Nathanael's stats - good reports all around!

So Nathanael had his FIRST EVER well-child check-up last week! It was pretty exciting to take him in to see a pediatrician who was not an immunologist, hematologist/oncologist, endocrinologist, or surgeon...someone who sees and treats generally healthy kids! The visit went really well, and I wanted to share some stats:

Height/Length: 31.5 in (2nd percentile)

Weight: 23 lbs, 1 oz (4th percentile)

Head Circumference: 19.75 in (85th percentile)

He's growing really well...in fact, he is now following a more typical growth curve than he's been on in over a year. From about 4 months of age to about 18 months, he hardly grew at all (wore mostly 6 month clothes and size 3 diapers for a majority of that time), and since February (after he was off steroids) he has grown considerably, and is now wearing mostly 18-24 month size clothing and size 4 diapers (though the size 3 would probably still fit!). He's still on the small end of the chart but it's nice to see him even ON the chart! It's also funny to note that at 2 years old Jamison was around the same height, and his head was about the same size. Nathanael weighs a little less than his brother did (Jamison was about 25.5 lbs) but given his past treatment and current growth, it's really not an issue. We have rather short boys who will have plenty of room for their growing brains! ;) We're just thankful that they're growing and doing well!

I recently checked on our progress on the COTA fundraising page (the fund that we're using to help finish paying Nathanael's transplant-related medical bills, and that will help pay for future transplant-related bills, such as post-transplant check-ups and travel expenses) and noticed that we're almost to the halfway mark, which is our goal for the first year. With a little bit more help we could raise $2000 in honor of Nathanael's 2nd birthday, and the 2nd anniversary of his transplant, which will be in November. If we could raise that much during this timeframe we could meet our goal and earn a bonus from COTA. If you are able to make a small gift during the next two months or so, OR if you know of someone else who might be interested, we invite you to help us meet that goal.

We also saw Nathanael's immunologist last week (it was a busy week, as I saw my oncologist as well!) and had blood drawn for monthly tests. His IgG level FINALLY started coming up on its own! For the past several months the level has dropped (since we stopped giving the medication that boosted it), but this month the number finally came up, so this is very good news!

I included this short clip to show some of Nathanael's vocalizing...he LOVES to make noise, and is starting to say things like "car", "truck", and "dog"...though they normally come out missing the first consonant. We're not concerned though, as he continues to make progress in this area, as well as in all other areas of development. We're grateful for that. Oh, and this also shows him climbing up and drawing...two other things he LOVES to do!