All Smiles

Will was all smiley today, because he has been keeping a

very BIG SECRET!

 

He's gonna' have his very own bedroom in our NEW HOUSE!
When we walked in, it just felt like our home, and by the time we reached the master walk-in closet,
I started jumping up and down, grabbing Billy saying
"Can we get it? Can we get it? I LOVE this house!"

We close November 6th. Just in time for all the fun holidays! It's so crazy, we just started the looking/loan process about 2 weeks ago...I guess "we came, we saw...and we conquered"!

Buckle up

Will usually ends up in the bathroom with me when I'm showerering, or throwing some makeup on.

Today, I placed him in his bouncer, just like usual, and then stepped out to grab my clothes. When I came back in, I found this!

He'd scooted out, rolled over and was VERY PROUD of himself :)
Guess I have to buckle him in all the time now!

As good as the original

I've tried and enjoyed many a dish at Cheesecake Factory but I always end up going back to the Jumbo Chicken Chop...a flattened and lightly fried crispy parmesan crusted chicken with a procuitto and cream tasso sauce...atop a pile of skin-on mashed potatoes....and tender green beans. DELICIOUS. Sadly, they took it off the menu (even though most waiters will tell you it was a very popular dish). So a few trips back, I asked them make it for me anyway, and the chef got a little confused and accidentally sent out the Chicken Costoletta instead (the Chop's replacement). I wasn't so disappointed after just one bite, and I'll have to tell you now that I AM A FAN. It's the same tasty parmesan chicken and potatoes, but the sauce is a bit different....more of a creamy lemon instead of ham. You gotta' try it!

I wanted to make it myself, and went searching for the perfect copycat recipe. Recipe Zaar has a good collection if you're ever looking for your favorite restaurant's dish. This is a good version, but I made a few slight changes since I'm trying to limit my dairy with Will's sensitivity to it in my milk.

Here it is, in all it's glory :) Tomorrow I'm going to make the sauce to throw over some pasta and grilled chicken.

If you make it, let me know how you like it!

Crispy Chicken Costoletta

Recipe #276183

45 min 20 min prep
SERVES 4

The Chicken
4 chicken breasts, cut horizontally, and pounded to about 1/4 inch thick or chicken cutlets
2 lemons, zest of
1 1/2 cups plain breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs, whisked with 2 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon Lawry's seasoning salt

Lemon Sauce
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tablespoon canola oil *(I used olive oil)
2 cups heavy whipping cream (I used 1 cup milk, 1 cup chicken broth)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, plus
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

For the chicken:.
Preheat oven to 250°F.
Zest two lemons. Bake zest for about 5 minutes until dry.
On one paper plate combine flour, pepper and salts. On another paper plate combine eggs and water, whisk until combined. On another paper plate combine dry lemon zest, bread crumbs and cheese.
Place pounded chicken in the flour, coating well, followed by the egg mixture and the bread crumbs.
Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil and 1 Tablespoon butter in a large frying pan over medium heat.
Place chicken in pan and cook on each side about 5 minutes until middle is no longer pink. You will need to work in batches, adding more oil and butter as needed.
Keep chicken warm in oven at 250°F.

For the lemon sauce:.
Over medium heat in a fairly large saucepan heat oil. Add minced garlic and sauté about 3 minutes.
Add whipping cream (or milk and broth) and boil until reduced by one-third.
Add Dijon, lemon juice, chicken stock and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted.
Serve chicken with lemon sauce and mashed garlic potatoes.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

Good smellin' towels

I went to unload a washer full of wet towels and look what stowaways I found amongst them~

Yep, 3 lovely Vanilla Spice bath sachets that were meant to stay on the ledge of my tub! OOPS!
Well, I guess that's one way to scent your laundry :)

A new addition

Anxious to get their new sister!

I am celebrating yet another new addition to our family! Today, 7 of my Floridian family members ventured over to Jinja, Uganda to adopt a very beautiful girl, Kimber GIFT. She is one of the orphans from Amani Baby Cottage, and she was deemed the name Gift when she was abandoned around Christmas 2003. Her cry was heard outside a church, and she was found under a pew inside. Not too long ago, a foster family returned her to the babies home when they became pregnant with their own biological child. You can only imagine the devastation a little girl might feel after being taken to a new home only to be abandoned once again!

I felt a special love toward Gift that began several years ago, when I saw pictures of her in my cousin's photo album. There was something special about her, something in her eyes that drew me, and now she's my new cousin!! The beauty of this story is that Vince and Stephanie, Kimber Gift's new parents, have already added 2 beautiful African princesses, Kira and Kendi to their ever- growing family.

They have a very cute VERY GIRLY bedroom waiting for her!

She will be surrounded by family and friends that love her very much.

Big Vinny, Steph, Emily, Samuel, Jeremy, Melody, Kira and Kendi.

Please keep this family in your prayers, as they seek to finalize the adoption process. Pray for Gift and her emotional stability as she transitions to a new and loving family. Pray for the financial provision they need.

Melody recently told her mom, "I wanna' be chocolate like my sisters". Steph responded that she is already quite clearly "white chocolate". :) Gotta' love it. Melody please give a big hug to my cousins Diana and Danyne (also in picture) while you're there in Africa! (and Jag and Danvir too!....and of course Danyne...and Surj...and tiny Will in the babies home..and your brothers and sisters...and YOUR MOM!)

My Big Boy

I've wanted to update you all for 3 weeks now, but the little man is awake so much more now that I don't want to miss even one minute of playtime and learning with him! He loves to read his books, and his new favorite toy is his feet!

Our big boy is eating solids now! He's cute when he eats, and is doing great with all sorts of new flavors and textures. I'm so proud of him, and pleasantly suprised that he doesn't have trouble with a spoon. I guess you hear all those horror stories about reflux babies having food aversions....some going as far as sputtering and gagging before the food even enters their mouths. Not Mr. Will Riley! He's doing so good! He looks pretty darn cute in his high chair too :) I'm still nursing and pumping...and that's all going very nicely as well. He's about 15 lbs. 7 oz. today, or maybe even more...but either way, he's definitely eating great and gaining so well!

Billy and I are doing good. We're trying to get in the swing of working out again (still got some baby weight to lose). He bought us a Wii Fit and he's much more dedicated than I am. The hardest part of the day for me is finding time to shower and put makeup on, so it's hard to justify delaying that with working out. I know I just need to DO IT and I'll feel even better though.

~FAM NEWS~

It's fun being Auntie :) Little Lu is growing right on track and she's really a cutie pie. It will be so much fun seeing her grow up and getting to spoil her! I seem to get distracted a lot in the stores with all the adorable little girls clothes that I want to buy her. Billy caught me looking at more tonight, and commented that I can't wait to have a girl of my own to buy cute clothes for :)

I've found myself thinking of girls alot lately, but I sure do love my little man! He has my heart swooning every time he smiles at me or laughs out loud.
Will went to his first baseball game, and we won. I guess he's a little lucky charm too :) He seemed to enjoy the game, and almost looked like he was clapping a few times. He loved the lights and the crowd, and Billy loved it when we introduced him to the wave.

~Enjoying a nap with Grandpa Mike~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My cousin Courtney turned 6...and it was a special birthday because she recently asked Jesus in her heart! It was very sweet...she was visiting her older sister Mel when she asked if she could "go talk to Jesus". Mel told her to find a quiet place, so she went to the bathroom to pray :) She came out with a big smile and when Mel asked what happened Courtney said "He said he loves me too". Mel asked what she talked to Jesus about, and she said "I asked Him to help me with my anger". Wow! I'd say that was quite an experience for a 6 year old! When she got home, my aunt caught Courtney telling her big brother David, "you need to ask Jesus in your heart, it feels soooo good!". So he did and now he's all smiles! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My cousin Danyne (the one who runs the orphanage in Africa) just had another little boy! They aren't sure if he weighed 9.3 or 9.13, because the scale in the hospital had a low battery! LOL! He's doing good, and so is his mama. I can't wait to meet little Danvir!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The summer has just come and gone so quickly, and we have an almost 7 month old son! I don't know where the time went!

(Don't worry Will, MUMS THE WORD!)

Lucie Joy

Lucie Joy was born at 12:17 am , September 5th weighing in at 7lb 4oz and 21" long. She's beautiful and petite, with a full head of dark hair! Mom and baby are both doing well, and trying to recover from the 24 hours of labor...and Dad? Well, he's already quite smitten :)

Cousins!

Will is VERY EXCITED that he will meet his new cousin Lucie Joy in just a few hours!!! It's pretty cool, they'll almost be exactly 6 months apart! My SIL Lin is in hard labor as I write this! She's having my first niece, Lucie at home....please pray for a great and safe delivery, and health for little Lu.

More later :)

I've been missin' you

my blog friends! We had a computer crash, so my patient husband took several days to get everything restored and back up and running. I still need to go around and pick up where I left off on your postings!

What a lovely trip we had in Cali, and here are few more pics...

Eatin' on his hands in Nana's lap...

this really great breakfast joint called "Kountry Kitchen"...they have THE MOST delicious biscuits and gravy :) YUM.

My very first canoe ride ever! I was a bit shaky at first, with the balancing act, but I soom became accustomed and enjoyed the peaceful water.

We've had a good month, full of good reports. On Monday we went in to see if Will's meds needed to be upped with his weight gain. He'd shown some signs that his motility might be a little sluggish again. We were thrilled he weighed 13 lbs 11 oz. and was 24 3/4" long! The doctor came in with a huge smile on his face exclaiming that our little man was finally on the chart! He's in the 5th percentile now for his weight...and his length and head are even better than that. He's really doing so well, strengthening his little head/neck and stomach muscles and burping like a big boy now! LOL. His most recent find is his little footsies. He can't seem to get enough of them. It makes us so happy he's been smiling a lot more lately on his own, and seems delighted pretty much any time you lay him down to play with his toys.

He saw the opthamologist for his little left eye that seemed a bit lazy. They dialated his eyes and so I sang to him to keep him comfortable when his vision got blurry. But then he fell asleep before the doctor ever came in! She said some of her best patients are asleep :) She was able to be very thorough in her exam and she's giving him 2 months to naturally strengthen it. She said he has the same prescription in both eyes, and the laziness is only intermittent, so he does show some control of it on his own.

Will saw the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor, to check for any blockages. They scoped him down his nose and saw that every thing is in it's rightful place, and she didn't find any ulcerations at all. That was great news, that even if there were any to begin with, the antibiotic helped heal them!

He's also been seeing a chiropractor for adjustments. With all the arching he's done in his life, he needed a little help getting re-aligned. He always goes away from those visits very calm and peaceful. It must feel good!

Early Childhood Intervention is making bi-weekly visits to help us work him out even more. I found it very encouraging when they had to stretch to even get him in the program. He's on track with all of his developmental milestones, except his head/trunk control. So, they're adding even more excercises to our daily routine, but we feel like they're already paying off. He does his little sit ups and toe touches and really enjoys my pilates ball :)

We had some fun times this month with family in town... Will and his pals Jeremiah, David and Courtney!

Crazy story...last 4th of July (2008) Billy and I invested in a king size bed. It was SUPER COMFY for a few weeks, and then it just went downhill from there...LITERALLY. It had a ton of depressions that made big pot holes when we slept, and I would get stuck! So we called the store and asked if we could return it *(a year later) and they said YES, without ANY QUESTIONS! So we traded it in for one that's a little bit firmer.

Will tested it out, and agreed, this was a good purchase :)

Billy and I are fasting refined sugar to pray for Will's complete and total healing, and also asking for opportunities to be a light in the dark places. Let me tell you it's not easy, especially when your family is eating delicious and decadent chocolate chunk cookies around you! BUT, already, we've seen doors open to reach people in new ways. Every single time we're tempted with yummy sweets, we say a prayer for Will and are reminded of how grateful we really are to have a great marriage and a very happy and healthy boy!

5 months and The Greats

I can hardly believe our little boy was born 5 months ago today! This morning after waking to 3 different doctors phone calls (still on Central time), and a returned call from 911 that Billy accidentally made when he tried snoozing his phone alarm :) I found our 5 month old sleeping like a big boy.

He looked so cute, with his new chubs belly and legs. When he woke, Billy told him "happy 5 months little man" and he kissed me and said "happy surgery day" lol. I don't know that I want to remember THAT part of the birth day of our son...although it was kind of a crucial part in getting the boy out in to the world so I'll go ahead and celebrate it :)

This past weekend was fun. We made the drive to both sets of great grandparents, and had a little travel buddy that kept us entertained. He doesn't have a name yet, but he's got a great "boooiiinngg" sound he makes when you bop him. We put him in the back of the durango for the ride, and forgot to "buckle" him in...so every bump on the road set him off. He even entertained Will :) Check out this video...if you listen closely you'll hear the little froggie talk. Will chimes in too. You can hear and see him (Will) in the mirror on the left bottom portion of the screen .

It was a great drive down. First we stopped to see the B's again. They were thrilled to see the great grandson for the second time. They just wanted to eat him up! He was a bit tired, so the pics we took are a little sleepy, but I'm glad we got any! After we left, great grandma B called and asked if we could stop back by on our way home....Larry had to remind her that we had a vehicle we had left at their house, so it was inevitable we'd see them again before we left town. She was thrilled :)
We stayed Saturday night with the E's. They had a lovely home in the mountains, and we even slept with the windows open enjoying the mountain breeze. They had a great porch out back where we enjoyed most meals and down time together. The guys took a generational pic, but Billy wasn't quite ready and Will was screaming for it (I think he was hungry)! Grandma E gently rocked her new great grandson, and Grandpa E was a bit timid at first to be holding him. He says that babies all "break and puke on you", but he took a shot at holding him when he realized our boy almost NEVER spits up :) Will was very comfortable with both of them and it was great they got that special time together.


It was a nice weekend, and Billy was especially happy because we found a stand that was still selling fresh strawberries. He's been wanting me to try the California strawberries for a long time now! They weren't the best batch he's ever had, because it's a little late in the season, but they still tasted great to me!

We're having such a good time letting Will's uncle, grand and great grands all get to know him. He's changing so much every day, and I just love his new vocal self! He's got lots of personality these days, and I told Suzanne that his new hair he's been growing makes him look like a Chia pet!

I am convinced Will has swept every heart he's met thus far...and how could anyone resist this face?

Rollin' down the river

Okay so it should really be called, "Rollin' AND the river".

We're still having a great time here at Will's Nana and Pop's place. Nana has been having a lot of fun playtime teaching Will some new "tricks"....like yesterday when he decided to roll over from his back to his tummy! He's been going tummy to back for a long time now...but this was his first time to go the other way all by himself! Now there's no stopping the boy. I'm sure he'll be crawling before we know it.

Last night we went for a walk in Caldwell Park then stopped at a long bench to enjoy the beautiful breeze off the Sacramento River. It was better than A.C. and a wonderful change from the heat waves we've had here....speaking of heat, I had a funny thing happen to me today! Suzanne and I were out shopping around, and she ran in to purchase a few groceries while I stayed in the car with my sleeping son. I decided I'd make the most of my time waiting, so I pulled my nursing cover over my head, and started to grab the pump, when I heard a fist banging on my window! It was this rather burly woman and her daughter, so I cautiously opened my window to see what they needed and she yelled at me "you're too close! I can't even open my door!". I didn't understand what she was talking about, then she pointed to her old beaten down truck parked beside us. She said "I can't even open my door! You're too close!" so I just apologized and told her I didn't do the parking :) She said "Well are they going to be quick? It's HOT OUT HERE! We can't wait forever, can't you move it?!" I was a little flustered, espeically being all "undone" to pump, and shoeless and such...so I locked the doors (just in case she had someone waiting to jump me under the car, lol) and I climbed up into the front seat and moved the car. She signed "thank you" about 5 times before driving off. My mom in law said I won brownie points for taking the yelling for her, but that lady was CRAZY!

Tomorrow we drive about 3 hours South and then into the mountains to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa "E". That should be a fun time for them to get to meet the little man for the first time. We'll be with them for a few days and I'm sure they can't wait.

This is from last week but I had to share-It's a shot of our little man with his Aunt Mary. He was all dressed up for his cousin Lucie's baby shower! I'm sure he can't wait to meet her just like the rest of us! The other day he was asleep on Auntie Lin's big baby bump, and Lucie kicked him (in utero)! I told him "get used to it son, I'm sure there's more where that came from!" Lol, girls always rule the roost.

I'll post more when Will does something else new :)

Leaving on a jet plane...

So Will had his 1st official plane ride yesterday!

He did GREAT! I was so glad he didn't seem to be bothered at all by the altitude. I gave him a little Tylenol so maybe that helped. After sleeping for the first hour or so, he woke to nurse, played a little bit, then slept for a few more hours...the only time we heard a peep from him was when he pooped :) and then he yelled for a few minutes AFTER we landed. Other than that, it was a breeze! He talked a lot and wooed all the ladies especially. Pretty much everyone around us knew we were going to see "Nana and Pops" by the time we de-planed.

Once we had a quick bite to eat, we headed straight over to let the Great Grandparents (the B's) meet the little man...and they were IN LOVE. He was all goo goo eyed at them, and seemed at home with the new family. We also managed to get a 4 generation picture of Great Gpa B, Pops (Billy's dad), Billy and Will. I can't wait to see that one!

You can only imagine how excited Billy's parents are to have us here! It's been about 3 months since Will's Nana held him, so she pretty much gets dibs anytime she wants. He's been very happy to see her, and flashes many smiles and coo's at both of them. They had the house SET UP for us and it was WONDERFUL! They invested in a lot of
baby gear for all the future grandchildren to enjoy too...so our room has a crib, changing table, diaper genie and bouncer. Suzanne also picked up a stroller, baby bath sling, hooded towels and washcloths. She kept the Jungle theme for the bedding and Will seems to be sleeping very comfortably :) She also made a new blanket for him to play on when we visit..it's real cute and soft.

Uncle Todd met Will for the first time. It's so cool he gets to spend time with his new nephew. I think he surprised us the most, because when Will cries, he seems in no hurry to hand him off to anyone else..he is quite determined to quiet him on his own and really seems to have the touch when it comes to putting the little guy to sleep.

We get to be here for the next 15 days....so I'm sure I'll have plenty of good stories to tell. It's STINKIN' HOT so we haven't left the house much yet....we shall see if that changes depending on the weather. I think we set records yesterday at 116!

More later. Gotta' wake my son up to eat. He thinks we're still on Central time :)

Brinner

Some of our favorite breakfasts take place at dinnertime....and tonight was no exception :) We had blueberry waffles, scrambled eggs w/parsley and bacon.

I thought I'd share my homemade syrup recipe. It's so quick to make and really makes the meal seem that much better.

Easy Syrup
1/2 cup each of brown sugar, sugar and water
1 Tbl butter
1/4 tsp flavoring (vanilla, maple, cinnamon, etc)

Boil first 4 ingredients 5 minutes.
take off the heat and add flavoring of choice.
serve warm :)

serves 4

This little piggy

keeps eating and eating and eating all the way home!

We had our 4 month shots and weight check on Wednesday, and the little man gained 9 ounces this past week! He's 10 lbs 14 ounces and 23" long!


I FINALLY put the last of his newborn onesies in the "outgrown drawer" when I attempted to put one on him yesterday. He's officially a size 3-6 month boy :)

Look at those cheeks!

I'll add more later, just thought I'd give an update on the good news!

Exceeding our expectations

Since the meds are making Will hungrier than ever, we were thrilled at his checkup Wednesday when he weighed 10 lbs 5 oz.! (He went into the hospital at 9 lbs 8 oz.)

He's averaging a gain of about 1 ounce per day as opposed to his usual 1/2 ounce. He's still eating like crazy, and he's been ending most nights now with a 6 ounce bottle. I've rented a hospital grade pump for the time being to really keep my supply going (since he's not good at demanding what he really wants) and I'm seriously having to keep up with him! I want to store some away for our upcoming trip to Cali (to visit Nana and Pops) but he keeps eating everything I pump! Ya'll pray for me! LOL! I've been nursing him during the morning and night, and the daytime is usually bottled breastmilk w/or w/out the rice starch supplement.

It seems like the reflux and arching are improving more and more...we just gotta work on the tummy aches and cramps that the new meds cause. He seems to deal with them pretty well, but he has a few more fussy times than before. I guess that comes with the territory. Overall I think he's feeling better. We noticed the other day he was so peaceful after he ate. I love it!

I caught this cute moment he was having with Grandma May and her "boo" game. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry...it was too funny.

Jesus in his heart

I've had a started draft of this post for several days but I had to go back for more edits today because the leading line was "we're finally home after an 8 night stay in the hospital." This was actually 6 days ago, and my apologies for not updating you all sooner :)

We were discharged with paperwork that read "Reason for admission: Failure to Thrive. Current Diagnosis: Failure to Thrive, Reflux."

First of all, we Praise our God for giving Will a good heart! His echo showed the murmer was minor and warranted no repair. We were able to watch the entire thing. Will was sedated (poor boy ended up sleeping the rest of the day), and it was just a very long and complete ultrasound. At one point, I looked up the screen and I saw JESUS! It was his face, his hair and his robe....he was looking over at Will, and He was in his heart! I'm serious, I had a peace after I saw Him, and knew that He was watching over our son. How cool is that?! Will had Jesus in his heart!

It took the last day of testing to prove what we were suspicious of the entire visit. Reflux. The doctors were very thorough, as I posted earlier, but they couldn't possibly believe that a baby could actually be deemed "failure to thrive" because of something as simple as reflux. Every baby has a slight case of reflux, with their immature inner workings...but others, however are very simply put "sick" with reflux. One doctor in particular, whom we have a scheduled appointment with in September states in his book, Colic Solved the sad truth that babies, especially the ones who don't spit up, are constantly overlooked when they are in fact, very sick. So sick to the point that they don't want to eat (because it hurts), they don't want to sleep (or they wake themselves up frequently), and the don't grow very well (because they don't want to eat). Sounds familiar to me.

I'm glad we got to the bottom of Will's issues. Besides the reflux we suspected all along, the Upper G.I. showed he has delayed gastric emptying....in other words, he stays fuller longer because his tummy doesn't do it's job in pushing the food out as well as it should.

I know some may have criticized me in the past saying that I should have been feeding him more all along, or possibly even changing his main food supply to formula rather than breastmilk. The fact is I DO feed him as much as he will eat. I wake the boy up to eat, even when he shows no hunger signs. At the end of our nursing periods, I attempt to give him milk I've pumped off. But until now, he showed no interest in eating more. He was full. NO WONDER! And as far as formula vs. breastmilk, breastmilk is the best food for Will and his reflux. It is easily and quickly digested. This means less acid to come back up all day long. It also contains a natural antacid that helps his cause. We are, however adding those 2 formula-infused breastmilk bottles that contain a rice starch thickener to help with the reflux, and add a little more calories (and a red rash he doesn't usually wear on his hind-parts).

The doctors added a third medication to Will's daily doses, in order to improve his motility. I have to say I now have a PIGGY for a son! I have NEVER seen him eat so much in a day, I think he's gained 2 pounds since we've been home! LOL! It really seems to have improved his hunger, but I'll have to give it a few more days to take shape before I really say whether I like how upset his tummy seems to be from it. I will be so glad when he doesn't have to be medicated every day! But for now, we have a better handle on his reflux and motility, and his arching has improved dramatically! We are praying he grows out of the reflux and d.g.e.

As far as our hospital stay....
It's funny how we'll miss those wonderful nurses who interrupted us every 4 hours to take vitals :) They were so helpful and encouraging during our stay. It almost seems like they weren't just doing a job, but also showing us love.

One evening I was crying in the waiting area of our floor, because they had poked Will 4 different times looking for a good vein to insert the I.V. He was SCREAMING and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I asked Billy to take over at the foot of Will's bed, and I quietly left the room...and took a walk. A nurse I hadn't met stopped to console me, and offered encouragement for my weary heart. She periodically checked on Will thereafter.

One afternoon they were drawing blood and our sweet nurse thought it would be better to remove him from his "fun room" and do the mean things somewhere else. While I stood by Will's side, kissing his little face, I saw that she had made a good poke on the first try! I said "Oh wow, thank you so much for getting it the first time!" she said "don't thank me, I was talking to the man upstairs". Billy told me later that when she came in to get him for the draw, he had the praise baby dvd running, and she curiously was asking about it. I think she felt comfortable later, letting us know she too was a believer.

Another day, while visiting the milk bank, I overheard one of the lactation consultants introducing her coworker to an emotional mom. She said "this is my good Christian sister and anytime you need her to pray with you about your son, she's here too". So on one of my weary moments, guess what I did? I asked her to pray with me! She held my hands firmly and we prayed in the spirit together! Then she sent me on my way with prayer cards to claim for our son, and a whole packet of healing scriptures.

We praise God for the knowledge we now have concerning our son and his health. He has a good brain, heart, thyroid, pancreas, liver, kidneys, bladder and gallbladder! He doesn't have cistic fibrosis and the issues he has faced up to now will be gone and outgrown in no time! It's not too often you find out so many things about your kids health this early, but we're thankful we did.

He is STRONG and the boy is getting FAT I tell ya'!

A little updating

So the doc came in yesterday and informed us that Will is having 3 major tests tomorrow. The first will be a heart Echo and he will be mildly sedated. He won't be able to eat 8 hours prior, so they are putting him on I.V. fluids again tonight to keep him hydrated. I'm sure he hasn't missed that big taped up mess that keeps him from sucking his fingers :) At least he's had a few days to be without it.
They will also be doing the swallow study that we've been pushing for. He'll drink the barium and we'll be able to tell how everything moves inside.
The final test tomorrow (from what we know at least) is a sweat study to check for cistic fibrosis. I guess it can cause growth restriction so they're just covering all their bases.
We're still waiting to hear the results of the organic stool test (it looks for any chemicals from his gut that are signs of gene mutations) since I have the MTHFR.
Everything else has come back NORMAL. Oh, and the last post I said they added Maalox to his regime...my bad, it was Zantac, and it's making a difference! He wanted to eat like a little piggy yesterday!

We had a pretty lazy 4th of July....just played the Wii and mom relieved us for an hour or so and we ran out to get food "off campus". That was nice :) I wanted a Coke Icee from Burger King, and that is precisely what I got :) Billy opted for Pizza Hut pizza and he was satisfied :)
Will wore an adorable festive outfit from Nana and the nurses couldn't help but pat his little booty when they would come to see him. We could kinda see the fireworks, but it's not quite the same when you can't hear them or the background music :( Oh well, maybe next year.

Still waiting...

You've been in a hospital too long when...

*The prepackaged muffins in the hospitality basket are like gold
*You greet the doctors in a towel-head
*Half a building's been built next door in the time you've been there
*Your idea of "getting out" is walking across the street
*You've learned the names of each ultrasound technician
*You go down to the milk bank and pump in your p.j.'s
*You hear monitors beeping even though it's really silent
*Hospital food doesn't taste "that bad" anymore
*You start making up nicknames for the doctors
*You associate the interns with characters off scrubs or greys anatomy
*Your back hurts from playing the WII
*You know more doctors than the nurses do
*You are thrilled about renting a VHS version of Liar, Liar
*You start using words like "stat"
*Your entertainment for the night is getting stuck in an elevator
*You consider 4 hours without interruptions a "good night's sleep"
*The most exciting part of your 4th of July is the view of the downtown fireworks
*You think you can diagnose your son better than anyone else can...

Pray we're right. Pray it's just reflux that doesn't require anything invasive (like surgery).
So far since my last update they've done an abdomen ultrasound including the kidneys, liver, pancreas, galbladder and bladder. All were normal.

They ran an organic culture on his stool to check for any milk allergies. We've yet to hear those results.

The EKG on his heart was normal. They did, however feel it is necessary for an echo cardiogram since his little murmur still peeps it's head up when they give a listen.

They are infusing my pumped milk with a high cal, preemie soy-based formula, and I'm cutting all dairy from my diet until we hear if he's allergic to milk or not. We give him the fortified bottles twice a day, as an added supplement to the nursing. Especially since we think he's not eating as much as he wants to because of how he feels.

Today they are talking about a possible swallow study. This is THE REASON we came here. We feel this is Will's biggest obstacle to overcome....swallowing properly without any reflux involved. It affects his eating and sleeping, and the boy's gotta grow! Pray for favor that they are able to perform this test sooner than later. The weekends usually mean wasted time getting nothing done (especially on a holiday weekend), and we would love for Will to feel better soon!

The occupational therapist has been coming by daily to work with Will on his suck, and on his arching. She placed an "X" of kinese tape over his tummy to encourage him to use his stomach muscles more and tuck his chin and arms when he lifts up, or when trying to raise his head from a lying position. IMMEDIATELY we saw a change in him! Although he still tries to arch after he eats (because he is still refluxing), he is no longer doing it continuously. I wanted to cry! They've added Maalox to his reflux regime and are using a liquid compound of his Prevacid that really seems to make a difference in him. This morning he just played and played on his back, talking to his toys and acting like he already feels better.

Thank you for your support and love. We have a direct phone line and private room if you want to see the little man. There are no certain visiting hours either. Pray for wisdom for the doctors, and sanity for us :) We're tired, but willing to stick this out until we resolve the underlying issues of Will's weight gain, comfort and health. He hasn't been able to gain much weight here in the hospital, since a lot of these tests require an empty stomach, and then with emergency's that come up in the ER we get pushed back sometimes a few hours longer....so pray for him to GROW GROW GROW! Even though our schedule is crazy here, we're believing we will have answers soon.

My milk's gonna' be better

...those were the first words I uttered to my mom this morning when I informed her that our son's brain ultrasound came back normal. Looks like we might just have a genius on our hands :)

Yep, you heard me right. We're at Texas Children's (been here since Monday) to figure out just why Will isn't gaining enough weight. If you couldn't tell from my opening line, they are being very thorough in their search. We'd like to attribute it to his silent reflux, and it looks like the more tests they rule out, the more they kind of agree with us on the culprit.

Considering the high stress involved in this visit, and the fact that we actually cancelled a much anticipated trip to Cali to be here, my milk supply was almost NOTHING yesterday. It was the saddest thing ever, and I didn't have any of my stockpile with me. So we went ahead and gave Will 1 small amount of formula while I pumped and tried to rebuild what was "broken" at the moment...and he threw it up...TWICE! He's NEVER puked before, and it was very scary to watch. Several nurses rushed in to check his vitals and see if he was breathing okay, and I was overwhelmed with emotions. They ended up putting him on fluids since he seemed slightly dehydrated. I was shocked when the doctor came to check Will after he threw up. She looked over at me and asked " How does he look to you right now? Out of all the people in this room right now, I trust to you the most". Little boy's got an I.V. and he's been quite the trooper, that boy :) He's already won all the hearts of the nurses and doctors over, and they've been for the most part very informative and great listeners!

They've done alot of blood work, and some tests so far....His chest xrays are normal all except that his stomach was extremely dialated in them. It could be due to the voracious yelling he did during the tests, but it could also be something else. His thyroid tests were good, and his vitals are all good. However, two doctors agree they hear a slight murmer in his heart. Today he will undergo an EKG and we'll go from there. They will also do a ultrasound on his abdomen. I believe we are meeting with a gastroenterologist this afternoon to find out what tests they will perfom on his esophogus and possibly pharynx and vocal chords...I personally believe his silent reflux is burning him all the way up to his eyes (if you see my boy on his back, or try to hold him "like a baby" you'd know what I mean) and if we can get that under control then HALELUJAH! Billy has a pyloric sphincter that doesn't always function properly. It gave him a lot of grief growing up, and it could also have been inherited. It attributes to the emptying of the stomach, and it could explain why Will doesn't gain as much weight as he should...

We are just shouting praises to God that it seems like they are narrowing the issues of weight gain down to a few minor fixable (wouldn't it be amazing if God did a miracle and they didn't even have to fix anything!) things.

Like a very thoughtful voicemail I recieved yesterday said "Will's rescuer is coming to his rescue, and his name is JESUS".

It's all gonna' burn

This has been one CRAZY weekend! My Aunt Mary and cousins Mel, Jeremiah, David and Courtney spent the night Saturday after a fun time swimming and staying up late (some didn't crash til' 4:00am) playing games and hanging out. We went to sleep in a very chilly townhome (we like it that way), only to wake to it being 84 degrees inside! My aunt dragged herself into the living room, scratching her sleepy head asking if the a.c. had broke. IT HAD. Will's crib monitor was registering at 81...and the poor boy was sweatin' big time.

So we called the repair man in, and he fixed that bad boy up. It was wonderful to come home from a church event on Sunday to a very breezy home again.

Until last night, that is.

My parents were over for a visit when all of our smoke alarms went off around 9:00 pm. We smelled a very strong electrical fire smell, and smoke was filling our home. Billy turned our A.C. off and I rushed outside to get our son out of that stinky place. I banged on our neighbors door, because we couldn't find fire anywhere...but they wouldn't answer. It occured to us that we actually hadn't heard them (and believe me, those guitar hero boys can ALWAYS BE HEARD) for a few days....

I called 911.

They sent 2 firetrucks, but only 1 could get through our gate! LOL! So the other stood on standby. About 3 firemen ran into our home, and couldn't find fire anywhere. Where was this smoke coming from? and the smell?

They found a hotspot of 400 degrees in our guest bath ceiling! It was coming from the newly fixed Air Conditioner! The firemen said we did the right thing in calling them. Even though there wasn't an active fire, if Billy hadn't turned it off, it could have eventually sparked and started one! Thank God for his wisdom in that!

They turned our breaker off so the maintenance men could replace our whole unit. We couldn't stay home last night, because of the heat or the smell, so we came home with my parents. I'm sure they were really "put out" by their grandson staying the night :) Thankfully, Will ended up sleeping on my shoulder through the whole ordeal.

I think the hardest part about leaving was walking out the door, wondering if it would happen again while we were away. Then I remembered an old saying my cousin Danyne used to say...

"It's all gonna' burn!"
But, we'd really rather it not happen today if possible!

Ants in... Will's pants?!

So about a week ago, my hubby, son and I were on our way out of the church parking lot. It was a BURNING HOT summer day, and as usual, we cranked the a.c full blast. All of a sudden we realized there were hundreds of ANTS flying in to our car through our air vents! They were ALL OVER THE PLACE....our arms, legs, clothing, seats, dash, doors, you name it! We were freaking out, and Billy was trying to keep his eyes on the road while I smashed each little black ant I could possibly track down. Poor little ant kamikazes were flying into their doom. It was like something from a horror movie or something! I was mostly concerned the ants could be tracking down the sweet and innocent baby boy in my back seat, so as any normal parent would, I screamed for us to pull over and see where these crazy ants were coming from.

We pulled into a parking lot nearby, and watched as they poured out of the car onto the hot pavement...finding some other tasty treat left from the last car parked there. But we still weren't able to keep all of them from coming back in.

It was CRAZY!

Later that afternoon we went through a professional car wash, hoping it would clean out the carriage and hopefully vacuum up any remaining ants. We got back in our car only to find the residual ants left behind, sticking with every step to our freshly Armor-All'd car like fighting soldiers dragging their wounded bodies in a swamp. To this day (about 10 days later) we still have a serious problem when we turn the air up. We have no idea how to rid our a.c. system of these critters.

I've only found 2 of the castaways on Will's car seat, however, Monday afternoon I saw several sticking to a few different outfit options in his closet. I looked closer only to realize they were trailing in the closet now! What is this all about?! Then I found a few crawling on my arm in my bed!

We immediately told the complex manager to call Pest Control, and the guy came out yesterday.
I had spotted a dirt pile behind our rocking chair, very close to Will's bed...and I didn't want to mess around. The pest guy said they were breeding under our carpet there under the window seal! He sprayed inside and out, and we haven't seen any signs of live ones in our room since late last night.

I'm going to try and rest tonight without worrying about those crazy little ants that seem to have infested our world like nobody's business lately.

YUM!

Sometimes I come across recipes that really stick with me and tonight was no exception :) I thought I'd share it with you all. It's one of those "1 dish meals" and I've made a version of it a few times before, but this was by far my fave.

It's pretty close to Sunny Anderson's (food network) "Shepherds Pie with Mushroom Onion Gravy", but I'll post exactly what I did with it.

2 lbs russet potatoes, washed and cut into chunks (I like the peels on)
1 Tbl dry minced garlic, or 1 clove smashed
Salt (I like Kosher)
6 Tbl butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
ground black pepper
Olive oil
1 lb ground beef
2 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
2 Tbl tomato paste
1/4 cup beef broth
1/4 onion, finely chopped
1 zuchinni, julienned
2 carrots, julienned or about 1 1/2 cups of baby carrots cut in half
8 oz. corn
1 tsp Paprika,
16 oz. cheddar, shredded
Mushroom-Onion gravy (recipe below)

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a medium saucepan, cover potatoes and garlic with enough water to cover by 1 inch. Add some salt and bring to boil over high heat, then reduce to medium-high and cook unitl fork tender, about 15 min. Drain and return to pan, and mash together with 3 Tbl butter and the heavy cream. Season with salt and pepper (and I added parsley for color and a dash of cayenne pepper) and set aside.

In a large pan on medium-high heat combine 1 Tbl butter and 1 Tbl oil. When butter has melted, add beef, worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper to taste, and cook until meat is brown. Stir in tomato paste and saute for a few minutes. Add beef stock and bring to a simmer. Place meat in a casserole dish and set aside.

In the same pan, add remaining butter and 1 Tbl oil and saute onions until almost tender.
Add corn, zucchini, carrots and paprika. Cook until tender, about 1o min. Remove from heat and mix with meat in casserole dish.

Place a very light layer of the cheese and then cover with mashed potatoes, smoothing out to the edge with a spatula. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese across top and place in oven until cheese has a nice texture, and potatoes are brown around the edges, about 30 minutes. Serve with Mushroom Onion gravy.

Mushroom Onion Gravy:
1/4 onion, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
3 Tbl oil
3 Tbl flour
1 cup red wine
2 cups beef broth
Salt and cracked pepper

In the same saucepan over medium heat, saute onions and mushrooms in oil until tender and mushrooms release their moisture, about 5 min. Add flour and stir to evenly coat. Slowly whisk in wine and broth. Simmer until thickened and season with salt and pepper, to taste. This is a very rich reduction, and a little goes a long way, but you will be surprised how much it really pops all the flavors!

I served this with a romaine salad that had cucumbers, grape tomotoes, red onion, avacado, walnuts, sweet almond slivers and diced celery with Ranch. And SWEET TEA, of course :)

Fave's of the Week

UPDATED: Sorry in the midst of my editing, I accidentally deleted this image the first time... here's the little man reading :)We took Will in for a checkup today. He's 8lbs 14 oz and 22" long :) The doc says he looks great, and is developmentally right on track. He's been rolling over, reaching for toys, putting everything to his mouth, holding his head pretty steady, doing his "push ups" on his tummy and "tracking" everything around him.

He loves a little elephant his Nana got him (see pic above he's got the ear) and lovey Aunt Mary made him when he's getting sleepy. Can you see his blue eyes??! We can't figure that out! It really seems like he may keep those baby blues and we are thrilled about it!

He's really started laughing more (especially when you put his feet up to his face-weird) and smiles so much at people and his toys and mirrors. He has a lot of different faces and it seems like he comes up with a new face or sound all the time. I can't believe how much he's already grown up.

We love him so much and I'm really glad we get to keep him <3<3<3<3<3>

We bought him a bumbo seat this week, and he looks so funny and really tiny and newborn looking which is so weird because he can sit up strong in it. I was playing "teacher" and he got a "head start" looking at flashcards and learning things, lol.

Remember his stuffed Monkey(from the pic of his first night home?!)...we'll he's finally bigger than it! LOL!

We took him out to the pool for the first time and the new swimsuit and flip flops from Grammy were adorable on his feet! He just "laid out" on the blanket under the shade chilling out like a big boy.