The clean plate club

At the advice of our Occupational Therapist, Connor's been trying all kinds of new tastes and food combinations. He's still not eating solid foods, but at least he's having fun experimenting.

Tonight's delicacy...watermelon, ground beef and ranch dressing – of course, the ranch dressing won out over all other.

Apparently tonight was eat without hands night. That's right Connor - that IS how a piggy eats.





Oh sure! You won't touch real food, but you'll gnaw on a plastic placemat. Seriously, I give up...

Giddy-Up!

I can only imagine that Morgan dreams about doggie heaven where she can lay in the sun with her feet up in the air while someone feeds her bonbons one by one. Sadly, she's forced to wake up to this instead.



Mom! Can you please put more batteries in my pony. I think its broken.





Notice the one arm resting on Mogran while the other holds the remote. Such a guy...

Pickles and Ice Cream

Many people have asked me if I've had any strange cravings lately. I guess many pregnant women crave really bizzare things like snickers and pork rinds. Not me, my standard response is something along the lines of "YES - I CRAVE SUGAR – why do you ask? Do I smell a candy bar in your pocket?!?!".

With Connor I craved spicy food - the spicier the better. I even had a Thai waitress practically force me to sign a waiver when I said "extra spicy...go ahead lady give me your best shot". I think she assumed that my pansy American taste buds wouldn't hold up to Thai spices..."Stupid American". Either that or she thought that I would go into labor before I could pay my bill. Regardless, I earned my pseudo- Thai citizenship that day…well maybe not, but I like to think that I gained the respect of Thai nationals everywhere.

Ok…I’ve gotten off track. So Connor’s Occupational Therapist left us with some homework. She told us that for the next month, she wants Connor to play with his food (the messier the better) and to try everything in every combination - regardless of how it might taste to us. Ok, so here are some pictures from our little experiment…what is he eating you may wonder? Yup – pickles and cool whip (yuck), but strangely enough he loved it!

Reflecting on the past

Yesterday was bitter sweet for Ross and I both. It was the anniversary of the day that we admitted Connor into the hospital for a feeding tube (at our doctor's advice). Luckily, Connor is doing fantastic today so while we all took a minute recognize how far we've come; we also reflected on the pain that we had to endure only one short year ago.

To be honest August 29th - September 2nd, 2008 was (and always will) mark one of the most painful experiences of my life. I can't even begin to describe how it feels to allow your 5 month old baby to be hooked up to a feeding tube or subjected to a variety of needle pricks, xray's and other tests - none of which provided any answers as to why he couldn't/wouldn't gain weight.

My heart broke every time a doctor or nurse came in to perform a test on him. Connor was scared and uncomfortable. He didn't understand what was happening to him or why he was in this strange place. As a parent you're pre-programmed to protect your child and shield them from pain. Instead Ross and I were forced to sit by and watch as one stranger or another inflicted pain on our sweet angel. And for the entire 5 days that we lived in this hell, we would have done ANYTHING to trade places with him.

Nothing was worse than on the third day, when our doctor made his rounds and my mom asked him, after reviewing all of the test results what he thought the problem was. He looked us straight in the eye and said these EXACT words, "In my professional opinion, I think your son has Cystic Fibrosis." I'll never forget the feeling - it was as though someone had stolen the air from in my lungs. Our entire world - our whole life was hanging on one doctor "opinion" and we would have to wait another two days for the official CF test to be performed (due to Labor Day weekend)

They performed the CF test on Connor on September 2nd (which is also Ross and my mom's birthday). The results would take three hours - the longest three hours of my life. I couldn't sleep or eat, I didn't want to talk to anyone or watch TV. I think we all just took turns cuddling with Connor in complete silence.

Luckily the results were negative!!! We went on to perform genetics tests on all three of us - those results were also negative!! We were discharged that day and Ross and I took our little angel home. After that Connor slowly began to eat more and gain weight. Within just a few short months we were able to get him back on the growth chart (from -15% to +5%) and climbing. Now he's sitting at the 15th percentile and quickly approaching the 25th. Strangely, Connor was never diagnosed with anything. To this day we don't know why he wasn't gaining weight. All I know is that he's doing great now and I hope that we never have to live through an experience like that again.

Splish...Splash...

The conversation went something like this, Me - "Do you know where Connor is?" Ross - I don't know, I think he's in the kitchen, why? Me - "Uhmmm, What's that noise?" OMG! CONNOR - NOOO!!!!





By the way, check out his flashy PJ's. :)

Dilemma

There's a big fury obstacle standing between Connor and a toilet that's just begging to be flushed...what to do...what to do...











Notice that Morgan didn't even lift her head for this. She's a fantastic dog, but sometimes we have to check her pulse to made sure she's still with us.

Four out of five dentists recommend it

So I had a decision to make...do I take a few pictures first OR take the bone away as quickly as possible? I struggled with it for 1/2 a second and then ran for the camera. A few germs won't hurt him too much. Luckily it was a new bone...