Medical Advice

After countless requests from my mom to see a gastroenterologist for Ellie belly, we finally did.  To back up a second, the various pediatricians we have seen have all told us that Ellie’s reflux would get better once she began sitting up.  Then we were told it would get better once she starts walking.  All not true.  She refluxes throughout the day and night, leaving behind little spots on the carpet, bedding, and her clothing.  Some days it is so bad that it involves outfit changes.  Yet, every time I went to the doctor they looked at me like I was crazy and over dramatic.  My mom has a family friend that told us we needed to stay on the reflux medication for years not months, and if we went off the meds Ellie would be at risk for developing esophageal cancer due to constant acid from the reflux. Again, I got the same look from her doctors when I brought up these concerns.

Well, today I finally received confirmation that I was right.  In truth, my mom’s friend that is a retired pediatric nurse practitioner was right.  Jim and I agreed it was the best $30 we spent all year.  Once we moved to Atlanta, I was lucky enough to find a pediatric gastroenterologist group.  I picked Dr. Gold after reading about how he is a national leader in the pursuit of critical questions regarding the epidemiology and pathobiology of acid-related diseases in children, in particular, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

We were told that Ellie most definitely needs to stay on her medication and will be followed by a team of specialists.  In three months she will have testing done to make sure her GI is working properly. Children born with these abnormalities are of particular interest and Ellie will be tracked for long-term studies.  In conclusion, Ellie has been given a different prescription since her compounded formula goes bad after two weeks.  We had a prescription for once a month. BAD!! Some breathing issues were also detected.  Another thing people thought I was crazy for pointing out.

What a blessing this has all been.  Maybe the reason why the Lord sent us here.

More

Visit with the Lowry Grandparents

Christmas Morning...

Ellie loves all her books.  She tasted each one just to make sure ;-)

A little ketchup

These were a few of my favorite pictures from our 

Lowry Family Reunion this past July.

All the Lowry men together (Keith, John, Jim, Rob) in order by age.

Jim's mother, Janet, with her four grandchildren. All girls of course!

Family photo with my parents, August 2011.

 

       My mom flew out the week before Halloween to help out while Jim 

recovered after getting his gallbladder removed.  It was Ellie's first 

Halloween and pumpkinpatch.  Not the most excited we've seen her, 

but she had fun playing in the dirt.

Love that look, so serious.  If she could talk I bet she would say, 

"put me down and let me eat a few bugs.  Just a few."

Ellie's first birthday.  It was on a Wednesday so we only had 

a few friends over for lunch before Jim headed off to work.

I made funfetti cupcakes since they are Jim's favorite.  

I think the frosting was the bigger hit!

Ellie received lots of presents from her aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  We gave her a leapfrog musical learning table and a few smaller things.  All in all it was a good time.  Love you baby girl!

Life and all that stuff in between

Okay, I know it has been a little while since my last post.  We have been busy with Ellie's birthday, Grandma & Grandpa Mac's visit, and our trip to Atlanta, Ga.  With the impending move, I feel like life is whirling by in a flash.  It has been very stressful the past few weeks with looking for a home in Atlanta, finding tenets to move in here (since we are leaving half-way through our rental contract), and getting a release date at work for Jim to move.

I guess I should back up by starting with we found a great 3 bedroom home to rent in Woodstock, GA.  Everyone we talked to said to stay north of the city.  All the nice family neighborhoods are in the north and Woodstock is the next up and coming place.  Lots of new housing developments mixed with homes that sit on a couple acres of land.  With all the traffic, I was looking for something a little out of the hustle and bustle. It took the rental agency a week to process our application so they should be sending up the contract Monday and finally have a move-in date. It looks like we are shooting for a January 7th move in date.  It is a little earlier than we would have liked, but we are trying to accommodate the friends that will be moving into our current townhouse in Raleigh, NC.  They are currently staying in corporate housing and need to find a place by the end of the month.  Thankfully we will not have to pay rent in two places for the whole month.  Unfortunately, Jim's boss needs him to stay through the 13th. Now the plan is to move on the 7th, but Jim will fly back and stay in a hotel for a week.  I am not looking forward to sending up or home with baby-in-tow by myself.  Thankfully my mom is going to fly out to stay with us.  In the meantime I need to start packing everything up and making to-do lists (rental truck, boxes, electric, water, and cable cancellations, airline flights, hotel reservations, buy washer & dryer, etc.).

I promise to get back to my blog just as soon as I can.  Please be patient with me.

First Haircut

When Eliza was born, she had a full head of hair.  I remember at her ultrasounds we could see her hair floating around.  After she was born everyone told us her hair would most likely fall out.  Well it didn't.  I finally broke down last week and decided it was time to get a trim.  She had stands that when wet, reached half way down her back.  Most of the time it looked like a curly rat's nest that formed lots of little knots. We found an adorable kids hair salon, Snip-its.  It was a little pricey for a baby's haircut but the hairdresser was a pro at working with wiggly-whinny kids.  Since it was her first haircut, they put some of her hair in a baggy and filled out a little certificate for us to keep.  Very cute.  Here are a few pics of the experience and her new do!

Odds & Ends

Ellie's first oreo cookie.

Stood up by herself for the first time this morning.  So exciting! Oh wait, now I need to move everything out of her reach.  Better start hanging stuff from the ceiling.