Kanaan's Kidney and Dietician Update!

Thursday, January 23 Kanaan had an apointment with Dr. Cox his dietician. Our regular pediatrician was concerned that Kanaan's weight gain was really slowing down and wanted us to see the dietician. He should be gaining about 1oz/day and Kanaan was only gaining 3oz/2weeks. Dr. Cox recommended that we change to the Dr. Brown's bottles. They are designed to prevent, colic, spit up, and gas. Kanaan doesn't have problems with gas anymore. Most babies grow out of that around 3 months anyway as there intestines mature. He does spit up a lot and it's getting worse. She also wants us to start adding MCT oil to his bottles to give him extra calories. We started the bottles right away, but had to wait until Monday before we could get the oil. We did notice that he spit up a lot less with the bottle change. We have tried so many different bottles, it's crazy. In fact, we didn't get the oil until late Monday night, so when we went to see Dr. Seifert for his kidney on Tuesday he had only had a few doses. However at his weigh in he had gained 5oz since Thursday! That's 1oz/day! He has never done that, but he was a lot closer to that goal when he was smaller. The bottles are really helping him gain weight because he isn't spitting as much up. Kanaan had a renal ultrasound on Thursday and his kidneys are continuing to grow. They are far from normal, but they look better than they did when he was born. His labs are continuing to improve and/or remain stable, even with a formula change from newborn to infant this last month. Dr. Seifert was very impressed overall with how he's doing.

On The Menu This Month...

Andy and I are working to get into shape for a wedding we're in this summer, so this month's menu is full of healthy food options! I'm excited to try the new foods on the list and looking forward to some of our favorites. I thought I'd share our menu with you all, plus the links (colored words) to the recipes. Let me know if you try any of them yourself. I'll also try and let you know how the new recipes turn out.

Breakfasts
*Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal
*Breakfast Ham Cups

Dinners
Skinny Chicken Cordon Bleu and veggies
Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes
Baked Chicken Parmesan and veggies
*Meatball and Spaghetti Soup
*Cheesy Baked Spaghetti Squash Boats with Grilled Chicken
Chicken Cacciatore and Baked Potatoes
*Skinny Baked Broccoli Mac and Cheese
Meatloaf Cupcakes with Mashed Potato "Frosting"
*Salisbury Steak with *Skinny Garlic Mashed Potatoes
*Pinto Bean Soup

Desserts
*Skinny Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies
*"Made Over" Banana Pudding Poke Cake

Snacks
*No Bake Peanut Butter Protein Bars

* Recipe we haven't tried.

The ones that aren't links are recipes that are actually a combination of 2 recipes, if they turn out well I'll post the combo/recipe I used.

Our Little Santa Baby!

We found this Santa suit at a local thrift store for a great price. Kanaan's head was too big for the hat, but the suit fit him fine.

 

Kanaan's Kronicles...4 Months!

Kanaan turned 4 months old on the 4th! As of today he weighs 12lbs 13.5oz, he will get measured on Friday at his 4 month check up. He is in size 1 diapers, but I will move him to size 2 when we run out of this pack. He wears 0-3m clothes. I've pulled out his 3-6m but they are still too big for him. He goes to bed between 9 and 10pm and sleeps until about 8-8:30am. Then takes a morning nap from 10am-1:30 or 2pm. He then usually stays up with either 1 evening nap that is a few hours long or 2 cat naps. We're still trying to figure out the evening nap solution that works best. He drinks 4-5 5-8oz bottles/day. We're still using mainly cloth diapers, with disposable overnight and on the go. He transitioned from the Newborn formula to the Infant formula this month. We will get labs next week to see how his kidneys are tolerating the switch. He is now in size 1 shoes. His loves to play patty cake, peek a boo, bear hugs and pony boy, as well as sticking out his tongue. We used some of his Christmas money to get him a jumperoo, we have to put a pillow under it because he's too short to reach the floor, but he really likes to jump and play with the toys on it. He also got a play gym for Christmas and likes to reach the toys for on it and make it play music. He got a cd player for Christmas and is enjoying listening to his cds at night and nap times. We used to have to leave the door open and the tv tuned to a music channel on the tv all night or he would wake up from it being quiet. Firsts this month: Meeting Santa, Christmas (we had 7 Christmas celebrations), New Years, laughing and drooling.

This month's pictures were the best yet now that he smiles on command.