11 Months

Couldn't make this a Wordless Wednesday...too much to say. I should have kept my update from yesterday until today...didn't even think of it actually. On his 11 month birthday, Baby J got his first taste of waffle. I gave him 1/2 and I think he would have gone for a whole but he had his super porridge to eat first. Besides, it was just a treat.

I am still making his food for the most part, but he is getting some finger foods too. Most of the food he is eating is high fat (the good kinds, not saturated) and calories. He is taking a 40/60 mix of breastmilk (thanks to my cousin Melissa) and PediaSure. It used to be a 25/75 mix but he is growing and I keep a close eye on his weight.

I have written about super porridge in awhile...probably because he wasn't allowed to eat it and then he wouldn't eat it. I had a hard time getting him to eat anything but Cheerios for awhile and fruits/veggies were not going in. I had no idea baby lips could be so tight! Anyway, after much coaxing (and waiting until he was starved) he is now on a steady diet of healthy foods. The GI doctor didn't want him having hardly any fruits or veggies...mostly cereal and pastas or potatoes. Couldn't do it. Although I'd love someone to put me on that diet, I can't see that it would be good for him in the long run.

Now, I am well aware he needs to have foods that will keep him growing because as he eats more food he will drink less Pedia Sure (30 cal/oz). At this point I think his metabolism is slowing down a bit, but he still needs tons of calories. He gets two main things in addition to Cheerios and his breastmilk/PediaSure feed.

1. Super porridge
2. Tofu/Veggie/Cereal

His super porridge is advacado, rice cereal, tahini (18 g. fat/2 Tbs), vitamins, moringa, flax seed powder, and PediaSure. If you want my exact measurements, let me know. It is actually a super healthy breakfast for any baby. You can also make it with oatmeal and most certainly with another formula or breastmilk. At first it was hard to get him to eat...and I can't say the pea soup color is appealing to me...but now when he sees it coming his feet are a kicking!

The second thing, that he has for most lunches/dinners, is as it sounds...tofu mixed with a veggie and some rice cereal. He's only getting like 1 TBS of tofu total in a day, don't worry. I also throw a little of whatever baby appropriate food our family is eating onto his tray after his food and bottle are gone. Usually it just serves to entertain him, not nourish him.

I get questions about making my baby food all the time. Pretty soon I won't even be needing to make it...so if you have questions ask now before I completely forget what I did. Oh, and get the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. Great source!

Long Overdue

We went to Michigan a couple of weeks ago, you know, when I had my "Adventures in a Suburban". I got some fun pictures with family we don't see very often, but never posted them due to my lack of computer access. I never had enough computer power to get them all downloaded ON the computer and then uploaded ON to Blogger.

Ok, so this one was today...he was so tired after pulling most of the stuff out of the diaper bag that he fell fast asleep on the floor.

This is also from today. Snug enjoys a good rain and was out in it tonight. I personally think he is just looking for an excuse to wear his raincoat and boots, but who could blame him? Grandmommy gifted the coat for Easter. Would you believe it is from Aldi?

Ok, so back to the trip. This is my Aunt Kim holding Baby J and my cousin Melissa's baby Grayson. Grayson shares his mommy's milk with Baby J everyday. Isn't that nice of him? I don't think he'll want to hear about it when he is older though :o)

Growing up Melissa and I were good friends and even though we live 5 or so hours away from each other we really would like our boys to be friends too. Snug and Jayce definitely have been able to meet up more than Baby J and Grayson-this was only the second time they've been together. My kids are "older", Snug by 3.5 months and Baby J by 2 months, but really that is SO close in age.

I love this picture of the boys together...and it makes me remember....

Left: Jayce Right: Snug This was their first meeting in December 06This is their second meeting in March of '07. Again left is Jayce and right is Snug.

I know in a couple years we will look back at this and say "wow" look how little they were!

Holding both of these guys was really hard. I posed and then gave them up. See? I DO exercise...I hold 2 babies at once!

Aunt Kim had some "Bob N Warry" books, so Snug was very happy to be there.

Mitt, I may have to submit this with some edits for I ♥ faces sometime!

Trading babies is always fun. Now that the "big" boys are older they don't necessarily want to be held like this for pictures, but these two don't seem to care.

So as I was driving home from my adventure with the CILTS* my family met in a local park where we used to play softball and have picnics. This is my cousin Crystal, and I don't think she is grouchy no matter what her t-shirt says. She is my "baby" cousin...the youngest of 10 on my dad's side of the family.

This is Crystal's oldest, D. I won't write his name out because when she used to blog (hint hint to her!) that is what she called him. What a cutie!

And this is her daughter G. She makes me laugh, she was hamming it up for the camera. I miss seeing all of my cousin's kids grow up, so this was a special evening. Do you see the Nalgene behind Snug? Yeah, I miss that thing. He left it at a GARAGE SALE last weekend and I didn't know even where to start tracking it down. It even had his name band from inchbug and that hurt. *sigh*

Just a cute boy in the park that I thought I'd photograph...or not.

Reading stories with Aunt Jane. We are really going to miss her.

Finally a fun bathtub picture. Here is another milestone for Baby J. This was taken two weeks ago. He needed that blue ring to support him in the tub. He now sits independently in the tub and plays. We do have to watch him like a hawk though because he wants to go from bottom to belly IN the water. Yikes.

Anyway, it was a nice trip to Michigan and I hope next trip I will get to see my cousin's on the other side of our family too!

*CILTS Campers In Leadership Training (I work with them for my camp)

Thoughtful Thursdays

Thoughtful Thursdays is new to me, but I was reading about it on Kaleigh's blog. I think you are supposed to tell about something you did nice for someone else. But I am going to break the rules a bit and tell you what someone else did for us. Ok, many many people have been more than kind to us lately, but here is one of them.
I got my cousin Melissa's permission to share with you all that she is the one who donated her milk supply to me and is continuing to pump daily. I know that Milk Sharing isn't acceptable in many circles, or is 'weird', or whatever you want to think. The point is, Baby J needs more milk than I can produce right now, and she has been so generous to donate hers. Along with the HUGE generosity of family to pay for our first shipment, we have been blessed. (From now on we will make a "milk chain" to get it from Michigan to Ohio without mailing it)
Here's another thing that just kills me. A few months ago our pediatrician told me I wasn't "allowed" to continue breastfeeding. We later (when desperatly trying to get more calories in him) tried multiple formulas and only one didn't make him ill...but he wouldn't drink it. (THANK YOU to Katie and her husband for letting us try theirs though...it is so expensive and to only use 3 scoops of it would have been a waste). PediaSure isn't technically a formula, it is a toddler supplement, but he will take it. However, he needs another source of milk along with it. The formulas we tried made Baby J so sick that if we had indeed continued our GI doctor thinks he would be worse off.
The long and short of it is this: Without donated breastmilk we'd be in a heap of trouble/still trying to figure out how to use a Milk Bank. THANK YOU MELISSA. You are my thoughtful Thursday.

Dr. Appointment

Please stop right here and take a few minutes to pray for baby Stellan. As we were leaving Dr. K's office I started getting the Tweets that he was doing very poorly, and is in was in V-Tach (just got the tweet that he is now out). I am sorry to anyone who gets my tweets and got them in reverse order like my sister-in-law did...because the last one I sent said "he may die" which was referring to Stellan NOT Baby J. However, even though most of us do not know him, he still needs prayers.

But you know what? Baby J will die. All of us will, and we don't know when or how...but we will all die. We know why we will die. We will die because sin separates us from God, and because of sin in the world our bodies are not perfect, they deteriorate and we pass away or accidents happen etc. But sin is the reason we die. We can't control or change or know when we will die...but we know what happens to us after we die. God has made a way for us to spend eternity with him. Each of us has a choice. We either choose to accept His free gift of salvation, through Jesus, or we can choose to ignore Him and thus go to Hell.

I believe Hell is a very real place. It isn't where a cute little devil with a pointy red tail runs around with a pitchfork. You don't got meet 'your buddies' there and have a good ol' time because heaven would just be boring. The Bible says in Revelation 20:10, 15 "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever. vs 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

Anyone who has not made a personal decision to follow Christ (Romans 3:23-all have sinned), will die and go to Hell, but anyone who believes in Jesus (Romans 6:23), can have eternal life (John 3:16). How can you do that? Romans 10:9-11 "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead , you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

I almost wrote "I'm sorry I got off topic and went on that tangent" but I deleted it. I'm not sorry. It is the truth, and I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to put it in. Because it is true...no matter what doctors can do for Baby J, or Stellan, or you or me...we are all going to die. We of course must live healthy and be responsible (ex, taking my sick baby to the specialist) but in the end, God gives us the time here on earth, and we don't know when it ends...but we can know how it ends. And Hell is forever, but so is Heaven...an eternal life spent in God's presence. No fear, no pain, no crying. Have you made that choice? Please think long and hard about it if you are not sure, and PLEASE feel free to ask me questions if you have any. You can leave a comment, or contact me personally.

Today we went back to Dr. K for Baby J's checkup. My friend Mindy graciously watched Snug for me so I didn't have 100 distractions with me in the office, and Mother Hen went with me. She is a great entertainer for Baby J in waiting rooms, etc.

Baby J weighs 14 lbs, 14 oz...the same as the day we left the hospital almost a week ago so no growth since then. However, he was 13 lbs, 12 oz when we were at our initial appointment almost 2 weeks ago...so he's had over a pound of gain! PRAISE GOD he has grown at all! We hadn't seen any significant weight gain since November...in fact he was smaller than he was in November (14 lbs 13 oz). Right now he is an ounce over that. He is the exact size they expect to see in a 4 month old, both length and weight. He will be 9 months old on Friday. That is just heartbreaking to hear. In truth, all of this has been extremely hard. I hate it.

Back to the positive! They think he has grown almost 1/4 centimeter. It is really really hard to tell because it so depends on how they wiggle...but based on the fact we see him tippy toeing the exersaucer...they are racking it up as growth. That puts him in the 4.5th percentile for height on a 8 month old. He still counts as 8 months until Friday...at which point he goes dropping back off the scale, but we're looking at the positive, remember? Still not close to being on the growth scale for weight.

SO, because he hasn't lost any weight he gets to start solids again! YEAH! During our visit we had our first appointment with the nutritionist. I was just praising God we were seeing her on how to introduce more foods rather than how to deal with Celiac disease. That in itself is a HUGE miracle. He will get 2Tbs of rice cereal made with PediaSure twice a day. I get to make baby food again! HURRAY! The nutritionist and the doctor are totally fine with Baby J getting donated milk. They still agree he needs breasmilk for all the benefits...but is at a 75/25 ratio (75 being PediaSure). Another praise, my milk supply seems to be going up about 1/8 oz a day. Not much, but I will SO TAKE IT :o)

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING. We are not out of the dark yet...our next appointment is in 3 weeks. The doctor is going out of town for that period, but says as long as he continues to eat drink as much as he has been and I watch for signs of something being wrong, he can be home and be normal. There is backup there should I need it.

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to look at E-bay for a baby scale...because 3 weeks would be torturous!

Oh Me of Little Faith

Being out and about again people are asking "How is Baby J?" I never know exactly what to answer. He did gain 1 lb 2 oz from what he had been since December (He is back to what he was in November right now) when we left the hospital...but I must admit that I am still struggling a little bit quite a bit with whether or not Baby J is growing now that he is at home. He shows great signs, but yet I know I am a doubter. We have noticed he has gone from not touching to tippy-toeing in his exersaucer! He is very energetic and giggly...and he screams like a pterodactyl when he gets excited.

However, his face looks thinner again today...and I can see his backbone again. I am just so afraid to miss something I think I am focusing on everything.

However, GOD IS SO GOOD. Oh the things he has done for us today. Not that he doesn't everyday, but I think he is saying "Hey, pay attention! I am so taking care of you!" (not that God talks like that...but you know what I mean).

Three things have emerged in the last 24 hours that are such blessings.

1. As I've written about before my milk supply is not where it should be pathetic right now. Although I did pump more today than I have been. I have a generous donor who's breastmilk is as we speak in the US Mail on its way to my doorstep. I will not disclose this person's identity at this time because I haven't asked permission, and I do realize that Milk Sharing is kind of controversial. In fact, until I was in desperate need of it, I thought it a bit...weird. I was open to other people doing it, but it was probably not for me. Well. Thanks to this person, Baby J will be getting the appropriate breastmilk to PediaSure ratio. I was debating not even mentioning this on my blog because it is very personal...but God is so good.

2. My friend Cindi (pretty sure she won't mind me mentioning her here since this is not a sensitive matter) called me tonight and said there was a lady a few towns over who had FREE PediaSure listed on Craigslist. FREE. Wait let me say it again Free. I quickly called the person offering, a little scared to have this be either too good to be true, or outdated, or a little fishy. It was NONE of the above. She is a home visiting nurse who has a patient who was switched from PediaSure to a different feed. They have a few cases sitting around and simply need to make room for the new feed (what Baby J is on can be fed through a G tube or a NG tube as well as drunk). This is the exact same stuff he was on in the hospital. We had a prescription for it from our doctor, but our insurance won't cover it so we have to buy it straight off the shelf in the stores. We will be getting 3 cases (24 cans a case) tomorrow evening. God is so good.

3. Speaking of Craigslist we got Snug his birthday gift tonight. Free. Yep, you read right, FREE. Want to know what it was? An Imaginarium train table. Retail $159.99. I was just searching Craigslist today for this lady who was having people test her cloth diapers for free (never was able to iron it all out) and up popped the free train table. It was even IN our town...and I caught the posting about 5 minutes after it was posted. So I woke #1 up out of a lovely nap and had him rush over and get it (sitting next to their trash at the side of the road). The 'picture' side is a bit scuffed up, but I think you'll agree that the 'green' side is lovely.

Oh, and did I mention it came with all this track and little bridge? No? Neither did the "free" ad. But it was in the table (by the side of the road) nonetheless.

Although I so wish that I had a baby scale so I could check every 30 minutes one or two times a week* just to make sure he is indeed gaining and I'm not missing something, I do need to see all the great things around me and be so thankful for the way God provides.

*I know that you can't weigh anyone everyday and get accurate growth. We learned that at our former pediatrician when they made us go in every 3 days and freaked out if he had lost an ounce or only gained an ounce. It isn't a healthy way to live, nor is it accurate. However, once a week wouldn't be so bad, right?