Wow… it’s been almost ten days since the last post. The time has flown by. Between Christmas with the kiddos, catching up with old friends, sharing time with family, and tackling a couple special projects the last week went by way too fast… oh, and there was also a little bit of digging out after 14″ of snow.

The snow came hard and fast on Thursday. There were two separate times during the day we heard thunder.

The rest of the shots are from Saturday once the wind had calmed and the sun came out.

Notice the difference from left to right in this shot. The fence posts are all about 50 inches tall. There’s only 12 inches of the post on the far left sticking out of the drift. On the far right, is bare ground. So where does 14 inches of snow over a 100 acre field go?

One spot is the end of our driveway…

…another spot is down the road a bit.

This stretch of the road is still only one lane wide with snow pushed back about 6-8 feet high on both sides. If we get another significant snowfall with decent winds, this could be a real mess. The state highway didn’t look much better, but once the snow blowers made a couple passes it wasn’t nearly as impressive.

It’s not that any of these drifts are the largest ever, or even in recent memory. What’s impressive is that it all piled up in under 36 hours.

Since Peanut can’t make public appearances due to the risk of catching a bug, she and I hung out on Sunday while the DW and the rest of the kiddos went to Sissy’s dance recital. I hadn’t had a chance to get back to the stuck pocket door and was eyeing up the project when Peanut said she’d supervise if I wanted to see what type of mess we could make while the DW was out of the house.

Peanut supervising – she’s my toughest critic

When we tore the carpet out a couple weeks back, it allowed for one of the two pocket doors to come rolling out smoothly. The other was stuck. It’d slide out about 6 inches if you pulled hard. I was afraid it may have been off the rear roller, but wasn’t completely convinced. I wanted a closer look and the best way to do that was to pull off the trim that that blocked the view of the door while it was in the “pocket.” I pulled off one piece of trim and noticed the door shift as the trim came loose. I grabbed a flash light and took a peak. Nothing out of place inside the wall – the rollers and track looked fine. I gave another tug on the door. This time it came rolling out as easy as its mate.

Both doors fully functional… but still needing to be cleaned.

It must have been a combination of the house shifting and the trim twisting that pushed on the door just enough to cause it to bind in place. All I needed to do was reattached the trim with a little more room for the door. A simple fix – and besides the years of dust on the doors, no mess. And it’s a good thing – Peanut left me to clean things up while she took a nap.

The doors from the dining room view – still dusty.

You can tell from the pictures of each side of the doors that the finish color is slightly different from one side of the house to the other. Somewhere down the road, we’re going to have to decide what to do about that.

We haven’t mentioned anything about it yet, but I’m sure you’ve already noticed Peanut’s hemangioma. Her hema-what? Peanut’s hemangioma – the large red “birth mark” on her temple. She also has a second on her stomach. (Lulu and I prefer to call them her “strawberries” – much easier to pronounce) Hemangiomas are benign vascular tumors composed of cells that normally line the blood vessels. They are the most common tumor of childhood, occurring in up to 10% of infants. Hemangiomas are more common in Caucasians. They also occur more frequently in girls and low-birth-weight premature infants – I guess Peanut’s 3 for 3.

The cause of hemangiomas isn’t fully understood. The doctors in at the UIHC told us they thought it might have something to do with the way Peanut was resting against the uterine wall. Studies show it’s not related to any chemical or environmental exposures during pregnancy.

Hemangiomas almost always have a period of growth followed by a period of shrinkage. Peanut’s hemangiomas began their growth phase shortly after birth – which is typical. The one on her stomach first appeared as a small red blotch – much like a common birthmark – about a week after Peanut was born. It slowly grew in size and became raised. The second hemangioma on her temple was just a few days behind.

Both of Peanut’s hemangiomas have finished their growth stage. And have started showing signs of shrinkage. The shrinkage phase is much slower and can take as long as ten years. During this time, our main concern is if Peanut would bump or scratch one of them in a way that would cause it to bleed, as it may require medical attention to stop the bleeding. It is difficult to predict how long this shrinkage process will last, but it is likely that Peanut will have no lasting reminder her strawberries were even there once she’s a bit older.

Here’s a photo timeline of the hemangioma on Peanut’s temple:

About a week after birth. Nothing yet on Peanut’s temple, but you can see the start of the hemangima on her stomach.

Around 3 weeks. You can see the faint red mark on her head.

About 6 weeks. The hemangioma is well formed and starting to raise.

Just after getting home. The hemangioma is still growing.

The hemangioma at its largest.

Just a couple weeks ago. You can just make out a faint whiteness at the center of the bright red. That indicates the hemangioma is starting to shrink already.

Peanut, Nana, and I were pleasantly surprised to see this man hanging around outside the Children’s Specialty Clinic after Peanut’s appointment yesterday.

Nana, Peanut & Santa

Now, on to the details of Peanut’s appointments. She is now 10lbs 3.6oz, and 22 inches long…again they are very happy with her growth. However, she had an incredibly high output Wednesday – 157ml in a 24 hour period. We are going to try one more week of the antibiotoc, Flagyl, begining Monday. Because of this, they are not increasing her feeds. 🙁 But she’s still making progress with her TPN. They are making some more changes to her solution by reducing her dextrose and amino acids by 30%, and added more sodium acetate. If her sodium continues to remain low, the doc said we may start adding table salt to her bottles. At this point Peanut is getting about 85% of her nutrition from her bottle feedings and only 15% from her TPN! The only real concerning result from her visit is that both her ALT & AST levels (which have been consistantly climbing) are now high enough that she needs to restart her liver medication, Ursodiol. She was on this medication for a few weeks in the NICU. They warned us that over time TPN patients can develop liver problems, so this medication will hopefully reduce the enzymes and bring her levels back to normal. She will likely be on Ursodiol until she is off of TPN.

I will be finally returning to work on January 2nd! I have very patient colleagues…I know my abscense has created a lot of extra work for several people who were sharing my responsiblities over the past 6 months. The support they’ve given us has been wonderful. I’m really going to miss being at home with the kids, and being able to keep Peanut within arms reach. 🙂 Since Peanut still requires one-on-one care because of her central line and ostomy, and because we need to reduce her exposure to germs/illnesses as much as possible, she’s is not healthy enough for group daycare just yet. So Grandpa S and Nana O are sharing the responsibilities of caring for her until she can join Lulu in daycare. By the way, today is Grandpa S’s last day of work! Happy Retirement Grandpa!!!! Peanut is one lucky little gal, we’re confident she’ll be spoiled with love and attention by her grandparents!

Although she’s not speaking in full sentences quite yet, if you could translate this, I think she would tell you she’s happy, healthy, and excited for her 1st Christmas. 🙂

Our family, including Peanut, has been pretty healthy so far this fall/early winter (fingers crossed), and we hope to keep it that way! Peanut has had two follow-up appointments in Iowa City since our last post, and she will have another one in two days. The doctors are thrilled with her growth – last visit she was 9lbs. 10oz. and 21 inches long. We’ll see if she can break the 10lbs mark at her next weigh-in on Thursday.

She’s still on a strict 3 hour feeding schedule, even through the night. We have to wake her for almost every evening/night feeding, so when she gets to the point where they let her skip a night feeding, we’re confident that she would sleep for a long stretch of time. We’re not far off from that goal.

Over the past four weeks, Peanut’s ostomy output and gas has steadily increased. Because of this, we cannot increase her oral feeds – she still at 75ml (2 1/2 ounces). Doc thinks the likely suspect for the increase is an overproduction of bacteria in her small intestine, causing her bowels to become irritated. So, she has been on an antibiotic called Flagyl for two weeks. However, it has not improved the symptoms, so we will go back to the drawing board at our appointment. We will probably do one of two things – either try another antibiotic, or decrease her oral intake. Neither Peanut nor us would be happy with the later of the two.

We have, however, taken a few steps closer to getting Peanut off of TPN. Since our last update, the doc has reduced the amount of TPN she is getting by 20% (from 118ml to 95ml), taken out all of the lipids, reduced the amount of dextrose, AND she has gone from 12 hrs a day to 8 hours a day. Really, the main thing keeping her on TPN at this point is her high output. She needs the extra fluids so she doesn’t become dehydrated.

At our last appointment, we stopped by the NICU and dropped off Peanut’s preemie and newborn clothes to donate. Walking through the doors to the NICU, I felt a wave of dejavu, seeing the anxious parents and family members in the waiting room. We were also able to visit with some of the nurse practitioners and a nurse who cared for Peanut while she was there. Actually, the nurse that we got to see, Jillian, was the nurse that was on duty caring for Peanut the morning that the NEC developed. Their reactions to seeing Peanut again, especially Jillian’s, brought joy to my heart. It really puts into prospective just how far she’s come in the past 4 months! Walking back out of the NICU with a baby who is now healthy…is priceless.

I forgot to mention with all the excitement of the dining room floor that when we tore the carpet out of the dining room it also meant that we’d finally be able to see the pocket doors between the living room and dining room. With the carpet out of the way the doors should be able to roll freely… we hoped.

Once the carpet was out, a tug on the first door brought it, and 30 years worth of dust, out with a smooth roll.

We’re weren’t as lucky with the second door. I’m guessing the back roller is off the track. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it seems that each project I mark off the list creates at least one or two more. Maybe some holiday downtime will offer a little adventure in pocket door repair.

After yesterday’s post showing the “new” floor I figured today was a good time to back up and take a look at how the room has changed since we moved in.

Here’s what things looked like during our walk through before closing (The owner was still moving a few things out.)

It’s hard to tell from these shots, but the ceiling was covered with block tiles and sagging in one spot from old water damage. The walls were smooth and had cracks typical with old plaster. And the chandelier… there’s another story, but it’ll have to wait.

The first thing we did was tear out the block tiles, remove loose plaster, and check for structural damage. With everything looking solid, a drywall overlay was put on the ceiling. The cracks were mudded and the entire room was textured and painted. Finally, new crown molding, curtains and rods, and a ceiling fan were installed. After last weeks additional work, the room currently looks like this…

The room still needs a bit of decorating and the floor and trim need refinishing, but it’s come a long way already.

We were told when we first moved in that some of the carpets covered hardwood floors, but the condition of the floors was unknown. We lucked out in our room and Sissy’s room. We simply rolled up the old carpet (there wasn’t even a tack strip) and with a little scrubbing uncovered some beautiful floors. After that success, I peaked under a few more carpets in the rest of the house and found hardwood in the living room and nursery. We talked about pulling those carpets out as well, but they were in decent condition and we had no idea what the floor was like. (Plus, I had my hands full with the floor in Potato Boy’s room.

So, I caught the DW off guard Saturday morning with “Whatta say we clean the house up, feed the kids an early lunch, and then rip the carpet out of the living room?” It was a little bit risky. If the hardwood was beyond hope, we knew we’d be out looking for carpet yet that afternoon. Still, the chance of uncovering a small gem was well worth it and after lunch we cleared out the living room furniture. The kiddos were even interested enough to pull up a seat…

And we weren’t disappointed…

And after pulling a few carpet tacks and a lot of scrubbing…

As I mentioned yesterday, the current plan is to flip the floor plan of the house, so instead of moving the living room furniture back into the room we grabbed onto the dining room furniture instead. Just over five hours after the living room furniture was moved out, here’s what the room looked like…

…the Christmas tree ended up in the bare corner the next day.

The floor isn’t in the best cosmetic shape. The finish in the center of the room must have been rubbed off by an area rug at one point and the varnish on the outer edges of the room has darkened with age. But, the over all condition of the floor is great and with a little refinish work down the road it will be around for many more years.

I mentioned previously that with things settling down the DW and I were back to making plans and talking about projects around the house. It’s no secret the DW and I are planning on doing a lot of work to the house over the up-coming years. But for every project I get to mark off the list as completed, it seems there’s at least two more added. Some of the items are minor – new light fixtures and switches – others are a little more involved – a kitchen remodel and attached garage.

Just for reference, here’s the current floor plan of the house…

While it would have been great to take care of everything we wanted to do prior to moving in, it just wasn’t practical. Plus, living in the house and learning to understand its current layout has helped shape our opinions of what we’d like to change. For example, had we remodeled based on how we viewed the house at closing, we would have left the floor plan unchanged and added a garage to the porch. Since that time, I think the DW and I have suggested at least a half dozen different scenarios based on how we use the house – as of yesterday, this is the current plan…

It’s hard to tell from my rough drawing, but the plan is to (sorry if this gets confusing):
1) Flip the living room and the dining room. The current living room has a hardwood floor hidden under the carpet. The current dining room floor has carpet covering a wavy plank floor. A good heavy carpet and pad will cover the wave and be pretty comfy in a living room. The dining room will function better on hardwood.
2) Flip the kitchen and the bath/nursery. Prior to indoor plumbing being added to the house this space was one large room – the master bedroom. The addition of the bathroom was efficient but ended with both rooms on the very small side of functional. We’re only using the nursery as a nursery since we have to wake Peanut every three hours through the night to feed her – she has a bedroom upstairs waiting for her once the doctors allow her to sleep longer periods without eating. Plus, my drawing is a little deceiving. The bathroom is small and has no storage for towels, toiletries, etc. This switch will put the kitchen next to the dining room in the brightest corner of the house. The bathroom will be tucked out of sight from the main entrance, and close to the stairs (there’s no bathroom upstairs, yet).
3) Open the staircase – from what I’ve seen of the structure so far, this could be feasible.
4) Add the garage to the south side of the house. Again, it’s hard to tell from my drawing, but this would allow for easy access to the basement and the first floor from the garage. It would allow us to take the narrow basement staircase out. The placement of the garage would also allow for the replacement of of a portion of the limestone foundation that supports a portion of the house.

Is this definitely what we’ll go with? Maybe. Part of the fun with living in a house like this is daydreaming about what you want to do next – speaking of that, I’m working on what we tackled last weekend. Look for it tomorrow.

Every once in a while I like to throw something a little different at the kiddos when it comes to food. They’re really not picky eaters, but like all of us, they prefer sticking to the “comfort” food they know. Sometimes I go for recipes I enjoyed as a kid – the zucchini muffins started out that way and now the kiddos can’t remember a time without them – and other times it will be something no one in the house has tried before – for instance there was the time we watched the movie Ratatouille and Sissy asked me what ratatouille was. We all found out the next day – much to the kiddos disappointment. I guess cooked vegetables lose they’re magic transitioning from the big screen to the dinner table. Though, I now have a new late summer favorite side dish to go with a grilled steak.

This weekend time around, it started with me looking for a way to use up a bunch of potatoes quickly. It’s been nearly five months since we dug most of the potatoes out of the garden and some weren’t keeping like I had hoped. That’s when I ran across a few recipes for gnocchi – a dumpling made from potato and flour. This immediately got the kiddos attention – they were thinking of Gnocchi, the cat from one of Lulu’s favorite shows, Curious George. After explaining the difference – “no, we’re not having cat for lunch.” I settled on this recipe and got to work.

The recipe was rather simple, though 3 pounds of potatoes makes a lot of gnocchi. They ate it without complaint, bit the kiddos weren’t impressed with the tomato sauce/dumpling combination. I had to agree. If I were to do it again, I’d made a butter sauce for with it instead. And I will need to make it again. If I stumbled upon a second potato dish that Potato Boy doesn’t like, we may need to consider changing his name.