Today was another great visit with the doctor and another medicine down.  I forgot to mention, but last week we quit giving Cutler an antibiotic that was being given to help stimulate the digestive system and we cut back on the meds to help avoid gvhd.  Today we were told we could quit the medicine we were giving to help stimulate his appetite and we are cutting back again on the medicine to help avoid gvhd.  The doctors continue to be impressed with the lack of signs of gvhd, most importantly the condition of the skin and are continued to be pleased with his blood work.  Today his WBC is still in the 5K range, which is where the doctors expect it to stay, his hemoglobin (red blood) is up over 10k and the platelets are still in the 188K range.  All of this without transfusions! 

Today we also visited both the 12th floor and the 6th floor and saw some of our extended family.  The sixth floor nurses were astonished at how big he has gotten.  I guess because we are around him all the time, we don’t notice the subtle growth.  Unfortunately we didn’t see Kammie, but he did get to see and be held by Cari on the 12th floor.  As a reminder, Cari was his transplant nurse.  Although he was a bit tired from benadryl, he was very happy to see all of his ladies.

Aside from that, things around the house continue to improve a good pace.  He is now addicted to eating yogurt melts and on the side will eat cottage cheese, guacamole, avocado, mashed potatoes, bacon, biscuits, pancakes, and the list goes on.  Unfortunately if he is within eye sight of the yogurt melts, that is all he wants.  We call it his baby crack and I fear that he may soon find himself back in the hospital for rehab if it keeps up at this pace.  🙂  Cutler is also starting to drink more and more from the sippy cup, although about 1/4 of it does fall out of his mouth, but he is definitely interested and that means everything to us.  In the interim, we continue to pump the formula at night and push two ounces every couple of hours during the day.  The goal, aside from him being off the pump, is to push the formula through the tube every couple of hours during the day and no longer need it at night, much like if he were drinking from a bottle.  I see great progress in this area as he continues to tolerate the formula pushes as well as all of the other food.

Cutler is starting to become less and less fussy by the day.  Now we think most of the noise he makes is more him talking and less him complaining.  It just happens that the whine is the only noise he knows.  Must be listening to his big brother too much.  🙂  We were given the clearance last week to start going out in public with him, just to keep him away from other kids and we haven’t wasted a second to get him out there.  He is going to Mason’s soccer games (now outdoors), out to eat and this weekend he will have his first Guiness at the Dallas Irish Festival.  He really enjoys being outside and yesterday he thoroughly enjoyed watching the mayhem that comes with the neighbor kids running and screaming everywhere.  Especially when chasing the neighbor dog.  He can’t wait to get down and run with them as well.

Below are a few pictures of Cutler and Mason from this past week.  And I promise to try and at least post pictures throughout the week as well as try to get Kobi to do a weekly posting if we could keep her out of the bars for at least one night to type.  Hope this finds you all doing well.

The tongue is starting to reappear

And so is the smile

Mason has started working already

Work is so hard he has to wipe the sweat from his brow

Here he threatens me with karate if the camera snaps one more time

Five ways to prove how serious he is about me stopping the photos

Cutler's first night out and braving the cold thanks to the hat

Hanging at the doctor's office

Finally, a hat his own size

Why babies should say no to baby crack (yogurt melts)

Yo dad, right here

Piano Man