Miriam's Life

My attitude each day depends greatly on how I look at things.
Will and Seth are taking a bath.  Seth rolls over and gets his face in the water, but he doesn’t seem to mind, so I don’t either.  I take Seth out to get him dried off and a few minutes later Will is out of the bathtub too, along with what seems like half the tub water.  What a great opportunity to mop the floor.

I am snuggled up nursing Seth and doing a word puzzle with Elise.  Will, who is supposed to already be in bed is squatting in the hall squirting glass cleaner all over the carpet.  The hallway smells really clean now, and I didn’t even have to vacuum.

Seth and Elise are sleeping in the same room for the first time.  Seth cries and cries.  When I finally go to check on him I find out that he is awake because Elise has been trying to encourage him by telling him that she is right there next to him.  She really cares for her brothers and tries to protect them.

But sometimes instead of trying to find the positive in something, I realize the wisdom in my mother’s rules.  Now, I know why . . .

-We weren’t allowed to eat anywhere but the kitchen

-Scissors were kept in a kitchen drawer and not our bedrooms

-Toys were kept in one big toybox.

-Playtime outside was encouraged every day.

-We had to wear pajamas 3 nights in a row before getting out new ones.

-We weren’t allowed to change clothes at any time we felt like throughout the day.

-We had a scheduled bath-time once a week.

-We were really good at playing “the quiet game” and “statues.”

-We weren’t allowed to ask for anything when we went shopping.

-We had to sit with our hands in our laps sometimes in the car.

The funny thing is, I don’t remember my mom as being exasperated or frustrated.  Either she was so good at being a mom to six kids that she never got upset or flustered, or kid’s memories in that respect are really forgiving.  I’m kind of hoping for the latter.  :)

OK, I know I shouldn’t post 3 posts in one night, but I had so much fun posting all the pictures that I forgot to update about Seth’s weight gain issues.

We went in last week for Seth’s 6 month appointment.  I had been encouraged that we were gaining weight at the last weight check, where he weighed in at 14 lbs 10 oz, so you can imagine my disappointment when Seth was put on the scale and it only said 14 lbs 1.5 oz. He somehow lost 8.5 oz in one week!  Suffice it to say, we decided we needed to be more proactive in giving him more calories.

Since his appointment I’ve started giving him several bottles of formula each day, along with 2-3 meals of solid foods (cereals, banana, etc) and 3-4 nursing sessions.  I’m hoping all these combinations will give him the boost he needs.  I can’t tell if he is gaining yet, but he does seem to be more demanding of food now, as if he hadn’t really realized how nice it was to be full before.  He is nursing better when I do nurse him, eats the bottles of formula with great interest, and continues to love bananas and cereal.  I haven’t gotten him to venture much further than that on solids, but the doctor said the cereal was full of what he needed.  He also gets a dropper full of liquid vitamins a day.  You’d think they’d flavor those, but they don’t.  He does swallow them though.

Obviously, we still don’t know why we are having to work this hard to get him to gain weight.  The doctor has repeatedly mentioned that I do have small kids, so we don’t expect him to be in the top half of the chart, but we do expect him to gain some weight at this point.  We’ve done tests for infections, and the last blood test had showed a slightly high white blood cell count, so we redid that at his appointment.  I didn’t hear anything, so I am assuming it was normal, but I’ll check next time I go in for a weight check.

We still have our appointment scheduled to check his heart and find out why he has a heart murmur.  That is June 19, so it is getting close.  The doctor is impatient to get those results, just so we know if that is a factor or not.  I got some clarification from him though on what the murmur sounds like, and it sounds like a functional or ejection murmur.  These murmurs are completely natural and do not signify a heart problem.  It is merely the sound of the blood rushing out of the heart.  But, a VSD (ventricular septal defect) can also sometimes sound similar to an ejection murmur, so that is what we want to rule out.  VSD was Emma’s first diagnosis, though hers was due to an abnormally large hole and her murmur (once it showed up) was very distinct.  So we are not expecting anything to that extreme by any means.  Even if there is a VSD, there may be no need for medical intervention.

Will, as you may remember, will also be seeing the cardiologist on the same day.  Sometimes I think he seems like he has outgrown his problem and then he’ll have a day where his feet are extremely blue or red, so I am still glad we are checking it out.

Seth is now 6 months old.  I’m pretty sure that deserves a picture:

This one is so cute, I am pretty sure I will have grandparents emailing me wanting it printed.  :)

Today, Seth got a haircut.  He’s had one trim before, but I had just cut the extremely long peices that were sticking out several inches farther than the rest of his hair.  He’s sported many trendy hairstyles in the last 6 months:
Longish newborn hair

Short curly mohawk

Long curly mohawk

Classic Toupee

Messy Bedhead

And now his latest, Fuzz All Over

And in other news, Seth can now crawl.  He started last week.  His version of crawling is a cross between the army crawl and the inchworm.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it done quite this way before.

First, he looks to find something he shouldn’t have.

Then he reaches as far as he can with one arm while pushing with his toes.

If he doesn’t quite get there in that movement, he’ll stretch the other arm forwards.  Sometimes he has to do some other complicated manuevering to get his arm out from under him since he always scoots right over it, sometimes almost toppling on his head.

It always works though, he gets what he wanted with really very little effort.  His stomach doesn’t even have to leave the ground.

Then he enjoys it until something else catches his eye.

OK, this is long overdue, as it has been over a month since Seth starting eating solids, but I was downloading pictures from my camera and thought you all would enjoy them.  So here is Seth’s first experience eating rice cereal at almost 5 months old.

“How to Eat” by Seth Lein

First you get all ready.  A bib should be worn at all times and you should check your seat to make sure you are safe and secure.

Make sure you have someone to help you.  It is especially helpful if they also know how to eat and can show you the right mouth movements.  Let the person helping you work the spoon, it is a pretty complicated tool.  

Keep a close eye on your food at all times.  You don’t want anyone to take it away because they think you aren’t interested.

Open your mouth wide when the spoon approaches.

Then swallow.

If you happen to get ahold of the spoon, you can try to manuever it to your mouth yourself.

This is really hard to do.

Really, really hard.

Sometimes using two hands will help.

Definitely not recommended for beginners.

Whatever happens don’t let go of the spoon.

If you do, sometimes they don’t give it back.

When you are full, turn your head away so that they won’t keep feeding you.  It helps if you try to look really tired.

One last secret tip:  Try sucking your fingers while eating.  It helps the food go down and adds extra flavor.  My personal favorite method is the upside-down two finger suck, but you could probably use the thumb suck or the right-side-up two finger suck just as easily.  Good luck, and happy eating!

I took Seth in for another weight check.  It has been exactly 2 weeks since his last one and he weighed in at 14 lbs, 10 oz.  Not a tremendous amount of gain (2.5 oz) but at least it is in a positive direction.  He’ll have an appointment next week for his 6 month checkup and we’ll check his weight again at that time.  Then it will only be another 3 1/2 weeks before his cardiology appointment.

Well, that is all the update I have time for today.  We are headed out to buy Elise new ballet shoes (wouldn’t you know she’d rip a hole in them in the last two weeks of class) and then to her ballet rehearsal.  Her recital is this Saturday.

We have appointments for the boys now.  We will be going down to the Children’s Hospital June 19 to see the same cardiologist that cared for Emma.  I am excited to see him again, as he is a great doctor and a wonderful person.  I am looking forward to introducing him to Emma’s siblings.  Both boys will get EKG’s and a listen from the cardiologist.  At that point we will determine if they need echocardiograms or not.

Seth’s weight gain has still been a struggle, but we have hope now that he is past the slump and headed in a positive direction.  Last Monday I took him in and he had lost another ounce.  I was discouraged as we had started solids and I was hoping that would make the difference.  I tried over the next few days to work at being more patient with nursing (Seth gets distracted easily now, and takes forever to get a whole meal when nursing) and to up his solid food intake.  He had an appointment last Wednesday and he had gained  2 ounces in 2 days, so we were all encouraged.  We went ahead and did a blood test and urine test as well, just to rule out any other issues that can affect weight gain.  I have not heard any results from those, so I am assuming they were normal.  We will go in for another weight check next week to make sure he is still on the right track.  And of course we will keep our appointment on June 19th so that we can rule out any possible heart issues that might be affecting his growth.

Elise is as healthy as ever, and reading like a pro.  She really enjoys school, and I think is finally enjoying reading.  She also loves science experiments and playing outside.  She and Will play well together, as well as fight together.  They are pretty normal siblings and I know she would fight for the boys faster then she would fight with them.  She told me one morning that she had had a bad dream where she got hit by a car.  She said she dreamed Will had run out in the road and she got hit by a car because she ran out and saved him.
Will is doing great as well, though daily testing the boundaries, both physically and psychologically.  The other day he got outside by climbing through a window.  I am getting a bit paranoid about him now and have locked the second-story windows (because he is strong enough to open them and I am terrified of him falling out one) and try to keep the doors locked as well.  He does not obey right now, so we are working on that.  Hopefully I can stay consistent and we can nip this all in the bud and go back to having a compliant little son.  I was realizing today that the qualities I praise him for (being such a determined problem solver) are also the same qualities that so easily get him into trouble.  If he can get safely through toddlerhood, hopefully those qualities will be good in the long run.

For those of you who haven’t been able to see the kids recently.  Here are some photos of them:

I wanted to update you on some developments since Seth’s 4 month check-up.  I had known that Seth has not been gaining weight at the rate expected by the growth charts, so I knew we would be discussing that on Wednesday.  At his last week’s appointment for a cold he weighed 14 lbs 9 oz with his clothes and diaper on.  At this week’s appointment he weighed 14 lbs 6.5 oz (without his clothes and diaper).  So I am guessing he probably gained a small amount of weight.  It is not like he’s extremely small either.  I looked it up on the growth chart and he is in the 25th percentile.  It is just that he started in the 75th percentile.  But since all my kids have dropped on the charts at one point or another (including Emma who actually dropped off the bottom of the chart, but that doesn’t really count) the doctor is not really worried about it.  The thing that surprised me more actually was that he dropped from the 97th percentile in height to the 50th percentile.  He actually did not grow in length at all in the last 2 months.  But I assume that he was concentrating on something else – like rolling over.  :)  His head circumference grew a whole inch since 2 months though, so I guess he’s just going to concentrate on being smart instead of the really tall kid I thought he was going to be.  :)

Anyway, all this wouldn’t be an issue at all since all my kids are on the small size.  The doctor did suggest starting solid foods if he will take them to add some extra calories in.  He’s started already showing interest in food when we eat, so I am excited to try giving him rice cereal soon (as soon as I make it to the store to get some).

When the doctor did do the physical exam though, he noticed that Seth has a heart murmur.  Again, probably not worrisome (most likely a functional murmur I’m guessing, which are normal), but with his slow weight gain and Emma’s medical history, the doctor wants to be extra careful and get a heart echocardiogram done.  Seth never has had one, even when I was pregnant with him, so this will just give us a good idea of what his heart looks like and if there are any issues we need to be aware of.  He is obviously in very good health and not showing any of the problems Emma did, so we are not anticipating anything major.  I am actually anticipating that they will not find anything, I think that is much more likely.

So Seth and Will will both be going in to get heart echos.  To explain why Will is going in, in case I forgot to post it here, he is going in because he has not outgrown the circulation issue he has in his feet and hands.  They often turn blue, purple, or motteled pink.  They also sometimes looked swollen.  Of course that could just be because his feet are chubby.  Again, he has not shown any other signs of a heart issue, and he actually did get a heart echo done in the womb with no signs of problems.  But just to be on the safe side, he also will get an echo.

I’ve been blogging in my head recently, which is a good sign that I need to write something.  It’s been awhile since I have written though, so to keep myself from writing a novel, I am limiting myself to just one person’s update for each blog post for now.  So let’s start with Seth.

Seth is the happiest baby in the world.  You may think I am a bit biased, but if you ask anyone who has met Seth, they will agree.  Since he learned how to laugh (which was fairly early), I don’t think he has gone one day without laughing.  I am not exaggerating either, I really can’t remember one day that he has not laughed.  He laughs when he is happy, he laughs when he is tired, and sometimes he will even laugh when he is upset.

Seth is also very vocal.  We joke that he may talk before Will because he has a whole vocabulary of sounds that rivals Will’s.  When there is a conversation going on a room, Seth will often take advantage of any quiet moments to add his two cents.  He loves to listen too though.  If someone is anywhere near him and talking, he seems to think that they must be talking to him.  This is especially true when Daddy is in the room.  Seth will just stare and listen intently.  Then, in case you start to feel too important, he’ll just start laughing.

He is sleeping wonderfully at night.  Usually he goes to bed at about 8:00 and sleeps until I wake him at 10:30 or 11:00 for the last feeding of the day.  If I didn’t wake him I don’t think he would be getting enough to eat, because after that feeding he sleeps until about 7:30 in the morning.  Naptimes are not as regular, but they are improving.  He will go to sleep for naps without my help most times, which I am so glad I finally took the time to train him to do because it is a great help.  Since he is my 4th child, I am not too stressed about irregular naptimes, because I know they will develop naturally if we encourage them.

Well, I guess that about does it for Seth’s update.  He has his 4 month well child check next week, so we’ll take a look at his size and all that then.  Oh, one other thing, he learned how to roll from his back to his front today.  He had rolled the other way twice about two weeks ago and hadn’t done it since.  Today he rolled from his back and thought it was so cool, that he has been doing it over and over.  Elise found him after he had done it the first time, and came to tell me.  “Mom,” she said, “Seth is laughing because he rolled onto his tummy.”

That’s what I affectionately have been calling our house over the last few weeks.  It seems to be cursed with sickness awaiting all who enter.  First Will got sick.  It was on a Wednesday and he, Seth, and I were watching Elise’s dance class.  I noticed he was not as energetic as usual, climbing into my lap several times.  He felt warm and was flushed, but I didn’t think too much of it.  Later that night I checked him and he had a fever, but it wasn’t terribly high, so I put him to bed.  He threw up several times that night and I felt a bit off too.

I had heard about the salmonella outbreak from peanut butter products, so I was worried enough to call the doctor who said to bring him in.  He couldn’t keep anything down and had diarrhea too.  The doctor discovered an ear infection of all things, and said he probably had a stomach bug on top of that.  So we got some antibiotics and pedialyte and spent several days trying to keep him hydrated.

Friday I woke up feeling bad and very quickly progressed into the same stomach virus.  It was the most sick I have been since I had food poisoning several years ago, or perhaps since I was a kid.  I had it for 24 hours, though it took me longer to feel 100% back to normal.  Will was still throwing up once a day and not eating much.

During this time, the ice storm hit, and Bekah and Herbie (Tia and Tio to the kids) came to stay with us until their power came on.  This stay turned out to be a week and a half long, as it took much longer than expected for their house to get electricty back.  I’m going to miss them, it was nice having their company and the help around the house and with the kids.  :)  Of course because they entered the house of germs, Bekah came down with the same symptoms and was also terribly sick for 24 hours.  Then Elise got it and Herbie seemed to get a mild case of it, though Bekah says his was actually due to eating a whole thing of chicken livers.  Yuck!

Despite the fact that my family had purposely been staying away, my Mom got sick with the same stomach bug.  I don’t think she passed it on to anyone else though.
Will was still throwing up over a week after initially getting sick, so I took him back to the doctor the same day I took Seth for his 2 month well-check.  It turns out he also had strep, which must have been resistant to the antibiotics, so we got another kind of antibiotics to try.  Seth, by the way, was completely healthy, got his shots and checkup, and was happy as can be.  He is off the charts in height at 25.5 inches long, and 50th percentile weight at 13 lbs. 4.5 oz.

That day Seth was not his cheery self as he dealt with pain from the shots.  It made for a difficult day at the store while I was at work.  Will started to slowly improve over the next few days, while Seth started to get sicker and sicker with what started as a cold.  Elise and John both got sore throats, but thankfully got over them quickly on their own.  Seth’s cold turned into a cough, a hacking horribly painful cough.  I didn’t think it was more than a cold though, so I didn’t take him in.  He was breathing fine, except for when he needed his nose cleaned out.  He was waking at night a lot to cough and would sometimes gag with the coughs.  This last Friday I was getting ready to head out of town to Kansas City (for an embroidery trade show and seminar, which was really good by the way).  I had noticed that Seth had started to lose his voice and would cry in pain when he coughed, so I was worried that his throat was now sore.  I tried to get ahold of the doctor before I left, but couldn’t, so I just took him with me.  He did all right over the weekend, but still terribly sick.  Today I was able to take him in to the doctor.  The poor guy has bronchitis that has also been irritating one of his ears.  He must be in a lot of pain.  He’s also lost an ounce from the last time we took him in.  He still smiles, but is not his usual laid-back self.  I have had to hold him a lot the last few days and he won’t sleep out of my bed at night.  John is frustrated because he isn’t happy when Daddy holds him, just Mommy for some reason.  I am hopeful that now that we have antibiotics for him, he will improve quickly.

Oh, and while I was gone in Kansas City, Mark (John’s brother who was visiting for the first time after being home from Iraq) got sick as well.  The same stomach virus.  I don’t think there is any way that we could have given it to him, but I still felt bad.  And then of course his Mom got it too.  :(
Well, hopefully we have gotten through all our sicknesses for the whole winter in two weeks.  :)  But if we haven’t, I at least hope we get a break before something else hits.