Any relation?

You think these kids are related?


Chloe at around a year.


Jax at 8 months.

I saw this picture of Chloe from earlier in my blog and couldn't believe how much Jax looks like her! Too funny!

5 out of 7

Five out of seven ain't bad, if we're talking spelling tests. The Carnahan Clan just finished up a long week of doctor's visits. Three trips to Children's and 2 local appointments and we are thrilled to have a break for 10 days currently with no appointments. Previous to this week, Colin also had a checkup with orthopedics and all is well. They noticed a slight increase in the overall curvature of the spine, but nothing to write home about. We'll continue watchful waiting...back in another 6 months. Monday at the cranio-cleft clinic, all looks well for facial growth with the exception of his jaw, which continues to show a slight lag in growth. We'll return middle of the month for molds to prepare for braces. Not sure of the exact course of action yet, but we know that an expander is involved to allow room for his adult teeth to come in. A few of the adult teeth haven't come in from baby teeth that left more than a year ago. So...no fun, but normal kid complaints on that whole deal. Tuesday, he went to the regular pediatrician for a sinus infection. The good news? This is only the 2nd round of antibiotics for sinus infections in the past year. YES...YEAR! Which brings us to the pulmononologist, who we saw on Friday. Apparently, the new inhaler regimen is working in addition to being revaccinated last fall with Pneumovax. Colin is overall much healthier in general and, trust me, we've taken note. It's wonderful! Additionally, they repeated pulmonary function tests to verify that his overall lung volume was consistent with the last visit. It was. Overall, he is coming in at 79%. Normal ends right at 80%, so we'll take it. Because of his fused ribs and abnormalities that stem from the rib-to-spine junction (I'm sure there's a more technical term), he doesn't have great rib movement and therefore the lungs can't expand as fully as they might otherwise. So again, watchful waiting, if the curvature increases any, the rib maneuverability might decrease more and decrease lung volume more, which ultimately may result in pulmonary therapy to help prevent increased infections again. Fingers crossed things stay the same and we never cross the PT bridge. But, I can't express how thankful I am to finally have some of his chest pain/asthma/infection issues under better control. AND, he thinks he's running faster these days. :) Huge bonus, of course!

Jax visited the gastroenterology clinic today at Children's to see if we can't get a little better control over his reflux and the night waking. We're stopping the Zantac and moving to Prevacid twice a day rather than just once. I'm hopeful this will make things better as his tummy seems mostly to hurt only at night whereas mornings after the Prevacid are pretty good. They'd like to do a barium swallow to see how he handles food from mouth to belly, since he still prefers liquid food over solid for the most part and does a lot of choking and gagging. They've also referred him for a food therapy evaluation to see if he is on target for his age. I haven't scheduled either of those yet. Going to see how the Prevacid works and go from there. I honestly think that if his stomach were under better control, he'd be a much better eater. Who wants to eat with heartburn? Not I said the fly.

The last appointment was for me for a followup from a uterine infection...crazy, I know. No clue how that happened and if it hadn't been for my annual GYN visit, I probably wouldn't have even known. I guess that's why it's important to go every year. Not preaching, just sayin! But after 2 weeks of antibiotics, I have some energy back. YAH!! Apparently I couldn't blame my exhaustion completely on Jax's inability to stay asleep for more than 3 hours at a time.

So that's the story...horribly long week is over. I seriously need a better personal assistant. This one does a horrible job of scheduling appointments at even intervals so I'm not overwhelmed. *sigh* Good help is so very hard to find these days. Anyone looking for a job? The monetary pay sucks, but it includes lots of priceless hugs and kisses from 3 super adorable kids!!