November happenings and updates

My parents, sister, and 2 nephews flew down from Ohio for a visit over Thanksgiving. It was SO GREAT to see everyone:):):) The kids had such a fun time playing together! We did so much to keep busy like Pump It Up, decorating gingerbread houses, bowling, go carts, baking cookies, making s'mores, and even having a birthday party for my nephew Ryan. Get ready for LOADS of pics:)

Happy 4th Birthday Ryan:) He was so excited to get Mack to hold all of his Cars!

The famous M&M game...at least famous in Ohio:) (You just take 2 paper cups side by side, place 10 M&Ms in one cup, then use a straw to get them from one cup to the other. No using your hands. Sounds easy enough, right? A little harder than it sounds!)

Mama beating Papa My sister Kelly bowing down to me...the ultimate champion!!!!! No one has beaten me yet:)

My little model posing with everyone Aunt Kristi (Ryan and Austin's mom)

Pump it up (very hard to get the kids to hold still long enough to take a pic!)

Kassidy

Sara
Alex
Kaleb Alex with Austin
Karson sporting the UT hat (That's the University of Toledo if you don't know. Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Kelly, and Papa all went there!)

The finished masterpieces:)

Papa and Alex
Evan
Sara and her Granddaddy

Ryan

Kaleb and Kassidy

Mama (the 12 is for her 12 grandkids!)Miscellaneous pics from their visit Baking cookies!
Showing off their hand-designed hats

You thought this toybox was for toys??? Wrong!
Austin playing peek-a-boo...too cute:)

Out to eat after church

S'more time:) Yum! Yum! Thanks Aunt Kelly!

Bowling at Frankie's...PERFECT for little ones!!!

Strike!
Wouldn't be fun without Pop-a shot...can you guess who won? I'm not telling!
Alex showing off his strong football throw
This go cart looks normal, but apparently it had a speed limit set internally because she was lapped by every other go cart!



Such a great prize!
I can't tell who's having more fun here...Mama or the kids:)

Even Austin wanted to try to catch the butterflies
As you can see, it was a very good visit. We are so thankful they were able to come down to SC. Hopefully next year we'll have the whole Ohio clan here:):):)

My sister Kelly and I did all the cooking for Thanksgiving at my house, but of course I was having so much fun tasting everything and talking that I forgot to take any pics! The meal turned out great and we were all stuffed of course.
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Kaleb update:

We've been doing bolus feedings during the day now for about 3-4 weeks. It is going very smoothly without any kicking or screaming:) We do it while he's eating now and really concentrate on talking about how the FOOD he's eating is making his tummy nice and full. (It's amazing how smart this little guy is. Lately he's been barely eating at all. We think he's caught on to the fact that he doesn't have to eat because his feedings make him full) So, that's why we now do his feeding while he eats and try not to talk about his feeding at all.

His weight at his 4 yr check-up was 29lbs...wow!!! So close to breaking out of the 20's! That's a 3 lb weight gain since the G-tube (and he moved from .37 percentile to 2.62!). Our Dr. thought he'd be heavier by now, but we really had to work our way up to the amount of formula he now gets. Kaleb's height has really jumped lately, too. He went from 36.5 inches to 38 inches since July (4th percentile up to the 8th). We have really noticed this change because his 3T pants are now looking a little silly being so short! I have to find some 4T pants with adjustable waist now so he won't look like a big flood is coming:) This will be the first time since Kaleb was about 6 months that he will actually be able to fit into the size clothes that corresponds with his age. I never thought that would happen!

Here's Kaleb showing off his 'muscles' (and finally able to show you his new tube)

Close-up of his tube. The top just flips open and we connect a small tube (about 6 inches long) into it, then draw up the formula in a big syringe, hook the syringe to the end of the tube, and push it in. It only takes a few minutes and is very easy. And such little maintenance to keep it clean. Here it's a little red around the site but some special cream fixed that up.

Overall we are pleased with our decision to get the g-tube. It still really stinks that we had to do it, but we're glad we did. He is finally getting the nutrients he needs to gain weight and is getting noticeable stronger. We still have a long way to go with the whole food aversion issue but it's a work in progress!

Please continue to pray for Kaleb that his mouth becomes less sensitive to textures, he learns to eat more foods, his anxieties over eating will decrease, and that he stays HEALTHY during the winter.