Goodness! I have no idea where the past two weeks went!
Our Thanksgiving was lovely and we enjoyed a house full of family from out of town. The boys enjoyed lots of play-time with their cousins, and there was never...I mean never...a dull moment with the 4 of them running and jumping all over the place. They enjoyed playing games, an evening with their flashlights, a movie night (any guesses on the movie? Starts with "How" and ends with "Dragon"...again), and time outside in our beautiful weather. I think the top two quotes were "But I had it first..." and "Can I have a turn with that?". There was noticeably less refereeing with these 4 and they do very well together, but they definitely kept the adults busy and entertained. (: And believe it or not, we got the Barber clan in for a family photo session in celebration of Grandmanette's 60th birthday. The pictures turned out great and our 4 little boys did awesome during the shoot. Again, I'll be just fine to go another 10 years without a photo session.
The Monday after Thanksgiving we trucked down to Children's Hospital for Jacoby's second endoscopy. He was a lot more aware of what was going to happen to him this time, so he was worried and spent the night before snuggled next to me. But he was a trooper and went through the whole thing without complaint. The physicians and staff are all wonderful down there and leave little for us to worry about. Jacoby went under anesthesia calmly and came out of it fine besides being upset about the IV in his arm (which is his typical response even though we warn him that he'll wake up with an IV). Once we were in recovery he was only concerned about getting home to play with his cousins and also asked the nurse if he could bring a jello home for his brother Morgan. I'm not sure if I've ever felt more proud of him then at that moment.
The great news is that the doctors performing the endoscopy said his esophagus looks normal. A year ago, it looked inflamed and had several ridges of damage from the eosinophils (a type of white blood cell that is not supposed to be in the esophagus). We found out this past Sunday that the pathology report indicates the esophagus is healing and the eosinophils are basically gone. Our GI doctor has already reduced one of Jacoby's prescriptions since it has basically done the job we needed it to do (help heal the tissue) and the diet we have him on is obviously working. So, we are so grateful and so blessed by the care Jacoby has received over the past year. We're in a much different spot today than we were a year ago.
And keeping on with the medical updates, Jacoby had his check-in with the endocrinologist today. He's grown another inch (putting him at the 88th percentile--he was down at the 25th when we started this part of our journey) and gained 2 pounds. At the rate he's growing, they're predicting him to be between 72 and 76 inches (6 ft to 6 ft 3 in)...right up there with his dad.
Justin is finished up with his classes. It sounds like his students did well and he's already preparing for the start of Greek II at Iliff in January. It's nice to have him home in the evenings.
Work isn't really slowing down for me like it usually does in December. I have our annual holiday party hanging over my head and will be really glad to have that over. Party planning is just not really my cup of tea. A board meeting? Yes, but parties? Not so much.
Morgan is doing great and is as cute as can be. He recently informed his preschool teachers that he's too big for the class now. I'm not exactly sure where he thinks he'll be going. Both boys are loving the holiday season and are excited about opening their Advent envelopes each day to see what our project or activity is going to be. You can see what we've been up to over here:
http://givethankseveryday.wordpress.com/.
Other then that, we're trying to stay warm in the midst of freezing cold weather. We have our last swimming lesson this weekend. Since they've gone so well, I'll probably enroll the boys in the next level after the holidays. And of course we're making our lists and checking them twice as we look forward to celebrating Christmas with the Haggerty clan here in Colorado this year. (:
Take care all!
We got nearly a foot of snow the night Aunt Kenzie arrived (which made her flight and our drive home a little interesting). Grandma Pam and Grandpa Bill also had quite a time driving down from Montana. But we enjoyed having a white Christmas and went for a walk one evening around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights.
We enjoyed several relaxing days together. Justin took Grandpa Bill and Aunt Kenzie skiing one day. The boys love spending time with their family (and foot massages from Grandma Pam)!
They also love getting into mischief with Aunt Kenzie, and decided to initiate a sock war by dumping their drawer of socks on her. I'm not sure who won but there were tons of giggles heard from both sides.
The ladies before Christmas Eve service
Grandma Pam & Grandpa Bill
The boys
We met up with friends for Christmas Eve service and then had them over for appetizers and cookie decorating. The kids had a blast together. This is them striking a silly pose--Morgan thinks M. is just about the coolest thing ever.
We enjoyed watching the boys open presents on Christmas morning. They were very enthralled with their new treasures. We also enjoyed good food, a holiday movie, and some naps that day.
Aunt Kenzie with her nephews
The boys received snuggly blankets from Aunt Megan and Uncle Mark. They like to get wrapped up when they watch videos.
