I can't believe that its been over a year ago since God blessed Kirk and I with the most precious gift imaginable. Time truely does fly when you are having fun.
Kader celebrated his first birthday earlier this month, we celebrated with a house full of friends and family on Sunday, March 6th. The original guest list was pretty long (didn't realize that we had so many close friends and family) but we had a fair amount of people that weren't able to make it so we probably had between 30-35 people which was plenty. I am so thankful to have had a lot of help from Kader's grandmommas! Kader's GiGi made his birthday cake (which he loooved) as well as cupcakes. Grammy Jo came into town a day early and helped get the house in order so that we could have everyone over. Grandmomma Sylvia, DeDe and Grammy Jo were cooking machines on a mission and helped me tremendously before everyone got there!
Here are some pictures of his special day
3/6 The spread
GiGi proud of her cake. . . can you see Kader's enthusiasm?
Kader's paci is in his mouth because he was getting fussy! 1 year olds have a very short attention span!
Hummmm, what is this?
This is sweet. . . I might be onto something here!
Yummy
How do I get all of this stuff off of my hands?
By eating it!!
This was our first attempt to take away Kader's cake. . . he cried!! So we let him have it back, figuring since he'd already had so much already that he was probably going to have some GI distress regardless of when we took it away! Surprisingly, no diarrhea or vomiting after ALL that cake!
Lily celebrated her first birthday the day before Kader's party and was eyeing Kader's cake. Kader was nice enough to share with her.
I think I'll have a bite while you aren't looking.
Yummy, this crumb is going to be so good. I don't want to get any icing on my pretty dress.
Pictures from the day before at Lily's celebration
Ashlee, Lily, Me and Kader
Lily opening gifts and SO excited about it! Check out her tu-tu!
Kader had his 1 year old checkup at the pediatricians (drum roll please) on 3/11. He was 21lb 0.5oz (25th%) and 29 3/4inches (50th%). The pediatrician was surprised and happy to see that he was in a better place on the growth chart for his weight. We've been given the go ahead to switch to cow's milk, so Kader is done breastfeeding and we've used up the last bit of stored breast milk. I'm so thankful and proud that Kader was able to breastfeed for his whole first year (it saved a lot of money for us!!). I didn't realize that I would love breastfeeding as much as I did. It was our special little bond. I can say that I am happy it's done with because it's definitely allowed me extra time and flexibility but at the same time I do miss it a little bit. We changed his reflux medication to a dissolve tablet because we were having some problems with the pharmacy compounding it to my standards :). This past month they dispensed 80ml when they should have dispensed 90ml. This wouldn't be a big deal if they didn't have to reconstitute the medication, but since they crush the pills and mix in a solution to make it a liquid he essentially was getting a higher concentrated medication than what was ordered. When I called to bring my discovery to their attention, they acted like I didn't know what I was talking about. Needless to say I will not spend any more of my money at their pharmacy!
It's been amazing to watch Kader grow and develop over the past year from a newborn--dependent on us for meeting every need to now, a toddler who has a mind of his own and knows what he wants and needs (or thinks he does). He's become more and more independent over the past month. He is now walking....make that running! He really is almost running!! (I love to "chase" him and listen to his giggles as he tries to run away from me). He loves exploring and finding out how things work. We've recently put contraptions on the cabinets so that he can't get into them and he went around to all of the cabinets in the kitchen after he found that he wasn't able to get in, to check to see if we had accidentally left one out. Kader is becoming more verbal these days, he's added "Da Da", "Nana", and believe it or not "tractor" (only said it a few times a few weeks ago and hasn't repeated it). He's also said "dog", "cat" and "bye" but not with any consistency! (He said bye to a stranger as she was getting into her car the other day when we were leaving the pediatricians office, he accompanied this with the hand gesture---it blew me and my mom away!) He's got a lot of other gibberish that he babbles as well. He's started to gesture for "bye bye" with a backwards goodbye, he will also "give me 5" and will respond by spreading his arms out when you ask "how big is Kader." He also snuggles with me when I ask by nuzzling his head on my chest (this melts my heart). He's also pointing to things and "talking about them." My favorite routine is at bed before I lay him down in his crib he insists on pointing at the bear mount in his room and "talking" about it. It's so cute. He also acknowledges it when he gets up in the mornings as well. It's amazing what he's absorbed/mastered over the past few weeks. He is really understanding language and responds appropriately when you ask him things, like "do you want your water" and he responds by pointing to his sippy cup. He's got a total of 10 teeth now, which makes half of his 20 baby teeth that are already in! We'll need a dentist for him soon. The dentist will be happy to know that Kader loves to brush his teeth at night, although I think he loves the fruit flavored toothpaste the most! Surprisingly enough he hasn't seemed to be too fussy with cutting his teeth. He is such an easygoing little guy.
During his well child visit, I mentioned concerns for Kader's intermittent fevers that he's had since I can remember. One of the first times I can really remember him having a fever was in July 2010 when we were at Myrtle Beach with the Talberts. I had mentioned my concern for these fevers on a few occasions at Kader's well visits and even went in specifically for a "sick" visit because his temperature spiked to 101.5 when he was still very little. So again, at his most recent visit I mentioned this to Dr. Garrish (whom I really like and who we hadn't seen previously for this). She told me to keep a log of his temperatures so I did so from 3/11 to 3/28. He had a elevated temperature every day ranging from 100.4 to 101.4. Needless to say this was a little concerning. On the 28th we did a battery of blood tests as well as a urine screen/culture and a chest xray. The urine/chest xray were negative. Kader's white blood cell count was elevated at 18 (normal is 12 or less) which indicates a possible bacterial infection. This was confirmed by another test. He was also slightly anemic. The overall impression from the blood work was that he probably had a bacterial infection but his physical exam was normal and he's been acting fine. The blood work that was completed ruled out scary things like leukemia, lymphoma/cancer, some rheumatological problems and a few other conditions. We followed up on 4/6 to see if his white blood cell count had come down. It was 11.8 which was a good improvement, although he continues to have fevers. His anemia also has gotten worse and we got started on an iron supplement. So at this point, Dr. Garrish is stumped. After talking to her about my immune system issues and needing IVIG, she would like to refer Kader to Duke Immunology to see if there is an underlying immune problem causing Kader's fevers.
At this point I just want to know what's causing Kader's fevers. I know it's a delicate balance though. When looking for answers you have to run tests. I want to subject Kader to the least amount of stress possible. It's reassuring that he's acting perfectly normal, but puzzling that he doesn't act like he feels bad with a fever of 101! When my temperature is 99.6, all I want to do is lounge around and sleep! He's such a little trooper.
Some more pictures; Most recent to oldest
4/11 First time in shorts, aren't I handsome?
3/25 Need a ride?
He was contained in his buggy so I was able to a get a few closeups of him while he was "still"
3/19 First time at the park
I look happy now, but didn't love going down the slide!
3/29 Problem solving . . . how can I get this off so that I can get into that cabinet?
Mommy likes to give me pots so that I can play with them and not get into trouble while she's working in the kitchen.
Plotting his next move
3/5 Who would have thought a box would be so fun?!
Bailey getting in on the fun
I think that wraps things up for now. Half of this post was written 4 weeks ago, but I never got around to putting the finishing touches on it and didn't have the pictures uploaded like I wanted. This blog is definitely a work in progress! I will try to stay vigilant and will keep everyone posted on any news we get from this upcoming visit with Duke. Please keep Kader in your thoughts and prayers. Please pray that we can find some answers in the coming days.
Love to all,
Kirk, Tiffany and Kader
