Tooth #13

Tooth #13 has made an appearance. He has been a little cranky on and off for the past week or so. I noticed a few days ago that it looked like he was working on an eye tooth....and low and behold one popped through last night. He now has his lower left eye tooth....wonder which one will be next?

Kidney Update

Owen had another ultrasound on Monday to check his left kidney. My mom came with as it now always takes two to hold him down while they do the test. He did good while we were waiting to be called back, but once we got into the room and the door closed....he immediately started crying. Gramma and I tried every trick in the book, but the only thing that was going to make him happy was leaving! When the tech walked in he actually stopped crying....couldn't believe it! We got him undressed and she actually let him sit up while she did the test. We were very thankful for that! She had brought in a few toys with her as well, which also caught his attention...well for a minute at least:) Gramma also brought a sucker in and he was all about that! And by the end, we basically had to give him a bath to get all the sticky off!

After the test, we headed to the Dr.'s office. Tony met us there....he likes to skip out on the hard parts and come for the rest:) When she came in, she told us that there was good news and bad news....ok, lay it on us! She said the good news was that both kidneys were continuing to grow well and that the blockage was not interfering with that, so it was a good thing. The bad news was that the left kidney still had the same amount of dilation as it did in December. So no worse, but no better either. We asked if there was a timeline we were looking at for it to resolve before surgery would be suggested. She said that it is basically up to his body...so we could be waiting for a while. But at this point we are just waiting for the blockage to really get bad so he can have the surgery to correct it. She said they wouldn't do surgery before that point, because basically it was still functioning ok and they would essentially be doing surgery for a non-issue. So....we have another ultrasound in November to check his kidneys again. I guess I am happy he doesn't need to have surgery, but a little disappointed that we are just "waiting" for it to get worse.

Addicted!

Owen has developed a very serious addiction....to playing outside! He would spend every waking minute out there if we would let him! It started a few weeks ago when we finally ran into some nice weather. After one evening of getting to play, he didn't want to stop! As soon as he wakes up in the morning he is pointing to the door asking to go out.....and he doesn't discriminate about whether it's the front door, back door, or even garage door...any of them will work for him! In fact, this morning he cried (sobbed according to grandma) until she put his coat on him, wrapped him up in a blanket, and took him for a spin up and down the street in his stroller! I'm pretty sure that it wasn't that bad, but we all know how grandma's are:) It has been rough when the weather has not been so nice and we haven't been able to go out at all....so I'm glad that nicer weather should be on its way for good! Here are some pics from one of our first outings into the back yard:)

He is bound and determined to walk down the steps like

everyone else! We tried to show him how to sit and scoot on

his bottom, but he wasn't having it!

Picking up mommy's "Hope, Wish, & Dream" rocks.

He loves to walk behind the trees and poke his head out and say "boo!"

Throwing the ball for Tasker.

Weight Update...and a little more

Owen went back to the doctor on Tuesday to have his weight checked. To be honest, I was a little worried that he hadn't been making much progress in that department. We have been trying over the past month to try and fatten him up, but much to our dismay the boy does not really like much that is "fatty." We tried the carnation powder in his milk....all the different flavors....and he cried when he took a drink! We tried chocolate milk (hershey syrup and pre-made) he would take a sip, say "mmmm" and then shake his head no and push it away when you offered it again! He doesn't really care for ice cream, cookies, pudding, or even graham crackers! This boy will push away noodles to eat the vegetables out of soup! He will eat a few "bad" things, but not many! Plus, I don't think he ever stops moving, except for when he is sleeping, so he has to burn off every single calorie that he puts in! So we've just been pushing milk like the doctor said and it did seem to pay off. He was up 2 lbs...even though you can't tell by looking at him....so they are happy with his progress and we don't have to go back for another weight check until the regular one at his 18 month appt in June. Hopefully he is up a few more pounds by then:) I also wanted to confess why there hasn't been much posting lately. Back in January I was doing a lot of studying for an upcoming test at the end of the month, which led to a lack of posting during that period. It was a VERY difficult test and I unfortunately did not pass:( I think it is the first time I have ever failed a test in my life....well except for my first art history test in college! I was very disappointed when I found out, but have since ordered a new, very expensive study cd and have signed up to take it again in May. So, most evenings after my wifely and motherly duties I'm holed up in the guest bedroom studying.....I do have several posts floating around in my head (even some with pictures!) so I hope to get a few mins here and there to get them down to share with you all. Maybe even one more tonight:)

What's in Your Vase?

We have one "decorative" item left in our house. It is a large vase with bamboo sticks up by our front door. I'm not sure why we chose this item to leave out when baby-proofing, but we did. For the most part, Owen has left it alone...but in the past few weeks he has been starting to notice it a little more. We here him playing with the sticks and in the past few days he has even brought one of the sticks to us....but we have persevered and decided to leave it out:) Last week, I installed a new app on my phone called Toddler Lock. I was letting Owen "play" with it, and he ran away from me.....and when he came back he didn't have the phone. We could here it though (thanks to the music) so Tony went looking for it.....and he found it in the vase. When he took the sticks out to retrieve it, he found a host of other treasures that Owen had been storing in there as well:)

The Vase

The "treasures"

So....to answer the question: 1 dog bone, 1 basting brush, 1 tablespoon, 2 bottle caps, 4 outlet covers (that were not in outlets, but a drawer!), several pieces of paper, and the bamboo sticks of course!

We've decided we need to check the vase when something goes missing:)

15 month update

We went to the Dr today for Owen's 15 month appointment. We were a little late, but decided to wait until our preferred Dr. was on the "well-baby" side:)

Height: 31 1/2 inches (50%-75%)
Weight: 21lbs 1 oz (3%)- more on this later
Head: 47 1/2 cm (50%-75%)

Overall he is a very healthy boy and is ahead in most of his developmental milestones, which always makes a parent feel good! Unfortunately his weight had dropped off a bit. In fact, on Friday when we revisited urgent care for a chest x-ray (all was clear) he was 22lbs 8 ozs, so he had dropped off a lot in just a couple of days. We were a little worried about this, as was the doctor. Owen has become a much pickier eater as of late, not just picky but not wanting a whole lot of anything. He also has not been wanting to drink much milk lately. The doctor said to really push his milk and even wants us to add a few scoops of milk powder to boost the calories in that. He doesn't think it was bad enough that we needed to start with pediasure, but that will be our next step if this doesn't help. Plus he was just pretty sick, so we aren't jumping to any conclusions as of yet. We revisit for a weight check in a month, so we hope that he has fattened up a bit by then! I will keep everyone posted on how we think he's doing with that!

I realized that I hadn't posted any pictures lately, so I figured that I better add a few on this post! These were taken just a couple of days ago as he was working on using a spoon to eat his macaroni and cheese! Utensils are his new favorite thing....and we even use them to get him to eat sometimes. He is pretty good at stabbing with a fork and is kind of getting the hang of scooping with a spoon. Sometimes though he just picks up the food and puts it on the spoon...much easier that way! He still amazes me everyday with all that he is learning! Oh yes, and we tried a day of sitting in the booster chair at the table.....but we're not quite ready for that, so we're sticking with the high chair for now:)

Thinking about loading up the spoon instead of using it to scoop!

Got some on there, now lets see if I can make it to my mouth!

Ooops, fell off....better try again.

Success!

Croup:(

Well, we hid as long as we could! Croup has made a visit to our home:( For the last couple of days he has had a little cough every now and then, but nothing major. This morning he woke up sounding a little froggy. I told Gramma to keep an ear on it and let me know if it got any worse. I talked with her around lunchtime and she said that it seemed to be about the same...so I went about my day hoping that it continued to stay that way. About 3:00 I got a text from Gramma saying that he sounded worse after his nap and that maybe I should call the pediatrician for an appt tomorrow. I immediately did that and instead of being able to just schedule an appt, they wanted me to talk to a nurse which meant I had to wait for a call back. Well when I got home and heard him, it was definitely worse than this morning. Gramma left and I continued to wait for a call. He had a couple of crying/coughing fits and I was pretty sure that he had a temp. At 4:30 I called the office back, but got the exchange....so off to Urgent Care we went.

It really didn't take too long, which I was surprised about, and the doctor said that he had "infectious croup." We got a prescription for a steroid and he told us to give him tylenol/motrin for fever (it was 101 btw) and then benadryl as well. The Dr there (a former pediatrician with a good reputation) said if he had a coughing fit and was having trouble catching his breath to take him into the garage so he could breathe in the cold air....this helps supposedly...but if after 15 minutes he was still struggling that we should head to the ER for a breathing treatment. Well, needless to say that doesn't help Tony and I as we will try to get some sleep tonight! but it was good info nonetheless:) He also said that the cough could stay around for up to a week or so...great news as well!

So here's to hoping for a quick recovery for my little man.....and to hide from croup for another 15 months or so! Oh and my pediatrician's office did call back.....but I was in urgent care when they did:)