Update

Well Caleb's Sitz Marker Test went really well and they are letting us do the rest of his tests on an out patient basis. Yay!

In other news... he has the Chicken Pox. Confirmed by the doctor this morning. Apparently you can still get them even after you've had the vaccine. He only has about 5-10 spots on his body, so it's not bad at all, but he's "contagious" so we're having fun in isolation.

See you all in 4-7 days.

Chao.

I've Lost Count...

... of how many times we've been in the hospital at this point. And Caleb IS NOT a sick kid! Believe me, I have seen sick kids while we're at the hospital. THOSE kids are sick and Caleb is the maniac running around the place with his IV drip wheeling behind him. Seriously... don't believe me? Ask just about any nurse at CHOP what a lion says and they'll know-- Caleb made sure of it.

Anyway, looooooooonnnnnnggggggg story short, Caleb went in for his GI follow up appointment on Wednesday. Instead of the "everything looks fine, come back in a year for a check up, stay on the medications" etc that we were expecting, we were greeted with "Caleb really should be admitted for 5 days while we run some tests."

Lame. Peter is gone this month in Baltimore and the idea of 5 days in the hospital for some tests made me want to cry (OK, so maybe I leaked out a tear or two) so the doctor took pity on us and said we would run one test at home over the weekend and re-evaluate on Monday. Apparently they are concerned with some of his lab/test results as well as his drop in weight (we have to do pediasure-- has anyone done this? Any suggestions?).

They think he:
A. Has an internal hernia... not really sure what this means, but sure, we'll go with it.
---or----
B. Has something obstructing/slowing things down in his colon.

The test we are doing at home (called a Sitz Marker Test) times how long it takes for something to make it through the intestines. We'll go in on Monday for an X-ray and CAT scan and from there we'll decide if we can come back home to play or if we must terrorize the nurses for another week. They did make us stay in the observation area for a few hours, after his appointment, just to make sure his stools were not TOO bloody (TMI? sorry). After some good ol' IV fluids, strict instructions on how to feed him, and flirting with everyone he saw, they let us out to come home and chill.

We'll keep you updated!

What We've Been Doing

Just Hangin' Out:

Get it? Just hangin' out? "Cuz his diaper is hanging out... Ok, so only I think I am funny.

My "Bala and Papa" Farr-- aren't they too cute?!

Jenny, Ying, and Maeli

Maeli, Grandpere and Nana

Papa, Maeli, Bala and Caleb

Laughing:

Caleb playing with my grandfather-- "Papa" Farr

Being terrorized by Dad

Thinks the camera is funny.

Exploring:

At my parent's place in Maryland.

Maeli, mid flight.

Sophie wasn't too sold on the moon bounce

Gardening:

You know your day is shot when your child looks like this by 7 AM

Napping:

Nana and Sophie

Sophie and her lamb

Peter and Caleb

Maeli and her new friend Ying

Posing:

Pete and I at the Maryland Symphony Orchestra Concert on the 4th.

My brother, Tracy, and his beautiful wife, Hanna

Their daughter, Sophie, in a classic "What the heck are you doing" expression.

Hanna at the concert

My sister-in-law, Jenny, and my niece, Maeli. They are in the States (they live in Hong Kong) for six months, yay!

Quilting:

I've been planning on making this quilt for, oh, about a year now. Better late than never, right?

It's a rag quilt, so the edges are snipped.

Are you shocked at how domestic I am? You should be.


That about sums it all up.

The Gun Show

Yeah, I know, my muscles are huge. But if you can, try to take your eyes off of my huge arms and down to the elbow. Sweet scar, huh? Yeah, all the thirteen year old boys think I rock. :)

About a month ago I went in and had an ulnar nerve transposition surgery. For a few years I have had a "claw hand" where I couldn't open my fingers all the way. My pinky finger and my ring finger would stay curled. Since the ulnar nerve runs between two bones in your elbow (its what hurts when you hit your "funny bone") it is prone to getting trapped. Cubital tunnel syndrome is like carpal tunnel syndrome, but it happens to a different nerve in the arm. Basically the surgeon opened up my arm, cut away the scar tissue around the entrapped nerve, and moved the nerve to the fleshy/muscle part on the inside of the elbow.

My arm is healing well. I still have a lump on the side of my elbow, but I figure it's only been three weeks and they did open up my arm and shove a nerve into my muscle, so it might take a while to get back to normal. The scar is about 4-5 inches, and it is still healing up. It freaks me out that I can still feel the lumps where the sutures were. **Shiver**

I still can't straighten my arm out the whole way, but I'll start PT here pretty soon. As in, as soon as I schedule it... (I'm an awesome patient).

So yeah, other than the Frankenstein scar on my arm, everything went well. Yay for modern medicine.

Eddy Hughes

picture from DeseretNews.com

There is an article today in the Desert News about a good family friend. He is currently battling cancer for the third time in six years. He's a wonderful man and has an incredible family.

18 Month-er

So it's official. He's really a toddler. I know, I know. He has been for awhile, but I could usually reason out of it. There's no denying it now. A lady at the doctor's office was like, "Now all he needs is a baby sister!" Uh-huh.....

We had his 18 month appointment today and here's the stats:

WEIGHT: 23 pounds even. 12th percentile
HEIGHT: 32 inches. 36th percentile
HEAD CIRC: 16.53 inches. Less than the 3rd percentile

Here's the things that he's been doing:

Running everywhere! He laughs so hard he can hardly walk when we chase him.

Saying animal sounds. Recently he spent the week with my parents, who have a cat, and came back saying "meow" for every animal. When he's in a good mood he will now correctly respond, but if he's feeling lazy, it's still just "meow."

He now can say too many words to list, but he's still working on putting them all together. He does say, "No Daddy?" when he realizes that Daddy's not home. And today he told the Doctor, "All Done!" after she did each part of the physical exam.

Turning on and off the lights, air conditioners, and anything else with a button.

Let's us smell his stinky feet. He thinks it's hysterical when someone reacts with, "Ewwww. Stinky feet." He'll belly laugh and then lift up his foot so you can smell it again.

Gives other babies pacifiers. I thought this was so cute when toddlers used to do this to Caleb as an infant. Now when he sees a crying baby he gives them a paci.

Says names. Especially Aubrey's. Every morning he looks at me and says, "Auuuuubeeeyyyyy." He really loves that girl!

Sleeping in a "big boy bed." He crawled out of his crib in about 15 seconds flat each night, so we bit the bullet and got him a bed. He loves it! I thought it was going to be a nightmare of a transition, but it was so easy!

I'm sure there's more, but it seems like each day he's doing something new. As for his medical situation, it looks like that is all resolved! He's taking two daily medications which control his acid reflux (which was causing ulcers and thus the bleeding) and his chronic bowel issues. We've been hospital free for over a month now and it feels great!

Now I just have to learn to say that he's one instead of saying the number of months... weird!

Yumm Yumm

I could just eat him up, he's so cute!