Update from ENT appointment

Just wanted to give a quick update from Connor's ENT appointment. Dr. White of course said we definitely needed to get tubes which was of no surprise. However, he also decided after examining Connor and looking at his records that we should also remove his adenoids. Hopefully by doing so, Connor's sinuses will clear up and we won't have to keep him on Claritin and Flonase round the clock like we have been for the last year. He will have surgery next Wednesday at MUSC. Luckily, it will be out-patient and we should only be there for about half the day. I'm not looking forward to it but I will definitely be glad when it's over and hopefully we will have our sweet little boy back. Connor has been so miserable with his ears hurting, so we all have not been getting much sleep which for some people is normal with a 20 month old, but when you have a child like Connor who sleeps for a solid 12 hours or more every night...it's quite a shock to your system to be getting up and staying up at least half of every evening. Also, they did a hearing test and it showed that Connor has hearing loss in both ears from the infections. Please be in prayer that his hearing will be restored once they put the tubes in and the fluid drains out. The doctor said we will check his hearing again post-op and that will tell us whether or not it's permanent hearing loss. Our pictures from November are uploaded to Picasa so don't forget to check them out.
God bless!
Becky

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It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas...

Christmas has arrived at the Williamson house! Eric and I were able to get most of our decorations up this past weekend and I finished the rest yesterday. I love Christmas time. It might have something to do with the fact that I LOVE the color red, drinking yummy homemade apple cider, and of course endlessly listening to Christmas music (no lie..I play it almost 24 hours in our house right now)! Connor is doing so well with the decorations. He will only look at the tree and holds his hands behind his back when he goes near it...so cute! I was nervous that I was doing too much decorating and it would be too tempting for him but he just stares in wonder and remains very obedient..we are so blessed. Please pray for our little man. Connor has had a double ear infection for over a month now and we are on round 5 of antibiotics including 3 shots of Rocephin the week of Thanksgiving..however, nothing seems to be clearing them up. We have an appointment tomorrow with his ENT to discuss tubes. I have to say this all really caught me off guard because this is only his second ear infection ever! However, at this point I will do anything to get my happy and healthy child back. I will be updating our photos either tonight or tomorrow so check out the link on the right to catch up on our November events!

God bless
Eric, Becky, and Connor

Our breakfast area!

Our new leather chairs and stockings

Christmas tree..and it only took us one try to get the

ribbon right this year...we are becoming pros!

New table setting for the dining room

Merry Christmas!

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18 Months Already!

Has 18 months really gone by already?! He gets cuter all the time, although I am a little biased!

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We're Back!

Hey everyone!! I am so sorry we have not been updating everyone lately. Life has been crazy as usual, but we have had some wonderful things going on. Connor had his 18 month well visit last week and is up to 26.8 lbs which is a 5 pound improvement in just 3 months! He is eating wonderfully and he continues to take all of his meds to help with the reflux. It seems like we have finally found a good combination and he is the happiest we've ever seen him as far as his eating and reflux goes. He actually enjoys sitting at the table with us now! I truly never thought I would see that day. Connor is even feeding himself now and doing a great job using his fork and spoon! Eric and I are hearing more new words from him everyday. Just the other day his Papa came to visit and when he came up the stairs Connor looked at him and said, "Let's play!". We all were blown away...he tells me about everything now and talks non-stop..most of the time I can at least figure out what he's trying to tell me although not always.
Eric and I were able to go away for 6 days without Connor to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. It's hard to believe it has already been 3 years and how much we have been through and how life has changed just in that short time.
Eric is extremely busy at work these days, but we can't complain especially with the way our economy is these days. We feel blessed with his job security and knowing we have very little to worry about on that end.
I (Becky) am having a blast teaching preschool. I have a wonderful class of 12 preschoolers and Connor absolutely loves his teacher. The first couple weeks he cried when she would come get him, but now he asks me for his bag when he sees Ms. Janet and gives me a hug and kiss and grabs her hand and heads for the door. It is really sweet..my baby is turning into such a little boy.
October has been a whirlwind for us between Eric and I being gone the first week of the month, a visit to Grandpa Jack's house one weekend, and a visit with Mimi and Papa while I worked in Columbia last week. We are now back home and am glad that life is settling back down again..hopefully no more traveling until Thanksgiving!
I will do my best to try and post some pictures this weekend!
God bless,
Eric, Becky, and Connor

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Good News!

YEAH, we have good news to share! After working with the doctor, speech therapist, and ENT, we have had major breakthroughs with Connor. We have come up with a round of medicine and therapy that has made great strides with Connor's eating. He is now eating more than he ever has in a day and all sorts of different textures and food. He is even initiating eating on his own and feeding himself which is a first! Not only are we thrilled that our child is finally eating without a battle but he seems so much happier and thus are we!! I know many of you have been praying daily and I just want to let you know that those prayers are being heard and answered! We have decided to postpone all of the tests that were scheduled until October to see if this great trend Connor is on continues. It seems to be that we just have to stay on top of his dosages and watch closely for when they need to be increased as he continues to grow.
God bless,
Eric, Becky, and Connor

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Doctor Updates!

Alright, well I know many of you have been inquiring into what is going on with Connor's doctor appointments SO sorry for the delay in updates lately and here it is! Connor had his first appointment with the speech therapist last week which then lead to numerous referrals. The first of which will be to an ENT to see what is going on with Connor's sinuses and what effect the acid reflux has had or whether it is an entirely separate issue and is just allergies. He also is going to see a Pediatric GI who will perform a scope to see what is going on with the reflux. We all agree that Connor's pain is not entirely under control which is only contributing to his horrible feeding problems SO they are doubling his dose of Prevacid to see if that will help. If we don't see much improvement, there is another drug (can't remember the name of it at the moment) that they will use periodically along side of the Prevacid and see if that produces better results. They also want him to see an OT who they believe will help him with the texture aversion which is what the speech therapist is suppose to do, but none of us (including the doctor) are thrilled with what she has done so far. God bless her but she's a new graduate and a little over the top. We are praying for a more level headed OT who will actually focus on the texture aversion, but until we can get the referral to her we will continue to see the speech therapist. So basically we will be living at doctor offices for the next couple of months. If by Thanksgiving, when all the tests should be wrapped up and we get the results that there is nothing new we have really discovered, then his pediatrician will do some allergy testing to at least try and relieve those symptoms and see whether or not they are connected to the reflux and re-evaluate his reflux meds if necessary . Wheww, hope all that made sense!
Connor did gain 1 pound in the last 4 weeks which is a HUGE praise!!! He is almost back up to where he was at 12 months, so hopefully he will continue to gain as we get a handle on the reflux.
Please continue to pray for him and for us with patience through all of this. I know he has to be miserable, but it is so frustrating trying to get him to eat!
I finally uploaded our pics from July today, so don't forget to click on the link to your left. Things have been very busy for all of us with Eric handling several projects at work; Becky trying to finish applying to nursing school, preparing to teach preschool, being a leader in her MOPS group, and keeping up with the little guy. Life is certainly never boring around here.
God bless,
Eric, Becky, and Connor

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Uh-Oh..We're In Trouble

Well, Connor can now officially open doors on his own. I guess this means Eric and I will be making another trip to Babies'r'us to get safety latches for the doors. I didn't think we would have to worry about this for awhile, but Connor is so tall that those door knobs got his attention early!

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Dancing Baby!

Who doesn't love seeing a baby trying to dance? Nothing could be cuter! Connor is working on his dance moves, so watch out! :-)

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15 Month Well-Visit

Hey Family and Friends!
Connor had his 15 month well visit today and we have some updates to report on. Connor has dropped almost 2 pounds since his 12 month well-visit which certainly caused alarm for all of us and if you know our history with Connor than you know why. Connor is now 32 1/2 in. tall though so that was super and is still in the 99 percentile for his height. Eric and I attemped to take Connor off of his Prevacid last week which turned into a nightmare for all involved. His acid reflux symptoms did not take long at all to reoccur. We started him back on the Prevacid but it will take about another week to build up in his system. The doctor was also concerned that Connor primarily eats baby food and other than a few exceptions and does not want table food and will refuse it even if it means he goes hungry. Dr. Clifford believes the texture aversion to the table food is caused by his reflux, so he is setting us up for speech therapy. The goal is to help Connor learn how to relax the sphincter of the esophagus which is over working right now to protect itself, so that Connor will want to eat table food and also to help him get over his texture issues. His weight loss is more than likely happening because at his age the baby food does not provide enough caloric intake. Until we can see the speech therapist, the doctor said to feed him anything he will eat but to try and avoid baby food..even if it means all Connor eats is ice cream (I wish I could have doctor's orders that said that!). Also a side note, the doctor said the reason that Connor will eat bread and plain chicken cut up is that it can be soothing for the acid reflux (and we thought he just loved bread!). SO, for lunch Connor shared a milkshake with his new best buddy, Randy (our pastor from Indiana), and ate a chicken strip from Chick-fil-A. The goal right now is to just try and put some weight on him no matter what it takes until the speech therapist has time to work with him.
Other than that, Connor looks great and will go back in 4 weeks for a weight check! We will keep you posted!
Love,
Becky, Eric, and Connor

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Laughter!

Laughter is so contagious and this video is no exceception. You won't be able to keep from smiling/laughing when watching it. Connor loves bath time and for some reason really enjoys his Elmo bathmit. As you can see, he thought it was hilarious that Elmo was taking the letters. It's moments like these that you need to force yourself to remember when your child is throwing a temper tantrum and driving you crazy! :-)

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Blowing Kisses!

Connor has become super affectionate lately..not that we're complaining! We are actually eating it up. He especially loves to blow kisses these days in his own way as you will see by the video..so adorable. Check back after the 4th for more photos and videos. We will be seeing A LOT of family during that time and that always means plenty of pictures!

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New Pictures!

New pictures to enjoy! You will find a new link to the left of this post where you can click to see our web albums. I will do my best to upload pictures towards the end of every month, so feel free to check back periodically to see the fun we are having this summer! We had a fairly eventful month, and finally found a moment to upload our pictures. We enjoyed a family vacation with the Williamson's the first week of June, mommy and Connor went to Columbia overnight so mommy could work and have dinner with Amanda, and then we enjoyed having mommy's college roommate and her husband visit. We also enjoyed many days at the waterpark near our house. It's the best way to keep cool this summer without being stuck indoors. Connor is walking/almost running everywhere and giving mommy and daddy a good workout! Hope everyone is having a great summer and God bless!

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Connor's New Trick

Hey Everyone! We are pleased to announce that Connor is now walking ...YEAH! Although we realize that he's going to keep us on our toes, I think it's much easier with him walking than wanting to crawl on the hot pavement outside! Connor is definitely busy and we never quite realized just how much energy he had until he started walking. It's almost like he wants to run but his feet can't keep up. It's amazing to see him changing every day and to think about how quickly time is passing. We hope you all enjoy the video and please feel free to leave me comments about the site. I am new to "blogging" and still trying to make sense of it all so please be patient. God bless!

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Connor's Blog

Hello Friends and Family!
We love all of you and know how much everyone wants to stay current as to how Connor is changing, so we decided to create a blog. There will eventually be videos and pictures that we will post on this website that you will be able to enjoy. Connor is in a rapid stage of development and is becoming more fun everyday, and it is important to us that you all whether close or far are able to see all that's going on as he continues to grow. Please let us know if you have any suggestions or trouble accessing any of the information.
Love,
Eric, Becky, and Connor

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