What a guy!

Zack's latest little things are pretty funny, especially to him. Such as, whenever he sticks his finger in his nose, we say "Don't pick your nose!" To which he laughs and either puts his finger back in, or pulls it out only to stick it right back!

Also, I have been trying to teach him what time-out means if he's doing something he shouldn't, and yesterday I was telling him not to get into something and said, "Don't do that unless you want to go to time-out" and he looked at me and walked right to time-out and sat down... smiling of course!! He thought he was being so good!

Finally, his other thing that he thinks is a game, is that he likes to stick his hand down his pants. Everyone says it's just a boy thing, but seriously, how do you get this to stop?! Today, for instance, he had a messy diaper and when I went to change him (Luckily I had taken his pj's off not too long before, so he was just in his diaper!), I looked at him and thought he had blown out a little... oh no! He had stuck his hands in his diaper and gotten poop all over his back and FACE! Yep, how much do you want to bet he tried it too?? Ugh... I didn't think it was appropriate to take a picture of this one!

Another crazy month!

What a mess! Zack has been having so many random things going on this past month I almost don't know where to start. First, we decided to start working on his sleeping schedule/habits. We had this tackled and beat it a while ago, but with all the ear infections (and a few others) last year, the sleeping habits were out of wack!! So, it only took about a day to get Zack to cry it out in his crib to realize he could just lay down and go to sleep. So YAY for all of us on this now, because he is sleeping so much better now!

He fell asleep playing with his toys!

However, the downside to the month has been that he has been throwing up almost every day... and most days more than once per day. We have been to three doctors (One of which told me he was just doing it to get attention... um, no thanks! Do you just throw up to get attention? Yeah, only if I am bulimic!), and finally on the third doctor, he explained things so we understood and felt comfortable with what we needed to try. We are 'treating' him with acid reflux meds to start with and see if that "fixes" everything, and we also had a blood test to see if he has Celiac... Anyway, we're hoping for the easiest route here so he doesn't keep throwing up everyday!
In the meantime, he hasn't been gaining weight (shocker!), so we're adding more calories to his milk to help with that. He weighs 18 pounds 9 ounces... and when both of his cousins weigh more than he does (They are age 11 months and 8 months... Zack is 20 months!), then we need to show up!!

19 months old

Zack is now over a year and a half old! Who would have thought this time would go by so fast?? Definitely not me! We went in for his usual check-up last week and here is where he stands:

WEIGHT - 18 pounds 8 ounces (not even close to getting on the charts yet)
HEIGHT - 29 3/4 inches (almost on the charts!)

The dr. said he needs to start gaining weight faster (obviously!) so we are now adding the Carnation instant breakfast to his milk for added calories. But other than that, Zack seems to be right on track with his development.
Zack is getting to be more fun everyday. He is literally running around the house now. If he wants something, he yells "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" until I understand what he wants. He'll even call Jared "Mommy" now :> He is also becoming quite the little helper around the house too! I think his favorites are throwing things in the garbage (better be careful on this one!) and doing laundry.
He also went to nursery for the first time yesterday! Although Jared took him to the older nursery, he still seemed to do just fine. We hope he will love it next week when he's with kids his own age. Yay for Zack this month!!!

Much better!

What a difference those tubes have made for Zack!! He ended up having an ear infection right after the surgery (which we thought the drainage was normal since the dr. said there would be some). So we gave him some ear drops, which we think was making him throw up everyday, and that seemed to clear it right up. However, we were beginning to wonder if the tubes were a waste because we didn't see the difference in Zack like we were told.

Anyway now that some time has passed, he seems SO much happier now than ever! He acts silly all the time (OK, not all the time)! He likes to give hugs, he is trying to talk more (which there isn't much of anything we understand), he is starting to point to his eyes/nose/etc. when we ask where they are, he has about 6 teeth now, and the latest is when I ask him what a cow says, he goes "mmmm". I'll take it!!

Zack turned 18 months old on New Year's day. We visit the dr. at the end of this month for his weight/height update. So we'll see if the tubes made a difference in his weight gain. Previous to the tubes, he hadn't gained weight in 3 months. So we'll hope for the best on that!

Surgery #3

Today Zack had his third surgery. He had his tubes put in his ears for all of the infections he has had. I don't care how "simple" a procedure is supposed to be, it brings tears to my eyes every time when the doctor has to come in the room and take him away from me. Talk about a sick feeling in your stomach... trying to be upbeat to your baby, knowing what is coming for them, and sending them away to have it done. Ugh...
Anyway, the surgery went very well and he was done very fast. When he woke up he was very disoriented and cranky, but at least it was outpatient and we were on our way home in no time. The rest of the day has consisted of longer naps, more crankiness, and yet also a lot of "unsure" of what he wants to do kind of behavior! He is acting super silly one minute, screaming the next, then crying to be held (then when we picked him up, even more crying to be put down). Here's hoping tomorrow is better!!

This is OBVIOUSLY not today! This was taken yesterday... pre-surgery!

Just more ear infections.

Just when I think we are done, we aren't! I really have so little to complain about when it comes to Zack's health, but lately, it seems like we are spending more time at the doctor's office than we did when he was first born!!
On Sunday Zack started having a low fever. Monday that low fever turned into a temp of 103 degrees. By Tuesday, it was up to 104 degrees (Oh, and with no other symptoms). I took him to the dr. and he said both of his ears were infected AGAIN (Keep in mind his latest ear infections were just at the beginning of October AND the end of October!)! He also said that he wasn't so sure the high fevers weren't coming from something else too, but started treating him with an antibiotic shot anyway.
Overnight Zack started throwing up, so we took him back to the dr. again today and got another shot and some blood work done, but nothing really was out of the ordinary there. UGH! I don't want it to be anything, but I want it to be something so we know how to fix it (make sense?!)!!
Anyway, we are just watching him at this point to see what happens. But in 2 weeks we go back to the dr. for his second flu/swine flu shots, then the day after that for his tube surgery. By this point, you'd think we would have a personalized room just for us wherever we went... but no!

Tubes

Well, we visited the ENT doctor yesterday and Zack will be getting tubes put in his ears. He's had about 5 ear infections in the past 7 months or so, and the dr. said he only needed 3 in 6 months to possibly qualify. So we have scheduled December 2nd to have the surgery to put the tubes in... and guess where we will have the surgery... St. Mark's Hospital! We're going back. Although, this time we are so happy that it will be less than a day.