Inadequate Weight Gain

As mentioned in my ear monster post, Carter hasn't been drinking well since his ears have been bothering him. He eats solids just fine. But because he isn't getting enough milk (and because Mommy feeds him like she feeds herself: high on vegetables and low on carbs), his weight gain has screeched nearly to a halt. He's actually lost 3/4 lb in the last three weeks. These percentiles are referencing his weight . . . At two months, he was in the 90th percentile; at four months, he was in the 80th; at six months, he'd fallen to between the 50th and 60th; at 8.25 months, he's slid to the 25th. Being in the 25th percentile for weight is healthy. However, to have started off so much larger than average, and then dropped off so sharply, is a bit of concern. It means most babies are gaining weight at a much faster pace than he is. As his doctor pointed out, I am lean. So maybe his body type is lean also, and is just adjusting. But to make sure he doesn't continue sliding down the chart, we've been prescribed three full meals plus snacks, including three servings of cereal (oatmeal or rice) daily. He'd been doing two meals plus a snack, and one or two servings of cereal. So now I've shifted the focus of his diet to carbs instead of vegetables, and am staggering his milk to come an hour after solids--he seems to consume more of both, that way. We'll see how this works. On doctor's orders, we have a weigh-in in three weeks to check his progress. Of course, we'll also be there for the ear infection follow-up and his Hep-B vaccine, which he couldn't receive on Friday due to his fever. Hopefully, spring will bring less congestion and fewer ear infections to the Dillard house. I think if we can get Carter well, we can get his weight gain back on track.

Another Ear Monster

On Friday, I took Carter to the pediatrician for his ear infection follow-up, combined with his (three weeks early) nine-month checkup. His doctor was hoping to save us a co-payment by combining appoints, but it looks like we'll be going back in three weeks anyway for another ear infection follow-up. Since October, I think we've had one four-week stretch between appointments: aside from that instance, we've seen his doctor every one-to-three weeks for the last 4.5 months. Thank goodness I opted to find a pediatrician I really liked when he was a newborn--I can't imagine having to trek to our original pediatrician so frequently!

Anyway, Carter's ear infection follow-up revealed . . . drumroll please . . . very little improvement following the latest round of antibiotics. So we started his fifth round of antibiotics (fourth different type), since October. His doctor and I discussed in more detail, the next step, if this round doesn't work. She typically would try one final antibiotic (one that tastes just horrible, she says) before refering us to an ENT (ear-nose-throat specialist). The ENT likely would treat him with tubes. However, patients who are referred in the spring tend to be told by the ENT "let's wait a few months, and see if the spring/summer weather helps." So, in order to get him treated sooner, she may forego that final step of antibiotics and send us to the ENT next time. Another possible treatment for him (and likely anyway, since he will almost definitely have tubes sooner or later)--would be a shot instead of the oral antibiotics. Since he has responded so poorly to all these rounds of oral antibiotics, any ear infections in the future probably would prompt an injection treatment. Yuk.

Carter really had been uncomfortable with this ear infection. He sleeps like a rock when he feels well, but is restless and fussy when he doesn't. He's been sleeping pretty restlessly for a couple weeks. He also hasn't been doing well taking milk (another issue which came up during his checkup). It all came to a peak Friday afternoon. After his appointment, he never really took a nap. I tried to nurse him at his next feeding time, but he SCREAMED. I quickly pumped and tried having Jack give him a bottle--he refused it. I noticed a drop of blood at the entry of his ear canal and called the doctor. She said, as I suspected, that it probably was just from her picking at his ear that morning. We put him down for a nap and I ran some errands. Three hours later he finally stirred. I found a tiny smear of blood on his "security blanket" and his ear was full of blood and what appeared to be tissue. It was not quite 5:00 yet, so I called the doctor again and was instructed to hold a warm compress to the ear and give him Motrin. After about 30 minutes, he seemed much happier. I wiped out his ear that night and there appeared to be some membrane in there. But he drank and slept much better than he had in at least a week. And the 101° fever he'd been running for 24 hours suddenly was gone. It seems his ear drum probably burst. Since he was starting a new round of antibiotics anyway, his doctor isn't concerned. Hopefully now we can at least start fresh in that ear!

Mr. Mom

Looks like Carter will have a stay-at-home dad for a little while. Jack's company (John Wieland Homes) has been able to hold out relatively strong through the housing market bust. Two years ago, they employeed about 1100 people. Two days ago, it was down to about 360. Yesterday that number plummetted. I don't know the exact count, but the pre-layoff rumors were that half the company would be cut. From what I understand, they made the decision to stop all construction, though they will continue to build the pre-sale homes. They let go all the guys placed in neighborhoods, which included Jack. We'd hoped his recent clout with the Wieland family would help him survive another round, but the cuts were just too deep.

On a positive note, at least now he will have more time to get the house in sellable condition (a necessity now that we'll be living on my income--and there are just a few loose ends to be tied up), focus on schoolwork, and be home with Carter during the days. Luckily, we have plenty of family (myself included) who can take some time away from work to keep Carter when Jack eventually starts interviewing for new jobs. He actually had applied to one company already this week, before the layoff. Before leaving the neighborhood, he went ahead and made a couple contacts to start the (hopefully not agonizingly) long process of finding a new job. After all, he'd been with Wieland since he graduated from college.

Crawling, A Little

Carter is climbing and crawling a bit these days. He hasn't perfected the hands-and-knees crawl, so it's still more of a tummy scoot. But he is trying to figure out the hands-and-knees position, and it's only a matter of time. Here are some pictures of him showing love to his V-Day card from Uncle Brad and Aunt Meredith (with my cell phone thrown in for good measure).

Kidsignments, Round 2

As noted in my "Sitting Tall" post, I was out of the house Monday evening. I was, in fact, shopping the pre-sale for the spring Kidsignments event. I went to the fall sale last August, where I picked up some great second-hand toys (most notably, his $20 "farm" exersaucer and his $8 Little Tykes work bench--both are much loved these days). This time, I was able to scrounge together the minimum of 25 sellable items, so I qualified as a seller and was allowed to shop the pre-sale! It was crazy. I felt completely out of my league next to some of these women. I showed up with my beach bag, ready to grab my few items and head home. (Last summer, I took two beach bags and filled them--but also had a longer list at that time.) Well, these Shoppers (yes, they deserve a capital "S") came with wheeled hampers, wheeled trash cans, laundry baskets and even their own shopping carts! I definitely deserve amateur status. Nonetheless, I was able to get first pick (well, first with all the other sellers) of a great umbrella stroller, some big toys and some clothes for the coming seasons. Some of the best deals?

• $5 for a Playskool Busy Ball Popper (great condition, just missing one of the five balls): retails for $25
• $10 for a LeapFrog Learn N Groove activity table (again--looks almost new): retails for $45
• $8 for a canopied umbrella stroller (looks almost new): similar styles retail for $20
• Numerous shirts and pants/shorts for Carter for $1-2, most of which look barely (or not at all) worn

Last summer, I was not a seller and didn't go until the second day of the public sale (third day if you count the pre-sale). They probably had 12-15 exersaucers, a few jumperoos, a couple pack-and-plays . . . but at the pre-sale, they started out with at least 40 jumperoos, probably 60-80 exersaucers, two or three dozen pack-and-plays . . . those items were flying off the floor. So anyone who is really serious about buying their baby gear at this sale, should seriously consider being a seller or a volunteer (volunteers have to help with at least three shifts, but get to shop before the sellers and receive 50% off their purchase--except on items marked as "no reduction" by the seller). I happened to see someone pick up my barely used travel system during the pre-sale! Woo-hoo!

Sitting Tall

Last weekend, Carter figured out how to get himself into a sitting position on his own. On Friday, I put him down for his morning nap. I went back downstairs, turned on the video monitor and saw him sitting in the corner of his crib (I'd left him lying down in the middle of the bed). I went upstairs because he appeared to be more playful than sleepy. When I got there, I found he'd scooted half-way back across the crib (still upright), and was reaching for the "bugs" hanging down on his mobile. Luckily, those "bugs" are retractable, so I retracted them up (no longer dangling).



Then, Monday evening, I wasn't home to put Carter to bed. Jack put him down, returned to the kitchen and turned on the monitor, and proceeded to watch Carter sit up on his own. He ended up bringing Carter downstairs just before I got home (only a few minutes past bed time). After he nursed, he seemed a lot more willing to go to bed. I guess breast milk in a bottle just isn't the same at bed time! I put him down, then Jack and I watched from the kitchen as Carter sat up time and again, practicing his new skill. At that time, we thought it's only a matter of time before he realizes he can pull up on the sides.


Tuesday evening, I picked him up from Nana's house and she let me know that she'd witnessed him pull himself up to a standing position, using the crib railing for leverage. When I got home Tuesday evening, we finally bit the bullet and lowered his mattress. It was a very sad time for us; now it looks like a big kid bed, but fully enclosed. It doesn't really look like a baby bed to me, with the mattress so low.

Those Pearly Whites

I finally captured a picture of Carter's teeth--well, two of them anyway. He has three more up top, with another that hasn't quite poked through the gum yet. He's been using those chompers to eat all kinds of things lately . . . In addition to the fruit and vegetable purees I make for him, he eats yogurt, oatmeal, smoothies (yogurt, banana and other fruit), diced banana, diced peach, baby cookies, baby crackers, Cheerios and scrambled eggs. He actually ate his first restaurant food last Friday: Jack and I ate at IHOP, and I fed Carter some of my eggs. I'm sure the people around us were repulsed by the sight of me hand-feeding scrambled eggs to him (I hadn't thought ahead to bring a spoon, because it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to feed him at the restaurant--and there is no tray on a restaurant high chair, so I couldn't let him attempt to self-feed).

Mom's the Word!

Well, "mama", that is. For more than a week now, Carter has been saying "mama". We didn't want to jump the gun on the "first word" milestone, but there's no denying it now. Our little chatterbox loves saying mama! I was fulling expecting "dada" to come first, as the "d" sound generally is easier for babies. But Carter hasn't even experimented with the "d" sound yet; he's all about his mama.

The Ear Monster

Carter's cold has reared it ugly head again. This time, it brought along another double-ear infection (or maybe they hadn't healed from the infections two weeks ago) and a croupy cough. His doctor put him on an oral steroid (prednisone) for the croup, and a new antibiotic for the ears. I can't even remember what this one is called, but it's the third-tier antibiotic. Luckily, even though this scatterbrained mom forgot to request it, the nice pharmacist went ahead and flavored those medicines for us. So his antibiotic tastes like strawberries and his steroid tastes like grape (smells exactly the way I remember Dimetap smelling).

His fever (which was 101° yesterday at lunchtime and again at bedtime) seems to be gone this morning. The cough no longer is croupy. He still is clingy and fussy, though. The steroid can cause irritability, so we may have a more normal-acting seven-month-old for the next five days, rather than our typical, anything-goes baby.

Because Carter's ear infections seem to pop up before he even gets congestion, and seem to linger . . . and because this time, his doctor found that the left ear is not draining at all . . . I had to ask already about tubes. Their policy is an infection that lingers for three months, or six infections within a year. So far, we appear to be on pace for tubes by the time he's 18 months old. Jack and his brother each had tubes twice as children, so I know Carter's time is coming. Poor little man.

Lion Love

I just stumbled across some pictures from mid-December. It was around that time that Carter was beginning to cuddle things and people. I must say, it melted my heart to see him start cuddling stuffed animals. There's something reassuring about seeing that my son is learning to express tender affection (nevermind the kisses he lavishes upon me daily--this was different).