victory for violet: 11 months and a lot of poop

Someone is 11 months young today!

1 month shy of starting her 2nd year of life already!

Besides today being just one day closer to my youngest baby becoming a toddler, its also been a day of reckoning. This whole week has been an eye opening experience. Nothing exciting per say, no one incident, no "ah-ha" moment. Just a culmination of little things here and there that have me wrapping my mind around a new concept...Violet is coming into her own as she is reaching that big -0-1, and things are a changing!

As most of you know Ava is wildly brilliant, which is awesome, but can make for a very challenging situation on occasion. She is so smart that she is almost always pushing her limits,and testing our authority. So I was relieved when Violet appeared to be this shy, reserved, sweetheart of a baby. She is always smiling, and almost always happy. From a very early age she became vocal,almost as if making sure no one forgot she was in the room.

Just this past week, (maybe I missed a full moon?) Violet's personality has been shining through that sweet smile of hers. She is curious, determined and also smart as well. (Yes, this is the part where I boast about my baby girl) She put a tape in the VCR( yes we do still own one) and pressed play, she tries to put on any and EVERY pair of shoes she comes across, (yet she wont keep her own on to save her life) she knows when she picks up a phone to say hello and if there is something she wants she will throw a fit ( or the IRISH temper as we call it) until she can get to it. Best of all if she has something and Ava takes it, or if she wants something Ava has, she has no qualms about grabbing it from her. (Ok, so not exactly polite, but funny considering how Ava's had no problems grabbing from her most of her life)

Playing nicely with her cousin

Ahh that sisterly love

The most challenging thing however, is that this stubborn side has also brought about a problem in terms of her daily medicine regimen. She does NOT want anything on a spoon, so giving her enzymes sprinkled onto applesauce, or anything is becoming impossible!

On average Violet will get between 15 and 24 enzymes per day. She has 3 before she eats anything with fat in it, (basically anything except Puffs) before she nurses and before she gets her PediaSure. If she didn't take these enzymes or still if she eats something very fatty/greasy the food/liquid would basically go right through her, because she is pancreatic insufficient. To save you the disgusting details, its basically like changing that newborn poop, still 11 months later. I would never go anywhere, without a diaper, and still carry a diaper bag with at least 2 outfits for her, even when we walk to get ice cream. Next time you have to change a poopy diaper, or a blow-out as we call them (half the time needing a wardrobe change)be thankful you aren't changing them 4-6 times a day! My point is not to gross you out, it is to educate you on the GI aspects of her disease. I am in no way a poop expert, just an expert on my kid, and I am still learning about normal CF things on a daily basis. The whole enzyme thing is a continually changing process, increasing as her weight increases, or decreasing if she ever becomes constipated or has pasty/chalky stools. It is a learning process, through trial and error, unfortunately. You'd think those would be words you'd never speak about your child, but when the pros outweigh the cons, sometimes you just have to go with your gut and trust the experts.

Yummy!!

Violet is always hungry...in fact she resembles a baby bird bobbing around anyone's lap who has food with her mouth wide open. Because of her CF and the importance of gaining weight she is on a high fat, high protein, high salt diet. All the things most of us try to stay away from, right? Now that she is done with baby food, and nursing less, I am looking for ideas of high fat/protein meals and snacks. Who'd think it'd be so hard to come up with these things? Again, such a problem to have :)