We've Been Doing...

A little bit of this:

And a little bit of that:
A little bit of this:
And a lot of this:

And that:

My camera battery has been dead for a couple of weeks and I forgot to get another one when I was at Walmart (of course, no where in Henderson sells a battery for my camera, and I go to Walmart every 2 weeks). Ethan's face looks 1,000 times better! You can still see where the knot was and his eyes are finally more yellow than black. We can actually go back out into public without being stopped by everyone wanting to know, "What happened?!"

Ethan's specialist appointment was Thursday. I was a little nervous about showing the nutritionist his 3-day food log (I have to take this every visit, so they know the amount of calories/protein, etc. to compare to his lab work) but Dr. Walker said it looks like that of a typical 2-year old. 2 year old!!!!!!!!!?????????? I can NOT believe he will turn 2 Friday!!!! I will continue, before this post turns depressing...

Dr. Ward talked to us more about doing enzyme testing on Ethan. She has found a laboratory in San Diego, CA that will run the tests for us. This will determine exactly what foods Ethan can and cannot eat, without us having to monitor his blood levels every few months. This will also tell us if it is okay for the doctors to lift the last food restriction that Ethan has: meat. All we have to do is go to the lab at Jackson General Hospital and they will take 7-10 mL of blood from Ethan. They will also have to have a "control" to compare the enzyme-activity too. They prefer it to not be someone 'blood-related' to Ethan. That is where Nanna comes in. As bad as she hates blood, she was more-than-willing to go with us and get labs run, as well! Dr. Ward and Dr. Walker are working on the date for us to have this done, and then it will be 3-4 weeks before we will know what the results are. I will keep everyone updated!

It has rained here all week and we FINALLY had sunshine this afternoon. Noah, Ethan and Max were glad to get out in the yard to play for a couple of hours! Also, Noah and I went to the library this morning and had a great time! 11 books and 2 movies later, we were ready to go! Did you know that they will let you check out cake pans and other cool stuff like that?

I guess that is all for now! Hope everyone is having a great fall!

Finally

We have had a challenging time getting Ethan used to regular foods. Everything we would try Ethan would just spit and laugh. I even bought a food processor for the vegetables so he would eat them and that still did not work. However, over the past couple of weeks, Ethan has finally started eating regular food. He loves crackers, bread, cereal, vegetable soup, pasta and sauce and tonight-french fries! We are so thankful!

I Am Most Thankful For...

What are you thankful for? That is the question I have been asking Noah for the past several days-building up to Thanksgiving. Tonight, I have really been thinking about what all I am thankful for. I am posting several pictures of what we have been blessed with and am thankful for this past year. Our healthy children: one year ago, we did not know that Ethan's disorder would turn out to be "the mildest disorder" and "one that 'the team' is discussing whether or not any special diet should be considered." I am so thankful to being at home with my children more. I will be working one less day a week after the first of the year and am thankful for that. I am thankful for the birthdays, weddings, births of the twins, all of the good times that we have shared this year. I am thankful for what I know will be memories and good times in the years to come. But most of all, after bedtime prayers were said tonight, we asked Noah to tell us what he is most thankful for. His response was "God, Jesus, Mommy, Daddy, Ethan, Poppa, Nanna, Granny and Santa." In that order. And for that, I am truly thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is what Noah is thankful for:

I am thankful for our health this year; for excellent reports from Ethan's specialist, for my family and all of our friends. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Way We Roll

I can remember looking forward to the week end so Timmy and I could go on a nice date...the movies...some fun party...stay out really late and sleep in every Saturday morning. Now, our Friday nights consist of a slightly different experience. For example, tonight: pizza, playing with the family, boys to bed, movie night for mommy and daddy...

...just the way we like it!

One Year Specialist News for Ethan

Today Ethan had 2 scheduled dr. appointments. The first was at 10:30 with his specialist from LeBonheur and the 2nd was with his pediatrician at 1:10 for his one-year check-up and flu shot. Timmy has been off work so much this month with his kidney stone that he did not go today. The next best thing??? The Nanna. Poppa/The Judge is out-of-town this week, so Nanna came from KY to go with us to both appointments. It is a good thing...we waited for over 3 hours for our 20 minute appointment with the specialist and nutitionist. I had to change his pediatrician appt. to Friday, as we did not leave until 2:10! But, all that waiting paid off with some GREAT news! Ethan's blood work has been normal at each check up. So, we were told after his last appt. that we no longer had to measure his regular food. As long as he did not drink milk, and eat meat and eggs, he could eat as much as he wants. Well, depending on his labwork from today, our nutritionist told us that we might be possibly taking him completely off his medical formula and after more tests, depending on the severity of his organic disorder, they may completely lift his food restriction/diet, as well! That is an answered prayer! We just prayed that he would be healthy and we would be easily adjusted to his diet and food measurements...I never thought they would completely lift his food restriction! So, please pray that everything continues to go well for Ethan! We have been so blessed with both of our boys and continue to be prayerful that they both lead healthy lives.