23 Months on the 28th

I can't believe that this little guy will be celebrating his 2nd Birthday next month! He is changing everyday from a baby to a toddler. I haven't weighed him in a week, but he was up to 26.6lbs last week. Naps are far and few between, but thankfully he'll sleep from 8pm-6am, most days. Owen's speech has taken off and he always has new things to say and makes up sign language for things he can't find the words for. Our favorites are...

- Hands up to his ear and he says "HeeeeRRRRoooo" when he wants to talk on the phone.

- Hugs himself with his arms across his chest when he wants to be held.

- Puts his hands up to his lips when he wants food and usually asks for "Cheesssseee?"

- Loves to pretend to put deodorant on his armpits, curl his eyelashes and put on chapstick... such a copycat!

The list goes on and on, but these are the favorites of the month! Owen is eating like a champ... but still can't get a good quantity of food down. He loves to stuff his cheeks with any food and then he chews on it for a while, sometimes all night, until we scoop it out of his cheeks. He's got his drinking skills down perfectly and loves to blow bubbles in his milk. He still gets 100% of his feeds through his Gtube so that we can continue to keep his nutrition up. All the other foods he eats are extra calories.

Owen is still not walking, but seriously could win for Olympic Speed in butt-scooting! He is starting to pull up on furniture and he'll walk if we hold both his hands. We got his fancy Gait Trainer (walker with support) from the Healthcare company, and it was way too big for him. So we had to do an exchange and are still waiting on it. We only ordered it in September, so why would we have it any sooner than January, sigh. I don't know what I'll do when he starts walking... oxygen tanks and feeding pumps alone are going to be a chore. Also, the demands on his heart when he walks will be more. We continue to work with PT every week, we encourage him to walk throughout the day and he's getting stronger. We can't ask for anything more.

Cardiacwise (is that a word?)... Owen is doing pretty well. No puffiness, no desaturations, he's showing decent energy levels and he's gaining weight! We have an echo scheduled the end of January and I'm anxious to see what his ticker is up to. It looks like, thus far, we have found his perfect cocktail of 7 medications.

The only downside of things is tat Owen still has the pukes multiple times a day and it's NO fun. He's on a pretty hefty dose of Prevacid and it seems to be helping a little, but he still pukes multiple times a day. Not little spit-ups, but his entire feed (4oz or so) comes flooding out. It's not phasing him too much, and he goes about his business afterwards, but it makes me so sad for him every time. We go to GI in a few weeks and if they don't have any ideas, I'm switching GI docs.

Happy 23rd Month Birthday little guy!! You continue to amaze us everyday!