Nora loves her squash!

Nora ate her first vegetable 10 days ago, butternut squash – yummy!! She has handled it very well and it seems to be doing her system good. We bake it and then blend it with her rice porridge and she loves it. We had been debating what Nora’s next food should be after the rice for a while. We got a lot of different opinions and were crossing our fingers that the new food would agree with her short bowel. By the looks of her poopies she is digesting it wonderfully. The extra solids have been great for Nora’s weight, she’s at an all time high of 14lbs 15oz as of Monday’s weigh in!

Nora had a great visit with with Dr. Crooms on Tuesday, the surgeon who performed both of Nora’s surgeries and whom we will forever be thankful to for saving our precious little sweetheart. I can’t help but mention what a wonderful man Dr. Crooms is every time I talk about him. His surgical skills are amazing but his heart is even more so. He told us that he keeps a picture of Nora and him that we took on his mantel and looks at it everyday to remind himself that miracles do happen. We met with him to discuss removing Nora’s g-tube button since she has been eating solely by mouth since mid July. We have always been told by every doctor we’ve met with that if she didn’t need to use it by 6 months to 1 year of age than it would be safe to take it out. Nora is 10 days shy of her 9 month birthday and we’re feeling that the pros outweigh the cons of taking it out at this point. Of course there is always that big IF she ever did get very sick and need it again than that would mean another surgery. At this point the button is being used as an exit for her food rather than entry, by accident of course. It opens very easily and Nora’s little fingers are quick to open it and before you know it a bottles worth of formula will leak out. So with Dr. Crooms advice to take it out that made us feel comfortable with making the decision to do so and will take her back next week to have it removed.

On a last note, Nora has learned to wave hi and bye, clap and give high 5’s in the past week. We have been working on waving for a little while and once she got it clapping and high 5ing came soon after. Now she is an expert clapper and claps when she sees or hears about something or someone she likes. Especially when she sees her favorite kitty outside. But not just any kitty, she is very particular and only claps when she sees her favorite one out of the three outside kitties we have. She’s also been saying Dada a lot, sometimes entire conversations of Dada! All of a sudden our little baby is turning into a little girl and picking up new skills by the day.

Practicing her waving in the carseat mirror on the way home from Dr. Crooms.

She also loves to tear it up in her walker, or we call it her car and boy is she speedy!