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!

Halloween

Well, Eric's first Halloween went pretty well last night! He was a teddy bear until he got too hot and then, he was a jack-o-lantern!! It was in the high 80's last night so the fuzzy bear suit was a bit too much for him! I did get some pretty cute pictures of him last night.

He looked so cute!! I am having trouble with either Blogger or my ancient computer so I will have to try again tomorrow with the picture posting.

We got to meet some of our new neighbors while passing out candy together last night. There were 3 to 4 households (including ours) that congregated on the corner of the yard across from our house to pass out our candy. The play dough I passed out was a big hit too!

The neighbors are nice and have let us know we are invited to the annual neighbors Christmas party and that we will be hosting the Summer party in 2007 because we are the only ones with a pool!! :0) They have all been eyeing our pool while the house has been empty and thinking that is was such a waste to be empty all summer!!

We also got "ghosted" last night by one of the neighbors. They usually bring over a plate of cookies to welcome the new people, but ring the bell and run so that you don't know who did it. Last night, someone left a jack-o-lantern of candy on our doorstep!! I thought it was fun!

Well, I will try again tomorrow with the pictures, we miss everyone and can't wait for the holidays to get here!!

Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch!

We went to GardenTown yesterday to pick out a pumpkin for each of us! Mike and I found this cute pumpkin and we had to take it with us!!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Whew!! We have been really busy lately! I have lots to post so this one is gonna be a long one!!

First, Eric went to the ER about a week ago. He had a 104 temp, and we found out that his white blood cell count was at 26 and rising. Normal is about 15. After about 9 hours at the Duncan ER, we found out that baby Eric has a bladder infection. This is not very normal in baby boys, however slightly normal and alarming for babies with kidney disease/failure. We got an IV of high powered antibiotic and fluids in the ER and they sent us home that night with more antibiotics that we are still taking. As a result of this infection, on Wednesday, we have to do testing to make sure that Eric does not have reflux in his urinary tract. This means that urine goes to his bladder but backs up and goes back into his kidneys. IF he has this, we will be giving him an antibiotic every night for as long as they tell us to. :0)

Eric stats:

Weight: 8 pounds 8 ounces (as of ER)- 3rd percentile(not on chart)
Length: 20 inches-3rd percentile
Kidney function: 15% out of 100% but still no Dialysis!!

Eric has started playing with his hands much more!! He is getting more alert everyday! He is still resisting tummy time and not lifting up his head, but he is doing well in other areas!

He is also in the very beginning stages of teething we think!! He is chewing on everything and is way slobbery!

Eric has also started trying to laugh out loud! He doen't do it very often, but when he does, it is pretty cute! He plays with us and we are finding out that he is VERY onery!!


We are moving to San Antonio on Thursday. This is both happy and sad for us. We are excited about our new house and all the fun things to go do, and happy about the great doctors we keep hearing about for Eric. However, we will be moving out of mom and dad's house and farther away from family and friends.....again!
Our new address is 1410 Arrow Hill San Antonio, TX 78258

We have lots of room for visitors and a pool in the back yard!!! We hope to see all of you soon!!


Ok, now for some pictures!!

Eric was playing peek-a-boo with his Papa Joe!

Eric's cousin Layton came to see us from College Station, TX!! Layton was so excited to hold baby Eric and ran to wash his hands and sit on the couch! We miss you Layton and Aaron!!

Here is Eric wishing his daddy a Happy Birthday! This was the day after the ER visit, so Eric was not a very happy baby.

Eric talked his Uncle Jesse into feeding him when Jesse and Lyndsey came home to visit from Stillwater. We miss ya'll too!!!

Well, that is all for now, I will post some pictures of the new house soon.

Eric's first bite!!!

Today, Eric got to eat his very first bite of rice cereal!!
The doctor called us to let us know that if we wanted to start trying to incorporate solid baby foods, we can start with the Rice cereal mixed with formula. Then, we will move up to applesauce. The food selection will be closely monitored to make sure we don't give him foods with potasium, phosphorus, or sodium. This means absolutely no bananas!! Here he is eating out of his cool new car bowl. Everytime you scrape the "magic spoon" against the bowl, it makes a vroom vroom, honk honk and lights flash!!

He seemed to like the food, he was just sleepy and fussy. That is why he is not smiling in the picture!

Introducing...Jentry Lynn Whaley!!

My long time friend, Jennifer (GG) Whaley and her husband Jason, had their very first baby last night!!!! They had a girl, Jentry Lynn, on October 4, 2006. Jentry was 7 pounds 6 ounces and 18.5 inches long. She is so pretty!!

We were shocked to see a headful of black hair!! GG and Jason both have light hair. She looks alot like her daddy, but there is some of GG in there too! Here I am holding sweet little Jentry!

I took a family photo of the happy family! Here are Jason, Jennifer (GG) and Jentry Whaley.

It was nice to see my old friends again! Jennifer (JJ) Dunn was there visiting so the three of us siezed the photo opportunity! :0) It was like old times again, except with a few more pounds on us all, and of course little babies in our lives now. It always seems like just when I get back in touch with my old friends, I end up having to move. I will be so sad to leave here again, but at least I know that I will always have my friends here in Oklahoma to come back to visit. We were so happy to welcome Jentry to the world, just like we were for our other friends, John Mark, Jonas, Kaitlynn and Eric. Next, we will get to welcome the Reid twins!!

More pictures!!

We had a great photographer come out to the house on Monday to take some lifestyle pictures. They are candid and from a different perspective than the usual studio pictures.

Go to her blog to see a preview of the pictures! www.abigailsmithphotography.com
This is to her website, but if you go to the bottom of the home page and click go to my blog, it will take you to the preview pictures. There are 3 pictures, but you may have to click them or wait a while for them to show up. I love the one with Eric in the red chair!!

Special Day for Daddy!

Yesterday Eric, Mike and I went to OKC to the Federal Building for Mike's Reinlistment in the Army. Mike and I made the decision that it would be best for our family if he reinlisted and stayed in the Army until he retires. This means we have another 9 years in the Army, and then Mike can retire!!!

Here is Eric with his Daddy at the office Mike has been working in.

During the ceremony, I got a certificate of thanks from the Army for being an Army wife and helping with the decision for Mike to reinlist "indefinately" (until he reitres). I thought that was neat!

During the part of the ceremony where Mike was getting sworn in by the colonel, our sweet baby Eric tooted very loud and filled up a diaper! Everyone could hear it and it even made the colonel chuckle as well as everyone else in the room. Eric really knows how to steal the show! Here is Mike getting sworn in.

Eric and I are very proud of Mike for having such a hard job and deciding to stay in for our family. The Army has taken very good care of Eric since he was born and we hope they will continue to do so for his transplant. Thank you to all of our family and friends who have also helped out so much! We love you all!!

New Discoveries

It is official!! Eric has discovered his tongue!! He sticks it out, blows spit bubbles, clicks it; you name it, he does it! Here he is sticking his tongue out at me when I asked him to smile for mommy!!



I love it when Eric sleeps!! He is so sweet! Today, he wanted to sleep with his teddy bear blanket-rattle toy. He snuggled it while he sucked on his binki! Yep, we are still using the big plain green one from the NICU. He will take the cute ones, but he prefers the green one!

Central High Fall Carnival

Last night, Mike and I took baby Eric to the Central High Fall Carnival. When I was a kid, it was the Halloween Carnival. It hasn't changed much except for the absence of halloween decorations and costumes. There was the cake walk....that after all these years I still haven't won anything at. Then there is Bingo. The Seniors raise money at Bingo, for what, I can't remember. The Juniors raise money at the cake walk for the Junior/Senior Prom. At our school, the juniors throw the prom for the seniors. Juniors get to come to it with the seniors. I won at bingo! Wooohooo!! Then there are all the fun kid games and you win lots of candy, stuffed animals and poor little gold fish.

Eric had a fun night! He got to meet lots of people. It wore him out though! I was so excited to see lots of people that I went to school with this year. It really makes you realize how much you missed people when you get to see them again.

I don't have any pictures, we left the camara in the car, oops! I will post some new ones soon. I am sending out an email for you to go see our newest pictures from the Picture People. When they showed us the pictures, the people at Penn Square Mall in OKC asked us to sign a model waiver. They wanted to use Eric's pictures in the store as advertisement!!! How exciting!!

Tell us what you think!! :0)

We love all of you!!

A day at the park!

Today, I took Eric to Redbud Park in Marlow, OK!!
We walked around the old park and then tried out the slide in the new playground called the Hideout. Eric seemed to enjoy himself on the slide and the walk around the park. He liked the shade best. I overdressed him today. It was warmer than usual, so he was in long sleeves and pants. The temperature here today was 95 degrees. It had been in the 70's.

Here are some cute pictures of our day out.

Here is a picture of Eric sweating more than he has ever sweated before! As you can see, he is thrilled!

Today we also found out that Eric really does love his Baby Einstien DVDs!! At first, he hated them, but we have watched 2 of them, and he gets so excited and kicks and talks to them!! I am so happy!! Now, I don't have to wait on him to go to sleep to get some things done, like catch up on emails, update the blog, wash bottles, brush my teeth, eat lunch, make formula......you get the idea!! :0)

We also played with some toys today! He is holding on to things now!!

Overall, we had a great day today!! Eric has been smiling and laughing (not outloud though) everyday! He is a very happy baby!!

Bumbo Chair

Eric got a new chair yesterday. It is called a Bumbo. It is supposed to help him learn how to sit up and use his back muscles correctly. He is holding his neck up most of the time now, so he can use it for a few minutes at a time. He gets tired quick.

I think he looks kind of like a little hobbit! It is so funny to see such a little guy sitting up! He is the size of a newborn baby at 4 months old! Mom is still calling him Keebs, like the elves that make the cookies in the magic tree!

Our First Play Date!

On Wednesday the 20th, Eric and I went to OKC to see our friends Stephanie and John Mark. We ate at Pei Wei (yum-o!) and went shopping. I know this doesn't sound like much of a play date for the boys, but trust me, they had a blast! Here is a picture of the boys. John Mark was born about 2 months after Eric, but Eric was supposed to be more like 2 weeks older.
John Mark came into this world at a whopping 10 pounds +. He is about 16 pounds now compared to our little dumplin' at 7 pounds 6 ounces! :0)

Here Steph is holding Eric. The boys slept most of the day, which made shopping a blast!! We even got to try some clothes on!

We ended our play date to go to Eric's pediatric nephrologist. That is his kidney doctor at Children's hospital in OKC. Here we are leaving the mall...sniff sniff....to go see the doctor. Pay no attention to the crazy sock legs behind me. They are stranger legs. And yes.. to those of you who may have noticed, I got new blue contacts for fun. I thought I would try to match my family! I was feeling a little left out! :0)

Eric's doctor visit was pretty good. He now weighs 7 pounds 6 ounces and is around 20 inches. His Creatinin level went down from 1.4 to 1.3 (which is good) and his BUN went down from 27 to 14 (also very good). His Para Thyroid Level was slightly elevated at 318 before and we were adjusting with a vitamin D supplement, but we over adjusted and it went down a little too low (not good) so now, we give him less of the Vitamin D supplement. His Iron levels from all the tests were too low for his age (you guessed it, not good), so now we have another new medicine to correct that. They lost his CBC blood draw (really not good). This was extra blood they took to test his hemoglobin levels to see how much blood cells he has. This helps him grow and determines how often we have to give him a shot. Right now, the Epogen shot is given by Mike and myself every Monday and Friday. If they find the blood they drew for the CBC, I will update ya'll on the results.

Eric got his first round of immunizations at the beginning of this month. I know, they are late, I thought the doctor was supposed to tell me when to get them, but apparently, the momma should know. So, they said he only has to wait a month in between and we will be getting round 2 in October before we leave to move to San Antonio. He handled round 1 really well. His legs never swelled or got red and hot. He cried and felt a little icky, but can you blame him?!

We go one more time to see the kidney doctor in OKC right before we move. We also have to see the Endochrinologist again in October. This doctor is is Lawton (off post) and is for growth.

We are also getting a downs syndrome test done. No big alarms, we just noticed they didn't do that test and we have had several nurses ask us if he has it. I thought we might as well find out, but most likely, he does not have it. I just thought I would let ya know, so that when I post those results, there is no shock! :0)

Bad Hair Day!!

Need I say more?!!

New Toy!

On Sunday, Eric's Nana and Papa Joe bought him a new toy!
It is a baby soft gym/tummy time mat/tunnel! He loves it!!
I got some cute pictures of him playing with it.

I got this cute picture of Eric in is favorite place that day too. He loves his swing! It is so cute. He looks up at the fishys and listens to the music. Sometimes, I think he is trying to sing along! He makes lots of noises when he is in his swing!

Tomorrow, we go to the doctor at Children's for his last monthly check up there. We will be moving to San Antonio and will start seeing the nephrologist at Brook Army Medical Center on Fort Sam Houston. I will put the update on here for his visit when we get home.

We also get to have our first "play date" tomorrow! Eric and I are going up to the City early and are meeting Stephanie and John Mark for lunch and shopping. I know, it is more a play date for the mommies, but the boys will get to see each other too! :0) We are so excited! I will put pictures of the play date on here too!

Fun with Eric

We took Eric to Chuck E. Cheese on our vacation to Texas in College Station. We went with his cousins Layton and Aaron and Kaylee Brooke. They had so much fun, and honestly, so did I! The games were so much fun! I thought it would be fun to take a picture with Chuck E. Cheese and Eric, but staying true to himself, Eric screamed the whole time we were taking pictures.
He has such a short fuse...I wonder who he got that from??!! I am sure Eric had fun, he just doesn't like mice!



Eric loves his Nana so much! He is sleeping on his Boppy and holding on for dear life to his Nana's finger. He really likes to sleep while we hold him, so this was his way to compromise! Did I meniton that I think he is too cute!








Eric's Great Aunt Linda cross stiched and sewed him this beautiful blanket! This is the closest he will ever get to it. If he spits up on it, we are all dead meat! He is sitting on his new, soft, blue chair in his nursery! It is green, yellow, and blue and has baby lambs and stars! I am sad that we have to leave it soon to go to San Antonio to live. I wish we could stay here longer!








I tried to pose Eric in his sweet outfit with his shoes! I love it! I put my baby ring on him, shhh don't tell him it is a girl ring! :0)

He wasn't having a good time! He would much rather watch sports on tv!







Whew! Now we are finally caught up to present day! From here on out, the blogs will be of the days activities! We hope you are enjoying our blog!