Refitting, Researching and Refried beans

I know, I know. I haven't updated the blog in a while. Its not because we aren't making progress. We are- slowly but surely the portlights are being removed, repaired and replaced. I've been remiss in updating because my focus for the past couple of weeks has been on the wee one.

Kitty had what we thought was a cold but as it wasn't improving, we put a call into her pediatrician who suggested we bring her in. We love our pediatrician who thinks the US habit of bringing in a perfectly healthy baby every month is a bit silly. Our last visit was at 6 months for a vaccination and check up where she was pronounced to be small (25-30th percentile for height and weight) but perfectly healthy and "we'll see her again around 12 months. Just keep doing what you are doing". So we kept doing what we were doing although we did start her on solid foods. She was a bit picky and not a big eater but since she was active, going through the dipes and growing, we thought all was well.

Surprise, surprise. When we brought Kitty in to see the doc, we were all shocked to see that while she was still in the 30th percentile for height, her weight had dropped to the 3rd percentile. The term bandied about for being under the bottom 5th percentile is 'Failure to Thrive'. Ouch. What a terribly scary label to stick on a  baby who seems small, but feisty. Neither Mark or I or the doctor freaked out, but we are concerned enough to do a bit more digging into the possible causes. My friend Laureen of SV Excellent Adventure was one step ahead of the doc when she suggested Kitty's issue might be a gluten sensitivity issue causing malabsorption. The doc echoed what Laureen suggested and ordered a series of blood tests to check for deficiencies and sensitivity. Poor Kitty had to endure 3 pokes in order to get the blood drawn for the tests. We should have the results in next week.

In the mean time, while Mark continues work on the portlights I spend my days chasing Kitty around with a spoon full of various foodstuffs in an attempt to get her to eat. My days go something like this- get up, make Kitty a breakfast of fresh fruit, gluten free pancake and scrambled egg. Kitty eats one bite of each and then refuses to eat anymore. Do various household, mom duties and make a second breakfast for Kitty- this time cheese grits made with heavy cream. Kitty will eat 6 bites because she likes grits. Chase baby with fruit, soft cooked veggies, cheese- baby will eat nothing but dry Rice Chex. Make Kitty a whole yogurt and fruit smoothie. Kitty acts as if I am trying to feed her liver. Then its on to two lunches, two dinners all of which are picked at. Kitty will eat cheese grits and refried beans(with LARD! It can be tough to find refied beans with lard in the US, guess we need to head to Mexico). Yes, a paragon of healthy eating but since we are willing to let her have anything she wants so long as she eats something we let her have her favorites and just keep offering fresh fruits and veggies in hopes that eventually they will be welcomed by Miss Picky.

I will say that since cutting out the gluten, she is sleeping much better and is eating twice as much as she was previously. We will have to wait to have her weighed again in a few weeks on the same scale but I am thinking that we might have found the issue and that issue is gluten.

All this time spent in the kitchen is coming at a great time. We are in the midst of figuring out what we want to do as we prepare to refit the galley. Due to the fact that we do not want to have to do this over again, we are really taking our time in figuring out what materials we want to use in the galley. I'm researching refrigeration options, counter top options and purely aesthetic issues. I'm still formulating a plan but I should have my act together and decisions made in time for a late summer galley refit. In the mean time, here's a  before photo of the galley.

So please forgive me for not updating a bit more frequently. It is difficult to type one handed while chasing a toddler around with spoon. We will get this weight thing figured out. Kitty is thanfully healthy, just a bit small. We will find out what the issue is, help her become a roly poly baby once again. In the mean time, we'll continue to offer her love, snuggles and refried beans.