Thursday, February 21, 2013

Keeping Up With Auggie

I feel like that's all I've been doing this week... Just keeping up with Auggie. I got sick Monday and thankfully, Tim had off so he could spend the day with Auggie. I don't know what it was but it was all the sudden here with a bang! I slept almost 18 hours on Monday. Other than feeling awful, it was so nice to sleep that much!

Auggie has been doing pretty good when it comes to eating lately. I'm hoping he continues to do well for awhile so he gains a little bit on his growth chart. He sees his new dietician again in April. He stayed in proportion when we saw her at the beginning of February so it's not like he's doing horrible... He's just doing better than he was.

Auggie actually had his first full meal ever on Tuesday. 4 fish sticks with ketchup, 2 spoons of peanut butter, a pouch and a half of a homemade fruit smoothie and a pouch of fruit snacks.. I definitely call that a full meal for Auggie!

Auggie's been into those squeeze pouches that are oh so popular (and pricey). You're supposed to throw them away within 24 hours after opening and so much goes to waste so I finally bought some. I found them last month on a discount site and they finally came in last week. I made a strawberry banana and yogurt smoothie for him on Monday and he's eaten about 3 packs worth of it. Better than letting 3 pouches go to waste. Does anyone use pouches? Got any good recipes? I figured if Auggie keeps eating well enough, I'll introduce some veggies. We'll see how that goes!

Snack time at Mainly Music.
He ate 3 grapes, a strawberry, animal cracker
and 3 pretzels! :)
Yep.. we're still on bottles :(
Showing off his powdered donut and saying "cheese!"
He just HAD to eat a banana at Wal Mart on Monday
No Cheeto fingers for this little boy! He kept wiping his fingers and getting another one

I posted on Facebook a couple weeks ago about how much I can't stand not having an official diagnosis on things. I'm pretty sure we'll have quite a few of those as Auggie gets older. I took Auggie to the pediatrician at the beginning of February or end of January to get his eye looked at. He smacked his face against one of our dining room chairs during the week between Christmas and New Year's and nothing showed up until about 2 weeks later- a little knot formed on his eyelid. For a couple weeks it came and went. Most of the time it looked like he had a slight black eye but we weren't too concerned because he never complained about it.

One morning he woke up and his eye was a little gooey so I made an appointment for 2 days later (that's as soon as we could get in... good thing it wasn't urgent). Auggie's pediatrician said the same things as Tim and I did- his eye ball didn't look like it was being affected and he didn't act like it hurt. She said maybe a hair follicle got plugged when he hit his eye on the chair in December so she prescribed him an antibiotic and a topical ointment. I am so happy Auggie has been a healthy child so far- getting him to take his antibiotic was a huge pain!

His eye seemed to get better and then one morning it was all purple and huge! Tim was able to get a close look and Auggie had scratched it during the night. OUCH! Tim was able to talk to his once-a-month-domino-playing-doctors shortly after Auggie's appointment. The ophthalmologist knew exactly what Tim was talking about before he even showed him pictures! Apparently, what Auggie has is a Chalazion- a small bump in the eyelid caused by the blockage of a tiny oil gland. They rarely respond to antibiotics or topical treatments and can reoccur. If they become problematic then they can be removed surgically.

So we'll be waiting for this big ol' Chalazion to disappear! I wish we could do something more than wrestle with Auggie to clear out all that gooey-ness! Hopefully it'll be gone soon.

A couple days before his doctor visit
Sent this one to Tim
Wednesday afternoon





Tuesday, February 19, 2013

A Birthday to Celebrate

The last weekend in January, we drove up to the Dallas area to see my sister's family, Tim's sister's family and to attend a wedding. We were all over North Dallas.

We saw Jamie, Zach, Nathan and Zoe for a little bit on Friday. The kids had a good time playing with each other.





Saturday was a busy busy day! Ben's birthday was February 4 so Jessica and Rick planned his party so we could all come. He had a Space themed party complete with a moon rock search and jet packs! The kids had fun with their foam rocket launchers and running around trying to find the most moon rocks. Auggie had a great time playing with his cousins. At one point he was in Ben's room with everyone just sitting there on Ben's bed watching them play. He had the biggest smile on his face!

Showing off their awesome jet packs!

Being silly

The Birthday Boy!
Ben with his Birthday cake!
After Ben's birthday party, Tim and I headed to the east side of Dallas to one of Tim's high school friends' wedding. We had a great night out.
Tim and I
Dustin, Chris, John and Tim
Lauren and I 

Friday, February 1, 2013

Houston Children's Museum- Jan. 18

Just a little "plug" before we get to Auggie.....


This adorable little girl is Paxton! She is such a smart 2.5 year old. I met her mommy, Kristy, through the mom's group I joined here in College Station. Kristy and 8 friends (including me!) are running the "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" 5K March 23 to raise awareness and money for research of Neutropenia. In 2011, Paxton was diagnosed with neutropenia. Neutropenia (noo-troe-PEE-nee-uh) is an abnormally low count of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that helps fight off infections, particularly those caused by bacteria and fungi. This diagnosis came after a long bout of unexplainable fevers, typical viruses and a few bacterial infections. Although they have a diagnosis of what caused Paxton to be sick, there are still a lot of "unknowns" they have to deal with. Paxton can't be around large crowds or sick people because she is at a very high risk of getting sick and not having enough white blood cells to fight it off. So this is where the 5K comes in... We're raising money to help the Ella Jewell Foundation (a nonprofit dedicated to neutropenia research) and the Long Race 4 Tate! The original goal was $500 but they met that goal quickly (I just signed up for it today;). So now they're aiming for $1,000! If you would like to donate to their cause, please click the picture above or following link: http://longrace4tate.com/paxtonsprincessposse/

Mommy and Auggie

Tim spent 18 days in January out in Uvalde (south Texas) guiding so Auggie and I got to spend almost a full week in La Porte. We had a great time but it was really nice once Tim was home!

My mom and I had planned on taking auggie and Drake to the Houston Children's museum the Friday we were there but Drake ended up having a swollen ear drum so he wasn't able to go. He always misses out on the fun stuff! Poor guy! I know if he would've gone, my mom and I would've been split up the whole time because there is SO much to do! Auggie had a blast and we didn't even see half the museum.



They had a cool exhibit full of vintage pedal cars in the main hallway. They had some from the 1940s to the 1970s. There were a few that were fire truck themed and it looked like Auggie liked those the best. Too bad they don't make toys like they used to!

We eventually made our way into one of the exhibits- "How Does It Work?" There were all sorts of science themed activities- magnets with washers, periscopes and telescopes, building arcs with giant blocks, rolling golf balls on a mini put-put course and curved arc. And those are just a few they had upstairs!  Auggie liked them all and had a hard time going on to each activity.

looking in the periscope


playing with the magnet

I feel like these are all I get of him smiling! :)

He's supposed to roll the ball.. but he enjoyed throwing them

Rolling golf balls on the arc
Attempting to build the arch
We went outside after the how it works exhibit to visit the "Eco Station". They had little chicks for kids to see and learn about a life cycle. They even had information on Purple Martins for their weekly native animal section. In the spring/summer time, that part would be fun because they had a little pond and plants growing. It was just green and brown because of the winter.

Signing Chicken

There was also a water exhibit in the courtyard- "Flow Works". I didn't think it would be open so I figured going outside would be ok... Don't know what I was thinking! It was January and the water exhibit was STILL running! BRRRR! Luckily it was a nice day and Auggie didn't get too wet. This one would also be fun during the summer time! Hopefully Groupon will have another sale on their tickets this spring/summer.

It was a little difficult getting auggie to go back inside but once we got to the toddler section upstairs, he changed his attitude. We spent most of our time in the "Tot Spot" the first time we went and he  liked it this time around, too. Any room full of toys definitely gets Auggie's attention. 

Auggie enjoyed being buried in the blocks


weeee

We would've stayed longer but nap time was looming over our heads. I know Auggie could've stayed the whole day if he chose to. Hopefully next time we'll be able to go with Drake!

We had to stop by the train on the way out

Gramma and Auggie
Until next time!