Chunky Monkey

Despite receiving a lower dose of calories through the new fortifier change (22 cal using Similac Human Milk Fortifier vs. 24 cal using Neocate), Henry continues to gain weight at an impressive pace. On Saturday, he weighed 9 lbs 4.5 ozs. And, this morning (Sunday), we weighed 9 lbs 8 ozs! I don't quite understand how he is still gaining weight at such a fast pace. I thought it would slow down. I'm a little concerned that I won't be able to keep up with his demands.

On Friday, Grandma came over in the afternoon. I can't really remember much about Friday night. I think that we went for our usual evening dog walk.

On Saturday, we went for our morning walk. When we got back, we changed Henry into one of his very cool Gap outfits that Michele Leonhart got him. We are excited that he is big enough to wear some very stylish threads.

Henry has received two super cute blankets that were made for him. The one pictured below was made by Mary Stephenson. Henry was very smiley until I pulled out the camera. He would smile until the exact moment when the flash went off, making for some hilarious faces.






Patti Galvez made him a quilt, which was really neat. I think, however, that we are going to wait a few more weeks before using either Mary or Patti's gifts on a regular basis. I want Henry's reflux to subside just a tad because they are really nice pieces.

Jeff was going to take Henry over to my parents' house in the afternoon. But we received some sad news before we left. Henry's great grandmother had passed away (my dad's mother) in her sleep. She was 88 years old. During the last few months, she had trouble with her memory in general, but she always asked my dad about Henry and said that she'd been praying for him. I had hoped that she would get to see Henry before passing away. Henry has been so fragile that we haven't taken him out, except to doctors appointments and my parents' house (on occasion). Henry has gotten a lot stronger the past few weeks. Although we still need to keep him away from people in general, I wanted my grandmother to see him. But such was not the case. In any event, my grandmother lived a full life and left this world from her house (which is where she wanted to be).

I went outside in the afternoon and found a lizard trapped in the fence. I stopped Marley from going after him. He (or she) was caught in the wire that Jeff put at the base of the fence to discourage snakes from entering the dog yard. I took over Henry duty, so that Jeff could rescue the lizard. In the last few years, Jeff has developed a fascination with the lizards around here. There are many different types. He got a good picture of the lizard before he cut the fence to release him.

Jeff put Henry in his swing in the afternoon. We went for a walk around dusk. Grandpa came over in the evening to hold Henry. Henry had the largest vomit to date. It was colossal. Henry has been snuffling for a couple days. I've been sneezing on occasion, which started a couple days before Henry started sneezing. We are hoping that it isn't a cold (we know one of our neighbors is sick with one). I come into contact with a lot of students, which means lots of potential for sickness. It could be allergies. The air has been dirty the past week. Or, it could be a reaction to the Similac.

Before our walk this morning, Henry had another huge vomit. We've decided to stop the Similac for now. We really want to use it because it has about 7-8 times more calcium than does the Neocate. But the Similac has cow's milk and soy proteins in it. If Henry gets better, it doesn't necessarily prove that the Similac is the problem. If it is a cold, colds do get better. We'll talk to Dr. Tsai on Monday to figure out what we should do.

Other than that, we gave Henry a bath this morning. He was very good about being washed. We are impressed with his weight gain. Hopefully, he'll start getting longer in the next few weeks.