Holiday Cheer

Well, after a busy few months....the holidays are coming to an end. Thank God!! Christmas was busy, but fun! I know that the next few years will even get better as the boys will begin to understand all of the magic of Santa!! We can't wait. Nathan received a train table set from Santa and he loved it. He was such a tv bug prior to the train set and I will have to say that he has barely watched much tv since Christmas Day. I am not sure if the less tv has been the motivation or what, but I will say that we have been noticing some changes, yet small, in Nathan's speech. His therapy has been going pretty well and he his consistently doing about 5 signs. He also says about 6 animal sounds. The therapist told me last week that she notices him only using vowels to speak....with the exception of "d". Then all of a sudden yesterday he was doing "b", "p", "t", and "w". Granted, he is still behind, but it's nice to hear some new things coming out of his mouth! :) I say that now!! He also had the re-eval for his hearing and he did pass, so no problems there!

Cole is now 7 1/2 months and getting chunkier by the minute! :) What a rolie polie! He is loving to laugh, especially at Nathan. We think he will start crawling within the next month. He started doing the army crawl tonight....I will see about posting a video! Once he's mobile, the torcher begins again! Well, at least until he understands all of the things he shouldn't be getting into. That will take a while. So, in the mean time, I think it will be time to put the gates back up. Nathan is going to love that! :( He is eating quite a bit, but still not sleeping so well. He seems to be my sensitive sleeper. Nathan can sleep through just about anything! Cole can sleep through noise, but not through things like a cold. He starts to sleep well and than he gets a cold, or than it was the steroids keeping him awake all hours of the night, and now it seems to be teething. His Christmas gift from Santa was his first tooth (bottom front). He is doing well, other than that!

Jay and I are also doing well, but nothing really new to report there! Jay is much happier with work since he changed jobs in May. I will have to say, he may even be slightly relaxed!! :) Okay, that might be pushing it! Work has been pretty busy for me....but what else is new! There will always be sick people! I just can't wait for the day that I can finally have a normal Monday through Friday job again! UUUGGHH!! It sounds nice to only have to work two days a week, but the idea is better than the reality of having to give up EVERY weekend! I know Jay can't wait until it's over either!

Well, Happy Holiday to everyone!!

Cardiac Ablation

I forgot to post last week that I had my 6 month post partum check up with cardiology. After developing SVT (Supra ventricular tachycardia) at 10 weeks pregnant, I have been following up with them every so often.

During the pregnancy they couldn't do much other than to give me a medication to take if my heart rate started getting out of control. I tried not to take the medication unless I absolutely couldn't get my heart rate down on my own (usually done with vagal maneuvers). I actually only took the medication 5 times or so during the pregnancy and at that time my heart rate would go up at least 4-5 times a week. Since giving birth, my heart rate only goes up 4-5 times a month. Never going up to the 240 beats/min that I had in the ER.

Needless to say, I now have two treatment options now that I am not pregnant: medication or a cardiac ablation. The cardiac ablation is similar to a cardiac catheritization procedure, but once the catheters are inserted in your heart, they basically re-circuit your heart by killing off or taking out the bad heart cells that is causing the irregularity. It does come with some risks and doesn't always work. As for the medication, the cons are of course cost and just the nuisance of having to take medication every day at 28 years old.

The cardiologist (whom I know very well from work), thinks that it is best to go ahead and try medication for now. If I have any breakthrough SVT while on the medication then I definitely need the ablation. Otherwise, he will follow up with me in 3 months and keep me on the medication for one year. At that point he would try to wean me off the medication. If I had more issues at that point.....once again ablation would be the next step. I have been started on an anti-dysrhythmic Flecainide-to be taken twice a day. So far, it's hard to tell if it's working, because I can't seem to take it regularly. I am going to program my cell phone to remind me. We will see how it goes!!

Halloween

So, last week was Halloween fun!! We weren't sure how well behaved the boys would be and for how long, so we only carved one pumpkin this year and made it an easy design. Nate was very upset that he couldn't use the knives to do any of the carving and seemed a little grossed out by digging out the insides. Cole just hung out of course! It went fairly well!

As for trick or treating, Nathan did pretty good. He didn't want to cooperate for any pictures, so I will post the best one that I got. Last year, he definitely didn't get it. This year after 3 or 4 houses, he got it. It helped that we went with the neighbor's kids (3 six-year-olds and a 10-year-old). They taught him the ropes, but basically ran to each house and he had a hard time keeping up. All said and done, we went around the (short) block once and came home.....I had to go to work. Nate instantly had to dump his bag and see what kind of goodies he had. Since then, he has wanted candy everyday....I guess that is the nature of the beast.

Busy Week

After a busy weekend shopping in Maine with my girlfriends, it has been one busy week! The weekend was a lot of fun!! I spent a lot of money, but got a lot of stuff. Some were Christmas gifts, some stuff was what we need now, and some stuff we will need in the future (i.e. next size up shoes/clothing for Nate and Cole).

Monday I came back to having to go to the dentist. I had a partial years ago on one of my top molars and it now needed a crown. Away I went for the crown prep....I have to go back in a few weeks for the crown placement. It's going to run about $300 for our portion. OUCH! My mom watched the boys while I went to the dentist and later that day she and the boys helped me rake the backyard.

Wednesday, I brought Cole back to the doctors for I think the fourth time in 2 1/2 weeks. I am not sure the last time I updated on what's going on....basically he was on the oral steriod and the Albuterol neb treatments and he continued to wheeze and retract. They then started him on nebulized steriods twice a day and we are to continue the Albuterol nebs as needed. He is better, but still is wheezing daily. I brought him back to the doctor and they said to continue the nebs and to give it more time. They think he is most likely asthmatic and was triggered with this bout from a cold. They want us to continue the nebs through the winter. What a pain...but anything for our baby boy. Also, thank god for insurance......a 30 day supply of the Pulmicort (the nebulized steriod) would have been $475....it cost us $25. That would have been very costly to continue through the winter! Well, we will see how things go!

Thursday, Nathan had his first speech therapy. I am hoping things will be better in the future, because I was not impressed. First off, the therapist was 20 minutes late with no phone call or excuse. She was here for I think about 40 minutes and basically only went over history information again with me and let Nate play with a shape sorter and a Mr. Potato-Head (toys he already has). He is supposed to be seen twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays), but next week she has a conference and will be out of town both of those days. She said she will be here Wednesday at least, but she seemed a little flighty and I just hope that she will not be re-arranging the schedule every week and then not seeing him at all or only once a week. Well, once again we will wait and see how it goes!!

Comparisons....

I know that I have had this conversation with a few people....how much our boys look alike. So, I want to see who can guess which baby is Cole and which one is Nathan?!? Just as a side note, Cole has been enjoying his new flavors of his life....he has had squash, sweet potatoes, and peas so far. YUMMY!!

Sick Baby Boy

So this past week and a half have been kind of miserable. The boys have both been sick and once again not sleeping. Nathan's has just been more of a cold...no big deal. I think his incoming 2 year molars have been more of the issue in terms of not sleeping.
However, Cole has had more of the rough week. Cole didn't sleep well Sunday through Tuesday night with no signs of any cold....then came Wednesday when I noticed he was wheezing quite a bit and had retractions (where his skin is sucked in at his neck/ribs). He was happy, but working so hard to breathe. I decided to call the dr and they saw him Thursday. His oxygen level a little low in the office, so they gave him a nebulizer treatment of Albuterol and his first dose of a steriod (Prednisone) in the office. His oxygen level came up, but remained a little low. He was sent for a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia.....luckily it was ruled out....so no antibiotics. However, it did show some inflammation (basically) which could either be from a virus like RSV or he could be asthmatic. He will be tested in the future, need be. I wouldn't be surprised if he is asthmatic, because since birth he has done the wheezing thing intermittently, just not this bad. Needless to say we continued the neb treatments until about Sunday and just finished our last dose of Prednisone today. He is sounding much better, but continues to have a tad bit of a wheeze. I will see if the doctor wants to see him again tomorrow.

As for me, I have been trying to prepare for my shopping trip with my girlfriends to Maine set for this weekend. We leave Friday night and come back late Sunday evening....I hope the boys will be good for Jay. However, we should have a lot fun and get a lot of shopping done without kids!!!

Fall Festivities

Yesterday, we decided to have some family time. It was a controversy between going apple picking at Bowman's (like we usually do) or going to the corn maze at Liberty Ridge Farm. I figured that going to the farm would be better for Nate....a lot more to do especially for his age!! We had went to Liberty Ridge probably 5 years ago with Tim and Beth, but we had went at night and went through the haunted maze. They have definitely expanded the last 5 years; new buildings and I think many more activities then there used to be. Jay let me sleep late, so we got off to a late start. However, I wish we went earlier because we could have spent the whole day there. We didn't do/see everything before it started getting dark. We went through one phase of the corn maze (there are 2), we did a few of the puzzles they had, saw only a few of the animals, went to the pumpkin patch, watched the pig races, rode the trolley, and Nathan and Jay rode the cow train. Of course we also got cider donuts! Oh, they also had this pumpkin maze that you could only make right turns to get to the goal. After Jay and about ten other people tried without success. I gave it a whirl and got it!! Next year, we are definitely going back and spending the whole day. We only spent about $35 for the day and that was because we got the dozen of donuts and 3 hot dogs/drinks. The kids were free (ages 3 and under) and we were $9 each. Just an idea if you are looking for something else to do this fall!

Immunology Update

Well, Monday Nate had his immunology appointment. As of last week, Nate's pediatrician had said the blood work came back as ALL of the antibodies being low. Now, that could have meant some big problems for Nate. Luckily, this week the specialist said that no, the antibodies were not low once adjusted for his age. That is with the exception of the one antibody (IgA) still being low. He could outgrow that, so they will re-test it in one year. In the mean time, he would still be susceptible to any GI or respiratory illnesses. Now, in terms of the diarrhea, he wants to try an elimination diet of all lactose products/ingredients. He is questioning a lactose intolerance.."allergy" is the word he used. However, a true allergy is one you need an epi pen for. This is more of an adverse reaction. Anyways, the diet change has been an extreme challenge. Luckily, Nate loves raw food (fruits/veggies), but there are plenty of processed items he loves to that have milk products in them (i.e. Nilla wafers, waffles, Toaster Strudels, etc). I have been surprised about how many products have milk in them. We are trying our best and will see if it helps with the diarrhea. Yesterday was the first time this week that he had a couple bouts of the diarrhea, but he does have good/bad days, so overall I haven't seen much of a difference thus far. We have to follow the diet for 3 weeks.......it's going to be a rough 3 weeks!

Cole's 4 Month Check-up

Yesterday was Cole's 4 month check-up. I can't believe how fast it's gone by...especially this time around. Some people have asked me if I have felt guilty not being able to spend as much time with Nathan since Cole came. It's actually quite the opposite; Cole gets the shaft a lot, because Nathan takes a lot of attention. I love him just the same, but can't seem to give him as much attention as I gave Nate at this age. Poor Cole. Cole was rolling consistently from his tummy to his back at 2 weeks old, but has since stopped and still hasn't rolled from his back to his tummy. Nathan was doing these both by 3 months old and I wonder if it's because I can't spend as much time with him. I know that everyone says not to compare your children and that every child is different.....but you can't help but to wonder. Jay and I both say that Nate was one to physically be ahead of the game, but the one to be delayed in speech and that Cole is going to be the one to probably be talking up a storm by 12 months and to not be ahead physically as Nate always has been.

Needless to say, Cole got a clean bill of health! He weighed in at 17 pounds 3 ounces and is 25 1/2 inches long (Nate was 17 pounds 2 ounces and 26 inches at this point). His umbilical hernia that he had is almost completely closed. Cole also got the okay to start solids. So yesterday, he was given cereal for the first time. He seemed to like it a bit more than Nate did. I think he might like it even better once we add some veggies or fruit!!

Evaluation

Nathan's Early Intervention Core Evaluation was completed. I was very pleased with the evaluators that came and with Nathan's behaviour. Nathan does normally point to pictures in books, but wouldn't do that yesterday. He loved all the toys they brought with them....he kept trying to dig into their bags to see what else they had. Needless to say, Nathan qualifies for the program. Surprise, surprise, he has at least a 33% delay with communication. His fine and gross motor skills are age appropriate. His social and adaptive abilities are mildly delayed, but they correlate that with his communication delay. The team comes back on October 4th to complete the plan (goals, how frequent speech therapy, etc). Speech therapy will begin there after. I will have to say, that the last few days, I have Nate say "duh" when pointing at a duck or a dog. I guess it's a start!

Tiring Week

Since Labor Day week, the boys have not been sleeping well due to the colds they both had. Subsequently, Jay and I haven't been sleeping well either, with the exception of Sunday night in which both boys slept completely through the night!! Thank god they did, because Jay and I decided it was time to upgrade Nathan to the toddler version of his bed. Nathan hadn't been trying to climb out yet, but we figured it was time regardless. We think he actually liked the security of the walls of the crib. Anyway, Monday night we converted his crib to the toddler bed and Nate had his first night sleep in a "big boy bed". It took him about an hour to stay in bed and fall asleep, but he never played with his toys. He just kept running from his gate to the bed and vice versus. Needless to say, it's been a tough week so far with getting him to sleep at night and down for his nap. On top of it, Cole has been not sleeping well either! I have a class tomorrow and Friday to take for work and Jay has taken the two days off. He said this morning that he will get up with the kids the next two nights! I am actually looking forward to that!! Each nap and night-time running gets less in time, so hopefully the stigma is wearing off. We will see!

Pudding Painting

I forgot to post this pic last week of us pudding painting. As much as Jay (as well as many others) hate Kate from "John and Kate Plus 8" on TLC, she had a great idea to do pudding painting with the kids. At Nate's age, kids naturally want to eat everything that's on their hands, so why not. Nate did enjoy the painting....as well as the eating!

I forgot to post this pic last week as well. Let's just say I was tied up breastfeeding Cole in the office/playroom. Now that we have taken down all of the gates on the main floor, Nate has pretty much free reign of the house. I could hear him in the dining room, but couldn't tell what he was doing. Once I found him, I realized he is now tall enough to reach the baby powder from one of the built in shelves in our living room! OOPS!!

After a few attempts at the doc's office yesterday, they finally got the bloodwork. Hopefully, they got enough blood for all of the tests. This pic was of the boys in Cole's crib before the appointment. Cole idolizes his brother already!

Immunologist Appointment

Well, yesterday was the day to bring Nate for the appointment regarding the low antibody. What a joke!! You pay $40 for the specialist co-pay and they don't do half of the work. The doc said essentially the same things that our pediatrician said....could be big thing, could be small thing. He now needs blood work and stool specimens completed, but I have to bring him back to my pediatricians office or an outpatient lab service to do so. We have an appointment today for the bloodwork and we go back to the immunologist in 3 weeks. Another joke about the office is that you are not allowed to close the exam room door...how do they expect me to keep my toddler contained. I was told it is because they have to be able to keep an eye on the patients getting allergy shots for reactions. Well, 1) my kid wasn't getting the shots and 2) isn't that a privacy issue. I mean anyone could walk by and hear half of your medical information when speaking with the doc. On top of it all, you are also not allowed any food and drink!! Once again, how do you expect me to contain my toddler....snacks and drinks is one of the ways to a toddler's heart! I guess we will wait and see!

As for Cole's first cold...he still has it. His cough seems to be getting worse and now Nate and I have it too!! Jay is anticipating getting it any day now!

Early Intervention Appointment

So, just as an update (again), the Early Intervention Coordinator came over on Tuesday. I was surprised that she was here for about 1 1/2 hours. She asked just about everything about Nathan from the womb to now. Thank goodness Nathan was napping so I could focus on remembering milestones, history, etc without getting out his baby book. Cole sat contently on my lap during the meeting. Needless to say, we are all set and his eval is on September 22nd. I did not realize though that they will be evaluating him from all angles (not just speech). The team (speech pathologist and psychologist) will evaluate: physical, cognition and memory, social-emotional, etc. I will have to say I am a bit nervous!! If he qualifies for services (which I am sure he will), therapy should start soon there after.

In the mean time, we enjoyed some time away from home this past week. The kids and I (with the help of my lovely mother), went down state to my Aunt's house to see my cousin and her husband from California. Jay stayed home, had a night to himself, and went for a ride on his motorcycle. We had a good time and lucky for me, the kids were pretty good. I was nervous! It was Cole's first time sleeping anywhere away from home. I know he's pretty adaptable, but I just didn't want him waking up during the night screaming and wake everyone up....which he didn't. He does have his first cold though....poor little guy! As for Nate, the trip was the first time for him to sleep in a "big boy bed". I was of course sleeping with him though, thank God, because he would have ended up on the floor several times. He slept through the night still, so what more could I have asked for. Although, what a bed hog!!

More Health Issues?

As an update on Nathan, we have a scheduled visit on Tuesday with Schenectady County's Early Intervention Coordinator to fill out the paperwork for him to have a speech eval. Once the paperwork is completed the speech eval should soon follow. I am sure that they will continue to see him once evaluated.

Well, of course we are having that issue hopefully resolved, now a new issue arises. Nathan's pediatrician called back last night with his bloodwork results. His lead test was fine. His TSH (thyroid function) level was fine, although I am still unsure why they checked this. As for his allergy testing, he said it actually came back fine. In that case, what explains his outbreak of hives/rash back in January? Then, the other odd news is that his celiac panel came back negative, but one of the antibodies (IgA) came back low. Now, IgA is the antibody which is pertaining to your mucous membranes like your mouth, lungs, and GI tract. Well, that would make sense that Nate is having diarrhea so much, because he would be more susceptible to any GI illness. These illnesses wouldn't affect others who have the antibodies to fight it off. As to why his antibody is low, we are not sure. His level could resolve on it's own by the age of 5 or it could be due to a much bigger problem (autoimmune disease, leukemia, etc). Needless to say, now he needs to go see an immunologist. His appointment is set for September 8th. So I guess we will wait and see what happens. I am to also question his allergy test results with the immunologist.

On a good note, Cole has slowly started to laugh. Yesterday I got his first, yet small, belly laugh. I look foward to many more!!

Still Recooperating

So, after a busy week or so, we are all exhausted! This past weekend was Art & Heather's wedding. It was beautiful! I didn't get very many pics and the ones I got, were not very good. I will hopefully have a decent collection of pictures though from Beth and Vanessa. Nathan did a great job as the Ring Bearer. He needed quite a bit of encouragement and some bribery with candy, but he made it down the aisle and that was all we could really ask for!

Well, we had Nathan's hearing eval today. He didn't want to cooperate fully (I still think he did a marvelous job considering he's two). We were put in a sound proof box and then the audiologist sat in another room next to us and played different tones that were relayed out of two stereo speakers. When Nathan turned toward the appropriate speaker, a light and dancing bunny came out to keep Nathan's interest to continue listening. I was told that they were testing for four tones and he completed and passed three tones. As for the fourth tone, his attention span had dropped and Cole started to cry. They want to see him again in four months. In the mean time, they advised me to call Early Intervention in our county and get a speech eval. They told me that I did NOT need the hearing eval (though my pediatrician thought we did). So I have a call into Early Intervention for his referral. We will see tomorrow I guess.

August must be the month....

Last August I cut my hair to almost my chin and well, I have done it again. It wasn't that I didn't like my hair that short; it was more that I got pregnant with Cole and just didn't maintain it. Now that Cole is sleeping better, I am more willing to maintain it again. I haven't done it yet, but I am going to also get highlights again. I will post a pic with the final product! I have just decided that it's time to take care of me. A better 'me' will be a better 'mom'. I have been saying that I also want to lose weight for quite some time, but it has been put off with the pregnancy and births the boys. Because I am still breastfeeding Cole, I can't limit my diet and exercise as much as I want right now so the hair is the first step to an improved 'me'.

Just as an update, I have not heard back from Nathan's pediatrician regarding his bloodwork. I will give them until tomorrow. As for his hearing eval, it's next week. For some reason I thought it was today, but it's actually Tuesday.

37 Inches and still growing!

Today was Nater-tater's 2 year check up. He is 37 inches tall and weighs 33 pounds and change. He continues to be greater than 90th percentile for height and weight. Needless to say he will never be able to be a horse jockey! He had blood work taken for the normal lead screening, but had some extra vials taken to determine his allergy (shellfish vs. amoxicillin) and also to see if he has celiac disease. I doubt that he has celiac....if he does, he has a very mild form of it. We will find out results next week. I also have his hearing evaluation scheduled for next week so we can finally get this boy talking. Nate was a trooper for his immunization and the blood draw.....luckily Cole just chilled in his carseat.

I finally uploaded pics from the Mets game on Sunday. Jay and I had a blast. I wish I didn't have to work the night prior, but hey it's the sacrifice that we make to not put the kids in daycare. I think Sunday was the most we have talked in two years!! It was nice to see that we can still have a good time with each other.

New Beginnings.....With Inspiration!

I am officially joining the blogging world once again. I had a different blog moons ago (for our wedding). However, with the inspiration of some friends, moms, etc. I have a new inspiration to write once again. I am not quite sure what this blog will compose of....I am sure most of it will be my trials and tribulations of a mom of two boys! We will see.