February 29, 2012

Thank goodness for a leap year! Without it we would have missed an entire month of blogging. We've had a great month. Here are a few highlights...

Charlotte helped with some Valentine's Day baking for my and Patrick's offices. Her interest in what we do in the kitchen has increased and she regularly asks to use our little kitchen ladder to see what's going on.

Charlotte has been under the weather a couple times this month. Around the middle of the month she was so tired that she laid on these pillows or snuggled with me on the couch for an entire afternoon. We watched two movies from start to finish - so I knew she was in need of major down time.

Then last weekend our friends Andy and Robin from Madison were visiting the Twin Cities and while we enjoyed breakfast with them Charlotte was just not herself. She cried and complained that her ear hurt. While Patrick stayed at breakfast I took Charlotte to the Minute Clinic at CVS and they confirmed she had an ear infection. Within an hour she had been seen, we paid a co-pay $10 less than our regular visits, her prescription was filled, and we were home. Amazing.

The unseasonably warm February weather inspired a trip to a park in Kasson, MN while Charlotte and I visited my parents. The swings were a bit more popular, and we could tell that she is pretty fearless now (well, with an exception to the tube slides - those are pretty scary).

We finally got a snow fall! Or was it a slush fall? In any case, Patrick helped Charlotte build her first snow man. Here she is putting the nose into their snow man.

Dress up has become a popular past time. She loves tu-tus (you can see one poking out under the shirt).

Her eating has been going very well! Tonight we had spaghetti and she carbo-loaded.

And she appeared to enjoy it!

We made it to the speech therapist again this month and we're going to keep doing what we're doing. Based on our weight checks at home Charlotte has maintained her weight and even gained an ounce or two with only 3 cans of formula. Our daily goal is that she eats at least 250 calories, and she makes it most days. Next week we get to meet with a dietician to learn about ways we can increase the calories she is getting.

January 29, 2012

We've had a fun week with lots of playing. Charlotte has discovered how fun dress up can be (above) and Patrick discovered that he can fit inside of her tent AKA peapod (below).

AND, the absolute mostest bestest thing in the world - she eats! Generally when daycare calls it means she's sick and we have to pick her up. Not so this week. Twice we got wonderful news that she had eaten most (half of a ham and cheese wrap) or all (spanish rice and ground beef) of her lunch and they were uncertain about starting her mid-day feed. We decided to give her half of her feed immediately after such a full lunch and then we finish it up in the evening so that she still gets a full 3 cans a day.

Her favorite foods include: pudding, goldfish crackers, breakfast sausage links, and hummus (by the spoonful). She has eaten other things as well, but these are the ones she really scarfed down. Here's some photographic evidence:

Chocolate pudding is good. Need we say more?

Forget nutrition, Charlotte even got her first taste of a McDonalds cheeseburger this weekend.

A can of formula equates to 250 calories, so our goal each day was for Charlotte to take in at least 250 calories. We thought she had done this, so were surprised and disappointed when she weighed in at 23 lbs 10 oz yesterday (down from 24 lbs 1 oz the week prior). Then, we decided it must be water weight because she's not getting the fluid from her formula. We added extra water to her feeds today and tonight she weighed in at 24 lbs 2 oz! I'll take it.

We plan to e-mail her pediatrician tonight and find out how much water we should be giving her now that she's getting 3 cans per day. The Human Nutrition class I took for a liberal education requirement did not prepare me for this situation! :)

We're hopeful that this is one giant leap toward a tube free Charlotte. By her third birthday perhaps?

In other exciting news, Patrick and I got to go on a date Saturday night. Grandpa and Grandma Russell baby sat Charlotte and she loved it. She got to stay up late, show how high she can jump, read her new book (Tickler Monster), and in general be adored. We also loved the opportunity to try a new-to-us restaurant in Uptown (and feel cool that we were going out to eat in Uptown).

January 22, 2012

Charlotte has been grazing on food all day. We didn't track calories, but here is a list of foods that passed her previously impenetrable lips: goldfish crackers, greek yogurt, chocolate pudding, bread, twinkie, shredded turkey, broccoli, water, and pineapple juice.

The quantity varied for each food but we're more that pleased with her Day 1 performance. She loved the turkey we had for dinner and after eating a fair amount got a bit excited, put too much in her mouth, gagged, and vomited most of her dinner. This resulted in a new first for mom: cleaning vomit with chunks of food in it. I thought I'd be more grossed out than I was...I guess when it's your own kid it's just not that bad. In fact, I sort of enjoyed it - seeing real food in her vomit, that is.

January 21, 2012

Charlotte's foolish parents are embarking on a test of her eating skills. Starting tonight we're reducing her overnight feed from 2 cans to 1 to see if she eats more as a result. Tonight she weighed 24 lbs 1 oz, so we'll compare again in a week.

This past Monday we took her in for her monthly appointment with the speech (feeding) therapist and she did pretty well. We're focusing on teaching her to chew with her back teeth and to use her tongue to move food around in her mouth. The latest strategy is a game: she chews on her straw and then we cheer for the bite marks she makes. We're most likely jumping the gun with our test but she's been a relatively good eater this week. She ate 4 slices of mandarin orange at daycare, this morning she ate about a quarter of a hamburger bun, and at dinner tonight she chewed on a french fry and ate a fork-full of mustard (num!).

We've had a fun couple of weeks! We celebrated Christmas with our extended families the first weekend in January, saw Elmo Makes Music with Aunt Kelly last weekend, and spent this afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Distad at Sea Life.

Here's Charlotte getting excited to see Elmo Makes Music - Live! This was a great Christmas gift from Aunt Kelly and Uncle Tim. She was enthralled, only breaking her concentration to clap after each song (and occasionally during). Thanks Kelly and Tim!

Here's a shot of Charlotte and Kelly pre-show. I had the pleasure of attending with them and it was a ton of fun. There was a lot going on, so it was hard (read impossible) to get Charlotte to look at the camera.

January 5, 2012

Happy New Year! We celebrated Noon Years Eve at Como Zoo and here are a few photos from the event.

Patrick made Charlotte her New Year's Eve hat. Version 1 (above) was quickly improved.

Version 2 was an original for the event. Good job Daddy!

After a countdown to Noon these beach balls fell on the crowd. Very fun! This is as close as I ever want to get to New Years Eve in Time Square; it was packed.

Charlotte was excited to get a lion beach ball even though it was purchased at the gift shop. Patrick caught a beach ball right after they were dropped but I thought it was more fun to throw the balls in the air...and it was until they had all been grabbed for keeps.

Since the New Year Charlotte has been battling illness - a fever, lots of coughing and vomiting, wheezing, and exhaustion have disqualified her from daycare for a bit. Conveniently we had already scheduled an appointment for yesterday with her pediatrician to have her g-tube site looked at because she continues to complain of pain. For the tube we have another medication that will help the stomach lining heal - we're hoping it's just irritation. If we don't see improvement by next week the next step will be an ultrasound.

For her other symptoms she was diagnosed with probably having RSV. She received monthly shots to prevent RSV for the last two winters, but now she's too old for the shots (at least to have insurance cover the very costly shots). Hopefully nebulizer and rest will help her get back on her feet - literally as she wants to lay around almost all day - very soon.

The worst of yesterday's appointment was her chest x-ray. If you haven't had the privilege of watching a toddler receive a chest x-ray here's a blog with a picture of what happens: http://matthewrachelstarch.blogspot.com/2011/03/pigg-o-stat.html - not only was Charlotte immobilized in a similar torture device, she also had a piece of black velcro wrapped around the plastic walls which just happened to be at her eye level, preventing her from seeing anything thereby increasing her fear. I've never heard her scream quite like that and was relieved when it only lasted a minute. There has got to be a better way...

Here's to hoping our family soon returns to our normal school/daycare and work routines!

December 27, 2011

Merry Christmas! The last few weeks have been filled with holiday fun. We kicked off the holiday season the weekend of December 10 by making cookies with Grandma Distad.

Charlotte's favorite part was rubbing the flour around and brushing a little (ok, a lot) onto the floor.

Merry Christmas! We celebrated early with Charlotte and she is now a culinary queen. Here she is posing next to her kitchen with her chef hat.

Charlotte proceeded to get sick the week before Christmas. She was coughing, vomiting, and sleeping in excess. I stayed home with her on Monday, on Tuesday she went to bed at 5 p.m., and on Wednesday she fell asleep at daycare while all the kids played loudly (they called us to pick her up). Luckily she slept until 2 p.m. on Wednesday and woke up with enough energy to travel to Eau Claire for the traditional dinner with Santa (and, most importantly, Grandma and Grandpa Russell).

The holiday excitement escalated when she got to see the big guy. This was as close as she'd get. At least she thanked Santa for the cookie!

Posing in front of the Fanny Hill Christmas Tree. Everyone is looking at the camera and even smiling!

Charlotte got to try her hand at cookie cutting and decorating again with Grandma Russell. A messy, but fun, venture.

Christmas Eve! Grandpa Russell hand-crafted this barn for Charlotte. The trip to Michaels: $5.26, Popsicle sticks: $4.99, hot glue gun: $8.99, this picture: priceless (please note: prices are completely made up).

Charlotte now poses for pictures and then runs to see herself on the camera screen. She rarely poses long enough for the picture to be taken, however, and you can see here she's just starting to run toward me.

Christmas morning came awfully early, so that Charlotte could open her gifts from Santa before we headed off to Grandma and Grandpa Distad's. Love the bed head! Here she is with the magnifying glass she received. She thought it was hilarious.

A tractor for Christmas! She may live in the big city, but at least she'll know what a tractor looks like.

And no Distad family Christmas would be complete without a child playing piano. We enjoyed being serenaded by Charlotte's playing and singing this year.

Here, Charlotte is posing with her new Bitty Baby. There is no need for us to by extra outfits, however, since it appears that Charlotte's preemie clothes fit just fine. It's hard to imagine, but the above outfit was too big for Charlotte at one point. Look for Charlotte in the next People's "Who Wore It Better?"

December 3, 2011

Yesterday's surgery went well and Charlotte was discharged this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. So, so good to be home. Just one night in the hospital was longer than any of us wanted to experience; as we packed up to leave Patrick joked that it almost felt as good as the day we took her home from the hospital (after a 94 day inpatient stay). I'm including a few pictures from the past couple of days. Warning: I'm including a picture of her surgical wound, so don't scroll down if you'll be queasy.

The surgical waiting area is full of toys. Here's Charlotte moments after we arrived as she moved frantically around the room checking out all of the toys. After we waited here for a couple of hours the toys lost their novelty and she was ready to get going.

Here she is changed into her hospital clothes. We love the Family Life Specialists at Amplatz. Before her surgery one of the specialists brought her a baby doll with a G-tube and a bag of medical toys to play with. Then, on Friday night when her IV lost the vein another Family Life Specialist used an iPad with very cool apps (animal noises, music, fireworks, etc.) to distract her. She didn't even fuss, and I know we would have had to physically restrain her if it'd been just the nurse.

Here she is a few minutes after we got to her inpatient room. She was wiped out. We knew she was going to be just fine when she was up for giving high-fives to Grandma and Grandpa Russell as they finished their visit.

And here is the surgeon's work. Her original G-Tube site was just above and to the right of where you can see the Mic-Key Button. We're happy the surgeon was able to do this laparoscopically through her belly button. Before the surgery he said there was a good chance he would need to make an incision if there was extensive scar tissue internally, and that would have meant an extra scar.

Another note, our surgeon said it is rather unusual that a G-Tube site needs to be moved. He said in his career he's only performed a couple dozen of these procedures and never on any of the tubes he placed initially (surgeons are known for their modesty, you know... :p). He seemed to imply that the surgeon who placed it initially had created too much tension between the tube and the stomach which caused the tube to migrate up toward the ribs. He planned to leave as little tension as possible.

He somehow managed to use the same stomach hole, which is why we were able to leave the hospital early this afternoon instead of late tonight or even tomorrow. We are very happy with our surgeon and hope he's as knowledgeable as it seems.

Charlotte's evening nurse brought her a wagon, so we spent a lot of time walking around the halls like this. This picture is from her first ride when she was exhausted, but when she perked up she enjoyed pointing and saying "that way" and "more walk" when we tried to return to her room.

She was tired, but not too tired to pass up an opportunity to play with toys! There was a great play room on our floor that she enjoyed a couple of times. It's staffed by volunteers, and I'm sure many of those volunteers are the budding health professionals I advise at the U. I was happy I didn't recognize anyone as that may have been awkward.

Day 2! There was only room for one of us to spend the night with her, so she was happy on Daddy's shoulder when he returned to the hospital this morning.

Relaxing with some Dora.

And here's a picture of my own budding health professional (maybe?). Or, I guess any profession that involves gloves. She was pretty excited about them.

Time to go home! We expect her to have some pain and discomfort for the next couple of days, but it should lessen and be gone completely.

Hospital trips do not get easier. The hardest part is giving her up to the surgical staff - I think I'd even rather being the room during the surgery. This time we were able to be in the room when she first opened her eyes, which was easier than last time when we walked in and she was crying in a nurse's arms. She seemed comforted waking up to familiar faces despite being in pain. We're just glad it's done and we hope this is her last surgery. Ever.

Growth progress update: At her pre-op appointment on December 1 Charlotte weighed 24 lbs 7 oz and was 33.5 inches tall.