As of Monday, Zeke weighed 11 pounds, 3 ounces, and Gabriel weighed 11 pounds, 1 ounce. The Z-man not only caught up to his brother weight wise, but decided to squeak by the G-man. We are nothing less than ecstatic that both boys are on the right track as far as the poundage goes.
“Granny loves to hold me,” says Gabriel.
As far as all around health is concerned, we still have a few other items to tend to with Zeke. He got an x-ray at a local children’s hospital back in December and it was confirmed that Zeke indeed does have a mass of something in one of the lobes of his lungs. Remember, the Cincy docs, who were the ones to discover it on their MRI results, said it was a CCAM (congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation)? Well, the pediatric surgeon Zeke saw said we can’t be sure it’s a CCAM till a CT scan is done — that’s scheduled for early June — but he’s pretty sure. And if it is, we are going to have the mass of benign tumors surgically removed soon thereafter, since they have been linked to adulthood cancer.
“I love Auntie Merdy,” says Zeke.
Zeke also has what is known as an umbilical hernia, which is a distended bellybutton. This common harmless condition is when part of the intestine protrudes through a weak spot in the abdominal muscles. Most of these hernias close on their own by age 1, though some take longer to heal and may require surgical repair. We are confident that Zeke’s will take care of itself and the Lord will spare our sweet boy a second childhood surgery. Even though Zeke is happy as a clam and none the wiser about these conditions, please keep the Z-man in your prayers.
 “No, I haven’t quite mastered my table skills,” says Houston.
Houston is definitely not lacking in the poundage department. Although he is just 19 months old, he is pushing 35 pounds, wearing size 6 diapers and donning up to size 4T clothes. We just recently introduced him to potty training; I figured we better get a move on it, since 6 is the largest size diaper. Moreover, I’m sick of changing diapers for three children, not to mention the fact that diapers are very pricey.
Gabriel is one happy boy!
Houston is also very much a toddler, thinking he’s the center of the world, lacking any level of patience and whining like a pro. We’re experimenting with different discipline methods because he’s now too big for time outs in his pack-n-play (he can turn it over on its side while he’s in it) and we don’t want to overuse spanking. We try to show him that his tantrums don’t affect us as to let him know that bad behavior doesn’t garner the result he wants: attention. But sometimes that is so much easier said than done. And of course, other times the outburst is so dramatic that it actually does require a response from us. I think I’m going to start taking his beloved binkies away as a behavior modification tool. We’ll see how that pans out.Â
So is Zeke!
Well, mama needs some rest. Click on the very top photo of Granny and Gabe to view the January – part 1 photos and click the above photo of happy-boy Zeke to check out this month’s part 2 pics.
