Stinker Boy is TWO!

It's crazy how fast the past two years have flow by.

It seems like Colby was just a tiny little baby... and now he's a big boy with a tiny baby brother!

Colby lives up to his "stinker boy" nick name. The kid is full of spunk and life. He is into everything and doesn't like to be told no. He is always determined to do whatever it is that he wants to do and doesn't know how to give up.

Colby has ten teeth all the way in, and two more are working their way through his gums. This broken teeth are still hanging on, but are very slowly starting to get dark. Hopefully they will stay in for a few more years...

Colby is talking so much. It's sometimes hard to understand what he's saying, but he eventually gets his point across. His favorite words/phrases are "No," "I do," and "Me."

Colby LOVES to eat. His favorite foods are bananas, cheese, pizza, and ice cream. But, for the most part, he will eat whatever we put in front of him. He is still gluten free and peanut/tree nut free, but as I explained in the post about his well visit, we are going to slowly start to try introducing gluten into his diet and see what happens. We having been praying that God would heal him of Celiac's disease, so we will see if our prayers have been answered.

Colby is still nursing. Most days, he only nurses at night before he goes to bed. Every once in a while, he will nurse during the day as well. He was excited to have milk again (instead of colostrum) after Peyton was born. I'm still just planning on letting him decide when he's done...

Colby loves being a big brother. He tells us often "Peyton so cute" and enjoys giving Peyton hugs and kisses. He also tries to share his toys with Peyton (by throwing them at him).

Colby has discovered how light switches work in the past few weeks. There are a few he can reach standing on the ground and he loves to turn light on and off. The ones he can't reach from the ground, he has learned that he can push a chair over to the switch, and then he can reach them to turn lights on and off.

He also has taken an interest in helping making food. He loves to push a chair over to the counter in the kitchen and watch/help me make lunch and dinner. Sometimes it's fun... sometimes it more of a pain than anything. He also likes to steal food off the counter as I am making meals.

Colby has mastered walking up and down the stairs by himself. He's still pretty slow, but he can do it all by himself and loves that he can.

Colby enjoys playing with Emily and Kyle. He's starting to understand the concept of playing with them and not just next to them. He normally imitates whatever they are doing. They often get annoyed with him, but are all learning to play nicely together.

We haven't started officially potty training yet, but Colby is using the potty regularly. Normally he sits on the potty before rest time and before bed time just like Kyle and Emily. During the day, we help him sit on the potty if he asks. But.. he is still wearing diapers full time. We did buy him some spiderman underwear a few weeks ago and he loves to wear his underwear over his diaper. Maybe in a month or two we will really start working on potty training him.

Colby LOVES Spiderman and Elmo. He gets very excited any time he sees them. He got a Spiderman watch for Christmas and loves to show it off to everyone.

Colby favorite "toys" are puzzles and the iPad (which he normally does puzzles on). He is getting a LeapPad for his birthday; he likes to play with Kyle and Emily's, so hopefully he will enjoy having his own. He amazes us often with how well he does puzzles and how hard of puzzles he can do all by himself.

We love our stinker boy and are very thankful for the blessing that he is to our family! We have loved watching his grow, develop, and explore the past two years and look forward to many many more!

21 Months Old! (Plus a few days!)

On Tuesday, Colby turned 21 months old! I thought about it on Monday.... but never got around to starting a post. And then Brent's work schedule is weird this week due to a missions trip, so I was then thrown off and completely forgot about it... But, late is better than never!

I'm not sure which is a crazier thought... the fact that Colby is going to be two in three short months... or that his baby brother is going to be born, hopefully just before he turns two, and his life is going to change!

The past month, Colby has seemed to left all that baby stuff behind and is 100% toddler... going on three years old! He tries to do everything and anything Kyle and Emily do, and most of the time he is successful!

All of a sudden, Colby is talking non-stop! He has too many new words to list and has become very vocal about what he wants and when he wants it. Some of the words/phrases we hear often are "no," "me," "please," "thank you," "socks," "more," "Kyky," "Emmy," "moon," "milk," "yellow," "butt" (as in diaper), "boob,"... animal names and noises, anything Kyle says... He's also started to say "Love you" in the past week or so, and it's normally accompanied by a hug and a kiss!

Colby's favorite color by far is yellow. I'm not sure if it's because its one of the few colors he recognizes and can say, or if he actually loves the color. But if there is an option for something yellow, Colby wants it. He gets very excited about anything yellow and has to make sure that he points it out. He also has started to whine if his diaper isn't yellow... which is tough because we only have so many yellow diapers... He also has started to pick out and say orange and blue.

When I've been doing school with Kyle and Emily, Colby normally participates too. The past few weeks, he's started to pick out and recognize letters. Normally, when we do a letter, we had a worksheet with several pictures on it of objects that start with the letter we are working on, plus a few other objects. He used to color everything on the page, but with the last few letters, he can only colored the objects that start with that letter. He also picks out letter off the play mat in the toy room and can tell me what most of the are!

Since we've moved, Colby has been helping pick out his jammies and his clothes! He loves to pick out yellow shirts and anything with Elmo on it. It's kind of fun to watch him pick out his clothes... and sometimes frustrating when he wants to wear something that's too warm or not warm enough for the day.

Along with being more vocal, Colby has been enjoying singing. Kyle and Emily sing often, and he has started to join in. He sometimes makes them mad because he normally doesn't have the right words or tune, but he seems to enjoy himself!

Colby and the stairs are scary! He wants to walk like a big boy up and down the stairs. He normally does okay if he's holding a hand, but often, he doesn't want to hold a hand because Kyle and Emily aren't. More times than not, we just end up carrying him to make sure he doesn't fall.

Colby is enjoying his big boy bed. You can read about that here, if you haven't already! :) The big boy bed means naps pretty much aren't happening any more, but we are still trying for rest time most days! Hopefully soon he'll actually stay in bed and rest during rest time at least... I really miss my rest time!

Colby is down to just nursing at bedtime! When we moved, we kind of just stopped nursing at rest time (which might have something to do with the no nap). He still asks for "boob" at bed time and cries hysterically if he thinks I'm not going to feed him... so for now, we will let it continue. I am eating pretty much back to normal though (not that it really includes a whole lot of gluten is our pretty much gluten free house), and it hasn't really been seeming to cause him any tummy or poop issues.  

As we've backed off breastfeeding more and more, it does seem like Colby is getting more and more sensitive to gluten. Normally when he gets gluten in his system, he has a belly ache about six hours later and nasty black poop. This past weekend we were with family... and there was gluten. I'm guessing someone touched his hand after they ate gluten and he got a little bit in his system. I could tell his belly hurt a little bit (luckily he didn't have his all our screaming fit he normally does), but lots of nasty black poopy diapers let us know he got some gluten in his system.

As you can see from the pictures, he has a mouth full of teeth. He has six on top and four on bottom. His two that he broke seem fine. The dentist said they may turn brown or black and fall out, but they still aren't showing any signs of that yet!

Over all, he still is the happy, smiley Colby he has always been, just with a new strong willed stubborn streak! He just seems to think that he's a big boy now and should be able to do everything his big brother and sister can do! We love our stinkerpotamus like crazy and are very grateful God has allowed us to be his mommy and daddy!

Colby's Weight Check

Colby was scheduled for his follow up weight check appointment this morning, but due to a scheduling error/issue (or something!) we ended up seeing a different doctor.

A month ago (at 19 months), Colby was 20 lbs even. Not worry about the fact that he's on the very low end of the growth chart, the doctor was concerned because he's not following a typical curve. His "curve" is going to look funny because of the weight issues that are caused by celiac disease, but after being on a gluten free diet, his should start a new curve and continue to grow and gain weight. At Colby's 12 month visit, he was 19 lbs 8 oz, he then was up to 21 lbs 9 oz before he got sick, and then dropped down to just below 18 lbs. At his 15 month visit, he was up to 20 lbs 14 oz, so we were hoping that his weight issues had resolved themselves and that he would start to gain again. So, there was a bit of concern when he was down again at his 18 month visit (at 19 months old).

Today Colby was up to 21 lbs even! So he's up a whole pound from where he was a month ago! I'm excited that he's gained, but at the same time understand the reality could be a month ago his bladder was empty and today it was full...which could make a difference.

The doctor we saw today, said he wants to have Colby's regular doctor decide if we need to do anything other than just watch and see if he continues to gain since he's not familiar with Colby's "complex medical history." (I think celiac disease tends to scare some doctors.) So, we are waiting for a phone call on Monday to know if we need to go blood work, follow up with Colby's GI doctor, or just wait and see what the little dude does between now and his two year well child visit.

I was worried, but my mind is at ease now know that he is gaining. We've been told a few times that it normally takes celiac kids about six months on a gluten free diet for them to start absorbing nutrients "normal" again. We are just a week shy of the six month mark for being gluten free. So, my guess is that everything is going to be okay... as long as we keep gluten away from the kid!! :)

18 Months Old!

How is it that Colby Thomas Train Cheeky One ipad Stinkerpotamus is a year and a half old?!?

Food wise, Colby can eat anything except gluten and nuts/peanuts!! We gave him cow milk about three weeks ago and he LOVES it! The only issue we've had has been some nasty poop, so we are trying to only give him a limited amount still as his little body continues to adjust to digesting it. The kid LOVES ice cream too!

I've had a little gluten here and there the past couple weeks and it doesn't seem to both him as much as it used to! Hopefully this means that he just has a gluten intolerance and not Celiac's disease. I'm not sure when we will try to give him gluten again, but at some point in the distant future, I hope we are pleasantly surprised with no reaction when we do!

I'm still nursing the crazy boob boy! He's down to twice a day (after lunch and before bed), unless he wakes up in the middle of the night. He's not nursing for as long as he used to and normally doesn't fall asleep while nursing, so he's learning how to fall asleep on his own in his bed! I'm hoping both of these are signs that he is almost ready to self wean. I think I am ready to be done, but I'll let him decide when to quit (unless my OB tells me otherwise because of the baby!)

When Colby wakes up in the middle of the night, I have been just letting him cry for a bit to see if he'll go back to sleep. If he's just fussing and whining, he normally falls back asleep in 15 minutes or so. But if he starts to all out scream, I normally give him about a half an hour and then go in and feed him if he doesn't stop. We are down to about one night a week now, which is still to often for him to be waking up to nurse in the middle of the night!

Colby has finally started to talk more! He's very smart and understands most of what we say to him, but until a couple weeks ago, he really only pointed and grunted to communicated for the most part. He now calls Kyle and Emily by their names, along with Grandmas and Grandpas. He asks for a banana when he wants a snack; I'm pretty sure bananas are his favorite food. He makes lots of animal noises and is constantly trying to say new words!

Colby's favorite "toys" are still books. He will sit and "read" by himself for quit a while. He also loves to sit in someone's lap and have books read to him. He will point out animals or other things in books that he knows. One of my favorite books to read to him is "Where is my nose?" On every page, he points to the little girls nose and giggles.

Colby's other favorite "toy" is the iPad! The kid thinks that it is his! Anytime he sees it, he has to have it! If he is up before Kyle and Emily's clock turns on in the morning, Colby is normally in our room and plays with the iPad. If we don't offer him the iPad right away, he freaks out asking for it. He's pretty good with it. It hasn't figured out the code to unlock it yet, but other than that, he can make it do what he wants. He knows where his favorite games are and where the apps are to turn on the shows he can watch. It kind of amazes me how well he can use it.

Another favorite toy is his Spiderman Bear that we made at Build-A-Bear in Chicago. He sleeps with the bear and loves to carry it around and give it hugs! He even is willing to "share boob bear" sometimes. :)

The past few weeks Colby has gotten really good at puzzles! He used to sort of be able to do the ones of the iPad and the simple real ones on his shelf. But lately, he has been able to do the more complicated puzzles on the iPad (including letter games), and has been doing the "big kid" puzzles with Kyle. He has issues with the orientation of the pieces every once in a while, but typically gets the pieces in the correct spots and is able to put things together!

Colby is starting to get better about sharing and interactively playing with Kyle and Emily, but still struggles with it. I think the biggest issue here is that Kyle and Emily like to play with him by taking what he is playing with and playing with it while sitting right next to him, so this is how he thinks he plays with sometime. We are have trying hard to get them to all work on playing together and taking turns playing, not just taking toys. We've also been trying to get Kyle and Emily to let Colby play how he wants to play and not conforming to what they want him to do or how they think he should play with a toy.

Schedule wise, things are pretty much still the same. He has gotten better about sleeping though. It seems that his naps are starting to be consistently longer (about two and a half hours) and he's sleeping until 8am (when Kyle and Emily get up) most mornings!

For clothing, I just pulled out 18 month clothes for him as some of the 12 month clothes are starting to get a little snug. I didn't put away all of the 12 month clothes because some of them still fit him well, so he has a mixture of both in his dresser.

I'm not sure what else to say... Colby is still a little stinker boy who knows how cute he is and tries to use it to his advantage! We love him more than words can tell and are truly blessed to be his parents and to watch him grown, learn, and explore!

Maybe Celiac's Disease?

Colby had is follow up with his GI doctor today.... it was supposed to be two weeks ago, but have to be rescheduled.

We've talked with the nurses twice and apparently info hasn't been relayed correctly. There is much less confusion after actually talking to the doctor day.

So.. here's what we found out...

The first pathology report showed some inflammation and slight damaged in the intestines biopsies, but not enough to confirm celiac's disease. Because of this and the "sort of positive" blood test, the doctor sent the biopsies to U of M for a second opinion. The second opinion confirmed the first.

But this still doesn't provide us with a clear answer.

The doctor explained that because Colby is still breastfed, this could give us a false negative. Breastmilk helps protect and repair damage very well. (Yay! Breastmilk!!)

We also talked about the possibility that not enough gluten actually got to Colby's intestines because when we were trying to fill him full of gluten, he kept throwing it up.

But... we do know that Colby is greatly benefiting from a gluten free diet. He is thriving! He's gaining weight and growing like crazy. He's eating... and eating... and eating! He has gotten his "spunk" back!

The few times we has gotten gluten since we've gone gluten free, he has been miserable. He screams and screams. He curls in a ball and then arches his back. And screams some more.

So, the doctor is debating between a diagnosis of Celiac's Disease and Gluten Sensitivity. His recommendation to keep Colby gluten free and try a gluten challenge at some point down the road.  So the current plan is to stay gluten free until Colby is three years old, and then attempt a gluten challenge. (He said he would trust our judgement as to when we want to do the challenge. If we decide to do it sooner than three, he will support that, or if we want to wait longer, that's fine with him as well!)  When we do the challenge, we will introduce gluten back into Colby's diet with the hopes of him being able to eat it for three weeks or so, and then test him again for Celiac's disease with blood work. Depending on what the blood work shows and how Colby responds to gluten in his diet will determine where we go from there.

He said it's important to get an official diagnosis at some point due to the other health issues that Celiac's can lead too.

For now, we are going to assume that he has Celiac's disease and hope and pray we will find out differently down the road!

16 Months Old!

Colby Oley Poley is 16 months old!

Colby is now a toddler for sure! He has opinions and preferences and will gladly try to communicate with you what he wants.... or doesn't want. And if he doesn't get his way, a fit is most likely to follow!

Colby still only has four teeth!

Colby is wearing mostly size 12 month clothes still.

I think sleeping through the night has finally become the norm for Colby!! A couple weeks after the gluten was all out of his diet and system, he started eating more real food... which lead to him sleeping all night long!! Normally he goes to bed around 8pm (after nursing for an hour or so) and then wakes up between 7:30 and 8:00!

He's still following pretty much the same schedule he has been. He's up between 7:30 and 8:00. Eats breakfast shortly after 8:00. Play or go on an adventure. Lunch is normally around noon. After lunch, Colby nurses and then takes a nap. He normally wakes up between 3:00 and 3:30 and we play until dinner at 5:30. About 6:30, we do baths and our bedtime routine and then he nurses and goes to bed.

We were having issues getting Colby to eat breakfast for a while, so last week I decided we were going to try to stop nursing in the morning when he wakes up. If he wakes up early, I'm still nursing him and he goes back to sleep, but otherwise, I have been pumping before he wakes up and then giving him a sippy cup of breastmilk at breakfast. The first two days we did this, the poor kiddo was so upset that he didn't get to nurse, but I think he's finally okay with it! :)

Colby's environmental allergies seem to be under control with the Zyrtec. The only time he seems to have real issues is when the grass is being cut, but other than that, he has been doing okay with the windows open and playing outside for longer periods of time!

Food allergy wise, I think some are starting to go away! I've been eating tomato based stuff (ketchup, BBQ sauce, salsa) in small amounts for about two weeks and he hasn't seemed to have any reaction. Last week, I gave him a tiny little bit of ketchup and he had no reaction to it!! We are going to try spaghetti for dinner one night soon and see what happens!

Colby loves to give hugs and kisses to people that he knows. Most of the time, he gives good kisses now that aren't as wet and slobbery... or with his mouth open! He also loves to give high fives and wave to people.

This weekend when we were in Chicago, Colby playing on the playground like a big boy! He climbed the stairs, ran across the bridge, and went down the slides all by himself! He also loved to be pushed in the swing.

When we are getting ready to leave the house, Colby likes to help get shoes out. He'll pull them out of the bin and give everyone their shoes. He even likes to "help" people put on their shoes!

I'm not sure what else has changed with Colby in the past month. I'm sure more than what I realize, but I can't think of anything else to add other than...

I'm so happy to see my baby boy thriving and healthy again. Cutting gluten out of his diet and made a world of difference. He has turned into a spunky little man and has so much life in him. He no longer wants to sit back and watch what's going on around him, he wants to get up and be apart of it! It's been an amazing transformation to watch and while it stinks that he has this life long illness (Celiac's disease), I'm happy that we have answers and know that God has a plan for all of this!!

(Sorry there's no pictures... Mommy has been very sick!)

Colby's 15 Month Well Visit and Gluten Free Update

Colby had his 15 month well visit today.

Colby weighed in at 20 lbs 14 oz and measured 29.6 inches. (He's only less than a pound heavier than Kyle was at 15 months, and is between how tall Kyle and Emily were.)

The doctor was happy with his weight gain. He's up about a pound and a half from his visit a little over a month ago! He said that Colby looks nice and chubby, in a healthy way!

Everything else checked out well for Colby's exam.

We talked about the Celiac's diagnosis. The doctor said he wasn't surprised at all when he read the biopsy showed Celiac's. He said after listening to me describe the changes in the past three weeks since we cut out gluten, he is pretty certain that it is the correct diagnosis. We go back to the GI in ten days and he should have the second opinion back from UofM at that point, so we should have a confirmed diagnosis.

Since we've cut gluten from Colby and my diets, the kiddo has been way more interested in eating real food... all the time. I am pretty sure he would eat all day if I would let him. He's still very attached to "boob" and still loves to nurse, but I finally feel like food has become his main source of nutrient instead of breastmilk. He seems to have gotten more "spunky," which we assumed was just part of his developmental stage, but it seems to be in correlation with his diet change. He's finally pooping regularly and not straining so hard to poop. He is still taking stool softeners, but is taking less of them now. He's gotten chubby! He has always been our chubby baby, but for a while he was pretty skinning. He now has a nice chubby baby/toddler belly like most kiddos his age and has gotten some chub on his legs! Colby is sleeping better. Still not consistently through the night, but more so than he was before. (We did have a night last week where he was up all night screaming and seemed to be in pain... I'm pretty sure he somehow got some gluten by accident and that was the issue.) So yeah... we are continuing our gluten free diet and slowly making the transition to being a gluten free house hold!

And for the record... gluten is not nearly as hard to cut out of our diets as dairy was! No crazy withdraw symptoms!  :)

15 Months Old

Our little man is fifteen months old!

Colby has four teeth! For a few short days he liked to use his teeth to hold on when pulling himself up... like to hold on to mommy's leg.. or mommy's arm... it was a bit painful, but luckily it didn't last very long. He quickly learned how to use those teeth to take bites though... so now he uses them as they were meant to be used!

We are still a mess when it comes to sleep. We had three days in a row last week where Colby slept for 11 hours at night... so we know its possible. But it was short lived. He's been waking up very hungry between 3 and 4 am and nursing for about an hour before going back to sleep.

Since we cut all of the gluten from Colby's diet, he seems to be eating better. It seems like he eats.. and eats.. and eats.. and eats some more. Bananas and grapes seem to be a favorite, but he'll pretty much eat anything we give him. Colby has also mastered using spoons and forks already. Most of the time, he won't eat unless he has a utensil of some sort, and he uses them better than Kyle and Emily do! He can even eat a bowl of cereal all by himself!

As far as food, we are avoiding dairy, oats, peanuts, tree nuts, citrus, tomatoes, carrots, and gluten. I don't think the list has changed in the past month other than adding gluten due to the celiac's diagnosis. As far as his environmental allergies, it seems like the new medication and changing around the other ones is helping. He's been able to play outside longer without getting short of breath or covered in hives!

Schedule wise, things are pretty much the same. Breakfast at 8ish, lunch around noon, dinner around 5:30. He has been doing better with his nap! Normally he goes down around 1:00 and sleeps until 3:30ish. Bed time is around 7:00 most nights. He's kind of hit or miss with what time he wakes up in the morning. If he eats in the middle of the night, he normally sleeps until Kyle and Emily wake up at 8am. If he sleeps all night, he normally wakes up around 7am to nurse and is up for the day.

Most days, Colby is nursing three times a day. Sometime in the morning... either in the middle of the night, or when he wakes up.. after lunch/before nap time... and before bedtime. Every once in a while, he'll get a little bit extra.

Colby loves to walking, climb, run... If he doesn't half to be carried, he would rather not be. He's even gotten decent at climbing up stairs by himself! Going down stairs is a different story... He will climb on anything and everything he can. If I leave the room for a moment, I normally find him on top of something (like the kitchen table) when I come back. He's a crazy little monkey and wants to keep up with his big brother and sister!

Colby loves technology. If the iPad is out, he wants to use it. He's finally gotten to the point where he does more than just open and close apps... and take pictures! He has started to do some of the puzzle apps on the iPad and seems to enjoy the apps with animals that make noise. He also enjoys playing with mommy and daddy's phones.. or anyone else's that he can get a hold of!

Colby loves to play outside. He gets very excited when we put shoes on. Sometimes he doesn't realize we are leaving and thinks we are just going outside to play... and gets very mad when we put him in his car seat! As much as he loves to be outside, he's not to sure about walking in the grass. And if he falls over, he doesn't like to touch the grass to stand back up... Which probably is a good thing since he's allergic to the grass... He loves playing with the soccer ball with Emily. He also loves to go to the playground and go down slides!

When playing inside, Colby loves to read books. He picks out a book and finds a lap to sit on and wants to be read too! He also seems to enjoy reading books to himself. He also loves to play with blocks and build things.

Colby also loves to hang out in Kyle and Emily's beds. He climbs right up and cuddles in with their blankets. Sometimes they like this... sometimes they do not!

Colby is wearing mostly 12 month clothes. His pants are finally seeming to fit him well, but most of his long sleeve shirts still need to have the sleeves rolled up. He does have a few pair of 18 month jammies that he is wearing... and a new random 9 month shirts that still fit him as well.

Colby's sandals are  size five and his tennis shoes are size 4.

Colby loves to give kisses to Mommy, Daddy, Kyle, and Emily. Sometimes he will to other people as well. Most of the time he we can't give him to give kisses, he'll at least blow kisses. He also likes to give high fives and wave to people.

Colby has started to be helpful when it comes to picking up. He sometimes will pick up toys. Most of the time, we can get him to put his shoes and coat away when we get home. He's also pretty good at taking care of his dirty clothes!

Colby loves the chair in his room... he likes to sit and play in his chair. He also likes it when Mommy is in his chair because most of the time, that means he gets to nurse. But if any one else is in the chair, he normally isn't happy!

Colby says a few words... "mommy," "dada," "yeah," "boob," "bye," "vroom," "love you," "that," "up"... He also growls like a lion, barks like a dog, and quacks like a duck.

And.. most importantly... he's a little stud! :)