Happy Birthday Super Grandpa!

Grandpa's birthday was actually yesterday, but better late than never. I love you!

Family

We are so thankful my Grandma was able to come down and visit. I especially love that the girls were able to have the time to spend with her. Riley never did let my Grandma hold her (well once to get a quick picture then throw up all over:) but she did give her kisses everyday which was special. Avery was hot and cold, but did love spending time reading with her. We are blessed with such a wonderful family.

Miss Ella

Last week I started watching our friends Glenda and Bob's baby. She is so sweet and precious. The girls absolutely love her and look forward to her coming everyday. It takes me at least a half hour to get them to stop kissing and hugging her when she gets here! It really is a great situation all around and we are happy to see her smiling face 5 days a week!

1 ounce

Back to the doctor today and the number on the scale was 17 lbs 13 oz, a weight gain of 1 ounce. Riley is in the 1st percentile. I should be happy for a weight gain, but it really is not enough. Her meds do seem to be doing their job, so we will continue this regimen for another 2 weeks in hopes of a greater weight gain. If we do not see it on the scale, our next step is an endoscopy. I have stopped breastfeeding her, which has seemed to cause an improvement in her so maybe she was allergic to me.

Busy Busy

My grandma is visiting from Oregon and yesterday we ventured down to Pacific Grove to see the butterflies. Unfortunately, it was too cold and they had their wings closed so we really could not see them well. They blended into the trees, but if we looked closely we could see thousands. I imagined them all flying around and having multiple butterfies landing on us. Too bad this was not the case. :(

We did enjoy the beautiful homes and gorgeous ocean scenery. We also had a wonderful lunch at Bubba Gumps.

Yahoo for a new camera

Riley has been on her new meds for a week now and the Reglan seems to be working well. She is still throwing up, but it seems like she is not losing as much food. We see the doctor in 1 week for another weight check.

This is the only place I can sit Riley down to eat. She has developed a hatred for her highchair.

Avery was an amazing helper for Daddy in stacking the firewood.

Update

We took Riley to se the GI doctor again today for a weight check and to discuss her meds. We felt armed with information and questions after consulting with another doctor outside of Kaiser (thank you, Steve!!!). Unfortunately, Riley's weight has dropped further, 17 pounds 12 oz, her exact weight at 6 months old. (she is now 13 1/2 months) After much discussion we are down to a few options. We are starting her on 2 meds today. One is prevacid, an acid blocker which will help protect her esophagus from getting damaged by the stomach acid. The other, Reglan, is a med to help move food through her stomach at a faster rate so that hopefully if she does throw up, the food has already moved through and into the intestines.We are also mixing a calorie supplement into her food. We will try this for 2 weeks then return for another weight check.
At that point if the reglan is not working there is another med we can try for 2 more weeks. After 1 month if things have not improved she will have a scope to biopsy her intestines to check for allergies or other conditions that could not be picked up in a blood test.
These are our last options before a feeding tube would be necessary. Please pray for weight gain. Riley is definitely not getting the calories she needs and it is very noticeable in her daily activites. Please also pray for Jaron and I to be strong advocates for Riley.
Through this I have felt enormous peace that can only come from Jesus. I know He loves this little girl and we will continue to trust in him for her care.

The beginning of walking

Riley has slowly been working toward further independence as she has started to walk. She is very good at cruising and in the last few days has started taking more and more steps on her own. She has done 5-6 at a time, but is still pretty lazy. :) I am ready for this phase of development and ready to use less stain remover on the knees of her pants.

Potpourri

Such a weird word...but I do have a potpourri of information so here we go.
I am miserable. It has been so long since I have been sick, but here I am with a sore throat, achy body, and feeling so tired I have no motivation to do anything. The girls got it on Thursday and are getting better, I think they are over the worst, but I got it on Sunday and I think I am at my worst. It is such a bummer to be sick and also have sick kids. I have no patience and neither do they. Yuck!

Update on Riley - everything seems to be the same. She is still on the pepcid and still throwing up periodically. It takes 4-6 weeks to really see a difference so we are just waiting it out. It is very hard to be patient. Emotionally, I feel great, but it is still hard to watch her feel bad and it is really bad to smell like throw up all the time. It is a good thing we do not pay for water as we have been doing mountain loads of was over the past few months! We go in to see her GI doc on Thursday. We will check her weight and discuss her meds. She has been having diarrhea off and on, but I do not know if it is related or not. Look for another update on Thursday or Friday.

Yesterday in my sickness stupor I knocked the digital camera into Roger's water bowl. Today when I went to take a pic of my "I voted" sticker, I realized it has bit the dust. Great. The only good thing is now we will get to invest in a better camera, but the bad thing is we do have to pay for it. Not sure when that will happen, but I do hate being without one. I am a picture-taker-aholic. :)

A poopy diaper is calling my name so I guess that is it for now.

Halloween Part 2

Avery and her friend, Katie. Katie and Avery play together at least 3 times a week and are great friends. Katie is 5, but Avery is just a bit taller. She is a giant!

Our neighbor kids.

My daredevil husband! He has been wanting to be Evel Knievel for years and this year we finally got the costume together. Yes, I sewed it!! I was up until 2 am the night before Halloween and then back up at 730 am to finish it before he headed off to work. Totally worth it. I am super proud of how it came out.

Avery and her stash. We went over to our church Halloween festival even though both girls were sick. Thankfully they both had naps. They had a great time trick or treating at all the classrooms and playing games.

Happy Halloween!

Aids Walk

Our church canceled services on Sunday so that we could all participate in the Silicon Valley Aids Walk. It was a 5 mile walk along a parkway in downtown San Jose. We had a great time and the kids did fabulous! It was fun to be out in the community and hopefully we reflected a bit of Jesus along the way.

Rib Eater

Pumpkin Patch

Delayed Friday Favorites

Jaron and I were out costume shopping on Thursday and we discovered a yummy favorite. Yogutland is a frozen yogurt shop that has a ton of flavors and toppings and you simply pay by the ounce. Up until now, we have not had a good yogurt place anywhere near us. So I chose my strawberry, raspberry, and pumpkin pie frozen yougurt and added fresh raspberries and gummi bears to the cup as well. The cups are huge so it gave me plenty of room to seperate out my 3 flavors. It is also great because you can get as little or as much as you want. Now mind you this is no Golden Spoon (favorite yogurt shop in So Cal) ...oh how I wish I could have a bowl of Mounds frozen yogurt tight now, but it comes in close second. Jaron and I paid only a little over 3$ for both of our yogurts. A yummy find!

Halloween costumes - I have been searching forever and since I never pay near full price for anything I was having some trouble finding costumes. I finally found Riley's at the Goodwill. She is going to be a bumble bee. It is super cute and looks like it has never been worn. I paid $3.50 for it.
Avery really wants to be Snow White. This was a little more difficult since Disney costumes tend to be a bit pricey. I debated making it, but it would still have cost me a bit to make it. I finally found a nice one complete with the requested yellow with red bow snow white shoes on Ebay for about $10.
I really wanted to be the Evil Queen from Snow White, but the costume is really expensive and quite popular on Ebay so I had no luck. Yesterday I quickly ran in the Goodwill in Gilroy and right away spotted a brand new Cinderella costume in my size with the $40 tag still on it. I paid $5.99! I just need a couple of accessories and I will be set.
Jaron's costume is in the works and we will save that one as a surprise. :)

Diagnosis

The results of Riley's GI test came back today and showed severe reflux. Her reflux is significant and the acid refluxes from stomach to the mid-thoracic area causing esophagitis. The results of the GI test gave us enough information that we will not have to do the PH probe test tomorrow!!! Now that we know she has GERD, we need to keep her on pepcid for 1 month and if she is improving, we will continue with that med. If it does not seem to be alleviating the acid reflux, we will need to put her on a stronger med.

I feel so relieved at finally knowing what has been giving her so much discomfort for the past few months, that it is treatable, and that she will eventually outgrow it.

Thank you for all your prayers, loving thoughts, comments, phone calls, etc.. We are so grateful to have amazing family and friends.

GI Test

Horrible.
That about sums it up.
She had to be strapped down and fed contrast through a syringe for about 45 minutes, crying the entire time.
The GI doc said she thinks she got all she needed, but did not give any information out today. Hopefully I will know more when we see her doctor on Thursday for the PH Probe.
As a mother, it was probably the hardest thing I have had to do.

Little Lady

Avery showing off her brand new coat. What a princess!

Harker Picnic

Harker had their annual picnic today and we took part in a few games, creating a beautiful jeweled crown, snacking on popcorn (Riley tried to eat the whole bag), petting animals, and jumping in the castle bounce house. Fun times.

Sunday Savorings

I have not done a Friday Favorites for a bit so I thought I would do one today...Sunday Savorings. My whole life is about food right now so everything on this list is edible. We are trying a little experiment and are now taking gluten out of Riley's diet so Panda Puffs are a great snack for her. Jaron LOVES this cereal and I discovered he ate a whole box yesterday. Good thing I bought two. I also really love Trader Joes Cinnamon swirl bread. I try not to buy it too often since it is addicting. Super yummy!!

I have given up coffee for the most part ( I indulge in an occasional Starbucks run and a cup at church on Sundays) so I have three favorite drinks to take its place. Cinnamon apple spice tea by Celestial Seasonings, Mint Cocoa (recommended by Amy...thank you!!) and Spiced Cider from Trader Joes. I think I could drink the entire bottle of cider in one day, but I am trying to savor it. It is perfect for this fall weather we have been having lately.