Soon-to-be-Kindergartner

While we were waiting for Camden's turn for our favorite guy at the barber shop (yes, we waited on a specific guy for a 2 year old's haircut because everyone else who has cut his hair did a horrible job), Mykenzi and I went outside to walk around and take some photos. Now it may not seem like a big deal to others since she's being homeschooled, but it's a BIG DEAL to us that she'll be starting Kindergarten on Monday! I can't believe it's that time!

This next one is CRAAZYYY!

OH MY! Daddy says she looks like a teenager with a baby face. Maybe it's just me because I'm the mommy, but is she beautiful or what? She's 5, she's supposed to be cute, but this is a bit much! We are in so much trouble when she hits her teens! (The little squint isn't her posing, it's the sun in her eyes.)

I had to try it out in black and white too.

Camden's Haircut

It's not Camden's first haircut, but I had my camera with me so I took a few shots of Camden at the barber shop last weekend. This was the first haircut where he didn't give us a second of trouble. His last haircut before this was just 3 days before Cohen was born, and the guy encouraged us to try to get him to sit in the chair by himself (he hadn't ever done well with that before even though we tried and he always ended up in our laps) and he fussed a little about it but did give in. This time though he was excited about getting his haircut and never whined through the whole process. I guess he's a big boy now! The lollipop does help though!

After:

We went to a birthday party after the haircut (in the middle of a monsoon so we got soaked running from the car with 3 kids in deep standing water to the gym where the party was), and when Camden stopped running around for about 2.5 seconds I told him I liked his haircut and that he was handsome. He quickly ran off yelling out, "I haircut, I handsome!"

Cohen, 7 weeks

So he didn't like sitting up like that to get 7 week photo. It was time for a nap.

Cohen loves to sleep in the swing, just like Camden did, and because Cohen likes to be held close and kept warm, I found that in order to keep him sleeping in the swing I have to lay a blanket in the swing and wrap him up. Otherwise he wakes up cold. It's tough buckling him in around the blanket, especially since the one I've been using is the quilt I made for him, but I do buckle him in.

Swimming at Nana & Paw Paw's

Sarah came up from Myrtle Beach for a few days after her birthday, so Nana and Paw Paw had a cookout for the whole family, which meant good food, yummy crabs, and swimming.....and lots and lots of little ones...no shortage of babies in this family!

Camden LOVES to be thrown up in the air! He will count 1-2-3 and Jonmark will throw him up in the air, as soon as he comes back down he's saying 1-2-3 again, and this goes on and on until Jonmark is tired and out of breath.

Kenzi is always so cautious and ssllloooowwww getting in the pool, but once she's in she has a blast!

Camden is often in and out of the pool, and he also likes to jump in to Jonmark. That day he jumped in by himself without Jonmark catching him, which led to lots of choking and one mad mommy! He hasn't done that again since though.

They love swimming with Daddy! We'll be sad when the summer is over, which will be soon.

Sweet Big Sister

Isn't she the best big sister?! She is in this house! I tell her all the time that her brothers are so lucky to have her and that I wish I had a big sister like her when I was growing up.

She'd been dying to feed Cohen, so I let her feed him
until it was time to burp. Of course she loved every
second of it, and I loved the way he looked up at
his awesome big sister!

Studio Photos & Surgery Update

Just in case you don't check my other blog, there are some photos of Cohen (from his first 2 weeks) at www.christisullivanphotography.com/blog.

Cohen had a follow-up appointment yesterday with the pediatric surgeon and the strip over his incision was removed, which should have fallen off on it's own, but it didn't so we didn't bother it. You know me, I'm paranoid about things and the last thing I wanted was to hurt Cohen or cause harm to his incision (imagining things like him busting open and bleeding every where or causing awful infection or something). However, the doctor just walked in and yanked it off, which looked and sounds worse than it was I guess because Cohen didn't even cry, whimper, or whine. While it really does look great because there isn't a huge scar of pink raised up skin like people often get after surgery, it stills bothers me a little because it's like he has a cut on his belly, no scab or anything, but it just looks (to me) like he could pop open any minute. It was also hard at first to see the perfect baby I gave birth to 6 weeks ago have this new blemish to his once perfect body. It's ironic though that this imperfection is what actually made him perfect again. So, just like Mykenzi tells us, I would rather him have gone to the hospital, had the surgery, and now have this scar than to have him vomiting everything he ate like he was doing. Honestly though, it doesn't look like he'll have much of a scar because it looks nothing like a scar now (Jonmark says it looks like a paper cut to him), so whatever does stay there will probably fade over the years. Anyway, he was released into the care of his pediatrician, and the surgeon says he shouldn't have any more problems with pyloric stenosis or any further issues with his intestines as a result of this surgery.

Camden Sleeping

Looks like a sweet little angel, doesn't he?

Camden does this a lot when he sleeps. He will wake up and start to get up, but falls asleep before he can get off the couch. We've watched him do this many, many times, but today I finally thought to get a picture of it!

Cohen Sleeping

Here's how Cohen loves to sleep with his head all the way the right. It doesn't matter where he is or what we use to try to prop his head up, he always puts it all the way over the right. It was scary looking to us at first (he started doing this right away, even the trip home from the hospital) because it looks like he doesn't have a neck or it's broken, but this is just what he likes. At night when he's in the bassinet he sleeps on his back, but rarely ever looks straight up at the ceiling, never with his face to the left, and instead always keeps his face turned to his right.

Warm PJs

In the morning Camden always grabs pajamas out of his dresser and brings them to me to put on him. I think it's because they're in the drawer right at his height so it's the easiest to open. On the hottest day of the year, a high of 98 degrees and a heat index of 105, Camden brought out his warm, fuzzy Mickey Mouse footed pjs and insisted that I put it on him!

I love that smile!

Crazy Imaginations!

Pretending to go trick-or-treating, dressed as I have no idea what, and they knocked on every door in the house, including the refrigerator, saying trick-or-treat while holding out the blue Care Bear hard hat as a goodie bag.

***

Mykenzi has always had a very active and wild imagination, and it seems Camden has discovered his own world of imagination now. We've heard him pretend play with his cars recently, we've seen him pretend play whatever Mykenzi's imagination has conjured up, and he's pretended things are coming to get him while staring off into space like he actually sees the bug or snake, but smiling because I'm the one who acts terrified. He's also now afraid of the dark. Last night he went down in the basement with Jonmark so he could get something out of his office, but he didn't turn on the light in the rest of the basement so that Camden could go play, and he insisted on coming back upstairs. He then told me, while he was crying, "light off, bear get me." My poor little man!

Balding Baby

Cohen suddenly started losing his hair on top with a quickly receding hairline that leaves him looking like a little old man. It's hard to see in this picture, but there are still strays in the bald spot. So cute and funny!

Sleepy Smile

I love a sleepy smile!

Cohen's 1 Month Weight/Length

Weight: 7 lbs. 12 oz. (in the 5th-10th percentile)

Length: 20 3/4" (25th percentile)

***

His weight sounds a little low, but he's been through a lot after a week of vomiting, to a point of every single feeding for the majority of that week, and then the surgery and recovery. However, his weight is up 8 ounces from last Thursday so he's actually doing great!

I love the way...

• Mykenzi talks baby talk (in the sing song voice) to Cohen when she holds him, while she still has such a baby sounding voice herself.
• Camden calls Cohen, Baby as if it's his actual name.
• Cohen looks up at Mykenzi and Camden when they hold him.
• Mykenzi thinks she's Camden's mommy too and tries to help teach him or take care of him (when she's in the mood).
• Camden yells for Kenzi (sounds like Tenzi or more like Tidzi) when he's having a blast doing something and wants her to play too.
• Cohen loves to lay with his head to the right, no matter where he is, so far to the right that it's sometimes scary looking.
• Mykenzi shares her bedroom and tv with Camden, is always glad to put on a show for him and let him hang out in her room either alone or with her.
• Camden refers to Cohen as 'her' instead of 'him' no matter how many times we correct him.
• Cohen forms this perfect o with his lips sometimes, which reminds me so much of Mykenzi because she did that a lot when she was older than Cohen whenever she saw something she liked.
• Mykenzi and Camden pile all the blankets they can find on top of Camden's baby tent by Playskool, and then get inside pretending it's some other place or a car.
• Cohen still keeps his legs pulled in and leaves the legs of his sleepers empty.
• Mykenzi keeps asking me to make her a t-shirt that says "I love my 2 brothers!"
• Camden walked by Cohen in the bouncer this morning and said, "aww, I like her!"
• Cohen sometimes sighs while he's drinking a bottle.

I could go on and on, but you'd probably quit reading! Jonmark and I are so blessed!

The Moon

We were at my parents last night and Camden went outside looking for the moon, but he couldn't find it. He came inside with a sad/confused look on his face and said to me, "Mommy, where moon is." So when we left I looked around for the moon and found it, told Camden, and he said with thumbs up, "good job, Mommy, high five!"

Water Slide

This is the water slide that Mykenzi got from Nana and Paw Paw for her birthday!

I was in the house (Camden was sleeping), and I looked out the window and saw Mykenzi running back and forth in the pool part with her dress on.

Camden woke up and whispered "wow" when he saw the slide out the window. When we got outside he said, "Mommy, look, fwimmin poo!"

Camden got scared climbing up to the slide so Mykenzi tried to pull him up.

Then Daddy tried to help him.

He didn't like it up there though. He preferred to walk around in the pool while Mykenzi went down the slide over and over. They had a great time and can't wait to do it again!

Cohen: Pyloric Stenosis

Last week was a rough one for Cohen starting on Sunday when he woke up at 5:00 a.m. vomiting. He did okay throughout the day and on Monday, Jonmark's first day back at work, he was fine until I was cooking dinner and he started vomiting again, and did so a few more times. I decided to feed him a little less formula more often until I could get him in to the pediatrician on Tuesday, at which time he weighed in at 7lbs. 9oz. and we were given instructions to try. We attempted this as soon as we got home, and he still vomited so the pediatrican told us to take him to the ER, where Cohen had bloodwork done, an x-ray, and an Upper GI to look for Pyloric Stenosis, but it was concluded that he had severe reflux, not PS, and we were given a prescription for Reglan to treat the reflux. After researching Reglan Wednesday morning, we weren't happy with what we found, consulted the pediatrician, and were told to discontinue the Reglan and switch his formula to Enfamil A.R. Throughout the day Wednesday things got worse, so we went in to the pediatrician Thursday morning, found that Cohen's weight went down to 7lbs. 7oz., and she sent us for an ultrasound to check for PS. Again it was concluded that Cohen did not have PS. At this point the pediatrician prescribed Zantac assuming that he did in fact just have severe reflux and needed time for his system to mature. We were also told to come back in Friday morning for another weight check to make sure he didn't lose more weight, but he did, he went down to 7lbs. 3oz. so we were sent straight to the hospital to admit Cohen. During his stay at Mary Washington Hospital on Friday and Saturday we tried several different things in an attempt to reduce the vomiting: switched him to Nutramigen to rule out a milk protein allergy, continued the Zantac, added rice cereal to the Nutramigen, kept him upright after feedings, and finally we tried Reglan. The vomiting was so persistent at the hospital that from Friday afternoon to Saturday morning we filled up a huge trash bag with laundry from changing Cohen and his bed so often (gowns, receiving blankets, bed sheets, and waterproof pads), and as we appeared to be trying our last option on Saturday while Cohen continued to vomit everything we fed him, we were finally sent for another ultrasound. This time they were able to compare the results (measurements of the pylorus) to those from Thursday's ultrasound, and found that Cohen did in fact have Pyloric Stenosis, a condition in which the pylorus narrows from thickening muscles around it, preventing food from emptying out of the stomach, which causes forceful vomiting. Cohen, buckled in his car seat, was strapped to a gurney, and he and I were transported by ambulance to MCV in Richmond, arriving at midnight. Throughout the night we had many doctors and surgeons visit us to go over Cohen's symptoms, and were told that Cohen would be having surgery on Sunday. Once the surgery was complete we saw a difference in Cohen, a huge improvement! He slowly got back to eating with only a few episodes of vomiting, which is normal after the surgery, but eventually kept all his feedings down and he was discharged Tuesday night.

Laying in the bed at MWH wearing the tiniest hospital gown I've ever seen.

Daddy's turn to feed and burp.

Resting.

Cohen's arm with the IV was stabalized with a finger splint.

At MCV before surgery.

Later Sunday, hours after surgery.

For some reason he was kept naked after surgery. You can see where the incision was just above the belly button (the white rectangle you see).

So many wires for such a tiny boy!

Mykenzi made this for Cohen along with several cards for us too and a shoebox full of flowers she'd picked.

Look at that wrinkled elbow and armpit!

Cohen's "glowfoot" as Jonmark called it.

Going home!!!

***

Jonmark and I are so thankful to be home with Cohen, and really all 3 of our healthy children. We saw many different children during our stays at both hospitals and know how truly blessed we are. We are also thankful for my parents who kept Mykenzi and Camden for us, for Jonmark's parents for cooking/bringing us meals when we were tired of hospital food, driving Jonmark to MCV so he could attempt to rest, and sitting with us during the surgery, and for everyone else who thought about us and prayed for Cohen!