17 months!!!

Ethan is now 17 months old! I can't believe it. He's now been walking for about 2 months and getting closer to running. He talks ALL the time. He loves to sing "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" every chance he gets. He also loves the ABC song, Itsy Bitsy Spider & Elmo's song. Elmo's song is just a little bit more annoying but he loves it. Ethan reads aloud to himself and turns the pages as if he's really reading. He also has started saying "Bye bye" instead of "Dye Dye". He says "Moo" and barks when he sees dogs.

Ethan now can say about 15-20 words depending on who you're talking to. If I didn't hear it, it didn't happen in my book. I keep a calendar on the wall in the kitchen to track his health, but also milestones.

In the last month he has given up bottles completely. We went from 2 bottles and then to 1 in just a few days. He drinks out of a straw cup and does very well. We waited a few more months than we originally wanted because he wasn't drinking enough from the straw cup. Now he drinks about 16-20oz a day!!!

We went in for a weight check a couple weeks ago and Ethan weighed 23 lbs 11 oz. He was down 4 oz from his last weight check a month prior. This was the first time since he was brand new that he'd lost weight. We were discouraged. We've been trying to "fatten him up" for the past month or so. His growth has slowed down. He basically hasn't gained any weight since he turned 1. We're being told to get more higher fat foods down him and increase his calories in whatever ways we can. Meanwhile we're dealing with a picky eater. It's all very frustrating.

We go in for his 18 month checkup on August 2nd so we'll see then if he's managed to gain weight back. Gosh, I hope he doesn't lose anymore.

Ethan took his very 1st camping trip with Grammy & Grandpa (A.K.A. Ken's parents) to Bodega Bay over the weekend. He was gone for 48 hours without us for the first time. He had a blast and probably didn't miss us as much as we missed him. Well as much as I missed him at least ;) We enjoyed a nice mini 24 hour vacation there ourselves when we came to pick him up.

Ethan is doing so many new things that I forget to write all of them down. He's growing too fast! I wish he'd slow down.

Sickness go away!

Ethan's sick with his 3rd cold for the season. We have been lucky that it's only been 3x since October. We always worry that a cold could turn into something worse, but also try to remain hopeful that it won't.

Right now, he has a wet cough, congestion and a runny nose. He's not drinking as much as he should and his eating is okay, but not great. I am more concerned than I was yesterday, but still trying to take it a day at a time. I need to make a call tomorrow to the pediatric pulmonary nurse to give her an update on him.

In the meantime, we have been told to do Hypersal 2x a day and Pulmozyme 1x a day through his nebulizer. We also are being told to do his vest 3-4x a day. It makes it difficult to do anything but just stay home, but we probably shouldn't go anywhere anyways. Ethan is grouchy and cries to held. Not typical of Ethan at all. He's usually fairly happy most of the time (unless you tell him no or take something away).

It's so sad to listen to him on the baby monitor coughing away and wincing right after. His throat must be hurting him. His voice is raspy.

Please God, let him get better.

Clinic Appointment Update

On Wednesday Ethan, my mother in law and I headed off to Roseville for our quarterly clinic appointment. I was so thankful to have help during our 2 hour appointment. Ethan was so squirmy during his Synagis appointment the day earlier that I couldn't even imagine how it would have gone if I hadn't had someone else there to hand him off to.

Ethan weighed in at 21 lbs 7 oz and is 28 inches long. His length to weight ratio is a little off because he's considered short for his weight. For a CF kid he is beyond what the doctors would expect and more. They have joked that maybe he's not pancreatic insufficient, which we know from testing that he is.

We met with his pulmonologist, Dr. Perez. Since Ethan had a wet cough last Friday we were doing some nebulizer treatments. We had him doing Albuterol and Hypertonic Saline. Both of those combined takes 40 minutes. After nebulizers we start his VEST treatment for 15 minutes. We did that three times a day.

Thankfully, our doctor stopped the Albuterol and Hypertonic Saline because Ethan's lungs were clear. They have decided to start Pulmozyme as a preventative nebulizer because he has already been sick twice this winter. We are all striving for a hospital free winter. The Pulmozyme only takes 15 minutes once a day and we'll continue his VEST for 15 minutes twice a day.

Ethan finally is big enough for an actual vest. We have had him in a wrap for the last 8 months. We are grateful for the new vest because he was starting to rip the velcro off the wrap during treatments. Here is the photo of his new vest:

We also were given a puffer for the Albuterol which will cut the time from 15 minutes to 3 minutes. I'll take pictures of that when we need it. For now, it will only be used if he is sick.

We are very thankful that his last sickness only lasted 4 or 5 days. He is back to normal now, being his happy self again.

Losing the baby weight

I have begun to finally start to lose the baby weight. It took me 9 months to pack it on and it's taken me 9 months to lose only the initial 28 lbs. I have gained 5 lbs back and I know that if I don't do something about it I will continue to gain. I'm sick of living in this fat body. Although, I know many people would say that I'm not fat. I just don't feel good about myself at all. I need to lose 20 lbs to be back at my pre-pregnancy weight and hopefully size ;)
To start my journey I decided to join a gym so I could use the elliptical. The elliptical usually is the one thing that kick starts losing weight. Ken joined with me which made me feel a lot better. Having someone to lose weight with especially a spouse makes it so much easier. Well, we both joined and then Ken decided to use my parents treadmill so he canceled his membership. I had the best of intentions last week to start going to the gym, but I made every excuse in the book.
My plan was to go Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays after work. It's hard to even think that I would be able to work out after almost 10 hours of work when all I want to do is go home to my baby. Anyways, I have now cancelled my membership in hopes of using my parents treadmill.
So, now I'm left with working out on my parents treadmill on my days off when my dad can watch Ethan. I only need 30 minutes. I'm on my way to eating better as well. It sounds stupid but yesterday I ate really well, except for the brownies at work. I had to try just one :0
Here I go. In a few weeks I hope to lose 5 lbs and actually fit into my current jeans. By Christmas I hope to lose 10 lbs total. Here I go...