Arie Eating Update

Late January we had a feeding clinic visit and Arie had only gained 1/2 of what they had expected him to gain. He was just about 9 months old and only 15lbs 13oz. They did allergy testing which was all negative, and a stool test which showed that he has acidic stool (which I knew from the AWFUL diaper rashes he gets). He also has 5-8 poops a day. WAY too many for a 9 month old. We are still working on the poop issues, but I was given new instruction for the weight issues. We now "calorie boost". We add 1 scoop of powered formula to every 4oz of baby food that he eats, and we still make his bottles with 5oz water and 3 scoops of formula. Basically we are packin' on the pounds (or at least trying!). I also buy baby food that is high in fat (Beef Noodle and Chicken Noodle are the best). After 1 month of calorie boosting, Arie (almost 10 months old now) weighs...................DRUM ROLL PLEASE...................... 16lbs 11oz!!! I cried (happy tears) when I saw the scale.

Hopefully we are headed on the right path. Our next goal is to get him to eat table food/crackers/cheerios/etc. He still ONLY does baby food... nothing else. He gags terribly with any kind of cracker or cheerio or anything, but he DOESN'T cry which is good.

He's combat crawling now too! He still can't sit himself up yet, but he's trying. Once he's in the sitting position he can stay for a while, but he doesn't really like to and quickly flops back to his belly. He's not pulling up yet or anything like that. I'm just happy that he's finally combat crawling! That's all I could ask for. Improvment is GREAT and I'm confident that in the long run he will be developmentally on target. He's just a little behind at the moment.

The boy has a TEMPER though and can SCREAM bloody murder when he's mad at something. He's also cutting 4 teeth right now (as is Micah) so they are both miserable. Funny thing is that they are both cutting some of the same teeth. Micah was a late teether and Arie was early, so there you go.

Ok, enough with the novel. My boy is GROWING UP!!!

Baby James Update

On Monday Baby James had surgery to try and remove the cancerous tumors that remained on the half of the kidney he has left. While they were able to remove the tumors, they didn't get "clean margins" which means that there are still cancer cells remaining in his kidney. So basically, after many courses of chemo and 2 major surgeries, James still has cancer. It is so hard to know that this poor little guy and his family are going through so much. It really puts everything into perspective for me.

As your going through your day and something bad happens, or your get pissed off at someone, or frustrated at something, please try to remember that life is precious and every day that your healthy is a blessing. Think of what James and his family are going through, and remind yourself that whatever your experiencing, in the whole scheme of things, isn't that bad. Then stop and say a prayer for him. If you don't pray then just send positive thoughts his way. He is a beautiful boy with so much strength, and to see him going through so much at such a young age is just heart breaking. (((HUGS))) to you James and family! We're all pulling for you!

Once again, .here is a link to Baby James website. Please stop by and offer a few words of encouragment for him and his family.

Baby James Update

On Monday Baby James had surgery to try and remove the cancerous tumors that remained on the half of the kidney he has left. While they were able to remove the tumors, they didn't get "clean margins" which means that there are still cancer cells remaining in his kidney. So basically, after many courses of chemo and 2 major surgeries, James still has cancer. It is so hard to know that this poor little guy and his family are going through so much. It really puts everything into perspective for me.

As your going through your day and something bad happens, or your get pissed off at someone, or frustrated at something, please try to remember that life is precious and every day that your healthy is a blessing. Think of what James and his family are going through, and remind yourself that whatever your experiencing, in the whole scheme of things, isn't that bad. Then stop and say a prayer for him. If you don't pray then just send positive thoughts his way. He is a beautiful boy with so much strength, and to see him going through so much at such a young age is just heart breaking. (((HUGS))) to you James and family! We're all pulling for you!

Once again, .here is a link to Baby James website. Please stop by and offer a few words of encouragment for him and his family.

OUCH!!

The other day I had put Arie on my floor while Ben and I were tending to the other kids. A few minutes later we walked in to find Arie crying... I would be crying too if I had formula running out of my mouth and nose!

Picture Parade

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. We have been SLAMMED with activity and there are no signs of slowing! I apologize ahead of time that my posts will be less often... it's hard to find 5 minutes to sit down anymore. Anyway, there are pics on here from our last (and first) snowfall of the year, pics of my dogs ("Gertie" is the English Bulldog and "Sasha" is the black dog with the satellite dish around her head), bath pics, and some other random pics. We had Arie baptised last weekend but my dad took all those pictures and I don't have them yet. Arie did well... didn't cry much. The priest, however, was not the nicest man in the world (by FAR) and completly butchered Arie's name by calling him "AIR-e SEEong-Jin"
instead of "R-E Song-Jin" as it should be pronounced. (His name is actually spelt "Arie Seong-Jin".) Anyway, here you go...