The Latest

Four weeks.  The feeding pump has been stowed away in the depths of some closet somewhere for the last four weeks.  It has been exactly one month since Noodles has been on the blenderized diet.  And life is so much easier.  Here's a sample daily intake (the only change is that we've added some salt, 1 tsp of Cod Liver Oil and reduced the Canola Oil to 2 tsps). The cod liver oil is for Vitamin D:

















Retching episodes are a thing of the past and I have to think its because of the new diet.  Emily has been a tremendous help figuring out what works and what doesn't.  Together, we've found a system that works.  We laminated the Homemade Blended Formula Worksheets, one for each day of the week, and came up with a menu plan for the week.  We use a china marker to adjust the food items from time to time and recalculate the total calories accordingly. It keeps us organized and each night we place all the ingredients for the next day in a container.  We add liquid the next morning and blend it up in the Vitamix. Voila.  The food is made for the day and we draw it up into syringes and plunge it into LJ's belly several times throughout the day. (he got turkey, potatoes, peas and apples for Thanksgiving yesterday O)

As of Wednesday morning, Lew is the proud new owner of yet another hand splint.  His right side, still the weaker side, doesn't ever seem to relax.  LJ always holds his right arm close to his chest and right hand fisting still persists. The old hand splint was too small and had disappeared anyway so our OT at Children's Hospital made him a new splint.  We have been working our way up to wearing it all day.  So far Noodles only tolerates it for about 20 minutes and he has figured out how to un-velcro the straps using his functioning hand! He's quick like that.

LJ prefers to communicate with sign language over his iPad (but we're still working with him on it).  He's producing more sounds when he signs, oftentimes making an "mmm" sound when he signs "more" or "ma". Lately he's also started making the "ba" sound.  The cerebral palsy makes it hard for him to control how his hands and arms move.  And it also makes it difficult for him to close his lips when he wants to create a sound.  Sometimes he uses his fist to help guide his jaw upward in order to produce a sound.  Still, I continue to be awed by him and he probably uses 20-25 baby signs/day.  Here's the rundown:
water ::  eat ::  yes  ::  no  ::  mom  ::  dad  ::  please  ::  thank you  ::  more  ::  all done/finished  ::  diaper change  ::  movie  ::  bath  ::  night night/sleep  ::  car/drive  ::  play  ::  ball  ::  light  ::  phone  ::  love  ::  want  ::  shampoo  ::  stars  ::  book  ::  hurt  ::  stop  ::  home  :: dance  ::  socks  ::  shoes  ::  wash hands  ::  hi  ::  bye