Ruby Hope McKee Starling

Things have been busy around here the past few days.  Chris has been on call and I had one of my longest runs of marathon training.  Couple that with the up coming holiday and it makes for a busy house.

We did another Ruby unplugged day this past weekend.  She pulled out the tube on Friday morning and we just left it out.  Friday wasn't too bad.  She didn't eat much, but that's to be expected.  Saturday she started the day out great.  As the day wore on the more hungry and tired she got the more frustrated she would get.  Finally after dinner we decided to put the tube back in.  We're not supposed to withhold feeds for more than 36 hours and where we were at that point.  She took 13 ounces of milk by mouth on Saturday!  That's exactly 50% of her needed intake.  She took another 4.5 ounces of solids, but those don't count toward her daily caloric intake.  All in all we feel it was another successful weekend.  Ruby worked so hard and we are very proud of her.

We've been working on drinking from a cup with her for the last couple weeks.  She is finally starting to get it!  We have small plastic cups for her to use.  At dinner the other night she was reaching for my water glass and successfully drank from it.  We are just doing water in the cup right now.  Mostly becasue not a lot ends up in her mouth she spills most of it down her front.  Also she associates milk/formula with reflux.  We want cup drinking to be pleasant.  I also wanted to mention that while we do think a messy Ruby during meals is cute, their is a reason we don't "scrape" her face with the spoon or clean her up during meals.  We want her to experience the texture and feel of the food.  We've been instructed to let her get messy and "feel" the food.  So, that's what we do. Plus a little avocado in her ears might do her some good.

We've also found a new way to clean up after meals.  She just loves to kick her feet in the water.

Ruby has learned to love her "command center" as we call it. 

We did go to the plagiocephaly clinic this morning.  We are kinda sad to report that the time has come to put her in a helmet.  We haven't fully decided yet, but it's looking like that is the best option.  We are asking that unless you have experienced everything we have to not tell us how much the helmet "isn't a big deal".  It's one more thing our little girl has to have on her head and quiet frankly we were hoping to avoid it. It is a big deal.  The main reason for getting the helmet is to help even out her ears.  We could continue on the path we are on and hopefully see more improvement.  Getting the helmet with ENSURE improvement.  It's a guarantee.  If we do decide to get the helmet she will get fitted in the next week or two.

We are going to lay low this Thanksgiving.  We had hoped to go to a friends house for dinner, but their little girl has been sick.  Rather than expose Ruby to something we are going to hang out at home.  We hope everyone has a good holiday.  I promise to post more over the holiday!