A New Year

LJ after his last eye doctor appointment...he wore himself out! He looks much bigger than he is because he grew out of his first warm outerwear and the next size up gives him a lot of extra space...his arms and legs go about halfway down the opening :)

From beginning to end, there was a roller coaster of emotions for us this year,  and we could have never have predicted the path the year would take.

Many know that in Sepember 2010 we decided to adopt. I have always said that adoption would always be something I was interested in, and I am lucky enough to have a husband to be just as excited about it. We spent countless hours from Sepember 1010-February 2011 taking classes and working on our home study. We were not looking at babies yet, but an older child from within the foster system because those are the ones that really struggle to find families. We were so excited to have just gotten our paperwork completed and approved the end of February when we found out I was pregnant in March. I remember we got the call we had been waiting for the day after we found out I was pregnant...they had a sibling group they thought would fit into our home. It was such a blur of emotion being so excited about being pregnant but having to tell the agency we couldn't do it right now.  One day we will continue that path...for now, God sent us on a new one, and we couldn't feel more blessed.

My pregnancy made much of 2011 a blur. Having had a miscarriage in the past, everything sent me into a panic that something would go wrong, and I spent every day just hoping to get to the next. The weekend of the 4th of July I spent a night in the hospital with complications, and I think that put me even more on edge. The beginning of August brought a new school year and the end of my lazy summer days. The school year didn't last long with my water breaking on September 14th. I hope to spend 2012 enjoying my growing family and all of the things that come with it.

In the meantime, LJ had his LAST 2 week eye doctor appointment yesterday! Since Matt is off this week, he got the pleasure of holding LJ down in the chair this time...I can't say I was too upset about that! He doesn't have to go back for 6 months and they said next time they won't go sticking things in his eye. Some preemies have a wandering eye, and they are just checking to make sure his aren't...I don't think it will be a problem because even now, his eyes don't cross much like they used to. They will check once a year until he is 4 to see if he needs glasses to correct it...again, I'm not too worried about this one.

We continue to struggle with the food. After LJ's last appointment 2 weeks ago, we immediately switched him to the new formula. The x-ray was good, so there is no concern there. However, the new formula is awful. It is really thin and made his reflux flare back up...we doubled the dose of those meds. He screams more than ever when he eats...he is hungry, but just can't seem to get it down, so he is eating less than he used to. He doesn't poop anymore, so the doctor told me to try prune juice...he loves it and makes the cutest faces when he drinks it, but it doesn't work and it seems to give him a tummy ache a little while after. Matt has had to talk me out of marching back into the doctor several times...they say it takes 2 weeks for you to really see the change. No change...it has been 2 weeks today and I cannot wait to get back into the doctor this afternoon! Of course I have been reading non-stop about this whole ordeal, and my latest thing is corn...all the hypoallergenic formulas have a ton of corn syrup (they replace the milk with corn syrup...the one he is on now is 55% corn syrup!), which is also a common allergen in babies...I keep thinking we may have fixed the dairy part to cause a corn problem? His reflux meds also have stockpiles of corn in them. I am making it all up right now, but  I can't wait to talk to the doctor about it today! There is only one hypoallergenic formula that is corn free, so I am hoping that will be the next move. I just hate to see our happy baby unhappy.

LJ is sleeping better most nights...his record so far is 11 hours only getting up once to eat! That's not an ordinary occurance, but we are getting there! He is starting to notice the world around him...he will look at us and you can tell he is actually seeing us. He responds to Bosco barking. He found his hands and he will sit and play with them. He found the sheep in his pack n' play and he touches it. He could sit in his swing or bouncy seat for longer periods and be happy.

We did try to let him sleep in his own room one night. We were all up until 1:30, and we all ended up back in our room. Granted, he had a belly ache that night, so I think that had a lot to do with it. We will try again soon...we know we need to get him in there before too long, but I also want him to get some sleep.