Please forgive me...for I have no spare time!

It has been a little over 4 months, please forgive me for not updating!  I will give a quick "briefing" to catch everyone up. :)

Age:20 months/ 17 months
Weight: 20lbs 13 oz
Length: 32"

GI: still not eating by mouth. We have started him back on the appetite stimulant within the last 2 weeks and have noticed an increase of interest in food. He will eat an occasional piece of food, small pieces. He is getting better at controlling his gag when he has food in his mouth! (Of course we are alway happy when there is less vomit!)

He is now seeing the feeding specialist in Spartanburg. Her goal is to get Connor's weight up to the 15-20th percentile before we work on weaning his gtube blenderized foods. We have learned that Connor can't handle straight oils added to blends for easy extra calories- that is a sure fire way to make him vomit, so weight gain has been super slow! Of course he continues to get feeding therapy weekly. We do food play 3 times a day and continue to feed him (gtube) every 3 hours during the day.

Lungs: Connor had a bronchoscopy and surgery on his boy parts in October. He had the bronch to just to make sure everything was fine since he always has a dry cough. The bronch showed "paralyzed vocal chords" and mild laryngomalacia (softening of the larynx).  He was then sent to an ENT to check the vocal chords without any anesthesia: the vocal chords aren't paralyzed, they are just immature. Not really sure what that means, but we will continue to monitor the chords. :) he also had a sweat chloride test done to rule out cystic fibrosis last week-that test was negative.

Connor continues to get physical therapy. He is doing fairly well  with his gross motor skills. He walks, runs, squats, and climbs on tables and sofas now! He has started walking on his tippy toes again, we have recently noticed that increase within the last month.

Speech therapy is weekly as well. He has a severe speech delay. I am having a tough time with this- we try so hard to teach him, but he just doesn't focus on us long. He used to say "Mama", "miyo", and "bye bye" but he  doesn't say mama now, rarely says milo, and bye bye has turned into "aba". He will occasionally do the animal sounds for a lion and cow, but he has been stuck on those 2 animals for a long time. I think I make animal noises in my sleep because I say them so much, but Connor doesn't seem to get it. I am not sure if  his speech is so delayed due to the feeding issues (decreased muscle tone), immature vocal chords, prematurity, or other causes.  I see him around other children his age and I get really disappointed when I hear all the things that they are saying.

Several of his therapist have noted autism like characteristics in Connor. It has been suggested that Josh and I start talking about doing an evaluation for him soon. Josh and I are discussing it, and have decided at this time we will continue doing all of his therapies and let him develop a little more.  I am noticing how hard it is to teach him things because he is too busy to sit still, he is constantly on the move, slightly clumsy with tippy toe walking, has trouble focusing in one thing, does some  occasional head banging in the car seat and high chair.I know he has major sensory issues and we are dealing with a wild toddler boy, so I want to give him the best I can with therapies to see how things advance.   We are hoping to  get another occupational therapist to help him with this soon.

WHEW! That was a whirlwind update! So I will try my hardest to update sooner. I have had a lot of people ask me how he was doing because so many people have been praying for him.  I apologize for taking so long, as you can see I stay super busy with therapies, appointments, work, and everyday duties!

Back to the hospital, EGD tomorrow

Wt:19lbs 5 oz
Age: 16months/13 months

Enjoying his new swing in the backyard

After the GI visit last week, he decided to go ahead and schedule an EGD- Esophagogastroduodenoscopy is a test to examine the lining of the esophagus (the tube that connects the throat to the stomach), stomach, and first part of the small intestine. It is done with a small camera (flexible endoscope) that is inserted down the throat. Connor will have anesthesia for this procedure, which always makes me nervous. I know he is in great hands, just the word anesthesia makes most parents nervous.

He has had an EGD last October after the feeding issues started ( it is hard t believe that September is a year since all the feeding issues started!) The last EGD showed severe inflammation and the biopsies where all normal. His GI doctor wants to make sure his Nissen hasn't "slipped", check for inflammation, and do biopsies again. I am anxious to find out the results. Of course I don't want there to be anything wrong, but obviously there is or else Connor wouldn't resist feeding and vomit so much. I believe there is a missing puzzle piece to our complicated Connor and I am beyond ready to figure out what it is. I will update afterwards.

Also at his appointment weigh in, Connor had gained an entire pound the first 4 weeks of the blenderized diet! His GI doctor was quite impressed with the gain! Unfortunately, this week he has lost again. This is from us cutting back the number of bolus feeds we give him to encourage hunger and all the vomiting. I have a feeling we will be adding one feed back so his weight doesn't continue to spiral down. I didn't expect for him to gain once we cut back but I wasn't expecting a 6oz loss.

One last update...we officially have a walker! He is doing a few steps then goes down. We are practicing a lot but he rather crawl since he can get there so fast! Walking or crawling, we have a curious little boy who is constantly looking for trouble!! :)

Trying to climb the baby gate

Making progress

Wt: 19lbs 11 oz
Ht: 29.5"
Age: 16 months/13 months

Connor is slowly gaining weight, but we will take it! The first weight check after doing 2 weeks of the blenderized diet was not a fail but he did not gain, he weighed exactly the same! I was happy with that since I was expecting him to loose with such a diet change. The nurses seemed to panic when he didn't gain but his pediatrician was satisfied with it. Connor had gone an entire week without ANY vomiting, had an increase of interest in eating food, coughed and gagged way less, and just seemed all around more healthy. We continued blending away and slowly increasing his volume, he is up to 6 oz now! I never imagined he could tolerate that much due to him vomiting after 4.5 oz with formula! Then his next weight gain, 2 weeks after the plateau.......he gained 8 ounces!! I was thrilled and over the moon that he was finally gaining a decent amount of weight again!

The part that we can't figure out is why he went back to vomiting after that 1 week of being free from it. He is back to 1-2 times a day of vomiting with no consistent pattern so we can't figure out what the issue is. :( He goes to see his GI doctor this week, I am hoping that he will help us figure this out. Poor thing shouldn't be vomiting after his nissen, much less doing it everyday! The last time he was at the GI , his doctor had mentioned doing another EGD (scope) to see if there is something we are missing. He wanted to wait out the start of the blenderized diet and then determine if it was still needed after Connor had adjusted to the new change. So, I have a feeling another EGD is in Connor's near future.

So we need to get this little guy eating by mouth! I had a break down moment after feeding therapy a few weeks ago. After seeing all these other children and babies eating and drinking and watching Connor continue to throw food, refuse and not improving - I just lost it in the parking lot. I was hooking the syringe to his gbutton and just started bawling, having this weak moment of wondering why my child can't do such a simple survival skill. I think the hardest thing about it is knowing that he can do it, he was drinking bottles like no tomorrow when he came home from the NICU. Even though he never expressed any hunger, he would suck down his bottles and even take a few bites of food from a spoon. After having my moment, I have been determined to find the right method Connor needs to encourage him to eat!

I have been researching feeding clinics all across the country, I have even read about some out of the US. I have been reading different methods: the Graz method ( weaning tube feeds to make him hungry) and behavioral methods ( positive reinforcement with toys). After Josh and I had many discussions, we are attempting to try both of these methods at home. With the help of a dietitian, we have cut back on the number of feedings. Instead of him getting 6 feeds, every 3 hours he is now cut back to 5 feeds. She ultimately wants us to cut back to 4 to encourage him to eat by mouth, it is kinda hard to want to eat if he is full all the time. We also started using a specific "feeding toy", when Connor opens his mouth for a spoon or cup then he gets to play with the toy. If he fights or pushes away then we take the toy away until he opens and eats the food. This is quite a challenge but Connor is a smart little guy. He catches on to cause and effect rather quickly, he usually can last about 10 minutes with this method before he is completely done. We have been able to get 10-20 bites/ day like this where as we could only get 2-3/day previously. If we aren't able to get him eating then we will consider traveling to where ever we need to go for weeks of intense therapy. I am positive and hopeful that we can get him eating again. Here is a video (sorry, rather long! I recorded it for his therapist who is using it in a feeding seminar) of us trying to feed him:

OK, enough of the feeding stuff (sorry that consumes our life, that is all we do everyday so it is constantly on our minds).
Connor had a little NICU pool party with sweet Zuri and Kennedy. Here are a few pics from that, all of them kept their backs to each other most of the time :)

Connor, Kennedy & Zuri- impossible to get a good picture of 3 moving 1 year olds!

Playing in the pool

We also took Connor to his first Music and Movement class offered at our library. The first week was not good for him. I believe he was in sensory overload and didn't want to do anything that he was supposed to do! There were a ton of 1 year olds plus mommy's and chaos!! I was in sensory overload myself! Haha The second week, it was more organized and Connor handled it much better. I am hoping that with him having more interaction with other children his age that it will help improve all of his skills.

At his first Music & Movement class, not so sure about it!

Blending away!

Wt: 19 lbs 3oz
Length: 29"
Age: 15months/ 12months

15 month well check-up

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! I was off from work so Josh and I decided it was our only opportunity to take Connor to the beach! We took a day trip to Isle of Palms and had a great time. Connor wasn't too sure about the water at first, but after the second attempt of playing in the water he loved it! I hope to be able to take him back to the beach before this summer is over. Not to mention, it is so rare that our little family is all together for an entire day so that made it even more special.

First trip to the beach!

Playing in the water

All smiles- check out all those teeth!!

Traveling with an every 3 hour gtube feeder is quite a challenge but we handled it quite well! Needless to say, I spent a lot of time in the back seat feeding Connor while Josh drove! We officially started his blenderized diet on June 30th and dropped all Elecare completely! He had a lot of blood work drawn the day before checking vitamin levels so he would have a baseline to compare to a month after the new diet.

With this diet, a special industrial blender is very helpful so that it purees the foods well enough so that it doesn't clog his gtube. These blenders range in price, basically $400 plus. We were very fortunate to have one donated to us after an email I had sent sharing Connor's struggles with formula, oral aversion, and health issues. We are very grateful that this company wants to try to help our little guy!

So we mix up all kinds of goodies into the blender and use that for his feeds. He gets chicken, oatmeal cereal, rice milk, avocados, green beans, pears, blueberries, squash, and olive oil. This makes a little over 1000 calories/ day but he doesn't receive all of it yet. Right now he has worked up to 5 oz ( amazing because he would be vomiting a ton with anymore than 4.5 oz of formula) and gets around 900 calories/day. This is about 100 calories more than he got on formula, not to mention he vomited about 3 times a day so he was actually getting less than 800 calories. His vomiting has decreased, he actually went 48 hours without any vomiting- AMAZING!!! Unfortunately I got too excited and he decided to break that record, it seems he averages about once a day lately. We change the fruits and veggies daily so he gets a wide variety, that may be the reason for the vomiting. It feels amazing to know he is getting nutritious foods instead of straight manufactured formula.He is also getting foods that babies his age eat, if he were to eat by mouth. The blend is so thick that it can't go on his kangaroo pump so we have to manually push his food in, about 1 oz every 5 minutes. This is why it is a challenge when traveling, but we will eventually master this! His pediatrician wants to do a weight check after 2 weeks of being on the blenderized diet, so we will either go at the end of this week or beginning of next.

Traveling with blenderized diet

I am hoping and praying that his weight increases at a steady pace. Everything I have read about the BD diet says that they all loose weight once they start all food instead of formula and then it seems to sore up! It is a huge adjustment on ones body, I just pray that Connor hasn't lost any weight! Seems we have intrigued alot of people and his doctors with his new diet, I will continue to update on how he tolerates it!

Full time Mommy

Ok, so I realized the other day that I haven't updated the blog in a long time! Please forgive me, my life doesn't hold much down time lately! I am a full time Mommy of a little man who has a busier schedule each week then I do and I also work full time every Friday- Sunday at the hospital. I do have lots of update though! :)

Age: 14.5months/11.5 months
wt:18lbs 8oz

Since the last post, Connor was diagnosed with the delayed gastric emptying. We seem to notice a huge improvement with his vomiting while on the erythromycin and periactin. The pericatin is still being used as an "appetite stimulant" but it also promotes gastric motility, so we have 2 meds working for that issue. Unfortunately he wasn't tolerating the Pediasure Peptide as well as we thought. He continued to have to many horrible poopies, vomiting, and broke out with eczema (new diagnosis)!  So here we are with another formula change, that makes 7 different formulas in his lifetime...entirely too many!! He is back on the elecare (hypoallergenic) like he was when all his feeding issues started just now the big boy version with more calories. He vomits about 2 times per day and is taking small amounts of food per day. When I say small amounts, I mean like a few shivers of chicken or 2 small bites of a gerber puff .Each day is different, Connor is never consistent! We have found A sippy cup that he will suck from, so we can usually get about 1 oz of water in him per day. I have purchased 4 of these cups for the fear they will discontinue them and I will never find them again!!! :)

A new meaning to fast food on the go!

Tasting a yummy french fry!



Due to some sensory issues, Connor likes to stand on his tippy toes.
Now we play in a bucket of rice and in the grass, tippy toes are improving more and more!

I have been doing some research and decided we will try a blenderized diet. Basically this is real foods: chicken,turkey, fresh veggies, fruits, oils, etc...all the healthy stuff blended up so that is can go through his feeding tube. I have read amazing things once this diet was started, so I am hopeful and willing to try anything at this point! Of course I have received the okay from his GI doctor and I have a dietitian coming up with a recipe for us to make sure he gets the adequate amount of calories and water per day. This diet has been proven to reduce reflux and provide more fresh nutrients. Also, since he can burp and vomit now, it will make things taste a little different in hopes of increasing his interest in food. Can't wait to see how he tolerates "real food".

First blenderized meal, chicken and bananas!

He continues to get feeding therapy once a week outpatient with small improvement. Marcus is willing to do an evaluation on him but our insurance denies the coverage and he no longer has medicaid. We just don't have $800 to throw out just to be evaluated, and that doesn't include the treatment (however long that may last). We are in the processing period to find out if he qualifies for tefra (disability medicaid), that can take up to 90 days! Argh!

We now have a busy body! He is constantly crawling or cruising into all kinds of mischief! He definitely can't get out of your eyesight now!! I will  be sure to update a lot sooner next time!!

First trip to the Zoo!

Connor's Crew in the March for Babies walk-
We raised over $1500!!

First time in the swimming pool

Delayed Gastric Emptying

Age: 13 months (tomorrow)/10 months adjusted
Wt: 17lbs 12oz
Length: 28.5"

Since the last post, we have started to do some testing on trying to figure out why Connor is vomiting again. Yesterday he had a gastric emptying study. My oh my what a tedious, long test for a 13 month old! It involved putting 4oz of his formula with a radioactive tracer through his g-tube. Every 15 minutes for a total of 2 hours, films were taken. This meant that a squirmy baby had to lay still for an entire minute-quite a challenge! After doing this the first 3 times, Connor had enough with the last 3! He vomited, which I expected since the 4 oz was pushed directly into his belly quickly (instead of on a pump over 30 minutes). I didn't think this test would give us any answers, but we are starting to get somewhere! The results showed evidence of delayed emptying, which means Connor will start taking his Erythromycin three times a day again.

Tired of his 2 hour long test

Checking out his dum-dum sucker, as directed by his feeding therapist

Unfortunately, Connor is loosing weight again. He weighed 4oz less than he did at his last GI appointment, 6 weeks ago. I think with the combination of vomiting, crawling, and the change in formula (causing lots of poopy!) His GI dr seems to think he is developing an intolerance to soy now (He already has a milk intolerance). :( So he is now being switched over to Pediasure Peptide. This is a peptide based formula, instead of milk or soy, and allows for easier digestion. We are trialing this for for 3 days before we can determine if he will need this or a more hypoallergenic formula. He is also switching from Prevacid to Nexium. And we are back to the hospital tomorrow for an Upper GI to evaluate the nissen.

New favorite place to go in our house!

Update on Connor's health

We hope everyone had a very happy Easter! I spent Easter working, taking care of the sick kids while Connor and his daddy spent all day with the family. I figured it was time to update on Connor's health status since the last 2 post haven't included any of that.

age: 12 months/ 9 months

wt: 18lbs 4oz

ht: 27"

I hate to report this, but....Connor has started vomiting again :( It started around 3 weeks ago. I am guessing with all of the gagging (which happens all the time), that his nissen has started to stretch. It is really disappointing because I was hoping for his nissen to last longer than 2 months!! It isn't the huge amount that he did before surgery, but it is definitely more than wanted. So we have tried a few things with his feeds like decreasing his volume and slowing down his feed rate on the feeding pump, nothing seems to really make a difference. Once again, Connor doesn't have a consistent pattern to figure out what is triggering the vomiting. He goes to see his GI doctor at the end of this month, so we will see what our next plan is.

As far as the feeding clinic, Marcus in Atlanta goes...well our insurance refused to cover treatment there. :( I believe I have cried all my tears on this subject and have decided to go the route insurance wants us to at this time. I was going to appeal, but you have to receive the service's first and then appeal. I am not comfortable knowing that we may have to pay everything, 100% out of pocket.Not to mention, I don't even want to think how much this specialized clinic would cost! I have spoken with Marcus and of course they accept Medicaid but Connor's secondary insurance (Medicaid) expires at the end of April. Therefore, timing is rather poor and not likely that he would get approved and have all his treatment complete before that expires. He qualified for the first year of his life due to his birth weight, thankfully. Now, I am in the looooong process of applying for Tefra (basically a type of Medicaid for a disabled child that doesn't meet the financial requirement for basic Medicaid). If he gets approved, then we will start the application process again at Marcus. So for now, Connor is getting therapy at my hospital's outpatient rehab facility every week, along with speech twice weekly at home.

The feeding therapist is very nice and has taken multiple classes at Marcus Center, so I am hoping she is our "Marcus Angel in Columbia". We have an entire different approach with feeding right now, and Connor isn't digging it. Who am I kidding, he doesn't dig anything that involves food! Only time will tell if this works, so I will keep you updated. From his last evaluation, it looks like this is going to be a long road to get to his full potential of eating by mouth.

March for Babies

This time last year, we were in the NICU and were surrounded by all things March of Dimes. I remember the secretary in the NICU asking us if we were going to do the March for Babies walk as we signed in to see our miracle. Of course we weren't going to last year, we had enough on our plate hoping and praying for Connor's health. But I vowed that as long as Connor was doing well, we would help support the March of Dimes and do the walk in Connor's honor!

*20 days old*

So here we are, a year later and we now have a team, "Connor's Crew" for the March for Babies. The walk is on April 28th and is 6 miles long! I think, 6 miles?! and then I think, of course we can do 6 miles after everything Connor has been through...this is nothing!

The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. With the money we are able to raise equals more hope for each baby and family.

So we are doing 2 things to help raise money for the March of Dimes.
We have a team webpage :
Please help us reach our goal of $705, that's $1 per gram Connor weighed at birth!! It also prints your tax deductible reciept after you have donated. http://www.marchforbabies.org/s_team_page.asp?seid=1830313

Connor also is in the Angels & Sweethearts Calendar contest by Cynthia Pace. She does a calendar every year and donates all the money raised to the March of Dimes. So he needs your vote, please! The voting is the entire month of April. Each vote is $1, you may vote as many times as you would like and however much you would like. Like I said, each vote goes directly to March of Dimes and prints your tax deductible receipt afterwards!
http://www.cynthiapacephotography.com/vote/
Connor is Angel #7, in case you couldn't find that adorable face! :)

Everyone always asks us if they can help us in any way. I always turn everyone's offers away, but this is one thing you can do to help! :) Every family and baby that has ever been affected by prematurity or any other birth defects can benefit from your donation. I want to thank you in advance! :)

1 year old!!!

So, I have cried all my tears :) Connor is officially one year old and thinks he is a grown boy! The day after his birthday he started crawling and pulling up to stand!! Yippee for Connor, OH NO for Mommy & Daddy!!

Of course I did a Sock Monkey themed birthday party!

The diaper cover and party hat that I made

The favors: "Thanks for monkeying around with me!"

Hard to see in this photo, but this was his "clothes line". His sign that was on his isolette, his smallest blood pressure cuff, xsm preemie diaper that had to be folded over to fit, his bili-shades, first pair of socks, and his first 2 onesies he got to wear.

Unfortunately, he didn't eat any cake. He did taste his hands a few times, hopefully next year he will chow down on his cake!

Checking out some of his birthday gifts

All the babies playing

It is so hard to believe that first year is over! It has been the most trying, emotional, and rewarding year of our life. We pray for each year to become easier and easier for Connor and his health. Once again, we want to thank everyone that has been so supportive during this past year. Connor is one lucky little boy to have so many people caring and praying for him.

Birthday Around the Corner!

Well, it's been a while since I have last updated! The month of March has been super busy and is flying by entirely too fast!!

We are gearing up for Connor's first birthday party, it will be rather small... mainly family with a few friends this year. Next year, we can hopefully do a big shin-dig. I am hopeful that we can live a normal life, not isolated away from people this summer. :)

I have been reliving our life almost a year ago. I remember the bed rest for 3 days with the constant fear of my baby not surviving being born at 28 weeks. I remember the first cry I heard as soon as he was born and then rushed to the NICU. I remember it killing me not being able to meet Connor until Saturday night when he was born Friday morning. I remember all the emotions of seeing my sweet man at 1lb 8oz for the very first time. I remember the absolute exhaustion of going back and forth to the NICU twice daily. I remember the amazing day that Connor was able to come home with us 3 months later. I remember the amazing support and prayers from all of our family and friends, even people we had never met. I remember everything, as if it were yesterday.

I thank God everyday for this amazing miracle that he has blessed us with. The journey to get pregnant and Connor's first year of life has been rough but completely worth it, and I would do it all again for our little man! I would like to share a few photos from his first few days of life and from his birthday shoot last week.

2 days old- The first time I got to hold his hand. If you look closely, Josh's wedding band is on his arm.

3 days old, resting on his side

7 days old- the first time ever being held. We placed Connor on my chest (kangaroo care) for body heat & to hear my heartbeat

A YEAR LATER: God surely does some amazing things!

Life is good

And here we are, March 1st!
I can't believe how fast this year has been flying, 24 more days and little Connor will be a year old! I don't even want to think about that quite yet, happy but sad at the same time.

Connor's eating habits are SLOWLY starting to improve. While we are still waiting to hear back from our insurance company on going to Marcus, we continue to work on this issue. After discovering last Thursday that Connor had bilateral ear infections (ouch!), he seems to be a little more eager in the eating department. He still refuses any and ALL formula. His new found love is water from a water bottle, he loves to squeeze it. This seems to usually result in a bath from the bottle, he will swallow a little. I have started making homemade baby food, I mean have you tried some of that jarred stuff?! This way I can make it any consistency and it tastes & smells 100% better. I am able to get food in his mouth, not eagerly, and he typically swallows it. I do wonder if I will ever have that "baby bird" that just opens wide! Hopefully things will continue to get better. My prayer is that we can work through this without requiring any extra therapies...only time will tell :)

Today has been such a beautiful day! Connor had a photo shoot with Cynthia Pace. Every year she does a Angels & Sweethearts Calendar, that goes to the March of Dimes. So, Connor is going to be in the contest and had his pics taken today for the contest. In April, she will post all the "angels" on her blog and there will be a voting session to see who will be in the calendar. I would love to see him in the calendar, but most importantly I love everything this photographer does for March of Dimes. She was simply amazing with Connor, I have not seen him cackle that hard in a long time! I will post the link for the voting once it is available, I am hopeful that we can get several votes :)

WENT FOR A WALK ON THIS BEAUTIFUL, 80 DEGREE DAY!

Connor has recently discovered that he can start to move about all by himself! OH NO! Our house is far from baby proofed yet!! He hasn't quite mastered down the crawl, but he is scooting backwards while on all 4's. He still refuses to roll from his back to tummy, but he has managed to wiggle himself around the floor. I believe within a couple more weeks, we will have a wild man all over our house!!

I PLACED C IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS BLANKET, LEFT THE ROOM FOR A QUICK MINUTE & WHEN I CAME BACK THIS IS WHERE I FOUND HIM!

WIGGLED HIS WAY UNDER THE COFFEE TABLE

Packing on the weight!

Wt: 16lbs!!!

A week after the Nissen, Connor had his bi-weekly weight check at his pediatrician. So last Thursday, he weighed 15lbs 9oz! He was last weighed a week before the nissen and he was 14lbs 9oz, so that's a great gain!! Yesterday at his surgeon's follow up appointment, he weighed 16 pounds! FINALLY, we are out of the 14's...it only took forever! The weight gain makes Josh and I believe me made the right decision to have the nissen done.



As far as eating by mouth, that continues to be a huge struggle. I believe I am keeping all of the sippy cup companies in business. We have so many bottles and sippy cups in our house, it's crazy! The only way we can get a spoon in his mouth is if we "sneak attack" when he is smiling or babbling. Sometimes he will swallow it, other times he will spit it right out. The sippy cup has become more of a teething toy, if formula comes out in his mouth he typically spits it out as well. It is the most frustrating thing because I know he is capable of doing it but he refuses to.

Chewing on a teething biscuit

Now that he has been cleared from his surgeon, we are in the process of getting everything lined up for the evaluation in Atlanta at Marcus Center. I spoke with his pediatrician's office today and they are sending a letter to the insurance company to see if this will be authorized. We held off on this process because we wanted him to be healed & ready to go if the approval was given. We are praying to hear good news from the insurance company.

Playing after a bath

Quick visit with Kennedy-NICU friend