The boy's longest sentence to date.

I had to blog this...I don't want to forget!

A couple of days ago, Porter was coloring in his high chair when he chucked a crayon over the side. We have a general no-throwing-stuff-overboard rule, so I reminded him "Porter, if you throw your crayons we have to put them away, okay?"

My mouth fell open, and a giggle escaped when he replied "Okay, mommy color throw it all gone."

Uh, yeah.

Our Journey to Pukeville and Back...Don't go. It's not fun.

I am one thankful Mommy. Let's just start with that. You'll see why when I explain the last four months, attempting to leave out most of the gory details. Oh, and did you know I have a serious phobia of vomit? Cause I do...a SERIOUS phobia, which obviously God wanted me to get over...stat.

The last week of September, 2009, Porter started acting funny when it was time to eat, often saying "owie" and then crying so hard he would throw up. This went on for a few days, so I took him to the doctor. She said that he probably had a viral sore throat, and just to keep an eye on him. Later that week, Porter and I flew to Florida for two weeks. The week from you-know-where. Throw up is bad enough at home. Much less in other people's houses and cars. I called his Dr. from FL wondering what the HECK was going on, and he had me take him to the ER to see if there was something lodged in his esophagus. Luckily, there wasn't anything in there, but this began the journey to specialist after specialist to try and find out what was making Porter throw up every day, and almost every time he ate.

Over the weeks, it got worse and worse. He could only tolerate stage 2 baby food and yogurt at his worst point, and even that was a battle with tons of gagging and ugliness. We were referred to an ENT after we got home from FL and went there immediately. They recommended a barium swallow study, and a modified swallow study, where he eats solid food as well, and they watch and take x-rays to see what happened when he swallowed. All went normally, despite the fact that they saw him aspirate some of his milk into his lungs.

This was taken right before they shoved barium down a tube in his nose into his stomach, and then made him lie still for 3 minutes!

And this is how he felt about that. Aren't I rude for taking his picture? Poor noonie. He pulled the tube out while they were squeezing barium in, hence the white stuff all over his face. He kept saying "bye, bye! BYE, BYE!"

After that, the ENT suggested an upper endoscopy to look for anything abnormal in his throat and esophagus that they may have missed during the swallow studies, and to test the 'gunk' in his lungs to see if he was aspirating on a consistent basis. He also got a Gastroenterologist on board to be there at the same time and look further down into his stomach and small intestine. The GI also decided to fo a flex sigmoidoscopy (up his little bum) to rule out infection in that end. This was ot a fun experience for our family, as you can imagine. It was supposed to be an overnight stay in the hospital, but luckily they let us go home. Seeing Porter come out of anesthesia was one of the hardest things I have done as a mommy. He was crying so hard and I could tell he didn't know where he was, and he just felt terrible. They left a tube up his nose and down his throat called a Ph Monitor to measure the amount of times he refluxed. We had to write down the exact minute every time he sat up, laid down, woke up, went to sleep, coughed, gagged, or vomited. Phew. They gave us one page to journal on, and we filled out four. They also saw bronchitis when they were in there that we didn't know he had, so we wrote down LOTS of couging. In a nutshell...all test results came back normal, except for one tiny biopsy in his small intestine came back inflamed for an 'unspecified' reason. In other words, it wasn't Celiac Desiease (one of the many theories), and they thankfully found out he wasn't aspirationg chronically, so he didn't have to drink thickened milk...ewwww. We also made it through the 24 hours with the probe in his nose successfully, and that test came back normal as well...no reflux or GERD. Meanwhile, my 'healthy' baby is throwing up at least once a day, every day.

We have lots of sad pictures of him crying from that day. He looks only semi-sad in this one. The nurses were wonderful, though, and they tried so hard to halp him feel better. They even let me go back and hold him as he went to sleep. This is right before the surgery.

He was so upset, they had to give him double medicine to put him back to sleep.

See the little tube in his nose? It was taped to his face and the back of his neck, which was the worst part for him. He was such a trooper!

Alright, moving along...the GI then decided to order and ultrasound and stool tests. The ultrasound ended up showing some swelling in the ureta, so we were referred to a urologist...YAY! More doctors! He said it was how Porter was born and it would probably go away on it's own and they want to see him in a year. The stool tests were negative for infection.

At this point, I'm sure you can imagine the frustration as a parent not being able to figure out what is wrong with your child. I called the Speech Pathologist (in tears)who originally did Porter's swallow studies. I could not clean up puke one more time. I was exhausted. By the grace of God, she referred me to someone, who referred me to the Oral Feeding Clinic at Children's Hospital in Denver.

I knew in my heart of hearts this was the right move for us. Porter hadn't eaten normally in over three months, and I knew his issues were becoming behavioral. He forgot how to feel hungry or to chew and swallow properly without it weirding him out. He still had the oral skills, but it made him uneasy, so he wouldn't even try to eat. I was SO thankful to get an appointment just a couple of weeks out.

Miraculously (seriously, nothing short of a miracle) Porter began to make gradual improvements on his own in those two weeks before our appointment at Children's. He started acting interested in our food and would take a bite and then spit it out. He began throwing up less and slowly eating more. By the time we got to the Oral Feeding Clinic, he had made great improvements, and the four professionals at that meeting really helped us capitalize on the improvements he was making on his own. We saw a dietician, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, and a developmental pediatrician. They were all so helpful, and in answer to MANY prayers, the pediatrician sat down with me and said "I'm going to tell you what happened to your baby." I wanted to hug her. Hug her and kiss her and hug her again. I had waited SO long to hear that.

Basically, what she said is that Porter did indeed have a viral sore throat waaaaaay back in the beginning of this nonsense. It hurt to eat, and it made his gag reflux work seriously overtime. Then, either that same sweet virus, or another equally charming one moved it's way down his GI tract into his small intestine (hence the swelling, which the GI doctors told me not to worry about). Well, this doctor disagreed intensely. She used the term "the perfect storm" to describe what happened to our little noonie to cause him such pain and discomfort that he couldn't eat anything of substance. Then, he learned to not eat.

We have been spending the last few weeks teaching him to eat again. Teaching him to get hungry again. He is doing REMARKABLY. The day after that appointment, he was a different child. Not only does he eat like a normal 19 month old, but he SLEEPS. It's amazing how babies act differently when they feel better. Porter is on medication for three months to help the swelling in his intestine, and they say he will never even know this happened, or have any effects from it.

All I can say is THANK YOU to my Father in Heaven for hearing our pleadings and prayers to help our baby. I really think that when your baby eats and sleeps, there is not much else to worry about in the world. It is a miracle, and we are so, so, so thankful to have a healthy boy again.

We had his 18 month well visit this morning (so he's 19 months?! I was a little preoccupied!) and he is doing so well. He is 22 lbs. 5.5 oz, which is the 8th percentile for weight. Not surprising, since he hasn't had many meals since he was 15 months old! He is 32 inches long, which is the 30th percentile for height. He is, understandably, completely and utterly terrified of doctors and screams as if they are pulling out his fingernails as soon as we come into the waiting room. Nevermind when the nurses or doctors weigh, measure, or even look at him from across the room. Hopefully now that he is through having things stuck inside of him, he will slowly realize that not every doctor's visit is miserable (and there was NO WAY I was letting him get shots today for that reason). He is doing fantastically in all areas of development now, and we are so thankful!

So, after a loooong 3 months, and probably over 120 throw ups...there is no more throwing up. There is food ingested and many hours of great noonie naps. I. am. so. happy.

Here is living proof that my child actually eats!!! It's awesome!!!

Yay, noonie!!!

Cousin Love

How sweet is this???


More blogging to come, I PROMISE!

Awesome giveaway alert!

SOOOO, I really wanna win this stroller from Bumbleride...have you SEEN their strollers?! They are so RAD!

Mom Start is the blog that is sponsoring the giveaway...you should enter, too!

How posh would I be!?

I'm a Christmas Bum!

I know, I know...I never blog anymore. I've taken such a massive break that I'm having a hard time getting into the swing of things.

Here are some things the TerBlanche's have been up to that may or may not get their own post in the weeks to come:

1) Porter is awesome. And he's 18 months old, which is pure insanity. HOW has it been a year and a half since he was born? I don't understand!!!

2) He has dramatically improved in his throwing up/not eating department. Oh, I haven't blogged about that??? That's going to be a looooong post, so brace yourself. Sigh.

3) I should dedicate a post to hilarious things he says. Tonight he was riding his little ride-on car and he busts out with "hold on tight!" Where did he even hear that? A few more favorites are "toilet paper" which he says perfectly and we laugh our fool heads off every time, "nope" instead of "no" which I am a huge fan of. It seems less rude. I ask him if he wants to sit in time-out if he's being naughty, and he politely says "nope" (he's only had three time-outs so far, and they work like a charm...for now!) And pretty much anything else you want him (or don't want him) to say. It's like a fun game that never, ever gets old.

4) WE MOVED!!! We bought a rockin' house and we have more space than we know what to do with. When I think about where I'm going to put something, a place comes to my mind, and then I put it there. It's the craziest thing. I have a playroom and a craft/guest room and my husband has an office. I LOVE IT and I am SO HAPPY here! We moved in last Saturday, the 12th, and most of the boxes are gone, thanks to my anal...eh, I mean motivated hubby ;)

5) Craig's awesome boss gave us two FREE awesome desks that are AWESOME, so now I can't use the excuse of not wanting to sit on the floor to blog anymore.

6) I am super stoked about Christmas and mostly seeing Porter open his gifts :) Santa told me he's going to bring him a cozy coupe, and I'm pretty sure he might have a little baby heart attack from excitement! I can't wait!

Hope you have a Merry Christmas! Hopefully I'll be updating before the new year!

Things I don't want to forget

I wish my brain could remember every single little wonderful and adorable thing that Porter does, but it's been proven that even though I try, I just can't. I think that my heart won't let me forget, but I can't seem to keep all the memories intact that I wish I could. So here are a few things about today that I never, never want to forget.


-Lately, after family prayer when Craig leaves Porter and I alone to read and cuddle before bedtime, the noonie will yell "LUH-LOO, DADDY!" (love you, Daddy) over and over until Craig responds. It's so, so, so cute. I can feel his little body arching as he yells as loud as he possibly can so Daddy will hear him, and he smiles so big when he hears his Daddy tell him he loves him back.

- I brought Porter to our bed this morning to wake Craig up, and he laid his head on his chest and said "morning, Daddy."

- Just after I buckled Porter into his carseat this afternoon, he looked at me and said "luh-loo, mommy." There is nothing better in the whole wide world, I'm convinced, than hearing your baby tell you he loves you. Makes me melt just thinking about it.

-Porter threw up (yet again) tonight, so I stripped him down to his diaper and socks. I never, ever want to forget how delicious he looked running around in the almost-nude. He ran around and squealed and said "nakie!" I have no physical pictures, but I have mental pictures that are too cute to describe :)

Does it seem like I love him more and more every day? Because I do.

What's your name?

Ticka-Teet!

Porter had the time of his life trick-or-treating for the first time this Halloween. He dressed up as a parrot that I made for him for two reasons...a) he repeats everything, just like a little parrot!! (Today he said "suck" for the first time...way to go, Mommy) and b) his cousins dressed up as adorable little pirates! One of my favorite parts of the evening was when we were back home from trick-or-treating, Abby looked around for Porter and said "Where's our little parrot?" We all had so much fun together!

Porter wasn't afraid AT ALL of going up to, and sometimes IN, complete strangers homes. He owned that street.

Look! A...who knows what he was looking at?! I was staring at him and snapping pictures llike crazy the whole night! Probably a car :)

Knock, knock! He would say "ticka-teet!" Just not usually at the right moment, of course :)

Our last stop, The Nordens, where Grandpa was handing out the candy generously!

Happy parrot getting ready to go get some candy!

Porter the Parrot and his cute girlie pirate cousins!

Anybody in there?

A true professional! He managed to get one "thank you" out in time for the person to actually hear it. All the other times it was while he walked back down their driveway :)

A big thanks to Shannon, Mike, Abby, and Lissie for having us over for Porter's first trick-or-treat! We had an absolute blast!

Nursing no more

Time goes by so quickly. It's hard for me to believe that such an important part of my life and Porter's is over. Two weeks ago today, I nursed my baby for the last time. Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize it would be the last time, or I would have held him and nursed him forever into the night.

I am thankful that it was Porter's decision to stop. I never wanted to go through a weaning period where I had to refuse him the comfort he really wanted and needed. It has been a difficult transition for me, but thankfully an easy one for him. He just decided he was done, and never went back. I didn't want to throw in the towel easily, in case he were just on a temporary strike, so I tried day and night for a week with no success, and then we moved on. He has shown no desire to nurse again.

I am SO thankful that I was able to nurse him. My original goal was to exclusively nurse him for one year and I am so thankful that we were able to do that with no difficulites. I honestly thought he would nurse for months more, and it stings a little to have had no idea it was coming. But still...I am grateful for the way things turned out, and I am grateful for every single time I was able to snuggle and nourish my baby boy.

The awesome guy that is Porter.

I haven't updated on our noonie in quite a while, so I (and my far-away family) thought it was time! Our little boy is getting so big. He gets more and more wonderful every day, and we are SO thankful for him! He makes us laugh non-stop, and we could not love him more! He is doing so many quirky, funny, and cute things lately. Here are a few things about our awesome guy...



Things he says...

The boy talks. He talks and he talks and he talks. He says a new word almost every day. When we first moved here, he took a break from talking for a few weeks. I guess that was his way of transitioning. Since then, he is back on track, and saying more words than ever. I have a running list, and he is up to over 70 words! Most of the words he says in the form of a question, which makes me giggle. Some of our favorites are:

- "snuggle" (nuggle) He requests lots of snuggles and gives them out freely if you just ask :) This is definitely one of my favorite things about him right now.

- "open" (opie?) He uses this one A LOT. He got in the habit of saying "help" every time he needed something (instead of whining), which was GREAT. When he needed help opening something, like a door, I would say "open?" after he would ask for help. Now whenever he needs or wants something, he automatically says "opie?" instead of help. He is also very patient and will repeat himself over and over until you can help him instead of getting frustrated most of the time. (edited: since I started writing this post, he now often says "open" or "open it" instead of "opie"...sad.)

- "Abby" and he is working on "Lissie." He knows when we drive into their neighborhood and he always shouts "Abby!"... Also, when he sees other little girls around, he calls them Abby.

- "Izzy" (Issie) - the dog next door, whom he LOVES but can't touch!

- "hello" and recently he has put two words together saying "Hello, Papa!" We about fell over when he said that for the first time!

- He is working on other two-word combos. The most popular is "snuggle puppy" when he snuggles his pups.

- "shoe" He is still just as obsessed with shoes as ever!

- "milk" (meeeeeuk? - as he hangs on the refrigerator door) Just plain cute.

- "owie" when he gets hurt.

- He recently learned to say "thank you" and that always makes mommy happy!

- "belly" He is quite obsessed with bellies and if you come in contact with him, he might just ask to see yours! He shows his off to everyone, including the lady in the soup aisle at the grocery store the other afternoon. It's a good thing I know he won't judge my belly, because he sees it a lot!

- "noonie" - Think he's heard us say this one before???

And...

- He names and recognizes lots of body parts, including eye, ear, nose, mouth, head, hair, and we're working on toe and foot. He's also said "elbow" before...tee hee.

- He knows a few animals, including cow, doggie/puppy, kitty, birdie, turtle, fishie, bear, monkey, and sounds of the usual farm animals, although lately he says that everything says "moo" when you ask him and then he laughs :)

- He is naming a few colors (with help, obviously). He can say blue, green, red, and my favorites are yellow and purple.

- The other day at church he asked me for a wipee, and I didn't even know he knew that word! (wah-pee)

- He LOVES his blankie and says the word whenever he sees it. It's a funny one, sounding more like "link-lee" than blankie.

- He also LOVES to color. I sit him in his high chair when he colors, and lately everytime I put him in there to eat he says "cullie?" because he thinks we're going to color. Sorry, buddy, it's just food. He also says "cullie?" whenever he sees a crayon or a pen, or when he sees me sit down to make a grocery list.

- A not-so-fun, but funny thing he has learned to say is "no way." Unfortunatley this usually comes out right after I have disciplined him for something. He usually smacks a nearby table or couch and shouts "no way!" The funny thing is that I think he learned this from me in a store one day. I remember seeing something at a great price and I said "no way!" He's been saying it ever since.


The funniest part is that he NEVER misses anything. If you are having a conversation with someone else and he recognizes a word, he will say it. (The other day I was talking to Craig's mom about a lesson I had to give in church on prayer and he folded his arms....funny boy!) He tries hard to say anything you ask him to, and he is saying a LOT more words on his own in the last few weeks, rather than repeating them. It's so fun listening to him!



Things he loves...

-Going boompsies. He will stand in his crib and all of the sudden pull his little legs up and land on his tush. We call this "boompsies" and he will do it on command, even when he's not in his bed (this has resulted in a couple of bum bruises when he boompsied on a toy or two). He does this every time he wakes up... it never fails. He thinks its just hilarious. He says "boopie!"

- Blowing and catching kisses. Another bedtime routine which he thinks is the bomb, and he will blow kisses and say "maaaaa!" when anyone leaves (or when you ask him to blow kisses). He does lots of things on demand, which I know won't last :)

- Snuggles. Loves snuggles, and so do I, so we make a great pair.

- Kisses. He kisses and snuggles everything. People. Babies. Pages in books. Toys. There is a family of ceramic ducks on the front porch that he kisses right on their little duck bills daily. He is such a little lover. I got approximately 15 kisses before I put him down for a nap this morning, too :)

- Cooked carrots, milk, yogurt, crackers and not much else in the way of food, unfortunately.

- MILK.

- Coloring. (see above and watch your mailbox for a personalized creation...I can't throw those masterpieces away!)

- Playing outside. He is such a boy and loves the outdoors. Lately he has chosen a favorite stick and carries it with him all over every time he goes outside.

- The neighbor's dogs. He gets SO excited when they come out, even though I have to hold him because he's allergic. He wants "DOWN" so badly!!

- The park. He adores the park and would never leave if I didn't make him. He especially loves the swings (the wheee's) and the slides. The other day we found a park with a slide that he could go down all by himself...you'da thought he won the lottery.

- Greeting Daddy when he get's home! Our favorite part of the day :) He watches out the front window and shouts "Daddy!" We sure miss him since he's gone back to work.

- Singing. He loves all songs, but the current favorite is "Row, row, row your boat" probably because he can say "row, row, row."

- His favorite book is still "The Little Mouse, the Red, Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear." Awesome book.

- Babies. He can spot them from a mile away, including babies on baby food jars and boxes of diapers in the store :)

- Brushing his teeth. You can get him to do pretty much anything if you let him brush his teeth. (That gives me an AWESOME idea to bring his toothbrush when we get his hair cut next...yessssss!)

- Mozart. We have been listening to Mozart every day and he LOVES it. He asks for the CD to be played at least once a day, and bears a huge grin when it starts. He often dances and sings along, too.

- Twirling. Lately in the evening when everyone is home, he takes his spot on the stage (the tile inside the front door) and we ask him to twirl for us. He will twirl a few times and then wait for our reaction. We purposely wait a few seconds before we praise him, and he thinks it is HILARIOUS. He's gotten pretty into it lately, so we have to tell him to stop twirling or he gets so dizzy that he runs into things. This is one of the things we look forward to every night!




Things he loathes...

- The dreaded diaper change. Why do children feel like they are being mutilated during this procedure? You know, it really would go faster if you would just hold still! Common sense, dude.

- Getting dressed. Sometimes he is good, but usually he is like dressing an octopus.

- Coming inside. Ooooooooh the terror when he has to come inside from playing. Saddest thing ever. Unless you bribe him with a snack :)

- Most things to do with eating. He's just not interested, and he does a lot of spitting things out. Thankfully, he will still eat baby food if I feel like he hasn't consumed anything of worth all day. Thank goodness he loves milk (and he's growing like a weed).

- Wearing a jacket...I've got news for you sweet pea! (as I type this it's snowing...brrrr!)

Here is a video of him wearing his coat for the first time. As soon as I put it on him, he fell over (onto a pile of winter clothes that I had just moved up from the basement...so ignore that). Poor Florida baby can't move in all that fluff!

And for the stats:

He got a great checkup at his 15 month well visit on September 10th. He is 21 pounds and something like 9 ounces (perhaps I should add the scale at the doctor's office to the list of loathes) and 31 3/4 inches long. That's the 25th percentile for weight and 75th for height. He has definitely had a growth spurt since we've been here, and his baby features are going....going.....

I know I could go on and on about the details of our little guy. He is so flipping wonderful and funny...not to mention SO CUTE. We think he's the bees knees and we certainly could never imagine a single day without him! We are so thankful to be his Mommy and Daddy!

We love you, Porter-pie!

Seven Falls

Last weekend, all the girls and Porter took a trip to Colorado Springs to visit Seven Falls. The weather was beautiful and we had a great day! We trucked it up two-hundred and something-ridiculous stairs to reach the top. You can see the stairs going up the left side of the falls. I wore Porter in his wrap (which I haven't done since he was tiny) and it was the best decision of the day. I was a little stressed about the steepness and height once I got going, but it was worth it! If I'd had to carry Porter I would have had a heart attack, for sure. Lissie did great with Granny's help, and Abby went all the way up and down with very little help, and no complaints. What a big girl!



There was a viewing area (where I took the last photo) and thankfully we went up this after the big one. I was smart enough to take the elevator :). The other stairs had no other option but to climb up, and climb down! My calves were burning the next day!


We watched Native American dancers, and Porter was enthralled... for a minute :)


Look how stunned he is by the natural beauty. We are surrounded by beautiful things, and we are so thankful to be here!