Sick Boys

So Tuesday night it began (well really on Sunday when both boys started showing signs of a head cold). Both boys were irritable at daycare on Monday (enough to cause daycare to call me to alert me to that fact) but were fine Monday night. Tuesday night we put Thomas to bed around his normal bed time and all seemed fine. Around 1 AM we heard this terrible sound on the monitor and ran into this room to discover that the little man could hardly breathe in the laying down position and upright was not so great either. So Daddy rushed him to the emergency room (which by the way the new hospital is GREAT) to discover that Thomas has Croup and needed a breathing treatment and a steroid shot. Then they had to watch him for 3 hours. He came home and other than having to go see his normal doctor in the morning and eating (the steroid makes him so hungry--more than he normally is) he slept most of the day. So he is now taking a steroid for a few days to ensure his airways stay open.

So this morning I took Matthew to the doctor because his cough has gotten worse only to discover that he has a double ear infection. Poor little guy!!! So he starts a 10 day antibiotic. Lets hope all are feeling better for the holidays.

Love,
The Nonkens

Matthew Update

Good morning everyone,

So the GI specialist wants to try another medication with Matthew. This one (according to him) should not have the same side-effects but it has to be compounded (not a big deal in my eyes as most of his other medication had to be compounded anyway). So we will give it a try and see how he does. We should be able to start the new medication either tomorrow or Sunday.

He did co-sleep with me the last two nights and slept very well. So we are keeping our fingers crossed that this will work.

Love,
Sue, Reed, Matthew and Thomas

Thanksgiving Holiday

Hi everyone,

We had such a great Thanksgiving Holiday and were blessed to have Reed's sister Lisa and Step-Mom Lilli visit us. We were able to sit down and have a great Thanksgiving feast and the boys throughly enjoyed having company as you can see below:

Gramma Lilli and the boys:













Thomas sitting like a big boy:













Gramma Lilli and Matthew:













Both boys in their "cammi" outfits:













Thomas and Aunt Lisa:














Getting ready for our Thanksgiving stroll with our make-shift hats:













Our brand new high-chairs (Thank you Gramma Mimi)









Our new "Trailing a Little Behind" Outfit:



















Daddy and Thomas:





















A few of Matthew:



















A few of Thomas:










Thomas with spiky hair (Daddy was having fun):

Quick Update

Hi everyone:

Quick update (I hope to post more tomorrow with some new pictures). Matthew saw the GI specialist in Greensboror last week and was given a new medication to try. Needless to say--he could not take it as it made him much worse so we have stopped the medication. Basically, unless he stops eating or drops in his consumption (as he is at the lower limit on what is acceptable) or loses weight, there is nothing else they can really do as we have tried most of the medications for reflux for infants (that they feel would work anyway) so we are now going to try and wait for Matthew to out grow the reflux. In the meantime, we are trying co-sleeping to see if that will be better than sleeping in a recliner.

Thomas is doing great and is getting big.

They had their 6 month check up yesterday and Thomas weighed 19 pounds 9 ounces and is 27.5 inches long and Matthew weighed 16 pounds 14 ounces and is 26 inches long. They got their 6 month shots and their first flu shot and Matthew ended up with a fever from them.

Otherwise all is good and I hope to post some pictures from our first Thanksgiving--it was great to have Grandma Lilli and Aunt Lisa visit and we have some great pictures to post with them.

Love,
Reed, Sue, Matthew and Thomas

Matthew Update at GI

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to give a quick update as Matthew saw a GI specialist in Greensboro yesterday (about an hour and 40 min drive which he did great with). The doctor told us to keep an open mind as this might not be reflux and might just be a behavoral issue. But since reflux is hard to prove, he is putting him on an additional medication to see if it will help. This one is aimed at helping the stomach empty quicker so there won't be as much "stuff" to come back up and also helps tighten the muscle at the top of the stomach so "stuff" is not as likely to come back up either. We are going to start the medication tomorrow (as there can be some side effects and we want him home with us when he first starts it so we can watch him). It could take up to 2 weeks to work, but the doctor thinks that if it will help him we should know in about 5-7 days. So hopefully by this time next week, we will know if the medication helps the poor little one. We question a behavoral issue because when he is alseep on us, he thrashes a lot. We would think that if it was a behavoral issue he would not do that in his sleep. But we are not docs, so we will just have to wait and see what happens.

I am off again tomorrow so I hope to be able to post some new pictures to the web site. For now,

Love,
Reed, Sue, Matthew and Thomas

Matthew Update

So Matthew went to see an ENT yesterday and his ears are perfect. The ENT believes that his sleeping issues are 100% reflux and that he probably needs the surgery. So they are going to send us to a GI specialist hopefully soon. We will keep everyone posted.

In the meantime, I am posting some pics from the weekend below (in some Matthew is wearing a black outfit and Thomas an orange shirt and in others Matthew is in the green and brown stripped outfit and Thomas is in the blue stripped outfit).....

What a great Weekend

Ok--I can't resist--I gotta post more pictures--see below.

The boys started eating veggies last weekend (the 1st of November). They started with Sweet Potatoes and seemed to really like it. It is so amazing how big they are both getting, Thomas will probably outgrow his bouncy seat and car seat by length before poundage -- but you never know!

They love to spend time in the jumperoo and both have this little dance they do in it going back and forth. Thomas loves his rattle from Grandma Mimi and even fell asleep holding onto it.

Matthew loves to stick his tongue out now (wonder where he got that from?? ha ha) and Thomas loves to laugh out loud at everything and anything. They certainly have their own personalities now.

We can't wait for the Holidays to arrive so they can see family again. Grandma Lilli and Aunt Lisa are coming for Thanksgiving and then we are going to the Northeast for Christmas with stops in CT and ME. They will see LOTS of family then and we cannot wait!!!!

We love and miss everyone.

Reed, Sue, Matthew and Thomas

Pictures of Matthew

Matthew had a great weekend too eating veggies for the first time, playing in the jumperoo and he definately has a Bernier trait--sticking his tongue out:

Pictures of Thomas

Thomas really had a great weekend with eating veggies for the first time, laughing with us in his bouncy seat and playing in his jumperoo and would not let go of his favorite rattle even when asleep....take a look

Follow up Dr. Appt

Matthew had a follow up doctor's appointment this week for the Upper GI and the doctor says he cannot see anything medically wrong. His growth is great--he weighed in at 15 pounds 13.5 ounces and his exam was great. The doctor thinks that it might just be his personality that he does not want to sleep in his crib. So we are going to see what happens between now and his 6 month check up on December 1st and then go from there. So we will keep you posted.

Love,
Reed, Sue, Matthew and Thomas

Matthew Does It!!!

Last night, Halloween, Oct 31st, Matthew slept through the night for the very 1st time and he slept IN his crib all night. I don't know if it was a one time event, but we hope not and are keeping our fingers crossed for tonight. Of course I laid Matthew on his back in his crib and he immediately rolled to his stomach and slept like that all night so I stayed awake a good part of the night checking in on him since it was the first time sleeping on his stomach

Of course, Thomas did not sleep through the night at all last night making it a rough night. But those are rare for him and we hope tonight is a better one for him.

We will keep you posted on Matthew's sleeping progress.

Love,
Reed, Sue, Matthew and Thomas

Matthew's Upper GI

Matthew had his upper GI and small bowel follow through test yesterday and he did such a fantastic job. They put strawberry Quik in the barium to entice him to drink it and he did a good job of drinking most of it. He was there for almost 4 hours and did not fuss one time. They did not find anything during the tests, the esophagus has no damage from the Reflux, the valve between the esophagus and stomach is working perfectly, the muscle between the stomach and the intestine is looking good and there are no blockages in the intestinal structure. All very good, however he still struggles with eating and sleeping. So he has a follow up appointment next week with the doctor to see what the next steps are. We will keep everyone posted and thank you for all of your prayers.

Matthew and his parents

5 Months Old

Hi everyone,

We cannot believe that the boys are now 5 months old!!! How time flies. The boys are doing well, though Matthew still really struggles. He can eat better now, but now cannot sleep on his back at all. Therefore, we are now holding him the entire night every night. He is actually going to the hospital on Thursday for an Upper GI to determine what is going on. We hope we can get some answers to how bad his Reflux is or if this is another issue. We will keep you posted on that.

On other items, both boys have now discovered that they have legs and enjoy pulling the legs up to their chests (of course Matthew is better at doing this since Thomas' legs are a bit chubbier :-) ). We are now waiting for the feet to enter the mouth! It is so much fun watching them discover new things all of the time. They love being read to and seem amazed by the stories (and they love Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose from Aunt Sara--thank you so very much).

The boy's Great Uncle Gerry and Great Aunt Sara stopped by yesterday which was such a treat. Thank you for stopping in and the boys really enjoyed meeting more of the family.

I am posting a picture of each one below "sitting" by themselves. Thomas is on the left and Matthew is on the right.

Love,

Reed, Sue, Matthew and Thomas

Matthew--the master of Rolling Over

Hello everyone,

So we have now witnessed Matthew rolling over from his back to his stomach (though Day Care has been saying that he has been doing that, we had yet to see him do it) and he is a master at it. You lay him on the floor to play and he just rolls over and keeps on going.

Matthew is still struggling with Reflux pretty badly. The doctors switched his medication last week (he had gained about a pound over the two week period since his 4 month check up and weighed in at 14 pounds 11.5 ounces) and they have scheduled him for an Upper GI on the 30th of the month to rule out any physical cause to the problems that he is having. We of course are not looking forward to him being put through that test.

Thomas is now getting over his 3rd head cold and he had to have antibiotics with this one. So when I took him in to the Dr. last week they weighed him and he had gained over a pound since his 4 month check up (he weighed in at 16 pounds 12 ounces). He actually rolled over in his crib last night and slept part of the night on his stomach. Which the doctors tell us is still a no-no. So we will have to watch that as best as we can.

Both boys enjoyed wearing some Halloween outfits lately and I will try to post some of the pics below. They both also seemed to enjoy laying with each other on the floor this weekend.