Catching up

I know it has been a long time since I have added anything to the blog, so I have been trying to make up for that today. You will find tons of photos from Easter and several of Sam and Gus at school on their birthday in the 3 posts below. For some reason it has seemed especially hard lately to find time to keep the blog updated. But I really want to try to be better about it again because I like to keep in touch with all our family and friends. Plus the 3 Little Bees are changing so fast, that it is nice to be able to share all the things they are doing.

We had a long month in April. Luke wasn't eating well, we think because he was teething, and then he got the flu. Gus had been sick first and he ended up getting it again and we all had it at least once. Luke probably got it the worst though, spending a few days in the hospital. He had a high fever and was taking short shallow breaths so we got worried. Since he has a Central Line there is always a risk of infection and the doctors had to rule that out. They were also worried about pneumonia, but it seems his lungs just got "sticky" from having the flu and a few days of albuterol helped that go away.

Luke ended up not eating well for 3 weeks, and that always worries us. In the fall Luke weighed 14lbs. 10 ozs. (about average for a 4 month old) and he had only recently gained to just over 15lbs., so we really didn't want him to lose weight. The good news is that he didn't lose too much and is still right around 15lbs. While Luke was in the hospital we saw a nutritionist who wants us to transition Luke to a soy pediasure type drink to add more vitamins and calories. He needs to eat around 700 calories a day to gain, and he is actually doing that right now, so I hope to post about more weight gain soon. Luke's feeding issues are actually some of the most stressful issues in his care right now. Mainly because it is constant - counting every calorie, working to keep Luke from gagging and throwing up, trying to push table food, trying to transition to a cup. Feeding Luke is also constant in all the time that it takes. Sometimes it takes him an hour to eat his baby food, and then another half an hour to take a bottle, so it seems like life revolves around Luke eating. Needless to say, I will be happy when Luke moves on to table food and a cup and eats meals with the rest of us.