Still Facing Backwards in Life...

By State Law, children need to be at least 20 pounds and one year before their carseats can be facing forward.  Well, at 13 months Howie is still facing the rear and this is why...

He has been riding the lowest curve on the height and weight charts since about 3 months of age.  The pediatrician has us come in for routine weight checks as we watch Howie surf in the 3 percentile.  I have seen a nutritionist to get new ideas on how to add fat and calories to his already restricted diet.  That meeting happened about three weeks ago and it seems to me that he has since consumed more fat than most sumo wrestlers.  We have focused on maintaining good eating habits (i.e. not snacking, offering the nutritionally sound stuff first, making sure Howie isn't "drinking" his diet) and we are working on his table manners to prevent mealtime from becoming playtime. 

The disappointing news is that he acutally lost weight since his May check-up with Dr. Nick.  He is at 18 pounds, 8 ounces.  They can officially term it (and our sweet doctor cringed as he said this) as "Failure to Thrive".  We found ourselves at Cincinnati Children's Hospital with a needle in Howie's arm and a lab order sheet with just about everything checked off on it.  They are checking for thyroid issues, Celiac Disease, glucose levels. etc., etc...

Sigh.  Although cognitively, I know that I cannot take this on as my own doing since I have done almost everything I can nutritionally for Howie.  However, I still find myself combating those self-defeating thoughts of not providing and caring for my son as he needs.  Anyone else out there experiencing the same situation?  It seems like everyone's children are above the 100th percentile.  Anyone... anyone?

News Flash

My brother-in-law sent us a link about food allergies.  It's from The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/peanut_allergies_may_be_cured For those of you who are not familiar with The Onion, it is a satirical news source, but it is based on real news stories.  Sounds like there is an actual study in progress. 

Yah, We Got a Kid with Allergies

We have entered the world of food allergies.  We recently went to the allergist...

Howie's blood work shows some additional allergy risks.  These are all things that I suspected within my mother's heart, but the skin tests did not show.  The doctor said it was unusual for blook work to show positive results after the skin tests are negative; usually it is the other way around and the skin testing is more sensitive. 
Here are his results :
No risk/ No allergy: Milk
Low risk/Some Sensitivity: Avodcado, Wheat
Moderate risk: Banana, Peas
High risk: Peanut, Egg
Basically, we have to treat Howie with caution around the low risk foods and refrain from giving him any peas, eggs or peanuts at this time as it would most likely result in an anaphylaxis reaction.  We are going to clean out our kitchen to make sure we are nut-free so we don't risk him picking up unwanted food and eating it off the floor, tables, couch, etc. since he is continues to use particles from the floor as a supplemental food intake.  We are also going to continue to be very careful about taking the EpiPen with us wherever we go (we were already getting into the habit of doing this), the doctor cautioned us about responding sooner than later to decrease life-threatening risks. 
The chances of Howie growing out of these allergies has decreased with the new positive results and the doctor doesn't think it is likely given his history of echzema.  We are going to go back in one year to test him again (skin test and blood work) unless something else comes up in the meantime. 

I don't think I have realized the full extent of the challenges involved with this new diagnosis.  At this point, I am extremely cautious about who I leave him with, this applies to both babysitters, my gym childcare and church nursery workers.  Rick and I also consider these allergies when picking restaurants our family goes to.  I cannot fathom sneding him to kindergarten and trusting the school with his life.  Alas, we are just going to take one life stage at a time. 

Howie's Friends

Here is Howie with some of his closest friends.  They enjoy chewing on each other's shoes, chasing each other around the house on hands and knees, climbing over top each other to get to toys and the occassional whack to the face.  Isn't friendship beautiful?

Smiles for Tofu

Recently Howie has been more opinionated about his meals.  He enjoys the things that most babies like such as Goldfish, bagels, milk, cheese cubes and steamed carrots.  But he hesitates for the meat.  When I say "hesitates" I mostly mean that he sees it on his tray, yells some sort of baby profanity and launches it across the kitchen.  So far, the only real source of protein (outside of the milk) that I can get him to eat is Tofu.  He loves the stuff.  Personally, my stomach turns when I chop the stuff up for him, but he cannot get enough of that spongy, white substance that looks like it came from the bottom of the ocean.  Perhaps I have a vegetarian on my hands...

A new adventure...

Howie enjoyed getting into the stream at the park today.  He loved the cold water, mud, and rocks.  Such a boy!

Florida-Or-Bust

We just got back from spending a week on Sanibel Island in Florida.
Here are some pictures of our trip:

The long car ride down (16 hours). We found out that Howie doesn't like to sleep in his car seat like we planned on.

Here is the family.

Howie enjoys the wind through his hair as we stroll along the beach.

Dinners were a challenge as we battled for a seat amongst the other Spring Breakers. The Mucky Duck had a 2 1/2 hour wait!

We do some laundry at the condo to get by. Howie enjoys helping with the laundry.

The Ding Darling (or as I like to say "Ding-Dong-Darling") is a preserve on the island. We find a few gators there and lots of interesting birds.

Howie and Paw Paw enjoy some reading at Great Nana's house.

We visit Great Grandma Sue in her home at Shell Point. She enjoyed seeing the baby.

Shells are good for eating when you've enjoyed enough sand.

Playing with my Friends

Howie invited his friend Logan over to play.  They shared toys, books, bikes and even socks- yes, it is fun to pull socks off of our friend' 'feet.  The evening ended with a PJ party on the couch.  Logan's jammies are from Sam's Club and Howie shops for his PJ's at Biggs.  They are such fashionable young men, right? 

Standing Up On A Snowy March Day

Howie has just learned how to hold himself up to stand.  He loves this new freedom.  We had lots of screaming (due to frustration) in the month of February, but now the screaming has turned to babbling.  He hasn't learned how to step in the direction of the desired object, but he is content for now to just reach for the things about one foot infront of him.  And the peace in the house has been restored (for now). 

Riding Bikes on a Warm March Day

Hee hee hee

No matter what kind of day you are having, this video is sure to make you smile.

First Bike