Dr Chip

What a great dr we have! Technically, he had the day off so he could talk to some high school kids. Well, i think that someone passed the word along that we were really upset about not geting to talk to him last month. He took the time yesterday after his talk to come to the clinic where we were and talk to both of us face to face. Yea, he had called the wednesday after our appontments last month, but I wanted Adam to get to talk to him and hear what he had to say. Well, we think we have a bit of good news to report. Starting off, there are no changes in the downs possibilities and there are still holes in the baby's heart. The change Dr Chip thinks he sees is that the hole between the ventricles (the lower chambers) may be growing shut. This is great news!! If it does grow shut, we could be able to push off surgery until about 9 months old. But if it doesnt, we are looking at surgery around 3 months old. There are also no bowel obstructions to report to date. Still something to watch and all, but so far, so good! So, where does that leave us to date? We have made a few changes in our plans. Now, we have decided to deliver in St Cloud insead of Little Falls. The reasons for this change are for better care for the baby. Knowing the he

art defect is there, we know that the baby's blood oxygen level wil be about 85. For normal people, their blood oxygen level (also called the pulse ox)is upper 90's to 100. knowing this ahead of time, St Cloud will know whats going on and not get worried. But Little Falls might find issue with this and send the baby down to St Cloud anyway. Then (of course) I'd send Adam to be with the baby and I would be stuck in Little Falls, recovering. No where near my baby. Obviously not a good thing! Plus, if we deliver in St Cloud, we can take the baby for an echocardiogram the day after birth and Dr Chip can make sure all is ok for the time being and we can put a plan in place for surgery. Great things, huh? So, I'm saddened that I won't be delivering with Dr Susan, but we all know that once kids are in the equation, the main concern is never you. Its all about the kids and their safety and well being.

So, thats where we stand. We have a picture that Dr Chip drew for us and I'll try to get that scanned in so I can explain what they'll do in the surgery and be able to point out the exact issues.

As for Anthony, we suspect he has at least one tooth coming in and its taking its dear sweet time. We've been batttling it for a weeks now. Anytime now, Mr Tooth!! Other than that, Anthony is working very well at sleeping through the night. He even really likes his bedtime around 9:30 and waking up around 8:30. He tends to wake up very refreshed and slightly hyper. Of course he also gets excited at the mention of breakfast. One whole orange and his oatmeal. What a kid!

He has added a few more words. I think I know what he's saying, but who really knows? He's added words like Again (agah!), thwoop (a sound effect from one of his new books, he says thwoo!), boo (buh!), quack (qua qua!), this (dis), sit (sih!). and of course more all the time. He has such a love of learning and books. He is always carrying around books, handing them to us and urging us to read to him. He even enjoys a book i liked when I was little called Chicka Chicka ABC. He lokes the BOOM BOOM parts. Such a nut!

On the potty training front, we are getting back on track a little. He sits on his potty when asked, and just the other day, he peed in the potty! Adam thinks I got him too excited because he grabbed the part that their business goes into and flung it into the air. Pee went all over him, me, his toy box, his toys, the towel, everything in range for a golden shower. But, you know that I couldn't scold him because that might make him afraid to potty in the chair again or make him upset when he atually did do a good thing. Plus the kid was already upset about getting drenched. He hasn't done anything in there yet again, but we are working on it and trying to keep patience.

We had two Easters this year. One was the weekend before with Adam's dad's side (it was Grandpa Florian's birthday too) but sadly, Anthony got very little sleep the night before and was starting this teething, so he was less than happy the whole time. He cried through dinner, barely went looking for eggs, and was an all around grump. We didn't worry though since we still had another Easter day for all that. The next weekend went better. Anthony had a blast exploring the park, going down the slide, going on a seesaw, swinging, and all the running around. He even ate a fair amount at dinner! We hit a snag after dinner when we tried to change his diaper (he had held his pee for awhile and ended up letting it fly during the diaper change. NOT good. Poor kid ended up needing a wardrobe change before egg hunting. The bigger kids were mostly done by the time we go out there, but i think that was best. Then the older kids were checking out their findings while Anthony was looking for the eggs Adam had held back for the lil man. Anthony loved looking for eggs. He mostly liked finding the egg, cracking it open, and throwing the candy on the ground. He was more interested in the egg! After the hunt, we let him play for a bit before heading home. Poor kid crashed out for the whole ride home! He was so cute for both Easters and made me cry when I saw him eating a sugar cookie. He's growing up so fast. In fact, I need to make a drs apointment for him (and myself) for two weeks from now for his 18 month check up.

18 months. OMG! Thats a long time for a mom! It goes by so fast and it seems like in the blink of an eye, your baby is grown, walking, talking, and feeding themselves. Learning to use a potty chair, exploring the world, and showing their independence. Thank God he still comes running to us when he needs that bit of comfort or likes to flash that big toothy grin when he's looking for approval. Even now, he just tried a headstand on the other side of the couch. Silly boy. I wonder how he'll handle the new baby and how our family dynamic will be enhanced. Going to be interesting. Stay tuned, I guess!

OH! and THANK YOU to those who take the time to read rather than just asking us over and over after each appointment or expecting a phone call. This is much more time efficient.And I know that everyone is straight on the details. Now to get th lazies on board...