The Dotsons

from our family to yours!

We took Caleb back to the pediatrician for a one-week weight check since adding the supplemental formula and rice cereal. He weighed 10 lb 10 oz one week ago, and now he weighs 11 lb 6 oz...a 12 ounce gain in one week! This is a great improvement for him! He has been averaging about a 1/2 ounce gain per day and this is about 1.7 ounces per day! The pedi said he is not "out of the woods" just yet and he still isn't even on the growth chart (still less than 3rd percentile), so we will continue to go back for more weight checks in the future. Next one will be in 2 weeks.

Oh, and I decided to take Caleb off the metoclopramide after just three days because it was making him drowsy and I believe giving him an upset tummy. The three days he was on it, he just was not himself at all. The final straw was him screaming his head off for nearly 45 minutes on the 3rd evening...it was definitely a distress cry, so that was one clue to me that it was upsetting his tummy. We did not give it enough time to notice a considerable difference in his spitting up, so who knows how it would have potentially improved things. It wouldn't be worth it anyway if it made him feel terrible. So we're now just on the prevacid. This one has to be compounded into a liquid form so we are getting it from a pharmacy nearby where my friend, Liz is a pharmacist and my friend, Jaime is her technician. I used to work with both girls at BCP! Mrs. Jaime mixes it up in a yummy grape flavor for Caleb and he sucks it down. :o)

We started adding rice cereal as part of the supplementation...mostly in his bottles...but we also gave him some on a spoon to see what he'd do. He did not know what to think, but I think he did well for his first taste! Here are some pics of his first rice cereal experience...

Caleb is 4 months old - where is the time going?! We took him to his 4-month well child checkup and he got his 2nd round of vaccines. After weighing him and plotting it on his growth curve, our pediatrician is now concerned about his weight gain (or lack thereof) because the curve is dropping off and he is now in the "less than 3rd" percentile for weight. Since his 3-month weight check, he as only gained 10 ounces. His height is actually above average, so he is tall and skinny - which is quite evident when I am trying to find pants to fit him and anything that actually fits his tiny waist is too short, and if it is long enough it is falling off of him!

So now, she wants us to supplement his breastfeeding with 4-8 ounces extra of formula (or pumped breastmilk) each day, in addition to adding rice cereal to the bottles. Apparently, he is not getting enough calories so we have to give him a boost. At first, I was a little sad about having to supplement with formula (weird, I know but if you breastfeed then you probably understand), but I have to do what is best for him so that's what I'll do. I just can't pump enough to keep up with the extra demand, so formula it is. I am still pumping when I can and freezing it so he can have breastmilk some of the time, but for the most part his supplemental feedings are formula mixed with some rice cereal.

We are also going to take him to a pediatric GI doctor to see what they think, but we have to wait until an opening is available. Apparently they are backed up. Our pediatrician doesn't think he has an absorption problem b/c he is still peeing and pooping plenty. He still spits up a lot, so she is thinking he's just not keeping enough down and not getting enough calories. She prescribed metoclopramide (increases stomach motility to get the food moving to the intestines faster in hopes that he won't have as much to spit up...and also increases tone of the lower esophageal sphincter) and changed his acid-blocking med from ranitidine (Zantac) to lansoprazole (Prevacid). We will see if things have improved when we go back for a one-week weight check. We will be going back for periodic weight checks until he is back on the growth charts.


Little man checking out his handsome face...



Yay for Caleb's First Thanksgiving!



Still figuring out this whole "tummy time" thing...



Rocky is one of Dad's favorite movies...



Trying out the Bumbo seat...not so sure about it!




At 4 months, Caleb...

...weighed in at 10 lbs 10 oz (less than 3rd percentile) and 25 ½ inches long (58th percentile). I guess he will be tall and skinny like his Daddy!

...has the cutest little chuckle! For some reason, he thinks fake laughing is funny so a good, high-pitched “hee hee heeeee” really entertains him!

...is still napping in his bouncy seat and sleeping in his crib at night. He just will not nap in his crib.

...goes to bed for the night between 10:00-10:30pm, right after his last feeding of the day (which is at 9:00 or 9:30pm).

...is still nursing every 3-4 hours during the day and waking up only once at night. He was waking up in the 3 o’clock hour but now has recently started making it until around 5:00am.

...will grab anything you put in front of him, including your face, hair, glasses, etc!

...has developed an interest in things that make a crinkle sound. He has a few toys that crinkle and he loves them!

...can lift his head all the way up and push up on his arms when placed on his tummy.

...can roll from tummy to back. (probably b/c he doesn’t really like being on his tummy)

...rolls over onto his side, but hasn’t made it over onto his stomach yet.

...wakes up happy! We can hear him talking to his mobile in the morning and it is so sweet!

...loves the tune to the “Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies” from the Nutcracker. I heard it on a TV commercial one day and started “singing” it to him and he broke out in the biggest smile I’d ever seen! I guess you could say it’s his favorite song!

...loves the musical puppy on his car seat toy bar…it makes him smile so big!

...still does great in the church nursery. We have a pretty good Sunday routine down now: we wake up around 7:15-7:30am and Daddy gives him a bottle while I pump (b/c this process is quicker than me feeding him myself since he still takes 45 minutes to nurse), we drop him off at the nursery a little before the 9:30am service, I stay through the worship portion of the service then go pick him up between 10:15-10:30am to nurse him, drop him back off at the nursery between 11:00-11:15’ish and meet Rhett at Sunday school, then pick him back up at noon. Our church is very accommodating to nursing mothers, and there is a special “nursing room” where you can go to nurse. It even has a TV that shows the sermon so I don’t have to miss anything.

...has experienced his first Thanksgiving and first SNOW! Yes, it snowed in Houston on December 4th! (unfortunately I did not get pictures)

...is still the sweetest, most handsome little boy ever! :o)

Wow, 4 months old already?! Where does the time go?

I turned 29 on Wednesday...happy, happy, joy, joy! When did I get so old? :o) We went and bought our Christmas tree and also went out to dinner at a Japanese hibachi restaurant with our friends, Jenn and Jarod. Guess I am on the downhill to 30 now!

Here's a picture of me with my handsome little man on our way out to dinner:

My family - minus my brother, aunt, and uncle

Cousins - Jake (10), Luke (4, almost 5), and Caleb (3.5 months)

Caleb with both sets of grandparents (Granddad, Mimi, Granny, and Grandpa)

brotherly love

Our family of three

Thanksgiving Rocks!

Caleb with his Aunt Megan

We have so much to be thankful for, but this year we are most thankful for this little fella!

Just a few pictures of the munchkin...

my little man "talking"

Last week, Caleb finally started lifting his head while on his tummy. He literally improved overnight. One day, he is just laying there like a bump on a log and the next day he lifted his head all the way up! I guess he figured while he was at it, he would go ahead and roll over, too! So he can now roll from tummy to back. He wouldn't look right at me, so this is the best picture I got (taken on Tues 11/24). And then one of him in his Rocky shirt I found at Target - it's one of Daddy's favorite movies!

Harnessing his "inner Rocky"





And a short video of him rolling over. Unfortunately, it's a little dark.

"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text."

http://www.wordle.net/

These are pretty cool. Here is the wordle for our blog:

(click on it to make it larger)

Two Saturdays ago, we took the puppies to the dog park. Since Caleb hit the scene, they haven't been getting as much attention, so we figured we'd give them a little treat. After that trip, however, we remembered why we don't take them that often. They are anti-social. This defeats the purpose of the dog park - playing with other dogs! All Rio wants to do is play ball with Rhett, and the other two stay close to each other and Rhett. Everyone always wants to pet Tag, but he won't let anyone near him. Roux gets tired really fast and then lays in the shade. They love it when people come over to the house so I don't know why they're so stand-offish at the park. Oh well, at least it was a beautiful day!


Caleb's first trip to the dog park...



Rio is not a water dog...unless you throw his ball in the water!

Caleb's head control is steadily improving, so he is doing much better sitting in his Bumbo seat!

I'm over a week late with this post, but better late than never! Caleb is growing up right before our very eyes! Isn't he handsome? I think so - :o)

My Aunt Jackie made the quilt Caleb is laying on. The camo square you can see on the lefthand side of the picture near his head is actually a piece of one of my brother's Army uniforms. That is very special to us! We can't wait for Caleb to meet his Uncle Josh at Christmas!

At 3 months, Caleb...

...weighed in at 10 lbs even (3rd percentile). Apparently, when the nurse last time told us that he was in the 10th percentile at 2 months, she was mistaken. The nurse this time said that he was in the 3rd percentile last time, too. Guess I need to go back and edit his 2-month post. We did not get his length since I just took him in for a weight check.

...is still taking Zantac for reflux. Lately he has seemed to need a higher dose at night, so I increased his nighttime dose a little.

...is still a morning person! He is so happy and playful after his first morning feeding. He has the cutest toothless smile I have ever seen! :o)

...is still taking most of his naps in his bouncy chair in our bedroom. I have started laying him down for naps in the pack n play (also in our bedroom), but in general he does not sleep as long there.

...is still mostly nursing every 3 hours during the day, with the occasional 4-hour stretch. He will usually nap longer in the morning, so sometimes we'll go 4 hours after the first morning feeding. For the most part, we are still doing every 3 hours, though.

...is taking 4 ounces in his bottles now. He's not taking as many bottles, though b/c Daddy used to feed him at the midnight feeding...but since he's dropped that one, he usually only gets a bottle if we have to be out and about. I do not nurse him in public - just not my thing.

...has started grabbing & reaching for the toys on the toy bar of his bouncy seat. He hasn't mastered it yet, but he is definitely trying. He very slowly reaches out for the toy and ever so slightly grabs onto it for a few seconds.

...is spending more time on the floor playing. I am trying to encourage him to do his own thing without the bouncy seat or activity mat...a "free play" if you will! He kicks his legs and makes cute noises, so I guess he is somewhat enjoying it.

...is doing better with tummy time. He still doesn't love it, but will tolerate it for longer than he used to, so I am happy!

...has pretty decent head control. He holds himself up (a little wobbly) while being held. Unless he is asleep, he won't just lay his head on your shoulder - he has to have his head up looking around. He likes to "stand" and look around, too. His legs are actually pretty strong, although you couldn't tell by their size! :o)

...has dropped one nighttime feeding, so he will pretty consistently go 6 hours without eating at night....well, between 5 and 6 hours. He did sleep all the way through the night ONCE - 8 hours! Yeah, that never happened again.

...is staying awake longer during the day and taking shorter naps. I guess this is both good and bad. Good b/c I get to spend more awake time with him playing, and bad b/c I have less time to do things around the house!

...still is the most fussy in the late evening - usually between 8 and 9pm...I think b/c he is just so tired by the end of the day. He is a really good baby, though...he rarely fusses during the daytime.

...went to "Sunday School" (the church nursery) for the first time on 10/25! We were so sad to leave him for the first time, but it gets a little easier each time we do it. The ladies in the nursery are so sweet, so I know he's in good hands. They always tell me how good he is - so proud of my sweet boy - :o) He still goes to small group/Bible study with us and is doing fine with that so far.

...he is definitely doing more with his right hand than he used to, but still seems to favor the left hand.

...has started touching his face a lot, especially when he is sleepy. He rubs all over his face with his hands and sometimes falls asleep with a hand on his face. He is still taking the "paci" when he gets sleepy.

...usually gets a bath at nighttime with Daddy.

...goes out to eat with Mommy and Daddy most every weekend. He does so great (fingers crossed!) and a waitress at Lupe Tortilla said she had never seen such a good baby in the restaurant. :o) He goes to the store with me all the time and does great, too.

...went to the grocery store with Daddy for the first time on his 3-month birthday, while Mommy went to a baby shower. He rode in the Baby Bjorn for the first time, also - Daddy says everyone was staring at him - a dad in the grocery store with a baby strapped to his chest- I said they were staring b/c Daddy had dressed him in mismatched clothes, LOL!

...is still the sweetest, most handsome little boy ever! :o)

I love having this blog to document things like this. I know to most people, these little blurbs don't mean much...but to me, it is a great way to keep up with what he is doing. It will help us to remember all the little things, so that is why I am doing this. :o) Hope I'm not boring anyone who is reading!

Here is Mr. Caleb on his 3-month birthday!

Wow, I can't believe it is already November and Caleb will soon be 3 months old! We are getting excited about the upcoming holidays and getting to spend time with family. I am most excited about Caleb getting to meet his aunts and uncles who don't live nearby, as well as his cousin, Cal. There won't be a shortage of laps for him to sit in, that's for sure!

I am very much enjoying my time at home with Caleb, and we are so thankful for a Daddy who works so hard so I can stay at home! We have established a good daily routine that seems to be working well for both of us. We have our "moments" still, but overall Caleb is such a good baby - I really couldn't ask for more!

Here are some various pictures and video from the past few weeks...

Bath time:

This cracked me up - Tag made himself comfortable by curling up in my nursing pillow!

Caleb seems to be a morning person - he does not get that from me! (he kicks his legs when he's really happy - hence, the blurry feet!)

I don't know about anyone else, but we always put words in Caleb's mouth...it's kinda fun to imagine what he is thinking and what he would say if he could talk! We've always done the same thing with our dogs, so maybe we're just weird! We ate dinner with Haylee and Daniel last night and tried to get some pictures of the boys together...

Caleb: "Ok Isaiah - I'll look at my dad and you look at yours, but whatever you do, don't look at our moms because they're trying to take silly pictures of us to show our girlfriends someday!"

Caleb: "Ok, now switch - I'll look at your dad and you look at mine. Eventually, our moms will give up and put the cameras away!"



Isaiah: "Caleb, forget about the dads! Have you seen that picture on the wall behind the couch? It takes my breath away!"



Isaiah: "What is so funny? Can I not admire a fine piece of artwork? Fine, I'll just watch that ceiling fan over there instead."



Caleb: "Ceiling fans are so yesterday. I've got so much to teach this kid!"



Isaiah: "I thought they would have given up by now. This is rediculous!"

Caleb: "No, what's rediculous is that you're 6 weeks younger than me and like 3 pounds heavier. I'm pretty sure you could crush me with your thighs."

We went to hang out with our friends Haylee and Daniel on Sunday night. We had a delicious dinner and then watched the Amazing Race. After the adults had dinner, Caleb and Isaiah had dinner together too! How cute is this?!




Isaiah (5 weeks old) and Caleb (11 weeks old):



It will be so fun to watch these two boys grow up together!