Who would have thought that we’d still be worried about road conditions for Peanut’s May check-up? But with snow piling up in central portions of the state on Thursday, the DW and Peanut made the trip to the UIHC without issue – or even a single snow flake sighting.

It’s starting to sound like a broken record (and we’re ok with that), put Peanut had another excellent check-up. Her blood work is still improving and she continues to gain weight at a pace that’s catching her up to where she should be for her age. She’s currently at 15 lbs 5 oz. With everything going good, it means it’s time to challenge Peanut again with a slight change. Two weeks ago, a change was made to her diet – the addition of meat (if you consider “chicken and vegetables” pureed to a brown mush as meat). With the added food, this week’s change is going to be very challenging – Peanut’s doctor decided we could let her sleep through her 1 AM feeding. The truth is that part will be pretty simple. Peanut didn’t care for us waking her up at 1 AM every morning to change her diaper and empty her ostomy bag – even if it was followed with a warm bottle. The hard part will be in making up the missed bottle over the rest of the day. Peanut will still be fed every three hours between 4 AM and 10 PM, so those seven bottles will all need to be slightly bigger to make up for the one missing bottle. How Peanut handles the larger bottles the next few days will determine if she gets to continue sleeping through her 1 AM feeding.

Peanut’s also working hard at mobility. She’s starting to realize she can roll to get where she wants and on a smooth floor she can get up on her hands and push herself backwards. Her surgery and months of immobility in the hospital greatly delayed the development of some of the muscles Peanut needs for these activities, but with her physical therapy and natural curiosity she’ll be all over the place all too soon. Even with her interest in moving, Peanut’s new favorite activity is simply sitting upright on her own and playing or watching – and with the three other kiddos in the house, there’s always plenty to watch.