Big boy in a little toy...

Joey has re-discovered fun toys! We have brought out some of his old toys for Kylah, but it seems as if Joey is having more fun with them. When he gets in this jumperoo, he basically is sitting on the floor. His legs look freakishly long to me in this picture.

Both of these pictures were taken by Joe on Tuesday while I was at work. Do you notice anything weird? What if I told you these pictures were taken at 11:00 am? Yep, they are both still in their jammies! We actually had our babysitter Brynn come watch them in the afternoon when Joe went to work, and Joe said to her, "Michelle probably won't want them in their jammies when she gets home, so do you mind dressing them when they get up from their naps?" (Told to me by Brynn.) :) I think that's hilarious!

We have really been enjoying this past week. It just seems like both kids are doing well and thriving, and we are so thankful for that. I think we got so used to having Joey sick that we forgot how fun he is! He is still obsessed with 'Cars', and can tell you every name of every car on that movie. I also realized in the bath last night that he recognizes some of his numbers and letters. (He has those colorful rubber letters and numbers, and would pick one up and name it.) I haven't been working on those too much with him because I thought he was too young, so I guess his daycare is working on them. I will now get on the stick and start going over them more! But nice to know that he is doing something constructive at daycare while I'm at work! :)

Look-a-likes?

Alright, give me your opinion. A lot of people have told me that they think Kylah looks like her cousin Mackenzie. Actually, I have kind of thought that all along too. What do you think? The first picture is of Mackenzie probably around 5-6 months old, and the second picture is Kylah yesterday. I'm thinking their eyes look very similar.

Bring out the tights.

Today for church I put Kylah in tights for the first time. I thought she looked adorable in them. They're so soft and little!

Looking cute as always. Joey learned to say "bow on head" after he asked what that was on Kylah's head.

We stopped for Chipotle on the way home from church. Is it weird that Joey knows how to say 'Chipotle' and 'guacamole'? He loves eating a mini version of daddy's BIG Chipotle burrito.

Kylah had another first today. She had sweet potatoes for the first time. We had the video camera out and everything, but she was actually quite calm about the whole thing. No shivering or gagging...we were secretly a little disappointed. :)

We got a little bit of a face after this bite.

Joey continues to do better each day. He is still eating like a horse. He continually talks about the next time he can eat. His daily breakfast lately has been consisting of two packets of oatmel, a banana, some yogurt and sometimes a scramble egg. I'm thinking he's just making up for all the weight he's lost and maybe going through a growth spurt at the same time. Since he was so quiet and tired for over three weeks, we had forgotten how much he talks. It is nonstop. Sometimes we have to tell him to take a breath and slow down a little bit. So, then he kept repeating that last night: "slow down, slow down...." But, we are so happy to have a talkative, energetic Joey back!

He's back!!

Our old Joey seems to be back! This medication that he has been taking seems to be doing the trick. (And we are going to continue to think positively...we still haven't got all the blood results back yet.) For the most part he is back to his smiley, energetic self. We love it! Here are a few pictures of him after his haircut tonight. (He also did awesome during his haircut!)

My mom was here visiting this weekend. Joey loved having Gramma around. He no longer calls her "Gaga." Now he calls her "Gamma." A little sad that our little boy is growing up.

Sharing ice cream with Gramma.

Joey says he's Gramma's boy (and Papa's boy!)

Kylah also enjoyed some time with Gramma.

We had a great weekend. And we are both enjoying having Joey back. Thanks for all your prayers. I will keep you updated on the results of the blood work.

You like???

Let me know if you like the new blog colors and layout!

Pictures!

As you may have noticed, I haven't had any pictures to put on the blog for a while. I had left my camera battery charger at Dave and Mere's. Thankfully, Mere sent it to me today, so I'm back in business!

Actually, I haven't had too much to take pictures of lately. Joey is still battling something. I took him back to his pediatrician on Tuesday after he puked again at lunch. I just felt like there was something else going on than just a stomach bug. He is just so pale, tired and has a bloated stomach, and he's still having weird stools. He had some blood drawn (he took it like a champ with minimal crying!) and had an x-ray of his abdomen yesterday. So far, nothing looks too bad. (For those of you who are interested: he had a mildly elevated WBC count and the x-ray showed some thickening and edema of his bowel walls and lots of gas). But we also don't really have an answer yet. Right now we are treating him for an intestinal parasite with Flagyl. We are really hoping that is all it is and that this medicine will take care of it. We also have been giving him Culturelle hoping to restore the natural bacteria in the intestines. They are also testing him for Celiac Disease, which we are hoping it is not. We should know by tomorrow or Friday if it is (blood work can tell us that). Please be praying for us and for the doctors that we can figure out what is going on. It's not easy having a sick child and not knowing how to fix him! I'll let you all know as soon as I know something.

Here's a few photos of Kylah looking as cute as ever. We're still working on sleeping through the night. One night she does great (7:30-7am), but then the next she wakes up twice---I think we're making progress though.

Gotta love the drool!

Getting ready to eat some cereal...she knows what's coming!

Joey actually looks better tonight than he has in a while. He went to the store with me and got some popcorn chicken and a little bit of a cheeseburger. And then he got some pudding when we got home (that's why he's so happy in this picture!) Notice the blanket we are sitting on. This has become standard wherever Joey is sitting. We learned the hard way after scrubbing poop/diarrhea off both the couch and the recliner!!

Munching on some popcorn chicken. You may also notice he's still sporting his bracelet from the hospital...I'm pretty sure that's not coming off without a fight!

Date Night!!!!

Dinner: $90
Coffee after dinner: $8

Movie: $18
Popcorn: $6
Babysitter: $40
First date night in 10 months: PRICELESS!!!!!

maybe not...

We thought Joey was on the mend, but then he threw up again at lunch today and had diarrhea this afternoon. We would definitely love your prayers for Joey to totally recover and recover soon! On the bright side, he hasn't had any more fevers, which is good. We miss our old, energetic, smiley Joey. He is just so tired all the time and doesn't want to do much. This icky virus really got him down, and I think it's going to be a long road to full recovery. I think he just got so weak and lost so much weight that he doesn't have the stamina he did before. We'll have to work on that! We are trying to get him to eat (I even entice him with cookies and poptarts, and he'll even turn those down!) He is eating much better than he was a week ago, though. So, anyway, please pray for Joey whenever you think about him!

He does have his moments of "old Joey." Yesterday he had a blast helping me get Papa's (my dad's) birthday gift, picked out a special card for Papa, and drew Papa some great pictures. He was so excited (I think he thought we were going to go on a plane to take Papa's gift to him, so I felt a little bad when I had to tell him that we were mailing the gift, not taking it to him in person.)

On that note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! We hope you had a wonderful day today! Here's a picture of Joey having a blast with Papa this summer.





We love you Dad!!

He's on the mend!

This is a sight that we haven't seen for quite a few days...a Joey smile! We still don't have a totally normal Joey back, but I think we're on our way. And for those of you who thought I was exaggerating about Joey's weight loss, take a look at his skin and bones! Fortunately he's eating again, so we'll do our best to fatten him up (well, at least "fatten" him back to pre-sick standards!)

We didn't think Joey was well enough to go to daycare today, so my good friend Tonya volunteered to stay here at our house and watch him today. We are so grateful to her and so thankful for good friends like that!

Joey is showing you his Diego bandaid that he has had on his tummy all week. His tummy was ouchy, so of course he needed a bandaid on it to make it all better.

Here's a good sign that Joey is getting his appetite back. He woke up at 4 am last night, somehow got out of his room and started calling for daddy in the hallway. Joe went out there, and Joey asked to eat. Joe took him to the kitchen where they sat at Joey's little table and ate a granola bar and chocolate milk (actually soy milk until his diarrhea is totally gone!) Then he was ready to crawl back into bed. Joe informed me that he is starting to make up for all those times I was the one to get up with Joey in the middle of the night (I'm thinking he has to get up a few more times to make up for it!) :)

Thanks for all your prayers!

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Addendum:
I just changed Joey's diaper, and there was solid poop! I know you are all as excited as I am!! :) Who would have thought that I could be so excited about poop?!

First puke...now the other end!

Our little Joey is still sick. We did take him to his doctor this morning. He has horrible diarrhea, fevers, and no appetite...most likely rotavirus. Poor thing had the stomach flu last weekend, never really recovered, and then got this nasty bug. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do for him but to wait it out and keep him hydrated. He is down to 26 pounds today, which means he has lost about three pounds in the last week! His pediatrician said this is ok as long as he is not dehydrated. I think he was a little dehydrated yesterday, but he seems to be drinking much better today and hasn't had quite as many stools. He ate quite a few helpings of green beans for dinner, one bite of chicken and a few bites of a cookie. This is the most he's eaten in three days, so we were thankful! Let me tell you, Joey is not a nice little guy when he's sick. If you say the wrong thing to him you're likely to get yelled at. He's had a few lectures about not being mean and disrespectful even though he doesn't feel good. We went for a nice long walk before dinner, so maybe the fresh air will do him good. Joey won't be able to go back to daycare until the diarrhea and fevers are gone, so it will be an interesting week. Let's all just pray that Kylah doesn't get this next! Joey wasn't too excited about me doing this, but here's a picture of sick Joey.



Enjoying his cookie...doesn't he just look pitiful?!

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Kylah had her first taste of rice cereal at dinner tonight. She actually did pretty well, and even got a little mad when I stopped feeding it to her. Of course more ended up on her than in her mouth, but that's the fun of it!

Look, ma, I can feed myself!


Mmmm, that was tasty! Joey thought it was pretty funny that Kylah was on the table in her Bumbo seat.


Kylah is getting very good at finding her fingers. I don't know if I should be glad that she can soothe herself now without always having her pacifier in, or unhappy that it will be much harder to take away fingers some day than a pacifier. Oh well...let's live in the moment and be happy!



For all of you who are wondering how the Ferberizing is going. I think it's actually going really well. That first night she cried for about 45 minutes (off and on) before she fell asleep and woke up around 3 am to eat...which means she slept for 7 hours straight. Last night she only cried for about 20 minutes before she went to sleep and slept for 8 straight hours. And then tonight she only cried for maybe 5 minutes before she went to sleep. We'll see what time she wakes up. I don't mind getting up to feed her at 3 or 4 because she goes to sleep by 8:00, so that means she's sleeping for 8 hours at a time, and then she'll go back to sleep until 7:30 or 8. Eventually we'll get her to sleep 12 hours at a time, but for now I will definitely take 8!!
Unfortunately, we haven't been able to really enjoy these solid sleeping hours yet. Since Joey's been sick he's been waking up crying multiple times during the night. If it's not one it's the other!!

Ferberizing

As I post this, I am hearing sweet silence from the monitor. However, for the past 45 minutes I have heard crying, actually what kind of sounds like a very mad scream.

We have decided that Kylah is ready to start sleeping through the night...well, WE are ready for Kylah to start sleeping through the night. I think our sweet little girl has gotten smart. I'm pretty sure here is what goes through her little mind: if I cry, mommy will come nurse me, and even though I'm not hungry, I'm going to nurse for maybe 5 minutes, fall back asleep and MAYBE sleep for another hour before I want that comfort again. Ok, maybe she isn't thinking all of that, but we think she's gotten too used to being comforted when she cries.

We believe in the cry-it-out method...well, we believe in the cry-it-out while Joe holds-me-back from going into the nursery. I'm sure you mommies out there feel for me. It breaks my heart to know that they are in there crying. Here's the thoughts that run through my head: what if she has a tummy ache? what if she's scared? she's going to feel totally abandoned. she is going to be insecure for the rest of her life. what if she somehow turned herself over and wedged herself between the mattress and the bumper ...No, no wait, no, no, an eagle flew in. Landed on the stove and caught fire. The baby, seeing this, jumps across the apartment to the mighty bird's aid. The eagle, however, misconstrues it as an act of aggression and grabs the baby in its talons. Meanwhile the faucet fills the apartment with water. Baby and bird still ablaze are locked in a death grip, swirling around in the whirlpool that fills the apartment. That's for you Aaron...a little "Friends."

So, anyway, I've been reading up on the Ferber method so I can do this thing right (and so I feel a little reassurance that what we're doing is ok.) Ferber says it should take 3-7 days to get the baby to sleep through the night, so I'll let you know how it goes! We are officially starting tonight...last night doesn't count because in my exhausted state I gave in and let her sleep in the rocking swing all night. oops! :)

Here goes...