House Guests

Tanya came to visit us this last weekend. She had a course here and managed to stay on a few extra days to visit. It was great to see her again! I had forgotten how much fun it was to spend time with her. Dougie loved her.

Friday, Tanya and I went shopping. Dougie was moderately cooperative but got tired of it all about half way through. He soldered on though and managed to walk about 1/2 a mile around the mall not counting going in and out of stores.

Saturday, we all went to swimming lessons and then headed to downtown Ft. Worth. Tanya had been mentioning some walking tours she had been on and so we decided to run with that idea. We had never taken a walking tour of Ft. Worth so we were all game. We made it just in time for the first tour. It was fascinating! I'm so glad we did it. We even managed to see the cattle drive.







The rest of the evening was spent playing games and watching a movie. Dougie was pretty happy with his new friend.

Cuddles


And even kisses


Sunday Tanya let, but not without a few more games. All in all, a great visit. We all can't wait to see her again.

When Daddy Does Bedtime

Scott was helping Dougie get back to sleep when he apparently fell asleep himself. It was too cute not to share.

A Step Up

Dougie has learned that he can climb on something to get to something else that he wants. What's even worse is that he will drag blocks out from his playroom and then use them to access counters in the living room. The blocks aren't very stable. We ended up having to take this one away for a while but it was so cute we got a picture before we did. He dragged this block from the playroom, placed it where he wanted and then climbed up there himself.

Further proof Dougie is smarter than the puppies

Bailey, The Super Dog

Bailey likes to run and jump. You would never know that he's turning 10 this summer. I don't think he has slowed down at all since the day we got him. His latest trick is to jump over Dougie on his way to his dinner dish. I'm not sure why this even started since he has plenty of room to walk. Perhaps Dougie looks like a hurdle to a 50 lb dog.

At long last, we got a good picture of it though

Dougie's First Egg Hunt

Last week, I took Dougie to an egg hunt hosted by my MOMS Club. I posted one of the pictures in the post about my mother's visit but I wanted to include the rest of them. It was pretty cute though Dougie didn't quite "get" it.

Mom's Visit

My mother came for a visit last week. Things had been crazy here with Dougie being sick and she was looking for a bit of a break from her world. So, she came down to help me with mine. It was great having her here, I managed to make some significant moves forward on some of the things I've been trying to get done lately. It's amazing how much easier it is to do things without having to corral a toddler.

I wanted to share a few pictures from her visit.

Grandma helping Dougie at the egg hunt


Grandma and Dougie at the zoo


More zoo with Grandma


Thanks for coming down and all your help, Mom!!

15 Month Check-Up

We had Dougie's 15 month on the 17th. He is growing but still remains on the little side. As you can see, he's only gained 3 oz since his 12 month check-up.

Stats:

• Weight - 20lbs 8oz (5%)


• Height - 31" (47%)


• Head - 18.8" (64%)

We talked to the doctor for a while about Dougie's development. He is right on track or ahead on all his gross motor skills but lagging somewhat on his verbal skills. He only has 1 word ("Mama"). The doctor didn't think we needed to check his hearing though so that was good. He did say that Dougie should have 4-5 words by his next appointment. Apparently, we're doing everything right so we'll just keep on doing that. Auntie Carol and Mom mentioned over the weekend that they think some of his sounds might be mimicing some words so hopefully that means real words won't be too far behind.

Dougie with his play silk

Dot Update

Shoot I've been terrible about updating. I promise to do better.

So, first things first. The dots turned out to be a viral rash. Our pediatrician thinks that Dougie had viral pneumonia. So, obviously not ideal but at least we know. He's doing a lot better now and the rash has cleared, so we're all really happy about that.

Lookin' all better

Mystery Dots

Dougie hasn't been feeling well lately. It started last week with a junkie sounding cough. By the weekend, he was throwing up and had diarrhea. Concerned it could be pneumonia, we took him into urgent care on Sunday. A few hours, 1 breathing treatment and a chest x-ray later, we left. They didn't think it was pneumonia but gave him antibiotics because they weren't completely sure it wasn't.

Monday and Tuesday, Dougie was not himself. He just sat in my lap all day and snuggled. At one point, we even had to force some fluids into him to ensure he didn't get dehydrated. By Wednesday though, he perked up enough that we took him to feeding therapy (report on that will be saved for another post). While we were there, I noticed he had a rash. Great. We called the doctor again and they took us off the medication that urgent care prescribed and booked us an appointment for tomorrow.

So, at this point, we're waiting to for tomorrow to see what is up. Dougie still isn't himself but he is eating and drinking again. The vomiting has stopped as well though we're still going through a lot of diapers. I thought I'd share a picture of the dots, in case anyone had any ideas.

Dots migrated to his hand today


Dots started on his tummy and back

Grandparents Visit

Last weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Sharabura trundled down to Texas to spend a few days visiting us. This was their first chance to see Walking Dougie (as well as Running Dougie and occasionally Tripping & Falling Down Dougie!)

Unfortunately, we didn't take too many pictures and of the ones we got, somehow we didn't get end up with any with Grandma! (Sorry Mom!) You'll have to take our word that she was here too. Dougie had a great time seeing his grandparents again and showed off his public speaking skills (if only we could understand him...)

"Higher, Grandpa, Higher!"


"Wheeeeeee!!!!" -- Dougie learning how to have fun on the slide


Grandpa and Dougie at the park


Dougie shows off how to ride his cow

Feeding Evaluation

Dougie went for his feeding evaluation today. It went really well!! "Really well" being defined as poorly enough that they are going to start him on therapy. This is a huge step in the right direction!

So, basically Dougie has what is called a "pediatric feeding disorder." The therapist believes that it was caused by the reflux he had previously. It's pretty common in kids who have or had bad reflux.

A feeding disorder is characterized by difficulties with eating or drinking that affect weight or nutrition. This problem may include food or fluid refusal or selectivity. Some children may be dependent on tube feedings to grow. A feeding disorder may be accompanied by behavior problems during mealtime (e.g., tantrums). Some children also may have skill deficits such as an inability to chew or swallow foods. Finally, medical problems such as vomiting also may play a role in the feeding disorder.

Children may have feeding difficulties as a result of a complex interaction between a number of factors. For example, medical problems such as reflux may cause eating to be painful. Early experiences with pain during eating cause the child to stop eating and develop behavior problems (e.g., crying), which make it difficult if not impossible for the parent to feed the child. Even after the medical problems are resolved, some children continue to refuse to eat. If the child frequently avoids eating, he or she may fail to develop the appropriate oral motor skills (e.g., chewing and swallowing) to be a successful eater. Other children may have peculiar feeding patterns (e.g., only eating a limited number of foods), which could compromise their health or socialization.

So, now that we've established what's wrong, we have a plan to fix it. Basically, it involves a more intense feeding routine with a reward system when he eats bites of new foods (his rewards is bubbles). It looks like we'll end up going to feeding therapy twice a week for a month or two and then dial it down to once a week. We just need to get approval from the insurance company and then we can start. Hopefully, that will happen soon. In the meantime, we're going to start with the bubbles and some new foods. The therapist was kind enough to give us an instruction sheet so we wouldn't have to just wait around. She tried the method on Dougie during the evaluation and he actually took some yogurt off a spoon. He never does that! We're feeling very excited about the prospect of finally getting this behind us.

And, because Scott says that posts without pictures are boring, here's a shot of Dougie from earlier this week:

Bath Time Skills

Dougie is learning to do all sorts of new things. I got a few pictures tonight that I wanted to share.

Brushing his own teeth





Combing his own hair





He's not particularly skilled at either, but it's so cute to watch him try.

GI Visit

Dougie had another visit with the GI today. It was just a standard follow-up from out previous appointments. The visit was full of good news! Firstly, he thought the feeding study would do wonders for Dougie. Secondly, he said he doesn't need to see Dougie any more! YAY!! It's so nice to be able to put that behind us.

I should also mention that Dougie actually ate something squishy today. He had some Mandarin oranges with dinner. He never takes food with that texture so that was a bit surprising but I'm excited about it. We're still going to keep our appointment for the feeding study because a few orange pieces does not reverse the trend but it's a good sign none the less.

Feeding Study

We took Dougie into the doctor last week because he still isn't eating well. We'd gotten used to that but we noticed that he had started to lose weight and that is a problem. The doctor was quite understanding about the problem. He felt that likely, Dougie had a texture sensitivity and that was causing his eating problems. He arranged for us to go have a feeding study done to see if we can get him over this problem.

The hospital called today to book the study. We're doing in Thursday of next week. At this point, I have no idea what it will entail but we were told to bring 2 foods he will eat and 1 he won't eat. The entire thing will take about an hour and is performed by a speech therapist.

In the meantime, the doctor told us to feed him what he will eat. We had been trying new foods on him. So, it looks like we'll go back to cream cheese and Club crackers. Mmmm. :)

More

Dougie has learned a new sign. He knows "more". He even does it properly so it's very clear what he means. It is amazing how just knowing "more" and "no more" has made mealtimes so much easier. A lot less food is ending up on the floor.

One More Zoo Picture

This was my favorite one from the day.



Dougie is becoming such a little man.

Kim's Birthday -- Trip to Zoo

Today is Kim's birthday -- with the weather being sunny and not too cold, we decided to celebrate by taking the family on a little excursion to the Fort Worth Zoo. This was Dougie's 3rd trip to the zoo, and each time he goes, he gets a little bit more excited at seeing the animals.


Thank goodness for the window -- those black bears sure look hungry!


Dougie and Mummy with a calf


The birthday girl and her little man on the zoo train


"Daddy, look at the elephant!"


Dougie and Mummy taking a walk at the zoo

New Stroller

We have a general effort around here to get a bit more active. So, in keeping with that, we bought a new stoller. This one is a jogging stoller.

Dougie thought the box alone was pretty great





But the stroller isn't too bad (notice how much room he has to grow in it)





We're pretty excited to get out with it. Dougie and I are going to work through a Couch to 5K program. The plan is that I'll do that and we'll end our outting at the park so Dougie can have some playtime. Dougie is getting increasingly active so hopefully, this will help him get some of that out.

We'll keep you posted on our progress.

Incomplete Lesson

We all share a bathtub right now. So, if I have a bath, I have to take Dougie's toys out of the tub. When he's ready for a bath, they need to go back in. Last night, I decided to try to teach Dougie to put the toys into the tub himself. I showed him the first toy and he instantly got it. He proceeded to put the rest of the toys in himself. I turned to check the water temperature so I could put him in and when I turned back, I saw this:



Ooops! Guess I should have covered that not everything goes into the bath. :)

Random Update

Not a lot has been going on here lately. Things seem to be quite busy but I couldn't tell you with what. Scott has been doing a lot more traveling so we try to focus our weekends on family time. Dougie was also pretty sick last week. The week before, he got a measles vaccination. He had quite a bit of a reaction from it and had a fever for several days as well as just being under the weather. He's much better now with just a few traces of a cold.

So, without further ado, miscellaneous Dougie pictures.

Playing Peek-a-boo

Where's Dougie?


Peek-a-boo


Where's Dougie?


Peek-a-boo


More Tub Fun

Pardon the bruises, we've been walking into things lately.






Playing with the filing cabinet

Put me under "C" for cute




Hanging with Maggie



She's so tolerant




Reading Up on MOMS Club

Shh... don't tell him it's upside down