Jude is 4 months old, I'm starting to think about some semi-solid foods. Also, I found an amazing study that was done in the Netherlands.

Jude is 4 months old today and I'm starting to think about giving her something other than breast milk.  That's all she's had her "whole" life and while it is the perfect food for babies, she seems to be hungry for something other than her liquid diet.

I notice at night, at the end of our day, she's fussing because she can't get enough milk on either side.  I was thinking about trying a mashed up banana or some single grain oatmeal mixed with breast milk.  When did you guys try some food?

She's so much more aware now and I'm amazed that 4 months has gone by so quickly.  She's learned how to blow raspberries with her tongue and lips and it's soooo cute.  She'll do it for like five minutes straight.  Blow a raspberry, look at you and smile, blow a raspberry, look at you and smile.  The picture I posted with this blog is when I caught her smiling while she was doing it in her crib.

A lot of people have asked me how her bones are doing.  There's really no update there yet.  We were told by doctors that we need to let some time go by so they can grow and then we'll do new x-rays to see what's happening.  She is trying to suck her thumb on her right hand, which is great, because we were worried she wouldn't be able to put her right hand to her mouth because she can't bend or straighten that arm. But somehow she is able to get it to her mouth and that means she'll hopefully be able to feed herself someday, brush her teeth, etc 

I'm not quite sure how to handle Joey's reaction to her left hand.  He likes to hold Jude's hand when we say Grace at dinner, but he won't hold her left hand, just her right.  He doesn't understand why there are just 3 fingers there and no hand.  Joe and I tell him "you can hold Jude's hand" and we show him how to do it but he won't.  I hope as he gets older he will understand what has happened. I know he's probably too young right now.  It's still heartbreaking to see him react to her left arm like that.  I want so badly for nothing to be different.  Sometimes I lay in bed at night and think if I pray hard enough, her arm and hand will grow in.  It hasn't happened.

But that doesn't mean I don't look for an answer to my prayer.  I read an article on a study done at University of Twente in the Netherlands.  The researchers there were able to actually grow bone using adult stem cells and a hormone called PKA.  That means they actually use the stem cells that exist in the patient! We didn't save Jude's cord blood, so I'm particularly excited about this study.  I've tried to contact the author of the study by email, but haven't heard back yet.  I will keep trying and let you know what the next step is for this exciting breakthrough.  You can copy and paste this link in your browser to read the full article http://www.utwente.nl/nieuws/pers/en/cont_08-024_en.doc/

Have a great week everyone!