This past month has been better than last month, but still not great. We changed GI doctors. We are now using Dr. Gold at the GI Care for Kids in Atlanta. We were referred there by a friend and liked Dr. Gold a lot when we met him. He said Anna Ruth looked great and was developmentally where she should be. However, he feels like her feeding issues stem from the digestion (protein intolerance) and reflux problems she has. He thinks once the reflux is managed, she will be fine. What a relief! He did call to have some tests done just to rule anything out. She had an upper GI, a swallow study, and small intestine study done. All tests came back fine. The only problem was of course the reflux. Dr. Gold also increased her Prevacid from once a day to twice a day. As far as eating goes... I take it day by day. Some days she will do great and take about 24 oz. a day. Then, there are the bad days where she may only take 13 oz. Those days make me crazy! For her weight, she should be getting 18 oz. to stay nourished. However, the average amount she SHOULD have is 30. I don't know if she will ever get there. She is just such a finicky eater.
Her eczema and cradle cap have gotten a lot better. I still moisturize her body with every diaper change to help the eczema. I also wash her hair once a week with special shampoo to help with the cradle cap. She LOVES her bath. She calms down instantly when I put her in her little tub.
Her last doctor's appointment was a few days before her 3 month birthday. We went to see Dr. Griffin for a weight check. She weighed 11 lbs. 14 oz.
We also went to see a pediatric neurologist this month. Her name is Dr. Hoenes. Dr. Griffin referred us to her because Anna Ruth sleeps a lot and because feeding issues and neurological issues go hand in hand a lot of the times and she just wanted to rule out anything else that could possibly be making Anna Ruth not want to eat. I was very happy when we left Dr. Hoenes because she said Anna Ruth was developmentally exactly where she should be. She said she had excellent head control and was even able to hold herself up on her legs better than most 3 month old babies. Hearing her say these things made me feel so good because I have been so worried. She said normally she would do an EEG or MRI on babies when they came in with issues, but she didn't think it was necessary yet because she didn't think it would show anything abnormal after she evaluated Anna Ruth. She did order some metabolic blood work to be done and we should get those results back in a couple of weeks.
So what else has been going on besides Anna Ruth's feeding issues....? Well, we have also had a lot of fun this month. Anna Ruth went on her first picnic and her first birthday party. Sumner, Anna Ruth, and I went on a picnic in the Tifton park one day for lunch. Sumner ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and green beans and Anna Ruth had Elecare :) Before we ate Sumner played on the playground and had a blast. He loved climbing on the gym set and sliding down the slide. Anna Ruth's first birthday party was for her cousin, Ben. It was in Leesburg at a gymnastics place. Sumner had the time of his life playing. I don't think he has ever been as happy as he was there. Anna Ruth liked it too. She was so alert and loved watching all the kids playing. That afternoon we had another birthday party to go to for Mollie Roberts. Anna Ruth stayed with my mama because it was an outdoors party, and I was afraid it would be too cool for her. Sumner had fun though. They had a huge blow up slide. I was sore the next day from climbing up it with him 1,000 times.
The virus hit our house this month. It started with Sumner. He spiked a fever of 104.6 and had diarrhea and threw up twice. Because he was so sick he slept in the bed with me two nights in a row. Him sleeping in the bed with me was a HUGE sign he was sick because I have tried to get him to sleep with me before and he refused. He will not sleep unless he is in his bed or a pack in play. It was nice having him sleep beside me, but it was rough too! He was ALL over the place! I put pillows on one side to keep him from rolling off. One morning he woke up on the foot of the bed. A few days after Sumner got sick I got it. Then Matthew. Then my mama. Then Anna Ruth. Luckily Anna Ruth's tempature only got to 99.8 and she never threw up. She just had bad diarrhea and LOSS OF APPETITE which can be EXTREMLY dangerous to her since she already has a TINY appetite. We were all glad to say BYE-BYE to that virus and pray it doesn't come back to visit!
Anna Ruth still sleeps in her crib for her naps and swing at night. She is a good sleeper. She goes to sleep around 7:30 pm and sleeps until around 3:00 am when she wakes to eat. She goes right back to sleep until around 8:00 am the next morning. She takes about 3 good naps a day, too. I do not swaddle her anymore. She smiles and coos all the time. Way more than Sumner did. Sumner was such a serious baby, but Anna Ruth seems so happy. I think she will be laughing out soon. She gets so excited when she is laying on her mat and someone walks by and makes eye contact with her and talks to her. She has the sweetest smile. When I say sweet I truly mean sweet. I have never seen a baby smile the same way she does. It is full of love and innocence. I really think she is going to grow up to be kind, sensitive, and loving. I can see it in her already. She isn't rolling over yet, but oh so close. When she is on her back in her crib or on the floor she loves turning to her side. After being on her side for a certain amount of time she tries to roll on over by thrusting her body, but hasn't been successful yet. She is such a little cuddly baby. She loves to nestle up on my chest and take naps or just sit in my lap and look around. This is also different than Sumner. He never liked to be held and cuddled. Anna Ruth can grasp things like rattles, jewelry, and my hair :). She also follows people when they move or when she hears things. She loves to stare at the flowers behind our couch. Every time I stand her up in my lap when I am sitting on the couch she turns and looks and them and starts smiling and cooing. She has also started blowing bubbles and gurgling. Anna Ruth is such a good baby. She rarely ever cries or gets fussy. The only times she ever really cries is when she is tired or hungry. It is a good thing she doesn't cry much because boy does she have a set of lungs on her! She still wears size 1 diapers and she wears size 3 month clothes.
Sumner
Sumner is 21 months old. I cannot believe it. I cannot believe he will be 2 in less than 3 months. Sometimes when I am rocking him, I look around his room at the things I had made for him before he was born, and I get choked up. It seems like just yesterday I was planning for his arrival, and now he is a toddler with a new baby sister. I love him more and become more attached as each day passes. He has become pretty attached to me too since I have been home with Anna Ruth. He follows me through the house every where I go. Randomly, he grabs the back of my legs and squeezes me for a big hug. We have developed a new naptime routine, too. When it is time for his nap we go into his room, he picks out a book, crawls up in my lap as I read to him. After reading, I rock him. After a while he decides he wants to turn around and lay his head on my shoulder and be rocked that way. After a few minutes goes by he lifts his head up, gives me a sweet grin and a big kiss, and lays back down. Eventually he nods off to sleep and I lay him in his crib. It is such a sweet time. It makes my heart melt.
He is getting to the age where he doesn't seem to be a baby anymore, which breaks my heart. For example, I love naked baby pictures. I think they are adorable. However, I think there is a point where it becomes inappropriate for children to have that type of picture taken. Sadly, I feel like Sumner has gotten to that point. Or should I say his daddy thinks so? Either way, I think twice now before taking a video or photo of him without clothes. My baby boy is growing up.
I think he will be ready to potty train soon. He has started bringing me a diaper when he feels like his is wet or is dirty. I am not ready to do it yet because I do not want to drag the process out. I would prefer to spend a whole week dedicated to potty training. By this I mean staying at home for the whole week and setting a timer and going to the potty on set intervals. I just cannot do that right now with Anna Ruth being so needy. My plan is to do it during the summer around his birthday.
- Loves getting out of the bath and running through the house with his towel hanging around him like a cape.
- Understands the concept and says up/down and on/off. He stands and says "up" and falls down and says "down". Turns the lamp on and off saying "on" "off".
- Calls Anna Ruth "sissy" in this slow and sweet tone of voice.
- Loves jumping, climbing, and sliding.
- Learning his colors
- He has INCREDIBLE memory. I can read him a book once and show him new things in the book. The next day I can ask him where each thing is and he remembers. He has this one book with 21 different trucks (example: snow plow, scrapper, big rig, tow truck, mail carrier, fire truck, ambulance) There are usually two trucks per page. He can identify each one when I say which one is the ____.
- His favorite things right now are cars, trucks, and tractors. He gets very excited when he pass them on the road.
- Loves balloons!
- Loves playing in the YMCA child watch and church nursery. When we pull into the parking lot he claps and says yay!
- I weighed him and he is 28 lbs. without clothes or diaper.
- Loves his sister and playing with his sister's toys.
- Loves books!
I love you so much and love spending all my time with the two of you. Your daddy is the same way. I hope you always know how lucky you are to have a daddy whose favorite thing to do is spend time with his family. We are going to do everything we can to be the best parents in the world to you guys. You are our world and we thank God each day for allowing us to be your parents!
I love you as high as the sky and the ocean is deep and more and more!
Love,
Mama
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