Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son John

One day this fall, I got fed up trying to figure out what was happening every night. I complained to Michael, "What the heck is happening? Every time I get John out of his sleepsack, he is wearing ONE slipper!" He replied with the old nursery rhyme.

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John,

Went to bed with his trousers on;

One shoe off, and one shoe on,

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John!

We've since found that other slipper and tried to keep them on him during his days of toddling around our house.(Yes, he finally started walking right before he turned 18 months old!! So, you know how we have these nicely refinished (well, once upon a time they were) wood floors...and how we have only put down a moisture barrier and not insulation in our crawlspace, right? Well, our floors are freezing. Last week, John's lips turned blue on 3 different occasions. Once he was outside wearing a bunting and no mittens (won't keep them on), and the two other times he was walking around the house, sometimes without his slippers. We're not totally sure that the blue lips are because he was cold or if they are related to something going on with his body.

On Tuesday, he had his 18 month checkup with our beloved Dr. Hosford. She checked him all out and determined that he looks pretty good. Here are the stats taken at 18.5 mos:

Height: 33.5" (75th%ile)

Weight: 23 lb 9 oz (25th %ile)

Oxygen count to check if the blue lips were related to asthma - 100% (right on!)

and for his meds:

continue giving him 15mg Prevacid tablets for his reflux, but after another month, try to gradually wean him from it (over 2 weeks go to 6 pills/wk, then after 2 more weeks, decrease to 5 pills/wk, etc.)

continue giving him .25mL of budesonide (Pulmicort) through the nebulizer daily

AND... she heard a heart murmur again at this visit. After much deliberation about whether or not to get it checked out, she decided that the blue lips earned him an echocardiogram. You'll remember (or maybe not) that our 3rd post on the blog was to share the results of the same procedure with Thomas. Thomas was determined to have a PFO, which should not present many problems for him in the long run.

John will be going to get his ECHO on Fri., Jan 7th in Cary, a mere 35 minutes from our house. Even though we live within biking distance from UNC Children's Hospital, our new High Deductible Health Plan complicates things. We're thankful for insurance, for sure, but this new plan is pretty shocking to our minds and to our cashflow. We are required to pay the first $3000 of our medical bills out of pocket, then we will start having some things covered. The additional cost of being seen at the hospital is about $500, so we are making arrangements (yay, Grandma and Papa!) to get Amelia to preschool and to keep Thomas at home while we take John to his appointment, to delay having to spend the extra $$ this week. Actually, since Michael started his new job this fall, we've had the privilege of paying most of our medical expenses out of pocket. The most shocking call was Medco the mail order prescription drug company calling to say that our bill for 3 months of John's meds exceeded the amount they were able to charge our credit card - $900. We struggled with how to find ways to get him the meds. It has been challenging to pay for all these things out of pocket all Fall, then to turn around and start paying another $3000 starting Jan. 1. Such is life, I guess. We are thankful that God continues to provide for us and love us despite our faults. We pray John's procedure will come back with just normal findings. He's a good little guy! Hope you enjoy the picture of him taking a break from saying his few words (mama, dada, cheers, ball, stool, shoes, thank you, and a host of grunting, growling, squealing, screaming, and screeching noises) to get what he wants. Today he's wearing a backpack for the first time, and he allowed me the privilege of putting it on his arms instead of around his neck like he prefers to wear things (costumes, sleepsack, my pj's, etc).