Back to Life

Well, we’ve been home now for three and a half weeks now, and life is good!  Transitioning home has been harder than I expected, but Gavin has managed to do well with his eating through it all.  I am loving being at home with Gavin every day, although I do miss the adult working world from time to time!  Our days seem to be a never ending battle of preparing food, weighing food, getting Gavin in the highchair, doing exercises, timer time, weighing food, and cleaning up…and then starting it all over again in a couple of hours!  The hard part is coordinating his naps.  Gavin actually does take naps at home without requiring a 44 mile drive…most daysJ.  The problem is that he sits in his bed for an hour before actually falling asleep.  Once he’s out, Gavin could sleep for three hours!  This makes getting a snack in between lunch and dinner a bit of a challenge.  We used to just hook him up to his pump for a feeding, but I refuse to go back to that option!!  It is funny though how tube feeding suddenly seems like such an easy alternative!  I have found myself sometimes missing the ease of tube feeding Gavin in his chair and sitting there for the thirty minutes as we play and laugh.  It took no effort…just time.  Now, time and effort are involved in each meal, which gets a little exhausting.  Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change this for the world!!!!  It is amazing to have four successful meals with Gavin per day!  I don’t understand how he isn’t just as exhausted as I am by the time naptime comes around!!

I wouldn’t say that Gavin has regressed too much since we’ve been home, but we did have to take a step backwards to very smooth purees.  I’m not sure if Gavin was fighting off a bug or just extra sensitive with the transition home, but we had three days our first week back where he threw up at least once a day on textured foods.  After washing his highchair for the fifth time, I decided enough was enough and we pureed everything down to super smooth and slippery.  I’ve been very gradual in introducing texture back into his meals.  We started back up with gritty peaches and pears, and then moved back up to fork mashed NutriGrain bars mixed with applesauce and fork mashed bananas.  Last night, we finally gave him some gritty pasta again, and so far so good!!!  Gavin has continued to do really well with solid table food but still consistently inconsistent with how much he will accept on his own.  He has discovered peanut M&M’s and after a few failed trials is now able to successfully chew and swallow them!

There have been days that we’ve been out and unable to go back home for lunch to feed Gavin, so I’ve brought his lunchbox of pureed foods with us!  He’s actually done really well each time out!!  I have not been bringing the iPad to have a movie for the meal, but we still set a timer to set the expectation that it is time to eat.  That seems to be enough to get Gavin to focus and accept his bites.  The excitement of being in a busy restaurant is usually enough to keep Gavin distracted and entertained. 

Here is a fun list of the Top 10 Things about Being Home:

10. Cooking in our own kitchen fully equipped with a Blendtec Blender and food processor!  I am able to puree our dinners and freeze some to build up a good food supply for Gavin.

9.  We got to be home to celebrate Easter with my parents!

8.  Going out for ice cream with Gavin and having him eat a couple of bites!

7.  Gavin has so much energy and is turning into such a big boyJ…it’s hard to believe he’ll be three in a few weeks!!!

6.  Gavin has tried a few new tricks to throw me off during our feeding sessions (blowing through his straw into his milk to create bubbles, continued throwing his cup once in a while, blocking his face for exercises…), but I have stuck to the procedure, and he has stayed on course with taking his bites!  I have successfully reinforced that I am boss at homeJ.

5. Catching up with friends.  From parties to play dates to visiting daycare, it has been so nice to have a little bit of “normal” time with all of our friends! 

4.  Gavin has gained a pound since we’ve been back!  For whatever reason, he had plateaued at 26 pounds and seemed destined to stay there forever!!!  At our last doctor’s appointment he was 27.4 pounds!!!

3.  Every night for the past three weeks, Gavin has said, “We’re home! J” as he climbs into his bed.  He’s happy to be home!

2.  Eric, Gavin, and I are all together again!!!

1.  We have not tubed Gavin any source of nutrition since we got home!!!!  He has consumed everything by mouth since we got home!!!  We use to use a banana stand to hang Gavin’s tubes so they would dry.  This banana stand is once again finally used for bananas!!!!  Better yet, Gavin actually eats these bananasJ.