Curious about Caed: Wed. 7/9

We had a very busy....FUN....good day! This morning Marnie and I loaded up all our kids (plus 2 more) and headed for the Science Spectrum. It was lots of fun and the kids enjoyed getting out. We ate lunch and then came on back to Idalou. The kids played hard all afternoon, and then this evening we went over to my Grandmother Mitchell's house for a cook-out. Of course, after supper we HAD to bring out the marshmallows! It was a beautiful evening (perfect for a fire). Caed told us as we were sitting out tonight...."I sure am glad I thought of this!" (yes....the S'mores were HIS idea)

Caed ate a lot today......and NO throw-ups!!!! Thank you God! For some reason he kept wanting cheese ALL DAY LONG. He seems to get stuck on one particular food (like the spaghetti) and will literally ask for it continually. It is so hard to tell him no (simply b/c of all the months we begged him to take even one bite of something). However, I am learning to just make him wait even an hour before he gets something else. Seems to help (maybe.....?). We set his G-tube at 50 cc. last night and had no problems. He did need to get up once during the night to go to the restroom, and then this morning when he first woke up he complained his tummy was hurting. I was so nervous! We really need this to work. However....within minutes he was completely fine and never heard him complain the rest of the day. The diarrhea was "normal" I guess for Caed. He went maybe 6-7 times. Tonight the pump is set for 60. Our plan is to increase by 10 cc. each night until we get to 100 by Mon.

Our main prayer request right now is the absorption issue. He can eat like crazy, but if his intestines are not absorbing the nutrients & water from the food....my guess is....how is that really helping? Not an expert in that area, so....maybe I'm wrong. I know I'm probably getting too detailed for you, but the diarrhea (for the most part) is purely liquid. Again, not a good thing. The more solid we see....the better! That would mean his intestines are working more like they should.

We also have an appt. with the "play therapist" on Mon. Todd and I had talked a lot about it, and had decided there wasn't a need to pursue that any longer. If you could only see the change in Caed in just the last 2-3 weeks! Behaviorally speaking, 90% of his days are relatively "normal" for a 5 yr. old. However....just last week he had a major outburst! (very similar to how he was in the hospital) And, there are times he won't speak and just points, etc.... The therapist said as she was reading over his initial assessment from the previous dr., she was very concerned. She said it's wonderful that he is doing better, but there is no way a child who has been through as much trauma would be completely back to normal in just a couple of weeks time. We agree. So, we will meet with her Mon. My thought is....what harm can it do? I'm sure we can learn better how to handle when those rare outbursts do occur.

**Congratulations Richard and Leann....Garrett (aka. "Ty") is absolutely adorable! Cannon and Caleb are so excited to have another boy cousin around. Do we even want to think about all the trouble the 3 of them are going to get into? ha!