lots of new improvements....

I never thought the day would come when I could tell you that Jackson weighed 18 lbs and was gaining an ounce a day...but we have made it there.

He is becoming quite the ham....we are waving goodbye, sometimes even when people aren't leaving. We are starting to get more adventurous with letting go and standing. Now we are blowing kisses. We uploaded and took this video last night..

hope you all enjoy...especially you dad...we can't wait to see you tomorrow when you get home. We have missed you alot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out my little chubbers

so we have been asking for prayer for months now for Jackson to gain weight. Trust me we are not finished asking yet, but we have made great head way in the last two months. I have to admit....he is getting heavy. I know I know, you all have heavier kids but when he gains it so quickly...there is no more carrying him around the mall.

We have a confession to make. I need to go back to 6th grade math and relearn my conversion charts. Jackson's formula calls for a cup or two different formulas, but the top to the container I use doesn't allow me to just dump a cup in. So since March I have been using a tablespoon. A quiz for all of you out there that think I am slow...how many tablespoons are in a cup? well lets just say we were a totally of 8 short. When you are trying to increase the calories in formula this is not good. it doesn't quite get you to where you need to be.

so to make a long story short....two months ago we figured it out. Although we are still vomiting a couple times a day, we have gained from 15lbs 5oz. to 17lbs 11 oz in a brief two months. As I have seen this weight gain, it makes me want to kick myself...we could be to twenty lbs already...but I have grace thank goodness. We will get there still at this rate.

The double chin is crackin us all up though, he has no neck anymore...we need some height to go with our poundage. So we can spread things out a little. he is still stinkin' cute...

especially ridin his little car. He can't get on it yet by himself...but when he wants to ride...he pushes it over and then pats the seat....and looks up with the most adorable smile...he has me wrapped around his little finger...that is for sure..

We are a MOVIN'

We are a movin and shakin. It hasn't taken long since the cast came off for Jackson to be back to his old tricks. He was pullin up before we knew it and then cruisin. Crawling backwards to get away from his cousins in MN and now he is walking behind his walking toy. Who would have guessed.
we headed out to Indy on Monday night. We had appointments on Tuesday morning early...so we wanted to get there with out having to leave at the crack of dawn. We met with Dr Lubicky first. Jackson's hip looked great and he was very impressed with his progress. After we talked about him being out of the country the week I wanted Jackson's surgery to be, we decided that waiting til March would be a good idea. That way we can go on Walks and be outside instead of trapped inside with nothing to do. plus Daddy will be in town in march and will be able to be there. After this we got the disappointing news that we were not having our Urology appointment that day they had changed the appointment without telling me. Isn't that kind of them...so glad I didn't drive all the way down for that appointment. It turned out well, we got out of town before the bad weather and home early.. after this we were off to renal to get weighed...the dreaded weigh in. We measured him and he was still 27 inches. Then I stripped him down for the scale. He was so happy to get to sit in it like a boat. Mom's jaw dropped when the scale read 17lbs 4 ounces. I am still a bit skeptical, but scales don't lie. He puked that morning too.. I think this means someone's scale is a bit off. or my child gained almost a pound in two weeks while puking 4 times a day. Not likely. But the nutritionalist was very pleased with his weight gain and said that she saw no reason for a Gtube at this time. She finally agreed with Adrian and I. if we put more in the only number we are going to increase in the number of Pukes we have in a day not the number of lbs we are gaining. I was pleased. Disappointing news was that there is no other renal formula out there that is hypoallergenic to help us possibly with the reflux. I recently had read an article about a study done on Children with severe reflux that decreasing the milk input showed a direct correlation to decrease in reflux. We were excited, but now our excitement has been squelched. Oh well there are always more ideas, we just need to find them. For now, Jackson impresses people with his puke bowl holding skills, they think it is sad and impressive that he holds the sides of his bowl when he pukes...I think it is just sad.

Enjoy the video and have a great day in our Winter wonderland.

17 month review and update on Jackson

Jackson is 17 months Old. wow. time flies... we are up to 27 1/4 inches and 16lbs 8 oz

He is in to everything.....
loves peekaboo, loves to push buttons (both the real buttons and his parents hidden ones), love people, he is totally in to music and does a little dance every time he hears it (unless of course there are instruments to watch and then those are more intriguing). He loves balls: basketball or baseball, he doesn't care. Is totally attatched to his teddy blanket at bedtime. loves to open and close everything, but especially doors...he even shuts the door to his room with us on the outside. He is Mr Independant. he wants to do things himself. He is walking around furniture again since his cast came off a month ago. He is transitioning from on peace to the other easily. He also goes up in the bear crawl position like he is trying to stand up, but he hasn't quite gotten there yet. We will eventually. He loves to bang on things: everything from the windows to an empty container. Who would have guessed that toys could be so cheap. He loves his homemade rattle: a penny in a medicine bottle. he shakes it in the car everywhere we go.

I gotta say we are still not into food. We really have no interest at all. Perfectly satisfied with our bottle. We have tried a sippy but he just likes to chew. I finally got his OT and nutritionalist to witness him puking and they are now concerned. After seeing the amount of phlem in his puke, they are thinking there is something that is causing this other than the reflux. I am telling you, you cry wolf to enough people and sometimes it pays off. Someone might hear you eventually. We have decided finally (we have asked for this many times, oh well at least it is happening now) to have a team leader and that our developmental pediatrician should be local so we can have our nutritionalist there as well. They are thinking Jackson might be allergic to something, so they are suggesting allergy testing as well as just looking outside the box for solutions to the puking issues. With out resolving this we see no reason that Jackson will want to eat anytime soon. They are thinking he relates eating to Pain so he will do nothing but suck on food. no swallowing. We will see. Of course it is going to take at least three months to get in to see anyone. Nothing ever happens in a short period of time. But what is three more months when he has gone for 17 months already. Hopefully they will have a cancelation and get us in quickly.

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season and a happy New year. We will leave you with a couple holiday pics..

before you critize at how easy lasagna is let me explain

before you go saying what the heck a pan of lasagna...you have to understand a few things:

I am a recipe follower to a T and I never stray away or try to create anything on my own. I have never made lasagna in my life and I have never seen a recipe. I know five ingredients can't be tough....right? well I decided there were things I liked about different peoples lasagna that I had tried nad wanted to create my own. With out a recipe. So I did. here it is and I think my hubby would agree it was delish. it actually has like 8 ingredients and it was pretty simple. But doesn't it look scrumptuous.

This was a start...I just hate screwing up that much food if it goes wrong. it is so wasteful if we don't eat my concoction.