Englishman in Detroit...

Or English-people I should say! Clare and Andy Dungey decided to take a 3 week whirlwind tour of the US, Detroit was on their agenda! Anyone who has read their blog has been touched by their story. We felt their excitement over having a "little" baby and shared in their heartbreak when precious Theodore passed within hours of his birth.

It surreal to finally have met them! Clare and Andy were every bit as wonderful in person as they are on paper (or computer screen?). They even indulged us in the cultural differences between our 2 great nations. Marmite and cream tea vs. Oreo Pop Tarts & porch swings. The only thing I failed to get was all the gossip on Becks and Posh! Are they really as big in England as I hear they are? How trite of me! Holy crap! 6 hours with the Dungey's and I'm pulling a Madonna goes British makeover! Anyhoo... it just goes to show you how, minus all the perverts and pop up ads, the internet can be a wonderful place (right Blair?).

One of the more exciting parts of the day was that Dan was actually able to attend. Everyone met the man and not the myth. He looked particularly handsome that day too.

Back row: Sue Hollie Middle Row: Tonya, Cat, Clare, Andy
Front Row: Sponge Bob Squarepants the sippy cup

Future Hell's Angel

I wonder where Knoah learned this face?
Oh! That's where he learned it!
Owen's brother from another mother.
Kaela gets some sloppy doggie kisses
I'm pretty obsessed with Kaela. Could she be any cuter??
Will's quite the cutie pie too!
What the hell is this thing?
My mother came to see Andy and Clare too!
Forging international relationships
Bicycle built for two? The loves of my life
Owen had a great day meeting Clare and Andy. Cheerio good chaps!

Well Charted Territory

Thanks to everyone who offered their stories and thoughts about the last post. It was especially nice to hear from Julie (finally!) It's nice to feel that I'm not alone. Sometimes you throw these things out there and are never sure if people will think you are insane or brilliant. Although, I always love to think it's the latter, I'm hoping it's somewhere in between the two.

Owen had a well check at his new pediatrician's last week (our previous ped retired) and here are the latest stats.
At 17 months old, Owen is 28 3/4th inches, 22.5 lbs with a head circumference of 52.5cm. Just to give a little perspective as to where that puts him on the growth charts I've plotted him so that you can get a visual!

*Copyright Information*
These charts are copyrighted by the American Academy of Pediatrics

Ok, what you are looking at here are the charts for males with achondroplasia. The charts also include average height curves so that you can plot simultaniously. The grey area is average height and the unbroken lines are the achondroplasia curve. The height and circumference is in centimeters and weight is in kilograms. Here are the links in case you would like to examine further
Health Supervision for Children with Achondroplasia.

Owen seems to be falling in about the 75th percentile for height on the achondroplasia chart.

His head size is a little below the 50th percentile in his chart and off the pin heads - ahem - I mean average size baby charts. Sorry average height babies, that was a cheap shot!

I'll be honest. I don't really know what is going on in this chart. He's kind of in the middle so I'm assuming that's good. You're on your own with this one.

There were 2 shocking parts about Owen's measurements. #1 - He kinda had a growth spurt! His last measurement at 14 months was 27 inches. Almost 2 inches in 3 months is significant considering that he has grown 10 inches over the span of his entire life. Shocking fact #2 - He has only gained 5 ounces since March. He's thinning out! This is something I never thought would happen. OK, let me rephrase that. I'm not saying I thought he would stay his wonderful squishy self forever, I just thought the thinning out growth spurts were reserved for average height kids. At this point, I've pretty much gotten used to his growth progressing by fractions of inches so anything over an inch was a pleasant surprise.

In other news, I finally made an appointment with Dr. Pauli. Dr. Pauli is the former Chairman for the LPA Medical Advisory Board and commenly acknowledged as the doc du jour for little people. He is based in Wisconsin but has satellite offices in Akron, OH and Grand Rapids, MI. We will be seeing him in Grand Rapids sometime in October. We got the chance to meet him at the National Conference and thought he was great! He was actually surprised that there was an infant with dwarfism in Michigan that he hasn't seen!

Other upcoming appointments: Sleep study re-do in September. His Dec '07 study was inconclusive so we are doing it again. I should say, Dan is doing it this time. Once was enough for me! We have another MRI in October. His first MRI showed some narrowing of the foramen magnum and enlarged ventricles. Our neurologist recommended have another MRI in 6 months, so we will go back to poke around a bit. October will also be his first real orthopedic appointment. We had a consult in May, but will go back for X Rays and a full exam in the now very busy upcoming months.

I know I promised more Drew and Owen pictures, but I left my camera at my cousins so they will have to wait. I can however, tide the picture-lovers over with shots from our outing at the Grand Blanc Splash Pad!

Splash pad buddies, Drew, Owen and Blake

Welcome....

...lucky recipients of my mother's Christmas card and annual "I-didn't-really-care-about-what-was-going-on-with-the-Merciez'-but-seeing-as-Jennifer-took-the-time-to-write-it-I-might-as-wel-read-it" family newsletter! (Just kidding ma!) I thank you all for caring enough (or being depressingly bored enough) to navigate yourselves to my own "I-didn't-really-care-what-was-going-on-with-the-Wright-family-but-seeing-as-I-got-Jennifer's-silly-Christmas-newsletter-and-I'm-on-the-computer-anyway-AND-Catherine-took-the-time-to-blog-it-,-I-might-as-well-read-it" extraviganza. Have I lost anyone yet? In all seriousness, Happy Holiday's to everyone! It's really good to hear from people I haven't seen in a while. If you get a minute, please leave a comment and say hi! The past couple of weeks have been chalked full of holiday festivites and developmental milestones (before you get to excited, no - Owen has still not said "mama" yet). On December 8th, Owen saw Santa! My restaurant O'Callaghan's Irish Pub in Brighton - where incidentally you can sample the best of traditional Irish food, visit www.seanocallaghans.com for locations and menu - was hosting a Breakfast with Santa event so we took Owen for his very first visit. I'll go ahead and just show you his reaction. Isn't that hilarious! Here's a picture we took. Just like his father, we couldn't tear Owen away from the bar. Next up for Owen - his first Pistons game! I am officially insane for taking a baby to a game. Once again it's impossible to go to events like this without reflecting on before baby & after baby differences. Sporting events before baby: Start at the bar, head to the Palace with only licence and credit card, watch the game, grab drinks at halftime, watch the 2nd half, grab drinks afterwards, get husband to drive you home. Sporting events after baby: Arrive at the Palace 2 hours before hand, get stroller, diaper bag, purse and baby out of car and checked through security. Stop in bathroom for diaper change, head up to Ameriprise Finacial Club to see Dad, order a drink and make the bartender put it in a soda glass so no one calls social services, feed baby so he will hopefully sit through game. Head down to seats midway through 1st half having only taken 2 sips of drink. Spend halftime in bathroom for another diaper change. Drag the baby, diaperbag, purse and stroller back down to seats for the 2 minutes left in the game, head back to Ameriprise with a now cranky and tired baby, diaperbag, purse and stroller to wait while traffic clears. Go home and vow not to take Owen to another game until he can carry his own diaperbag, stroller and maybe even mom's purse. My saving grace was my friend Betsy who helped me cart around my entourage of baby gear and provided moral support. Owen happens to love Betsy too so she was able to keep him happy and content. It also helped that I worked there for 8 years and my husband still works there. We got some nice hookups that made the evening very pleasant. Oh yeah! Owen was on TV! And not the big screen but actual TV. He's pretty psyched about it. Look at these seats! Betsy and Owen Betsy is fun! As for milestones, I will post seperately so they don't get lost in this monstrosity of a blog posting

Life's A Beach for Owen

We took Owen to the beach last weekend and whoa! What an ordeal that turned out to be! Don't get me wrong, Owen was great and seems to love the water/outdoors. However, going to the beach with and infant is a whole differnt story that it was as a single gal. It's one of those secrets that people never tell you otherwise no one would have kids. Let me put it this way, it's Friday and I'm still exhausted. Before baby beach trip gear: Sunscreen, towel, book, water After baby beach trip gear: Sunscreen, towel, book, water, SPF 60 for babies, towel for Owen, Pack and Play, Blanket for pack and play, sheet to go ontop of pack and play, beach umbrella to shade pack and play, king size blanket, cooler, bottles, diapers, diaper cream, wipes, change of clothing, Owen's beach cover up, bib, 2 rattles, 1 baby faces book, 1 book/toy, 1 teething ring, 1 bunny blanket Before baby beach schedule: Set down towel, sun front for 1 hour, turn, sun back for 1 hour, take a dip. Repeat at your leisure. After baby beach schedule: Start packing the night before, rise early to finish packing so you can be a the beach by 12:00, get to beach at 1:30pm, take 1st trip down to beach with gear & baby, set up pack and play, set down blanket, take 2nd trip to car for remaining gear, go to beach store to by umbrella, try to set up umbrella in optimal spot (1/2 hour minimum), feed Owen (because it's now 2:30), play with Owen on beach towel, take him into water, put Owen down for nap in pack and play, enjoy 15 blissful minutes of tanning, attend to Owen who has woken up crying, decied it's time to go, pack up gear, take first trip of stuff up to the car, take 2nd trip up to the car, leave the beach @ 4:30. Consequently, I don't think I'm going to be able to talk Dan into going back to the beach any time soon! 15 lbs. of baby, 50 lbs of stuff!