Luke's First Haircut

Before
During

After, although it is a little hard to tell!
Chase got a trim too!

We went for Luke's first haircut last week. Although we were nervous, he did pretty well and only threw his head back in annoyance a few times while in the chair. It took us back to the days when Chase had to get a haircut before the introduction of the sucker. The trim makes him look a lot less like a baby and more like an almost toddler. I can't believe that he is changing so much, I'm definitely losing the baby in him.

Gained!

Today we went back to the GI specialist and were given good news, Luke gained 8 ounces in 12 days. He now weighs 17 lbs, 14 oz. , yay! The doctor was really happy with his gain and that he is so eager to eat. We did have a little set back this weekend with the eating/constipation but I think that he's back on track now. The plan now is to continue meeting with the speech therapist weekly to help with the feeding and we're meeting with an OT next week to see if any of his feeding concerns are due to sensory issues (ie, doesn't like different textures or the way things feel in his mouth). I'm hesitant to say that things are turning up, just because every time I do something seems to set us back a bit but...things are turning up!!

Some February Pics

This is currently my favorite picture of Luke
The boys were whipping up a little dinner

Wearing their matching shirts
Luke looking up to his big brother

First Dentist Visit

Sitting like a big boy in the chair
Posing with Natalie

Ah, our first dentist visit, definitely something that we were both anxious about. But, Chase surprised us and was very good. He was a little leery walking down the hallway and about sitting in the chair. He sat on my lap while Natalie, our very awesome hygienist, introduced him to the mirror, her squirt gun, and my personal favorite, Mr. Thirsty. Chase loved all of her "tools" and let Natalie, look at, count and polish his teeth. It was a very successful visit and the prize that he got to pick out at the end didn't hurt the visit either.

Daddy's 33rd Birthday

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Blake's birthday this year was nice. It fell on Inauguration Day, January 20th. Chase and I baked a cake and as you can see, we decorated it together. The best part by far was watching Chase eat the cake, he loves frosting. Blake and I were able to go out together the Saturday before his special day, to Timpano's, one of his favorite restaurants. We went with Sara and Keith and had a nice time.

Playing

Playing Peek-A-Boo and having a blast!
Chase and Daddy "working" after dinner

Ta Da! We finished our giant solar system puzzle, thanks Sullivan Family!
Putting rings on Luke's head
Playing with sticky-tac, the stuff I use in my classroom to hang things on the wall.

I wanted to update some fun "playing" pictures from the month of January. It is so much fun just hanging around the house doing nothing together. These are the days!

Waiting...

We went back last week to Children's and met a wonderful speech pathologist that specializes in feeding issues. She seemed great and gave us certain things to do each day with Luke so that he becomes "desensitized" to having things by his mouth. She wants us to try to feed him twice a day and then offer him a "food play" time where we give him different types of food (pancakes, bananas, avocados, cheerios, etc.) and we model for him how to pick them up and put them to our mouths. She doesn't necessarily want us putting it to his mouth, instead for him to learn to put it to his own mouth. She also gave us little tools with weird textures on them to put to his mouth so he can practice getting different feelings near/in his mouth. We will see her once a week for 8 weeks. We also have an apt. set up with the OT to evaluate him, she would work on the same things with him.
We also go back to the main doctor on Tuesday. I'm so anxious to go so that they can weigh him and see how much he's gained. In my heart I know that he is getting bigger and gaining weight so I feel excited to see how much and what the doctor's reaction will be. Based on that information, he will let us know what the game plan is. We're hoping it will be just to continue seeing the speech and OT in the hopes that a steady stream of solid foods is in his future.
Luke is continuing to love the Pediasure and is drinking enough to get 100% of the nutrition that he needs, something that was definitely weighing on us. I'm down to nursing only 2-3 times/day, thank goodness. I'm hoping that after this weigh in and his willingness to start eating more, we can drop the nursing all together. He's also sleeping longer spurts so that is a wonderful welcome. We feel like he's just a happier baby as a whole now. It's amazing what a full belly can do for a baby :)

Hopeful

Last Thursday (2/5) we finally had an appointment with a GI specialist from Children's Memorial Hospital to figure out what is going on with Luke. The appointment started off a little scary because the first thing they did was weight him. He had been weighed at his 9 month appt. on 12/22 and he weighed 17 lbs. 2 oz. When they weighed him 1 1/2 months later, he weighed 17 lbs. 5 oz...only gaining 3 oz. in that time which is definitely not enough.
We met the doctor, he totally reminded me of the doctor on the show House, very focused on his job and determined to figure out why Luke isn't eating. He asked us tons of questions and gave us a game plan which was what we needed to feel like we were actually going to get him the help that he needs. All of those people came in from the state to evaluate him and we've had ZERO services from them.
We've stopped feeding him his formula, instead he's drinking Pediasure with Fiber, it has 2 times the calories of formula. He also said I need to continue nursing as often as possible, which at this point, I am really ready to be done. He said that we need to stop feeding him in the middle of the night (all 3-4 feedings) so that he will stop eating in the night and start eating more during the day. We are also going to start seeing their speech and OT therapists and start attending an intensive feeding clinic they have at the hospital in the hopes they can get him to start eating solid foods. They will evaluate how all of this goes and see if he is making significant enough gains. If he is, great. If not, they will consider tube feeding him in order to build up some bulk in him and load him with calories.
We've been doing these changes for 5 days now and things are going well. He has accepted the change in the Pediasure for the most part. Since he's getting more calories during the day, we've gotten down to 1-2 feedings in a night. That is such a huge change in my life, a very welcome change :) We're going to the hospital this morning to have an evaluation by the OT and we're supposed to bring him hungry so we'll see what happens. We're both hopeful and know that we're at the right place where we will get some help.