The Starkey Family

The Starkey family will soon be welcoming a brand new baby girl into their lives...check out their new blog!

Auntie Michelle's Visit

This weekend was Auntie Michelle's weekend...we went shopping and shopping and then more shopping...one of our Caleb approved purchases was this walker which he LOVES. He hasn't used it for actual walking yet but he's pushed/crawled it around the living room. He seems to love the sounds and just playing with the steering wheel for many minutes at a time.

Caleb is going to be soooo sad when Auntie leaves tomorrow but they've had some good bonding time together. Auntie watched him all day today while I was at work and she flies out tomorrow morning back to good ol' Vancouver.

Auntie Michelle is coming to Visit!!!

I've been so busy with other things that I don't have a recent photo to publish. This one is from about 3 weeks ago. Isn't he sweet?

Auntie Michelle is coming to visit in 2 more sleeps! I'm soooo excited to see ma soeur!! Elle arrive le jeudi!!

Caleb is going to get his "Auntie Spoiled Me!" weekend and my sister will just eat him up. I'll have to get her to post a blog here during her visit.

Hopefully Hurricane Ernesto (tropical storm now?) won't affect her flight.

Doctor says that it's Separation Anxiety

We went to the doctors on Saturday because Caleb was still congested and I told her about Caleb's 'episodes' at daycare. She reassured me that this is normal and that it's the start of "Separation Anxiety" which varies from baby to baby.

She told me that it's a phase that will pass (although it may last a couple of months). I asked her why the other babies there aren't going through the same thing and she joked that Caleb may be smarter than them in this regard since he's starting to realize what's going on and who's who. Upon further reading onto this subject in my many reference books about babies & parenting, it says that this phase can start around 7-8 months although the majority of babies go through this at 12 months. Some babies are lucky enough to not go through this at all. I asked the Doctor how long this could last, and she laughed and said 'up to a couple of months'....in the meantime, she agreeing with the advice of my co-worker, Kathy....since I can't do anything about it, I should just stop calling daycare during the day since it stresses me out....:)

I also asked whether this could be a result of me spoiling him with too much attention in the evenings & weekends and she said "No". Besides, we are parents and we're supposed to shower our babies with attention when we're with them.

I also asked whether I could do anything to help this transition in any way and she said that there are many lessons during a baby's development where they need to learn how to deal with things on their own and this is one of them. We can't help them learn for them.

I'm starting to understand how hard it was on my parents when I was young....

How Could Our Sweetie Pie Be Bad??

How could this sweetie pie be bad at daycare? This week, he's won the 'bad baby award' which translates into him being the most fussy baby at daycare. (There's only 3 babies there so it's not hard to win this award) :)

When I'm there, he's fine. When we're home, he's fine. But while we're at work, he morphs into this demanding baby that doesn't want to play and when Florice is feeding one of the other babies, he crawls over there, pull himself up onto her knees and stands there whimpering until it's his turn.

He was doing so well for the past few weeks! Now he's regressed to his little ol' demanding self.

Hopefully, this is just a phase and maybe it's attributable to him being a little congested and possibly teething. When I call in to check and when I pick him up I feel like I'm waiting to get a bad report card. What are we doing wrong at home?

Well, it's only been this week so far....anybody have any ideas?

The Godfather Visits....

This weekend, we had a visit from Caleb's Godfather 'Toon'. He's one of Jay's oldest friends from back in the Army days and even though we don't see him often, Jay has the best time when he hangs out with Toon and his wife Heather.

Now, if only my sister Michelle were here so that Godmother and Godfather could actually meet....

Hello??? Anybody There??

Hello??? Anybody there??

Caleb has a New Toy...Thanks to Nicki & Luis

Nicki and Luis were so kind to let Caleb have this toy that Gavin used to play with. Lucky for Caleb, Gabriela isn't as interested in this toy as he is so Nicki just let Caleb take it home with us.

He plays with it constantly now and it says "hello" in English, French, Spanish and Japanese.

Babies and Fathers

You think changin' diapers is easy?

Caleb's Crawling!

Daycare had reported that Caleb first started crawling last Friday but of course Caleb didn't really crawl for me until yesterday (officially). He's not completely steady but he's moving now. It's so much fun to watch him try to get places....but when he gets stuck he gets MAD.

On another note, we've noticed that Caleb LOVES to eat.....I wonder which side of the family he gets that from? He's open to trying all types of foods so we're mainly giving him those baby finger foods (biter biscuits, thick baby melba toast, puff grained cereal and those wagon wheel cracker things) and he loves to sample table food. So far is favorite is egg noodles cooked in chicken gravy with a touch of ketchup. There's something about ketchup and kids. Then again, Jay slathers his porkchops and steaks with ketchup too...

Playtime with Mommy

These pictures were just too cute not to post. He's so much fun now and we have a ball just playing around. Caleb's not crawling yet but he gets on all fours and rocks back and forth and somehow moves a little and then he gets back into sitting position. While I can't wait until I can see him crawling around, I AM a little glad that he's not that mobile yet (since then I'd be running after him yelling "NOO!!!! Don't eat the kitty litter!!!).

We met a new addition to Caleb's daycare (Hannah) and even though she was only 4 months old (Caleb's 7 now), she was a pound and a half bigger! She had the chubbiest cheeks and the cutest little sausage legs. :) I need to remember to take some photos of Caleb at his daycare so that you can see the other cutie pies there.

Next Time, We Go to WakeMed

Two days ago we went to see a pediatric cardiologist in the WakeMed Heart Center and both the EKG and the cardiac echo test results were fine. There were no problems with the origins of Caleb's left coronary artery and the only thing that the scan showed was a small pinprick in his upper two chambers of the heart which babies are normally born with a small opening which usually closes in the first couple months of life. Caleb still has a small pinprick so we're right on track.

The cardiologist said that we don't need to see him or anybody else for a follow up on Caleb's heart and everything is fine. So the next time we visit the pediatrician will be for Caleb's 9 month appointment.

Just to Keep Everybody Posted.....

Just to keep everybody posted on Caleb's Cardiac Echo test results.....the doctor called me last night and told me not to worry but that the pediatric cardiaologist wants to see Caleb for a follow up. Dr. Espina said that it could be a faulty test or due to the way Caleb was laying down but the Cardiac Echo showed an unusual left coronary artery.

Our appointment is next Monday the 17th at the WakeMed Heart Station with Dr. Cotton so we'll keep you posted.

As you can all see in the pic, he's sitting up, he's learning new things everyday and he's always smiling for the camer (except when we sent to Sears Portrait Studio for his 6 month portrait where he decided that he was going to pitch a fit during the entire session).

Michelle & Queenie's Visit

Here's a pic from Michelle & Queenie's visit from NYC. It's so nice to have visitors here.....so many people SAY that they're going to visit but never actually do.....so I was very pleasantly surprised that they actually came down here to HOT North Carolina....

It's Scary Being a Mom...

Last weekend Caleb had two visitors from NYC - Queenie & Michelle! We were very happy that they came to visit us and even though we didn't have a ton of time together, it was nice to catch up and introduce them to Caleb. I'll post a picture of all of us in the next blog.

We just had our 6 month appointment and due to one of my comments about Caleb sweating when he eats and when he sleeps, the doctor has ordered us to go to REX Hospital for a Pediatric Cardiac Echo 2D scan of his heart just in case. Apparently salty sweat is a symptom of cystic fybrosis and even though he doesn't have any of the other symptoms, they wanted to check it out anyways.

It's very scary being a mom. Everyday there are new things to worry about.

The good news is that since being sick last week, he's gained a whole pound! He now weighs 14.14lbs and he's 25 1/4 inches tall.

Did I Mention That Caleb Can Sit Up Now?

Did I mention that Caleb can sit up now? I had talked to my Dad and he didn't believe me since all of the previous pictures had Caleb surrounded by pillows.

This was taken at my bosses' house where we went this weekend. He was all smiley until I got the 'bad mommy' award. I pinched his little pinkie (by accident) on this little push toy.

If anybody is noticing that Caleb is not very big for a 6 month old it's becuase he's lost some weight due to being sick for a few weeks. At the doctor's visit 2 days ago, he only weighed 13 lbs 12 oz. The week before that he had weighed 14 lbs 4 oz. We have his official 6 month check-up next Tuesday so hopefully he'll have gained back the weight that he lost. We're on "project fatten baby"....and I keep telling Caleb to eat because people look at Mommies strangely when they see a small skinny baby. Babies are supposed to be chubby and plump.

On a Happier Note....

On a slightly happier note, even though Caleb is sick, he's still giving us these big smiles like these. We're so blessed to have such a good baby.

Jay & I were bigger babies when we're sick than Caleb is. (and he's the one with the ear infection, cough, congestion AND stomach flu)....poor baby...

The Whole Family Has Been Sick....

Our whole family has been sick this week with a 'stomach bug'.....which made for a sadly comical night in the pediatric ER where they admitted all three of us.

Caleb had a fever on Monday and when we went to the pediatricion, they said that both his ears were infected. Kathy at work had told me time and time again to go to the doctors but I when I finally went, it made me feel like the worst mother in the world. They prescribed amoxicillin. That evening, Jay & I got sick with this viral gastroenteritis... I'll spare you all the details, but let's just say that it was gross.

The next day, Florice was kind enough to come and pick Caleb up for the day so that we could get some rest and she took care of the poor sick baby. That evening, due to some strange diapers, I called the pediatricion on call and Dr. Espinol suggested that I go to WakeMed's pediatric ER to have they take a look at Caleb. While we were there, since Jay and I were feeling so poorly, we asked them to admit us as a family. (Little did I realize then that it was going to be $150/person according to my insurance!)

So now it's Thursday and we've been out of commission for almost a week. It's times like these that I need my mommy! :(

And this is a photo of Caleb in his hospital gown (at home)...isn't he such a cutie pie?

First Time Swimming!!

On Sunday, Caleb was in a swimming pool for the first time. We were at Heather's parents' house and Caleb had a ball. He was the center of attention and the weather was perfect.

The water really pooped him out.....and he was so cute! When we first put him in the water, he didn't seem to be afraid of it. He seemed fascinated by all the moving colors and the sun reflection. He kicked his legs and every now and then he would lay back on his little floatie like he was just lounging and enjoying himself.

He wasn't afraid even when people were jumping and diving into the pool. Pretty soon, he'll be running and jumping in right after Jay.

Thanks to Heather's parents' for letting us come swim there!

First My Fingers....Now My Toes!

At first, Caleb was sucking his fingers.....and now....he's sucking on his toes. If he's at daycare with his socks on, he'll suck the sock until it gets sopping wet and then Florice has to take off his one wet sock. Pretty.

He'll be in any position and he'll want to suck his toes. He'll be in his carseat and he'll just lift that leg straight up and start sucking.

Am I not providing him with enough toys that he has to revert to toe-sucking as his favorite pasttime?