Baby Steps

Still no big walking steps from Evan. At least we've convinced him to let go of the coffee table and he stumbles a few steps towards us. He's happy to give high-fives after he does it, so hopefully he is understanding he's doing a good thing.

Trying to Get Out of Daycare Early

I got a call today from daycare, this time it was that Evan was running a fever (102 degrees). Poor guy was all red in the face when we picked him up. The big worry is with all the RSV cases, that possibly Evan was picking it up late. I called the doctor's office (at 2pm on a Friday, good luck getting anyone)...one of the nurses called us back. She reassured us that if Evan had RSV it would be very evident. We gave him some Tylenol and his fever eventually broke. We figured it was Evan's old way of getting out of daycare early on a Friday. ;-)

Walking??

I get a call from one of Evan's daycare teachers today (my first thought was that he was sick), but Sarina called to tell us Evan took a few steps today. We weren't able to get him to walk at home later that day, but we hope to get him on video as soon as it happens.

More RSV Cases

T said 6 kids were also diagnosed with RSV, but one of the infants on Evan's side of the room tested negative. Still no signs of sickness in Evan, so it looks like he's riding this one out.

Tomorrow is his appointment with Dr. Hassan, the Gastroenterologist. Evan is still eating like a bird...eating a little bit of table food at daycare, but pretty much nothing for us at home. He'll usually drink 8oz. or more of the Pediasure since he's chasing the dogs around with his walker, so he's getting some calories. He usually zonks out around 7:30-8:00pm and never shows any sign he's hungry. His vomitting has pretty much gone away (figures now that we have an appointment with a specialist).

A Lonely Kid At Daycare

When I dropped Evan off in his daycare class this morning, he was one of three kids (usually there are a lot more there). With the RSV outbreak, all the infants are staying home. Not sure if that is a facility policy or if parents are keeping their children home. Funny that the one kid susceptible to it is there...Evan!

Here is vid of him...still not walking on his own, but running with his walker after Dad and the dogs. For some reason, he's been in a no socks or shoes mode despite the cold tile floor.

RSV Outbreak at Daycare

We found out today that one of the children in Evan's daycare class was diagnosed with RSV. Yikes! The child had it since last Friday. Evan hasn't shown any signs of being sick...so those monthly Synagis shots must be doing their job!

A Cheese Head Just For This Weekend

Since my Steelers are no longer in the Super Bowl race...I am now rooting for the Green Bay Packers. Why you might ask?? Brett Favre was my fantasy football QB this season and he helped to push my team into the finals with Joey. So I think it is only fitting that I throw Brett some luv in his playoff hopes. Sorry Joey, but I'm rooting against your Giants (but I am grateful to them for beating the Cowboys).

Evan's shirt today was sporting the Green Bay colors...hopefully we didn't jinx them!

And the CF test result is...

NEGATIVE! We finally connected with Dr. Brown's office today to get the results from his sweat chloride test for Cystic Fibrosis. We expected the test results to be negative, so it was a nice affirmation anyway.

Today we had an appointment with the speech therapist for his feeding evaluation. Although it wasn't a doctor's appointment, Evan was skeptical about the whole thing. He didn't want to relax and sit on the floor and play. We talked with the speech therapist about Evan's eating habits and she gave us some tips to work on to get him eating more. One big thing is that we should stop giving him pureed baby food and stick with the table food. He eats table food and self-feeds himself at daycare, but won't do that for us at home.

We have another appointment with the speech therapist in a month. At that time, she has us coming in around Evan's lunchtime so we can show her how a typical mealtime goes. She also wants us to observe him during lunchtime at daycare so we can see how he does in that setting versus at home. So, today was just one more angle to come at Evan's eating issues.

18-Month Check-up

Can you believe...18 months??!! It was a relatively quick check-up with Dr. Smith...quick listen to his lungs, ears and teeth check. I think I forgot to mention one of his bottom molar teeth is coming in. He has all four top front teeth, two bottom and one bottom incisor tooth. He isn't very patient in letting us look in his mouth. ;-)

Of course Evan is still very much underweight and under-height for his age, but at least now he is gaining weight. Tomorrow we have an appointment with the speech therapist who will do a feeding assessment on him. We're still waiting to hear on the results of his sweat chloride test from Monday.

Weight check:

18 lbs. 2 oz.
28.5 inches tall
45 cm head circumference

If you open this image, you will see two circles connected by a line, the circle on the left represents his adjusted age and the right circle is his actual age:

Please join me in supporting March of Dimes March For Babies

Hello!! Evan here!! Can you believe I just turned a year and a half? I would have typed this myself, but Mom and Dad don't like me smudging up the keyboard. For the second year in a row, I'll be participating as a member of "Team Warrior 06" in the March of Dimes March For Babies in Sierra Vista in April. Please support my fundraising efforts by sponsoring me today.

Contributing to my walk online is fast, easy and secure. You can donate directly from my personal webpage with a credit/debit card or PayPal. If you prefer, I can also accept cash or check. Just click the appropriate box on my webpage. Go ahead, check out my webpage...I just get cuter as time goes by!

The money I will raise helps save premature and sick babies. Premature birth is the #1 cause of newborn death and the biggest threat to babies’ health today, and through March For Babies, the March of Dimes is funding important research to find out why premature birth happens and what can be done to prevent it.

I’ve joined with millions of compassionate people across the country who support March For Babies each year. Won’t you please help me in this worthy cause? Visit my webpage and sponsor me in the walk that saves babies like me!

With your support, there’s hope.

My personal web page address for donations is: http://www.marchforbabies.org/evandorris

My buddy Mya (Joey P's granddaughter) will also be participating in the Phoenix-area WalkAmerica. You can check up with her on Joey's blog: http://fuhgedaboutit.blogspot.com/

Trip to University Medical Center

Evan was scheduled for his Sweat Test today to rule out Cystic Fibrosis. We had to get it done at UMC. which gave us the opportunity to meet up with Marianne, his NICU primary nurse. We hadn't seen Marianne since the NICO picnic in the fall of 2006 (wow, where has the time gone)! It was a great visit (but too short)!

Click here if you want to read all the clinical details about what the sweat test entails. We had anticipated Evan being uncooperative, and we were right. As soon as the guy started rubbing his forearm with the alcohol to clean the area, the crying started. He cried/wailed/almost threw up through the first part of the process, which lasted about 10-15 minutes. We were able to keep him entertained for the 30 minutes we had to wait while the chemical did it's job in making his forearms sweat.

The results of the test should be in the next day to his pulmonologist, so I'll give them a call.

Having Trouble Viewing Blog With Internet Explorer?

For some reason, the blog isn't appearing correctly if you are using Internet Explorer as your web browser. If you use Mozilla Firefox, it looks fine. Not sure if the blog people are making upgrades. Hope it will fix itself soon!

Hanging Out With Dad

Hanging around outside with Dad:

Using His Walker (Part 2)

More vids of the crazy Ev-man and his walker. As you can hear, he's turned into a little squealer (especially when Sadie is in his way):

Synagis Shot #3

Quick trip to the doctor's today for Evan's third Synagis shot of the season. He knew it was coming when we undressed him to get weighed. We were happy to see his weight went up, but it was sort-of a false reading since he had a poopy diaper. He weighed in at a heft 17 pounds, 15 ounces...but with the poop-weight, we are guessing it was more like 17 pounds 10 ounces. Luckily, the nurse who gives him his shot is really quick.