Twenty Months

Noah continues to do VERY well on his dairy/soy free diet. We have now blended and strained every vegetable we could find as well as seafood, pork, turkey, beef, and chicken into his food. We are working hard to figure out exactly how much to feed Mr. Man as well as how often. Because Noah doesn't understand hunger and is unable to tell us when he is full, we are relying on his growth and amount of wet/dirty diapers to help guide us.

Noah's current stats are:

Weight: 29 pounds
Height: 33 inches

The Great Food Experiment - Day Eleven

Things are going GREAT!!!!!!

It's been a whole week since Noah has vomited.

That's seven whole days...one hundred sixty-eight hours...ten thousand eighty minutes...since I've seen the wave of nausea wash over my Little Man's eyes and I've had to quickly grab for the nearest towel {of which we learned to have plenty around}.

We've never even had two days in a row without one puking episode from Stinkpot, so this is HUGE people! HUGE!!!

I think we can unofficially declare that Noah is allergic to/unable to digest dairy and soy. We'll just add that to the uniqueness of our Little Man!

Happy Birthday Mama!!!!!!!

Happy birthday Mama!
I love you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!


-Noah

Huntington Lake...again

We were blessed to spent another gloriously relaxing weekend up at Huntington Lake. Noah truly enjoyed himself this time. He learned to sign the word "outside" and wanted to spend ALL day out on the deck. He loved to push the Tonka truck all around,
swing on the swing,
play with his toys,and hang out with his best buddy.Sierra, once again, got to swim in the lake and found the most perfect stick. It seemed to follow her everywhere she went.
Here is Noah signing "music". He does this every time Elmo, Ernie, and Cookie Monster sing.
The weekend was filled with a roaring fire in the fireplace, trips to the lake, and naps for all. What a wonderful way to bid farewell to summer and spend time together as a family.

The Great Food Experiment - Day Five

I am happy to report that Noah seems to be doing quite well on his new diet. In the past five days he has only vomited three times. That's UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! We've had single days where he has vomited more than that.

We continue to blend chicken and vegetables and are getting better at straining it so it is thin enough to flow through Noah's feeding pump.

We traveled out of town this past weekend and had a much harder time feeding Noah. In the past we would just bring a can of formula and scoop, add water, shake and feed. This weekend, we traveled with several large containers of blended food and ice packs in an adorable Picnic Thermal Tote {available through Thirty-One Gifts}.
We had to keep his food refrigerated and only pour what we needed at each feed.

We have been introducing Noah to different vegetables each time we make a "batch" of food and so far have not seen any allergic reactions.

I look forward to seeing how Noah does over the next week!

The Great Food Experiment - Day One

Ever since Noah was born, we have been battling his excessive vomiting due to GERD. A few months ago, we were so excited with the new medication Noah had started on. It gave us fantastic results early on, but slowly, ever so slowly, the frequency and volume of Noah's vomiting began to increase.

In the past, we have tried switching from Noah's dairy formula to a soy based formula with no significant results.

After a tremendous amount of fretting and stewing, loads of talking and discussing, tons of advice, and a huge amount of research, we came to the realization that we needed to try a dairy-free and soy free diet with Noah. A significant number {can't remember the exact percentage} of babies with diary allergies also have soy allergies.

And so...the Great Food Experiment begins.

Day One.

I put a roasting chicken in the slow cooker over night and woke up to a wonderful smell wafting through the house as well as chicken that was falling off the bone. Kc carefully removed all the meat, fat, and skin {Noah will need the calories} and discarded the bones.
I returned the precious meat to the cooking juices and began to blend the entire mixture in a food processor.
What an unusual sight and pungent aroma.
To add to the chicken, I steamed a blend of vegetables that we have already introduced to Noah and gave them a whirl in the food processor with some water.
As I was blending all the ingredients, Kc thought our kitchen looked like Kitchen Stadium and he imagined Masaharu Morimoto or Bobby Flay creating a fanciful dish with the puree.

I present to you Les Legumes et le Poulet.
I am happy to report that Noah has not vomited at all today and only felt nauseous during one feed. We are committed to trying dairy and soy free for two to three weeks {the amount of time it takes for dairy proteins leave your system} and hope it makes a difference for our little man.

We are experiencing some serious difficulties with this new "formula" and Noah's night time feeding pump. I am certain, however, that Kc will be able to "make it an offer it can't refuse". Stay tuned to see who "reigns supreme".

Walkin' at the Zoo

Last weekend, we braved the heat and headed out to the zoo with our "Zoo Buddies", The McIlhargeys. This was Noah's first time at the zoo since he's been walking and while it took him a while to feel comfortable in the new surroundings {oh, my cautious and shy little guy}, pretty soon he was following Jack all over the place.

This was also Charlie's first trip to the zoo, and boy did he love going everywhere with Noah.
After looking at the wolves, bears, seals and giraffes, we headed over to the monkey enclosure. There are two levels of viewing platforms so you can have a great view of the monkeys swinging from tree to tree. Once Noah and Jack spotted the stairs, they both felt it was their destiny to conquer them. One step at a time, both boys climbed up...and up...and up. Once they reached the top, much to Mama's chagrin, they knew they needed to do it all over again. So...one step at a time, they climbed down...and down...and down. Mind you that it was a very busy day at the zoo and there were LOADS of families all trying to go up to see the monkeys and then go back down to enjoy the rest of the animals. With each slow step, we had to apologize to the throngs of people waiting to get around our little guys.
After several more trips up and down the stairs, Noah and Jack declared it the BEST part of the entire zoo. Who would have thunk?

We're Home

We're Home!!!!!!!!

Noah continues to do quite well. He is recovering quickly and has gained back most of his strength. He is playing and moving all over the place and only occasionally needs a bit of cuddle/down time. I'm ready for a relaxing weekend!

Hello Pain

Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers! Noah's surgery was a success!

After forty-five minutes of surgery, the fantastic ENT doctor came out and explained that Noah's tonsils and adenoids came out beautifully. He went on to tell us that during the scope portion of the surgery, he observed that Noah's trachea is completely fused shut {we already knew that} and that his vocal chords are 100% fused together {again, we already knew that}. Dr. ENT would like to schedule a laryngotracheoplasty with a rib cartilage graft some time in November. This surgery will repair Noah's fused trachea but will not eliminate his need for a trach immediately. Mr. Man will require quite a bit of healing time, several more scopes to check out the healing process, as well as plenty of opportunities to learn to breathe through his nose and mouth. We've got a long road ahead of us, but we're now one step closer to beginning that adventure.

Until then...we're spending the night in the hospital with our Little Stinkpot trying to keep him as comfortable as possible. Thanks to our MOST FANTASTIC, AWESOMELY WONDERFUL, GLORIOUSLY HELPFUL nurse, we were moved out of the room that we shared with another patient and into our very own private room. Both Kc and I are allowed to stay with Noah tonight {only one parent is allowed to stay in the shared rooms} and are looking forward to a bit of sleep mixed with alarms beeping, nurses monitoring, machines pumping, and one Little Man crying out for his pain medication. Should be a night filled with adventure!

Goodbye Tonsils and Adenoids

We're off!

It's 3:00 a.m. and we're all packed up, ready for the three hour drive to Palo Alto for Noah's tonsillectomy at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital Stanford.

While I'm not all that nervous about the actual procedure, I am worried about how much pain my Little Man will be in after the procedure is over. Noah isn't going to eat ice cream and suck on Popsicles to help soothe his throat like other little kids do. I'm not quite sure what to expect as far as recovery goes. Hopefully we'll only have to be in the hospital for a few days before we'll be allowed to come home.

Noah is scheduled for surgery at 7:30 a.m. Please pray for the doctors and nurses as well as for his tired parents. We'll keep you posted as soon as we have information to share!

Signing

Noah is learning more and more signs. I attempted to record it on video for you to see. I imagined my cute Bubs sitting down, rattling off signs faster than I can narrate them. Unfortunately, that did not happen. After several recording sessions, multiple days, and many pep talks, all I have is footage that belongs on the editing room floor.

Well...here are two of the "best". Take a peek at our uncooperative Little Stinkpot.

Here is please and milk {as well as rattling from a trach}.



Here he is at the end of a "long" shooting session and all you get is please.

Walking...Totally

Well...he's officially done it! Noah is a walker. Can you believe it?!? He might be a bit late {nineteen months old} but better late than never. I truly think it was Daddy-O's coaching combined with the fact that he was just finally ready. Whatever it was, however, we couldn't be more proud of our Little Stinkpot.

Noah absolutely loves to walk everywhere and in fact, prefers it to crawling. He is able to pick himself up after he falls down and continue walking. Yippee! He loves to walk out to the car when we're going places and is so proud of himself when he carries a toy around the house {usually Charlie}.

Here's to the adventures of Walking Stinkpot!