A tree in the house????

That would be Calvin's reaction to the Scotch Pine that is now standing in our great room.  Well, actually he doesn't seem all that concerned about it; curious, maybe, but not concerned.  In fact, our whole tree tradition seems a little lost on him.  As per tradition we got up this morning and joined Cortney's family for breakfast before driving way out into the "country" to hunt Christmas trees.  Calvin seemed to enjoy the breakfast part just fine, and would probably have been fine with the tree part, too, except that he was extremely sleepy through the whole ordeal.  We did find the perfect Christmas tree, which somehow seemed important for this milestone holiday, even though Calvin won't care a lick (but we do, so we'll post a picture as soon as we get it decorated).  We brought it home and put it up and Calvin didn't seem one bit disturbed.  He even tried touching it and wasn't put off, although he seemed disappointed that we would let him put neither the very first ornament (a giraffe) in his collection from his gram nor the tree in his mouth!  Tough love.  The FANTASTIC news is that he has had no trouble eating today at all! And, though his voice is still hoarse (which makes him sound so sad and pitiful!) from this bout with the reflux, we really think he is on his way back to "normal."  He even slept through the night last night, something he hasn't done since the doctors messed with his medicine over two weeks ago.  ARGH.

Happy...Black Friday?

Okay, that just sounds wrong.  We understand the premise, but it's a rather dark moniker for a fairly cheerful day (fairly being the operative word here - we're sure it's not cheerful if you are getting trampled in the opening lines at some super store).  We have always enjoyed the day after Thanksgiving.  In our home it is the start of the Christmas season and traditionally we have spent the early part of the day shopping and the latter part decorating followed by a nice dinner.   We did things a little backwards this year, but we still got all the major ingredients in there.  And having Calvin sure has added a lot to the spirit of the season.  If nothing else it added the not-to-be-missed impromptu visit to the pediatrician's office over a holiday because, of course, that is when children opt to get sick.  Luckily Calvin does not appear to be sick in a contagious kind of way, but he sure has been struggling with his reflux over the past few weeks.  We thought to head off any necessary holiday doctor visits with the appointment we made earlier in the week, but even after several days of the new medication in his cereal he was really going downhill and was having all kinds of trouble eating.  After this morning's appointment we will be returning to the first medication - the one that was working before we were told to stop it (don't get us started).  We are praying that this will make a difference soon, and it might already have - he was full of smiles for all his adoring fans as we traversed the crowded mall with Curtis in this afternoon!  So, happy black Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This was Calvin's first major holiday and it was beautiful and exciting!  We filled the day with traditions that we can't wait to teach him about.  We lazed about in our pajamas, reading the fancy ad inserts and watching the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade.  At the end of the parade we got dressed in our Thanksgiving best and headed to Cortney's parents' house for a dinner of traditional favorites - turkey smoked on the outdoor smoker, squash, mashed potatoes, cranberry salad, stuffing (with sausage - mmmm!), wine, coffee, pie, and ice cream.  Calvin even had his own seat at the table!  After dinner we watched football and worked on a puzzle.  It felt like a very special day and we are very Thankful for Calvin, for each other, for our family, and our friends.

Thank you Mr. Esophagus

It's been a rough couple of weeks in the Ophoff home.  Calvin's pediatrician decided to change the dose on his Zantac - cutting it nearly in half.  By the end of the first week following the poor kid was pretty cranky, but by the end of the second week he was downright miserable, so we complained and the doctor gave a script for Prevacid capsules, the insides of which were to be dissolved, as the nurse told us, in his breastmilk.  Ha ha ha.  Over the weekend we tried everything - the little pellets just would not disappear into any amount breastmilk and getting them down his throat was not nearly as easy as getting them stuck to the side of the medicine dropper, the spoon, his face, his bib, our hands.  He was getting maybe half of the medicine, which is why he was still a bear when Cortney called back yesterday morning and a different nurse told her to try water instead (never mind that breastmilk is 90% water).  After a polite but frustrated conversation we finally scored an appointment with the doctor in the afternoon.  The look on his face when Cortney told him the pellets didn't seem to dissolve was near priceless.  No, he said, they aren't meant to dissolve, you put them on his food.  Ahhh...and therein lies the problem.  We  had diligently been waiting for 6 months, as recommended by the AAP, and countless other organizations, and the nurse who had told us to dissolve the pellets was apparently visiting from another planet.  In cases like these, the doctor told us, it is going to be better for the patient to start a little early on solids so as to get him the medicine and give him a little more in his tummy to weigh down his milk (they make dissolvable Prevacid, by the way, but it has Aspartame, aka Nutrasweet, in it, and babies just don't need that). 

And that is how we came to this morning, with mom preparing whole grain brown rice cereal and dad giving the wee one a pep talk that went something like this: "it's a one way hatch!  Food goes in and it doesn't come out!  Mr. Esophagus is our friend!"  But let us tell you, the esophagus isn't the problem it's the tongue.  All in all the first feeding went very well!  Calvin even seemed to enjoy it.  More than a couple of times he reached for the spoon and pulled Cortney's hand to his mouth, but every other spoonful or so would be pushed back out by the tongue.  We realize that it is a learning process - for all of us.  We think it is also a bib destroying process.  The good news is, we all had fun, and he got probably 95% of the medicine, which was the whole reason we had to start this now anyway.  First feeding?  We'll count it as a success.

Slow down this horse!

Calvin continues to learn and try new things.  Tonight he was reclining in the bath and surprised us with a whole  new trick - first he pulled himself up to a sitting position (not a new trick), then he pulled himself further into a squatting position (that's a new trick), and then he pushed himself into a wobbly standing position (definitely a brand new trick)!  We don't have a picture of the standing, only the squatting, because who has hands for a camera when they are trying to keep a 5 1/2 month old from toppling over because they shouldn't be standing on their own yet?!?  And yesterday afternoon he traveled over 4 feet in fits and starts of crawling, too.  In fact, he's been so active lately that at an impromptu doctor appointment today they logged him as actually having lost 1/4 of a pound, taking him back down to 16 3/4 lbs and a hair shy of 27 inches.  Of course, that weight loss may better be blamed on the trouble he has been having with his reflux, which was the reason for today's pediatrician appointment.  But we will go into that further when we post tomorrow about our success or lack thereof with Calvin's first try with solid foods.  Yup, you read right.  Much to our chagrin we will, based on the doctor's orders, be starting solids prior to our six month goal.  Look out kitchen, here we come.  More on this tomorrow.