Friday, February 29, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Three Months Old!
Stian is 3 months old today! Everyone tells us he should start getting easier now! We shall see!
Actually, he's been doing a little better over the last few days. I can generally coax him into taking at least one long nap during the day. I have to sit in the room with him and turn on the hairdryer whenever he wakes up. But it seems to work for at least one nap. Thank goodness for laptops and wireless internet so I can sit there and get some work done! He just generally wakes up after a half an hour napping, and if I can get him back to sleep after that he'll then sleep for an hour more or so. But I can't always get him back to sleep. We also switched bottles, we got Playtex Drop-ins with a rubble nipple and he seems to like those much better. He has actually taken a bottle the last few days without much fuss. So that's definitely a good thing!
Actually, he's been doing a little better over the last few days. I can generally coax him into taking at least one long nap during the day. I have to sit in the room with him and turn on the hairdryer whenever he wakes up. But it seems to work for at least one nap. Thank goodness for laptops and wireless internet so I can sit there and get some work done! He just generally wakes up after a half an hour napping, and if I can get him back to sleep after that he'll then sleep for an hour more or so. But I can't always get him back to sleep. We also switched bottles, we got Playtex Drop-ins with a rubble nipple and he seems to like those much better. He has actually taken a bottle the last few days without much fuss. So that's definitely a good thing!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Family Resemblance?
So what do you think? Is there a family resemblance here or what? (if you click on the picture you'll see a bigger version where you can see us all more clearly)
(Thanks to Bill and Carol for Stian's cute outfit! It's hard to believe he's already in 6-9 month clothes! But then again, if you look at what chubs his parents were at the same age, I guess it shouldn't come as much of a surprise! :) )
(Thanks to Bill and Carol for Stian's cute outfit! It's hard to believe he's already in 6-9 month clothes! But then again, if you look at what chubs his parents were at the same age, I guess it shouldn't come as much of a surprise! :) )
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Progress
Stian did a little better with the bottle yesterday. He took maybe a half an ounce, which isn't much, but it's better than he has been doing. He also did better with his napping. He had a 45 minute nap, a 30 minute nap, and a two hour and 15 minute nap. He was in such a better mood last nap after having that nice long nap before dinner. That might be why he was better with the bottle.
We tried putting Stian in his high chair last night to sit with us while we had dinner. It worked! The chair reclines enough and his neck is strong enough that he could sit in it comfortably. He seemed to enjoy being up with us at the table. Thanks to Wayne and Kelly for the loan of the high chair!
We tried putting Stian in his high chair last night to sit with us while we had dinner. It worked! The chair reclines enough and his neck is strong enough that he could sit in it comfortably. He seemed to enjoy being up with us at the table. Thanks to Wayne and Kelly for the loan of the high chair!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Decision
Well, we made a decision about Toop. We're not going to go through with the amputation. As much as we want Toop around longer, we have decided we don't want it like that. Amputation is not a cure. This cancer is going to kill her one way or another. It's either relatively quickly now or more drawn out later when it's in her lungs and she's struggling to breathe. At most we would get another 6-12 months with her. We would love to have that much time, but part of that would be recovering from amputation and likely a good chunk would be going downhill at the end. We're just not going to do that to her. I think Toop would be just fine as a three-legged dog. Everything I've read suggests that dogs do just fine with it. And if we were going to amputate and have another good 5 years we'd do it. But that's not what would happen. And so now we wait and watch. And hope we know when it's the right time. We love her so much and don't want her to go. But we have to do right by Toop as she has done nothing her whole life but try to make us happy. We are so, so sad.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Napping and bottles
Kris is in the other room trying really hard to get Stian to take a bottle. It doesn't sound like it's going very well, although there isn't as much crying as last night. I just hear Kris doing lots of encouraging. He's using the Dr. Brown's bottle and milk from this morning. But Stian doesn't seem to even try with the bottle. He doesn't try to suck on it, he just mouths it. So that makes me believe the problem is not the bottle or the milk, he just doesn't want a bottle - any bottle. But we will keep trying.
As for the napping thing. He napped for about two hours this morning. He often does this nap okay. Kris gets him up and changes his diaper and plays with him for a little while in the morning sometime between 7:00 and 8:00 and then brings him to me when he's ready to nurse. I nurse him, swaddle him and put him in his swing, where he usually sleeps for anywhere between 1 to 3 hours. But the last few days he was only sleeping for another half hour. So I was happy he slept for two hours this morning. For his second nap I took my laptop and camped out in his room with him. Thinking I would catch him stirring nad coax him back to sleep. But I guess I wasn't paying enough attention because I looked up after he had been asleep for 20 minutes and his eyes were wide open looking around the room. I tried, but there was no getting him back to sleep at that point. So for the second nap I watched a little more closely and he started to wake up after 25 minutes and I shushed him and he fell back asleep for 10 minutes. But then he woke up and there was no getting him back to sleep. But that was 10 more minutes! So I'll just have to keep trying with that too.
Kris came in here to hang out with me while trying to get Stian to take the bottle. He switched back to the Avent bottle since it didn't seem to be making any difference and Stian used to like the Avent ones just fine.
Now there's lots of crying going on. Oy. This has got to be hard on Kris, he gets to spend so little time with him, and he has to deal with this for a lot of it. Come on Stian, little guy, just take the bottle!
As for the napping thing. He napped for about two hours this morning. He often does this nap okay. Kris gets him up and changes his diaper and plays with him for a little while in the morning sometime between 7:00 and 8:00 and then brings him to me when he's ready to nurse. I nurse him, swaddle him and put him in his swing, where he usually sleeps for anywhere between 1 to 3 hours. But the last few days he was only sleeping for another half hour. So I was happy he slept for two hours this morning. For his second nap I took my laptop and camped out in his room with him. Thinking I would catch him stirring nad coax him back to sleep. But I guess I wasn't paying enough attention because I looked up after he had been asleep for 20 minutes and his eyes were wide open looking around the room. I tried, but there was no getting him back to sleep at that point. So for the second nap I watched a little more closely and he started to wake up after 25 minutes and I shushed him and he fell back asleep for 10 minutes. But then he woke up and there was no getting him back to sleep. But that was 10 more minutes! So I'll just have to keep trying with that too.
Kris came in here to hang out with me while trying to get Stian to take the bottle. He switched back to the Avent bottle since it didn't seem to be making any difference and Stian used to like the Avent ones just fine.
Now there's lots of crying going on. Oy. This has got to be hard on Kris, he gets to spend so little time with him, and he has to deal with this for a lot of it. Come on Stian, little guy, just take the bottle!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Update on Toop and other stuff
We took Toop to the vet today to have more x-rays done. We wanted to have a chest x-ray done to see if we could see tumors in her chest, and the vet wanted another x-ray of her leg. Unfortunately the chest x-ray was inconclusive. The vet thought he might see tiny tumors in her lungs, but he just wasn't sure. He said you sometimes see things like that in older dogs that aren't tumors. I think we were kind of hoping the x-rays would come back telling us that the cancer has definitely metastasized because then we would know for sure that we shouldn't go through with amputation. Unfortunately they didn't. So we're still not sure what we are going to do. Her leg is definitely already worse. The vet was disappointed that the cancer had already progressed so much in just a week and a half. He agrees with us that his original estimate that she has maybe 2-3 months was generous, and thinks it's more likely to be 4-6 weeks now, if that. So now we have to decide what we are going to do. Do we amputate and hope we get another 12 months with Toop? Or do we say our good-byes knowing she had a great life, no dog could have asked for more, and not put her through that. It's really hard to know what to do. The Chinese herbs came in though so we started her on those this evening – maybe they will slow things down a little.
In other news, Stian had a great nap at the vet. We were there for about an hour and he napped laying on me as I sat on a sofa. He slept for about 45 minutes, which is more than he's been napping at home. I guess the trick is for me to hold him while he naps. Ha! I don't think so. I do think I might try sitting in his room with him while he's napping tomorrow though and reading or something. Then maybe I can catch it when he first starts to wake up and see if I can coax him back to sleep before the wakes up too much. I read this suggestion in the baby sleep book I read. I listen for him to wake up over the monitor and run in there, but it seems to be too late, because I sit there and shush him and sing to him and try to get him back to sleep and he just lays there either staring at me or smiling at me. But maybe if I can catch it a little earlier.
He also totally refused the bottle tonight. Kris tried and tried, but Stian wasn't having it. He wouldn't even take an ounce. Kris tried for almost an hour and then we gave up and I nursed him. We don't want him to associate being upset with the bottle, so I'm not sure how we will handle this development. We can’t just keep forcing it on him, he’s just going to get mad. But I’m not giving up either. For my sanity I need to be able to be away from him for more than an hour or two. I also have several work meetings I need to be at at the end of March and early April, so he needs to be able to be with Dad for several hours alone without getting very upset because he’s hungry. We have a different type of bottle we're going to try, and we're going to try using milk from the freezer stash that's more recent. Although the stuff we've been using is only a month old. We shall see. I’ve also read about just skipping the bottle and going right to a sippy cup or using an eyedropper. But we’re not giving up on the bottle just yet.
In other news, Stian had a great nap at the vet. We were there for about an hour and he napped laying on me as I sat on a sofa. He slept for about 45 minutes, which is more than he's been napping at home. I guess the trick is for me to hold him while he naps. Ha! I don't think so. I do think I might try sitting in his room with him while he's napping tomorrow though and reading or something. Then maybe I can catch it when he first starts to wake up and see if I can coax him back to sleep before the wakes up too much. I read this suggestion in the baby sleep book I read. I listen for him to wake up over the monitor and run in there, but it seems to be too late, because I sit there and shush him and sing to him and try to get him back to sleep and he just lays there either staring at me or smiling at me. But maybe if I can catch it a little earlier.
He also totally refused the bottle tonight. Kris tried and tried, but Stian wasn't having it. He wouldn't even take an ounce. Kris tried for almost an hour and then we gave up and I nursed him. We don't want him to associate being upset with the bottle, so I'm not sure how we will handle this development. We can’t just keep forcing it on him, he’s just going to get mad. But I’m not giving up either. For my sanity I need to be able to be away from him for more than an hour or two. I also have several work meetings I need to be at at the end of March and early April, so he needs to be able to be with Dad for several hours alone without getting very upset because he’s hungry. We have a different type of bottle we're going to try, and we're going to try using milk from the freezer stash that's more recent. Although the stuff we've been using is only a month old. We shall see. I’ve also read about just skipping the bottle and going right to a sippy cup or using an eyedropper. But we’re not giving up on the bottle just yet.
Taking a Bottle
For some reason Stian has been having issues taking a bottle lately. Per Laura's suggestion we bought new nipples - I didn't realize he would already be needing different nipples than he did when we first introduced a bottle. And we thought that helped. But he did not want to take a bottle at all last night. Poor Kris. He tried for almost 45 minutes with a screaming baby who took about an ounce total. Then we finally gave up and I nursed him. It's strange, it seems like he's okay taking a bottle if we are out and about - he did fine while we were running errands and at the party on Saturday night - but he wants to nurse if we are at home. I guess we'll just have to keep trying. But it's exhausting! Here they are when first Kris started trying last night - before Stian started to have a melt-down.
He's also having issues napping - which is driving me crazy. He naps for 30 minutes at a time tops. In fact I hear him fussing over the monitor now - he's been in his swing for about 20 minutes now. Better run...
He's also having issues napping - which is driving me crazy. He naps for 30 minutes at a time tops. In fact I hear him fussing over the monitor now - he's been in his swing for about 20 minutes now. Better run...
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Stian's First Party
Stian had a big day yesterday. We dragged him all over town running errands earlier in the day, and he did remarkably well. Then last night he went to his very first party! It was our friend Lisa's 40th birthday party.
Here he is getting ready - all decked out in his nerdy sweater vest (that everyone thought was super cute!)
And here he is hanging out with Daddy at the restaurant.
Here are some of the folks at the party:
Dan holding Stian:
Lisa, the birthday girl and her husband Jeremy. Notice Jeremy's giant knife - that's the knife the kitchen gave him to slice the cake. Yikes!
A close up of the cake:
And then finally Stian had had enough and wanted to go home. But he did really well, he lasted about an hour and 45 minutes before he started to fuss. He seemed to like the restaurant, it was noisy, which he likes, and there was lots to look at.
He was awake for about an hour after we got home. But he wasn't terribly fussy. He sat with us while we watched an episode of Arrested Development from Netflix. Then he conked out and slept from 10:30 to 6:30 straight! That's the first time he's ever slept that long without waking. I nursed him at 6:30 and he went right back to sleep until 10:00. I guess we need to run him ragged everyday!
Here he is getting ready - all decked out in his nerdy sweater vest (that everyone thought was super cute!)
And here he is hanging out with Daddy at the restaurant.
Here are some of the folks at the party:
Dan holding Stian:
Lisa, the birthday girl and her husband Jeremy. Notice Jeremy's giant knife - that's the knife the kitchen gave him to slice the cake. Yikes!
A close up of the cake:
And then finally Stian had had enough and wanted to go home. But he did really well, he lasted about an hour and 45 minutes before he started to fuss. He seemed to like the restaurant, it was noisy, which he likes, and there was lots to look at.
He was awake for about an hour after we got home. But he wasn't terribly fussy. He sat with us while we watched an episode of Arrested Development from Netflix. Then he conked out and slept from 10:30 to 6:30 straight! That's the first time he's ever slept that long without waking. I nursed him at 6:30 and he went right back to sleep until 10:00. I guess we need to run him ragged everyday!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Family Picture
While my folks were here we wanted to have them help us get a picture of the five of us together.
Visitors
My parents were here the last few days. They are on their way to Texas for six weeks and detoured 500 miles to come and visit and their grandson, well, and us I'm sure. Like always, it was great to have them.
Look at what a little chub this kid is getting to be! :)
Look at what a little chub this kid is getting to be! :)
Monday, February 11, 2008
Update
Thanks to everyone for their kind words, emails and posts about Toop. We have decided not to do the biopsy and to start her on the herbs. Unfortunately things seem to be moving very rapidly. She's already much worse off than she was last week. We are beginning to think the vet's estimate of 2-3 months was very generous, and it is more likely to be 2-3 weeks, if that. We are heartbroken. Here is a picture of her and Morri from just a little while ago.
Stian is doing well. He's a bit of a grump today, I'm not sure why. But he looks awfully cute in his outfit. Thanks to Sasha for the cute onesie. We're expecting some snow tonight - so I thought it was fitting.
Stian is doing well. He's a bit of a grump today, I'm not sure why. But he looks awfully cute in his outfit. Thanks to Sasha for the cute onesie. We're expecting some snow tonight - so I thought it was fitting.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Terrible news
I know the purpose of this blog is mostly to give our friends and family who live far away a peak into our lives as Stian grows since they can’t be here as often as they would like to see for themselves. But our family is bigger than just Kris and me and Stian. We also have our two pups – Toop and Morri. And the other purpose of this blog is to serve as a sort of scrapbook for us. And yesterday we received devastating news about Toop, and I feel the need to post about it.
Toop has bone caner. Or at least the vet is almost positive that she does. We had noticed her limping, but chalked it up to a tussle with Morri or old age. But it didn’t go away. And then the other day Kris noticed her wrist looked funny, and he felt and there was a hard lump in there. So Kris took her to the vet yesterday afternoon, and the prognosis is not good. This type of cancer is very fast moving. And by the time you can see a bump on the outside chances are very high that it has already metastasized. We are heartbroken.
The vet did an x-ray, and while he isn’t 100% certain he’s quite sure it’s cancer. To be 100% certain we have to do a bone biopsy. This involves her spending the night at the vet and have her bone drilled into. We have to decide if that is something we want to put her through or not. Right now we’re leaning towards not doing it.
Treatment for the cancer is amputation of the leg and either chemotherapy or herbal treatments. But even then her life expectancy is not long. It may buy us a little more time. But not much. And what would her quality of life be as a three legged dog? If she were younger we might think more seriously about it. But she’s 11 years and 4 months old – not a young dog. Could she adjust? Would she be able to walk? And it’s a front leg – making it that much more difficult for her to adjust.
Or we can just let it go. And if we do that, we have very little time left. Maybe 2-3 months, maybe more, maybe less. Eventually she will be in so much pain that we can’t let it go on and we will have to make the decision to end her life. Our vet practices traditional Chinese medicine as well as Western medicine, so he can give us some herbs to give her to perhaps slow the cancer and make her more comfortable. He says he’s had good luck with it in other dogs. So we will probably do that.
We are heartsick. Those of you who know Toop have some idea what a very special dog she is. She wants nothing more than to make her people happy. She fetches Kris’s slippers, she brings in the mail, she sits on the back of the sofa and rests her head on our shoulders, she sleeps with her head on Kris’s pillow… There has never been a dog more loved than our little Toop. And there have been lots of tears in our house since we got the terrible news yesterday.
Toop has bone caner. Or at least the vet is almost positive that she does. We had noticed her limping, but chalked it up to a tussle with Morri or old age. But it didn’t go away. And then the other day Kris noticed her wrist looked funny, and he felt and there was a hard lump in there. So Kris took her to the vet yesterday afternoon, and the prognosis is not good. This type of cancer is very fast moving. And by the time you can see a bump on the outside chances are very high that it has already metastasized. We are heartbroken.
The vet did an x-ray, and while he isn’t 100% certain he’s quite sure it’s cancer. To be 100% certain we have to do a bone biopsy. This involves her spending the night at the vet and have her bone drilled into. We have to decide if that is something we want to put her through or not. Right now we’re leaning towards not doing it.
Treatment for the cancer is amputation of the leg and either chemotherapy or herbal treatments. But even then her life expectancy is not long. It may buy us a little more time. But not much. And what would her quality of life be as a three legged dog? If she were younger we might think more seriously about it. But she’s 11 years and 4 months old – not a young dog. Could she adjust? Would she be able to walk? And it’s a front leg – making it that much more difficult for her to adjust.
Or we can just let it go. And if we do that, we have very little time left. Maybe 2-3 months, maybe more, maybe less. Eventually she will be in so much pain that we can’t let it go on and we will have to make the decision to end her life. Our vet practices traditional Chinese medicine as well as Western medicine, so he can give us some herbs to give her to perhaps slow the cancer and make her more comfortable. He says he’s had good luck with it in other dogs. So we will probably do that.
We are heartsick. Those of you who know Toop have some idea what a very special dog she is. She wants nothing more than to make her people happy. She fetches Kris’s slippers, she brings in the mail, she sits on the back of the sofa and rests her head on our shoulders, she sleeps with her head on Kris’s pillow… There has never been a dog more loved than our little Toop. And there have been lots of tears in our house since we got the terrible news yesterday.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Chinese New Year
Stian would like to wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year! Farewell Year of the Pig, hello Year of the Rat!
(thanks again to Katy for the onesie and the blanket, and thanks to Klebo for the stuffed rat!)
(thanks again to Katy for the onesie and the blanket, and thanks to Klebo for the stuffed rat!)
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Playing
Here's a picture from Stian playing in his crib this morning. Check out the cute onesie we got from Shayla!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Miles of smiles
Just a few smiley pictures from this weekend.
And here's a picture of Stian in a sweater that my mom made. It's a little big for him right now, but we put it on him to go for a walk. Lots of blue in this picture!
And here's a picture of Stian in a sweater that my mom made. It's a little big for him right now, but we put it on him to go for a walk. Lots of blue in this picture!
Friday, February 1, 2008
Snow!
It's snowing again. They were predicting 14" of snow. I'm not sure we're going to get that, but we've got I would guess at least 8" so far, and it's still snowing like mad. Of course Kris still had to go into work. He said the roads were pretty bad. Hopefully the snowplows are staying on top of it.
I know the pictures of Stian have been sparse this week. We've had a quiet week. He's actually been napping during the day! He hasn't been doing that very well until this week, but all week he's taken at least two naps a day of several hours each. It's nice - it gives me some time for myself, and he's also a little less grumpy because he's not overtired. Of course we he was quite the grump on Wednesday night when we had Kevin and Dawn over for dinner! So we couldn't get a picture of them with him because he cried so much. I will try to take a picture of him this afternoon to post though. Just to give the grandma's their fix! ;)
I know the pictures of Stian have been sparse this week. We've had a quiet week. He's actually been napping during the day! He hasn't been doing that very well until this week, but all week he's taken at least two naps a day of several hours each. It's nice - it gives me some time for myself, and he's also a little less grumpy because he's not overtired. Of course we he was quite the grump on Wednesday night when we had Kevin and Dawn over for dinner! So we couldn't get a picture of them with him because he cried so much. I will try to take a picture of him this afternoon to post though. Just to give the grandma's their fix! ;)
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