A Kyle Update I'm LOVING

Not the best picture but the quickest, since I got it off of my phone.

Kyle is all the way up to 11 lbs 15 oz!!!!! By tonight I'm sure he will have surpassed the ever elusive 12 lb mark. Granted, he is still incredibly small, he needs to be at 13 1/2 lbs to be at the bottom of the DS charts but this is the most progress he has made ever! I'm now feeling confident that he might actually catch back up to where he was.

He had his GI Specialist visit yesterday. They put him on medication to help his acid reflux and medication to help regulate his digestion. They also ordered a product called "DuoCal" which is a 40 kcal, tasteless supplement that can be added to anything he drinks or eats. They want me to add it in to my already super fortified baby food concoctions. We will also be going in for an upper GI tract study where they will make sure there is no anatomical problems with his digestive tract that is making it difficult for him to digest food and gain weight.

Kyle's Test Results are in...

And it's good news, he tested negative to both the thyroid panel and the Celiac Disease panel! Two long-term problems I do not need to worry about any more... phew! Now we still need to figure out why it is so difficult for him to gain weight and why he has such an intolerance to oats. We should be getting his referral to a GI specialist this week and they will help us with these questions. We have had some success this week with fortifying the baby food he eats by mixing it with my milk instead of water, and adding a scoop of dry formula to up the calorie intake and he finally surpassed his hospital discharge weight! His long sleeves are also getting to be too short on his arms so either everything is suddenly shrinking in the wash or he is slowly getting bigger! We might even need to eventually pull out his nice winter wardrobe of 3-6 month size clothes :)... you know, since I bought them in anticipation of a baby needing that size in the winter.

I scream, You scream...

We all scream for ICE CREAM!

I was holding Kyle and he literally lunged, grabbing my hand holding the cone and face-planted into the ice cream, again and again. He ate about 2/3 of it and when I took the last bite of the cone he was inconsolable crying that it was all gone. That's my boy!

Sara Being my Baby

Sara is very good with Kyle. She is loving and gentle and kind to him. She giggles when he grabs her and has never been aggressive towards him. She did miss her Mommy a LOT while I was in the hospital and it has resulted in a few, very cute, side effects on her part. One of which is her constant request for "Daddy Baby, Mommy Me". She only asks for this if Kevin is actually home at the time. Otherwise she'll patiently wait until I put Kyle down then she acts like my baby. In this video clip she had climbed in Kyle's Bumbo chair after I had taken him out. The most amusing thing about it to me is the fact that when she plays baby she keeps her tongue sticking out the entire time! I never noticed how much Kyle actually does this until she started imitating him!

Kyle's new look

Described as "dope", Kyle's hat is the hit wherever we go.

We are not allowed to put Kyle on his belly yet but if he does it on his own, more power to him!

After being off of adhesives for over a week now his rash from the band aides is clearing up. His incisions look really nice. They are bright pink now for about a half inch across but will fade eventually into a thin white line. His sternum is held together with twisty ties and if you gently run your finger up his scar you can feel them under his skin! His bone will eventually grow over them but for now it's a bit creepy.

Sitting is a new pleasurable past time. This was the first time Kyle has ever sat up in his Bumbo chair on his own! He doesn't last very long but is working towards sitting on his own. I like this picture too because you can see the top of his scar on his chest. He likes to suck on his tongue or his bottom lip like he is doing in this picture.

Kyle's new favorite pacifier is the big toe on his right foot! He can pull it all the way above his eye but usually prefers sucking on it. Silly boy :)

Kyle is eating well, healing well, and is a very happy baby. He still is not gaining weight. We were so excited for a 5oz gain this past week until he lost 3 oz of it. He does this constant yo-yo-ing in his weight. We had blood drawn to test his thyroid and to test for a predisposition for Celiac disease, both of which could be causing a lack of weight gain. We also are waiting for referrals to a GI specialist and a pediatric neurologist to check out this funny head shaking thing he does. It could be normal but it worries me enough that a specialist is warranted.

Thank you everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers on his behalf. They are felt and appreciated.

MaryKate's Rocket Launch

The last day of school the Third graders at Hermosa Vista Elementary shoot rockets they built in class. MaryKate's went so far it landed outside of the school field!

Happy Birthday Kevin!

We filled the house with balloons to celebrate Kevin's birthday

The kids each picked out something special that they thought he'd like.

I Love You, Kevin Anderson!

Grooving to our families traditional Happy Birthday Song...