10/31/07 - OUR LITTLE PUMPKIN

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It was Ollie's first Halloween and he was the cutest little pumpkin! Ollie enjoyed a visit from Grandma and some fun floor play with Orion.

Orion's new thing is that he imitates Ollie's hacking laugh. His laugh sometimes sounds like he's hacking or choking on something. It's very odd but still kind of cute. Orion has picked up on it and occasionally I find them hacking together on the floor in a repeating circle of laughter. It's so good to see the boys interact.

Ollie did not trick-or-treat because he slipped into a deep sleep mode early. Consequently he was up most of the night waking and sleeping and waking again. Fun stuff!

10/27/07 - SWINGIN' WITH DAD AND MOM

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Ah, another clear blue and cold day in Washington State. We took the boys shopping at the outlet mall in Centralia and then to Fort Borst park to play. Ollie had fun swinging with Mom and Dad. And the amazing thing is that big brother Orion took this picture. What a good little photographer he is!

10/23/07 - OLLIE'S WEIGH IN

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Today we finally had another weigh in for Ollie at the Pediatricians. In 3 weeks he gained 10 ounces. Last time in 2 weeks he had gained 16 ounces. So the weight gain is tapering off a bit. It's certainly not for lack of trying!!!

He now weighs 17 lbs 14 oz at slightly over 10 months old. That is just barely in the 5th percentile. But...still...he did gain a little so that's okay. We will just keep on doing all we can. Ah...the struggles of parenting!

10/18/07 - DADDY DEPARTS, NEW TEETH ERUPT

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So, the day after my last Oliver blog post his second bottom tooth arrived. And now Daddy is out-of-town in Yakima and suddenly the two upper teeth are starting to erupt. This left Ollie massively fussy today. It was no fun for anyone.

Big brother had his intensive behavioral therapy today and had major tantrums. So between his tantrums and Ollie's fussiness from teething, Mommy is an emotional wreck.

Both boys are in bed now but Mommy is too lazy to clean the house and is blogging instead.

Another note, Ollie is very close to crawling. He gets up on his knees and elbows and teeters back and forth. Occasionally he lunges forward for one stride but then belly flops. Life will be much more interesting yet complicated once Ollie is mobile! Yikes!

10/11/07 - FUSSY DROOL BOY

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That darn second tooth of Ollie's still hasn't poked through yet. He's very fussy and there's lots of drooling...but no tooth yet. Poor kid. We are all sick here except Ollie. But maybe Ollie is sick too. It's so hard to tell when a baby is fussy from sickness or teething or countless other things. All we know is that it's not our typical happy boy.

I've had to syringe food in him a few times today. Not sure if the refusal is tooth related or just his typical food refusal.

Look at that red hair on the boy! John says it doesn't come from his side and blames it on me.

Okay....right now Orion is climbing on me and demanding a bath so I can't type and think! More later.

10/4/07 - GAINING WEIGHT AND CUTTING TEETH

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Well, two days ago we had our 2 week follow-up with Dr. Mason for Oliver's weight check. He gained 1 lb in 2 weeks which Dr. Mason said was better than expected. So, he wants us to continue the food journal, keep crammin' the calories in him, and keep doing the late night feedings.

On the same day as his Dr's appointment his first tooth broke through. He had been exceedingly difficult for a while and I think that explains why. He continues to be difficult and so I think a second tooth is trying to poke through. I've been giving him pain reliever every 6 hours and it's helped a little.

The biggest problem with his pain is that he is even more stubborn about food refusal. With liquids I first try a bottle, then a cup, then nursing, then a syringe, then lastly a spoon. The syringe usually works but takes forever. We usually want him to take at least 3 ounces of breast milk. There are about 7 full syringes in an ounce. So, that's 21 syringes. Each syringe takes him about 3 minutes to do. So it takes about 1 hour to get him to take 3 ounces of liquid by syringe. My point in all of this is that it's very time consuming and frustrating...especially with Orion needing attention during all of that.

Okay...now I sound way too negative in this blog entry. I must accentuate the positive! The positive is that he is gaining weight and Dr. Mason is hopeful that if we try we may get him back up the 25th percentile in the next 4 weeks or so. That would be wonderful.

Daddy is out-of-town in Reno and we miss him immensely. Oh Daddy, we sure do love you! Please come home and help your little boy get chunky!!!