Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Bright colors
I am terrified of color. If you walk into our home, there are all neutrals everywhere. I find white, brown, grey, and blue far less scary than orange and red. Buuut, kids love color. I have been trying to expand my horizons, and I settled on painting some bright stripes in Cohen's bathroom. I'll admit, I LOVE IT! Maybe this is a start of something new :)
Doctor visits
Kedric took Cohen to his 9 month check-up, where his stats came back less than desirable:
His pediatrician was slightly concerned about his weight gain, but decided to see what happened at his 1 year check-up:
His weight has always been on the low end -- at 40 weeks gestation, full term, he was only 6 lbs 14 oz. She has never been concerned about his weight because Kedric and I are both on the skinnier side. However, the red flag was raised because he fell off of his growth curve at the 9 month check-up. He gained more than she had hoped for between his 9 month and 1 year check-up, but decided to investigate his weight issue. She has some concern about his thyroid function. So, when he had his lead and anemia screen (he's not anemic and the lead results take a few weeks) the doctor had a TSH and T4 run, too. What she was looking for would indicate hypothyroidsim, a low TSH and high T4. His results came back inconclusive with a normal TSH and a borderline high T4. After speaking with the pediatric endocrinologist, Cohen's pediatrician has decided to wait 6 weeks and test again. If his thyroid is under active it is a relatively easy fix. He would take Synthroid for a few years and wean off of it and, according to the doctor, likely never have another issue.
So, at this point we are waiting. Cohen eats like a champ (he can actually out do Kedric and I at some meals) so we know it's not an intake issue. When we find out something more I will post an update.
Height 28 inches 50th percentile
Weight 15 lbs 13 oz <5th percentile
His pediatrician was slightly concerned about his weight gain, but decided to see what happened at his 1 year check-up:
Height 29 inches 30th percentile
Weight 17 lbs 14 oz <5th percentile
His weight has always been on the low end -- at 40 weeks gestation, full term, he was only 6 lbs 14 oz. She has never been concerned about his weight because Kedric and I are both on the skinnier side. However, the red flag was raised because he fell off of his growth curve at the 9 month check-up. He gained more than she had hoped for between his 9 month and 1 year check-up, but decided to investigate his weight issue. She has some concern about his thyroid function. So, when he had his lead and anemia screen (he's not anemic and the lead results take a few weeks) the doctor had a TSH and T4 run, too. What she was looking for would indicate hypothyroidsim, a low TSH and high T4. His results came back inconclusive with a normal TSH and a borderline high T4. After speaking with the pediatric endocrinologist, Cohen's pediatrician has decided to wait 6 weeks and test again. If his thyroid is under active it is a relatively easy fix. He would take Synthroid for a few years and wean off of it and, according to the doctor, likely never have another issue.
So, at this point we are waiting. Cohen eats like a champ (he can actually out do Kedric and I at some meals) so we know it's not an intake issue. When we find out something more I will post an update.
9 month photos
As usual, Sally and Richelle and Stella Studios gave us beautiful pictures from Cohen's 9 month shoot. We just had his 1 year pictures done about 2 weeks ago, so that wraps up our "baby's first year" package. When I suggested we get this package, Kedric rolled his eyes. He thought it was silly to spend money on photos that he could take himself for free (and I love him, but he can't take pictures as fantastic as Stella Studios does!). He told me the other day that he was really glad we had done this. We have gotten a beautiful timeline of photos, plus we will get an album of his first year that I don't have to put together!! Yay!
Haircut
This is actually Cohen's 3rd haircut. He was born with very long hair (I say it was reminiscent of a mullet), so he had his hair trimmed twice in the first few months after his birth. He wasn't sure what to think of getting his hair cut, but he did a great job.
Before
During
After
Handsome man!!
Our little monster's big day
Holy buckets, my baby is 1! People weren't exaggerating in the slightest when they said the time flies by. My baby isn't a baby anymore, he's a toddler.
We celebrated with a monster themed bash, courtesy of inspiration from Pinterest. Having it at our house, on graduation weekend, turned out to be a bigger undertaking than I had thought. Fortunately, we had a lot of hands on deck and the party was great! The weather was beautiful to boot!
The kiddos (and grown-ups) had great fun playing on Cohen's biggest surprise...
The fantastic cake, courtesy of my aunt's creativity and abilities, and cupcakes were delicious, though Cohen wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake. He wouldn't really eat any of it either. Until, of course, I took him in to change his diaper and clothe him....then I couldn't get his hands out of his mouth! I got yelled at a few days later because I wasn't sharing enough of my cupcake with him. We may have opened Pandora's box by introducing him to baked goods :)
All around it was a great celebration and, despite no nap, Cohen was happy as a clam. He loves to be loved on, and since it was his special day he wasn't willing to sacrifice any time sleeping!
We celebrated with a monster themed bash, courtesy of inspiration from Pinterest. Having it at our house, on graduation weekend, turned out to be a bigger undertaking than I had thought. Fortunately, we had a lot of hands on deck and the party was great! The weather was beautiful to boot!
The kiddos (and grown-ups) had great fun playing on Cohen's biggest surprise...
The fantastic cake, courtesy of my aunt's creativity and abilities, and cupcakes were delicious, though Cohen wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake. He wouldn't really eat any of it either. Until, of course, I took him in to change his diaper and clothe him....then I couldn't get his hands out of his mouth! I got yelled at a few days later because I wasn't sharing enough of my cupcake with him. We may have opened Pandora's box by introducing him to baked goods :)
All around it was a great celebration and, despite no nap, Cohen was happy as a clam. He loves to be loved on, and since it was his special day he wasn't willing to sacrifice any time sleeping!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Busy bees
May tends to be a busy month for our household. In the beginning, there was just our anniversary (9th) and my birthday (27th). Now we have added Cohen's birthday (10th) and Mother's Day and this year we even threw in a graduation (5th). Phew. To top off the excitement mama got a job! From May 3 - May 6 I'm not even 100% sure of what happened!
For starters, I accepted a position at Boone Hospital (where Cohen was born and my first pick for employment) on the Medical Oncology floor. I did my practicum there and it was an incredibly moving experience. To be perfectly honest, this isn't really where I want to work. I have stressed before how much I LOVE working in the NICU with babies, but working on a critical care floor often requires a little time on a general medicine (Med-Surg) floor. I do have reservations about working oncology because I don't know if I can withstand the emotional impact. I actually cried when they called me for the interview....and at the interview when they asked what my most difficult experience during practicum was, but I truly feel that God wants me there for some reason or He wouldn't continue directing me there. I didn't ask for oncology as a practicum assignment and, as a matter of fact, I didn't even apply to work that floor. I must have something left to do and/or learn there and I will stay there until God feels I'm ready to move on.
Next came graduation. Woo hoo!!! I will admit, I worked far harder for this degree than my last one (and Kedric would probably agree that he did, too), so the accomplishment was that much sweeter. We had pinning on Friday followed by graduation on Saturday.
Then Sunday. My favorite part of the whole weekend. We celebrated Cohen's 1st birthday! I have a million pictures of our "little monster's" big day, so I will post those separately. Wow. He is 1!
I'm wondering right now, amidst all the chaos of the past few years, how we got here. We got here with the undying love and support of our family and the incredible friends that we have been blessed to have in our lives. We give our deepest thanks to all of you -- we absolutely, without a doubt in my mind, would never have survived all of this without you!
For starters, I accepted a position at Boone Hospital (where Cohen was born and my first pick for employment) on the Medical Oncology floor. I did my practicum there and it was an incredibly moving experience. To be perfectly honest, this isn't really where I want to work. I have stressed before how much I LOVE working in the NICU with babies, but working on a critical care floor often requires a little time on a general medicine (Med-Surg) floor. I do have reservations about working oncology because I don't know if I can withstand the emotional impact. I actually cried when they called me for the interview....and at the interview when they asked what my most difficult experience during practicum was, but I truly feel that God wants me there for some reason or He wouldn't continue directing me there. I didn't ask for oncology as a practicum assignment and, as a matter of fact, I didn't even apply to work that floor. I must have something left to do and/or learn there and I will stay there until God feels I'm ready to move on.
Next came graduation. Woo hoo!!! I will admit, I worked far harder for this degree than my last one (and Kedric would probably agree that he did, too), so the accomplishment was that much sweeter. We had pinning on Friday followed by graduation on Saturday.
Then Sunday. My favorite part of the whole weekend. We celebrated Cohen's 1st birthday! I have a million pictures of our "little monster's" big day, so I will post those separately. Wow. He is 1!
I'm wondering right now, amidst all the chaos of the past few years, how we got here. We got here with the undying love and support of our family and the incredible friends that we have been blessed to have in our lives. We give our deepest thanks to all of you -- we absolutely, without a doubt in my mind, would never have survived all of this without you!
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