One year pictures

We tried numerous times to get some pictures to remember this little boy's first birthday. He was a stinker! He would smile and laugh until the camera was brought out. ;) Due to the talent of the photographer, she was still able to get some great pictures. Thank you, Sarah! Here is one of my favorites.

 

Upper GI scheduled

We went to Sioux Falls a few weeks ago to see a GI doctor in regards to Kobe's liver enzymes. The doctor wasn't concerned with the numbers. When we talked to him about Kobe's hard stools, he decided to do an x-ray. They saw his diaphragm was high and wanted to schedule an Upper GI. We weren't really sure if this was necessary. We kind of felt we were testing him to find nothing was wrong. We weren't really concerned about things b/c he didn't have any symptoms. So the nurse called to see about scheduling the Upper GI. I told her we had decided not to do it. After talking to the doctor, she called back. The doctor said it really needed to be done. The doctor even got on the phone and talked to Jason. Okay...apparently we should do this. ???  They are concerned about some sort of hernia. Who knows?!! On Monday, he is scheduled for an Upper GI at 10:30 with an appointment with the doctor to follow. I'm dreading this so much. He can't have anything to eat for 8 hours before. He can have clear liquids for 4 hours ahead of time. I can't imagine. I do wonder how they will get him to drink the chalky barium. Maybe he will suck it down because he will be starving!  It could be interesting. Needless to say, I'm hoping we don't find anything. It is hard not knowing if he just is going to have some abnormalities or if there really is a problem. I don't need to have an answer. We don't have to test him to death. Yet, we don't want to overlook something. We will see what comes from this. Your prayers Sunday night/Monday night would be appreciated as we prepare for this test. Thanks!

First Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday!!!
It is so hard to believe our little boy is already one. Time always
seems to go fast. It seems faster when we missed the first 7 months of
his life. When Kobe came home at 7 months, he was very delayed
developmentally. Yet within a few weeks of being in a forever family,
he was caught right up to where he should be. So doing everything from
rolling over to sitting up in weeks makes time seem to go so much
faster.

I have many emotions today. As any mom, it is hard to accept your baby
is one. You are happy they are getting bigger, but know how fast time
goes. We never like the thought of losing our "baby". Since it is an
adopted child celebrating his first birthday, there are so many
thoughts and feelings. My heart is heavy thinking of Kobe's birth mom.
How is she doing today? Is her heart aching for the child she gave up?
Or is she content knowing he is so loved and taken care of? If only
she knew what a blessing this little boy has been in our lives. Today
I sit back and think about the last years of our lives. We never
thought we would adopt, but God had other plans. The whole process has
been filled with many ups and downs. Adoption is not an easy road, yet
the rewards are countless!! Kobe brings so much joy to other people's
lives just by flashing one of his contagious smiles. I can't imagine
our lives without him. He truly is the perfect fit into our family. It
is my prayer that his birth mother be comforted and have peace that he
is truly loved. What a hard decision to have to make. She loved him so
much she was willing to do what was best for him. What a selfless act!

Our agency made us aware of the fact that there will be days in our
child's life where they will not be themselves due to a "trama
anniversary." The child may be unconsolable or just out of sorts
around the anniversary of something in their lives. This amazes me
since they are so little when some of these events happen to them.
Research shows that the trama part of your brain has great memory.
Some possible tramatic events could include a hospital stay, date they
left their parents, date brought into the orphanage, etc...Kobe has
been out of sorts the past few days and I'm thinking this could be the
case. We tried to take pictures on Sunday and our little smiling boy
wouldn't smile. The other night things were really bad. He was extremely
crabby.  He is fine at daycare, but that doesn't surprise me. Kids usually act up
more for their families where it is more comfortable.

We had a great night celebrating! Kobe loved his cake. He also loved the simple things such as the balloons. It wasn't fancy by any means, but still very special to us.

Medical update

It sure is nice that I haven't had to have a medical update for a long time. Now I have two of them. First of all, we took Kobe in for allergy testing. We knew he couldn't drink milk, but we weren't sure if it was b/c he had a milk allergy or if he had lactose intolerance. Before dealing with this, I thought the two were the same. ;) Thankfully he doesn't have an allergy which means we are hopeful he will outgrow it. Being intolerant means his body has trouble breaking down the protein that is in milk. He will be drinking almond milk once we decide to switch. I wasn't sure when we should switch from formula to milk. I was waiting to see the cost difference b/c the two. Well..they are almost the exact same price so that doesn't help to make the decision. Almond milk does come in "shelf safe" cartons which is great b/c that means it doesn't have to be cold until it is opened. After much searching, we were able to find the single serve almond milk. We can get it at HyVee and it is almost double the cost of the bigger containers. We will see how this plays out since we don't have access to a HyVee. I just hate the thought of having to tote around a small cooler thing for his milk. Time will tell. We will go back to the allergy doctor in January to see if he can tolerate things cooked with milk. Until then...no milk and milk products. (If you look at labels at all...EVERYTHING has milk in it)

On another note, there has always been concern over Kobe's high liver enzymes. Even after being home for 5 months, they still haven't ever been within normal range. The Infectious Disease doctor is referring us on to a GI doctor. She just wants to make sure she isn't missing anything. We will be getting a call from that office and will make an appointment once we hear from them. This means another trip to Sioux Falls. So it goes. I just hope we get an answer.

Even with all of this going on, Kobe continues to be such a happy little boy that brings joy to every person he comes in contact with. We are so blessed!

A "new normal"

Our "new normal" started this week with the start of the new school year. We were so blessed to have gotten our little man when we did as I was able to have 5-6 weeks with him before the chaos of summer hit. We have been home a little over 4 months. In that time, there has been LOTS of Mommy and baby time. I've been dreading school starting for this reason. When Kobe came home at 7 months old, he wasn't very good at supporting himself. He didn't roll over or sit up, etc.. He was developmentally delayed, but caught up less than a month of being home. While we missed the first 7 months of his life, we still got to see many firsts. What a blessing. However...this has also made time seem to fly even faster. Part of this is why it is hard for me to be away from him all day every day. I miss him so much. The first day he went to daycare all day (for a trial run) Lexi said, "Kobe not being here is killing me." If his 10 year old sister thinks this, imagine how his mommy feels. :) It certainly was a long, hard week of transitioning back into the swing of full time work, full time daycare, and Daddy coaching and being gone a lot. We did survive the first week! :) Hopefully it gets easier from here on out. Kobe loves daycare which makes it easier on me. I know I'm having a harder time with it than he is. The first day he acted kind of strange around all of us when we got home. I can't put it into words, but he acted different. That was the only day we really saw any difference....until today. After 5 days of daycare now we are home. He is really out of sorts. I'm sure it is confusing to him.

He continues to army crawl, but is crawling more and more. (still not all of the time though) He does pull himself up all of the time and is getting pretty good at walking along things. It is crazy how much more stable he is getting on his feet. He can even bend down and pick up a toy and not fall down. Watch out!!!!

I'm posting a picture of the first day of school.

 

4 months home---11 months old

Picture #1--Referral picture at 4 months old.
Picture #2--First day home at 7 months old.
Picture #3--Current at 11 months old.

Lots to update about

When we were on the wait list, the days would just drag on and on. Now that we are home, the days fly by. I don't post as much as I used to b/c there isn't as much to tell. Sunday will be 4 months home. Wow! Yes time does fly.  It is so hard to believe we have been home for 4 months.

Kobe has changed so much over the past 4 months. His newest trick...pulling himself up on everything. Boy are his arms long. ;) He has been army crawling for a long time. He gets on his hands and knees all of the time, but doesn't use that as a mode of transportation. Tonight I saw him crawl as much as he ever has so I believe soon he will be crawling as fast as he was army crawling. Nothing is safe!!!

Soon our little boy will be going to daycare full time. I know he will do much better than his mom will. We have spent lots and lots of time just Mommy and baby. It has to be done, but it will be hard. I have gotten spoiled b/c for 4 months I have been able to stay home with him. He has grown and changed so fast b/c he was delayed when we brought him home and he caught up quickly. I will miss all of the time that I spend with him. I'm sure we will both be happy  to see each other when the day is over.

I finally set up an appointment to have Kobe tested for allergies. I wasn't too concerned before since he was just on formula. Now as he gets closer to being a year, I need some guidance as to what kind of milk we will transition to....coconut, almond, or rice. I'm hoping that we can get some more concrete answers as opposed to trial and error. The 2 times he was given milk based items, he threw up every 10 minutes for the first hour and continued to throw up for about 4 hours.  Do we need to keep him away from the big milk items like milk, yogurt, and ice cream? Or do we need to keep him away from everything that has milk in it? I hope we don't have to do trial and error. I hope that the testing gives us some answers. I will feel better having a professional on our "team" through this.

When we first brought Kobe home, his labs were whacked out. His liver enyzmes were very high. We were sent to an Infectious Disease doctor. He had an ultrasound done on his liver and everything looked good. This ID doctor has been keeping an eye on his labs. He was just re-tested the beginning of August. His liver enyzmes have dropped, but are still higher than she would like them. We need to re-test again the beginning of September. If they haven't dropped enough, she is going to refer us on to an Internal Medicine Doctor. I made the mistake of looking on the internet to see causes of high liver enyzmes. All that did was freak me out. I hope/pray that those levels will be down next blood draw and all will be well. I need to remind myself that God already knows what is going on. He chose this child to be ours. He is truly the perfect fit for our family.

Lots of changes and testing going on in the next few weeks. We certainly would appreciate your prayers. Thanks much!

Here is a picture of Little Mr. Trouble.