Rockin' the Boat

Christian has been on fire lately!

He has been seriously rockin' it.

Gather 'round folks, it's analogy time.

See, this journey is very much like being on a boat in the ocean. Waves take you forward and back, side to side, there ups and downs. Some times the seas are calm and sometimes they're hell. There are also times we hit dry land. This isn't as bad as the moving back or facing a downturn, but it isn't the greatest.

Hitting dry land is the waiting game at its worst. It's when nothing happens. Nothing changes. When someone asks if your child is doing anything new, you reach and reach to the back of your mind and all you can come up with is, "Well...."

But then the boat takes off! Sometimes you're not even informed the boat is about to set sail, it just starts going. Well, this boat has left the dock and I'm just starting to catch my breath!

First I have to say the eating is going great. We visited Christian's GI doctor and his blood work to evaluate his nutrition is pretty close to perfect, which is to be expected taking already supplemented formula.

The GI doctor was so excited that Christian not only passed his swallow study but had a "strong swallow," according to the report. So naturally the GI doctor wanted to know how much I was feeding him. I told him we're only doing breakfast right now. He suggested maybe we try three feedings by mouth a day! Ooookay, doc. Let's slow down a little. We're going to do what Christian wants to do. And if you want Christian to do something, you better get him to do it before 2PM. After 2PM, Christian is done for the day.

So I put Christian down on his boppy pillow for tummy time and Christian initiated pulling his head up all by himself. This is a much better tummy time position for him because it protects his g-tube from too much pressure, which can sometimes bother him. By the way, Christian stayed like this for a good 5 minutes! I couldn't believe my eyes. He lowered his head and picked it back up again. He held himself up like this long enough for me to make a huge deal of it, run around and look for my camera, locate my memory card, put it in the camera, and finally make it back to Christian (who was still holding himself up) to snap pictures.  

And then he held himself up nice and strong (with a little support from his PT for his huge noggin) with straight arms. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of this kid. Do you know that just months ago we had to work to even get his wrists to bend back like this? Now it's pretty effortless. SO HUGE!!!

All in all it's been a pretty busy boat ride these last couple of days. And we've moved forward a little so that always makes for a nice sail.

Now, I have to get to bed. Gabe's going to sleep away camp tomorrow! I'm so excited for him!