So the DW was out of town most of last weekend for work while I was left taking care of the kiddos… of course that meant there was only one logical way to spend the weekend – I rounded up some help and attacked the kitchen.

The kitchen… before

The DW and I agree that while our main goal is to eventually change the entire floor plan, the kitchen needed a little upgrade to buy us some time – starting with the cabinets. They’re not in bad shape, but the stain and varnish are worn off in spots. We considered a touch up with stain and a new coat of varnish, but decided we’d brighten things up by painting them instead.

Some of the wear and tear…

So a couple weeks ago, I pulled all of the doors and drawer panels off the cabinets and took them over to my parents. They have a spot to handle projects like this, plus it kept the kiddos away from the fumes.

Door removed to be painted. Sure makes for quick access…

Draw without front panel. I added temporary handles for the kiddos…

So over the weekend, the all of the cabinet frames were primed and painted. All of the hardware was also removed and cleaned. The hinges are painted are ready waiting to be reattached once the doors get one move coat of paint. The plan for this weekend — put everything back together. If it goes as planned, we’ll have pictures next week!

After another night of rain, we’re close to eight inches since the first of April. I think the garden and lawn have sucked up just about every drop, though we’re all starting to get a little anxious for the day we can actually get outside and do something. The mail order blueberries and raspberries are here already and the black berries will be here by Saturday (of course, on a year they could have been late). I picked up 30 pounds of seed potatoes last week hoping the forecast would be wrong. All of the stuff has ended up in the basement in an effort to keep everything dormant for a couple more weeks. With the starts of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, broccoli, and head lettuce under lights in the basement as well, it’s starting to look like a shifty lawn and garden store down there.

It took almost 9 months, but with the removal of the central line earlier this week Peanut was finally able to get her first real bath the other night…

The picture pretty much sums it up – she held on tight to the sides of the tub and was afraid to put her hands in the water. You can still see the steri-strip bandage on the right side of her chest from where the central line was removed. A few more baths and it should peel away on it’s own.

There were plenty of signs that should have made it obvious… wild ducks swimming in the neighbor’s cornfield, rain water leaking through the kitchen ceiling at 4 am, the FedEx guy getting stuck up to the axles when he thought he could turn around on the lawn, or the simple fact that we’ve received well over 5 inches of rain in the last six days. But just in case I missed any of that (not that the FedEx ruts could be missed by anyone) the new US Drought Report made it official Thursday morning when it was released – the drought is over for our area.

US Drought Monitor

Unfortunately, much of the state is still dry, but since the report uses a cut off time of Tuesday at 6 am (it was still raining at that time) I’m guessing the “normal” area will expand considerably again next week.

Now if only we could get a couple warm sunny days so things could green up.

Back in February, I wrote about the first flight of Potato Boy’s first model rocket. Everything finally lined up that we could take another shot at things last weekend. Since that day back in February, Potato Boy’s collection has grown to three rockets – the solid black 36 inch rocket flown in February, as well as a bright orange 15 inch rocket and a black and gold 23 inch rocket.

Prepping For Take Off

Potato Boy received several packets of rocket engines for his birthday last month, so he was able to get in a couple hours of launches. With larger engines this time, the rockets were getting a lot more altitude – just high enough that they’d disappear for a moment before discharging the parachute and floating back. The best part was that with the light breeze, we pointed the rockets slightly to the northwest and the breeze would bring them back to within 50 – 100 feet of where we were launching.

Lift Off!

By the end of the day, Potato Boy was re-packing the parachute, reloading the engine and fuse, and launching the rocket without any help.

If you’re interested, here’s a link to Amazon for one of the sets Potato Boy was using. It has everything you need to get started except the engines and model tools to assemble the rockets:

If assembly isn’t your thing, this one is ready to fly and just needs engines:

Monday turned out to be a big day for Peanut. During her March Check-up the doctors had decided it was time to remove her central line. Friday we received a call from surgery and were told that Peanut was scheduled for her procedure for Monday morning at 9:30. So bright and early Monday morning (well, maybe just early, it wasn’t any where near bright yet) the DW and I packed up Peanut and were at the UIHC for an early check-in.

Peanut Waiting For Surgery

Once we were checked in, we were taken to a pre-surgery room. Peanut was put in tiny hospital gown – I didn’t know they made them that small – and sat on the DW’s lap while nurses gathered information. Either Peanut was as excited to get her central line out as we were for her, or she was trying to talk her way out of the surgery, because she spent the majority of the hour and fifteen minutes we spent in the pre-surgery room talking and babbling non-stop to anyone that would listen. (The fact the anesthesiologist gave her a mild sedative to keep her relaxed may have had something to do with that.) When they where ready for her in the operating room, the anesthesiologist simply carried her in while the DW and I were sent back to the check-in area to wait. About 90 minutes later it was all over and Peanut was in recovery sleeping off the anesthesia, with a steri-strip bandage where the central line used to be.

Peanut In Recovery

Peanut’s still a little sore at the old site of the line and a common side-affect of the the anesthesia is crankiness, but I think it’s a safe bet that Peanut’s only complaint about the day was that she missed three meals.

It’s been a week already since Peanut had her March check-up at the UIHC. Her “official” weight is now 14 lb 4 oz – she’s gaining at a rate that puts her back on the charts for her age. The big news of the day was that Peanut’s team has decided that she has progressed to the point that her central line is no longer needed and can be removed next week. For adults, this is normally a fairly simple procedure that involves numbing the area and, after freeing the line from any scar tissue, carefully pulling it out. Given Peanut’s size and age, and the way her skin has healed around the line, her procedure will be slightly more involved. While the doctors are optimistic it will be a same-day procedure, Peanut will need to be sedated while the line is removed. Since a surgeon’s schedule is a difficult thing to pin down, we won’t know exactly when the surgery will be until late today. If all goes smoothly, we’re hoping to take Peanut to the hospital early Monday morning and have her sleeping in bed at home by the end of the day.

The other change stemming from last week’s visit centers around Peanut’s meals. We’ve transitioned from her long time meal plan to something a little different to help her output consistency around the clock. Instead of feeding Peanut 5 small meals between 7 and 7 each day with her bottle of milk and then just a bottle of milk every three hours through the night, we’re now feeding her a “green bean shake” every three hours around the clock.

Green Bean Shake

She still get’s three meals of baby cereal throughout the day, but the shakes are an attempt to keep Peanut’s inputs and outputs a little more consistent throughout the day – something we need to do before her intestines can be reconnected. (It’s easier on Peanut to feed her a shake in the middle of the night when she’s half asleep than it is to put her in her high chair and convince her to take beans off of a spoon.) The shakes are made of breast milk, pregestimil formula powder, green beans, and a bit of salt – and according to the DW, it tastes worse than it sounds – mainly due to the special formula powder. The good news is that Peanut doesn’t seem to mind the taste.

“When I Get Teeth Feed Me Beef”

Normally it’s the appearance of robins that mark the approach of spring, but that doesn’t seem to be the case around here for the last month. Instead, we’ve been overrun with cardinals – it’s common to spot a half dozen of them in one of the trees outside the kitchen window.

Not sure what the draw is, but Lulu sure loves spotting the bright red birds.

It seems we’ve gone from one extreme to the other with the weather from last year to this year. Last year this time, I had the garden tilled and some of the potatoes and onions planted already. Not quit on the same pace this year. Here’s what the garden looked like this morning…

With how the snow drifted over the garden this winter, there’s roughly four to six inches of snow covering it yet. I think I have a few days before the tiller needs to be ready to go to work.

3 – As in 3 ounces of milk… Peanut has been doing great with her feeds the last couple weeks and her doctors have decided it’s time to push her a little again. So, for the last few days Peanut’s bottles have been bumped up to just over 3 oz. She’s still being fed every three hours around the clock. The little bit extra seems to really have satisfied her.

2 – As in 2 new teeth… We’ve been expecting this for a while just judging by the crazy amount of drool on Peanut’s chin at all times recently, but the DW confirmed them a few nights ago when Peanut latched on to her finger. Her front two bottom teeth are just breaking through. No signs of any top teeth yet, but I doubt they’re far behind.

1 – As in 1 more day… Thursday is Peanut’s next check-up at the UIHC. It’s been five weeks since her last in-office check-up, so it will be her first time on the “official” scale in five weeks. I’d be lying if I said we haven’t had her on a scale in five weeks, but our “reference” scale doesn’t seem to be nearly as accurate. Peanut’s weight (and height) check will only be one small portion of the check up. Peanut will have a blood draw for a full round of labs to check her liver function, iron and copper levels, hemoglobin, and sodium – just to name a few. She’ll also meet with the lead doctor from her gastrointestinal team and one of the surgeons from her surgical team. They will be checking on Peanut’s central line and ostomy. There’s always three main points of discussion 1) the results of the blood work, 2) when the central line might come out, and 3) when Peanut’s small intestine might be attached to the very small piece of remaining colon. It should be an interesting day.

Did somebody say ‘doctor’?