We Love Daddy Because...

We love Daddy because:
--he's strong and funny
--he always reads and plays with us
--he's gentle and caring
--he teaches us lots of things
--he's really tall
--he makes really good quesadillas and pancakes
--he's patient
--he's sometimes nicer than Mommy
--he works really hard
--he always wants the best for us
--he would do anything for us

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!
We love you very much!
Love, Jacoby & Morgan (and Mommy)

The Longest Day...Ever

Our day began at 7 am when Jacoby and I embarked on yet another long trek down to Denver for a second round of hormone testing at the endocrinologist's office. This time they were checking to see if his pituitary gland produces enough cortisol since it does not produce enough growth hormone. In most cases, kids with low growth hormone do produce enough cortisol but of course they have to check to make sure. So, Jacoby endured placement of another IV and then watched videos and read books during the 1.5 hours of testing. We were lucky to have Miss Donna again as our nurse, and I think she and Jacoby have become good friends. We'll be seeing more of her during our follow-up appointments throughout the year.

After the hormone testing was finished, they bandaged up the IV (to be used again later) and Jacoby and I headed over to Presbyterian/St. Luke's hospital for an MRI. This was to rule out any anatomical abnormalities with his pituitary gland. It was hotter than blazes in Denver today and the traffic was horrendous. As we trekked along I was getting slightly annoyed that the air conditioner in the car seemed to be acting kind of weird but was more focused on getting to the hospital on time. When I parked the car, steam began billowing out from under the hood and antifreeze was pouring out from underneath the car. Uh-oh. I know only enough about cars to know that this probably wasn't a good sign. I told Jacoby that the Subaru was broken and it was a good thing Daddy was coming with the Honda or we'd be stuck.

By this time, the poor kid was definitely feeling the effects of fasting since 7:30 pm the night before. I think it's safe to say that I wasn't given entirely accurate information on how this day would play out because we had to be admitted as hospital patients which took over two hours before Jacoby was finally taken to the radiology department. He ended up fasting for 21 hours which was far too long for this little guy. There were a few moments when he was beside himself, but luckily we had a very kind anesthesiologist who still managed to get a few smiles. When it was finally his turn, I was a weepy mess with having to leave my little boy behind but he went under with the anesthesia really fast and easy (they sedate most kids under 5 for MRIs). Justin and I took the opportunity to grab some food and arrange for a tow truck to come and rescue our poor Subaru. Jacoby's MRI took over an hour. By the time I got to go back to recovery, we got to watch the Subaru being loaded onto the tow truck from our window. Jacoby sucked down an entire juice box in under 2 minutes flat. He has proceeded to eat non-stop for the last 3 hours. We had to race from south Denver all the way to north Boulder to pick up Morgan, who was one of the last kiddos to be picked up. We finally got home at 6 pm. The kids are headed to bed and I'm about to start hunting around to see if I can find a bottle of wine anywhere in this house. (: Just kidding...sort of.

Jacoby was such a good little trooper today. We were really proud of him and hope that this is the last of the really awful testing for awhile. I also have to say that we are so blessed with the medical community we have here. We have had nothing but a great experience so far and just feel so fortunate to live this close to good care.

A few other highlights from the week are that our insurance approved Jacoby's growth hormone--we just haven't heard how high our co-payment is going to be yet. We also had a great visit to the GI Department at Children's Hospital. The outcome of the appointment was that Jacoby should start a course of acid reducers to treat for reflux. We appreciate the conservative approach they are going to take instead of jumping right down his throat for biopsies. We'll probably have to do an endoscopy at some point, but they want to try a few things before we decide on the invasive procedure. The PA we met with isn't convinced that Jacoby has EE or any of the other allergic inflammatory disorders at this point, but was concerned about the throat pain he complains of. We also met with the dietitian, who actually seemed impressed by Jacoby's diet despite his many food allergies. She had concerns about his calcium intake and wanted Jacoby to start using a special (expensive) formula as a nutritional supplement since he basically has no dairy in his diet. We also had to keep a very detailed food diary for 3 days that we'll send in to her for a more detailed nutrition analysis (that will analyze nutrients and micro nutrients). I have to say that Children's Hospital was quite impressive. It's kind of an inspiring experience to walk on the campus knowing that it's a place of hope and magic and tragedy and loss.

That's the latest in our journey. We'll find out more in 10-14 days when the results come back. We should also be receiving our first shipment of growth hormone in the next few weeks (really hoping the co-pay is reasonable) and then we'll be headed to Denver again for training on how to administer it. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers this week!

Rainy Weekend

It's been raining for two days straight, so we've had to get creative and channel our abundant energy to stay out of trouble this weekend. But mostly, we've just enjoyed a few quiet days at home since we had a busy week and this coming one is going to be busy as well.

Justin finished up the school year on Thursday, and I'm going to proudly announce on this blog that he finished up all of his doctoral coursework and maintained a 4.0 in the process! He's getting organized for the comps he has to prepare for the fall.

Morgan had his 15-month well check on Friday. He was declared "perfect" by our pediatrician and is nearly off the charts with his height (he's less than 3 inches from catching up to Jacoby) and the size of his noggin. He's also sprouting a mouthful of teeth, molars included.

We have our first appointment with the GI department at Children's hospital this week (tomorrow afternoon) for Jacoby, so it will be interesting to see how this goes and what direction it leads us. Jacoby has his ACTH test and MRI on Friday, which means another long day of fasting for our brave boy. But hopefully this will be the final tests for this part of our issues and we'll be able to start growth therapy soon.

We hope you all have a great week!

Busy making a very organized peg board

Just happy to be included in the activity

Tunnels are a great place to read

Jacoby is becoming a master fort-builder

Forts are a great place to read too

Jacoby reading to Morgan

Checking out a worm

On a very wet walk

The Cousins

Cousins Des and Jax and their parents visited us for a few days this week. You can only imagine the liveliness and energy of having 4 boys ages 15 months to 3.25 years under one roof! The boys had a great time together--they played with trucks and trains, dug in the sand, put out pesky "fires" around the house, jumped on Jacoby's bed, gobbled Popsicles after dinner, visited the zoo, and generally just ran the show together. Their parents had a good time together too when peace finally settled after 8 pm each evening and brains were re-focused on adult conversation (which inevitably revolved around our kids). The following are some highlights from the wonderful visit. (Just a side note on a little extra drama going on during the visit--Jacoby and Morgan became roommates. And I'll post more on this separately, but for now we'll just say that Morgan's crib = garbage truck and I usually found Morgan sleeping away under a heap of toys unloaded from the toy box and laundry by a very industrious 3-year old garbage collector.)

Monkeys on the bed

Morgan and Jax were a little more active this year (:

Here are the wee ones last year

The great cousin visit of 2010

The great cousin visit of 2009

Our two firemen busy at work

Enjoying a trip to the zoo together

Notable quotes:

Des: "To Infinity and Beyond!"

Jacoby: "We don't have pink milk at my house. We only have white milk at my house."

Jax: "Amen! Amen!"

Morgan: "Elmo! Elmo!" (while pointing to Des & Jax's Elmo bibs)

Firemen Jacoby & Des: "There's an emergency! Hurry!" (while running with their firemen helmets on)
Jacoby (after Des & Jax leave): "If it's a Wednesday, I can go visit Des."

Trucks, Trucks...And More Trucks

We slathered on our sunscreen, hopped in the wagon, and walked down to the Louisville Touch-A-Truck event this weekend. As far as truck events go, this was a really great one. The only one missing was a garbage truck...noted instantly by Jacoby. And I just have to take a moment to brag about my shy, introverted 3-year old. It was really fun to watch him at this event--he climbed in all of the trucks by himself, waited patiently in line for his turn, said thank you to all of the truck owners, and even rode the kiddy train by himself. He's getting so big and independent!

Tractor

Helicopter

Morgan driving the street sweeper

So pleased with himself that he figured out how to beep the city bus horn

Spraying the hose with the fireman

The firetrucks remain this little kid's favorite, well except for garbage trucks