Sixteen Months

What a sweet sixteen this is! Noah is such a happy, curious, eager little guy and it is so much fun to watch him grow.

After a round of antibiotics for bronchitis and another round of antibiotics for tracheitis, Noah was still quite goopy and uncomfortable. We made a trip to our fantastic pulmonologist and after a quick swab of Noah's trach, they discovered two "bugs" that had found a cozy home. We're now on a third antibiotic but after only a day and a half, Noah seems to be improving rapidly.

Noah's current stats are:

Weight: 26 pounds 13 ounces
Height: 32 inches

On an VERY exciting note, Noah started a new medication to help with his tremendous vomiting due to GERD. On the old medication, Noah would vomit anywhere from 1 - 6 times a day. For the past six days, on the new medication, he has vomited less than three times each day...some days it's only once. WOW!!!! I'm telling you, I think I might be in love with this new medication.

On and On

For Valentine's Day, Noah got this great stacking toy from Nana and Papa. He quickly became VERY good at picking up the wooden base, dumping all the pieces on the floor, and picking up the one piece that he wanted to chew on. That is, until a few weeks ago.
One evening, Noah just picked up the green circle {his favorite} and put it on one of the pegs like he had been doing it all his life. Since then, he's been fascinated with stacking things on top of each other. Here he is putting the blue rectangle on the peg, taking it off the peg, and putting it back on.


He has also been quite amazed that lids can be put back on bottles and jars once they have been taken off.

What a fun stage this is!

Zoo Pictures

Kc enjoyed taking pictures of all the animals at the zoo. It was amazing to see the giraffes up close. They are just so majestic.

Did you know that a baby giraffe is about six feet tall when they are born? Noah has a bit of growing to do!
In the Rainforest Exhibit, there were animals all around. You could get up close and personal to them.


We arrived a bit too late for the sea lion feeding, but enjoyed watching them lounge in the sun with bellies full of fish.
How can you not look at the tiger and be in awe.
I look forward to many more trips to the zoo over the summer!

First Trip to the Zoo

The Jacksons have had such a BUSY week that we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather today and head to The Chaffee Zoo. Our first stop was the elephants. Noah enjoyed the huge creatures who trumpeted quite loudly.
We just had to introduce Noah to the Zoo's most famous animal...Nosey. He came to the zoo in 1949, was named by school children in Fresno, and was the toast of the zoo until his death in 1993 (he was 47 years old).
We definitely enjoyed the animals in the Rainforest Exhibit. The roaring waterfall, squawking parrots, and birds nesting along the path made you feel as though you were actually in the rainforest.
We had fun looking at all the animals, spending time with each other, and taking pictures of our little Stinkpot! It's a good thing we have an annual pass because I know we'll be spending LOADS of time here over the next year.

Cheese and Rice!! Praying!!

So...things have been very interesting here at the Jackson House. On Monday, Kc took Noah into the pediatrician's office and came out with the diagnosis of tracheitis and an eye infection. Our little guy was put back on antibiotics and began to feel a bit better until...

Wednesday evening. 6:15 p.m. We had just finished feeding Noah his dinner and he was cruising around the coffee table playing with some blocks. He began to cough some of the excess mucus out of his trach {a wonderful side effect of the tracheitis} and the coughing lead to gagging which soon lead to vomiting. That is not unusual. What was unusual was the blood, yes blood, that he vomited up.

Note**If you are a bit squeamish, please skip to the next paragraph.**

As I started to clean-up the mess, Kc took Noah and used his G-Tube to suction out the contents of his stomach. Sure enough, there was about 15 ml worth of bright, red blood mixed in with partially digested formula {such a lovely image as well as smell}.

**Ok to resume reading**

A quick call to the pediatrician-on-call confirmed what we already knew to be true...a visit to Children's Hospital ER was in order. We packed our bags {you never know how many days might need to be spent at the hospital} and quickly drove to Children's, which thankfully only takes about 10 minutes. The waiting room was QUITE PACKED so we knew our wait would be long, even though Noah's complications put us in the front of the cue. While waiting, we tried to entertain a tired little man with the toys we brought. He stacked them, threw them, and put them all in his mouth. NOW WHAT?!? Boredom set in quickly! While Noah was banging on a chair, he turned around to look at me and suddenly took three steps towards me. WHAT?!? I picked him up, laughed with glee, and put him back down for a second round. Once again, he took multiple steps towards Mama! WTF! Now! Now! You choose NOW to start walking?!? Apparently Noah was going to do anything to get out of this place.

After six and a half hours, lines, blood tests, IVs, multiple visits from nurses, unruly gowns, annoying intercoms, loud babies crying, welcome visits from Nana, and a great doctor, nobody could figure out why Noah was vomiting blood. We have a follow-up visit with our pediatrician tomorrow, but are not expecting many answers.

Both Kc and I took the day off to sleep, recuperate, and spend some time with our little Stinkpot who decided that steps were "No Big Deal". We were able to capture a few steps he took at home today, but they were nothing compared to what he did in front of the coughing and vomiting kiddos in the ER Waiting Room.



Oh, yes, the Cheese and Rice title...my sister-in-law commented on my Facebook post about being in the ER and Noah walking. She said, "Cheese and Rice!! Praying!!" I thought that summed up the entire evening!

So Blessed

Yesterday was an amazing Mother's Day. Noah had a R-O-U-G-H night on Saturday, and although he was quite tired, he did well at Kids Connection {thanks again to Nana}. After an AWESOME message at church, Kc had planned a picnic lunch, but poor weather and a 3 1/2 hour nap by the little guy put the kibosh on that. No matter...my FANTASTIC husband picked up lunch for me and we had a lovely "picnic at home". We ended the day with a great dinner at my parent's house.

What more could a woman ask for on Mother's Day?!? Time spend with the ones you love, good food and laughter, and a TERRIFIC nap from her little man! Oh, yeah...a little bit of bling would be nice. Kc out did himself this year and got me a gorgeous mother's necklace with both Ryan's and Noah's names as well as their birthstones {tourmaline and garnet}. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!!
I truly am blessed with a thoughtful husband and adorable son!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

You are the most phenomenal, admirable, miraculous, terrific, awe-inspiring, brilliant, cool, divine, pleasant, superb, enjoyable, fabulous, groovy, startling, magnificent, marvelous, outstanding, astounding, astonishing, prime, remarkable, sensational, fantastic, staggering, excellent, awesome, stupendous, incredible, super, dynamite, swell, tremendous, amazing, unheard-of, peachy, wondrous.....
Mommy!

Happy Mother's Day!!!
-Noah

Crawling

Noah has been working very hard on his crawling. He started out with a funny inchworm crawl, quickly transitioned to a fast army crawl, and has now transitioned to a traditional crawl. He loves his new sense of freedom and takes advantage of all the rooms in our condo. In this first video, notice how Noah closes the child gate while leaving his nursery. He does that EVERY time we go in and out. He cannot stand to have the gate open.

This video is a bit shaky, but notice Mr. Man's huge smile as he gets what he wants.

Noah is not interested in walking at all. He continues to cruise around along furniture and speed by on his walker, but refuses to take any steps alone.

I know that when Noah is ready, he will take the risk. I know that it is OK that he is not walking yet. I know that Noah's lack of risk-taking will be a good thing in the future. I know all of this, but I cannot help my fear of having a ten year-old little boy who still crawls. I know, I know. All things come to those who wait.

Fifteen Months

It's been an interesting week to say the least. On Monday, Noah was diagnosed with bronchitis. On Wednesday, Noah was back at the pediatrician's office with the stomach flu. He had a few days that were full of hacking and puking, but is doing M-U-C-H better today.

As of Wednesday, Noah's stats are:

Weight: 26 pounds 6 ounces
Height: 31 1/2 inches