Naughty or Nice?

In case I do not get to post again before Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family, oh and our blog stalkers!

8 inches and Counting

8 inches of snow at the least is what has hit Seattle. As I pack our bags for our trip to Seattle I get an email from my sister and it contains this photo. Its telling, isn't it? I love the snow, just because we don't get it very much here in Arkansas. When I was living in Minneapolis, I cannot say I loved it. I welcomed it for a day and then wished it away because it was just too cold and messy.

It will be nice to have a winter wonderland for Christmas! Christmas is my favorite holiday. It just makes me feel so warm inside, and there is nothing warmer to my insides than a Christmas with snow!

Squashing into the NO Sugar Diet!

An update on Cohen's medical issues...

Well as you can see he is eating some solids. Squash in the above picture. I have been working with a nutritionist to come up with some solid foods that Cohen can eat. Its hard... he cannot have fruits (sad), he cannot do many carbs, nor most veggies. Most of the finger foods out there for babies like teething cookies, etc. contain sugars. He cannot even have Cheerio's. They too have sugars. The kicker for Cohen is that he cannot have sugars (all kinds), fruits, or starchy veggies. He cannot do a lot of supplements like honey, molasses, or maple syrup either. Oh and no Splenda!

So my list of foods he can eat so far is small. There is very little info. out there on this deficiency since only about 1,500 known cases exist. So I may have to start getting creative, start up a CSID (Congenital, Sucrase, Isomaltase, Deficiency) blog and document our story of how we find solutions and alternatives for Cohen.

There is a blog on the March of Dimes (http://www.shareyourstory.org/webx?127@@.eeb08c3) that really makes me feel lucky that we found out about Cohen early. Some of the stories are terrible. There are kids that have different forms of this condition and some kids are worse off than others. Cohen seems to be okay for now but the kids that had been eating sugar for a longer period of time have had some real problems.

Cohen is putting on weight and we go back to see the GI specialist on January 12th so we will have an update then. Until then he is allowed to eat only a few solids so he is mainly on his formula. Oh, and his runny poop is now solid! I never thought I would be so excited about shit!

Bruiser!

Cohen thinks that just because he has packed on almost an entire pound since coming home from the hospital that he is a big boy all of a sudden. That is right Cohen left the hospital a week ago last Wednesday weighing 14 lbs 14 oz and as of this past Thursday Cohen weighed in at an astonishing 15 lbs 12 oz. I couldn't believe it since he had been putting on a little under a pound a month for a while now. One week, one whole pound! I think he is making up for lost ground. Now he is still in like the 10th percentile or something but seriously he is making a strong attempt to get back to where he should be.

Since the sudden weight gain Cohen thinks he is big and strong now too... pulling himself up on to everything including the mirror in our bedroom and then tumbling into the wall and bumping his head on the crown molding around our bathroom door. He whaled to the point of almost making himself throw-up but after about 15 minutes of that the shock had worn off and he was attempting to pull himself up on the coffee table laughing the entire way. Oh, the fun to come.

The first picture is of his bruise from the fall (just above his left eye)
The others are just because they are cute!

Cohen Meets Santa

First of all look at his cheeks! In less then a week out of the hospital and on the correct formula and diet this kid is filling out. Not to mention he has become super active or shall I say a little crazy. Trying to walk, crawl and pull himself up onto people and things and he doesn't shut up and this was a baby who wouldn't say much a week ago.

Anyway... We took Cohen to see Santa and have his what will be annual picture taken. For those of you who know my family well, know that my mom still has Michaelanne, Tommy, and I go sit with Santa and have our annual picture taken. She has what 32 pictures so far. How old are you anyway Michaelanne? This will be a tradition that I will continue, so sorry Cohen. YES, you will have to go sit with Santa for your picture at 28 years old too. Just like Mom has to do this year.

So we braved the 16 degree temperature. I thought I lived in the south for the warm weather???? And Cohen sat with Santa and smiled on que like he does for all the pictures I take. He didn't cry or fuss. He just sat there checking out Santa's real beard, and glasses probably thinking why the hell is this guy dressed like that.

I love how Cohen's arm is just resting on Santa's belly. I love Christmas!

Why We Have Been MIA

So we have been MIA for about a week now... We traveled down to Little Rock on Monday, the 8th for an appointment with a pediatric GI specialist and during our visit the doctor decided she wanted to admit Cohen to Arkansas Children's Hospital for what turned out to be an 18 hour fast to figure out what has been causing all of Cohen's diaherra! There is no nice way to describe his poop but that. Basically, Cohen has never had a real poop, just water stools. Yuck... The GI doctor decided to do the fasting because Cohen is weighing in under 15 pounds and is 7 months old so they consider this a failure to thrive and this is of concern and the cause of his failure to put on weight is his cronic pooping. After two days in the hospital and lots of test they determined that Cohen has a very unique protein difficieny called Sucrase Isomaltase Dificiency. Basically he was born without the enzyme to be able to digest table sugar and sucrose which we all know is in everything.


It will be challenging but he will probably be heathier than most kids because of this. For me it is sad to think that he cannot have the guilty pleasures in life like birthday cake, Halloween candy, Christmas cookies or ice cream on a hot summer day. I am sure as I do research and meet with nutrionists we will all learn how to get around some things but Jeremy and I have both decided that we will alter our life style too to make sure he is not the only one going without the guilty pleasures and some of just the regular day-to-day foods that we all consume.


The important thing is that he is putting on weight, and he is happy and healthy. We are happy to be home!

Overall Cute!

Look at him in his big guy overalls! I just want to kiss him when he is wearing them. Not sure if you can picture this cause he looks so big holding onto his toy box solo but this baby is not quite seven months old and might weigh 14lbs 8oz and that is with a soggy diaper! He looks so cute doing big things because he is so little. 

Snow Cute!

This morning we woke up to snow. So I bundled Cohen up for a few quick shots in the snow. You know, first snow, crazy mom with a camera! Needless to say he wasn't a huge fan. He started out okay but one touch of that cold white stuff and he lost it. He might be more like me than he looks... cold natured, loves warm weather and would rather be naked than clothed. I think I just revealed entirely too much! We are grabbing our flip flops as we speak and heading for Mexico! Don't come looking for us. We will blog to let you know we are okay. Burrrrr!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Above: Cohen (Just shy of 7 months)

Above: Gunnar, Jill, and Cohen

Above: Gunnar (8 months), Cohen (6 months and 3 weeks)

Above: Alicia, Jeremy and Cohen on the ATV

What a long week! We arrived home last night from quite a week in Little Rock. It started out with Cohen's visit to Children's Hospital, and then it was onto three total Thanksgiving dinners. First we went to Jill's dad's for an early turkey day meal, then we went to Justin's parents house for dinner. Justin's family has over 100 acres just outside Little Rock so we took Cohen on his very first ATV ride to check out the land. Call it redneck but it is so fun. Justin's family is so neat and the feast... to die for. They even had Sushi (Justin's mom is Japanese) which I went back for three separate times. On Friday we went to Jill's mom's for another dinner. There Cohen hung out with Gunnar, Jill's nephew. He wasn't so sure of him at first, since he is always around adults but he warmed up quickly. We are now looking into parent's day out to give Cohen some same age interaction and me a break. We made it home yesterday and did laundry all night and this morning we woke up to a little treat... SNOW!

He Is In The Clear

Thanksgiving and thank goodness. Cohen had his Cystic Fibrosis test in ittle Rock yesterday at Children's Hospital and the results came back normal so he is in the clear! We drove down to Little Rock on Tuesday night, Cohen had his sweat test yesterday and today we are spending the holiday with Jill and her family. I will post more photos later but the above are from the sweat test where they make his arms sweat and collect data from the sweat to test for cystic Fibrosis. He was happy the entire time. What great little guy!

My Favorite!

Okay, I think this might just be my favorite from the day! It screams greeting card, but I love it!

Soon To Be Mrs. Fiser!

One of my very best friends came into town this weekend for a visit with her new fiance', Mr. Justin Fiser. They are getting married in March and I cannot wait so I decided to let them, let me take some engagement photos. Have I mentioned they are beautiful people? Not only on the inside but out. Below are a few of my favorite photos from the day. I am sure I will post more as I edit. They made it hard for me to just pick a few to share!

Photo Of The Weekend

This picture was taken this afternoon while Cohen sat in his bumbo and enjoyed some apple sauce. 

She Needs Face Time!

Koda is my first born, my first love and my tried and true best friend! Today she followed me around the house as I did laundry, cooked lunch, swept the floors and took care of Cohen. This is something that she has not done since before Cohen was born in May. I have missed her but have not even noticed that I missed her because Cohen has stepped right in and swept me off my feet. But as I noticed her following me around today I got a little emotional thinking to myself "Yeah! She still loves me but not as much as I love her!"

I know she loves me cause she lets Cohen tug her ears and despite the discomfort he causes her she will still give him a few sloppy kisses when he through! She may be an old bag of bones of shedding hair and drool but she is the best because she so darn sweet!

Apple of My Eye!

I took this photo this morning while Cohen was playing with his toys. He is sitting up so big and unassisted. I know it won't be long until he is crawling and then walking!

Health Update...

 

We heard back on one of the test results for Cohen... He does not have Celiac Disease. I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. I know that gluten is something we should all try to limit but it is so hard and expensive to follow a totally gluten free diet. His thyroid did test a little high which is weird because high really means that your thyroid is under active and people with an under active thyroid are usually a bit heavier so we are going to possibly retest that again at a later date. However the high thyroid levels right now are not anything of major concern. We are still waiting for the results to the food allergens and if that comes back negative they want to test for Cystic Fibrosis. Uggg... more waiting and worrying of course. 

Just Too Many Good Ones!

So here are just a few more photos from Cohen's six month photo shoot. There are some photo shoots were I have a hard time choosing just a couple of my favorites and this was one of them. This kid gives me so many different expressions in a matter of minutes. I just love it! Here are just a few of his many faces. Enjoy and remember to vote for Cohen! 

http://www.thecutekid.com/ckgalery/votemypic/email/10836

Vote For Cohen!

I know you just had to vote for president but please take just a few seconds to vote for Cohen. I entered him into a photo contest and he needs your vote. Just click on the link below and vote. You can vote once a day so I expect you all to do so. And tell your friends to vote too. 

ROCK THE VOTE!

http://www.thecutekid.com/ckgallery/votemypic/email/10836

Tiny 6th Month Old

Can you believe it? Cohen turned 6 months on the 6th. Today we had his 6th month check up and shots. He hated the shots. Screamed bloody murder. He is a tiny little peanut weighing in at 14 lbs 3 oz... yep, that would be the 5th percentile. He is 26.5 inches long (50%). The doctor is a little concerned about his weight gain or lack there of and his pooping. ( He still poops a ton and eats more than your average kiddo) So, the doctor drew some blood to test for various food allergies, and for Celiac disease. Cross your fingers and hope both come back negative. We are going to get to the bottom of what causes all the pooping and the lack of weight gain.

In the mean time here are some pics of his 6th month photo shoot. These are just a few. More to come shortly I am sure. 

Happy Birthday Grammy Kate!

Today is Jeremy's mom's birthday. What perfect timing we have with being in Seattle... Cohen will get to see his great Grammy Kate on her birthday. Happy birthday Grammy Kate. We love you!

Who Needs The Real Thing!

Who needs a real pumpkin patch? Not my kid! Today Grandma and I took Cohen to the local QFC after work, dressed him in his Halloween costume and plopped him down onto all their pumpkins that were for sale. So the lesson to everyone here is... Save money on the gas that it will take you to drive out to the pumpkin patch and the money they ding you for just to visit the patch and visit your local grocery for a pumpkin photo shoot. Your 5.5 month old will never know the difference. Plus he drew a great crowd and made a bunch of older ladies day! Really I am just cheap and lazy but seriously, save the money, visit your local grocer!