did you know I have a thumb?

I don't think I have it all the time. Most of the time I have fingers, and while they are good to have for a lot of stuff, they are not good when I just want to suck on something. I wind up gagging myself.

But thumbs ... aaahhh they aren't long enough to gag me. Mommy says baby hands were designed that way. That's pretty forward thinking if you ask me.

The only problem is that, well, I can't find them very often. I am told that will get better, but in the mean time, it sure is fun when it works.

Mom was able to snap a picture of me before I noticed her. This was the first time it worked, see how happy I am?

:)

roooooad trip!

We had to get out of the heat on Sunday, so I took Mommy, Daddy and Micah on a little road trip up north.

In all fairness, Daddy did the driving, but it was my idea.

Apart from the fact I really hate how altitude changes make my ears feel, we had lots of fun. I took a few naps, we got to be in cooler weather (it was 92 degrees and that felt fabulous!) and we had a good time.

I. am. in. love.

Two awesome bits of news for you:

First, I am now twenty weeks old! I am getting so big and strong now!

And you should be able to guess the next bit of awesomeness from that picture. Do you see the love of my life, the new toy thingy I have now?! My Gramps and TT got it for me and I would sleep in it if the parents would let me. Seriously, it is the most awesomest awesomey thing ever. It is full of toys for me to play with, chew on, and smack. And if that wasn't enough to make a baby's heart go pitter patter: I can bounce in it too, and I sooo love bouncing! Mommy said she wants to take more pictures of me in it, so those will be up soon but I couldn't hold it in any longer and not tell you about it! :)

P.S. Apparently we never shared this, but here is the 19 weeker:

Oopsie!

lil vent and some pics

So I have started my new meds and stopped taking the old ones, but I am having a really hard time with it. I don't sleep like I want to. I feel jumpy when I fall asleep and any little sound wakes me right up. The end result is I am hardly napping and really restless at night. Its not very fun. On top of that, and probably a lot more annoying is that I am getting sick a lot and even choking a bunch again. Its kind of frustrating. The new medicine can take two weeks to work, so I keep telling my parents we are supposed to be patient, but I don't think they like it. I don't either, but I am trying to be a big boy about it.

I am 20 weeks old as of today, we will post a picture later on. For now though I wanted to share these ones:

My mother's sense of humor never ceases to amaze me. This was before my new medicines, back in the days when I would sleep much easier. I was playing and just rested my head for a bit ... I guess I zonked out. Mommy did re-position me, but only after snapping a picture.

I don't know why this one is so funny to everyone. Mom and Dad say something about me looking like the movie poster for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but they said I can't watch the movie until I am older.

Last but not least, my Daddy makes these duck noises that I just love. He was leaning over me making them and I wanted him to get closer so I could try to see how he does it. But he wasn't taking my subtle hints, so I had to be a bit more direct.

attack of the Momdar

I have been really busy lately, and I think its freaking my Mom out. Daddy, he doesn't freak out, he just gets me. Of course, I haven't tried to give him a heart attack yet, I have tried (and apparently succeeded in) giving Mommy a heart attack a couple of times.

So you all know I can roll over from my tummy to my back right? Well everyone keeps telling me the next thing I am supposed to do is roll from my back to my tummy. I think these people are sick in the head if they actually think I would want to roll to my tummy. I hate tummy time. That is H-A-T-E it. Why on earth would I put myself there?! So anyway, while they are all driveling on about how I am supposed to roll over like a puppy I decided to work on something else in secret. Mom caught me though, I swear she has eyes in the back of her head. I was silently working on my new skill when her Momdar (that's Mommy Radar) went off signalling her of potential danger. She turned around and in that really strained voice that I know means she is trying not to pop that vein in her neck she said "Oh Kelly what are you doing?" The second time I did it she caught me on film ...

Yeah, I am working on sitting up. Truth be told I have been exercising in my car seat for a while now. I figure the buckled in straps are sort of like resistance training. Well in my rocking chair I am only strapped in on the bottom half, none of this five-point-harness nonsense. So between using my body to get it rocking and using my big head for weight and momentum I was able to pull myself up into a sitting position. It was soooo cool. Seriously, for that 45 seconds I was a free baby, even if Mommy was right there with her scaredy cat voice. But then Mommy said it wasn't safe. She said that I wouldn't necessarily be able to stop myself from moving further forward. She only let me do it a second time because she was curious to see how I had done it. Then she took all the joy out of my life and switched my rocking chair back to a non-rocking chair. I can't make the darn thing move at all now. She did let me sit up with my Boppy later, which was nice but a bit less thrilling. I gave her my best "how could you do this to me face" but all it did was make her giggle and take yet another picture.

Sigh.

Well at least there is no supposed "danger" -- picture me doing those finger quotes cuz I am doing them in my mind -- in the other thing I am having fun with right now. I have a swing that used to belong to my big brother. It has these things on it that Mommy switches out so I never get bored with them. I even get to take my gloves off sometimes and play with them and it is so fun!

While Mommy may be a real killjoy about some of my more daring adventures, I do love just cuddling with her especially right after I eat if my reflux isn't being annoying. It is my fave place to sleep.

4 month check up

I think I am finally on to them. It seems that we do this doctor thing like every two months at least. Today I had another torture session, you know the ones they call "well child checks."

Yeah, who are they kidding?!

Bad news first, I had shots. Three of them. They really hurt. I mean really, I cried a lot, and I am totally man enough to admit that. They also made me drink one, and I did suggest they switch me over to the drinking medicines from here on because I am a total champ with those. Even if they taste bad, I have been taking medicine for a long time now and I am quite good at it.

On to the good news, I weigh 16.8 lbs now. It must be a skinny day cuz I swear I can pull off 17 lbs but I guess that is a goal to work toward. I am in the 75th percentile for weight, but here is the coolest news: I am now 26.75 inches tall/long which is the 98th percentile. Sweet, I am officially tall! I also had a 17 inch head, which is 75th percentile for head circumference. So when my peeps say I am a big baby they ain't kidding!

I also get to go to a dermatologist soon, he is going to fix my scratchies so I feel better. I will also be going to an eye doctor, still holding out hope for a cool pirate eye patch!

As for the tummy issues I have the doctor is prescribing a totally new medicine. I am hoping it helps me feel better. If not, we go back and she said we will figure out what I need because she doesn't want me to feel icky any more than my family does.

I feel good about the appointment, but my legs are a bit sore from the shots. I have to go back for a couple more in a few days, we didn't want to give me all of them at once because they make me hurt. Mommy is spoiling me and we are doing lots of cuddling, so it will be okay.

eighteen weeker handsome stud

I got dressed up for this one. I wore my spiffy Polo outfit my Aunt Cathie and Uncle Dale bought me. Don't I look like one handsome preppy smarty pants?

Now Mommy wanted to get more of me in the picture, and ... well ... I just had to dance a bit ...

So after messing with her for a bit, I did humor her with this nice smile, but we decided to try more pictures another day.

just the coolest discovery EVER!

Okay so I know I have hands, and I get how they work about 80% of the time. The other 20% the things seem to go rogue on me and smack me in the face, but that is another story.

I found my feet.

Seriously, these are almost better than hands. First off, Mommy doesn't put them in socks nearly as much as she does with my hands. I think this is because I haven't figured out how to scratch my itchy head with them ... yet. Soooo working on that. But she lets me keep my feet bare most of the time, except every now and then when she has these "cute" shoes she has to foolishly try to make me wear. I don't like shoes, and personally I have noticed she doesn't wear shoes often so I think its mean to try to make me wear them. But I digress, the point is that I can usually get the shoes off in like 37 seconds now, so I am able to play with bare feet a lot. I can reach them most of the time and I have even tried sucking on them -- which incidentally tickled a lot.

So my thought for the day is this:

Feet.

Best. Toy. Ever!

seventeen weeker, four monther

Okay we are doing a bit of back-tracking with the blog. Sorry about that, but we are getting down to business today and will be all caught up!

So since I last posted I have turned 17 weeks old. You can see how wickedly handsome I was that day. Oh, I know, I know, I am wickedly handsome every day, but don't make the other babies of the world feel bad by pointing that out to often. So I was 17 weeks old, but we count my age in both weeks and months for picture purposes. This gets confusing in my ever so humble opinion, but its important to Mommy and Daddy, and hey, I figure if it keeps them happy its worth my effort. So bottom line, I only hit a new "month" in age when it hits the 8th of that month. So I will only be 5 months old on September 8th and so on.

Keeping this in mind, it wasn't until August 8, 2011 that I officially turned four months old.

I was a little busy dealing with my fish in my swing, so Mom had to get a smidgie creative with the picture taking. What can I say, that's how I roll these days! Busy dude, people call for appointments now.

aawwww

This is my cousin, Emma. She heard I wasn't feeling super duper and this is what she had her Mommy do.

Thanks Auntie Mel and Emma, I feel better already! :)

note from me madre

Couple of quick updates, I haven't felt up to blogging much so I am napping and Mommy is typing super quick for me. Clearly the post will lack all my usually wittiness, so try to be patient with her.

Test on the 3rd was a bust. The problem with the type of test they did was that it was only good to see what was happening right then. As in while we were there. This would work, had reflux been a problem at that precise moment. In reality, its a problem about an hour or more after eating is done. So about 2 oz into the barium bottle Kellan refused to eat any more so they had me just feed him so that his tummy was full. After we got done they watched on the screen for like 5 minutes, then sent us home. Kellan seemed to feel okay while at the hospital, but he usually is okay at first. Sometimes, like yesterday, he is in pain and refluxing/spitting up immediately. Most of the time however, it takes a little while. From what we have heard this is pretty typical.

On the drive home he go the "wet" hiccups. Got a little fussy while we were running an errand, then at Micah's swimming practice Kellan threw up. We are not calling it spit up because that would be a misnomer, when it has any real force when it comes out its vomit. Pure and simple. This splattered the floor, its not spit up.

Unfortunately, while this is all clearly reflux he didn't do any of it while being monitored, so the test results were "mild" reflux. This couldn't be further from the truth. We go back to the family practice doctor on the 16th and will do so armed with information. My concern is that the last time we spoke (prior to the test) she commented that Kellan just may be a "burpy" baby and implied that we may just need to put up with this. While there may be babies out there with a tendency to be gassy or burp a lot I do not feel Kellan qualifies as one. His symptoms are classic severe reflux, I don't need a test to confirm it when we are living it.

I think when we see the doctor and discuss how things have been she will be open to trying more. Right now we are researching treatment options so that we can walk in with a plan and know what we're talking about so that the doctor can quickly hear us out and take action. I want to have ideas under my belt so that when we get in there we don't waste a second of those short appointment times. We need some other form of treatment as the 1 ml twice daily of Zantac 75mg/5ml is not working well anymore. Zantac is apparently very weight sensitive, and Kel has gained a lot of weight since that script was first given, thus rendering this dose fairly useless. In the long run though we want something that will yield more consistent control.

To top off all the fun we are having with that, poor lil dude is cutting his first tooth I think. He chews everything he can reach ... including the toys on his swing ...

you won't believe what they did to me

We had to go back to the children's hospital yesterday for a test. While we don't know what the results of the test were just yet I wanted to tell you a bit about it anyway. We will update you as soon as we know anything.

The first horrible part of my sad tale is that they made me stop my medicine for 24 hours. I didn't much like that. It made me feel pretty icky, but to add insult to injury they wouldn't let Mommy feed me for a few hours. Seriously, how rude is that?

Then we got to the

hospital and they strapped me down to this thing ... I know, its getting worse, isn't it? You can see the thingy they strapped me to up there, Mom took a picture before the test because I had fallen asleep while cuddling with her. I don't think I would have minded the strappy thing if I had eaten and if they hadn't held my arms over my head. Oh I didn't mention that part? Yeah, those evil people put my stubby little baby arms up over my head and then held them there. I know they didn't want my arms and hands in the way when they did the test but they could have just asked. I might have worked with them. But the strappy thing could roll back and forth, which like I said it would have been cool but for the hands and the hungry.

Then they were really really mean. They fed me this bottle of the nastiest nasty you have ever had. It k

ind of looked like my usual milk, but any similarities end there. It was gross, and I told them that I thought their milk was bad and not to worry, my Mommy had some good stuff, but they kept saying I needed to drink the nasties. I was a bog boy and tried to drink the nasties hoping they would just give up soon, but they didn't seem to want to. Eventually I had to put my foot down and I stopped taking it but I guess they got enough in me because they let Mommy feed me REAL food.

After they took some more pictures of my insides they said we could go and Mommy gave me my medicine that

I wasn't allowed before and took me home. I didn't spit up or feel too bad there, but on the drive home I had the hiccups and I spit up a lot about an hour later. In fact, I threw up at my brother's swimming practice. Too bad they didn't see that on their pictures, eh?

I rolled over!

So here's the big announcement:

I CAN ROLL OVER NOW!

I have done it a few times now, and I am not 100% sure of how I do it yet, but I am getting the hang of it! I can go from my tummy to my back and I am working on going from back to tummy.

My parents are pretty proud -- though I have heard them say its the "beginning of the end" now that I can move on my own. Whatever that means.

Hee hee, I can't wait to climb stuff and jump off of tall things!

I have also made another discovery. It turns out that sometimes I have feet. I say sometimes because I don't see them all the time. But when I do see them I love playing with them! Toes are pretty cool.

sweet sixteen

Well I am the big one-six in weeks now, which is a pretty good age for me I gotta say. I am learning lots of cool things, and will actually have a pretty big announcement for all you bloggies tomorrow ... no, no hints, you just have to wait! ;)

But anyway, here is my sixteen weeker pic:

While taking this picture I guess I was feeling particularly expressive. So much so that my parents actually had a hard time taking some of them because they got a bad case of giggles. We decided to share some of them here for you because I hear my goofy expressions make people other than my parents smile sometimes too. So here you are, me in all my glory ...

That's my "hey mom, check out that cool thingy over there" face.

That's my "ohmigosh, please don't drop the camera on me!" face.

That's my "Sweet, there is a blinky red light on top of the camera" face

That's my "Holy Pacifiers Mommy! Whatever noise you just made to make me smile scared me to death!" face which is often followed by the

"Are you really, truly, absolutely sure we are related?" face.

There is never a dull moment around here, I tell ya.

I heart the Peacemakers :)

In continuing with my regular awesomeness, check out these threads! Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers are one of my favorite bands. Mommy sings them to me bunches and we all listen to them in the car and at home, so my Auntie Raychel and Uncle Kyle got me this super cool onsie.

So, does this make me a groupie now?