Pulling Up

Check out Caleb's newest trick! When sitting on his stool, he can now pull up to his train table!

Another set of tubes

Well, so much for not having any surgeries/procedures on the horizon. 

Caleb's audiologist mentioned a couple weeks ago that she thought one of his tubes had either come out or was blocked. She suggested I make an appointment for Caleb to see his ENT. We met with him today, and he said that the right tube is either gone or blocked. He couldn't tell which. The left tube is still there, but it's probably blocked. So... Caleb needs new tubes. Since he'll have to go under anesthesia for the tubes placement, he's going to have another sedated ABR done at that time. 

The person who schedules the procedures is out of the office this week, but she's supposed to call me when she returns next week. I expect that the procedure will be done sometime in June or July.

Prairie Fire

I ran another half marathon! The day after I ran the OKC half marathon, I realized that the Prairie Fire springs half was coming up the next Sunday (May 4th). I debated back and forth about doing it for a couple days and decided last Wednesday evening to go for it. Brad, Caleb, and I went to Wichita, KS on Saturday afternoon. We checked into the hotel, picked up my race packet at the Expo, had dinner and then returned to the hotel in time to watch the Thunder beat the Grizzlies! After a good night's sleep, I woke up at 6:00 to get ready for the run. The half marathon started at 7:30. Our hotel was right at the start/finish line, so I didn't leave our room until just a few minutes before the start.

View from our hotel room of the start/finish and runners' village

Since I ran a half marathon the week before, I didn't want to push myself too much. I didn't worry about my time and just allowed myself to enjoy the run. Temps were in the 60s when I started and in the 70s when I finished. Sounds nice, but that's hot for a runner! Between dealing with the heat and just being tired from the week before (and a potty break at mile 6), I ended up finishing in 2:23. So... two half marathons in eight days. Three in seven months. I think I've officially been bitten by the running bug. And I need a pedicure.

After the run. Caleb was more interested in my medal than smiling for the photo

Busy Weekend

What a fun and busy weekend we had!

Brad and seven of his friends formed two teams for the 10th Annual Jacob's Buddies Golf Tournament on Saturday morning. This golf tournament was started by the grandparents of a boy named Jacob. He has Down syndrome, and the golf tournament is a fundraiser for the Down Syndrome Association of Central Oklahoma. Brad won "longest drive", and his prize was a new putter. A couple of our friends won raffle prizes, too!

Caleb and Jacob's grandmother

We met some friends for dinner on Saturday evening. Everyone was decked out in Thunder gear for Game 4 against the Memphis Grizzles.

Brad watched the game at our friends' house, and Caleb and I went home. I watched the first quarter of the game and then went to bed, because I had an early morning the next day.

I woke up at 4:45 Sunday morning to prep for my half marathon. Brad got up around 5:20, and we tried to move Caleb from his bed to his car seat without waking them, but that didn't work so well. They dropped me off downtown at about 6:00, and they went to park near the 3 mile mark on the course. Some storms were moving into OKC, so the start time got pushed back from 6:30 to 7:00... and then 7:15... and then 8:00... and then we finally got started at 8:20. I felt great for most of the run and was on pace for a sub-2:15, but the last three miles absolutely killed me! I ended up finishing at 2:19:30. 4:30 behind my goal time. Oh well. I did improve on my time from my first half marathon last fall, so I'm glad about that. I'm definitely a faster runner than I was just a few months ago, so hopefully I'll continue to improve... and maybe I'll finally beat 2:15 whenever I run my next half marathon.

Per the surgeon's instructions, I removed Caleb's bandage Sunday afternoon. He still has several scabs and stitches, but his fingers are looking great!

18 month recap

Weight: 20lb 8oz

Length: 28"

Clothing size: Mostly 18 month, but he does still wear a few 12 month clothes. He still wears size 3 infant shoes.

Diaper size: size 3

Eating: Caleb is eating most regular foods now. I still cut/tear everything into small bites for him, since he still doesn't have many teeth. At Mother's Day Out and sometimes out of convenience while we're away from home, he has baby food pouches. Some of his favorite foods lately have been quesadillas, pulled pork, blueberry pancakes, mac & cheese, mandarin oranges, and multigrain Cheerios. Caleb still drinks all of his milk from his Honey Bear straw cups. We introduced Talk Tools Straw #1 a few days ago. He usually drinks all of his afternoon milk using Straw #1. He is drinking water from Take & Toss straw cups.

Sleeping: Caleb goes to sleep around 8:00pm and wakes up around 6:30-7:00am. He usually takes one nap in the early afternoon. He usually sleeps about 1.5-2 hours. 

His days: Caleb still goes to Mother's Day Out three times each week. He also does several hours of speech, occupational, and physical therapies each week. And of course, we make time for trips to the library, play dates and playing at home. We try to go to the zoo at least a couple times each month.

Highlights of the last three months: Caleb is moving forward more. He's pulling himself with his arms quite a bit, doing some sort of combination of an inchworm and army crawl. He's also pushing up on his arms and getting really close to pushing up into quadruped position. When he tries to get his knees up under him, he usually ends up pushing back and moving backward a few inches.

Caleb is getting three molars right now!

Caleb can show you where his tummy and head are. Once he got really good at "tummy", I started working on "head". When I ask him where his tummy is now, he usually pats his head and laughs. Silly kid. I'm now trying to teach him "mouth".

Two Weeks Post-op

Caleb had his two-week post-op appointment with the hand surgeon today. His bandage was removed, so I got to see his "released" fingers for the first time! They look great! The surgeon put another bandage on and told me to remove it in a week. We will return for another appointment with the surgeon in two weeks. 

One Week Post-op

It's been one week since Caleb's hand surgery, and we still have a week to go until his first follow-up appointment with the surgeon. Caleb seems to be doing well. He took Tylenol 2-3 times/day for a couple days after surgery and took an antibiotic for four days.

We cancelled all of his activities (MDO, therapies, etc) last week, so that he could rest and recover. Tuesdays are usually very busy for us, so it was a nice change to spend a lazy day at home. The only time we even got out of the house that day (aside from my early morning run before he woke up) was for a walk around the neighborhood. 

On Wednesday, I returned to work and Brad's mom stayed with Caleb at our house. 

We went to the zoo on Thursday afternoon. Caleb always enjoys the gorillas and chimps. This big gorilla and Caleb seem to have some fascination with each other. This is the second time they've had a staring contest. I'm not sure if the gorilla likes Caleb or if he wants to eat my baby! It was pretty warm that afternoon, so he had to cool off by getting his feet wet in the creek at the childrens zoo.

My mom stayed with Caleb while I worked on Friday. 

Caleb did have a play date at a friend's house on Saturday evening. Some other good friends were in town from Kansas, and we just couldn't miss the opportunity to see them and get the three October 2012 kiddos together. We kept a close eye on Caleb and made sure he and the other kids didn't do anything to hurt his hand. We had a great time playing with sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and all of Miss P's toys.

He is home from MDO again this week, and we still aren't resuming our full therapy schedule. We'll ease back into the routine gradually, as we and the surgeon feel comfortable.