Katelyn, Conner and Caleb! » December 2006 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Sun, Dec 31, 2006 10:50 PM
Conner helped wake me up this morning and Eric, Conner and I had this conversation...

Eric: Do you like Mom?
Conner: Yep.
Eric: Do you like Dad?
Conner: Yep.
Eric: Who do you like most?
Conner: (Pausing for thought) Cookie dough!

We had a good laugh over that response.

Katelyn and Conner had their blood draws on Thursday. Eric was able to take time off work and I'm glad he was there. Each kid took their turn and sat on Eric's lap while the lab techs drew the blood. It was calculated out that they needed a minimum of 11.5 ccs of blood but that 15 would be better.

Conner went first and he never made a sound (unless we told him to say, "Owie") but he furrowed his brows in tense concentration.

Katelyn however cried the entire time. Just sobbed. The person kept poking around for her veins and finally stepped aside for another person to try. That person got it in and we finally got some blood coming out. Katelyn barely made the minimum amount before the blood stopped coming out. Conner had the mimimum easily.

I had brought a couple of suckers along and that helped calm the sobs from Katelyn.

After we got home she told me that she didn't like hospitals. I can see why. She hasn't had very good experiences with them.

I did stop and weigh Caleb while we were there... 14 pounds, 6.2 ounces. He seems to be going pretty steadily just above the 10th percentile weightwise for the last couple of months. (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/growthcharts/set1clinical/cj41l017.pdf) if you're interested.)

Today was Christmas with my side of the extended family. This is a favorite celebration that we do every year (or that we try very hard to make every year). It's my dad's siblings and their decendents and spouses. It's a large group but it's a lot of fun to get together like that and see everyone. We have 4 babies all around Caleb's age and it's been fun to see them grow. It encourages me because it reminds me that Caleb is very much on track developmentally.

I'm exhausted though and am glad to be able to start getting back to "normal" life. As normal as life can be with 3 kids!

We're starting back on gluten free foods tomorrow with Katelyn. Both Eric and I can see the gluten affecting her again. I know that if it's celiac's then going off gluten will mean that further testing will be negative but... after seeing the positive changes occuring in her attitude and learning, I don't want to take that away from her while we wait for blood results, then appointments, then scheduling testing... and so on. Especially since the only course of action if she was confirmed with celiacs would be to get her on a gluten free diet. I want her feeling better sooner rather then later.

Good night everyone! Merry Christmas to all and have a Happy New Year's!

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Mon, Dec 18, 2006 1:22 PM
We went to the pediatrician this morning. I noticed last week that Katelyn looks overly thin in her limbs and yet her belly is huge. It looked bad enough that I decided we needed to talk to the ped now instead of waiting until the next well child check up.

While I was there I also weighed Caleb again... 13 pounds 14 1/4 ounces. Yay! That's quite the gain since I was last at the breastfeeding center and weighed him.

Katelyn and Conner are both going to have blood work done to check for food allergies and celiacs desease. Conner has some of the same symptoms that Katelyn has though not nearly as bad. The only issue is that gluten allergies/problems don't always show up in the blood if the person has been off gluten for a while. The question is how long can you be off gluten and still be OK. Katelyn has been off since Thanksgiving except for the bisquits she ate. So she might need to go back on gluten so that we can get blood work.

Conner has been only partially off gluten (and that's only because I've not wanted to cook two separate meals) so we tried to do his blood work today. He was so brave... he didn't flinch or cry or anything. But his veins collapsed and clotted so they weren't able to get enough blood. Even with trying both arms.

We'll got to the hospital for the bloodwork after we find out if Katelyn needs to go back on gluten again.

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Fri, Dec 8, 2006 8:49 PM
I would say white flour is definitely out with Katelyn. She ate two bisquits this morning when I wasn't paying attention (Ok... she woke up before me and ate them then...) and so I watched her closely today to see what would happen. About 12 hours later she had another very loose stool. Right back to the beginning.

That was very processed white flour. So I can't say yet if this is all gluten or just white flour. But at least I know I'm on the right track.

I'm starting an official food journal this evening for her. I probably should have done it right from the beginning but I wanted to see if we had basic improvement before I did. Today made it pretty evident that I need one.

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Thu, Dec 7, 2006 10:04 PM
This is amazing... Eric is currently on the phone with the family of the boy that he donated bone marrow to! He is so excited about this... he's been hoping that the family would be willing to be in contact with us and they were so today the information was exchanged. And they called us!

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Tue, Dec 5, 2006 4:01 PM
Just when I start getting concerned about Caleb not grabbing things (both Katelyn and Conner did that around 9 weeks) on his own, he goes and makes me very proud. Last night and then again this morning he rolled over onto his back intentionally. Last night took a bit of time because his head got in the way. But as soon as he figured out how to tilt it forward he was on his back. This morning he remembered and was over in a flash.

Then last night he turned himself around in a circle. Half of that was on his back. He likes to try to schooch forward though. It's slow going (we measure it in inches) but he also is practicing spinning around in circles on his belly. He's a bit ahead of his siblings on that aspect.

I need to keep reminding myself that if I go by when we expected him to be born, he's only two and a half months old. So he's doing fantastic.

We seem to finally be getting over colds here. Katelyn is completely over everything, Conner still has a runny nose and occasional cough and Caleb just has an occasional cough and a stuffed nose but only in the morning.

This week is Katelyn's last week of twice a week speech classes. She loves going so she will be very dissapointed when she gets to the point of not going at all.

The diet seems to be having a positive effect on Katelyn. I'm pleased with that. It's encouraging to know that we're on the right track.

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