Dr. Visits
Sleep-test take II. On September 5 we booked a room at Childrens (btw, there was no turn down service and the view was atrocious - last time I stay there!) for the ol' overnight sleep test. Bet you would like to know what the results were. So would I! Basically this is what
happened. We got there, they electroded him up (the pic is from the 1st time we tried this and they had just started putting all the equipment on him), and my son and I went mee mees where I carefully tried not to roll over and smother my him since we had to share the bed. Obviously they don't do this on many babies. A tech came in the room a couple of times and at 6 am we received a wake up call, "Good morning, it's all done." "So I heard you come in the room a couple of times last night, did you have to turn on the oxygen?" See the thing about this test is they start him on room air and if his body doesn't stay oxygenated enough they crank on the O2 to 100% with a pressure of .25. "Yes, we started at .25 pressure and ended at .50" "Anything you can tell me before I meet with the doctor?" "Nope." Awesome. Great because by now you gotta know what's comin right?Of course I didn't hear from the doctor till Friday October 2nd. Almost a month later. Did I actually speak to the doctor. No, she left the following message. Made apologies (LOL!) then went on to say, "so as a result of the sleep-test we need to take Kaz's O2 pressure to .50. If you want discuss the results give me a call Monday." Duh, of course I want to discuss it. I want to know what happened to my poor lil' guy. Of course I called Monday. Strange, I didn't get a response back. So all of you whom have been inquiring, I know just as much as you do. NOTHING!
4 month check-up which was more like a 4.5 month check-up because of the date: "So what happened?" It's official, a medical professional has diagnosed our son as a flirt. He was talkin to the doc, smiling, being all cute. It was pretty funny to watch and it was even funnier when the doc called him a flirt and he just gave him a big ol' goofy grin.
Well this time around when the doc checked his height, weight, and head growth he proclaimed that he would start officially tracking his percentile to growth. What does that mean? If your child is in the 20th percentile for weight, for example, he weighs more than 20 percent of children his age and less than the other 80 percent. Here's how our boy measured up:
- Height 24" = 25%
- Weight 14 lbs 4.5 oz. = 50% (Corrected age would land him in the 90th percentile - hence not correcting his age for growth.)
- Head 40 cm = 10% (poor misshapen peanut - we're fighting preemie head here, it's something that happens to a lot of preemies because when they are in the NICU they put babies with breathing/reflux issues on their sides most of the time which cause the head to be flat on the sides. So Kaz's head is flat on the sides pointy on top but it's rounding out nicely and to me and everyone else his head looks HUGE. I think someone misread something.)
We discussed Kaz's "displeasure" with tummy time. This kid hates being on his tummy. His neck control is getting better and he'll sit there for a couple of minutes but you slowly see his head drop and the screaming commences. As much as I don't like to hear him scream it's a necessary evil we must diligently subject him to. I tell him it's for his own good but he doesn't seem to care.Maybe I can bribe him with a nice warm bowl of rice cereal. The doc would like us to start introducing this creamy goodness to him and see how he takes to it.
On top of his regular shots Kaz had to have is blood checked at a lab to see if his iron levels were normal yet. Poor Aaron had to hold his baby tight while the nervous tech drew blood from his tiny little arm and I stood in the waiting area crying. What, I cry. I don't need to be tough all the time. Quit looking at me! Happy to report all is well and Kaz is now off the iron.
On top of his regular shots Kaz had to have is blood checked at a lab to see if his iron levels were normal yet. Poor Aaron had to hold his baby tight while the nervous tech drew blood from his tiny little arm and I stood in the waiting area crying. What, I cry. I don't need to be tough all the time. Quit looking at me! Happy to report all is well and Kaz is now off the iron.
Firsts
I went back to work. Needless to say I have mixed emotions about this. I love my job and I love working but I hate not spending every waking moment with our little tough guy. Luckily his Tia Jenn (my comadre) has been gracious enough to watch him here at home while I work in the office (yes, I work from home. I know, you're sooo jealous). It's been nice but a temporary solution till Jenn is comfortable taking him to her house. You know what she did to me this past Tuesday, she ripped my baby from his home and left his Momma here broken hearted. WAAAAAA! I know, I'm so melodramatic.
Caleb: I've got a great idea! 
Caleb: ...and then we...
Kaz: Dude that's hilarious!
Mmmmm rice cereal! Feeding time is not something to be messed with around here. Kaz will tell you what's what if you mess with his bottle - up one side and down the other. With that said, we didn't choose the most opportune time to introduce rice cereal. You know, when he was hungry. He wasn't havin it! Once we gave him his bottle and his tummy was nice and full we offered him a couple of spoonfuls of rice cereal. Can you tell by the pic how he felt about it?
Our old friend Kevan who we haven't seen in quite 
sometime was shocked when I responded to his question with, "he's at home taking care of the baby." I guess he had to see it for himself. Heck I'm still in shock I can only imagine what his brain did.
Kaz's Aunt Leslie, Wujek Matthew, and cousins Eve and Cora came to visit from WI for a whole week! It was great to meet our newest niece born 26 days after Kaz and spend time with Miss D'Eva. On top of all that yummi goodness seeing Leslie and Matthew meet their first nephew for the first time was pretty sweet too. It's too bad it was sooooo dang hot.
Karen finally getting to
hold the little booger. She's seen him plenty of times but this is the first time she got to wrap her arms aournd him.
I went back to work. Needless to say I have mixed emotions about this. I love my job and I love working but I hate not spending every waking moment with our little tough guy. Luckily his Tia Jenn (my comadre) has been gracious enough to watch him here at home while I work in the office (yes, I work from home. I know, you're sooo jealous). It's been nice but a temporary solution till Jenn is comfortable taking him to her house. You know what she did to me this past Tuesday, she ripped my baby from his home and left his Momma here broken hearted. WAAAAAA! I know, I'm so melodramatic.
Kaz had his first play date and I think the pictures are very telling of what it's going to be like in 10 years, lord help us.
Caleb: I've got a great idea! Kaz: Hmmm, interesting.
.
.
.
Caleb: ...and then we...
Kaz: Dude that's hilarious!
.
.
.
Caleb: ...this is where it gets good.
Kaz: DUDE, what is wrong with you?
Mmmmm rice cereal! Feeding time is not something to be messed with around here. Kaz will tell you what's what if you mess with his bottle - up one side and down the other. With that said, we didn't choose the most opportune time to introduce rice cereal. You know, when he was hungry. He wasn't havin it! Once we gave him his bottle and his tummy was nice and full we offered him a couple of spoonfuls of rice cereal. Can you tell by the pic how he felt about it?
Now we notice, "wow he is totally watching us eat AND he opens his mouth like he's waiting for a bite". He's crafty this one, he now tries to hold his bottle or pull our hands towards his mouth with the bottle or spoon in it. Can you teach a kid not to have food aggression? It worked on Harley. Hey I'm not complaining, 14 lbs. is a far cry from 3.
Although he is doing great with his growth and his age is no longer being corrected for that, we have to keep reminding ourselves he may be 5 months old, but developmentally he's not. You've been told over and over about corrected age but you know when he was born so it really doesn't compute. I want him to be 5 months old doing what my friends kids are doing. Instead I need to keep reminding myself he is only 3 months/3 weeks old.
I need to celebrate Kaz's milestones as they come and be happy for the milestones of others (Caleb and Cora are rolling over, Maysen is sitting, and Caden is crawling - YEA!). Again it's hard to wrap your head around it no matter how logical it is. So no he's not rolling over yet (maybe that's because he can't stomach tummy time [get it, stomach - tummy time - come one, I'm hilarious] long enough to figure it out) but I think after seeing his cousin Cora standing with such grace he some how became inspired to stand. Yes, he is now standing (with my support of course)! One day while he and I sat in front of the mirror he began to yell at himself as if he were giving himself a pregame pep-talk. He then tensed up all his muscles, planted his feet on the floor, and like a little power lifter he stood up. It was AWESOME! Milestone achieved!
My baby CAN be tickled. I thought he inherited the no tickle gene from his momma (yes, I am not ticklish - don't try it you might pull back a stump) but finally he reacted to tickling. Happy happy joy joy giggle giggle snort snort!
Apparently we might have a little vampire on our hands. Kaz is teething and it is in the weirdest place, his fangs. Kaz really only cries for 2 reasons, 1 - see food aggression topic above, and 2 - when he's tired. So when he's crying for no apparent reason and he's shoving his fist in his mouth it prompted me to do a little investigation and right where his little fangs are there are white swollen patches. Yes I'm a first time Mom so trust me I had a veteran look at it to tell me I wasn't crazy. According to the pediatrician and his Oma who owned a daycare and has seen a lot (she knows a thing or two about a thing or two) they both tell me as weird as it may seem, it happens. Hmmm where do you suppose one finds a little black baby cape?
My son is empathic! The book (Your Baby's First Year for Dummies - yeah that's right, we're dummies) says babies start to empathize and respond to facial expressions. I was having a "moment". I was holding him and he and I were looking at each other and all of the sudden I was overwhelmed with emotions (dang hormones) and I got a little teary-eyed. Kaz looked at me and gave me pucheros (pout) and started crying with me. My little heart broke and then I just busted out laughing. My poor sensitive little man, I'm sure he was confused as all get out.
I've thought often about what I'd do if it ever happened and then it finally did; Harley had a seizure for the first time since Kaz has been home and it was a pretty bad one. Luckily Kaz was in his bouncy seat and Harley was outside. It's been 5 months since his last seizure which has been the longest we've ever gone without one and we made an interesting discovery. Over the course of the last year most of his seizures occurred while he was on antibiotics. The vet told us the antibiotics would not counteract his anti-seizure meds. Really, I beg to differ. Proof is in the history you quacks. Why was Harley on antibiotics? He has some pretty severe allergies that cause his skin to break out and then it gets infected. Hence the antibiotics. Well we are hoping that will all come to an end. We took Harley to an animal dermatologist. Yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds but we also tried acupuncture. If you've ever seen Harley's skin you know how desperate we are to fix it. Anyways we paid big bucks to finally find out what the heck is causing all the itchy-poo-scratchy and now we get the pleasure of shooting him up with an antigen. It won't take away the seizures but it's a start.
Aaron was sick. "Oh my what did he have?" I'll make this really short. A goiter! An infected ingrown hair that turned into the size of a guava under his chin. He was quarantined from Kaz because they thought he had MERSA which turned out to be a low grade Staph infection. A day after he was cleared to touch the baby he then got the flu with a 103.4 fever and was sequestered to the guest bed. So for the first time I got to take care of 2 babies. The big one I've been taking care of for 12 years and our son. I don't want to do that again. It was so sad when Kaz and I would peek into the doorway to say hello; Kaz with his big goofy grin and his Dad tortured that he couldn't hold him. Ahh but all is well now, Kaz and his Dad have reconnected and I am EXHAUSTED.
I need to celebrate Kaz's milestones as they come and be happy for the milestones of others (Caleb and Cora are rolling over, Maysen is sitting, and Caden is crawling - YEA!). Again it's hard to wrap your head around it no matter how logical it is. So no he's not rolling over yet (maybe that's because he can't stomach tummy time [get it, stomach - tummy time - come one, I'm hilarious] long enough to figure it out) but I think after seeing his cousin Cora standing with such grace he some how became inspired to stand. Yes, he is now standing (with my support of course)! One day while he and I sat in front of the mirror he began to yell at himself as if he were giving himself a pregame pep-talk. He then tensed up all his muscles, planted his feet on the floor, and like a little power lifter he stood up. It was AWESOME! Milestone achieved!
My baby CAN be tickled. I thought he inherited the no tickle gene from his momma (yes, I am not ticklish - don't try it you might pull back a stump) but finally he reacted to tickling. Happy happy joy joy giggle giggle snort snort!
Apparently we might have a little vampire on our hands. Kaz is teething and it is in the weirdest place, his fangs. Kaz really only cries for 2 reasons, 1 - see food aggression topic above, and 2 - when he's tired. So when he's crying for no apparent reason and he's shoving his fist in his mouth it prompted me to do a little investigation and right where his little fangs are there are white swollen patches. Yes I'm a first time Mom so trust me I had a veteran look at it to tell me I wasn't crazy. According to the pediatrician and his Oma who owned a daycare and has seen a lot (she knows a thing or two about a thing or two) they both tell me as weird as it may seem, it happens. Hmmm where do you suppose one finds a little black baby cape?
My son is empathic! The book (Your Baby's First Year for Dummies - yeah that's right, we're dummies) says babies start to empathize and respond to facial expressions. I was having a "moment". I was holding him and he and I were looking at each other and all of the sudden I was overwhelmed with emotions (dang hormones) and I got a little teary-eyed. Kaz looked at me and gave me pucheros (pout) and started crying with me. My little heart broke and then I just busted out laughing. My poor sensitive little man, I'm sure he was confused as all get out.
I've thought often about what I'd do if it ever happened and then it finally did; Harley had a seizure for the first time since Kaz has been home and it was a pretty bad one. Luckily Kaz was in his bouncy seat and Harley was outside. It's been 5 months since his last seizure which has been the longest we've ever gone without one and we made an interesting discovery. Over the course of the last year most of his seizures occurred while he was on antibiotics. The vet told us the antibiotics would not counteract his anti-seizure meds. Really, I beg to differ. Proof is in the history you quacks. Why was Harley on antibiotics? He has some pretty severe allergies that cause his skin to break out and then it gets infected. Hence the antibiotics. Well we are hoping that will all come to an end. We took Harley to an animal dermatologist. Yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds but we also tried acupuncture. If you've ever seen Harley's skin you know how desperate we are to fix it. Anyways we paid big bucks to finally find out what the heck is causing all the itchy-poo-scratchy and now we get the pleasure of shooting him up with an antigen. It won't take away the seizures but it's a start.
Aaron was sick. "Oh my what did he have?" I'll make this really short. A goiter! An infected ingrown hair that turned into the size of a guava under his chin. He was quarantined from Kaz because they thought he had MERSA which turned out to be a low grade Staph infection. A day after he was cleared to touch the baby he then got the flu with a 103.4 fever and was sequestered to the guest bed. So for the first time I got to take care of 2 babies. The big one I've been taking care of for 12 years and our son. I don't want to do that again. It was so sad when Kaz and I would peek into the doorway to say hello; Kaz with his big goofy grin and his Dad tortured that he couldn't hold him. Ahh but all is well now, Kaz and his Dad have reconnected and I am EXHAUSTED.
Visitors
Our old friend Kevan who we haven't seen in quite sometime was shocked when I responded to his question with, "he's at home taking care of the baby." I guess he had to see it for himself. Heck I'm still in shock I can only imagine what his brain did. Ahhh Walter he loves kids that's why this picture means sooooo much to me (only my friend Steven would appreciate this - sorry everyone inside joke). Look at that happy grin on his face, sniff sniff.
.
Kaz's Aunt Leslie, Wujek Matthew, and cousins Eve and Cora came to visit from WI for a whole week! It was great to meet our newest niece born 26 days after Kaz and spend time with Miss D'Eva. On top of all that yummi goodness seeing Leslie and Matthew meet their first nephew for the first time was pretty sweet too. It's too bad it was sooooo dang hot.My Mom & Bob got to see Kaz for the first time since he left the hospital. Wow, I can only imagine how surreal that was for them. The last time they saw him he was just a day or 2 old and he was hooked up to so many tubes and wires and too see him at 14 lbs. smiling tube free must be something. I can't believe no one took a picture! It's not like we don't have 4 cameras sitting around this house. There's always next time I suppose.
Just for Fun Pics
Just boys being boys. Sonny, Harley, & the Kazman.
Karen finally getting to 
