Back in the Groove

The last couple of days have proved to be some of the best we have had in many months.  Samuel is eating better.  He's happy.  He's making some progress on his milestones again.  We are enjoying this beautiful, HOT, summer weather.  Life is good!

As I mentioned, Samuel's eating has improved. He eats three meals (4oz of baby food + 6oz of Pediasure) and then has a bedtime bottle. This system seems to be working really well for him. Because of that, I'm reluctant to rock the boat by trying to ween him off the bottle....however, I know this process is going to be slow-going so I might as well start now. I'm taking away 1 bottle a day and in its place offering more baby food. The trick will be getting enough Pediasure in him since he refuses to take it from anything besides a bottle.

It seems that Samuel's intestinal issues aren't as pressing as we originally thought. In fact, we have yet to hear anything back from the GI doctor or the ACH surgeons. I imagine that if this was a very serious issue, they would be responding more quickly. (I'll take that as good news!)

When Samuel began therapy, he was not impressed....many tears and much screaming!  Thankfully, we have seen progress in his willingness the last couple of weeks.  Tears aren't as frequent and he is able to accomplish a lot more.  I'm less concerned about the physical realm now that he is taking steps (YAY!!!!!)  My focus has shifted to getting him caught up socially.  Can you blame the kid for being behind since he's spent an entire year cooped up with JUST me and Michael?  The big things we are working on are clapping, pointing, and nodding.

Last week, I vented my frustration about Samuel's lack of growth and development in a post.  It all started when I discovered that a home health nurse had given us an extremely out-of-date growth chart (it was the one we had been using since we came home from ACH.)  Needless to say, this finding was not a pleasant one.  I had thought Samuel was doing extraordinarily well....only to find that he is STILL not on the chart for his chronological age.  The red dot shows where he is (top is length and bottom is weight):

Samuel's 15 mo. check-up is in a few weeks.  My goal has been to get him to 20 lbs by the time he is 12 months adjusted age.  We are SOOOO close...I can feel it! 

Here are some pictures of Samuel's adventure on our city's splashpad:

We hope you are enjoying summer as much as we are!