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(Culled from posts on my old blog – my blog is also my journal, and I know I won’t lose the info or the pictures if they are inside the computer!)

April 2007

He’s here!

His feet are longer than my middle finger! He definitely belongs to me… I’m a size 10 (11 in heels).

Here’s how Baby C feels about the new baby:

May 2007

Baby X is in the hospital tonight. We had to drive him to Columbia today, because the pediatric cardiologist wanted to see him right away. They listened to him and gave him an echo cardiogram, and everything is fine (YAY!).

Then they took his blood pressure, which was crazy high (133-140 systolic, over 100 is too high for a 6 week old baby). The nurse, and then the dr., took it 6 times and then sent us over to the nephrologist (kidney dr.). He took it and got 128, and admitted Baby X to the hospital. The docs over here say that the two main causes of high blood pressure in a baby are kidneys and heart – and we’ve already gotten the heart cleared so they are looking at kidneys now.

Had some tests, and Baby X has low sodium and now his blood pressure is too low (59). Had a renal ultrasound and doppler to measure blood flow to the kidneys too, haven’t heard about those yet.

They aren’t sure what is going on yet, but I am here at the hospital at least until tomorrow and husband dear had to leave us and head back home.

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Well, every test came back normal, and his blood pressure went down. We’re back home but have to return to the pediatric nephrologist (kidneys) in 10 days, and take him to his regular doc in the meantime this week for a blood pressure check.

It’s frustrating because they don’t know what caused it, why it went away, and I can’t check it at home – there are really no signs or symptoms to high blood pressure and you have to have a special cuff for infants.

August 2008

Baby X weaned last month, for good. I never nursed a baby for so long, and he was such a goof about nursing. He liked to stand up, or straddle my leg like a horse. He didn’t want to be cradled like a baby – he’s a kid! Or at least he thinks so.

He’s so ready to grow up, and I so want him to stay little.

He eats with a fork and can drink without a lid. He sees the camera and knows to ham it up. He answers the phone. He can open jars and loves peanut butter (Heaven help me!) He’s a big boy, now.

October 31, 2008

Baby X went to the doctor today for a well child checkup, and since this blog is also my family record and journal, here are the stats.

Weight – 24 lbs, 10 oz. – 25%
Height – 32 inches – 50%
Head Circumference – 90%

Blood Pressure – 96/64, – 95% (but not off the charts! Yay!)

December, 2008

Baby X is 20 months old and does not talk.

He does not babble like normal babies – no buh-buh-buh-buh, no da-da-da-da.

He doesn’t wave hi or bye-bye. I have the book Baby Signs, and like I did with all of the children, tried to teach him some signs when he was a few months old. He does not use a single sign. He may, occasionally, point.

Poor little guy. He has a whining noise he makes, with different intonations, and we interpret what he means. He did say “Ha” for hi a few times last week, but doesn’t do it consistently and only says it after someone else does.

So we had him evaluated. It took a lot of paperwork. My set is 10 pages long!

They pegged most of his development as right on track 18-21 months. (I think he’s more advanced than that, but he got marked down for a lot of speech related things, like “says please and thank you”.) He’s socialized at a 29 month old level (who says homeschoolers are unsocialized, LOL!)

His receptive speech has always been fabulous. He will hear me talk about going to the store, and bring me my purse and shoes. He’ll hear me say to one of the kids that dinner’s almost ready, and go get in his high chair.

His expressive speech is at a 4 month old level. He has one consonant sound, which he only makes when he’s playing animals.

I was curious as to what a speech evaluation would look like for a baby who isn’t talking. They did a lot of motor skills evaluations by providing him with different toys to play with – a ring stacker, a peg board, a shape puzzle. They gave him a pencil to draw with.

Most of the evaluation consisted of questions for me – how does he walk up the stairs? What does he do when he’s hungry? How does he greet his father when he comes home from work.

4 months old. Wow. I knew he was behind…but not that far behind. The therapist will come to our home one day per week to work with me (and him, but she’s mostly teaching me and the other kids.)

They are going to try to train him to use picture cards, as well, to communicate. Eventually, the goal is to have him give me a card with a picture of milk on it when he wants milk, and so on.

I predict the card for “go outside” will get lots of wear and tear. He’s such a funny, sweet little guy!

Oh, my beautiful darling! I love you so! I can’t wait until you can tell me what you are thinking about.

January 2009

Baby X has what we call “Little Man Jammies”. They’re a horrific print with collar and buttons, and he loves them to death.

He’s a weird little boy. He really cares about what he wears.

April 2009

Two years ago, Baby X was born on Good Friday. I was induced because I had diabetes and suddenly developed polyhydramnios.

Turns out it wasn’t from my diabetes, but from Baby X himself. He had high blood pressure and polyuria. And man, did that kid pee.

He is such a goofy little sweetie! He doesn’t talk much but still makes jokes.

He enjoyed his birthday meal, a nutritious plate of corn dogs, tator tots, and juice pouches.

The Big Wheel was a big hit.

Helping dad build it was fun!

I’m hoping the Doodle Pro will help keep the markers at bay. X is the sneakiest little marker fiend I ever saw. I don’t even know where he finds them!

Of course, everyone helped him play with his gifts.

Cupcake time!

Not quite sure about this whole candle business.

Two year olds are busy, and must multitask.

Lick frosting.

Play with truck.

Lick frosting.

Play with truck.

Happy Birthday, X Man!

May 2009

Two year checkup stats:

Weight: 29 1/2 lbs.

Height:

Blood tests: iron level normal, lead level normal

Blood pressure: NORMAL!

Heart murmur: gone, and we don’t have to have yearly echos anymore!

First dentist visit – he was so good!  He let the dentist brush and even scrape his teeth with no problem at all.  She reports that he has almost all of his 3 year old teeth.  I knew he had a great smile!

After the visit, he very carefully took his time to pick a prize, weighing all of his options and finally picking out a pink bouncy ball.  I can’t wait to find out what he’s thinking about!