Jonathan has started using more then one word together at a time. In the past few days he's started to combine simple words together, like "Dadda" or "Momma" and "no". Most of the time it's him trying to tell us he wants the other person. It's fun to hear him communicate verbally.
Stacey also taught Jonathan to say the word "yuck", usually when referring to his dirty diaper and other associated dirty things. The funny part is not so much the word, it's that the word is accompanied by over dramatic facial expressions involving squinting eyes, a crinkled nose, and lips tightened to reveal his front teeth. He's a total cheeseball.
16 March 2012
15 March 2012
Gonzaga 77 - 54 West Virginia
March Madness is upon us...the Zags once again won their first round match up. In a good way, the game last night was pretty boring. The Zags led from wire to wire and seemed to always have at least a ten point lead.
Since the game was played at dinner time here, Julia watched the first half with us while we all ate. She just couldn't figure out why the announcers kept talking about "mangos" for Gonzaga...
We explained that they were talking about the player named Pangos, not the tropical fruit. That in and of itself was funny, but then she was a little embarrassed and laughed, which made it more funny, which made her even more embarrassed, which made it even more funny.
Since the game was played at dinner time here, Julia watched the first half with us while we all ate. She just couldn't figure out why the announcers kept talking about "mangos" for Gonzaga...
We explained that they were talking about the player named Pangos, not the tropical fruit. That in and of itself was funny, but then she was a little embarrassed and laughed, which made it more funny, which made her even more embarrassed, which made it even more funny.
14 March 2012
Chunky Monkey
Over the past week or so I've been saying that Jonathan is looking taller and feels thicker, especially in his legs. I was pretty sure that he had grown and gained weight, but we were waiting for the official results from his visit with the dietician today.
Finally some great news: Jonathan gained a pound and a half over the past month! That's two to three times the expected amount. If you look at the slope of the points on the growth chart, it appears almost perpendicular to the established percentiles. Kudos to the dietician and new doctor for taking a less aggressive approach and recommending we feed him only the amount his body needs (versus 125%, for example). Between that and the new medication, Jonathan has been keeping everything down.
One of the other benefits of this approach is that as he gains weight over time, he can control that last 5-10% of the calories he needs because he's eating it (real food). He's self-regulating - at least at the very end. So, as of today he's 20.5 pounds (9.3 kilos) and 30.5 inches. Going forward we're going to feed him an extra 60 calories to bring the total up to 930 calories of formula and let him eat whatever else he wants above that. If he can somehow continue to gain a pound a month from now until June, by his second birthday he'll actually be on the 3% curve.
Finally some great news: Jonathan gained a pound and a half over the past month! That's two to three times the expected amount. If you look at the slope of the points on the growth chart, it appears almost perpendicular to the established percentiles. Kudos to the dietician and new doctor for taking a less aggressive approach and recommending we feed him only the amount his body needs (versus 125%, for example). Between that and the new medication, Jonathan has been keeping everything down.
One of the other benefits of this approach is that as he gains weight over time, he can control that last 5-10% of the calories he needs because he's eating it (real food). He's self-regulating - at least at the very end. So, as of today he's 20.5 pounds (9.3 kilos) and 30.5 inches. Going forward we're going to feed him an extra 60 calories to bring the total up to 930 calories of formula and let him eat whatever else he wants above that. If he can somehow continue to gain a pound a month from now until June, by his second birthday he'll actually be on the 3% curve.
10 March 2012
Family Update
Things have been going pretty well for us over the past week or so. We all recovered from the bad cold passed around, Jonathan has been doing well, Julia got a new jean jacket and sunglasses and Stacey started training for the Bolder Boulder in May with some girls from church. The highlight of my week was spending today playing in the sand (patio) with the kids and downloading Coldplay's latest album from Amazon for a mere 25 cents.
Our second attempt with Bethanechol yielded the same results so we took Jonathan off of it for about a week. Today was the first day we tried him on Cyproheptadine, an anti-histamine. He was definitely more interested in food then usual. He ate apple slices, potato chips, a bite of a Luna Bar, and almost went for an olive and a cucumber. Scrambled eggs are always a winner. It will take a week or so until we can determine whether or not there are any side effects and if it's really working.
Julia has been wanting a new jean jacket and sunglasses for awhile. I know she's at least been talking about new sunglasses for months. Although they were only two dollars at Walmart, we didn't exactly feel the need to run right out and buy them for her. Now that we have, she's been wearing her new sunglasses non-stop - even inside the house. She's also very excited to start Soccer Buddies next weekend.
Our second attempt with Bethanechol yielded the same results so we took Jonathan off of it for about a week. Today was the first day we tried him on Cyproheptadine, an anti-histamine. He was definitely more interested in food then usual. He ate apple slices, potato chips, a bite of a Luna Bar, and almost went for an olive and a cucumber. Scrambled eggs are always a winner. It will take a week or so until we can determine whether or not there are any side effects and if it's really working.
Julia has been wanting a new jean jacket and sunglasses for awhile. I know she's at least been talking about new sunglasses for months. Although they were only two dollars at Walmart, we didn't exactly feel the need to run right out and buy them for her. Now that we have, she's been wearing her new sunglasses non-stop - even inside the house. She's also very excited to start Soccer Buddies next weekend.
06 March 2012
Finger Paints
There's nothing like homemade finger paints to bring out the toothy kiddie grin in all of us...
03 March 2012
Dog Days Of Winter
I think February is my least favorite month of the year. It's still snowy and cold outside most of the time, there isn't anything going on except a badly-timed and invented commercial holiday, and the sun starts shining just enough to tease you that spring, although coming, isn't here yet. That's probably why the month usually only has 28 days, 10% less then most months. In the past, everyone agreed to only give February the minimum required number of days to make it a month. Then, on to March...
I was reviewing the posts over the past month and saw that there weren't very many. It's not that I don't want to and am not looking for things to post about, there just isn't much going on in our lives right now other then work, taking care of the kids, and keeping up the house. In terms of Jonathan, this is a good thing since nothing major is going on and we don't have any appointments to talk about.
We've been trying to check out a new church, but over the past five Sundays we've only gone once because someone has been sick the other four times. At first it was Julia, then Jonathan had his allergic reaction, then Stacey caught a bad cold, and now I have it. In many ways we're looking forward to the weather warming up, being outside, and having some things to do. We have a few things already planned in March - parades, races, and Julia's first real soccer class. We hope to get out a lot this summer since the kids are getting to that age.
Don't forget to change your clocks next weekend...
I was reviewing the posts over the past month and saw that there weren't very many. It's not that I don't want to and am not looking for things to post about, there just isn't much going on in our lives right now other then work, taking care of the kids, and keeping up the house. In terms of Jonathan, this is a good thing since nothing major is going on and we don't have any appointments to talk about.
We've been trying to check out a new church, but over the past five Sundays we've only gone once because someone has been sick the other four times. At first it was Julia, then Jonathan had his allergic reaction, then Stacey caught a bad cold, and now I have it. In many ways we're looking forward to the weather warming up, being outside, and having some things to do. We have a few things already planned in March - parades, races, and Julia's first real soccer class. We hope to get out a lot this summer since the kids are getting to that age.
Don't forget to change your clocks next weekend...
27 February 2012
Doggie Talk
Martha Speaks is a children's program on PBS. From Wikipedia:
Martha - the main protagonist, Martha is a talking dog that was born a stray and was put in the dog pound as a puppy. Martha gained the ability to talk after eating alphabet soup; the letters in the soup went to her brain instead of her stomach, which was an event that couldn't be repeated with another dog, but Martha has to continue eating it to retain her ability to speak.
Julia today: "Symba & Quincey should eat some alphabet soup and then they could talk. Could that work for real if they did that???"
Martha - the main protagonist, Martha is a talking dog that was born a stray and was put in the dog pound as a puppy. Martha gained the ability to talk after eating alphabet soup; the letters in the soup went to her brain instead of her stomach, which was an event that couldn't be repeated with another dog, but Martha has to continue eating it to retain her ability to speak.
Julia today: "Symba & Quincey should eat some alphabet soup and then they could talk. Could that work for real if they did that???"
26 February 2012
I Love What You Do For Me...
...Toyota! Remember these old commercials? I was jumping for joy today after I spent a few hours fixing up my truck. It's turning 18 years old this year and still running like clockwork. Sure, all things wear out with age, but did you know it's been scientifically proven that cockroaches and the 22R-E engine will both survive a nuclear blast?
For a long time my check engine light has been on. I knew that it wasn't a big deal and that the worst thing that would probably happen if I didn't do anything about it was that I'd get poor gas mileage. Actually, I would have addressed it much sooner if I had known how it easy it was to read the diagnostic code. For cars that are 1996 and newer, AutoZone will hook it up to a device for free that tells you the code. That doesn't work for older models like my truck. Using the internet and a tip from the guy at AutoZone, I used a paperclip. That's right, a paperclip. By placing each end of the paperclip into the correct holes in the diagnostics, I completed the circuit and my check engine light started to flash in a pattern, spelling out the code.
My check engine light flashed seven times and then once, over and over again. That's check engine light code for the number 71. I was so impressed by the simplicity of the paperclip technique that I took a little video for you to see. I did a little research on the internet and all signs pointed to the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) system. Without going into too much detail, some of the exhaust gas is pumped back into the engine to help lower emissions. This system is controlled by various valves, small hoses and tubes, and would explain why I was losing a little bit of power. I checked everything out and noticed that one of the hoses wasn't fully seated on one of the tubes. It was still connected, but not pushed in all the way. I pushed it back down and also removed the EGR valve from it's clips with my hands, and pulled off the rubber hoses. One guy said he cleaned this out and it fixed his problem. A few minutes later I had cleaned it all out and washed off the top filter with water (see first picture). I disconnected the battery to reset the light and it hasn't come back. I'm 20 miles into it and the light is staying off.
Cost to fix check engine light and learn how to read the diagnostic codes on my old truck: one paperclip.
The second problem I tackled just started happening this week. The first few times in happened it sounded pretty bad. When driving things would get pretty loud and my truck would vibrate significantly. I felt it most in the steering wheel. I feared the worst considering the age of my truck. After a few times it seemed to only happen when I had my foot on the gas. I started thinking through ways to eliminate possibilities - could it be my engine, or my shocks, or my tires that need replacing? The best test I came up with was to find a big hill, pop it in neutral, and coast down it. As I suspected, there were no vibrations when I coasted. That meant the wheels, tires, and suspension were not the problem. I looked at and revved the engine multiple times in neutral and everything sounded fine. I was fairly sure it had something to do with the drive train, since it only was happening when I was accelerating.
A few Google searches later I ran across a Toyota forum and a guy that had a T-100 that was doing the same thing. He had also made some similar modifications to his truck, so I was lucky to find the article. His problem was that one of the universal joints (u-joints) had broken and become loose. I hopped under my truck and was surprised to find the u-joint at the rear of the drive shaft, where it connects to the rear differential, was loose. All of the other u-joints were tight, but this one I could move with my hand. As I would accelerate, the power transfer from the engine to a loose spinning joint was probably causing my problem.
Even it this wasn't the problem, based on what I read and watched on YouTube, this needed to be fixed. Thankfully, the drive shaft and assembly can be removed by simply undoing four bolts. I pulled the thing out and then spent probably the next two hours trying to pry open the old u-joint. Over time, all of the dirt and grease and rust had kept the outside pretty tight while the inside of one end had disintegrated. Using a hammer, driver, and a lot of WD-40, I was eventually able to pry it off.
You can see what it looks like in the second picture right before I put the new piece together. The u-joint is the cross-shaped piece. It fits inside the holes and connects both pieces of the drive train. Each side is held in place by the caps (the old ones are off, the new ones are yellow and still connected to the new u-joint). These caps easily slide off the u-joint when not connected. They are the same size as the holes on the drive shaft though, so you have to lightly hammer them in from the outside to connect them back to the u-joint. On my model, the caps are held in place with c-clamps (in the second picture) from the inside. The c-clamps are wider then the hole opening, so when they are slid on the caps can't fall out and everything stays tightly together.
The third and fourth picture show what my truck looks like after taking off the drive shaft. The fifth picture is a closeup of the new u-joint installed and clamped, and the last picture shows it bolted back on to the truck. The last picture is a good visual of how when the engine and transmission spin the drive shaft, it transfers that power to the wheels to make them spin. After taking this last picture and verifying that everything was rock solid, I took it for a test drive. Lo and behold, the vibrations were gone. Not only that, by my truck seemed a little bit more responsive now that some power isn't being lost.
Cost to fix a seemingly very bad problem with my truck: $14.99 before tax.
After thinking about the old Toyota advertisement above, I've created my own version. It's a slightly different take on their slogan and definitely not a good marketing option, but it still makes a lot of sense. The way I see it, the slogan should be, "I love what you don't do to me, Toyota!"
For a long time my check engine light has been on. I knew that it wasn't a big deal and that the worst thing that would probably happen if I didn't do anything about it was that I'd get poor gas mileage. Actually, I would have addressed it much sooner if I had known how it easy it was to read the diagnostic code. For cars that are 1996 and newer, AutoZone will hook it up to a device for free that tells you the code. That doesn't work for older models like my truck. Using the internet and a tip from the guy at AutoZone, I used a paperclip. That's right, a paperclip. By placing each end of the paperclip into the correct holes in the diagnostics, I completed the circuit and my check engine light started to flash in a pattern, spelling out the code.
My check engine light flashed seven times and then once, over and over again. That's check engine light code for the number 71. I was so impressed by the simplicity of the paperclip technique that I took a little video for you to see. I did a little research on the internet and all signs pointed to the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) system. Without going into too much detail, some of the exhaust gas is pumped back into the engine to help lower emissions. This system is controlled by various valves, small hoses and tubes, and would explain why I was losing a little bit of power. I checked everything out and noticed that one of the hoses wasn't fully seated on one of the tubes. It was still connected, but not pushed in all the way. I pushed it back down and also removed the EGR valve from it's clips with my hands, and pulled off the rubber hoses. One guy said he cleaned this out and it fixed his problem. A few minutes later I had cleaned it all out and washed off the top filter with water (see first picture). I disconnected the battery to reset the light and it hasn't come back. I'm 20 miles into it and the light is staying off.
Cost to fix check engine light and learn how to read the diagnostic codes on my old truck: one paperclip.
The second problem I tackled just started happening this week. The first few times in happened it sounded pretty bad. When driving things would get pretty loud and my truck would vibrate significantly. I felt it most in the steering wheel. I feared the worst considering the age of my truck. After a few times it seemed to only happen when I had my foot on the gas. I started thinking through ways to eliminate possibilities - could it be my engine, or my shocks, or my tires that need replacing? The best test I came up with was to find a big hill, pop it in neutral, and coast down it. As I suspected, there were no vibrations when I coasted. That meant the wheels, tires, and suspension were not the problem. I looked at and revved the engine multiple times in neutral and everything sounded fine. I was fairly sure it had something to do with the drive train, since it only was happening when I was accelerating.
A few Google searches later I ran across a Toyota forum and a guy that had a T-100 that was doing the same thing. He had also made some similar modifications to his truck, so I was lucky to find the article. His problem was that one of the universal joints (u-joints) had broken and become loose. I hopped under my truck and was surprised to find the u-joint at the rear of the drive shaft, where it connects to the rear differential, was loose. All of the other u-joints were tight, but this one I could move with my hand. As I would accelerate, the power transfer from the engine to a loose spinning joint was probably causing my problem.
Even it this wasn't the problem, based on what I read and watched on YouTube, this needed to be fixed. Thankfully, the drive shaft and assembly can be removed by simply undoing four bolts. I pulled the thing out and then spent probably the next two hours trying to pry open the old u-joint. Over time, all of the dirt and grease and rust had kept the outside pretty tight while the inside of one end had disintegrated. Using a hammer, driver, and a lot of WD-40, I was eventually able to pry it off.
You can see what it looks like in the second picture right before I put the new piece together. The u-joint is the cross-shaped piece. It fits inside the holes and connects both pieces of the drive train. Each side is held in place by the caps (the old ones are off, the new ones are yellow and still connected to the new u-joint). These caps easily slide off the u-joint when not connected. They are the same size as the holes on the drive shaft though, so you have to lightly hammer them in from the outside to connect them back to the u-joint. On my model, the caps are held in place with c-clamps (in the second picture) from the inside. The c-clamps are wider then the hole opening, so when they are slid on the caps can't fall out and everything stays tightly together.
The third and fourth picture show what my truck looks like after taking off the drive shaft. The fifth picture is a closeup of the new u-joint installed and clamped, and the last picture shows it bolted back on to the truck. The last picture is a good visual of how when the engine and transmission spin the drive shaft, it transfers that power to the wheels to make them spin. After taking this last picture and verifying that everything was rock solid, I took it for a test drive. Lo and behold, the vibrations were gone. Not only that, by my truck seemed a little bit more responsive now that some power isn't being lost.
Cost to fix a seemingly very bad problem with my truck: $14.99 before tax.
After thinking about the old Toyota advertisement above, I've created my own version. It's a slightly different take on their slogan and definitely not a good marketing option, but it still makes a lot of sense. The way I see it, the slogan should be, "I love what you don't do to me, Toyota!"
24 February 2012
Checkup
It's Sunday morning at 5 a.m. I was awakened a few minutes ago by the faint beeping of the feeding pump alarm through the baby monitor. This is just another reason why Stacey and I go to bed at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday nights. Going to bed early has been happening a lot lately, but that's just the way our bodies ensure we get our eight hours every night.
Sometimes I type up blog entries a few days after the date listed on the post, since I try to keep the date on the blog near or on the day the event actually happened. On Monday, Jonathan started showing signs of improvement from his allergic reaction. By the afternoon, he was back to his old self. By Tuesday, his appearance was almost completely back to normal as well. Thursday we had a good snow storm and two appointments. The main appointment was our follow up with Dr Waasdorp, our GI doctor. She wanted to see us sooner since Jonathan had not done well on the past two medications and then had an allergic reaction to the last. Nothing much happened at the other appointment, food therapy, except that Jonathan kept trying to hand the food back to the women working with him instead of eating it.
Nothing much came out of the appointment except some good information. We're going to try Bethanechol again, since shortly after we stopped using it, the rest of us got sick too. We're hoping that it was just that he got sick and not the medicine. This was my suggestion despite my skepticism. We're going to try him on it again for a week at a lower dose and see what happens.
Dr Waasdorp also agreed with the caloric approach of only giving him what he needs, which is somewhat contrary to the past GI doctor's approach. She also mentioned, that despite the variation among individuals, 100 cal/kg of body weight should easily be enough to see some growth. Since Jonathan's stomach is the bottleneck, her approach right now appears to be finding a medicine to help alleviate that problem. Other testing options mentioned were a cardiologist and an EKG, just to rule out any heart problems. That could be something that prevents growth and should be a fairly easy to run. He's been examined with a stethoscope, but sometimes problems can be missed. I don't think he's ever had his heart monitored except at birth.
Perhaps the best bet of news was that she's very confident Jonathan will grow out of this. Based on what she's seeing and how he's developing and acting in appointments, this doesn't seem like it's going to be a long term problem. I think in a lot of ways we're still just playing the waiting game, hoping that sooner or later he'll catch on to what he needs to do. He's still fairly young in that regard, but growing older and more aware every day.
Sometimes I type up blog entries a few days after the date listed on the post, since I try to keep the date on the blog near or on the day the event actually happened. On Monday, Jonathan started showing signs of improvement from his allergic reaction. By the afternoon, he was back to his old self. By Tuesday, his appearance was almost completely back to normal as well. Thursday we had a good snow storm and two appointments. The main appointment was our follow up with Dr Waasdorp, our GI doctor. She wanted to see us sooner since Jonathan had not done well on the past two medications and then had an allergic reaction to the last. Nothing much happened at the other appointment, food therapy, except that Jonathan kept trying to hand the food back to the women working with him instead of eating it.
Nothing much came out of the appointment except some good information. We're going to try Bethanechol again, since shortly after we stopped using it, the rest of us got sick too. We're hoping that it was just that he got sick and not the medicine. This was my suggestion despite my skepticism. We're going to try him on it again for a week at a lower dose and see what happens.
Dr Waasdorp also agreed with the caloric approach of only giving him what he needs, which is somewhat contrary to the past GI doctor's approach. She also mentioned, that despite the variation among individuals, 100 cal/kg of body weight should easily be enough to see some growth. Since Jonathan's stomach is the bottleneck, her approach right now appears to be finding a medicine to help alleviate that problem. Other testing options mentioned were a cardiologist and an EKG, just to rule out any heart problems. That could be something that prevents growth and should be a fairly easy to run. He's been examined with a stethoscope, but sometimes problems can be missed. I don't think he's ever had his heart monitored except at birth.
Perhaps the best bet of news was that she's very confident Jonathan will grow out of this. Based on what she's seeing and how he's developing and acting in appointments, this doesn't seem like it's going to be a long term problem. I think in a lot of ways we're still just playing the waiting game, hoping that sooner or later he'll catch on to what he needs to do. He's still fairly young in that regard, but growing older and more aware every day.
19 February 2012
It Ends Tonight
I've finally finished the crown molding project. The entire house is done. It only took me a year and a half to finish. Actually, it was probably more like a year since I took some time off.
Julia's room was the last to be painted. I did the initial (and most important) coat yesterday and gave it a smooth, final coat and touched up the walls today. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now that I'm done. I'm sure I'll find something...
We're coming up on five years since we bought this house. Although there will always be something to do, the major improvements are pretty much done. It's taken a full five years of steady work to get this place to where I wanted it to be. It's amazing how much we've done, inside and outside, if you stop and look around.
One thing to note is that my last brush strokes were done to the song, "It Ends Tonight" by the All-American Rejects. That's just what came on while my iPod was on shuffle. I can't think of a more fitting title.
Julia's room was the last to be painted. I did the initial (and most important) coat yesterday and gave it a smooth, final coat and touched up the walls today. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now that I'm done. I'm sure I'll find something...
We're coming up on five years since we bought this house. Although there will always be something to do, the major improvements are pretty much done. It's taken a full five years of steady work to get this place to where I wanted it to be. It's amazing how much we've done, inside and outside, if you stop and look around.
One thing to note is that my last brush strokes were done to the song, "It Ends Tonight" by the All-American Rejects. That's just what came on while my iPod was on shuffle. I can't think of a more fitting title.
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