The Evils of Gastroesophageal Reflux and...A New Hope?

Last we heard from our intrepid new parents, they (we) had been battling what we thought was a particularly horrible case of colic in Liam.  While the colic was definitely in full force, it turns out that there was something worse lurking in the background, exacerbating the issue at hand.

A little over a month ago, I came down with a pretty mean 1-2 winter illness combo: a full on sinus infection and strep throat, all at the same time.  This pretty much knocked me out for the better part of four or five days.  Luckily I caught it pretty early, got a quick meet with the doctor, and got some pretty rad antibiotics that kicked all that to the curb.  Unfortunately, Liam got pretty sick a few days later.

We got in to the pediatrician pretty quickly, and determined that he had a run-of-the-mill cold virus, probably the same one that had been running rampant in our community.  Desperate for help with the non-stop fussiness that Liam had been exhibiting, Kristen and I had been reading up on all sorts of other things, including acid reflux.  When we told our pediatrician about the symptoms he had been showing, he agreed that reflux was definitely possible and prescribed a mild, baby form of Zantac to see how Liam responded.

After a week we were fairly certain that he was responding well and better - after a little more than a month, we can't believe the change in our baby boy.  I'm happy to say that while he still has his moments, and remains a particularly challenging little dude, the bouts of completely inconsolable crying have all but disappeared.

We first saw evidence of this when Kristen's parents and sister Amy came to visit back on January 22, probably no more than a week after being on his medicine.  Instead of the fussy little boy they had seen before, our visitors found a cute, happy, bubbly little man who was all too happy to smile and laugh!

(plenty more from this visit in this web album)

I think word must have gotten around quickly that Liam was feeling better, because we had a whole smattering of visits in February.  First, Liam's Aunt Amy came for another visit, and had a lovely time with him.

Next was another visit by Kristen's parents.  Liam was sporting his cool new Snoopy onesie and had a great time playing with his Poopaw and Memaw.

 

A few days later Liam's Aunt Hannah came to visit for the weekend.  Liam had a wonderful time with her, though when I was taking pictures he was just starting to edge into a fussy mood.

Then towards the end of the month Mama Kamp (Martha) and Aunt Sadie came over in the evening, giving Kristen and I a lovely night out to go have some dinner at a favorite local place.  Liam was in fine form, giving me some of the best pictures I've gotten yet of him in a great mood.

 

 

(Tons more of all these and more pics in another recent web album)

So life has definitely improved, and we're having a grand time with our lovely baby boy.  He's also been growing in leaps and bounds - at last measure, he weighed in right at 14 lb and measured 25 inches!  (he started at 6.6 lb and 19 inches - that's 32% gain in height and a whopping 112% gain in weight!)  We figure he's always had a big personality, it just took his body a little while to catch up.

And bonus points for anyone who smiled at the title of this post.

Introduction: The Zoo

Editor's note:  This post ended up taking me the better part of a month to finish - I kept starting and stopping on it, and not having much time to devote to blogging due to our most recent addition to the family.  But, I finally finished - here we go!

I realized the other day that we've made several blog posts about Zach, Kristen, and Liam, but not The Zoo.  So, some introductions are in order.  First, our canine kiddos.

I captured them in this photo practicing their synchronized sleeping just the other day.  In order from front to back, we have Katie, Zeus, and Jiggs.

Jiggs has been with us the longest - she's been with Kristen since 2001!  She's an incredibly sweet girl, and one of the best dogs we'll probably ever have.  She loves to eat and go on walks, but what motivates her above all else is the love of the ball.  I've never seen any animal more single-mindedly focused on anything than she is on a ball - preferably a fresh new tennis ball.  She will happily chase and fetch a tennis ball until she falls over from exhaustion.  This is a cute picture of her sleeping with Chloe not too long after she joined our family - more on that below.

Zeus joined our family in May 2007 in storybook fashion.  I was driving back to College Station from Sinton, having spent the weekend wrangling cows with Kristen.  I had only been on the road an hour or so, and was passing through Goliad, when I saw a tiny little black and white puffball sitting directly on the yellow stripes in the middle of the road.  I immediately pulled over, thinking "I have to at least move this thing to the side of the road."  As soon as I picked up this tiny puppy, he immediately cuddled close to me and, looking up at me with his big dark blue eyes, captured my heart.  Long story short, Zeus joined our family and has been our sweet, handsome, furry man ever since.  I mean seriously - how could anyone resist a puppy that cute?

Katie is actually Jiggs' half sister - when Kristen got Jiggs, Katie went with Kristen's parents down to Sinton and became a ranch-loving dog.  More recently, she suffered an unfortunate attack down there, but luckily Kristen found her, patched her up, and did an amazing job nursing her back to health from the brink of death.  She came up to College Station for her convalescence, and has been with us since then.  She's a sweet girl like her sister, but has an unfortunate tendency to dig, which drives me to distraction at times.

So that's the canine half of the family - now, on to the feline (and in their minds, much superior) half.

In order from youngest to oldest (and least to most favorite - no, no, I kid - but seriously), we have Chloe, Katerina, and Luci.

Chloe came to Kristen and I during Hurricane Rita back in September 2005.  Kristen was in her fourth year of vet school and working rounds at a local animal shelter as Hurricane Rita came bearing down on Houston.  The shelter decided to temporarily foster all their animals at the time, and our temporary foster became a permanent adoption.  She quickly began to terrorize poor Luci, and he hasn't known a moment's peace since.

Katerina is actually a bit of a medical miracle, and a testament to Kristen's dedication and skill as a veterinarian.  While Kristen was still in her undergrad years, she spent one summer interning with a local vet from her hometown.  One morning when she arrived at work, there was a cat carrier left on the doorstep of the clinic, with an emaciated cat that was hanging on to this life by one little toe.  The vet Kristen was working under immediately wrote the cat off, but Kristen was made of sterner stuff.  Over the next few months, Kristen nursed the cat back to life by injecting saline under her skin to re-hydrate her (she was too weak to drink or eat).  Katerina then traveled back to College Station with Kristen, where she spent the next year or so living under Kristen's bed and never venturing out.  Fast forward 10 years, and she's transformed into a beautiful, mostly-friendly, very hairy member of our family.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Kristen's baby boy: Luci.  Luci, short for Lucifer (aka Mr. Fur) has been with Kristen the longest of all our animal kiddos.  He got his name during his early years when he was quite ferocious and would carve up the arms of anyone trying to hold him, or so I'm told.  Since I've known him (almost 6 years now), he's matured into an incredibly sweet, lovable man who is also devastatingly handsome.  He really is one of the best looking cats I've ever seen, and is incredibly photogenic (just like his mom).  He loves being outside but has to be watched at all times - he has an unfortunate tendency to leap fences when no one is watching and quickly scamper away (though this habit has happily faded with age).
There were a few infamous escapes before I met Kristen that I've heard about - since I've known him, Mr. Fur has only gotten away one time, and we thankfully found him within five minutes.  During that five minutes, however, Kristen was more distraught than I've ever seen her, before or since.  Needless to say if we had a Survivor-esque vote, Luci would be automatically exempted.


So there you go, an intro to the animal kiddos of our family.  So far they have all handled Liam's arrival quite well, though some are more fond of him than others.  It will be really interesting to see how they handle him once he becomes mobile...

Attack of the Chubby Puma

Warning:  This post contains depictions of graphic violence, language suitable for a seasoned sailor or restaurant employee, and should be read with caution by anyone with even a slight prejudice against felines.

This morning, I was viciously attacked by one of our cats: Chloe.  This post could have been titled "Holy sh@t!!", "Jesus Christ!!" (a la Monty Python - watch to at least 1:00), "F#ck me, did you see that?!", or several other choice phrases too foul to mention here - all of which were uttered during the wholly unprovoked assault this morning.

First, a little background for those who are unfamiliar: Chloe is the first cat we've ever seen who is either bipolar or schizophrenic, or possibly both.  We first saw this behavior about a year ago -  that saga, while worth telling, is far too long to go into now.  Suffice to say that she got a whiff of a strange neighborhood cat at one point, and this turned her into Evil Chloe, complete with death wails, hissing, howling, and all other manner of malevolent behavior. 

Over the next year, Evil Chloe would emerge periodically, usually without apparent provocation.  Chloe's future with our family was looking bleak at best.  Then we moved to our new house, and this seemed to give her a new lease on life - we hadn't seen Evil Chloe since the move (back in October 2010).  Until this morning.

Just like before, there was no reason for her Mr. Hyde-like transformation.  All seemed calm as she was quietly sitting on my lap, and then I did the unthinkable: I stood up.  This precipitous action was apparently too much for her fragile emotional equilibrium.  I wish we could have somehow captured the next few seconds on camera, but Kristen and I were totally unprepared for the explosion of violence that followed. 

Imagine, if you will, a creature that was somehow created by crossing a mountain lion with a flying squirrel - she sprang off the couch at least 3 feet in the air, from a complete standstill no less, limbs splayed outward, claws extended, teeth bared, hissing for all she was worth, desperately looking for a target for her elemental fury.  I searched for a while online to find something similar - the closest I could come to the image burned indelibly in my brain is a mix of these two:

Needless to say, this is the moment that choice phrases began streaming out of my mouth as I frantically groped for the nearest object with which I could defend myself.  Armed with my trusty throw pillow, I prepared for battle.  Fortunately, after one whack from the pillow Evil Chloe decided that discretion is indeed the better part of valor, and slunk under the couch to hiss and growl undisturbed. 

After my adrenaline finished spiking and my heart rate slowed to a semi-normal level, and after Kristen could stop laughing uncontrollably from her front row seat where she had been nursing our infant son, we decided to banish her to our mostly-unused third bedroom for now until we can figure out a better course of action.  All our other animal kiddos seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief as soon as the monster was safely sequestered.  Every now and then one of them will go over and sniff the door, which will prompt another round of death howling, hissing, and growling.  I'm not sure how this situations is going to be resolved, but Chloe's future with us is looking grim indeed.