Kidney Bean

I'm attempting to blog while holding my 33 pounder on my lap, otherwise known as Christian. He's just a big ol' baby and anyone who knows him knows he's a snuggler. I really can't pass it up if we're the only two in the house up at 11:22PM. He's just too irresistible.

See what I mean when he's all jammied up???

Today we had two appointments that were necessary for Christian to begin the Keto diet. We had to get an EKG and a kidney ultrasound. The EKG is to get a read of Christian's heart. Going on a high fat diet can put strain on the heart. So we need a "before" picture just in case anything comes up later on. To administer an EKG, the nurse placed electrodes near Christian's heart and arteries. He did okay except that he whined a lot while the electrodes were on. He wasn't fond of the whole experience.

It was the same deal with the kidneys. He didn't like the goop on his abdomen, but by then it was nap time anyway and he was letting us know. The ultrasound tech looked at his kidneys and said, "So why are you guys here again?" I let her know it was a baseline picture. So she said, "Oh, because I was going to say this is a great looking kidney!" Ditto for the second one. It's not like I go around worrying about his kidneys or anything but it's always nice to hear when something looks perfect on or in my son! So yay for good kidneys! Oh yeah, he had to get an ultrasound because one of the side effects of the keto diet could be kidney stones. So, again, we had to get a "before" shot.

Other than that, Christian is plugging along. It really seems like he's emerging out of this temporary (thank God!) fog he was in. He's been moving around a lot more, grabbing things (like his g-tube!), and he's been a lot more sensitive lately. I sneezed a few hours ago and it scared him and he started whimpering like a little puppy.

Working hard...



Before and after...he doesn't like prone position (on his elbows) so he'll do anything to get out of it, even if that means actually rolling to the side. Whatever does the trick, buddy.

Grabbing his tube while eating. This is happening a little more frequently lately and we even found it completely unplugged thanks to Mr. Busy Hands.

Speaking of busy hands, we keep Christmas lights on at night around Christian's bed all year long. In the middle of the night last night, he caught the lights and pulled them so they were laying across his chest. Note to self, keep lights out of reach from now on.

Christian also likes feeling beads. So Christian's daddy decided to actually put a strand around his neck, which I've never done before. And if you think this isn't safe, usually it wouldn't be but with children that don't move much it's fine supervised. I mean I wouldn't leave it on him while he slept or anything but you get the picture. In fact, I could go on about toys that are unsafe for neuro-typical children but perfectly acceptable for special needs children. That's for another post. Anyway, Christian was actually feeling for the beads around his neck with both hands, purposefully. It was so cute!

On that note, off to snuggle with Mr. Busy Hands...

Really, I can't resist this face.