Using His Walker (Part 1)

A couple vids to follow this one with Evan and his walker:

Pics and a vid from Christmas Day

Pics and a vid...




Playing with Justine's camera:




Walking with Ann:

Picture Day, Take Two and Happy 17-months!

I had Evan scheduled last Friday for his Christmas pics at Sears but he was not in the mood last week to get his pics taken. I rescheduled for today since T could be there to help. Evan's attention span keeps getting smaller and smaller, luckily the photographer had patience! Today is his 17-month birthday!

So you can get an idea of Evan's current size...in these pics his jeans, sweater and shirt all are 6-9 months and he's still swimming in the sweater.

Evan saying...."Hey honey, you taking MY picture?":



Evan striking a pose before he scooted away:



Note the bottom teeth:



Poor kid couldn't touch the floor:






I don't understand the tongue-thing with him!



Again, note the bottom teeth:



Starting to get antsy:



Real antsy...this was me holding him upside down to try to get one more pose out of him, we were shocked it turned out decent:

Pics from the work holiday party...

Our office party was held at the Windemere this year. Not a huge turnout...Evan had a good time though...his "Chick Magnet" shirt was a hit with the ladies!

The Drunken Pirate

Lately we've been calling Evan the "Drunken Master" which describes how he walks with assistance. I took these 2 vids of him playing with the prop from his Halloween costume.

Trip to the Pulmonologist

Evan's scheduled appointment to see Dr. Brown at the Children's Multi-Specialty Center in Tucson was bumped up a week to today. The doc wants to see Evan a little more regularly (every 3-4 months) to check on his development. He says his lungs sound great (aside from the bit of upper respiratory funk he had today). He is concerned (as we all are) about Evan's slow weight gain. I asked him if Evan was a unique case and he reassured me that it's nothing he hasn't seen before (whew). I think we've all come to realization this kid is going to grow on his terms, not according to any charts! As Evan gets bigger, his lungs will continue to strengthen.

Dr. Brown also wants us to take Evan to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. Luckily, there is one in Sierra Vista, Dr. Hassan! Woo-hoo, one less trip to Tucson. His appointment isn't until late next month. Dr. Brown was concerned about Evan's daily (if not multi-daily) vomiting. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but Evan loves to stick his hand in his mouth to make himself throw up. By seeing Dr. Hassan, hopefully we can determine if there is a GERD issue.

One other test Dr. Brown wants to run is a sweat test. This is to rule out Cystic Fibrosis. He is almost positive that Evan will be negative for this based off of other questions he had asked us, but he's wanting to rule it out. We'll get that done at University Medical Center in Tucson after the new year.

With all these trips to the doctor's offices for shots and check-ups, Evan has now come to fear the white labcoat! We knew this day would come! He screamed almost throughout the entire check-up with Dr. Brown. The nurse barely got a decent pulse oximeter reading on him (the more the crying, the lower oxygen saturation levels). We managed to get his reading to 98% for a fleeting second and that was good enough.

Dr. Brown is now seeing patients down in Sierra Vista.....another woo-hoo! So we'll see him again in March or April.

Synagis Shot #2

Evan had his second Synagis shot of the RSV season. We think only about 4-5 left to go. He shouldn't have to get them next fall since he'll be over 2 years of age.

Evan had an interesting eating week...now he seems to be eating more of the table food he is offered at daycare. I get notes from daycare annotated with what he eats and he's been eating things like burritos, pizza, crackers, french toast....ham salad! Ham salad!!?? Is this our same kid?? His teachers are still feeding him the "power-packed" food I send with him to get those extra calories in.

Weight check: 17 pounds 1 ounce

Ahhh, the dreaded Santa pic...

So much for getting that perfect Santa pic...Evan wasn't quite getting this guy. As you can tell from the look on his face, he was about to lose it.




This is a pic from October I finally got around to scanning. They took class pics at his daycare...this time they dressed the kids in old-time outfits. As you can tell by his eyes, he was step away from crying. The other pic I didn't purchase was with a newsboy cap on his head and he was bawling. Hey, so he doesn't like hats, ok?

Some vids....

O.k...no calling child protective services after you see this one...he's fine after taking a little spill...

Cheering the Soggy Steelers On

Evan was decked out in his Steeler shirt at daycare today to cheer on his favorite team. What a crazy, soggy Monday Night Football game against the Miami Dolphins.

I finally remembered to take his annual picture in the #7 jersey. Here's how it fits this year and how it fit last year. I think he's starting to fill it out pretty well! :-)

Lawn Dart

I nabbed this video from YouTube...pretty much sums up the Monday Night game:

We finally turned the heat on!

We finally broke down and turned the heat on this weekend. We had been in denial that it was getting cold in the mornings. On Saturday, it rained almost the entire day, which was odd for this time of the year. With the big drop in temperature, the rain turned to snow up on top of the mountain, which makes for a gorgeous site.

Here is a video of Evan and his best friend Max...Evan has learned that the dogs will love him even more if he a treat for them. If we give Evan a cracker to feed himself, he would much rather give to the dog sitting closest to him. Even Sadie is starting to warm up to him especially when there is food around. Both dogs are very gentle to Evan when he is feeding them a treat (although most of Evan's hand goes in Max's mouth).

Veteran's Day 5K and Parade

Evan's normal sleep routine was slightly disrupted since I dragged him out of bed to run with me in the Veteran's Day 5K held on post. Here is a pic of him before the race:




Afterwards, we walked up to the city parade. Evan did great, but zonked out right at the end of parade. He enjoyed waving back to all the people on the floats:

Evan pic...

A pic of Evan from this morning...he loves sticking out his tongue. His top 4 teeth are almost all in now, but he doesn't quite get that they're for biting food.

Synagis Shot #1

Ahhh, the fall weather and the onset of RSV season (again). Since Evan's weight is still low, he has to get the full series of Synagis shots (a shot every 28 days until the spring). It had been a while since he had a shot, and he knew it was coming (poor guy). The nurse also did his flu shot at the same time in the other leg (ouch).

When we weighed him, he was about 16 pounds 12 ounces, so he had a very little weight gain since the last doctor's appointment. I had the nurse do a quick look-over the test results from his blood test and she didn't see anything unusual (his thyroid levels were good); so at first glance it doesn't look like there's a metabolic issue of why he is so small.

Playing Sadie-Tag...

Sadie is slowly warming up to Evan's presence in the house (it's only been over a year)! Evan starts giggling when Sadie runs away from him.

Part I



Part II

Mr. Cranky-Pants

Evan has been an absolute cranky-pants the past few days. We're attributing it to his top 4 front teeth all coming in at one time. He's been cutting these teeth for a while now and I thought all was good...until now. He's been waking up at nighttime in scream mode. We've been giving him teething tablets that friends have told me they swear by. They seem to work with him, but the trick is to get them in his mouth to dissolve without him gagging and throwing up.

We've been logging all his daily food intake (or lack thereof) the past week. His caloric intake has been terrible this past week; not sure if it's again the teething issue where he just doesn't want to teat. He'll drink his bottles like a druken sailor, but try to give him baby food and he writhes around like we're feeding him poison. He also loves to stick his fingers in his mouth and make himself gag; which most of the time results in him hurling whatever he ate last (nice). We'll do an unofficial weigh in tomorrow to see if he's gained/lost weight.

Getting Caught Up on Some Pics

I keep forgetting to upload these pics of Evan taken during the month. Hard to believe we are saying goodbye to October!


Looking especially cute in his Halloween outfit for daycare today...







Hanging out with my dad...



Pictures from a friend's Halloween Party. T was dressed as Shrek, Evan was Puss...In Boots!




For those of you who only see him being his absolute best...yes, the boy does cry!...

The Bisbee 1000

Last Saturday, Evan and I (along with some co-workers) participated in the Bisbee 1000. What is it you ask? According to the website link:

"The Bisbee1000 event allows you to use any combination of walking, running and resting to traverse nine sets of steps and numerous back-roads at a mile-high altitude. While conquering over 1,000 steps you will be serenaded by musicians playing at strategic points along the route. Participants can compete aggressively for overall and age group prizes; enjoy a challenging fitness walk or family stroll, or any combination thereof."

So, I walked/climbed the entire route with Evan in the Baby Bjorn front carrier. We finished in around 1 hour 45 minutes. He was an absolute doll the entire morning. He stayed awake throughout the first 2/3 of the route, but zonked out on the last leg. Amazing he could fall asleep with all the bouncing around. Maybe next year we run it??!! Ummm, don't think so!

Our local newspaper website has a nice 5 minute video posted: www.svherald.com Look down the left side under "Multimedia".

My vids from the event aren't that great:

Check up with the doc...and a video

We took Evan to see his local pediatrician for 2 reasons. The first was to get this bump on his foot looked at. We call it his "barnicle" since it sort of looks like one. The doc says it's probably a wart and the best way to heal it is to use (of all things)...duct tape. There's something with the fibers in the duct tape that helps to remove it. He says it will take up to 6 months (yikes)!

The second reason was a follow-up with what Evan's pulmunologist said about his lack of weight gain. We saw Dr. Smith instead of Dr. Ettinger since Dr. Smith is a bit more in tune with modern medicine. Not that Dr. E is a bad guy, but some of the advice he's given us in the past has been a bit antiquated. Dr. Smith did give us the dreaded diagnosis I had anticipated "Failure To Thrive" or FTT. You can read more by clicking that link. Basically, since Evan has not shown significant weight gain, he is classified as FTT.

Where we go from here is to get some lab work done on him to see if there is a metabolic reason. He's never been a big eater, but for the past month or so, we've been giving him PediaSure in his bottle instead of whole milk. PediaSure is packed with calories, so any normal kid would be porking out by drinking it all the time like Evan has been. On the doctor's scale, Evan weighed 16 pounds 5 oz and was 27 inches long...so that's a weight gain of like 0 over the past few months.

We also have to keep a detailed food log over the next month. We have a follow-up with the doctor in about 4 weeks. At that time, we'll go over the log and lab results to see what the next step is. He'll also get his 15-month shots (yuck) at that check-up. His Synagis shots are also on the horizon. Poor guy with all the shots!!

On a happier note...here is a vid of Evan from tonight. This is the first time he's used his walker with no assistance!

Some recent vids...

Some recent vids of Evan...

Evan's First Trip to the ER

No panicking after reading the headline...all is fine! I am sure this will not be the first and last trip to the ER. For the past few days, Evan's had a fever that has come and gone. His daycare called on Wednesday to say his fever was too high for him to stay, so T picked him up. T was worried since his breathing was a bit labored, so he called Evan's pediatrician. T was told there was no doctor for the rest of the week or weekend, so it was best to take him to the ER. GREAT, that will be a quick visit!

So, T took him to the ER and was diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia. He had a chest x-ray that showed a bit of cloudiness in the upper part of his lung. Evan has to take a once a day antibiotic for a few days, but he'll be fine. All in all, it was probably better that he went to the ER, since the pediatrician tends to downplay things. He may have had this lingering for a while, so we'll be glad to get it all cleared up!

It Was A Bad Sports Weekend!

Let's just say this past weekend never happened! First it started with the Gators losing to Auburn; THEN the Steelers lose to the Arizona Cardinals!

I'll post pics later of the Steeler game (I'm currently in VA on a business trip). Evan was such a good trooper through the game (after he had his first quarter purge of the entire contents of his stomach on me). Luckily I had extra clothes for the both of us. I think the noise got to him and he just had to hurl big time.

More later!

Pics From the Steeler Game

Evan has his game face on!!



My Steeler Guys!


Evan after the 1st quarter purge:

Mmm mmm good!

Evan loves him some sweet potaters! As is evidenced by his face! OH...Steeler game countdown...2 DAYS!!

In My Highchair

Our Little Vampire

We noticed Evan has been drooling more than usual lately. He hates wearing a bib, so keeping his clothes dry is nearly impossible. From what I've read, this is a bit odd...his canine teeth are coming in before his front teeth. So, we think he has a bit of vampire in him! We have a full moon tomorrow night, so beware!!

Pulling Up and Almost Cruising

A late night post with a video! Evan's new thing is sticking his tongue out to the side where he has a tooth coming in. Excuse the drool! You can see that he is pulling himself up very well now.

Trying to get caught up on posts...

Please keep looking below for updated posts...trying to get back in the game now that I'm back home!

Kuwait Trip (Saturday) Flying Home

As much as I thought Kuwait was a modern city...here is a pic of the "toilet" in the women's restroom in the airport. Last time I used one of these was when I was in China back in 1989:



Picture of the barracks I stayed in:



View of a soccer stadium leaving Kuwait City:


Another airplane view leaving Kuwait City:


Yet another airplane view leaving Kuwait City:


Airplane view leaving Kuwait City, looks like a resort of some sort:


According to the in flight map, we were over Iraq. Took this pic to show the nothingness of the desert terrain, but there is a road running across the bottom of the picture:


The last pic I took over Iraq...you could see these fires burning from the plane:

Some pics

These are not pictures I took, but pics i found doing a Google search on Camp Buehring and Camp Arifjan. Everywhere I looked there were signs saying "No Photography", so these were posted on the web.


This is an aerial shot of Camp Arifjan



This is a view of the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border up at Camp Buehring



This is a map that outlines all the military base areas in Kuwait. I was at Arifjan (in the south) and Buehring (in the northwest)



The sign coming into camp



A pic from the Camp Buehring airfield (we drove by it)

Travel Day 2 (Monday)

We landed in London around 8:00am local time. I was prepared for the unknown since the American airlines ticket agent in Tucson told me she was unsure if I had to clear customs in Heathrow. The airport was well marked for "transfer" travellers as we were called. The signs eventually led to a narrow corridor in terminal 3.I began to see that I was less and less surrounded by Eurpoeans and more and more by people of Middle Eastern and Indian descent.

Oh, note to travellers through Heathrow...you know that 2 carry-on rule we have here in the US? Ummm...not so there; just 1 carry-on per passenger. I had my backpack and my laptop bag (oops, that was 2). I luckily was able to stuff my laptop into my backpack and jam the rest of the laptop bag in there also. It made me have to rethink my return trip strategy! People were told in the security line that they had to go out, clear customs and check the extra bags they had (ouch) and then come back through the security line! Oh, and Heathrow airport security personnel...definiitely not as nice as US personnel!

After passing through security, my passport and plane ticket were checked and I headed on down the hallway. The hallway led to a big open area where all the ticket counters were for the international flights. I found my Kuwait Airlines line (just one little counter position) and got my boarding pass. Terminal 3 was set up like a lot of the modern airports, lots of little shops and eateries. I saw a cute London t-shirt for Evan that I planned to get on my return back through the airport. I found a spot to watch the BBC news while waiting for my flight. I headed out to gate 33 where it was a little unsettling to see I was the only caucasian, female, non-muslim on the flight! I ran into an Army officer from CENTCOM (Tampa) that I see on our bi-weekly video teleconferences, so we struck up a conversation while waiting to board. He was heading to the conference also, so at least I was not alone on the flight!

I had another window seat, this time I had a British guy sitting next to me. He and some buddies (who were also on the flight), were heading to Kuwait enroute back into Iraq. They all looked like your typical rugby-playing guys...but from my conversation with the one guy, I think they weren't soldiers, but contractors (the guys who do a lot of the personnel security/bodyguard work). Since there were empty rows of seats, the guy beside me moved into a row with one of his buddies (which gave me room to stretch out).

The flight went quickly (I slept a lot of the time). It was dark when we flew into Kuwait City. From above it looked like a typical port city. The onyl odd thing were the methane fires you could see from the oil refineries. The airport was very modern; many western shops like Starbucks, Clair's Boutique, and KFC.

I had to wait in line to get my visa and then clear customs. We next met up with the conference personnel about 10pm to load up into the van to take us to Camp Arifjan. Walking outside the airport you get that blast of warm air. I was expecting it to be hotter, but the conference personnel told us there was an upper-level sandstorm that kept the temps low that day.

The trip to Arifjan took about an hour and we were hoping to just buzz right through the security checkpoint which is manned by contracted security personnel (both US and Kuwaiti personnel). The US security guard asked to see everyone's ID cards. Of course, my card he pointed to and said that my Army Contractor ID was not a valid ID to get on post (ack)!! Our driver (who was an Army officer) showed the guard all the paperwork I (and about 5 other guys) had filled out to approve our post access. The guard said that the policy had changed since our paperwork was approved and that contractor ID cards were not valid. The running joke in the van of about 20 other conference attendees was that I would be spending the week in guard shack! Um, yeah, not funny!

The guard's superior officer arrived on the scene (about 30 minutes had gone by and we were all waiting). It took a while longer and some phone calls, but we were all finally allowed to pass. The van had to go through a vehicle inspection (which took about another 30 minutes). We made it to the barracks around midnight (so this post is bleeding over into Tuesday).

We got "checked in" to the barracks (got a bunk and locker assigned and our Army-issue linens). Oh how I've missed that green wool Army blanket!! The open bay had about 50 bunks and of course women were sleeping already; so we had to fumble around in the dark until our eyes adjusted to find our bunks (I was #74, a bottom thank goodness). In the women's bay, we were fortunate to not have too many women bunking down so we all had bottom bunks. The guys on the other hand, were stacked on the bottom and top bunks (yuck). It was freezing in the bay so I had to sleep with layers of clothes on. We had to be up and at the conference by 8:00am, so not much sleep tonight!

Travel Day 1 (Sunday)

A long day of travel ahead: Tucson - Chicago - London - Kuwait City. About 17.5 hours in the air; total travel time about 23 hours wuth all the layovers. The flight to Chicago was uneventful aside from the tight connection I had. It seems people on the flight felt as if they had all the time in the world to get off the plane. I had to scoot by a guy who was taking his good old time getting his carry-ons which made him a little angry. But people, if you don't have a connection, then sit down and let us get by! Luckily, my next gate was close-by, but for those of you who have travelled through O'Hare, you know what a nightmare it can be to get to your next gate.

After the "quick" 3.5 hour flight to Chicago, I settled in for the long haul to London (8 hours). I lucked out with a seat by the window. The gentleman beside me was enroute to Kenya where he was going to do volunteer construction work for a Catholic charity. He was an older guy (probably in his early 70's), but very fit.

Kuwait, that's near Hawaii, right?

Yes, that is a question I was asked by someone the other day when I told them I was going to Kuwait this upcoming week. So much for geography being taught in school anymore. If only I was going somewhere near Hawaii! Looking at the 10-day forecast, it's going to be....come on, guess...HOT!! Highs in the 110's with 0% chance of rain. Sounds like lovely vacation weather!

I am unsure of my internet connectivity while there, but I will try to blog if I can.

Trip to Phoenix again

Evan had his post-op appointment with Dr. Argueso today up at the Mesa clinic. We got there about an hour early which we thought would be perfect timing to give Evan lunch. We were surprised when they called us back right away...love that! The Physician's Assistant who we met on his operation day check him out first. She was concerned about some "skin adhesion" issues that she saw. Not to be too graphic, but Evan's foreskin is trying to adhere back, soooo, we have to put this steroid cream on him 2x a day for the next 3 weeks to help soften the skin. Then...we have to go back to the MEsa clinic and they will put some numbing cream on him and peel the skin back. Ouchies!! They say it will be a bit uncomfortable (great, for the 3 hour ride home)!

Check up with the pulmonologist

Today Evan had a check-up with the pulmonologist. This is that twice a year (or so) appointment he'll have probably for the next year or two. Figures that Evan had a little cold, cough and fever over the past weekend! We didn't want the doc to hear him all congested and wheezy, but alas (Murphy's Law I guess).

The doc wasn't overly concerned with his wheezing and congestion, but more with his lack of weight gain. Evan still is right around (or below) the 16 pound mark. He's now starting to really fall off the height/weight chart, even when it's adjusted for his prematurity. He looks like a perfectly proportioned 5 month old who can crawl and almost walk! He suggested we see a nutritionist; not sure if there is one down here in Sierra Vista, but he could refer us to one in Tucson.

We did get a stop-order on his home oxygen. So now we can return the tanks to Apria. They've been collecting dust since about January! Since he's been wheezy, we're giving him the albuterol treatments again.

**Weight Check:
- 16 lbs.
- 27 inches

Busy Days Coming Up

Where did the summer go??

Many countdowns to be tracking in the coming days...
- 4 days until Evan's pulmonologist appointment
- 7 days until Evan's follow-up urology appointment
- 10 days until I fly off for a business trip to Kuwait
- 31 days until the Steelers/Cardinals game!
- 32 days until I fly off for a business trip to Virginia
- 36 days until W&J's Homecoming (I still can't believe it's been 15 years since graduation)

An Old Video I Forgot to Post

Here is a video taken back on July 4th when my mom came to visit. This is Evan meeting his Nan for the first time...

Excuse my drool...

Excuse my drool...



I can almost stand by myself...


My hand tastes so good...