A Visit with Doctor House

I took Cole to the Doctor House of pediatric gastroenterology doctors yesterday. He was great - he took an entire hour to listen to our story, examine Cole, and come up with a plan of action. We discussed several possible problems that could be causing Cole's tummy issues. In the end, Dr. House said that Cole clearly has a "raging" case of GERD that he felt could be treated more aggressively. So - he tweaked the meds Cole is currently on and added two more medications. He also gave me the go ahead to start giving Cole rice cereal. We've got two and a half weeks to see if these steps make a difference and decrease the amount of puking. If not, then we'll be heading back to Dr House to schedule a GI scope procedure to explore the possibility of delayed gastric emptying or some other internal structural or functional problem. Keep your fingers crossed!

He's On a Roll!

Despite all his digestive problems, Cole still seems to be achieving his physical and developmental milestones no problem. Here's a video of his latest accomplishment!

For what it's worth, Sydney rolled over exactly at 4 months too.

Under the Sweat Lodge - I Mean Big Top

Wow - I think we almost melted today. Mom, Syd, Cole, and I went to the circus, and I think it was over 100 degrees under the big top! The acts were good: we saw elephants, tigers, zebras, camels, llamas, trapeze artists, clowns, ATV riders - they had it all. But, the heat was incredibly distracting. In fact, we ended up hightailing it out of there at intermission. Anyway, it was all worth it because Syd got to ride an elephant! This has been a pretty eventful summer with the animal rides for Syd - first the camel and now the elephant. She's fearless!

ABCs!

Fun at Art Square

Yesterday, I took the kids along with Gramma and Terra to Art Square. Art Square is a local art gallery where the Loudoun Academy of the Arts Foundation displays local art work. The August exhibit was the 9th Annual Something Hot Regional Juried Show and Sale. It turns out we know one of the artists whose painting was juried in... our very own Bella Gramma. Although Cole was definitely not in the mood to enjoy the art exhibit, Sydney had a great time looking at the paintings and making comments. She especially liked Gramma's painting of a shop doorway and correctly identified one of the major colors as orange. Our visit was cut short by Cole's crying. Hopefully, they'll let us back in the next time we go!

Look Out Below!

Cole continues his puke-tastic puke-tacular. He pukes after almost every meal, sometimes multiple times. Often, he pukes hours after being fed. For a long time, I've assumed it was something I was eating that caused his problems. However, today's doctor's visit suggested that's not likely the case. After listening to our update on Cole's symptoms, Cole's doctor suggested he might have delayed gastric emptying or DGE (aka: gastroparesis). DGE is a condition in which the stomach takes longer to empty than it should. Some estimates suggest that half of babies with reflux also have some degree of DGE. Symptoms include feeling full quickly while eating, nausea after meals, vomiting and heartburn, and abdominal bloating or pain. The best indication in babies is throwing up undigested or partially digested food several hours after feeding.

Medications are the usual treatment for DGE. In severe cases, surgery may be required.

We'll be heading to a pediatric GI doctor in the next week or so. Hopefully, they'll be able to give us more answers and get us on the road to a less pukey future!

Bergemuda South

Wow. Where to start? We had a blast this past week in the outer banks! The whole gang traveled six hours to Corolla, NC, for a week-long beach vacation. We stayed in a spectacular beach house just steps from the ocean. Here are some highlights:

- We spent almost every morning at the beach. Usually, everyone went except whoever was appointed to keep an eye on Cole (it was clear after day 1 that Cole was not quite ready for the beach).

- We spent almost every afternoon at our private backyard pool. It wasn't fancy, but extremely refreshing.

- We enjoyed an incredible crab leg feast on Wednesday night. We actually ate in a lot, too. We made sandwiches for lunch, had a barbecue in the rain, and enjoyed taco night! All the restaurants that we visited (with the exception of delivered pizza that Jodi and Sarah got) were surprisingly good.

- Tom brought walkie talkies for the drive down and back. We also used them while we were on the beach to keep in contact with Cole and his sitter. At first, I gave Tom a hard time about the walkie talkies (don't cell phones do the same thing?). But - I was wrong. The walkie talkies were great, and I think Big Papa especially enjoyed announcing, "Big Papa copies" and "Big Papa to Beach Blanket."

- We were all surpised to learn that Max can spell. Who knew that we have such an amazingly educated dog in our midst?

- Terra delivered the beat down of all beat downs in Scrabble.

- Sydney managed to lock us out of her room.

- Cole rolled over for the first time - from back to belly.

- Mustache Papa started calling Big Papa Coconut Joe after Big Papa announced that he was coconut brown (I think his skin was closer to a shade of overdone lobster).

- Sarah and Jodi were shopping maniacs. They visited all the shopping plazas within driving distance of the house. Well, maybe not all of them. We were the lucky recipients of their treasures, though! Sarah picked out great OBX magnets for everyone, and Syd and Cole received the cutest souvenir t-shirts!

- Max Gramma managed to fit in several brisk walks and water aerobics almost every day.

- Sydney rolled down a half flight of stairs and took about 10 years of everyone's lives. Thankfully, she's a-okay!

- Bella Gramma perfected the art of floating in the pool. I looked out the window several times and had to do a double take to make sure she was still breathing.

- Everyone was fantastic about helping out with Cole and Sydney. We are so blessed to have such wonderful and supportive family!

- Big Papa got to fly his kites, and helped Syd and Sarah fly a couple he bought them, too.

- Mustache Papa put in plenty of time playing several rounds of babies with Sydney.

- Sydney was especially happy to find a Little Tykes play car at the house. She (and Jodi - we'll keep the pictures for blackmail later) had a blast zooming around Flinstone style!

- Even Max enjoyed his vacation. He met several dogs in the neighborhood, including an enormous Saint Bernard! He made himself comfortable in the house and spent most days sprawled out on the couch.

- Bella Gramma made some excellent food while we were at the beach. My favorite was the Red, Hot, and Blue potato salad and the shrimp salad. Yummy!

- Tom made use of a bike he found at the house. He was spotted riding between the beach and the house with a beer in one hand, handle bar in the other, and whatever item he was helping to bring back or to the beach on his back.

Overall, it was a fantastic, relaxing vacation. There are more pictures on Picasa. I may post more here when I see Big Papa's pictures. Stay tuned!