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!...

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!