San Antonio Zoo

Ok, here are pictures of the Zoo! I thought it was neat that this is the same zoo that I came to visit when I was a little girl! We came down to visit my Aunt Linda and Uncle Tommy. I have a picture of me at this zoo (somewhere!) and now I have pictures of Eric at the zoo!!

WARNING: There are some pictures of cute cuddly widlife and baby Eric. Enter at your own risk....and please....DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS!! ;0)




This is right before we left! I know, so ferocious!

















Kamodo Dragon...YIPES!



















Kanga and Roo! Aren't they cute?!



















Ummmm....Guys....He's gonna EAT me!
Eric and the Jaguar














This kitty posed for this picture!

Here is Eric looking at the Giant fishy. He loved the aquarium section of the Zoo and Sea World!

Here is Pepere crawling through a Ground Hog tunnel in the kid zone!

Here are some Hippos! I think this is the first time I have ever seen Hippos NOT in the water!

This is a baby Black Rhino. He was born August of 2004. Something tells me that when Eric is 2 years old, he won't be quite this large!

Eric and I are admiring the pretty Tiger from AFAR!!

This African Elephant posed for the picture!

More wildlife!

This Zebra looks kinda small to me.

This one is for you Kaylee Brooke! Giraffes are her favorite zoo animal.

"When I was a young warthog...." (Lion King)

Lazy kitty! I think I know someone else that likes to nap like this! Mike and Eric! ;0)

Well, that is the end of our Zoo trip! I hope ya'll enjoyed it as much as we did!

Sea World!!

Shamu!!





We took Eric's Pepere (Pep-Air) to Sea World this weekend when he came down from Boston to visit! Eric loved the fish, dolphins, Shamu, funnel cake......oh, wait, that was me and Pepere! ;0)

I thought it was too cute at how interested Eric was this weekend! We also went to the Zoo and the Alamo! I will post the pictures from Sea World on this blog, and then do the Zoo and Alamo on the next 2 posts.

We can't wait to take our other visitors to Sea World! They are open through Dec. on the weekends, and the normal season starts in March! The weather is still really nice, so come on down!! :0)

Thanksgiving

Wow! Have we been busy! I will start off with our Thanksgiving with Mike's family. We went to see Rob and Pat, BJ, Ruthie, Alex and Abby, Rick, and Kyle on Wednesday.

Eric got to meet his other Uncles and Aunt and cousins! We had a good time and got to eat lots of yummy food! The day after Thanksgiving, we all went to Sears to take a family portrait.

We missed our family in Oklahoma, but we will be visiting them for Christmas!!

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving with the Chastains.



This is Alex and Eric playing together! Alex was born December 26, 2005. He is toooo cute!!
We love you Alex!














Here is Princess Abigail! Abby was a princess pretty much the whole visit! She is so pretty and is talking so much now!! She is 2 1/2 years old.
We love you Abby!!

Here I am with Ruthie. We had a great time catching up! Last year at Christmas, we were both pregnant and took a picture toghether showing our bellies! This year, it is just us! ;0) We love you Ruthie!!

Here are Mike and Rob...looking very suspicious!

We love you Rob!

Here is Rick. He holds the record at the Chastain Thanksgiving for holding Eric the longest before Eric started to cry! :0) Way to go Uncle Rick! We love you Rick!

Here is BJ. He is married to Ruthie and has Alex and Abby. We enjoyed seeing him too! We love you BJ!

Mike and I would like to say Thank you to everyone who continues to pray, visit , and ask about Eric. It has really helped Eric come as far as he has. It has helped us to know how much everyone cares! We love you all!!

There is one person missing from all of these pictures...Pat!! She wouldn't let me take her picture!! We love you even though you don't have a picture on the blog!! ;0)

Eric's First Haircut!

Yesterday, November 19, 2006 was Eric's first haircut! Eric is 6 months old, and now looks like a handsome little man!! My Aunt Linda did the cutting, I did the holding, mom did the pictures, dad did the combing afterwards, and..of course, Eric did the squirming, screaming and crying!!

Here are some pictures of our little mancub's transformation! :0)

Eric looks a little worried about his haircut! This is his before picture!

This is the first cut!! Hold still baby Eric!!

There goes the cowlick!! Eric is trying to hold still and smile at mommy!

"Ok guys, I changed my mind! Put the hair back on!!!"

Eric was such a wiggle worm that the best way to keep him still was to hold him on my lap so we could get him trimmed up around his ears and neck! As you can see, he is no longer smiling about the haircut!!

Whew! The haircut is over!! Now, all he needs is a little styling.

As you can see, Eric is not too thrilled with this part either!

His Papa Joe came to the rescue, and that made him feel a little better!

After a good nights sleep, I think Eric is ok with his new haircut! He feels so handsome and I have to agree with him! I can't believe he already needed a haircut!

We had alot of fun this weekend, other than the haircut! Mom and Dad came up here to be our first official visitors to sleep over in the house, after move-in! We went to Fredricksburg, TX for some shopping and eating great German food (small German town). We got to see where Mike works, (he gets to work with the horses they use in ceremonies!).

Today, we go back to the doctor to get looked at (no blood draw!!!) and to get immunizations and a flu shot (you win some, you lose some!).

Have a great day everybody!

Not much going on

Hello everyone!

There has finally been a day that not too much has gone on, so I thought I would take the opportunity to post some pictures of Eric (while he is napping!).

Yesterday, the Early Childhood Intervention lady, Gina, came by the house to get Eric entered in their program. They will be helping me monitor Eric's development and "skills". They are coming back on Nov. 30th to do the intial screening to see where our starting point is, and after that, they will be by 3 times a month. It seemed like she thought Eric is doing well for all that he has been through, however, there are some things to work on.

OK, now for some pictures!

Here Eric is in his new bathroom splashing in his tub! He seems to really enjoy bathtime!

Eric wanted to say Thank You to his Pepere in Boston for sending him the plate, bowl and spoon set and for the Boston bib! Here Eric is in his highchair (thanks cousins Aaron and Layton!) ready to dig in to that yummy rice cereal! mmmmmm!!

Well, I guess that sums it up for the newest pictures. I will be taking more this weekend. Eric's Papa Joe and Nana are coming down to visit us!!

Wooops! Nevermind about the video.

Ok, well, I guess I still don't know what I am doing with this YouTube stuff.

I downloaded the video straight from my camera, and it said it failed because the file type was wrong. ??????

HELP me please!!!

I will eventually get the video of Eric lifting up his head at tummy time on here! Keep watching for it!

Eric's first video online!

Hello everyone!!
My friend JJ taught me how to post a link to YouTube so that I can show ya'll a video of the baby! Here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou6rSGVgbSw

Let us know what ya think!

Happy 6 months Baby Eric!

Yesterday was Eric's 6 month birthday! :0)

Today, he finally lifted his head up to about 45 degrees while we were resisting tummy time!!!!
Eric has also been talking to us alot and to his toys. He loves to look at himself in the mirror, just like his daddy ;0) and has been eating his rice cereal once a day now for about 2 months. He doesn't like the taste too much, but will eat it to make us happy! He has been teething for about a month now too. He is slobbery and has chomped on my finger so hard, I could have sworn he has teeth already! He has been pulling at his ears (another sign of teething so I have read) and twirling his hair when he is sleepy!

Last night, he slept from about 7:30 pm to 7:00 am!!!!! We all got a much needed rest! He also stayed up from 7:00 am until around 1 :30 pm and is still napping at 3:50 pm!! WHHOOOOHOOOOO!!!

The last doctor visit was on Thursday when he got an RSV shot. This prevents him from getting RSV which would be very serious in our situation if he got that sick. We have to go in once a month on the day to make sure he stays immunized. His latest weights and measures are:
Weight: 9 pounds 4 ounces!!!
Length: 21 1/4 inches (this still hasn't changed much in a few months)
His blood pressure caused some concern by the kidney doctor. It was a little on the high side, which is not uncommon in kidney disease/failure patients, but if it continues to be high, he will be put on blood pressure medication. It always seems like once we get to stop one medication, we start up something new.

Here is a list of all the medications we are now on:
Formula-Similac PM 60/40, Polycose, MCT Oil, Kayexalate (to get out the potassium)
Medicine-1 shot of Epogen twice a week to creat more red blood cells; Bicitra to keep the pH levels correct in the body (kidneys regulate that normally); Bactrim an antibiotic to prevent UTI's (urinary tract infections) due to bilateral stage 2 kidney-bladder reflux (his urine goes to the bladder then back up into the kidneys); Iron drops to keep his anemia in control; Poly-Vi-Sol Vitamins w/out Iron daily vitamins neccessary for babies and preemies.

Eric was on Zantac for acid reflux, but he seemed to have outgrown that, so I stopped giving it to him. The doctor said that was fine, and we would resume that one if the acid reflux shows up again.

We go to the kidney doctor (the resident) at BAMC on Fort Sam tomorrow as well as to Willford Hall on Lackland Air Force Base to get a kidney ultrasound. I get to drive all the way across San Antonio with a baby all by myself for the first time! YIKES! Anyway, Eric hasn't had an ultrasound to check things out since he was in the NICU so this will be interesting.

We also go to his other kidney doctor (the real doctor) on next Wednesday when they will do the bimonthly blood draw.

On Nov. 16th, the child development specialists come over at 1:00 to see how Eric's "skills" are coming along. In Oklahoma they are called Sooner Start and preemies as small as Eric automatically qualify, and since Eric was so tiny along with a major health issue, he qualifies in any state to be looked at and have any kind of therapy needed. (physical therapy, mental therapy, or just catch up therapy!)

They have also had a urologist (we usually go to a nephrologist for kidneys) call to see Eric as well as an Endochrinologist and Geneticist. They are suspicious of some kind of skeletal "syndrome" but, I guess we will see!

Ok, now for some pictures! Enjoy!

PS~ Thanks to Stephanie for showing me how to add links to my friends (including hers) blogs! JJ has also let me know how to put videos on here, so be watching for that too!

Thanks guys!!!

Here I am with Eric in our front yard. This is before our RSV shot!

Here are Mike and Eric checking themselves out in the mirror in the living room above the fireplace. Cutie pies!

Here is Eric sunbathing by the pool the other day. It got up to 90 degrees that day! Me and Eric watched Mike clean out the pool!

Here is Eric being happy that cereal time is offically over for the night! He is holding it in his mouth and trying to smile it out so he doesn't have to swallow it! Sneaky baby!

A fishy snuck up on us,

sooo....

We had to Eat it!!!!

Eric's cousin Aaron came over to visit and wanted to hold "Baby Awwick" so I let him sit on the couch for a quick picture.

Here they are playing together! How sweet!

That is all for now, I will post something new this week with more pictures and updates!

Pictures!!!!

Here is a picture of our happy little bear on Halloween!!! Isn't he cute?!

Eric is sitting in our front yard around 6:30 pm. He is sitting with his little pumpkin and the jack-o-lantern his daddy carved out this year! It is a grim reaper, we used one of those pattern books.

Eric is trying to decide what to take from the candy pail!

We had a fun Halloween! We can't wait until Eric is old enough to take trick or treating!