Wild Boy

I keep saying it'll lay down when it gets a little longer but it's not happening! lol My poor baby has "chicken hair" as we affectionately call his spikey hairdo. lol My husband always tries to slick it down but I think its adorable sticking up like that!

He is now jabbering saying ma ma ma ma! Of course I looooove this! He has no idea what he's saying, just copying me because I say ma ma ma to him ALL the time lol BUT! He's saying it! He's growing so fast and learning so much....he's just amazing and wonderful all wrapped into this wild, adorable lil boy! :D

Walker Mania

Kaleb definetly has walker mania! lol he lovessss being in his walker so much. He has only mastered going backwards in it so far but it is his new favorite thing!

well, his favorite besides watching me do Wii Fitness lol My wonderful husband bought me the Wii Fitness mat and game today! I absolutely love it! It's so much fun you forget your working out. I think it's an awesome invention for moms! We can work out right here in our home while we watch our babies. It is really awesome how it tells you your weight, BMI and lets you set goals of how much weight you want to lose in a certain period of time. Then you can track your progress. I love how it stimulates you going for a run. It looks and sounds like your outside as you run in place. Kaleb sits in his walker and just stares at me like I'm crazy. lol which....well....he's probably right! And no, there are definetly no pictures of me doing this.....lol

Snuggle Bug

I gave Kaleb a bath earlier today and then wrapped him up in this big fluffy towel. He loves being all swaddled up like this. He didn't want me to take the towel off to get dressed lol I unwrapped him long enough to put a diaper and onesie on him. Then I swaddled him back up in the towel and he fell right to sleep. He's such a little snuggly bug and just looked so precious I had to snap a picture!

He is feeling alot better today. We took him to the doctor yesterday for a diaper rash and white stuff on his lips/mouth. We figured he had thrush and we were right. He's only had two doses of the medicine she prescribed and is already so much better. He slept from 8 pm to 10 am this morning!! He woke up all smiley and not near as fussy as yesterday. So glad he is feeling better and back to his old happy self!

Our Little Road Trip

Wednesday and Thursday we took a small road trip that started out just to see my brother Ben but we decided to take a detour to Galveston to ride the ferry. It was so enjoyable and beautiful. We saw a dolphin on our way across which was really neat. I'm glad we did this because Kaleb absolutely loved it! He was just so engrossed in everything going on around him!

After the wonderful ferry ride we were back on the road again. We hooked this DVD player up for Kaleb so he can watch his Baby Einstein videos on road trips to New Orleans for his monthly CF appointments. It really comes in handy to keep him occupied and he seems to really enjoy it! He loves his Baby Einstein DVDs!

Next we stopped to visit with Kaleb's Great Aunt Joann. It was a wonderful visit and very special for my husband :) Kaleb had a little mishap though when daddy decided to give him ice cream! He threw up everywhere and freaked mommy out! Always scares me when Kaleb throws up because that is what he did when he had his blockage. He was laughing and wanting to play soon after though and so my heart palpitations ceased! lol

We were all pretty tuckered out from a long day so we checked into a nearby hotel and relaxed for the rest of the night.

The next day we visited with Uncle Ben and Uncle Mark. We had a delicious lunch at a nearby cafe that they recommended. Mmmmm for chicken fried steak! Kaleb was a little fussy and tired so he zonked out in his car seat on the way to BabiesRus/ToysRus. We all of course spent a fortune at the toy store. lol Kaleb got a walker and a bumbo seat that I had been wanting to get him for a long time.

We had an awesome time seeing family and enjoyed a great trip with Kaleb. Can't wait for the next one!

Breathing Treatments

We give Kaleb his tobi breathing treatments two times a day. One in the morning and one at night before he goes to bed. This is the second time around he's had to do them. At first he would throw a fit and not want the mask on his face at all. He has gotten so much better at it now and will sit and do it most of the time. He is after all just a baby so sometimes he is fussy and fights us on it. I just stop the machine and pull ourselves together for a few minutes before we try again. What we find works best for Kaleb is to sit him in his bouncy chair while we do it. It seems like when we hold him while we do it he squirms and fusses more frequently. When he sits in his bouncy chair he watches us talking to him and I sing songs to him. We also bring some of his toys like his rattles and stuffed animals to occupy him if he gets upset. I think the biggest thing is to keep him entertained while he has to sit there, he gets bored. Another trick that works for Kaleb is to give him his pacifer, let him suck on it and then put the mask over his face. Usually he will fall asleep when we do the night time treatment while sucking on his "binky" as I rock his bouncy chair up and down lightly. Not every treatment is absolutely perfect but neither is Kaleb...or me for that matter lol I stopped worrying myself so much over doing it absolutely perfect and him getting every single little puff the machine blows out. He is just a baby and except for the times he falls asleep that just isn't possible for him. I think he does really great for his age, he is only 9 months old and sits there like a champ most of the time!

Kaleb is sitting up!

Kaleb sat up all by himself with no help for the first time last night!! We are so excited and proud of him! I know it seems kind of late for him to just now be doing this but he spent a good chunk of his life so far in a hospital bed. We have been working every day with him to help him try and sit up, crawl, roll over and talk. He has been rolling all over the place and now sitting up so we are definetly making progress!! I'm so stinkin' proud of the lil boo bear! :D

I hope everyone has a happy 4th of july!

:)

Our Life Presently

This is a current picture of Kaleb :D

Amazing to look at him now and compare it to pictures of him at birth! He looks like a totally different baby!

He is doing so great at the moment! He's gaining weight and eating up a storm! His CF care team are so impressed and happy with how he is doing. He takes his enzymes mixed in apple sauce before every bottle or baby food he eats. The enzymes help him to be able to digest his food. He also has liquid vitamins his nutritionist gave him, who is awesome and part of his care team. The vitamins are essential to give him enough of the vitamins he doesn't absorb properly on his own. The vitamins are mixed with salt and rice cereal into his formula. The salt i'm sure your wondering about is also to give him what he needs to make up for all the salt he sweats out. Kiss a cfer and see how salty they taste. He takes zantac for acid reflux two times a day. He has a bottle every four hours and he eats baby food in between his bottle feedings. He lovessss sweet potatoes and will eat anything mixed with them lol He also loves any fruit but really really hates peas!! At the moment he has a bacteria in his lungs (Pseudomonas) that his CF doc found by the throat swab he has Kaleb do every appointment. So, we are currently doing a round of "tobi", his breathing treatment, two times a day. He will be on this as well as liquid antibiotics for 28 days and then another throat swab will be done to see if he is rid of it. We also do what I call "patting" ,(Airway Clearance Technique), two times a day, once in the morning and once at night after his breathing treatments. I call it patting because what you do is pat him with a cupped hand on each side of his upper back and his chest to vibrate his lungs. Vibrating the lungs makes them "sluff off" the dead cells, since he can't do this on his own, and hopefully helps to rid the bacteria.

Sometimes things are pretty hectic. Last week we had a doctors appointment or home health visit every day except saturday and sunday lol It can be crazy but I will do anything to make sure he is getting everything he needs and the best care he can have.

Phew! I think thats it lol All of that has pretty much become normal around here and just a part of life. His CF care team is awesome and I think they are detrimental to how well he is doing. I hope he keeps continuing to thrive!