Where have I been?

In case you are all worried about where your faithful blogger has been - well, I've been sick. Not just the "I have a bad cold" kind of sick, but really sick. Possibly permanently.

Gastroparesis

That's what they call in. I am still waiting for that diagnosis to be confirmed with one more test but I and my gastroenterologist (GI) are fairly certain.

Since the symptoms of this aren't something your bring up in polite conversation I haven't really shared this with anyone. But since mid-September I have been getting sick (throwing up) daily. When it first started I also had vertigo. At first I thought that perhaps I was (improbably) pregnant. I'm not. When that was ruled out we suspected it might be my gallbladder. I did have a gallstone and had a history of a poorly functioning gallbladder. So I had it taken out in December. That didn't help. In Oct/Nov I started getting random quick feelings of numbness/tingling. That combined with the vertigo got my brain all riled up thinking it could be MS. None of the doctors think that is the case. I will have an MRI in a few weeks to definitively rule it out but I'm not too worried. I suspected a hormone imbalance since the feeling was similar to my pregnancies. That was also ruled out.

I finally got in to see a GI last week (a fellow Domer - hooray!) and he confirmed my suspicion that this is likely a problem with how quickly my stomach empties. Basically, there is a nerve (vagus nerve) that tells your stomach when to contract and push food through to the small intestine. Sometimes that nerve gets damaged. It happens a lot in people with diabetes (ruled out for me). In the rest of the cases, they don't usually know what causes it. Those cases are called idiopathic gastroparesis. That's me.

They did an endoscopy to rule out any kind of blockage in my upper GI tract. All clear. But they did find some esophagits (inflammation of the esphogous - probably from vomiting so much the last 3 years) and found that my stomach still held food from 6 hours before and had limited motility (movement). I go back this week for a gastric emptying study. I will get to eat some (low-dose) radioactive food and they will check how quickly it passes through. If it takes 4 hours or more then the diagnosis of gastroparesis will likely be confirmed.

Treatment options - none of them are really making me jump for joy. There are some medications I will start trying after the GES. Hopefully those combined with changing my eating habits to have more frequent, smaller meals will help the symptoms. But there is no known cure of which I am yet aware.

If you are the praying sort, please pray that
1. God will heal my body
2. I will have the emotional strength to deal with the repercussions of all of this

If you are not a praying person, I encourage you to think about starting. God is waiting for you!

On the Move

Peter has discovered the excitement of forward motion. This weekend he started doing the "army crawl" (is there a real name for this)? He gets his arm under himself then uses his legs to propel forward. I could tell within the last week that he was itching to move forward and grab things in front of himself. And he finally made it happen.

I don't remember exactly, but it seems like it took Allison a lot longer to crawl. She was content to roll everywhere. She could make it across the room in no time by rolling and pivoting. But not this guy. For him, rolling is so last week.

In other exciting news, the kids got a bit of a shake up this weekend in the car. We moved Peter from the infant carrier to the convertible seat. And we turned Allison's convertible seat around so she is facing forward. I really think she loves the new view. Instead of falling asleep on the ride home from watching the super bowl last night (well past her bed time), she stayed awake and gabbed with us the entire ride home.

Tears, tantrums....two

"Terrible Twos"
I've done some reading and it seems there is a misconception that the Terrible Twos is really when a child is two years old. The experts I've researched seem to think it is really the second year of life - when a child is one. I personally think it is the 6 months before and after a child's 2nd birthday.

My docile, easy-going daughter is certainly living up to that expectation. She is still fun to be with... when she's not crying over something. And those moments are becoming fewer and farther between. She's been putting us through the ringer the last few weeks. Most of the time the tantrum is because she wants to do or have something that her daddy or I have deemed unsafe (touching the utensils in the dishwasher), unnecessary (another cup of water after she deliberately spilled the first) or "not right now" (another round of teeth-brushing when it's really time to get out of the house). The tantrums manifest themselves usually with screaming/crying, tears and emphatic "NO"s shouted toward the offending party or object. Sometimes she likes to crash into things that I'm certain must smart when she hits them.

Our usual response to a tantrum is no response. Unless she is somewhere she might get hurt (in which case I will pick her up and move her to a more safe location - i.e. the middle of the floor), we let her have her fit. I refuse to engage with a screaming banshee. When she calms down we can discuss what she wants and work on moving on to another activity.

However, yesterday she was so mad at me (I can't recall exactly why) that as she stormed from the room she decided to show her frustration by plunking her brother on top of his head. Poor Peter was simply minding his own business lying on the floor when he got a decent smack. That resulted in immediate removal to time-out. To understand the effectiveness of time-out for Allison you have to know that she adores being near us. She wants to be in whatever room we are in (usually me) and doesn't like to be alone much. So being in a time-out when no one is engaging with you and they are all usually in another area (where I can still see her) is an extremely cruel and unusual punishment. But it works. We managed to move on from the tantrum and she made heartfelt apologies to both me and Peter.

Another new routine is crying insanely when she really wants something that I either won't give her or can't give her just yet (because I'm doing something else). The strategy we are currently imploying is to respond that we will not respond to screaming. If she wants something she can make a reasonable request - either with words (if she knows them) or with gestures and other calm methods. As soon as she stops screaming I'll ask again what she wants and if she tells me without shouting or crying I'll comply (assuming it's safe/ok).

If you are dealing with toddler tantrums (or have in the past), what methods work for you?

Two Teeth

Peter now has both of his bottom teeth. They definitely make him look like less of a tiny baby. He is rolling around like crazy and loves his jumper. It's been very fun getting to watch Peter and Allison get to know one another. They positively adore each other and both light up when they see the other.

Preview of 6 month pictures

Peter had his 6 month pictures taken today. They came out so cute and I could not be happier with the result. Here's a small preview. Thanks to our wonderful photographer Andrea for being so patient with us and making sure we got some great images to remember this age.

And for good measure, she got a few of Allison too.

10 Things I Love About My 6 Month Old

1. I love the way you laugh hysterically when daddy rubs his head on your chest

2. I love that you are the best snuggler ever.

3. I love that you like to grab onto your sister - her clothes, hair, hands.

4. I love the way you wake up in a good mood.

5. I love that you bounced so hard on the lillypad at the Children's Museum that you knocked the mobile off.

6. I love that you watch us so intently.

7. I love that you roll over with such ease.

8. I love that you like to chew on your feet.

9. I love the way you babble as though there is much to say.

10. I love that you (usually) sleep through the night.

Happy 6 months Peter

Peter made it 6 months on January 1. He's growing into quite the little guy. He's starting to sit up a bit. He still needs to support himself with his arms. And he falls over. But he's getting there. He had his check up with the doctor on the 2nd. And he is growing just like they expect. Here are his stats:

Height: 27 1/4 inches = 76th percentile
Weight: 17# 131/2 oz. = 51st percentile
Head: 17 1/4 inches = 40th percentile

So he's starting to get longer and not gain quite as much weight. But he'll be starting on solids this week so that might change.