Caleb loves books!

"There is a house, a napping house, where everyone is sleeping.  And in that house there is a bed.  A cozy bed, in a napping house, where everyone is sleeping.  And on that bed, there is a Granny, a snoring Granny, on a cozy bed, in a napping house, where everyone is sleeping...."  You get the picture.

This is Caleb reading The Napping House with Daddy.  He reads all of his books like this!  It only takes a few times of reading a book before Caleb catches on.  Most of the books we read together are library books.  He just can't get enough!

Notice Russell keeping himself entertained in the background.  :)

Why my life is so stinkin' awesome:

We went to the bowling alley a few weeks ago and Caleb fell off of a chair and punctured his bottom lip with his two bottom teeth.  He now calls it the "bowling owie."

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Daddy told Caleb that Mommy is a princess.  He likes to randomly remind me throughout the day.

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After teaching him to say "I love America" on July 4th and also seeing lots of American flags on that day, Caleb now says, "I love America" in a content little voice every time he sees an American flag.  I love that I'm raising a patriotic little boy.  He'll fit in well with the Claypool side of the family.
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Russell loves strangers.  He loves people he knows, too, but holy cow does that boy ever smile for people he doesn't know!  He has a BFF in the local grocery store close to our house named Sydney.  He could talk to her for hours.  She recognizes him when she sees him.  The other day he caught the eye of a little boy in Hobby Lobby (the store that has been stealing all of my money lately...).  He must have been about eight or nine.  They connected immediately.  I think that little boy must have been hurting inside, because he just stood there, taking in the sweet look on Russell's face, then he touched his hand.  His mom said, gently, "I think he likes you."  And I agreed, "Yes, he does."  Then Russell gave him a big grin.  I think it made that little boy's day.
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I think Russell knew just how awesome it could be to meet new people when I put him in the front of a shopping cart for the very first time:

He was a little bit excited!
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Russell has the cutest little caterpillar crawl in the world.

And my husband has a really hard time not saying odd things at random times.  Gotta love him!
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"The dinosaurs are wearing their seat belts!"

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Caleb helped me with this craft--painting the black sign beige.  Now every time he looks at it he gets excited about our "cwaf!"

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Russell can pull himself up to his knees on anything now, including tall furniture or the wall.  But he gets scared to get down.  He stayed like this for at least five minutes.  Cute little thing!

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I love this sweet kid.

Russell is 7.5 months old!

It's a bit of a random update, I know, but he had a check-up with the pediatrician today to follow up on his growth and development, so I thought it would be a good time to tell you what's goin' on in The Exciting Life of Russell!

At 7.5 months old, Russell:

• Weighs 14lbs 8oz.  He is playing a bit of "catch-up" with his weight, which is awesome!  He has gained 1lb 12oz in the last month and a half.  He's still well below the charts, but he's gaining at a faster rate than would be expected, which is promising.  I'm not sure about the percentiles for his length and head, but he has grown a quarter of an inch in the last month and a half and his head is 1.7cm larger.  I don't know if that's good or bad, but it is what it is!
• Is starting to make 0-3 month clothes look small, but seriously drowns in most 3-6 month clothes
• Has seven teeth!  Four on the top and three on the bottom.  I may never get a picture of them because he almost never smiles with his mouth open.  This is a classic Russell face: (so cute!) 
• Doesn't "talk" much.  His cooing has increased since starting solid foods, but I still can only count on one hand the number of times that he has coo'd to himself (such as while laying awake in his crib).  The "normal" age range for babies to start babbling with consonances is 4-6 months, and Russell doesn't do that yet.  The lack of babbling isn't a real concern quite yet, but the shortage of cooing is.  I asked the pediatrician if I should be concerned (I mean, I don't want to make a big deal out of small things, but I also want to make sure that my baby gets what he needs to develop and thrive) and he suggested a hearing test through Early Intervention.  So he has an evaluation on Friday to record his development in all areas, and a hearing test will be scheduled shortly.  He automatically qualifies for any therapy that he may need since he has a Failure to Thrive diagnosis, but he may not actually need any therapy.  We'll see though.  Do 7.5-month-olds ever actually receive speech therapy?  Who knows?!
• Loooves those solid foods!  His favorites are rice cereal, baby puffs, and Gerber arrowroot cookies.  He kind of has a fit if he sees them and I don't give them to him immediately.  :)  I LOVE IT!  It's awesome.  This video shows how he reacts when eating something that he finds absolutely, beautifully, delectably, wonderful

• Won't take a bottle for the life of him.  We spent four hours in the car between here and Idaho and he spent over half an hour crying because a) he was hungry and wouldn't take his bottle, and b) he was tired and refuses to sleep anywhere but his crib.  Except that he has fallen asleep in the car before, but never with anyone in sight, and we were in a full minivan on this trip.  Hmm
• Crawls caterpillar style.  Cutest thing ever.  Seriously.  Video shall be forthcoming
• Is so pleasant since learning how to crawl!  I think he must have just been restless and that's why he was so cranky.  Now he's so sweet, I have a hard time not squeezing his sweet little self all day!
• Loves to pull himself up on his knees to bounce.  The toy box, wipes box, my leg, laundry basket, everything low enough for him to reach the top of.  He's crazy about it
• Has stored in his memory that the lower drawer in the kitchen can be pulled out and he can pull himself up on his knees on it.  Yep.  He runs (aka, caterpillar crawls) for it every time he's on the kitchen floor.  One of these days I won't be able to get to him fast enough and he's going to slam some fingers...:(
• Can not only sit for forever, but can go from sitting to crawling without face planting and has twice gone from crawling to sitting on his own
• Always saves a smile for the cat.  They love playing together (Captain Hook is much more gentle with Russell than he is with Caleb).  The Cap'n wears these claw caps to keep the babes safe from scratches. They played like this for so long!
• 
• Has some new favorite toys this month: plastic dinosaurs.  It's weird how different it is for second children as opposed to first...
• Also loves to stuff soft blankets in his mouth as a source of comfort.  A little weird
• Also loves to race towards any shoes that may have been left in the playroom
• Laughs pretty much every single time Caleb touches him.  It's adorable! (even though Caleb thinks tickling means pinching and twisting):

• Is a major baldie (much more so than Caleb was), and that's ok with me
• Is seriously attached to me.  For probably two months now he has been having meltdowns every time I walk in the opposite direction as him.  This phase only lasted for a week or two with Caleb.  Never mind if I'm just going to the door to let the dog out.  Never mind if I'm swiftly moving Caleb from the couch to the laminate floor behind the couch so he doesn't throw up on the new couch or carpet (true story).  It was seriously just three feet, and I moved too fast for Russell's comfort (but thankfully fast enough to keep the couch and carpet clean).  I then had to leave Caleb naked, leave the vomit on the floor, and throw the cat outside so he wouldn't try to assist in cleaning up the mess while I comforted Russell for about five minutes.  Ugh.  But today I was able to take my dish to the sink in the other room without coming back to a horrified baby!  Hooray!  Dare I allow myself to think that this phase may be coming to an end...?
• Loves strangers.  On Sunday he demanded to be allowed to stand against the back of the pew so he could flirt with the people behind us
• Wakes up two to three times every night.  Not cool.  It's worst when he's teething.  He's happy to be put down in his crib as long as I've nursed him for at least 6 minutes (yes, I time it) and as long as he doesn't have a gas bubble.  Gas is the only thing that keeps him from truly being consolable.  He used to be better at sleeping at night, but since his FTT diagnosis I felt like maybe I should still let him eat at night if he wants.  Since then he has added a night feeding.  Now that he's doing better with his weight, I'm going to do something about it.  I don't know if I can go on like this for another seven months!
• Has won my affection a million times over!  I can't get enough of this sweet kid!  His little grin, his squishy thighs, the way he cough-cries when he wants so nurse, his deep blue eyes and dark eyelashes...how did I get so lucky?

Here we go again. :(

I've never failed at anything in my life.  Sure, I might not excel at everything I do, but I believe that with enough work I can accomplish anything that is important to me.

So why are BOTH of my children now diagnosed as "Failure to Thrive?"  My most important job in life, to take care of my sweet boys, is the one with "Failure" in the title.  Eating and breathing are two of life's most basic functions.  At least they can breathe, since apparently they really stink at eating enough to grow!

Russell had his 6-month checkup on June 22nd and he weighed 12lbs 12oz.  That's a gain of only 10oz in two months.  His weight dropped from the 6th percentile to well below the charts.  Babies at this age are still supposed to be gaining almost an ounce a day, not five ounces a month.

On top of that, he only grew a quarter of an inch in the last two months.  He went from the 48th percentile to the 6th percentile!  That's horrible!  He's currently only 25 inches.

And it gets worse.  His head circumference went from the 37th percentile to the 14th percentile.

For those who don't know, a baby's body always delivers nutrients to the brain first, length second, and weight third, because the brain is most important and adding extra padding is least important.  So when the body goes into starvation mode, weight will suffer first, then length, then head circumference.  Since Russell is suffering in all three areas, the doctor was quite concerned!

He ordered tests for cystic fibrosis, thyroid function, immunodeficiency, iron, electrolytes, allergies, and a CBC.  Everything came back normal, thankfully.

I made Russell an appointment with Caleb's pediatric GI specialist just after his 4-month appointment because he dropped from the 20th percentile to the 6th percentile and I just knew we would be dealing with problems by now.  Good thing I made it forever ago, because we still won't get in until late August!  Then we'll probably skip straight to the scope to test for an eosinophilic disorder, since Russell's diaper habits (like how I put it so nicely?) aren't quite what I would call "normal" and every time I give him a new food for the first time he gets rashes on the backs of his legs that last for a day or two and then go away until I give him another new food.

Caleb was diagnosed as FTT at 14 months.  Russell really has a leg up on him.  At 6 months adjusted age (9 months actual) Caleb weighed 12lbs 15.5oz.  That's 3.5oz more than Russ.  And Caleb was sicky from the beginning.  Russell was supposed to be healthy.  HA!  And Caleb never missed any milestones, even though he had brain bleeds.  Russell basically stopped cooing for the last month and a half and doesn't seem to recognize his name yet.  Since starting solid foods he has started cooing again, but he still doesn't babble with consonances, which he should be doing by now.

Surprisingly, the doctor didn't suggest giving Russell formula.  Because of what happened after Caleb stopped getting breastmilk (stopping eating all together) I would really, really like to keep nursing Russ.  Also because it's one of the only things that comforts him.  The pediatrician and I believe that a healthy baby will be able to increase his mom's milk supply on his own, and that only a few women really have problems producing enough.  (Although I just may be one of the few....)  So instead of just assuming that my milk is the problem, Nate and I decided to buy an infant scale to monitor how much Russell gets when he nurses from me.  After a few days of weighing him before and after most feedings, it appears that he usually gets about three ounces from me.  That's about half of what he should be getting.  So we've been supplementing with a few ounces of formula after nursing, but he went from gladly taking an ounce or two to refusing to drink any formula.  A few times we have needed to give him a bottle in place of nursing, and he won't drink more than an ounce or so, and he certainly doesn't drink it willingly.  He also gets solids twice a day and nurses immediately after.  He has been gaining an ounce or two per week since starting solids, so hopefully that will keep us out of the danger zone.

I'm fairly certain that his love of nursing is the only thing keeping him hydrated.  He used to love the bottle, but has grown to hate it.  He currently loves solid foods, but Caleb was like that to begin with, too.  I honestly feel like we're dealing with Caleb all over again, only crankier and he actually nurses.

It's been nice to have six months of ignorant bliss, thinking my baby was healthy and fine, but I suppose I always knew somewhere deep down that it just couldn't be true.  Nate is still holding out hope that it's nothing, and I'd like to say that I won't be surprised if it's nothing, but I really feel like we're dealing with an eosinophilic disorder.

He got poked three times on the day this picture was taken.

Holy cow, I love that baby!

Russell's first taste of solid foods!

Yes, we gave our little 6-month-old his first solid foods yesterday!  Rice baby cereal with formula.  Yum yum.

This is the "before" picture:

"WHY ARE YOU NOT FEEDING ME RIGHT NOW???  CAN'T YOU SEE I'M ABOUT TO DIE!!!!"

This is the "after" picture:

"Mmmm.  A full belly and feeling good!"

This is a video of the first bite:

This is a video of how the rest of it went:

He ate 2 tablespoons of dry rice cereal mixed with 2 ounces of formula!

And he loved it!  Holy cow, I have a kid who enjoys food!  It all seemed so unreal....

Until I saw this this afternoon (on both legs):

Eczema, anyone?  This is exactly what happened when we started Caleb on solid foods.  (By the way, it's much worse in real life than it is in the picture.)

If this is food allergies, that's right up my alley.

And in all of my worst nightmares.

Russell is 6 months old! What?!

My baby boy is seriously already half a year?  The next six months had better not go as fast as the last six months, or else before I know it I'll have a 1-year-old!

At six months old, Russell:

• Wears size 2 diapers
• Wears size 0-3 month clothes.  I noticed a few 3-6 month clothes were stored with the 0-3 month ones, and they fit, too, although all of his 0-3 month clothes still fit except a few of the smaller onesies and sleepers.  And some of his 0-3 month clothes are still pretty big on him!
• Can roll over easily, and while on his tummy can pivot to face any way he wants
• Got up on his hands and knees and rocked back and forth today.  Next stage: crawling!  Good thing I already went through all of Caleb's toys and packed away the choking hazards!
• Isn't much of a talker.  It's weird for me, because Caleb was a chatterbox from the very beginning.  If I try really hard, I can usually get Russell to coo and "talk" to me about twice a day, and only immediately after a feeding.  Sometimes he laughs, too, but only if I tickle him just right.
• Is only happy for about 10-15 minutes after each feeding before deciding to be a cranky pants.  He's also happy if we go somewhere (like the store) and he has new things to look at and be distracted by. He's a good little shopper!  Everywhere I go people look at him, he smiles at them, and then they say, "Oh, he's such a happy baby!"  I usually respond by saying, "yeah, right now he is," while thinking in my head, "if only you knew what it's like at home...."  But seriously, the child hardly ever gets any time on the floor to practice his motor skills because every time I put him down he cries so hard that it takes him 10 minutes after I pick him up to calm down.  It gets a little exhausting.  But if Nate is watching him while I'm out of the house, he's a perfect angel, until I get back and he sees me.  I haven't decided if he cries because he hates the sight of me or if he just loves me so much that he can't stand not to be in my arms.  Either way, I'm excited for this phase to pass.
• Can sit on his own for a few seconds, and for much longer if he has a little bit of support.  He is able to support himself with his hands, but usually he just lunges forward to lay on his belly.  He's a belly boy!
• Has THREE teeth, all on the bottom.  I'm fairly confident that the next tooth to come in will also be on the bottom.  The top teeth don't even seem to be close!  He's gonna have a bit of a goofy grin, I expect  :)
• Often has red eyes.  They look pretty dry, so I plan on asking his pediatrician about it later this week
• Got the memo on nap time and bed time!  He falls asleep on his own every single time.  Hooray!  He sleeps for 2-3 hours every afternoon, just like Caleb, and at the same time as Caleb!  It's so helpful for my sanity.  ;)  Almost every night is the same, with him going to bed around 9, waking up to eat between 5 and 6, then going right back to bed and waking up between 9 and 10 to eat again.  Before Caleb wakes up at 10, I have a little chat with Russell while he's happy, get him dressed, and put him back to bed for his morning nap, where (most days) he sleeps until about 11 or 12.  Then both boys are on the same schedule for the rest of the day.  Sometimes he doesn't want to take a morning nap, and then we adjust the day accordingly

• Loves Captain Hook, and The Captain loves him!  Yes, sometimes the cat tries to eat Russell's feet, so we have to be careful.  But Russell is much more gentle with the poor kitty than Caleb is, so Captain Hook is smart and prefers Russell's company.  One early morning, after feeding Russell and putting him back to bed, I didn't notice that Captain Hook had sneaked into Russell's room.  Three hours later I found them cuddling in the crib.  It'll be fun to see them grow up together! 

• Is in love with his feet.  Every time I put him down to sleep, I give him his feet as his comfort object.  I'm convinced that feet are better than thumbs or binkies, because a) feet are always there and he has the coordination to grab them on his own, and b) there will come a day when he can't reach his feet as easily so he'll wean himself from needing them on his own.  When that day comes, I'll give him a stuffed animal and a blanket for a comfort object
• Loves stuffed animals.  Every time I change his diaper he turns to try to reach for the things by his head (spare diapers, wipes, etc.).  I give him his stuffed panda bear and he's happy as can be!
• Went from pooping ten billion times a day to once or twice a week.  I just thought you'd like to know
• Isn't very good at swallowing.  Once a day (sometimes more) he kind of chokes on his milk, sputtering and gasping for breath with a red face and watering eyes.  He swallows a lot of air when he eats.  I'm a tiny bit terrified to give him solid foods, because of everything that we've gone through with Caleb.  Caleb used to not be able to swallow even 1ml without turning blue and his heart stopping.  Seriously.  That's when the NICU OT realized that he needed thickened milk.  Once it was discovered that he was tongue-tied and his frenulum was clipped, he didn't need thickened milk any more.  Of course, I still worry that Russell is tongue-tied and that he aspirates/penetrates (the food goes "down the wrong tube").  Well, if I have yet another kid with feeding problems, at least I have a whole ton of experience there, and we have a feeding therapist on board who we love!
• Shows interest in drinking from a cup (aka, he tries to drink his bath water as I pour it over him, and tries to grab my cup when I drink with him in my arms) but shows no interest in food.  Every day, after his dinnertime feeding, I put him in his high chair with spoons and toys while Caleb and I eat.  He loves to chew on his spoons!  This evening I'm going to attempt his first solid foods feeding so I can tell the pediatrician later this week how it went.  Wish us luck!
• Gives the best kisses EVER!  When he's really happy he loves to grab your face and pull it to his mouth and give you a big, slobbery, wet, open-mouthed smooch!  I LOVE it!  

We love this little irresistible baby!

And now for a million billion random pictures.  Enjoy!

Workin' those abs!

 What?

 Just doin' some more ab crunches.

He's always been one to like hats.  It's a good thing, too, because otherwise his bald little head would get sunburned!

Rockin' the jungle theme.

Sweet sleeping baby.

Exploring the new toy his Momma got him on clearance!  Too bad he screams bloody murder whenever I put him in it, but he will go in it and play forever if Nate puts him in it.  It's rather frustrating.

 He sure loves that tongue!

Again, when he doesn't nap well in the AM and he gets cranky before his afternoon nap, Nate can put him on his belly on the couch and pat his back and he'll fall right to sleep.  But can I?  Yeah, right.  Maybe we should switch roles and Nate can stay home while I go to work.  I think Russell would like it better that way.

"Practicing."

He was really happy today (YES!) so we had to enjoy some time on the floor and capture some of those silly expressions!

Classic Russell face.

See those toofers?  They're cute ones.

Forgive me while I vent.

I'm going to take a very short moment to feel sorry for myself.  I don't need anyone else to feel sorry for me.  I just need a moment and then I'll go back to seeing the beautiful things around me instead of the awful.

Here I go.

I hate that I cause my son pain just by feeding him.  HATE it.  

I force feed him via his feeding tube.  Of course he doesn't want to eat.  It HURTS.  And yet we put him through feeding therapy; we try all the tricks in the book to get him eating.  He doesn't hate us for it.  He tries.  But then he stops, because it HURTS.  So when he doesn't eat by mouth, I put it down his tube, and it hurts just as bad, only instead of hurting himself by eating, it's his Mommy who hurts him.

I only do it to keep him alive, I swear.  When we know that he's certain to throw it all up anyway, we just don't feed him (like at church).  He likes it better that way.

He had another scope on Tuesday and we got the biopsy results this morning.  The eosinophils are back.  The only foods that are changed from his last scope in November, where there wasn't a single eosinophil, are the formula (switched from Elecare [an amino acid-based formula] to Gerber Goodstart Gentle [a dairy-based formula]), peaches, pears, and sunflower/safflower/canola oils.  So he's reacting to at least one of those.  It's most likely the formula, since dairy is such a common allergen, so starting today we're trying a new formula.  But it could also be one of his other foods, since at the time of his scope in November he wasn't eating much other than apples, grapes and sweet potatoes, even though chicken, rice, tuna, and white potatoes were also allowed.  He just hardly ever ate any of those because he was vomiting so much that eating wasn't appealing.

So, for the past 6.5 months, Caleb has been in pain every single time I feed him.  That sure makes me feel like the mom of the year.

So much time wasted.  That's one fifth of his life.  I hate this guessing game.  I hate this disease.  I hate that my little boy has been so sick for so long and we never really knew.

Please, oh, please, just don't tell me that I have to take potato chips away from him.  It would break his sweet little heart.

There is something seriously wrong with my life.

The end.