Bye-bye g-tube

It has been two days since LJ last had any food through his g tube!!!! I could not be more excited, I am feeding him 6 times a day, and he seems to be taking it well. He is not a fan of baby food, but I have found out, that if I mix it with milk, then he eats it, and does not even complain. He has also been eating crackers, some baby snacks, baby pasta, bread, and we gave him french fries too.

We still cannot get rid of the g-button, he still is not eating as fast as he needs to, and also he might get sick and not want to eat, so the g tube is always an option. I do not mind it being there, just knowing that he does not need it, is a great blessing.

We are also getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. It is not his first one, but the first one at home. I am planning on giving him turkey so he knows what he has been missing out on!!!

I am one year old!!!

It has been two weeks since the baby's birthday, and our life does not seem to get easier!!! Jorge is everywhere, wanting to grab everything, crawling like crazy, giving a few steps, throwing full blown tantrums . . .man it cannot get any better than this!!!!!!

We are doing great with his eating, I am now only giving him two bottles of milk through his g tube, and the rest of the food he takes orally. We found a bottle that instead of having a nipple, has a spoon, so we have been giving him milk with that, and it has been working fine, if I can get him to drink 4 of those a day, and 5 more meals, then we are ready to get the g-button out and finally go back to normal., meaning being able to go home and stay at one place, have some vacations without having to carry two suitcases filled with medical supplies!!!!

Jorge is growing super fast. He is 75 cm long, and weighs 9.2 kg. He is a very tall little boy, yet is very very thin. Doctors have told me that he is just a thin boy, but his weight is still in the 50th percentile, so I should not worry. He has to wear belts because clothes that fit his length do not fit his waist, and if it fits the waist, then it looks like if he is wearing capri pants!!! LOL

We are still in Maracaibo, we think next week we might be heading to Colombia, and then finally back home, after the holidays we might return to Colombia, and stay there and just travel back to the States for the baby to get his medical checkups, but again we no longer plan our life, LJ just tells us what we have to do, and then we do so!!!!!

Ma-ma!!!!

I never thought this day will come . . . he said mama for the first time today!!!! He says words like ta-ta, te-te, pa-pa, ba-ba but not ma-ma!!! It feels great . . I almost cried!!!
He is also teething some more, he has two teeth coming out on the bottom, and three coming out on the top part of his mouth . . . he is drooling like crazy, and has been kind of cranky, poor thing must be in pain!!!

His eating is improving by the day, he is eating faster, and more, he no longer cries . . . so the process is much easier, and I have been feeding him 5 to 6 times a day now.

Happy Birthday Little Man!!!

This week was the best week of our lives. We celebrated LJ's first birthday!!! We had so much to be grateful for. We could not believe how fast time has gone by, and could not help but remember that only a year ago we were at the hospital praying for our little guy to live and to do well. Today that is all in the past, we have a healthy little boy that is full of energy and that definitely keeps us on our toes!!!

We are very happy because we have been able to finally see lots of progress in LJ's eating. We are down to three bottles a day via g-tube, and the rest he takes by mouth, I think he is now taking 50% of his feed orally. I have been very strict in his eating habits, and this has caused a large amount of stress on the both the baby and myself, but after four long weeks of struggling, crying, and lots and lots of messes, we are finally heading towards the end of the baby's g-tube feeding!!!!

We had a small birthday party. There were just a few kids, but we had a pinata, and cake, and celebrated it like we do back home, and the best part of it we were here at home. We had my mom and sister come from the States, and also Jorge's mom, dad and his brother Daniel, with his girlfriend Fabiana!!! We had great grandmothers, and great uncles and aunts, cousins, many many family members celebrating with us the miracle of life.

On Sunday, Jorge had his first Halloween. We dressed him up like a monkey. He was not thrilled with the outfit, but he looked just so cute. We are in Maracaibo, the temperature here is very very warm, so I just put him in his suit for pictures at home, and then took it off. I thought we would be either in Colombia or in Houston for this, and thought that the weather would be cold, so bought a very warm costume. At least I was able to get some pictures!!!!!

We also realized that on Friday, it had been a year since we baptized the baby at the hospital, and that for the first time we were able to take a picture of the baby with his godparents. Since the baby had his first surgery 5 days after his birth we had to do a quick baptism ceremony, and the godparents were not able to come, since the baby arrived 9 weeks early!!!!!!!!

We have been lucky enough to find helpful hands along the way, to make Jorge's recovery fast and as easy as possible on us. We know he will not remember any of this, and we are grateful for that, but for us, even when we know it could have been a lot worst than it is, sometimes it seems like we cannot take it anymore, and then just like that something amazing happens, and it seems like its a breath of fresh air to help us keep on going!!!!!

We still have no idea as of when we will be returning to Houston, but we sure miss it!!!