A Visit with Dr. H

Last week, I took the kids into the doctor.  Gavin had to have his 4 year check-up, and while we were there, they wanted to do a weight-check on Riley. 

Gavin, I think, only gained like a pound this past year.  I love our little man....all 32lbs of him.  Since Gavin's been falling asleep later and later each night, I asked about how much sleep he should be getting, and in our conversation, Dr. Harvey mentioned that some 4 year olds still nap for like 30-60 minutes a day.  Um, how about 2-3 hours a day????  Gavin still naps most days, and he naps well!  So, I think we're going to start opening his door after an hour so he might start waking up a little earlier.  Part of me thinks this is a good idea - maybe he'll go to be a little earlier at night, but it will help him prep for when he has to drop that nap all together; but part of me sure will miss that nice break!  

Then, the dreaded shots....I told Gavin I wasn't sure if he'd get shots or not.  I was going to see what his reaction was and then decide if I wanted to do them this year or wait until next year.  When I told him, he just said, 'Ok, we'll just ask Dr. Harvey and see what he says.'  He didn't seem concerned at all, so we just went with it when the doctor said said yes, that he'd get THREE shots.  FYI - shots for a dramatic four year old are WAY worse that for a baby.  He screamed like I've never heard him scream before, and cried, and cried, and cried.  We got up to checkout, and there was another mom in front of us so I tried to talk to him to calm him down.  I asked him if he wanted chocolate milk for lunch (a huge treat in our house) and, in between sobs, he said, 'I just want a toy.'  Silly boy.  He definitely milked it afterwards, too.  Not only did he talk me into an extra movie that afternoon, but I had to carry him to the bathroom when he had to pee!  It was really funny the next day though - Riley wanted to play with him, and as she tried to pull herself up to him, she pulled his shorts down and with them, came the bandaids.  Cue the tears again.  The kid that won't put a bandaid on freaked out when they came off.  He cracks me up.

Speaking of that little sister...she had her weight check, and in 2.5 weeks, gained 3 ounces.  After her last appointment (May 1), we stopped using purees so much and introduced her to table food.  Some nights, I pick her up from her high chair and the majority of her dinner is in her seat, so I don't know if it's helping her gain weight, but it sure is helping Shirley!  Oh well.  Our little kids are perfect just the way {and weight} they are. 

Totally shocked...

Riley and Gavin have always been similar in terms of their weights at their check-ups, but it was around 6 months that Gavin started to fall down the growth chart so I fully anticipated Riley to weigh more than Gavin at her 9 month check-up.  I've been putting her on my scale randomly (which I knew wasn't accurate, but still...) and was expecting her to be somewhere around 18.5lbs based on that.  Yesterday, at her 9 month check-up, this little lady was only 17lbs 3oz!  I've been telling everyone that she's so much bigger than Gavin was at this age, which I now realize was a total lie because Gavin was 17lbs 7oz at his 9 month check-up.  I was so surprised!  She dropped from the 75th to 25th percentile, but thankfully, the nurse practitioner we saw wasn't too worried.  I am hoping that based on Gavin's history, we won't have to go through blood work and all the testing they put us through with him.  I guess we just make small kids!

 So, we got orders to just up the amount of solids she's eating and were told it was ok to start offering her table food, which I knew was ok but we haven't started really yet because we had such a hard time with this transition with Gavin that I'm kind of paranoid about it.  I hope she doesn't have the bad gag reflex like he did.  Other than that, she's doing pretty darn good and she HATES to be examined by the nurses and doctors.  Holy tears, Batman!

What a morning!

I spent some time with the camera yesterday getting some cute shots of Gavin that I could post this morning, but our morning was quite eventful. Let's go back a few weeks -

Gavin had his 2 year check up 3 weeks ago. When they checked his iron levels, they were low. Not dangerously low, but lower than Dr. Harvey wanted. (Whom, by the way, I really like....we've been pretty lucky with doctors for Gavin with all this moving.) He said he'd like to see a 35 and Gavin's reading was 30. So, he sent us home with the instructions of taking a vitamin with iron and to come back in 3 weeks for a new reading.

Gavin didn't like the vitamins. The first day or so went well - half of a Flinstone vitamin...no problem! Then he started refusing them. I even tried crushing it and mixing it with his yogurt, but he immediately spit the yogurt back out. He knew it was in there! (Have I posted about this before???? I'm getting a deja vu feeling.) Anyway, we resorted to a liquid vitamin that I mix in orange juice and he drinks that every morning.

We went today for his recheck. First, they weighed him, checked his temperature and his ears. He usually would scream and cry through all these things, but he did so well this time! I was impressed....then, the nurse came in and pricked his toe. The tears started immediately! While we were waiting for the results, he had to get two vaccines that he's due for since our shot record didn't get sent from NY on time. So, of course now he's even more mad. Well, the iron test came back at a 30.5 - not enough of an improvement to make the doctor happy. Basically he explained to me that the test they run there actually tests the red blood count, which is indicative of his iron levels. He wanted Gavin to have an actual blood draw to get his exact iron level so we could know if he is in fact anemic.

So, we headed to Daddy's work (since I promised we'd see him after the doctor) and told him the news and then headed to the hospital for blood work. We had to do this last summer because of his weight gain issues, and that was awful for both him and I. Of course, it was still awful, but we both did much better! I didn't cry :) and Gavin didn't get to that "can't catch my breath" cry like last time. He was actually done crying by the time we left the office. So, hopefully we'll know something on Monday.

Now to the pictures - I realized I hadn't been taking many so we were being silly and I thought I'd snap a few cute shots to post for all the family that's been asking! :) Before I could get him to look at the camera though, he wanted to show you all how he puts his hands up to jump in the pool at swim lessons. This is a new obsession - he jumps off the couch, off the ottomans, off the bed....all with his hands up like Miss Jo taught him in swim lessons.

Now for the cuteness - such a sweet and innocent little smile!

I asked him if I could take a picture of his feet and this is what I got...

Then I requested a picture of his hand. :)

It's hard to imagine the Terrible Twos existing with a cute picture like this....but believe me, they exist!

A sick little one

I didn't get to upload more pictures yesterday to finish playing catch up. Poor Gavin isn't feeling well. He took an extra long nap yesterday, then didn't want lunch. About an hour later he was running a fever. I gave him Tylenol, but about 45 minutes later he was screaming and crying for 2 hours straight. I took him into the doctor because he was exposed to strep last weekend. The nurse did a strep test while I was holding him on my lap - his lovely gag reflex kicked in and he started throwing up all over the both of us. :( The strep test actually came back negative, and the doctor said that there is a virus going around with high temps but no other symptoms. I think that's what he has. So, we're alternating Tylenol and Motrin around the clock. We had plans for the weekend but I think we're going to be stuck inside. I hope he feels better soon!

On another note, I just saw a picture Sara snapped of Gavin and me while we were at Shaw and thought I'd share. I feel like I don't have many recent pictures of the two of us. Thanks for sharing this one, Sara. I love it! :)

Croup update

I took Gavin to the doctor yesterday, and the croup diagnosis was confirmed. She gave him prednisone to help prevent him from getting to the can't-catch-his-breath point when coughing. He didn't like it one bit....for the first time ever, I had to hold him down to get him to take medicine. The rest of the day was a typical sick-kid day. Lots of whining and cuddling. The doctor had warned me that night #2 was going to be worse, but she also made the comment that perhaps that was night #2 for him. I didn't think it was since he slept fine the night before....was up earlier than normal, but wasn't coughing and didn't seem sick. Well, apparently it may have been his night #2 with croup because last night he slept through the night and slept great! He's still hoarse, and a bit cranky, but he is doing a lot better today.

Oh what a night!

Gavin and I went to The Sandbox yesterday and played with our friends. We had a great time...Gavin was acting totally normal! We came home and played some more, chasing each other around the house, laughing....you know, typical toddler boy stuff. He took a nap and Daddy came home while he was sleeping! Yay :) When he woke up, Jarrod surprised him and went in to get him and he immediately sounded hoarse. His lips were really chapped, too. He was still acting fine, though. He played with Daddy, ate a great dinner....just an occasional cough.

I had a party last night so it was 'Guy Time.' Ice cream and Sesame Street....the typical night together when Mama is working. Jarrod said he went down fine. I came home around 10 and he said he still sounded bad when he'd cough. About a half hour later, he was standing in his crib crying. I went in to get him and he sounded awful. It was like he couldn't catch his breath....like he was gasping for air. We tried hot steam in the bathroom, and tried to get him to drink some juice. Of course, nothing calmed him down except Sesame Street. We called the doctor on call to see if we should take him to the hospital and she said it sounded like croup.

She told us to do the hot steam for 10 minutes or so, and then to bundle him up and walk around outside. The hot steam in the bathroom just made him cry more, cough more, and gasp more, so I just took him for a walk and it helped a lot. We watch more Nick Jr. On Demand until after midnight when he finally fell asleep on me. We were up and down all night...I'm guessing maybe a total of 3 hours of sleep. I took him outside two more times and spent a lot of time just walking around the house. I'm waiting for the doctor to call me back to see if I should bring him in today or not. The doctor on call did say night 2 is the worst, so I'm not looking forward to tonight at all! At least Jarrod will be home from Syracuse for the whole weekend. Our poor little bug!

Gavin's trip to the doctor

So, we had Gavin's 15 month check up with his new doctor tonight. I was really anxious about going, because he is an "expert" on sleep issues, and I knew we were going to have to do what he said about Gavin's sleep. First, we found out Gavin's only gained 3 ounces in 3 months is basically off the growth chart. So, we're going to go for bloodwork to check his thyroid and kidneys, etc. And as for the sleeping issues and how he basically nurses all night and only wants to sleep while attached to me, he said we have to go cold turkey with weaning and do the cry it out method. I had this feeling that's what he'd say...but it's going to be so hard! We have to stick with it. I need a full night's sleep!!! So...we're starting this weekend. We need to wait until Jarrod won't have to work because I'm sure we'll be up all night!

We're gaining weight!

Though he's still in the 10th percentile, Gavin has gained weight. I took him to the dr. today for a weight check and he's 18lb 3oz., up from 17lb 7oz. a month ago. Since he's eating better and starting to try some new things without gagging, she said she's not so worried. We'll just keep offering new foods and see how he does with them!