Hey, hey, it's time to puree!

I love this kid.

Really, I do. So so much it makes my heart hurt. He makes our lives so much richer.

But he is not easy. And feeding him is a pain in the you know what and it takes hours upon hours of extra time in the kitchen.

Hours at Whole Foods reading every label; hours at home cooking, followed by pureeing, followed by labeling, followed by freezing or refrigerating, followed by measuring each ounce at each meal, followed by distracting, followed by spoon feeding every bite, followed by cleaning up vomit when a certain texture disagrees with his esophagus, followed by excessive cheering when each meal ends.

Did I mention that it takes hours? And I know I'm supposed to say that I wouldn't trade one minute of it because he's doing so well right now. But I'm not gonna lie, I would trade it. I really really wish he could do well without all that work on my part. Selfish, right?  He probably wishes I would quit griping and I'm pretty sure he wishes that he could eat without hurting, so you know, I totally realize I'm the lesser and more insensitive person here. (Just making sure you know that I know that I'm being a you know what.)

Anyway, the "point" of my long and griping rant?

The other night after finally getting the kids tucked into bed I was in the kitchen for three more hours working on Owen's menu.

The result? 

(And yes, I'm totally bragging. So now you can add pride to the before mentioned insensitive selfishness.....plus a whole long laundry list of my many other flaws.)

 

*chicken pureed with almond milk and rice

*ground turkey browned, mashed, and pureed with almond milk (lack of texture is very tricky with this one.)

*almond bread, sunbutter, and banana sandwich puree

*Cooked carrots with special butter, cinnamon, and applesauce puree

*cereal bars pureed with milk and banana

*broccoli and cauliflower pureed with applesauce

*pumpkin pureed with applesauce

*butternut squash puree (which we now think he's allergic to)

*frozen fruit smoothie pureed with almond milk

(These plus some more that he's eaten the past few days.)

And when I was finished, I was bone tired.

And I wanted a frickin' gold star for all my hard work.

I didn't get a gold star, but my friend (who I may or may not have complained to through text messaging during the process that has to be repeated about every 10 days.....) brought me this apron today that she made for me.

And it totally made me laugh.

And one day when Owen's a 250 pound quarter back, I hope I'll still look at this apron and laugh.

And I hope that I can get a better perspective about this whole extra work in the kitchen thing because we still have a long way to go before Owen is where he needs to be. And he's totally 100% worth it.  And let's be honest, one day when I'm old and have lost all my teeth, I'll need him to puree my food. 

 

Maybe Erika can get another apron in blue when that day comes.

First Day!

Owen started preschool today.

He was so excited to be doing something the bigs get to do everyday.  Although he was a little bummed that his school bus is my mini-van. (I was a little bummed about that too since I swore before having kids that I would never drive a mini-van, but that's neither here nor there.)

(Todd tried removing the Darth Vader pen/toy that has been in his hands for two days before we left.....It is still in his hand. Let's just say we pick our battles around here.)

"Let's go, Mom."

He had a great first day.
The teachers fell in love and I think he was equally smitten.

(On a side note, this backpack was a hand-me-down, name stitched on and all. Aren't we lucky?!)

Labor Day

Isn't this how everyone spends their Labor Day?

No?

Oh well. 

We've learned a little pretend sword fighting never hurt anyone.

(Except maybe Owen.....)

Eery

Owen's running a low grade fever and vegging out/napping.

Isaac entered school full time today with his big sis and without so much as a backward glance.

 Sigh.

And I noticed something - 

it is disturbingly quiet.

And now the challenge is this:

Can I get everything done that I need to get done before these two crazies get off the bus?

It's not looking promising.

(Although not blogging would probably help.)

Peace out.

 

Hasta La Vista, Eosinophils.

The biopsies came back clear.

Hallelujah. 

There were a few nasty white cells in the small intestine, but the colon, stomach, and esophagus looked great. The doctor said they even wrote a big zero beside the esophagus results. Zero. We've never seen that number (or lack thereof) in the esophagus. And the ones in the small intestine? There weren't enough of them that we're going to worry about it right now. So my boy gets a break from the steroid.

And we're going to embrace a happy and pain free Owen for as long as it lasts before those little boogers start invading again.

I feel like we're being spoiled rotten right now.

I don't know why so many of our prayers have been answered in the last month, but I am so thankful.

I'm thankful for the huge strides Owen has made.

I'm thankful that he is finally growing and thriving.

And I'm most thankful for a God who never lets go.

Here's a pic of my lil' man enjoying his favorite snack on the evening of the biopsies.

(He may have been invaded in all orifices that morning, but he did get the day off from structured feeding......it's the little things, right?)

See ya later, eosinophils.

Feel free to take a LONG vacation before your next invasion.

Dude. Seriously?!

I swear just yesterday these two were still babies.

And now they're both in elementary school.

That's just pure craziness.

PS - Owen's bored.

Home and Doing Great.

Sparth Vader did very well.

Everything looked great physically - there was no permanent damage yet and the esophagus had not tightened up at all. Big Yay!

Now we wait a week for biopsy results and follow up appointments.

He had a rough time coming off the anasthesia and was in a good bit of pain for awhile, but he totally perked up this afternoon and was very playful tonight even without pain meds.

Yup - he's definitely a trooper.