5th Grade!!!!

Seriously??


5th grade already? Last year of elementary school?



Don't you love the evil glare he's giving me because I told him I wanted a picture of him getting on the bus??



Don't worry, I promise I didn't follow him out...I took this picture from inside. I was also informed that I was not aloud to scan his baby pictures to be included into the post......sigh...fine.
Seriously though, I remember his first day of preschool and now he's in 5th grade...I remember the days he used to watch Woody Backpacker (Woody woodpecker) and when he would ask me to play in the Uncle Peter room (the computer room, ironically enough he does not have an Uncle Peter)....his favorite Sesame Street video (that happened to be in Spanish, I can still remember some of the songs!)....his blankie...his 3'tall Spiderman doll that he used to hide in the shower to scare me....his fist Halloween costume..(tigger, then Elmo, but my all-time favorite, the MiMi-made Buzz Lightyear..)...the first time I held him after 24 hours of labor and a c-section...(my babies like to be difficult)
OKAY I NEED TO STOP!!! sniffle, sniffle....it just happens so fast, right before your eyes! I'm so darn proud of him!

Home!

We've actually been home since last week, but I haven't really had much time to update the blog. We decided to pack it up and come home a little early because Noah wasn't feeling any better. He was having major pain in his groin area that we thought may have been a UTI since is was most concentrated in the morning and throughout the night (when he's hooked up to tube feeds). We did an urinalysis and culture in Evansville, but everything came back negative for infection. He has been on an antibiotic for weeks, so I am sure if there was infection it was masked by that. We got him into the pediatrician when we got home and his ear infections were raging once again and they found a swollen lymph node in his groin on the side where his g-j tube goes. His tube is going bad anyway, so it was on the list of things to be scheduled. The Dr is wondering if there is irritation from the g-j causing him this pain. We are scheduled to go to U of M for a consult next week. They will look at the tube and decide how to address the chronic tube infections (he has had several over the past year) and swollen lymph node and schedule a new tube placement. He seems to be feeling better, but the pain still comes and goes. In Evansville he wouldn't even walk or stand on his own due to pain, but he's definatly no where near that now. The ear infection is puzzling as well, he never complains that they bother him, and the Dr is wondering how many he has actually had, but we just didn't know it. We will follow up with him in a week and if it's still not clear, he will send us to the ENT.
As far as eating, he's really done pretty good since we got back. He still won't willingly eat if you set a plate down in front of him, but in the theraputic style mealtime, he is still getting in his 2oz of food and 2oz of liquid. He starts preschool on Monday so we are trying to push mealtimes around so we can still get in 4 a day and try to avoid any tube feedings while he is at school. I am just hoping we can get these ear and tube infections under control with minimal trips to the Dr as possible so he can just focus on school and being 3! This is going to be a great year for him!!