Skinny Sammy

Sam had a doctor's appointment yesterday. Just his normal 9 month (although he is now 10 months) check-up. Now, we already knew he is a light-weight skinny boy. You can tell just by looking at him and holding him. He is VERY skinny. His 6-9 month clothes are baggy. You can see his spine down his back. He doesn't have a single roll on him; especially around his middle. I was anxious to know how much he weighed.

Yesterday he weighed in at 15lbs 11oz. This is off the charts below the 5th%ile. His growth curve has really leveled off instead of curving up. He had gained about 1&1/4lbs since his last check-up. So, it was good that he had gained, but it was not as much as he should have. When I got home, I found a paper I got from his pulmonologist appointment 2 months ago. His weight at that appointment was 15lbs 4oz. I realize that this was a different scale, but it concerns me even a little more because that means in the last 2 months, he barely gained anything. He's going back to the pulmonologist in a couple weeks, so I will compare his weight there again.

His length measured in at 28 and something inches. He is following his 50%ile growth curve perfectly in length and head circumference is also growing as it should around the 50%ile.


We have pretty much exhausted all possibilities of chronic diseases that might cause this failure of growth. His heart is fine. His lungs are healthy. He eats and poops plenty. One thing it MIGHT be is his reflux. He still throws up occasionally. (Last night he threw up a TON). My instincts say that it's a combination of genetics and reflux. My family is genetically skinny. Both my dad and brother are extremely skinny.

The doctor suggests that we go talk to a dietitian. Ha. I say, 'I am a dietitian. BUT, I would be willing to go talk with another dietitian to see if we can come up with some more ideas concerning his diet and weight gain.' More to come on how this consultation goes. It's a little embarrassing that I have to go talk with a dietitian. I am supposed to be the expert in this area, but I realize that I don't know everything about baby weight gain and it might be beneficial to talk to another expert.

I am considering formula feeding. He has started taking a bottle this week, so this is now an option. I just get really sad to think that it might be my milk causing him to not gain enough weight. From the medical stand-point, all breast milk should have the same amount of calories as formula, so as long as I'm producing enough milk, he should be fine. However, I keep thinking in the back of my head, maybe my milk is different. Maybe my milk isn't giving him the nutrients that he needs.

I just hope we can figure this out. I love my Sam so much and I just want him to be happy and healthy. Maybe he already is.

-Emily

I'm proud to be an American

I became a citizen of this great country on August 22, 2012. Everything happened so fast that we didn't have time to plan a celebration or anything : ( , but it was all good.

My interview was schedule at 6:30 am. I got there at 6:00 am and they finally interviewed me at 7:00 am. Those 30 min of waiting really make you wonder what kind of questions are they going to ask you, but it was  super easy and stress free. At the end of the interview she offered me the opportunity to come back at 1:00 pm the same day to make the oath and become a citizen; I wasn't expecting it to be that quick. 

After the interview I rushed to school, changed into my scrubs and had 4 hours of operative dentistry, then I changed my clothes again and made it back to the building at 12:25 pm. The ceremony started around 1:30 pm and it was a bit weird saying the pledge and making the oath.... but I'm happy I made that decision. 

I was back at school at 3:00 pm in my scrubs ready for 2 more hours of fixed prosthodontics lab. 

This day was definitely an emotional one, but in a sense was kind of surreal because I didn't have time to let the feelings soak in (if that makes any sense).

-Francisco

Nothing beats free!!!

I just want to make a short entry to remember how blessed we are. We got a totally free piano from Sister Colson in our ward and it is just awesome. We moved it with tons of help and it really wasn't that bad moving it to the second floor with the help of 8 other people. I loved how friends from our ward came together and helped me out.

Here is a picture of our new piano!

-Francisco

Summer activities

We have had a great summer. It is quickly coming to a close so we thought we'd right a post of the things that we enjoyed doing this summer! It has been do great to have Francisco home most of the time with us and we are going to miss him next week when he starts school.

Here is what we've been up to:
Play-dough: We made some home-made play dough and Luke absolutely loves it! He will sit and play with it for a very long time for a 2 yr old! Maybe 30-60 minutes at a time! Of course, we had to make it a neon green color!

Washing storage closet door: Luke really likes to wash the door that goes to our storage closet on our balcony. He takes a large bucket of water and a wipe or a wash cloth and goes at it! Awesome.

Water colors: With Mami or Papi painting, Luke LOVES to paint as well. He is getting much better at not mixing the colors and a lot of this paintings are quite creative!

In order: Emily, Francisco, Luke

Game boards: Luke has gotten into the habit of taking the board games out and making a mess playing with them. Cranium was the worst. All the cards. Everywhere.

Luke is saying that he's two and pointing to the 16+ 

Blocks: Gramma K bought Luke blocks while she was here last October and he loves them. He builds "casas" and likes to make more messes with them. We are working really hard to teach him to pick them up after he's done playing with them.

Splash Pads: It is impossible to enjoy the outdoors without some source of water during the summer here. So, we checked out a Splash Pad. It was really cool and free!

"Pillow me": Luke loves to take all the pillows off the bed and couches and cover us with them. Then we must do the same to him. I (Emily) actually enjoy this game because I get to rest while he throws pillows on top of me. We are playing and I am sleeping at the same time! Win-win!

Train tracks: Today Luke brought out his train tracks and we put some batteries in his cars. He went wild watching the cars chase each other! We usually do not have batteries in the cars because they run out so fast!

Bath time: Luke loves playing in the water, but does not necessarily enjoy baths. The washing part takes place maybe with 1/2 of his baths. Usually it is just playing in the water with his bath toys. At least he gets rinsed off! We recently moved his toys to his bathroom rather than in our master bath. I am enjoying having my shower toy free, but I"m not looking forward to washing two showers! (Although Francisco usually does that lovely task anyway! Love you sweetie!)

Craft sticks/glue: Luke is our resident crafter. He recently discovered a box of craft sticks and has been addicted ever since! He made a house, a kitty, a grid. Then he colors them with either water colors or markers.

mirror smudges: Did we mention Luke is artistic? Even his messes end up being a work of art! Check out this mirror smudge. What do you see? Pretty good for a 2 yr old, huh?

swimming: With a pool literally outside our apartment, I thought we'd hit the pool a little more than we did, but we still made a few trips with the boys. Luke loves the water, Sam not as much. The Olympics have inspired us to take up swimming as a workout and both Francisco and I went this morning (at separate times) Both of us only lasted about 20 minutes. Swimming is hard work!

Oregon trip: This deserves a post on it's own. It was awesome! (Horse back riding, Wave pool, Yurts at Wallowa Lake, paddle boats, Family time, learning to play, "I'm trying to be like Jesus" on the piano, visiting friends, the Saturday market, Enchanted forest)

Work: Both Francisco and I picked up some summer jobs and made a little extra cash. I worked for Green Pest Guys Pest control doing some scheduling from home and Francisco worked for Baylor doing research and teaching a summer program.

It has been an awesome summer! I'm not loving the heat, but what can you do?

Francisco loves seeing his little Luke growing and trying different things. He loves when Luke hugs and kisses him and says that he loves him. Luke is a really good kid. We love him so much.

Now we are looking forward to a lovely fall and are excited for Halloween!

Because Francisco and I both post and both use the first person when writing, we are going to start signing our names at the end of our posts.

-Emily

I just love my boys!

These are a few of their expressions that I just love. I love looking into their eyes and see their innocence and love.