Time For An Update - with pictures....

Sorry it has been 2 weeks since my last post...I guess we just needed some adjustment time in order to know what to share with everyone. Brooke is doing really well. We are getting this g-tube thing figured out. Yesterday was a great day in the g-tube department. Brooke took all of her milk by bottle except for 1 oz. We gave her the medicine through the tube, but only hooked her up to the pump for one ounce of pediasure. Great stuff!! Not everyday is like that, but we are not seeing her not want to take the bottle. It is not uncommon for kids to think...'hey, I don't have to work as hard when I get it through the tube, so I'll hold out for that' or sometimes a child is in pain from reflux or from aspirating during the drinking process for so long, that once they have an alternative to the bottle, they want to stick with the alternative ie. the pump. Brooke did develop a little bit of granulation tissue - which is newly forming tissue - around her stoma -which is the hole the tube goes through. We were able to get rid of it quickly by putting a steroid ointment on it. The only other ongoing difficulty is that she has a harder time burping and seems more gassy than usual. Burping was not an issue for so long with her. We sat her up, and she burped. It is funny watching eachother put a 22lb. 17 month old on our shoulder to burp. It's comical!! I am a bit worried about her reflux getting worse. It's hard to know if damage is occurring. I think the last time we truly battled with her reflux - back in November when she went on Nexium twice a day - it had gotten really bad before she let us know. We have her on Nexium, but only once a day. We may have to bump that up. We do need to bump up the amount of formula she takes in. We are going to start that this morning. Here are some pictures of Brooke and a great video of her in her stander having a great time!

Brooke a few days after we got home from surgery...she was not a very happy girl...very tired...The Schofields sent her this great pig that plays music. It seemed to be the only thing that calmed her down.

Brooke on the patio laughing with daddy. This is her squiggles support chair on her stroller base (kimba base). We pop the chair off the high-lo base that we use at home and put it on this base to travel, go to the grocery store, ect. This is what we took to Montana

This is a great video of Brooke in her stander. Make sure you hit pause on the music on the top of the blog page - to the right. The music will stop so you can hear the video. She has a lot to say... She's gotten even more proficient at hitting the goat puppet. She can go over and over and over again now...We are thoroughly NOT annoyed by it!! :)