Um... Say what?!!?!!

Cameron and Evan are officially overweight.

Yes, that's right, they are both too fat for their weight to height ratio and age! They are both in the 90th percentile and gaining too much weight too fast. The GI and the nutritionist said they are considered very large, especially Cameron, who's on the verge of being too fat/obese. Can you believe this??!!?!!!

The boys have had the new G tubes for almost three weeks now and so far so good. They still vomit between two and six times a day, but it's definitely all reflux related and we know generally about when they will vomit because it's usually around medicines, eating by mouth, early mornings when reflux is at its worst for most people. Only Cameron has spontaneously vomited in his sleep once and it was only formula and he rolled right over to the other side and went back to sleep before I could even clean him up. It happened so fast that it was a good thing I happened to be standing right there when it happened.

Cameron is 25lbs 8oz at 29.25 inches long and Evan is 21lbs 2oz at 27.25inches long and continuing to grow on their own curves. Both gain about 1.5oz a day. So we are going from a 4hour break in feeds to a 6hour break in feeds and eventually the plan is to get to fit in 3 bolus feeds a day with continuous pump feeds overnight. Apparently this kind of growth this fast (over the last 4.5 mos they've gained about 12lbs each) is dangerous for their livers and other organs if it goes unchecked.

We've also increased their Prevacid to 3/4 of a 15mg solutab two times a day. Hopefully that will help the reflux that seems to have ramped up these last three weeks. Thankfully though it seems (at least for now) that the spontaneous vomiting in their sleep has stopped, but we're not positive about that just yet.

As a side note the GI was telling us that BeachNut is a better baby food product because their rice cereal manufacturing process is better maintained/set up to prevent cross-contamination of wheat products for allergy concerns, and over all their pureed foods generally have a higher caloric content which is more bang for your buck if you buy baby food. Just an FYI for those who are trying to ramp up their baby's weight...

It is surreal to think that back in January we were terrified that the boys were losing weight, refusing to eat, and had come to a complete stand still with their development so that at 9mos of age they couldn't do things that 5mos old kids could do. And here were are six months later and now we're on the opposite end of the spectrum (well except for the fact that they still refuse to eat) and developmentally speaking they are skyrocketing with their abilities and interests. But this is a problem that is easily maintained because we can control what they get with the feeding pumps.

The best development from having the new MIC-key Button G tube is that the tube is really the size of a button and much easier to maintain. The second best thing is that the boys feel so much better with these new tubes because it is less than two inches long as opposed to the 12 inches of the GJ tubes.

They are like different children, more expressive, more tolerant, more curious and willing to do things they don't normally let us make them do. Since we got the new tubes Evan has started tolerating being on his belly, learning to push up on his arms, mastering rolling over onto his back, and even sitting in the crawl position for a few moments without complaint. Evan has even learned to shake his head side to side but I don't think he's realized that means "no" just yet. Cameron has started doing all the same things but will now also voluntarily roll on to his belly and roll from one end of the play mat to the other for toys. He's also learned to get into the crawl position and scoot backwards as well as sit on a scooter and push backwards with his feet. Both boys are, often at the same time, using me as a jungle gym ALL.THE.TIME. to lean into my lap and pull them selves up to a standing position and can stand for a few seconds on their own. Cameron can pull himself up to a stand by grabbing on to the edge of his exersaucer too. Both can clap when asked to, but rarely do so on command, and both love to play the game peek-a-boo and will play it with each other giggling and laughing and screaching.

The feeding by mouth isn't going great, but they now love to drink water out of a sippy cup so that's a big step. All in all it has been a good thing to move to the G tubes. The next step is to do larger cluster feedings and see how they tolerate that because it will stretch their stomachs to allow for more volume tolerance. This is the first really slow step in the long process to get them to eating solids. The step after the bolus feedings is convincing them to eat everything by mouth, and that is really SLOW.

As an added activity to our Monday OT session, Tuesday Feeding Clinic, Wednesday PT session, Thursday story time, and Friday playdates we are going to Rollie Pollies for a real work out. We had our second session this past Monday night and it went better than even the first session and that one was awesome. Part of the reason the second session was better is that our good friend Brendan and his mom Katie were there to tumble and roll and have a good time. Warning to those of you who have not experienced a program like this: it is not for the out of shape! Your arms and back and legs really get a work out, mean while the baby is having a blast. The funniest part is where Drew got stuck with Evan in the giant foam ball pit. Hopefully next week we'll squeeze in some pics from class.

Now for more cuteness! Please note the rolls of fat at the wrists and thighs! LOVE IT!

Cameron and his many chins.


Cameron playing Babushka - aka peek-a-boo, the greatest game ever invented!


Evan playing Babushka/Peek-a-Boo. This is as close to having a girl as Mommy is going to get!


Story time with Daddy


Evan on his new Firetruck. Thanks Kate for the great toy. The boys love this thing!


"I see a firetruck. A big red shiny firetruck. I see a firetruck coming down the lane. And there's a noisy siren wailing on that truck! La la la laaaaa..."


Teamwork!


Our new fascination with anything that has wheels makes Poppop proud!