoped that night Kian would sleep well. He did go down well but disaster started at about 1:30AM. My iPod decided to stop working and woke me up. Jamie came in to figure out what was wrong (he was playing a video game with Dave) and Kian woke up the second he came in. He wet through is overnite diaper in just 5 hours of sleep! When I changed it him it was like he had been in it for about 12 hours. I think he wasn’t relaxed all day with no sleep that it just all built up. I changed his PJ’s, his blankets and luckily I had a quilt he was used to over the sheet in the pack ‘n play so he would have a dry place to lay. I tried to get him back to sleep and once again he was over stimulated. I left the room and let him just work it out on his own…he usually does this at night and just plays quietly before he goes to sleep. An hour later Jamie and I came back up and the door woke him up…apparently he was not in a deep sleep. After he woke up that time he wanted to be up. I tried several times to get him to sleep…I tried rocking him, standing and swaying, bringing him to bed, but nothing was working. This kid was used to sleeping a total of 16 hours a day and he only had 5. Once 3:30AM rolled around Jamie and I thought it was a good idea if we left for home. We didn’t foresee things getting any better….he was just too over stimulated and didn’t have conditions that he was used to at all in his own room (there aren’t any blinds in the room we were in so it was fairly well lit at night as well as during the day). We were on the road by 4AM.

Needless to say, Saturday was pretty rough for us all. Kian didn’t nap but only a half hour the entire way home. I was shocked as about half of our drive was done in the dark. I guess he just continued with the over stimulation or curiosity of wanting to see what was going on outside. Jamie and I switched off throughout the day where one of us would nap and the other would care for Kian. I have to say I had memories of sitting in the ER when Jamie had his kidney stone as I was up all night for that too…at least now I had Jamie’s help with Kian.
I fed Kian when we got home after I let him crawl around for a bit and stretch his legs. Then he went down for a nap with pretty much no effort from me….minimal rocking. He only napped for a half hour to 45 mins. He was a crank throughout the day. He did take a second nap that I had to wake him from so he wouldn’t sleep too long. He slept about 2 and a half hours.

So, needless to day Kian’s first Easter was pretty much non-existent. I didn’t have any food to prepare for the holiday. We didn’t even have an Easter basket for Kian. We did get him gift though – the bunnies from the Guess How Much I Love You book that we read to him every night before bed. Also, my Mom sent him some things for him to play with that he loves :)

Anyway, Kian’s still a little off schedule, but doing a bit better. Right now I think he’s having some teething pain so he’s been a crank all day again.

Kian Ate Some Real Food!!!!!!


Yeah, it’s a miracle! I thought he would be 17 and I would have to feed him baby food (not really but it almost seemed that way! lol) He has seemed very interested in my food and I have thought about giving him some but hesitated. Sunday I was eating a corn puff snack called Pirates Booty. It has a cheese coating and it salty. I figured that it might encourage him to eat…not to mention it pretty much dissolves in his mouth. So, I gave him a bite and he just spit it out! That’s leaps above him vomiting it out lol! Soon he got it gooey enough to swallow! I gave him one more and Jamie asked me if I wanted to try to feed him some Gerber puffs. I bought some that are Sweet Potato flavored at the suggestion of my friend Samantha who said they dissolve easily (thanks Samantha!). So now Kian is eating some puffs before I feed him...I put him in his high chair and give him some while I get his food prepared. He will put one in his mouth and then keep his hand there because he spits it right back out! But he does put the puff back in and does this repeatedly until it's ate or falls out of his reach (there are a lot on his seat when I pick him up after the meal! hehe) I feel like this is such a HUGE step for Kian! Way to go big guy! Maybe you will be able to eat cake for your birthday after all! hehe

One more Tooth…for now!

Kian is cutting his fourth tooth (one of the top front ones). I think it just poked through today (3/28). He didn’t want me to leave his sight all day long so needless to say there was quite a bit of whining going on in our house which drives me crazy! lol We just kept giving him Tylenol and Oragel. Hopefully the worst is over…well that is until another set of teeth decide to make an appearance.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

I Forgot to Post This!

I honestly think that over the last few weeks my mind was fried…ok, it’s been fried since before the birth with pregnancy brain, then Mommy brain…what is it called when it gets worse LOL

Anyway, I realized that I forgot to post about some of Kian’s milestones! I would say right around the time that he had bronchitis he started to crawl forward and pull up on things! I remember at the time wondering how he had the energy to that stuff when he didn’t feel good! He is all over the place now. We have had to set up barricades in the living room – a storage container and a laundry basket with blankets and a ream of paper to weigh it down keeps him jailed in and away from the tile floor and Toby’s dish. He’s getting better and better on his feet and he’s cruising around a lot. It’s bitter sweet to have him doing all these things…sad because it means he’s growing up and bitter because he’s more of a handful now! lol

Kian’s Birthday!


Kian’s Birthday is quickly approaching! I can’t believe that in about a month and a half he will be a year old! Jamie and I were looking at some video from when we were in the hospital…it seems like yesterday that he had that sweet smell about him and was so warm and cuddly…now he smells like the yogurt he likes to put in his hair when I feed him and he squirmy! hehe

This weekend I went out and bought party things for his birthday. We won’t have a big celebration. My Aunt Lori and Uncle Dave will be coming up from Moorpark (about 3 hours away) to celebrate with us. Even though it will be a small crowd, I wanted to have some special plates and things that said he was turning one :) I can only hope that he will be able to eat some cake and not vomit it up! lol

More Teeth - He's Up To Three Now

Kian cut his first top tooth today. I knew they would poke through any day now…today was the day :) I can see and feel the little sharp thing…boy am I glad we aren’t breastfeeding anymore! hehe

Oh yeah, that’s another thing I didn’t post about…Kian pretty much weaned himself when he had bronchitis. He didn’t want anything to do with the breast. We were just breastfeeding at night before bed and in the morning after he wakes up so it wasn’t that big of a deal, but still we are all through now.

Anyway, Kian has been a SUPER crank or what I like to call him the Crank of America lately. I know his teeth are bugging him but sheesh! I was thinking about putting him up for auction on ebay lol (not really, of course!) Today he was such a crank that he decided he wasn’t going to nap for more than 15 minutes for both naps today. Let’s just say that right now I am spent! At least he’s sleeping right now…but I barely got anything done all day today….I was having flashbacks to the days when he wouldn’t let me put him down AT ALL and I never got a thing done (back then I couldn’t even put him in the infant carrier and put that on the grocery cart – he wanted nothing to do with that so I had to carry him in the front carrier).

Up a Clothing Size – Almost lol

Kian started to wear more of his 6-9 month clothing now :) Yipee! Pants are still a problem for him. The 6-9 month stuff still just falls right off his body but the 3-6 month are still working for now. I am hoping that he puts some meat on around his waist before his legs get too long for the pants he can wear now!

Mom and Dad’s Date Night :)

Jamie and I got a night out last night :) I had seen a commercial for a live performance of the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I told Jamie about it and he looked into getting tickets and we are lucky we got them! The troop was only performing one night and it was sold out!

For those of you who don’t know, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is my favorite musical. I have watched it countless times! The movie version stars the late great Howard Keel who passed away last year (he was in Show Boat and Kiss Me Kate as well). I think it was filmed in the late 1940’s. So needless to say, we were probably part of the 5% who were below the age of 40! Most of the people there were older and I even heard a lady behind me saying that the last time she saw the musical was in the movie theatre! Wow!

The show was amazing! It was put on by a troop from New York City and had some GREAT dancers in it. There is a HUGE dance scene that I wondered if it would rival the one on the movie and it sure did! They did an amazing job…so much so that I would have seen it another time if they were there another night!

My Great Aunt Connie introduced me to this musical when I was about 10 years old and I have loved it ever since. She passed away a few years ago…I have to say I thought about her a lot last night and feel like she was looking down on me as I watched the show.

Kian had a good evening too with Granna Priscilla :) (For those of you who don’t know, I used to live with Priscilla when I worked with the Navigators at Cal Poly.) He was up for another hour after we left for the play and Priscilla said that he did great. At least he’s not having separation anxiety yet! It would make it a lot harder to leave him if he was upset when we left. Priscilla said that he had a great time playing and went to sleep rather quickly – how nice that he does these things when I am not here! (do you hear the sarcasm in my words lol) Anyway, thanks Priscilla and I look forward to having that Monte Cristo at Madonna Inn after the holidays!

Lab Results Aren’t In Yet

I called today to see if the results are back yet and the person I spoke to said she didn’t see it. There are some new people in Dr. Bravo’s office. I know that Kian’s favorite nurse, Stacy, will be working tomorrow so I will give a call then and ask to speak to her to see if I can get some answers. The CF (cystic fibrosis) test is suppose to take 3-5 days to get results…tomorrow it will be 7 days. I feel in my heart that Kian is fine but it sure would be nice to have some results to back that gut feeling up. I will post as soon as I know anything.

Friday, March 18, 2005

Great news on Kian's weight!

I took Kian to see Dr. Bravo on Wednesday. We had an appointment to get him checked out to see if it was ok to go ahead and to blood tests. I wasn't sure he would want to do them since Kian is just getting over bronchitis - he doesn't have any symptoms anymore but Sunday was the last time we heard him wheezing. Also, when I took Kian in last Tuesday he was down to 15lbs 13ounces when he was 16lbs. 4 ounces the week before.

Well, this week I bring Kian in and his favorite nurse, Stacy, weighs him and he's 17lbs!!!!! Yep, that's right! He gained a pound and 3 ounces in a week! I was hoping that he would have gained at least 6 ounces but this is leaps and bounds above what I thought was a lofty goal for his weight this week! Stacy always balances the scale before she weighs him so I knew it was right but I looked at it several times! When the Dr. came him he checked the numbers twice and even checked the balance of the scale too! He was amazed! :) He actually asked me what I was doing Kian hehe I told him that Kian was very gaggy and vomited several times when I would feed him while he was sick so I would feed him a little bit at a time and more often throughout the day. Kian also only wanted yogurt for about two days in a row so I am sure that helped! lol (Thanks Yo-baby!)

The Dr. told me that he was going to go forward with the tests but he was 99% sure that Kian is fine! :) From what I know they tested for cystic fiborsis and growth hormone deficiency. There was one more test on there but I didn't know what it was for. The lab told me that the results for everything would be in in about 3-5 days (the CF test takes longer).

The Dr. also told me that I didn't need to come in for weekly weight checks anymore! I can come in whenever I want though to do it...he said that all the girls in the office know about Kian and they will help me check his weight. That was exciting! I think that I might go every other week for a while though just to give myself peace of mind.

Kian is feeling better and seems to be healthy....I am so proud of my little man! Now if we can get those two front teeth to come through so he would stop being a crab that would be AWESOME! lol

Kian's food aversion

Dr. Bravo told me that it actually has a name (I can't remember what it is though). Kian doesn't like any whole type foods in his mouth...he gags, vomits or spits it out of his mouth. It was REALLY bad when he was sick. He wouldn't even take Stage 2 baby food that is pureed. I asked Dr. Bravo what I should do about it and he told me that I didn't need to do anything that Kian will grow out of it. He also said that babies that have had a feeding tube often have this problem with eating (nice huh?). He told me to just stick with the Stage 2 foods as they have enough calories for him...so that is what we will do for now. I plan to try to give him a more whole type food every once in a while but for now he's still having gagging problems (even vomitted two days ago for some reason) so I'm not too concerned about it.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Kian is doing better every day. He still has a cough and a little bit of wheezing. I only gave him one breathing treatment in the morning yesterday and today I won’t give him one unless I think it will be necessary. He’s a complete crab today though! He's pretty cranky.

Usually we go to Mom’s Group on Thursdays and I have actually offered my house for the month of March but we have yet to have a group here :( I don’t want to risk maybe giving the babies anything so I am keeping Kian away from group again this week. Hopefully next Thursday he will be a lot better – especially seeing it will be his first St. Patrick’s Day!

I have to say that these past two weeks the house has become a sort of jail cell for me. I can say that I can kind of know what it's like to be Martha Stewart locked inside her house...at least she gets visitors and can leave the house for 48 hours a week hehe I have only left the house during daylight when I had to take Kian to the doctor. Yeah, two weeks will drive you mad! I did get out a little bit on the weekend though which was nice. I know I will need that again this week! Having a sick child is no fun :( Having a sick child who is not real healthy in the first place is certainly not fun and having a Mom who is not even remotely happy makes no fun for anyone.

Hopefully Kian will be considerably better by this weekend.

Monday, March 07, 2005

Update 3/7/05

I called the Dr. in the morning right away and was able to speak to a nurse. I asked her some questions and after talking a while told her I wasn’t sure his cough was any better. So she made an appointment at 4:15 for us and told me to call if it got worse. He actually got better throughout the day but I still felt I should bring him in. He was still wheezing a lot so even though I felt like he was getting better I figured I should still keep the appointment.

The Dr. listened to his lungs and said that he’s still having difficulty breathing but they are better. I am suppose to use the breathing machine less often and that he should be much better by the end of the week – yippee another week trapped in the house! hehe

We looked at Kian’s weight per my request and he’s back down to 15lbs. 15 ounces :( He was at 16lbs. 4 ounces on Friday when I brought him in. I have been feeding him things slowly and over giving him breaks so that the gag reflex doesn’t happen. The Dr.’s nurse said they gag when they are congested. Right now all he seems to want for sure is Yo-Baby…at least that has a lot of calories in it!

So, that’s the word around here for now. Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers! Kian certainly needs them and so do I lol!

Kian's a little Trooper

Kian had a rough weekend (and so did Jamie and I). Kian still isn’t feeling well. The breathing treatments I have been giving him don’t seem to be working anymore and he has had a slight temperature (99.5) since Friday night. We also purchased a new humidifier that really works (the cheapo one we got at Walmart never really worked so we thought it was time to get a good one – I had a coupon too). I can tell that the room is humidified when I walk in his room. He also hasn’t been eating well. This morning he threw up his cereal while I was feeding it to him. He did eat a container of Yo-Baby Yogurt. For lunch he had 1 ½ jars of baby food. And dinner he threw up an entire jar of chicken and sweet potato (his favorite) after eating it and being very hungry. I got out more some yogurt and he ate a little of it…maybe a half container. He did take a sippy cup throughout the day with whole milk in it. But I have a feeling he has lost some weight – I just hope not too much.

Dr. Araya (the Dr. that works in Bravo’s office and is there on Fridays and other days to fill in) said that Kian should be much better within two days of taking the antibiotic. It has been two days now and he still has rattling in his chest and now won’t eat much. I will be calling Dr. Bravo’s office in the morning and hopefully I can get in – Monday’s are pretty busy and usually it’s hard to get someone on the phone.

Please keep Kian in your prayers. He’s been such a trooper. He takes his breathing treatments well. He doesn’t like sitting on my lap for that long of a period of time but he endures it. And from time to time we see the old, happy, loves to play Kian. At other times he just crashes and falls asleep with no aid at all (I usually have to swaddle him and rock him).

Friday, March 04, 2005

Kian is sick yet again :(

Kian has bronchitis or a bronchial infection :( I took him to see the Ped today because I thought he had an ear infection again. His ears are fine but he was wheezing and coughing all day long yesterday and today it was getting worse. He got a breathing treatment in the office which worked until we got home (I am going to call there as soon as they are back from lunch).

It's unreal how easily Kian gets sick. We can't leave him in the church nursery and I am afraid to even use the cry room as most parents that have kids that are sick and can't take them to the nursery come to the cry room! There are newborns in there (that rant is for another day! hehe) Anyway, people LOVE to touch Kian when we are in public which is hard to avoid but it does make we wonder if this is where he got it from. I guess since Kian isn't a normal kid and gets sick so easily and looses weight because of it I need to be checking with everyone to make sure no one even has a sniffle because it sets him back :( It's so frustrating because he was just getting on a good swing of gaining weight well.

From what the Dr. says, he should be better in a few days. I hope that’s a case. Please send your thoughts and prayers our way as we need them. Thanks!

Later on....
Now Kian needs breathing treatments at home! I called the Ped at about 1:30 and told them he was still wheezing and they didn't call back until about 4ish and told me to come and pick one of the nurses' up (she LOVES Kian and he loves her - she weighs him every week) because something was up with my insurance and I might not be able to get one until Saturday or Monday. I went to get it. They gave me a few of the meds for the treatments and then I get home and have a message from this guy who was called to get us the nebulizer that has been working like a crazy man trying to find a place that will take my insurance for the machine and what not. I called the Ped to find out if I needed to buy one anyway and they said yes and talked to them about the meds as we will have to pay full price for it because our insurance won't cover it (at least until our deductible is met). PHEW! I was on the phone for an hour and Kian was past due for a nap and whinning in my ear. But all was worked out - the script was called into the pharmacy (both a generic one and the one that we would pay full price for) and a nebulizer is on it's way to my door at any moment.

BAH! I have not had a shower today and barely ate anything at all (not like I don't have fat to burn though LOL) When DH comes home I will be having his "cooking" which is chinese take out and a big, fat glass of Bailey's! LOL What a day! lol