Cookies and Crayons

We got the results from Dougie’s ultrasound. It did confirm that he had reflux and that there were no other physical problems. So, that’s good. Unfortunately, he’s maxed out on the Prevacid so we can’t increase that. The doctor wants us to try a new medication, bethanechol. It is from a group of drugs called “prokinetic” and is normally used to treat delayed gastric emptying. The drug causes the stomach to empty faster thus reducing the amount of acid that can build up and cause reflux. We’re hoping that this may help things along substantially. If he isn’t improved by Friday, we’re supposed to talk to the doctor again.

Dougie slept through the night!!!! He’s technically done it once before but it was from 7pm to 1am so we didn’t get as much extra sleep as we hoped for. But last night, he slept from 12:30am – 6:30am. I’m practically giddy.

Dougie started swimming lessons today. I am so excited!! It was a lot of fun. He loved every part of it except hanging on the wall. That’s hard for him right now anyway so I’m not surprised that he didn’t love it. There are 5 kids in our class and Dougie is the youngest by a year or so. We’re taking the lessons at a place not too far from here called Emler Swim School. They have programs specifically designed for babies learning to swim. The pool is 90 degrees so it’s very comfortable.

Our teacher mentioned that getting him swimming at this age can be a huge benefit. He doesn’t know enough to be scared of the water yet and by the time he reaches that age, he’ll likely already be swimming. The focus of the class at this stage is largely water safety. There is a lot of focus on swimming to the wall of the pool and being able to pull yourself out. Once Dougie is a bit older they focus on strokes but at this stage, just being able to have fun and be safe is enough.

Dougie went in for his ultrasound today. There was a bit of confusion on exactly what was going on. The nurse at the pediatrician’s office told me that he would drink some barium and they would do the test. They didn’t have him drink barium though. That is the test that would normally be done on a baby Dougie’s age but for some reason he was scheduled for a different test that is normally performed on younger babies.

Regardless of all that, he was tested. During the test he refluxed twice. At this point, we haven’t heard from the doctor with the results and I expect we won’t hear today now.

Dougie in his new hand made tie-dye shirt

Dougie is going in for an ultrasound tomorrow at 11:30am. He continues to have refluxing episodes and the doctor wants to be sure that there is nothing else that could be causing it. From what I’ve read, the test takes 10-15 minutes and the worst part is not being able to eat for 4 hours prior to the test.

Needless to say, we’re concerned for him but hoping that this is the first step in finding a more permanent solution.

For a while, I’ve suspected that Dougie could sit but every time we tried, he’d flop over and try to crawl (which he can’t do yet). Over the weekend, we decided to get him some “sitting toys”. We thought that having something to sit and play with would encourage him to stay sitting instead of flopping over. Well, it worked!! Here are a few pictures from Dougie’s first independent sitting.

We had a wonderful long weekend. It was so quiet. We spent most of the time doing some organizing things around the house and relaxing. We’ve gotten a playroom made for Dougie. I did most of the work last week but we put the final touches on this weekend. We just have to hang blinds and paint but as far as Dougie is concerned it’s finished. We love going in there during the day and spending some time.

We also went over to Uncle Rudy and Auntie Carol’s new house. We haven’t seen them in a while and it was great to catch up. They don’t live too far from here in a great little community. Hopefully, we’ll be able to see them more now that they’re back in DFW. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera so we don’t have any pictures from the visit. Uncle Rudy took some though and said he’d send them along. I’ll include some once we get them.

Our MOMS Club had their elections for the board today. I was elected president of our chapter. I’m really excited because I’m hoping to be able to get a few more activities that are inclusive of people that have children younger than toddler age. I think it’s going to be a great opportunity to meet more people and get more involved as well. I officially take over at the beginning of July.

I’ve noticed that Dougie has started to take on some of the characteristics of the dogs. He certainly loves them and is quite content to just sit and watch them eat or play. But, perhaps it’s too much? Looks at some of his latest activities.

Eating Maggie

Playing With Dad’s Socks

Eating His Own Socks

Yesterday was our first Mother’s Day since we acquired a Dougie. As you can imagine, the little guy was tremendously excited since he and his Mum are such good buds, and he wanted to say a little “thank you” for taking such good care of him. He even got himself a new bib for the occasion:

We started the day off with (liquid) breakfast in bed — Dougie and I put together a tray for Kim with coffee, juice and Diet Coke. (It was Dougie’s idea — I helped a little bit.) Dougie gave Kim a lovely frame with their favourite “Me and Mum” picture:

We had a nice breakfast and then trundled out to get our first family portrait done at Babies R Us. The photographer was great & very accustomed to working with babies, and she took some fantastic shots — including the new family photo that now graces the top of our blog. Dougie was pretty cooperative for most of the photo shoot, though his patience has its limits — after about 15 minutes he declared himself done.

Then we went out for lunch at one of Kim’s favourite restaurants (a Cajun place called Razzoo’s), did some shopping in the afternoon and a relaxing evening at home. All in all, a pretty successful Mother’s Day for a couple of rookies!