No Muffin Tin Monday due to Potty Training!! :

We will do a great Muffin Tin Monday next week to make up for today. We will be doing Muffin Tin Monday next week with the one and only Bri. Of course it will be 4th of July Themed!

Jacob has been showing many signs that he is ready to be potty trained. I wanted to put it off as long as I could because I was not sure how to potty train and because the daycare Jacob will be starting in August will potty train for us. Well, I decided just to go ahead and do it now instead. I am so glad that I did this. Jacob sure is ready! I received an E-Book from a friend a while back talking about potty training in 3 days. I thought this was amazing and decided to read up on it and give it a try. Well today was day 1. Jacob woke up and we watched Yo Gabba Gabba in bed for a bit and then went to eat breakfast. After breakfast we went to his room and he threw all of his diapers away. Even the ones in the diaper bag. He chose his pair of underwear. He was able to choose from Yo Gabba Gabba, Mickey Mouse, or Thomas the Train. He chose Thomas the train. What the 3 day potty training is, is that he should be fully trained in 3 days but its very frustrating and difficult. There are no diapers or pull ups involved. We are stuck inside for 3 days and can't go anywhere. I have to be very close to him all day every day. If he starts to have an accident, I have to pick him up immediately and rush him to his potty. I have to catch him in the act. Well after the first 3 accidents and no peepee in the potty at all, i was getting very frustrated and about to lose hope and put a diaper back on him. Then after a few minutes from his last accident, he was showing signs that he had to go. I ran him into the bathroom and he sat down and he went. I was so happy for him. We did the potty dance and i gave him an M&M and sticker and he helped me flush. He was so happy for himself. After that, he was pretty much good to go. He had a few accidents here and there trying to make it to the potty but he def. knows when he has the urge to go. All in all, we had 6 accidents today and he peed in the potty 10 times. He is so happy for himself and he knows when he has to go. He says "mama peepee" and runs to the bathroom and does his business! He even woke up from his nap dry. Again, no diapers or pull ups at night or nap. If tomorrow and Wednesday go as good or even better as today, then I am certain that he will be fully trained in 3 days!! YAY!

Before we threw all the diapers away!

Jacob in his Yo Gabba Gabba Big Boy underwear

Jacob in his Thomas the Train Big Boy Underwear

Muffin Tin Monday and 200th Post

Yes this is our 200th post on this blog and Yes its Muffin Tin Monday!!

Muffin Tin Monday's Theme is Animals. Enjoy!

Top Left: Giraffe Leaves (snap peas), Hay (Cheesy rice), Pig (Pink Marshmellow), Cow Milk
Bottom Left: Yogurt with Bear sprinkles and animal crackers, elephant PBnJ, Snake (Banana)

Muffin Tin Monday (actually tuesday)

Hello from Dallas, TX!

Jacob and I are in Dallas for a week visiting my parents and of course we are having a wonderful time. Even though we are on vacation, my mom and I decided to do a muffin tin monday. Jacob had a stomach bug yesterday and didnt really eat much so we changed it to today, Tuesday.
No theme this week except he can say all the foods! Which is very exciting!

SO Muffin Tin Monday is brought to you Dallas Style..LOL

Top Left: Oranges, Cereal, Sausage
Bottom Left: Eggs with cheese, waffle in the shape of a car, and syrup

No allergies?

And so continues the metabolic mystery of Jacob Karlin. Steadfast speculation surrounding Jacob's slow weight gain engrosses our family, leaving us more worried every time a new dietary technique fails to pack on the pounds.

Last week's visit to an allergist in Nashville only added to our guessing game.

Apparently, Jacob does not have a food allergy. Every scratch test administered at the doctor's office came back negative.

Dairy? Nope.

Wheat? Nope.

Peanuts? Nope.

Seafood? Nope.

It'll be about another week before we receive the results from his blood work, but it looks like the reason behind Jacob's slow growth will remain an enigma. Maybe Jacob just has high—very high—metabolism. But when we think back to the inflamed allergy cell near his stomach, it makes us wonder if there's more at play than just burning calories at an extraordinary rate.

We're going to follow up with the GI specialist. We are very thankful the results of the allergy tests came back negative; we just hope someone can give us an answer—soon.

Possible food allergy

Well, Jacob's biopsy results came back today and it's still unclear as to what exactly may be stunting his growth. However, there's a 98 percent chance that it is not celiac disease! Hallelujah!

Dr. Rosen, Jacob's gastroenterologist, told us he did see inflammation on Jacob's small intestine, but much of it was located on an allergy cell on the lower part of the intestine near his stomach.

So, what exactly does that indicate?

According to the doc, in the simplest words he could muster, Jacob most likely has a food allergy. He said everyone reacts differently to food allergies. Some break out in hives or rashes. Others, like Jacob, may struggle with growth.

To what food he's allergic is the new mystery. It could be peanuts, it could be dairy, or it could be wheat. Dr. Rosen is going to refer us to an allergist to continue, and hopefully conclude, the investigation.

Erin's putting her money on dairy, but we're hoping the odds are against her. The reason she thinks the culprit may come from a cow is because Jacob was, in fact, once allergic to dairy—at six weeks old.

One day Erin found blood in Jacob's stool. Our pediatrician at the time determined he was allergic to cow's milk, so Erin had to cut dairy completely out of her diet if she wanted to continue nursing him. He's consumed a lot of cheese and milk without a bloody stool he stopped breast feeding, so we assumed he outgrew it. Another reason you shouldn't assume.

Whatever food he may be allergic to, we'll change our habits to help our little man grow big and tall... especially tall. For now, we're very thankful we can rule out celiac disease.

We'll keep everyone posted as we get more information.

Muffin Tin Monday

Time for my second Muffin Tin Monday. This Muffin Tin Monday is brought to you by the color Yellow! Jacob's favorite color is Yellow.

Top Left: Corn, Yellow dino gummies, Cheddar pringles
Bottom Left: Monkey shaped grilled cheese, mac 'n cheese, hot dog (not yellow though)

Cute video of my Cutie Patootie

My Smartie Pants

Cute video of Jacob tell us his name, age and color of hair!

Scope update

Jacob's scope procedure, from prepping to post-anesthesia recovery, was a success, though immediate results were inconclusive.

Earlier today, Jacob underwent a medical procedure called a sigmoidoscopy, which sent a scope down his throat to check for inflammation in areas that impact the absorption of nutrients, including the stomach and both intestines.

We'll find out more information toward the end of the week after Jacob's physician studies the biopsies, but we're anticipating he'll diagnose him with celiac disease.

The small intestine was the only area of concern, where the physician noticed patchy white blotches. He said those blotches typically are signs of celiac disease, a condition that results from gluten-based products, such as wheat, inflaming certain parts of the intestines and interfering with the body's ability to absorb nutrients.

He didn't want to draw conclusions before he studied the biopsies. So we'll wait and keep everyone posted.

Jacob was able to ride in a car to help ease his anxiety. He refused to go in the red car and insisted on riding in the pink one. Pink is just faded red, right?

Before they took Jacob back to the OR, they gave him some medicine that would help him relax so he wouldn't freak out when he is wheeled away and figuring out that we can't come with him. About 10 minutes after they gave him the medicine, he was acting pretty silly. Very out of it. It was funny and cute but we felt sorry for him.
We sat in the GI waiting room for about 45 minutes, when the doctor called us back to discuss the results. Then we were able to go to recovery to see our baby again. As soon as we walked in, we saw him sitting up in his bed and he started to cry pretty hard and only wanted Mamma. It took him about an hour to calm down. All he wanted was the IV out and to relax on Mamma's shoulder. He finally calmed down and wanted his popsicle.

Jacob enjoyed his popsicle as he recovered in the post-anesthesia care unit.

To sum it all up, Jacob is a very brave trooper. He did so great and we couldn't be any prouder of him! He just goes with the flow. After we got home at about 2:00, Jacob ate a yummy peanut butter and jelly sandwich (first meal of the day), and he has been his wonderful active self for the rest of the day! He is such a blessing and we are so lucky to have such a wonderful kid!

No therapy for this little man

Erin took Jacob to a speech evaluation today to determine whether he's delayed in language development.

He's not.

The therapist said his receptive and expressive skills are right where they should be. We had a feeling his language development was on par after his second birthday set off a spontaneous word explosion, but we wanted to get a professional opinion. No need for speech therapy, the therapist told us, though we need to continue to monitor his development during the next six months.

Just like everyone warned us, Jacob won't shut up. Our drives are filled with this sound:


"Dada." "Dada." "Dada." "Dada." "Look!" "Truck!" "Bus!"

"Mama." "Mama." "Mama." "Mama." "Look!" "Truck!" "Bus!"

And when we try to ignore him while we're talking to each other, he only gets louder.

"DADA!" "DADA!" "DADA!" "DAAAAA DAAAAA!"

"MAMA!" "MAMA!" "MAMA!" "MAAAA MAAAA!"

Now he can verbalize what he wants. No longer is he limited to pointing in the general vicinity of what he wants to eat or play with, leaving all three of us frustrated and annoyed when Erin and I can't figure out what he wants. He can tell us, for example, when he wants to see a school bus in our neighborhood, or ride the choo-choo train at the zoo. He can even tell us their colors. Yellow bus; his hair is red.

He can tell us if he wants to picked up or put down on the ground. He can tell what he wants to watch on TV (usually, Yo Gabba Gabba). He can tell us when he wants to go outside and what he wants to do. One of his favorite games is called "sky," where he and I throw balls in the air.

We can even carry on a little conversation with him... if you limit your end of the dialogue to a series of close-ended questions.

We're relieved his language development is OK. Now we can focus our worries on his weight.