Flashback: October photos

Talk about flashbacks: this photo of James is from today...one of the new cabinets he's discovered houses Keith's Diet Coke stash.

Apparently the fascination runs in the family, because here's Maddie in November 2007...

{Big Cheek grins run in the family...favorite photo of Maddie from Thanksgiving 2007}

And speaking of getting into cabinets, he's getting into ALL of them now! Oh, such treasures to behold! Mommy just loves this game. {Why not just get cabinet locks, you ask? All the normal ones that you have to screw in...they split the wood on our cabinet doors, so they're out of the running. I'm now looking for either adhesive ones or special magnetized ones! Anyone have a brand they like?}

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Lately Maddie's favorite thing to do is play on our king size bed. Within an hour of me making it in the morning, it's a mess. It becomes a pillow fort, she "rests" under piles of covers, she brings a stash of Polly Pocket dolls or bouncy balls or whatever else and hides them in all the nookes and crannies. Or she sneaks under the covers and watches Disney movies on the iPod Touch. She and James both love to wrestle and be tickled and be silly. {I finally captured some cute pictures of her! She's been in a stinker mood when it comes to photo-ops lately.}

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Getting back to October, we had our friends the Newells over for a playdate and pumpkin painting. We've been going to The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island for the past few years together, but the weather was cruddy on the day we'd planned, so this was Plan B.

{it's always more fun when you can get your own snacks from the fridge!}

The kids always have a great time playing together and its' fun to see all the new things they're able to do independently. James and Henry had the same due date, but as you can see, Henry has a bit of a leg up on James in the growth department! :-)

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Most of the time Maddie just wants to do her own thing when she's playing, but sometimes she'll invite James to join in on whatever she's doing. Seeing them play together just warms my heart, especially since James lights up whenever he's around his big sister.

{this is his "old-man-who-forgot-his-dentures" look...handsome, eh?}
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A highlight of October was watching Maddie hit a milestone--riding a bike! Her bike had been out at Nana and Papa's house for a long time, so she hardly ever practiced, even though we'd had the bike for probably a year. She'd tried when she was younger, but couldn't get the hang of peddling and would always high-center in the middle of her peddling stroke. So Nana and Papa brought the bike back home for her and, on a whim, she jumped on and tried it again--perfectly! She was able to peddle and look up and steer all at the same time! She was so thrilled. When the weather was nice, I swear we went on 3 bike rides a day. Too bad we'll have to wait until Spring now. It was the perfect activity to get out some of her pent-up energy.

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Our next step with James will be a Feeding Clinic at Emanuel Hospital with a speech therapist an a nutritionist, probably sometime in December. He was doing okay with baby food purees, but then he got a cold for about 10 days and refused all solids and even some of his bottles. Since then his interest in food has gone downhill and I'm worried he's developing aversions to food. His doc said it's common for kids who have had a very delayed introduction to solids to develop a strong gag reflex and food aversions. James used to eat 1-2 Tbsp. of food a couple times a day, but now if you even touch it to his tongue he starts gagging or actually throws up. I'm worried that food is going to be a long, uphill battle with him. Please pray that he'd be able to get back on track and re-learn to tolerate textures and tastes. The one food he does still like is green apples, especially when they're shared with Daddy.


On a HUGELY GREAT note, James' doctor said that if his labs continue to look good and if he keeps similar pace with his TPN and formula rates, he could be completely off his TPN IV's within 6 months to a year! That would be AMAZING progress! We'll keep praying for that, as it would be a big benefit to his whole system, especially in terms of minimizing long-term liver damage that's common with TPN.

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I'll wrap up this October flashback post with one of my new favorite recipes. Ever had the pumpkin cream cheese muffins at Starbucks? I wait for them to arrive every year and love every bite. But you know what? These blow them out of the water! They are absolutely delicious! I've been stockpiling canned pumpkin so that I can make them whenever the mood strikes...like how about tomorrow?! Truly, they are heavenly.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins with Streusel from Annie's Eats.
{click here for the recipe...
and check out the rest of her recipes, too--they're all delicious!}