Give Thanks to the Lord

1 Chronicles 16:34 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

By my title I'm guessing you've figured it out.....YES....Denver's test ALL came back normal!!!!! This couldn't have made us more happy or more excited. The verse I started this post with just keeps going through my head as I'm just so thankful that God has brought us through this with such wonderful results and has made it so we can relax again and enjoy our perfect little boy!

The plan was to just watch Denver and check his weight again at 18 months if all of these tests came back normal. I say the WAS because we have decided to change that plan a "smidged". Today when I was at work, anxiously awaiting a call back from the clinic with the rest of Denver's test results I listened to a family telling our speech therapist (who yes, is called a speech therapist, but no she's not working on the babies speech, she works with their bottling and is an expert on picking up on cues that a baby is giving and why they may be struggling with bottling and what they can do to help the baby progress) about their older child at home who had struggled with feeding issues and I felt like they were almost exactly describing Denver. When our pediatrician called me with Denver's test results and we talked about what to do from here I told him some of the conversation that I and this family had with our speech therapist and he agreed that it wouldn't hurt to have them evaluate Denver. Now, I don't know what they exactly all do at a consult with a speech therapist with a 15 month old, but I'm hoping they'll be able to pick up on some feeding cues of Denver's....whether he has trouble with swallowing some things, or if his reflux is causing issues and he's just not presenting it how he used to so we didn't realize he was still struggling with it, etc. and then with that information I'm hoping they'll be able to give us some hints on how to get Denver to eat better. Denver likes to eat, but he doesn't usually shovel food in like most kids do and he'd rather graze than eat a bunch at one time. Also, something that has also really bothered us is that Denver will chew and chew something, but then spit it out or as we say "abort" some of his food and then he just decides he's done eating. With this said, we ask that you PRAISE God for answering our prayers in all the normal test results that we received, but that you pray that Denver can learn to eat better so he can at least maintain where he's at on the growth chart instead of continuing to drop. We understand that Denver will probably never be a huge kid or person for that matter, but we also want to make sure he thrives and does well and that we aren't missing something that he really needs. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers thus far as they have helped us get this far and we at least now know that their is nothing majorly "wrong" with him!

Also, I keep forgetting to put in my updates that Denver continues to get more teeth. Number 7 is all the way through and 8 is close to cutting through his gums. Next will be his 1 year molars which have been swollen (at least on the top) for quite some time so I'm guessing they won't be far behind. Denver's been a trooper with all of these teeth trying to come through at once and hasn't really acted like they bother him other than he rather drink his milk and pediasure (and chew on his sippy and everything else in site) instead of eating so much.

Since I know everyone appreciates pictures here are some pictures of Denver and his "zooey" (or is it "zooie", I can't remember now). Denver's Great-Great Aunt Ardis made him, his little sister, and his cousin Jacob all "zooey's". It's a long story of how the blankets got their names, but that makes the blanket special in its own way too. What makes this blanket extra special is that this Great-Great Aunt Ardis did this for her sister, who was Denver's Great-Grandma Betty, who Denver unfortunately never got to meet. Although this blanket doesn't replace Denver's sleeping blanket he loves to drag it around the house and to lay down on it on the floor in the living room. I hope this blanket will be a reminder to Denver of how special his Great-Grandma Betty was and how important of a person she was not only to his Mommy and Grandma, but to everyone else who knew her.