Nate Update-14 Months

First off, some current stats for our 14 months old. He is now weighing 18.7lbs (Yippee!) which is still small for his age, but he has gained over two pounds in three months, which is big for him. He is climbing on EVERYTHING! His favorite past times are getting into the dog water, throwing things in the trash and playing in the toilet. If we find ourselves missing a utensil or remote, we know he has thrown it into the trash. We are pretty certain that we have already lost a whisk to this past time. He not only sucks his thumb but plays with his hair behind his ears. (As seen in the photo below.) We are seeing a very stubborn side to him recently. If he doesn't like something, he will let you know! And the best news of all, he is walking!!! 

Now on to the kidney info. We got blood work last week. (While we were at the doctors, they noticed a start of an ear infection, which is his first.) The first thing the doctor looked at today was his ultrasound results. When he was a newborn, his kidneys were measuring 2.4 and 2.9 cm., normal size being 5 cm. His scan in July showed his kidneys had grown to 4.2 and 4.4, average being 6.3. When you look at his growth in comparison, this is a good number. The doctor charted the numbers and it appeared that Nate's kidneys were on the very, very low side of normal.....NORMAL!!! My heart lept thinking that maybe this was the start of "the end" with his kidney concerns.  Well, then we moved on to the blood work.

His blood work was pretty consistent with the numbers we were seeing in the past. Creatinine remains at a .67, normal being .5. He has given a new blood test this time which measured his Vitamin D levels, turned out to be normal. The one number that continues to worry his doctor is his acid level. Nate is currently on medication to assist this level in regulating itself. Each appointment the doctor chooses to up his dosage, because it doesn't appear to be hitting where he needs to be. Today that number was again extremely low. So we are upping the dose again. The side effect associated with this low function is low weight gain, which we are obviously seeing in Nate.  

Last but not least, Nate's urine was tested for the first time today. In the urine there is already evidence that Nate is losing protein. This number is what seemed to concern the doctor the most. The way he described it was Nate's little kidneys are compensating for their size. The little nephrons have grown in size to help with the demand for the filtering. There is a lot of pressure on these little cells to do a lot of work. Because of that pressure, they have a tendency to leak protein. He is going to have to start Nate on a medicine he wasn't planning on giving him until later in his life. This medicine will take some of the pressure off of his kidneys and not make them work so hard. So instead of maintaining a creatinine level of .6, the kidneys will only have to work to maintain a .7 or .8. In the end, this will help Nate elongate the life of his kidneys. Once scar tissue starts building up (because they are working so hard) it will be the beginning of the end for his little kidneys. So if we make them not work as hard, we might get a few more years out of them.  His functionality of his kidneys is currently estimated at around 59%.  This means he is right on the edge of being considered Stage III of kidney disease. (60% would mean he is in Stage II.)

We are still uncertain what this means for his future. The doctor is still hopeful that Nate will make it to his teenage years before needing a transplant, so we are not out of the woods, unfortunately. So we will "just keep swimming" as Dory the fish says. Nate has come so far in the last 5 months. All we can do is keep doing what we are doing. We are trusting God for where he takes us with this. Please continue to pray for our little guy. He is such a trooper! 

Awesome Date Night!

This past Friday, Adam and I were able to go out on a date. We do not get these too often, but this one was super special. Ever since I was a young girl, I have loved the Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman. Last Friday, he finally came to town. 

The singer Bebo Norman also came to open the concert. Both were incredibly moving, not to mention wonderful! It was such a great night!

Towards the end of the evening, Steven Curtis Chapman shared with the audience about their calling to assist with adoption along with their ministry, Show Hope. Adam and I are hoping that God opens a door for us one day to adopt, so it was so moving to see and hear such an advocate for this special cause, not to mention the stories from his own experiences. 

Thanks hubby for such a great night. I would encourage everyone who can to see this man in concert. He is amazing!

Little Miss August Turns Three!

On Tuesday our Tessa turned three. On one hand it seems like such a short time in our lives, but on the other hand, we have a hard time remembering our life without our silly girl. She is growing to be a very good big sister, helping Nate often. She is speaking very clearly and often says the darn-dest things. We went for her three year checkup on Wednesday where she is now weighing 33lbs.  We call her our little hypochondriac because she asks to go to the doctor all the time. When we left the office this time, she said her pediatrician was her "best friend". We will be going to the dentist for the first time soon, and she is already excited about it. She asks every day "can I go to the doctor tooth, please!"  

 She has also become quite the little fish this summer. She used her floaties for about two weeks at the beginning of the summer, and now she will have nothing to do with them. Even when she has been playing for a while, she still is determined to swim "all by myself!"

 Her favorite things are still turtles. She also loves to play the game "I'll dress myself with as many items as I can find in my drawers." She will come out with socks, flip flops, mittens hats, multiple shirts, sunglasses and pants...all at once. Usually she isn't willing to have the paparazzi take pictures of these moments. Maybe she wants to keep this fashion craze all to herself. 

We are so blessed to have Tessa in our lives. She has been such a joy. Happy birthday sweet girl! We look forward to many more years of your silliness! 

One Last Summer Outing

Last week we took a family trip to the aquarium we have here in town. It is on the other side of town, but Tessa LOVES ocean animals, so we knew it would be worth it. Recently we were able to go to the Monterey Aquarium. This aquarium wasn't as big as that one, but still fed Tessa's ocean addiction. The sad part was that Tessa did not get to see her most favorite creature, the sea turtle. We waited at the turtle tank for a long time, but the one rescued sea turtle this aquarium has never swam by. 

Fun with Daddy!

Lots of exploring!

Whenever one of us are holding both kids, Tessa always says "two babies!"

Tessa would not even be an appetizer for this big fella!

Throughout the aquarium, there are many places for the children to get in this "bubble" like viewing apparatus and really see the fish up close. Tessa enjoyed these moments.

School will be starting soon. I am not looking forward to leaving my babies again. But I know they are taken good care of by their Grammy. Plus, I will have to figure out where our next family trip will be. 

Nate's First Year

Yesterday was our sweet Baby Nate's 1st Birthday. Unfortunately he had to suffer through his one year appointment with his pediatrician and a few shots. Right now he is currently weighing 16.13 lbs, and he is 28 inches tall. He is still not on "the charts", as they say in baby lingo, for his weight. No blood work was needed this trip, thank God, since he gets it taken so often. Our pediatrician was also able to call the hospital and get some results for us from his ultrasound. We have not heard from his kidney doctor yet so we do not know how to interpret these numbers, so we will have to keep waiting some more. But the pediatrician was hopeful.

It is amazing to watch this video and see how far Nate has come, especially in the last three months. He was evaluated for some physical therapy services a few months ago and did in fact qualify. We were told that his gross motor skills were more around the age of 4 months instead of 9 months. Well, we know how Nate doesn't like to be told he can't do something. So for a baby who could barely sit up on his own at 9 months, Nate can now sit up, crawl, pull to a stand, balance for 3-4 seconds and walk across the room with a supported toy walker. It is so amazing to see him come this far....on his own! (We are still waiting for them to start his physical therapy services. Gotta love our state system!) He is still a picky eater, but we are finding more and more things he likes every day. He is such a wonderful baby....our I guess I should be calling him a toddler now :-)

His personality is blossoming as well. He has a sister that since now has been able to give him a run for his money when it comes to busyness. But Nate is catching up. He loves to crawl around the house and explore whatever he can get into. We call him our little Raccoon because his favorite place to explore is our trashcan or the doggie water dish.


Nate's First Year from rebturley on Vimeo.



We love and adore you sweet baby boy. You are truly our "gift from God"! We couldn't imagine our life without your sweet smile or cuddly personality. Happy birthday Baby Nate! We look forward to many, many more birthdays!

Nate's 1st Birthday...Pirate Party!

This past Saturday we celebrated Nate's 1st Birthday with family and friends. It was pirate themed and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. It did happen to rain just as people were arriving, so there was no "walking the plank". But Nate didn't seem to mind. He LOVED his chocolate cake! The kids also got to dress up like pirates with bandanas and eye patches!

We have his 1 year appointment with his pediatrician on Friday, so we will get his stats then. Hope you enjoy this video!

Nate's 1st Birthday from rebturley on Vimeo.

Summer Fun!

This summer has been very relaxed for the Turley household. Daddy still has to go to work, but we three (Mommy, Tessa and Nate) get to stay home and enjoy our summertime together. Recently Nate has discovered that we have a doggie door. One of these days I will get a pic of him sticking his head out of it. We caught Tessa doing it when she was Nate's age and it was pretty classic. We have also discovered cabinets. He loves to get into cabinets, even if there is a child lock on them. His favorite cabinet to get into is the one with the pots and pans. Then he smashes them like they were symbols. This makes for a very noisy house!

Part of Tessa's daily routine is pilling all of the couch cushions in a pile and using them like a fort. She likes to hide under them and then ask Mommy to find her. 

Sometimes building forts can be very tiresome. The other day I noticed it was really quiet. I looked over and saw that Tessa had fallen asleep atop her pile of cushions. Silly Tessa!

We are also hard at work with potty training. Tessa has resisted for a while now but has recently picked it up very well. Hopefully we will only be buying one size diapers!