Sofie's 1st Thanksgiving

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Sofie had a good time visiting her Grandmas and Grandpas' Houses last week. It was her very first trip to visit them and she had a lot of fun. We left Monday afternoon and Sofie slept through the entire 2 hour drive. We got to Grandma Linda and Grandpa Steve's house around 7:30 Monday night.

Tuesday we spent the day at Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Kenny's house. Sofie had a "Great" time playing and getting visits from her Great-Aunt Karen, Great-Aunt Kay, Great-Uncle Rick, Great-Grandpa Tucker, and honorary Great-Grandma Wanda.

Wednesday we spent the day with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Steve and Sofie helped Mommy and Grandma bake for Thanksgiving. Great-Grandpa Troxel even came over to visit for a while.

Sofie was loving all the attention! But she did miss her Daddy. Kenny, Gracie, and Lola came down Thursday morning and she was so excited to see them I thought she was going to jump out of my arms!

Thursday we enjoyed two very yummy Thanksgiving dinners. Sofie's favorites were gravy and cranberry sauce. She also loved the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. She is getting better again with mealtimes and taking food off the spoon. She had started to avoid anything with food on it, but now she's dipping her NUK brush in food and eating off of it and off the spoon again (a little bit, but better than nothing!)

We really enjoyed Sofie's first vacation and seeing our family. Everything went really smoothly with all of Sofie's equipment and can you believe we didn't forget anything?! Shortly after we arrived I did cave in and decide that Sofie wasn't just having a reaction to the RSV shot, and that she actually does have her first cold. Then I stressed about what her O2 sat was the whole time. Of course I brought my stethoscope and the rest of her little medical kit we put together. She really seemed just fine other than a runny nose and a slight cough. Her lungs always sounded clear and she never had a fever.

But then I got worried, because she started throwing up again after feedings. She hadn't thrown up since her surgery, and I was really worried she may have reherniated again. But she's also acting like she's teething again. Her bottom gums are swollen and she's been a drool factory. That combined with the cold symptoms had her coughing and once she started coughing, sometimes she'd gag and throw up. But the way she is throwing up now is different from before her surgery. It didn't seem related to abdominal distention or discomfort, but just related to her coughing and gagging.

Friday morning we rushed back home and took her to Dr. Y.'s office to make sure everything was okay. I wanted to make sure her ears and throat looked okay and have them check her O2 sat. We made it just in time to get her in during urgent care hours without an appointment and the nurse practitioner saw her. She checked her over carefully and said she just has an upper respiratory infection (A.K.A. a common cold). Her O2 sat was 95% - not bad with a nose full of snot (sorry, gross.) So she's doing pretty well getting through her first cold without any major issues.

Sofie slept for the 2 hour drive back home again, but Mommy had to drive. So by the time we made it back up here, got home from the Dr.'s office and unpacked, I only got about 30 minutes of sleep before work Friday night. But by a stroke of luck, I was able to go home early at 11:00 pm, so I got to sleep until 5:30!!

I was so glad to get some sleep because Saturday morning we headed out to tailgate at the KU vs. MU football game at 6:30 am. Here are some pics.

Since Sofie had had a cold all week, I decided to go home after we tailgated and watch the game at home with Sofie and Grandma Linda and Grandpa Steve. We ordered pizza and I must admit I wasn't too sad to be watching the game from my couch under my warm blanket. It was a good game though and KU won!! Rock Chalk!

Sunday we had planned to start aggressively weaning the NG by bottle feeding based solely on Sofie's hunger cues during the day and not using the NG to supplement at all. Then at night we'll give her enough pedialyte by NG to make sure she stays hydrated. Since Sofie has a cold, we decided to postpone the big NG trial (last part of phase 2 of Peetie Unplugged). We want to make sure she is fully recovered from her cold before we start weaning the NG. We don't want her to be weakened and then develop pneumonia. Plus we want her to be at her peak physically, so we are setting her up to succeed.

She should be fully recovered in a few days, and then we can really get aggressive with the weaning process. I've seen so much improvement over the last couple of weeks though. Spacing her feedings out so she gets hungry has really made a difference. She went from refusing all bottles to taking anywhere from 1-4 ounces from the bottle at each feeding. She still has a long way to go, but I'm so encouraged by the improvement she's made so far. She's also gained almost a pound in the last couple weeks. She weighed 15 lbs, 11 oz this morning!

Her cold is much better today, and I haven't noticed her coughing much at all - just once today. And no more throwing up the last couple of days. I'm hoping she was just throwing up because of her cold symptoms and all the extra drooling that was gagging her. She has a surgery follow-up visit tomorrow with Dr. S.P., so we'll see what he thinks.

We also have an OT appointment at Children's tomorrow afternoon. Our appointments are really spaced out, so unfortunately we'll have to make two trips to Children's tomorrow.

The Thanksgiving Turkey brought Sofie her very own highchair last week. We put it together this weekend and she got to use it for the first time today. She looks like such a big girl! It is easier to feed her in it than in her Bumbo seat in the middle of the table. The Bumbo worked well when she was smaller, but she was ready for her big girl chair. Both of Sofie's OT's were really encouraging us to get a highchair, which is a good thing or we might have still been feeding her in the Bumbo in the middle of the table at age 3!