Tuesday, October 23, 2012

A Picture Heavy Update

So, again, I've really slacked off and not written at all on my blog. I have all these lofty ideas for doing daily posts, and it just doesn't happen. It should. I should make time for it because it makes me happy. Not because all my loyal (ha! yeah right!) readers will miss my voice, but because writing things that are happening in our lives is enjoyable to me. It's like a journal where I can share what is happening and make it easier to go back and remember moments of our lives.

Christopher has been fighting ear infections for a few months. We just ended #5 and 6 a couple weeks ago and it has been hard. I know that there is some research about the cyclical effect of antibiotics and ear infections, but ibuprofen didn't cut it with him and we had to help him get over it. Being a parent is all about taking information that is available and making the best decision for your children. Choosing antibiotics seemed like the best, right decision for Christopher. Because of the frequency of his ear infections, we will be seeing an ENT at the end of November to find out about tubes. :(

[caption id="attachment_638" align="aligncenter" width="169"] Holding his bottle[/caption]

I also weaned Christopher. I was ready to be done for months, but could tell he was not ready so I didn't push it too hard. We were down to before sleeping and in the night. But, I used the frozen milk I had and some whole milk and started giving him milk in the bottle. And he liked it!! This was a shock because a few months ago if I tried to give a bottle to him he would angrily push it away. So, I knew he was more ready. Now he is happily drinking warm whole milk in the bottle. If I put it in his sippy cup (that he uses for anything else!) he will push it away like he can't believe I would try to force him to drink such a concoction. 14 months of nursing is awesome. I was certain once he got teeth (6 months) I would not continue nursing. Then when that wasn't so bad and I kept at it I was sure at 12 months exactly I would be done and forcibly wean. But, I knew that wasn't right either.

Around 21-22 months old I started noticing Dominic crossing his eyes. Sometimes when he was watching the TV, sometimes when he was looking at me, or just zoning out. So I asked at his 2 year checkup and the doc suggested seeing an eye doctor. We saw a local eye doctor but he wasn't able to get anywhere so he sent us to a specialist in Colorado Springs. They found that he does have lazy eye as well as being far sighted. We needed to do eye patch therapy every day to help keep his lazy eye's vision strong. If the brain gets double vision or bad vision from that eye, it will stop reading that information and you basically become blind in the lazy eye. How scary!!! We won't know if this will save us from surgery, but it is a start. Unfortunately he was not able to calm down enough for them to get a measurements for glasses. Hopefully when we go back in December.

[caption id="attachment_636" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Starting to not hate the eye patch.[/caption]

The boys are starting to really enjoy playing together and it is so fun to watch. We hope to grow our family even more soon! :)

[caption id="attachment_639" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Playing together in a fountain in Chicago[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_640" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Being spun in the chair looking out the pretty window in Chicago.[/caption]