Book: Super Nutrition for Babies

This past Saturday, I gave Solomon his first bite of solid food.  He had soft boiled egg yolk with a tiny bit of Himalayan salt on it.  He gobbled it down.  Actually it felt like he was attacking me and the spoon!  I've never had a child react that way so it rather threw me off.

He also learned to drink from a special water bottle that I had gotten Lilly.  I don't think he cared it was pink!

With Tabby I followed much of the book Super Baby Food and had great results.  I tried it with Hunter it did not go so well with him.  He remains a picky eater with some food textural issues.  Then with Lilly and her special needs everything regarding feeding a baby changed.  So much of her life was about giving her things to boost her immunity.  Once she got her g-tube, and I began her blenderized diet of real food, I used tSuper Baby Food for some for it's guidelines of what foods to introduce first.  But by then I had been reading books like Nourishing Traditions and starting to make more "real foods" for us.  So Lilly got things like homemade chicken broth, made from organic chicken bones and feet. (To see what all she was eating, via g-tube, click here.) I've continued to learn more and implement better/healthier food changes for us since Lilly passed away.

So for Solomon, things are different from the beginning.  Last week I gave him a taste of cod liver oil.  Unlike the rest of us, he hardly flinched!  (We take fermented cod liver oil by Green Pastures. I like the peppermint flavor the best - that way we don't taste fish oil all day.) 

Next Solomon will try chicken broth.  Then - and I can't believe this - grated raw liver.  (YUCK!!!!)  I'll add 1/2 teaspoon to his egg yolk. Then we'll move to more normal things like avocado and banana. 

So where am I getting these weird ideas?  A book called Super Nutrition for Babies by Katherine Erlich, M.D. and Kelly Genzlinger, CNC, CMTA.  I've read most of the book and it is excellent.  And really inline with the way I think about food these days.  (Weston Price anyone?)  So I'm going to follow the book with Solomon pretty closely and see how it goes.  (Even though I despise things like liver and sauerkraut ...)

I've given Solomon the egg several day in a row now.  I think he and I have worked out his aggressive eating style.  First - he has to have a bib on completely unlike the other kids:

Then I get two spoons.  I put egg on one, and he helps me put it in his mouth.  Then he continues to hold that one while I take the other spoon and scoop egg on it and hold it up.  He puts down the spoon that was in his mouth and helps me guide in the new spoonfull.  I pick up the spoon on the tray and start all over.  I tell you, I just wasn't expecting this.  Tabby and Hunter were both such neat eaters and perfectly content for me to spoonfeed them.  Solomon gets VERY upset if he doesn't get to help.  He is definitely a very unique little boy!

Trisomy 18 Awareness Day

Yesterday was March 18, so in this month of "Trisomy Awareness" that made it Trisomy 18 Awareness Day.  My day yesterday was so busy though I wasn't "aware" of it until this morning!  So I'm sorry Miss Lilly - my post is a day late.  (Though it's never really late - my little Trisomy 18 girl is in my heart every day.)

We were blessed to have Lilly with us for one March.  March of 2011.  Here are some pictures of her from that month - she was 8 months old:

I was looking back at my notes on Lilly's life.  Right before the one Trisomy 18 Awareness Day that she was alive, we had gotten the disappointing news that she had been rejected for heart surgery.  This was by the doctors at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Florida that had already operated and put in her pulmonary artery band.  I remember feeling just crushed because I had no idea who would do the needed surgery since we already knew no one locally would.  (Indeed, very few surgeons in the country will operate on Trisomy 18 children.)  However, that story had a happy ending because later that year, the doctors reconsidered and then performed the heart surgery Lilly needed to repair her two VSD's. (She had two holes in her heart that did not close on their own.  Very common with Trisomy 18 children.)  We remain so grateful to our local cardiologist, Dr. R, for pushing so hard for Lilly.

Trisomy 18 angel Julia's mom wrote an excellent blogpost yesterday on some important highlights of Trisomy 18 Awareness Day.  Read her post:  http://jennychildress.blogspot.com/2013/03/trisomy-18-awareness-day.html .

A mom in the Trisomy Angel Parent's group asked us how we respond when someone asks how many children we have.  It seems that we all find ways to include our angel children in our responses.  And when we don't we end up feeling terribly guilty and/or disloyal to that child in heaven.  Sometimes answers change according to the situation.  (Ex. out in public, in a situation where you don't have time to explain, etc.)  My usual answer is "Four."  Often the person will then ask the children's ages.  For Lilly I say "my 17 month old daughter is in heaven."  Or, again according the situation, I like to say "Three with me and one in heaven."

My mother-in-law recently shared with me another answer that I think is good for certain situations.  (Her youngest passed away at 15.  Lilly is buried next to her.)  She said if someone asks her how many children she has, she may respond "three living children."  By saying "living children" you let the person know there was at least one other child.  Then if they want to pursue asking further, they can.

Psalm 121 - A Song of Ascents.
I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
² My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
⁸ The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Remembering Lilly on this St. Patrick's Day:

 

I made the digital scrapbook page with My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software.  The software is so easy to use.  Tabby loves it.  But I'm afraid I'll always be a "paper person."  (You should see my piles of papers everywhere as further proof!)  However, as many turn towards digital scrapbooking (much cheaper and doesn't take up space!) you can buy the software I mentioned at a discount through this blog.  Just click on the icon at the top right area.  :)

 

At the left is a new ornament I got for Lilly's memorial tree for this month.  (shamrock theme)  It says:

May angels gather round your door and bring you peace forevermore.

Made me think of our angel, wearing her smocked green dress.  :)


I always enjoy making Irish soda bread about this time of year.  I made it last night.  Here is a link to my favorite recipe for it:
http://www.sodabread.info/Recipes/sodabreadrecipes.htm .  I make the "white soda bread."

I read the kids a good, short book on St. Patrick's Day today.  It is Saint Patrick's Day by Gail Gibbons.

If you'd like to read a fascinating factual account of Patrick, try David Bercot's Let Me Die in Ireland: The True Story of Patrick.  We read this as a family a number of years ago and I still often think of the story.  Patrick was kidnapped from Britain as a youth and sold into slavery in Ireland.  He became a Christian as he worked as a shepherd there.  He prayed for God to deliver him from slavery.  He prayed this for at least 100 (!!) times every day!  God did save him.  He went back to Britain.  But later came back to teach the Irish about God.  Legend has it he used the three parts of the shamrock to explain the Trinity.  (Three parts like God is three persons:  God the father, the son, the holy spirit.)

Seems appropriate to end today's post with an Irish blessing:

"May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. 
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. 
And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand."

Happy 6 months Solomon!

I can't believe Solomon is one half a year old already.  That means his big sister Lilly has been gone 15 months.  Here is Solomon and LillyBear:

 

Solomon's Lilly-colored hat and diaper cover were both crocheted by the mama of a little angel girl named Maisie.  (Maisie had Trisomy 18 like Lilly.)  This is the same talented woman that made LillyBear from Lilly's blankets.  (I need to post a clearer picture of the diaper cover - it is so cute!)

Solomon is our sweet rainbow baby.  I thought a romper with rainbow fish on it was appropriate for him:

 

"You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness," - Psalm 30:11

Lilly is featured on SOFT's website today

SOFT (Support Organization for Trisomy) is featuring different children each day on their homepage for Trisomy Awareness Month.  Lilly and Giuliana are today's children.  (I've mentioned Giuliana many times on this blog.  She has mosaic Trisomy 18 and is thankfully still alive.)  You can click http://trisomy.org/ to go to the homepage, and then scroll down just a little.

Here are the girls pictures that are posted:

What a beautiful surprise this was for my day!  :)

Putting Faces to Trisomy Awareness

A mama that has a little girl with Trisomy 13, and who has founded Eva's Gift Shop to help raise Trisomy awareness, has put several collages featuring Trisomy children.  Awhile back she asked that those of us who were willing to submit a photo of our child and a word describing then.  I sent her Lilly's photo and the word "firecracker".  To me "firecracker" isn't just a 4th of July word (Lilly was born that day) but also a word meaning that she was a spunky fighter. 

Here is the collage that Lilly is in (look under the "Y" in "Trisomy"):

The mama of an angel named Roisin recently did a balloon release in honor of her sweet girl, and other angels.  Here is Lilly's balloon and tag:

 

Isn't the tag just beautiful?

Here is a new website (at least new to me) called The Arms of an Angel.   (http://www.trisomy18dallas.org/)  Their mission is to provide emotional and financial support to families affected by Trisomy 18.  It was begun by a mama who had a stillborn baby girl that had Trisomy 18.  Her name was Aryiana.  You can read her story here. 

It is so wonderful seeing how many parents of children with Trisomys find ways to reach out to others.  They find healing in this and are able to bless others.  God certainly knows what He is doing when he gives these special children to the families that he does!

A pinwheel & an amazing museum

Yesterday we paid a short visit to Miss Lilly's grave.   I had bought her a little present I picked up the other day.  Just a simple Lilly colored pinwheel.  But it looked cheerful.  Sometimes when I'm out at a store, I enjoy buying a little something for one of our children.  Lilly is no exception.   

I was pleased to see that her gravestone looked very clean.  Maybe it's from all the rain we've had.  Her wreath is getting pretty old and tired, though.  I need to think of replacing it.  I've been pleased that it has lasted a whole year.

This past Saturday we took a field trip to the Brady C. Jefcoat Museum in Murfreesboro, N.C.  It was such a fascinating place to visit. Mr. Jefcoat (once a plumber, electrician, and contractor - now living in a retirement home) began collecting interesting things over 35 years ago.  Some things date back to the 1850s.  (Note that at this time, the museum is only opened on the weekend, and there is an admission charge.)  I don't think I've ever been in a museum where I have said "Oh wow!" so much.  :)

  I know I have NEVER seen such huge variety in one person's collections before.  Every time we walked into another room we were amazed!  Taxidermy animals, weapons, glassware, antique toys, furniture, farm tools, old appliances, phonographs, rubber stamps ... etc etc etc!  (There are over 13,000 items on display - it takes up 3 floors and more than 17,000 square feet in a historical high school.  And apparently there's even more that is not on display!)  

He has the largest collection of antique irons in the world - 992 of them.  (You'd think he would buy 8 more to round that collection up to 1,000):

Hunter loves dogs and washing machines.  So he was DELIGHTED to see a dog powered washing machine downstairs in the museum, among the world's largest collection of old washing machines.  His stuffed dog Woofie is in the picture:

 Another neat thing about the museum is that visitors are allowed to touch almost everything.  There are some things behind glass, and a few things roped off, but not much.  One thing that visitors may not touch is the below courtship couch from the set of "Gone With The Wind."  (It can be seen towards the beginning of the movie.)  The couch has been recovered since the movie.

I don't have any more time to work on this post, so I will end here, with a picture of a Lilly colored phone from the museum:

I had to wonder - did anyone have to dust all these things??!!