Here Kitty Kitty.....

I was reminded by Nan (aka my Mom) that I haven't posted an update in quite some time. It's been busy at the home front and time is just passing by. I commend all my blogger friends for being so dedicated with keeping their blogs updated. I do enjoy peeking in on a regular basis for updates and for that reason, I will just hang my head in shame as I just haven't been committed these last few weeks. Hopefully this entry will get me out of my funk and I'll be back on track.

Noah seems to have turned the corner on his health. It appears he may have been having a reaction to the prevacid. On the prevacid he had a bad rash on his legs, arms, stomach and around his mouth . Along with vomiting & diarrhea. His new GI Dr. ( who I like very much) said he it may be an odd reaction and he switched him to prilosec. He seems to be doing better. He is more energetic than he has been in months and actually sleeping much better at night. I suppose I would sleep a little better too, if I would be brave enough to turn the monitor down about 100 decibels. My poor DH, never once has he complained about the "static monster" humming all through the night. He understands it just gives me a peace of mind and for that I thank him dearly.

Noah took his 2nd plane ride. This time to NC to throw my sister her baby shower. It was a short flight, just 1 hour and he did awesome. He loved looking out the window and pulling the shade up and down. Thanks goodness the passenger in front of us enjoyed Noah's games!

It was a short trip to NC, arrived on Friday and left Sunday morning. We packed in a lot with both my sisters and Mom. Noah absolutely fell in love with my sister's cat Kallie and his PT would have been proud of him. He crawled and crawled after Kallie. I wish I had a video of him chasing her around the suitcase and up the stairs. The pictures do not do it any justices. But who can resist picture of our big boy.

Some milestone updates, Noah is starting to cruise. He can take 2-3 steps along furniture and is starting to take steps behind his wagon. He is still weak in his mid section but definitely has the strength in his legs. We are going to start working on the exercise ball again. WE meaning both Noah and I.

He is now signing, More, Eat, Milk, Thank You, Hat, Itsy Bitsy Spider (soo cute), Dog, & All done & blows sweet kisses. He is starting to understand NO but chooses not to listen most times.

"Itsy Bitsy Spider" w/ Aunt Melissa

"More Swing"

Our sweet dog Cody needs to have leg surgery as he tore his ACL. This is not something new to us, as he tore his ACL on his left leg 3yrs ago. After next week, we will have a dog with bionic legs. He hasn't been feeling well and Noah has been trying real hard to comfort him. Isn't he soo precious.

I hope I covered most things worthy of spilling over the web. Continued extra prayers to my friends Chelsea, Parker & Rhett and their families, as well to all those in need of prayers. Cheers, Terry

Our new friends!

Noah & I met Megan and sweet Abby this week. Abby was absolutely adorable. She gave Noah hugs & kisses and didn't even cry when I approached her. She also showed Noah how to become an escape artist for when he starts walking . She also showed us how talented a dancer she is by dancing to "Ring around the Rosy" with her Mommy.

Of course Noah was being his usual sneaky self by being real sweet just long enough to get in position to grab attack hair. (Sorry Megan). Just look at him....checking out Abby's cute little bows......

This is my favorite picture of Abby, ain't she a cutie pie?

Thank you Megan for setting up our play date. It was great to finally meet you & Abby. Noah & I look forward to more play dates as the weather gets warmer.

Thanks for peeking in. Cheers, Terry

We have a TOOFER!

Noah continues to surprise us. On his 17th month birthday ( St. Pat's Day) he cut his very first tooth, despite being sick and in the hospital. I can't tell you how happy I was ! This is how he felt before cutting his tooth.

We are getting adjusted to Noah's new feed routine. He is starting to handle his thickened bottles better (he is only throwing his bottle a few times instead every second). As for foods, well we are working on increasing his caloric intake by feeding 3 bottles of soy pediasure/day and adding duocal to each feed. His appetite is still fair but improving. He still will only eat oatmeal, Stage 2 fruits and of course ice cream.

We hope and pray the thicken liquids and medicine will help eliminate his aspiration/reflux and any discomforts. I do still worry as he continues to throw up long after his feed. I continue to keep my fingers crossed that in time these changes will work.

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers while Noah was in the hospital. The entire staff on 7 W provided such great care and support during his stay. I'm grateful to have met Dr. Z and can not thank her enough for the genuine concern, kindness, care and time she spent with Noah and me. What an amazing physician and such a caring person. She is certainly a blessing in our family's lives. She is also someone I consider my friend.

Speaking of friends, Noah certainly had no problems making lots of friends despite being quarantined. He would just stand in his cage ( oh I meant crib) and wave to everyone that passed by or stop in. When we did escape from his room, he was required to wear a mask. We had lots of fun keeping it on him and he made lots of people laugh trying to take it off.

Also if you could spare a few extra minutes and stop by a few of Noah's friends blogs as they could use a few extra prayers right now. Rhett who is recovering from surgery, Parker who has an upcoming surgery and Chelsea who is finishing up her 5th round of Chemo. Thank you, Cheers Terry

Back from the Beach!

Well OK, we have been back for about 5 days so I apologize for the late update. Mr. Virus invaded our computer and we have been cautious.

Our trip to Florida was real nice. Noah did great on the plane. He was honored with a 1st class seat w/me on the return. I was lucky enough to be bumped with my status. Yep, even after 19 months of not traveling every week I still have preferred status. Unfortunately my DH and MIL were still confined to the back of the "bus". I guess the only glitch was when Noah decided to throw his bottle and bonked the lady sleeping behind us in the head. Thankfully, she and everyone else thought it was funny. How can you possible be mad a such a cute kid?

The weather was nice and warm for the most part. Most days were windy and we had two days in the low 50's which made for brisk walks. It was just nice to be able to get outside everyday and walk along the beach. The sunsets on the west coast of Florida (edited for geographical accuracy) are just magnificent.

We took Noah to a really cool jungle garden in Sarasota. It was filled with tropical plants, trees and had lots of different animals . I'm not sure which were Noah's favorites (he sorta zonked out when we got there), but mine were the Flamingos and 100+ yr old turtles. Of course when we were ready to leave, Noah was all set to rock n roll.

He did enjoy having breakfast at JD's were Mr. Pirate watched over the place.

For some reason he just didn't want to be in his car seat at all! My DH says it's because he didn't like to ride in a minivan. Great, I've been trying to convince him that a minivan is what I would like (thus the reason I rented one in FL) and now Noah is siding with him. Boys!

Now home and back to reality with appointments, therapists , work and piles of laundry. I did finally get an appointment with Noah's allergist and his test came back negative for a milk allergy. Good news on that front but we still are trying to get answers for all his congesting & gagging stuff. Plan is to keep him off dairy until he has his swallow study. His GI specialist is trying to get the study moved up, as Noah continues to lose weight. He lost over a pound in just a month. My DH & I thought we were giving him a complex by calling him our peanut so we decided to try a few new names like "big boy" , "stretch", "too tall" to try to turn things around.

I need to share a funny, as I try to keep my blog on the lighter side. The other night I was putting Noah's PJ's on after his bath. He was being extra squirmy and pointy. He was saying ah ah ah , which he does a lot and I continued to converse with him. Then he started to crunch his cute little fingers together and point again. I asked him what? He continued to crunch his fingers together and then screamed out ba! ba! I had forgotten I put an extra bottle on the nightstand. I was so proud of him, for signing milk and saying ba ba! And I thought he was just being cute and waving to me!

Cheers, Terry

Gone to the Beach!

Well almost! Just a few more days and we are off to Florida. It will be our first plane ride with lil bugger. Hopefully he is a good baby, just like all the other babies I flew next to over the last 15 years. My DH and I went back and forth on whether or not to bite the bullet and purchase him a seat. We decided not to and now I have "cheapsake" remorse. Stay tune for the how we made out on a plane crammed full both ways. What the heck were we thinking?

Lil bugger has a double ear infection and a nasty cough. If that doesn't keep him and me up half the night .....teething does. Where are those dang teeth anyway? The other morning, my DH gives me gentle hug and tells me (with hopes of making me feeling better after another relatively sleepless night), " Just think in a few more days we will be on vacation isn't that great?" For a brief moment I drift off and dream....it will be great. Lil bugger will take 3 hour naps and sleep through the night and wake up at 9 Am every day. The little Sunshine state fairy will float in to change, feed and entertain him while I bask in the sun and read my book all day long. Won't she?

Seriously, I have been looking forward to our trip. It will be nice to have time off from work as well as not having to worry about all lil bugger's appointments, specialists & therapists for a week.

Sorry for no pictures this go around. My darn camera mysteriously broke. I turned it on the other day and all I can see on the screen is a "what appears to be a man's " thumb print impression. Hmmmm..... promise to post lots of snaps of our trip.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in need of them. Cheers - Terry

Got Soy?

Is it just me, or does it really take an Act of God to land an appointment with a specialist? Our bugger has been having difficulties with his bottle, gagging/coughing the entire bottle. It started to worsen around the time we were transitioning from formula to milk. So we went back and forth with formula & milk but it hasn't improved. It wasn't until he got a stomach virus and started pediasure that we notice an improvement. Could he be allergic to milk? Pediasure has milk protein but is lactose free.....Hmmmm?

So back to what has been driving me absolutely bonkers..... Appointments! I've been trying to get an appointments with a GI & Allergist. Lil bugger needs a swallow study done , as it's believed he may be aspirating into his lungs. Yikes! So why is it so difficult? I have multiple names of specialists but have yet scored an appointment. Same excuse with every specialist. No appointments at this time. OK, so when is the next appointment? Who knows, I need to call back on the first, second, or fourth week of the month depending on the specialist and when their schedule opens. It is only that time will I find out if there is an appointment available for the following month. This could go on and on and on for months. Whatever happen to I'll take the first available appointment, it seems nonexistent. Now, it's like a mad dash to be the first one to call. Sort of like waiting in line for concert tickets, first come first scheduled. UGH!

So as we wait for the "impossible" appointment, we are experimenting on our own. We've started lil bugger on Soy milk and have eliminated all dairy. It seems to be working, but I'm not a specialist so what do I know? He still doesn't seem right, still fussy but at least he is not choking down his bottle. To boot, he is still having explosions. Double UGH!

Alrighty, I think I've griped enough, lets move on to some fun stuff. A few entries ago (see Mom I do post) I posted a picture of lil bugger when he was 3m old. I wanted to show everyone how darn cute he still looks in jeans at 15 m.

On Saturday, I took lil bugger to a music class sponsored by our local DS group. Last year, he slept through the whole session. This year, with the exception of a bottle break, he had a blast. He banged, rattled, clapped and kicked his feet the whole time. It was great to see him have so much fun with the other children. Here are a few of my favorites snaps:

As for new milestones, his signing is starting to grow. He can sign "more", "bath","thank -you & blow kisses -same sign. I'm pretty sure his next signs will be "hat" & "no" as he doesn't like wearing one. He is getting much faster crawling and can climb 4 steps independently. He also loves to open & close drawers and doors. His total tooth count ......still ZERO!

Well, I think I covered most everything rattling around in my head. We are heading into the icebox as far as the weather goes here....brrrrr. Looking forward to our trip to Florida later this month. Cheers - Terry

My 1st Blogger Award

A big thank you to my sweet friend Stephanie at A is for Aiden , for honoring me with my very 1st blog award.