9/29/07 - BENSON LAKE CABIN WITH MOM AND STACIE

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Oliver was the only guy at a girl's weekend retreat to Benson Lake with Mommy and Stacie. Mommy enjoyed spending time with one of her best friends and just chatting about life without too many interruptions.

We cooked special meals for each other including Tom Khaa Gai (thai soup) and Crunchy French Toast. It was very yummy. Oliver even tried eating a bit of Pad Thai.

Stacie felt like it was a challenge that she couldn't refuse to try and get food into Ollie. She tried the distraction techniques, mixing different foods, etc. She soon realized that feeding Ollie is no easy task.

We walked around the lake in the morning just before the heavy rain set in. Then Stacie stayed on for another night while Mommy returned home to her other fellas.

At home things seemed orderly and calm. Daddy did a great job watching Orion and keeping the house clean. Mommy was really proud of Daddy! It was a nice break from normal life.

9/27/07 - FOOD STRATEGIES AND STRUGGLES

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Well, it's still a challenge to get food into Oliver. Today while Orion was at preschool we went to Fred Meyer and they had a sippy cup on sale that I wanted to try for him. It is compatible with his bottles. So, I got one and he seems to like having handles on a bottle and a sippy lid. But I haven't seen him do much more than just chew on the sippy nipple. He sucked once and found out that if you do that stuff comes out. Then he promptly stopped sucking.

I have been trying the distraction technique but it's more and more challenging because he's on to me. He knows I will try to distract him and shovel a mouthful of food into him or make him drink from a bottle. By the end of today I was back to syringing food into him. This is so completely tiring!

Anyway, here's a picture of him from yesterday playing outside in the grass and the sunshine. We've gotta maximize that sun exposure while it still exists. I won't be long before we'll be living in complete darkness and overcast for months. Oh the dread!

9/22/07 - BEEFING UP OLLIE!

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The challenge is on! We must beef Ollie up. He is just too small. We started a food journal to keep track of his calories. You really realize how little he chooses to eat when you write it down.

So, at this point we are slightly forcing him to eat even when he turns away. Because honestly, he almost always turns away from a spoon full of food or pushes away a bottle. So we distract him and sneak a bite in or a sip in. We let him play with other spoons and when he opens to put one in his mouth we quickly put a spoonful of sweet potatoes and chicken, or prunes, or whatever high calorie food we can dig up.

It must be making a difference in a small way because his poops have increased! That's gotta be a good sign. But, he may be having some tummy issues because of all of it because when we put him down to sleep tonight he woke up a short time later crying and grunting. He usually sleeps for a long stretch after about 10:00pm at night. Not tonight.

Anyway, Ollie was glad to have Daddy home to ruffle him up. Daddy loved playin' with the two boys together and even swaddled them both up tightly on the floor for old times sake. Ah...our little bundles of joy!

9/20/07 - PLAYING WITH BIG BRO

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Today Oliver was definitely not into eating. Mommy had to resort to syringing the liquids into him. I guess his nose is just so stuffed up and his normal airway is always so tight that he just can't manage eating and breathing. Mommy tried and tried and tried but Ollie always refused. It breaks Mommy's heart to see her baby boy not eating.

Big bro Orion went to school this afternoon so Mommy and Ollie went grocery shopping.

After school the two boys played together on the floor for a little bit. Orion makes very good eye contact with Ollie when playing. Most times he knows that he needs to be gentle but every once in a while he'll rip a lincoln log out of little Ollie's hands. Still, it's heart warming to see them together.

9/19/07 - OLLIE'S SLOW GROWTH

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Well, yesterday I took Oliver to his 9 month check-up. We thought he was eating much better than before but it seems he's still dropping on the weight charts. He started at around the 75th percentile and has dropped and dropped at each appointment. Now is he below the 5th percentile. Not good.

He just doesn't like liquid intake. It's such a struggle for him with his reflux and laryngomalacia. We've been seeing a Speech Language Pathologist for the past 3 months that gave us a few new feeding cups and spoons. That helped but I guess not enough.

The Doctor wants us to put Ollie back on his reflux medication, Prevacid. He thinks maybe he has silent reflux...where you don't see the food come all the way back up but it still burns. We will try Prevacid for 2 weeks, keep a thorough food journal of his caloric intake, and come back for a weigh in. If he hasn't improved in 2 weeks we will then go to a nutritionist in Tacoma for more suggestions.

He does seem to enjoy self-feeding more than anything. I put peaches on his tray today and he loved them except that they were a bit sour. He made a few funny faces but still ate them.

How on earth did I end up with 2 children that won't eat??!!