I was able to catch her earlier this week doing a much better job of feeding herself. And of course she tries to share with the boys too. *smile*
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
eating with utensils
We've been working on getting Madi to feed herself with a spoon or fork. She knows that the food from the plate goes on the fork and the fork goes in her mouth but it's usually not coordinated. Last weekend when we were out for breakfast I thought I could catch her in action showing off her skills. Instead Madi decided to swipe all the food off the plate and then pick up the spoon to eat. Oh well.
I was able to catch her earlier this week doing a much better job of feeding herself. And of course she tries to share with the boys too. *smile*
I was able to catch her earlier this week doing a much better job of feeding herself. And of course she tries to share with the boys too. *smile*
Thursday, October 6, 2011
another graduation
Today we got kicked out of the developmental clinic. As expected - all clear from the developmental doc. Madi's graduated from that program, only have to go back if we have concerns about her development. Praise!! Of course we knew she was exceptional.
The remaining specialist that hasn't been crossed off the list is the cardiologist. Madi goes to see him December 1st. If her PDA is still open his recommendation is surgery to close it. No matter how thoroughly it's explained there is no such thing as an "easy heart surgery" to a parent, or at least not these parents. So the prayer request is that when they do the echocardiogram on December 1st it shows the PDA is completely closed.
I met a new mom of twin boys in the waiting room at the developmental clinic. Their appt was right after ours and I had to chuckle when she asked if Dr. Escobar was on time and the nurse said yes, ahead of schedule. It was 9:40, our appt was at 9:30 and if we're in the waiting room instead of the exam room I can't see how the nurse thought that was "ahead of schedule." Anyway, it was an ice breaker when that lady got settled in. "Um, not really ahead of schedule so you know." She delivered at 34 weeks and both boys had abdominal issues. They also shared the same low carnitine levels as Madi had. We chatted just briefly but she couldn't believe Madi's story. Encounters like this make me wonder about God's plan - was this experience for Dan and I, was it to impact a stranger's life, will it affect what Madi decides to do with her life. I have to admit that in the beginning my Why's were angry but as time's gone on it's more of a curious Why - what's the purpose/impact? I don't expect a moment where the lightbulb goes on and all the sudden we can point and say "That's why" but I do wonder from time to time.
I was a little off when I wrote about Madi's progress towards walking. Twice now she's stood up. Both times we were outside in the yard. She got into her kneeling position and then just stood up. Nothing to hold onto, nothing for balance, right in the middle of the yard just stood up. Neither time has there been a witness or camera nearby. I haven't been able to get her to do it when Dan was around either. I figured she would be standing at the coffee table or couch and then let go, not just pop up into a stand in the middle of the yard. Aye carumba! This is happening way, way too fast. I think I've found a way to postpone her walking if I really wanted to - keep her in shoes. I don't think Madi knows what to think of shoes. She definitely doesn't like having them on in the car. And she walks funny whenever we have her in shoes, like she can't figure out why her feet are so heavy. Madi usually ends up clomping around or standing on her tiptoes the whole time. So shoes may be my secret weapon.
And of course a blog post is no fun without pictures:
The remaining specialist that hasn't been crossed off the list is the cardiologist. Madi goes to see him December 1st. If her PDA is still open his recommendation is surgery to close it. No matter how thoroughly it's explained there is no such thing as an "easy heart surgery" to a parent, or at least not these parents. So the prayer request is that when they do the echocardiogram on December 1st it shows the PDA is completely closed.
I met a new mom of twin boys in the waiting room at the developmental clinic. Their appt was right after ours and I had to chuckle when she asked if Dr. Escobar was on time and the nurse said yes, ahead of schedule. It was 9:40, our appt was at 9:30 and if we're in the waiting room instead of the exam room I can't see how the nurse thought that was "ahead of schedule." Anyway, it was an ice breaker when that lady got settled in. "Um, not really ahead of schedule so you know." She delivered at 34 weeks and both boys had abdominal issues. They also shared the same low carnitine levels as Madi had. We chatted just briefly but she couldn't believe Madi's story. Encounters like this make me wonder about God's plan - was this experience for Dan and I, was it to impact a stranger's life, will it affect what Madi decides to do with her life. I have to admit that in the beginning my Why's were angry but as time's gone on it's more of a curious Why - what's the purpose/impact? I don't expect a moment where the lightbulb goes on and all the sudden we can point and say "That's why" but I do wonder from time to time.
I was a little off when I wrote about Madi's progress towards walking. Twice now she's stood up. Both times we were outside in the yard. She got into her kneeling position and then just stood up. Nothing to hold onto, nothing for balance, right in the middle of the yard just stood up. Neither time has there been a witness or camera nearby. I haven't been able to get her to do it when Dan was around either. I figured she would be standing at the coffee table or couch and then let go, not just pop up into a stand in the middle of the yard. Aye carumba! This is happening way, way too fast. I think I've found a way to postpone her walking if I really wanted to - keep her in shoes. I don't think Madi knows what to think of shoes. She definitely doesn't like having them on in the car. And she walks funny whenever we have her in shoes, like she can't figure out why her feet are so heavy. Madi usually ends up clomping around or standing on her tiptoes the whole time. So shoes may be my secret weapon.
And of course a blog post is no fun without pictures:
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| look at my teeth! |
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| I have dimples too! |
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| sharing the stick with Bruiser |
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| coming to get the camera |
I'm hoping this nice weather holds out and schedules coordinate. If so, I'll have some pretty stellar pictures for you to look at in a couple weeks as we're hoping to get family pictures taken next weekend. Yay!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
what we've been up to lately
Madi is cruising everywhere. She's getting a tad more adventurous and will stand with only one hand in yours or take the couple steps between the couch and coffee table but that's more of a controlled fall forward. We've been able to get her to stand on her own for a few seconds but she usually reaches out for us once she realizes she's on her own. The latest development is her kneeling on one knee with the other foot on the ground, like she's ready to push up and stand on her own.
Madi is pretty much done with bottles and gets everything from the sippy cup. She does know what real cups are for so we had to pull that from the bath toys. Can't have her drinking the bath water, gross. She has a tea set that came with two cups and she'll pick one up and put her to her mouth. She also likes the cold bottom of a can. We usually can't get a pop from the Pepsi machine without Madi right there to suck on the bottom of the can for a while. It'll only be a matter of time before she picks up one of our opened cans and helps herself. Hopefully it'll be a pop and not a beer!
Pete and Bruiser are still great with Madi. Pete's friendly but he tends to move out of her way whenever she gets close. Bruiser just lays there and takes whatever she dishes out. For a while Madi was fascinated with his ears. She'd look at the underside, pull on them, stick her finger in there and Bruiser would just lay there. She's laid on top of him, crawled over him, grabbed his tail and tried to put his paws in her mouth. If we're outside playing fetch he'll put up with her taking his stick. That is saying a lot as the dog has an oral fixation, gotta have his toys to chew on.
We had our first real sickness last week. Madi had a runny nose off and on, figured it was due to teething but all the sudden in a span of a couple days she got so congested and developed this horrible cough. It was like she felt the gunk in her chest but couldn't figure out how to bring it up.One time she did figure out how to bring some of it up, and her entire dinner. Vomiting must be one of the scariest things to a baby. Madi cries and gives you this look like "what just happened to me and why does my nose burn now?" I took her to the doc and some nasty stuff is going around. Dr. McManus has seen kids go from a "cold" to pneumonia in a couple days time so she put Madi on an antibiotic right away. Said most parents aren't bringing in the kids early enough to head off pneumonia. Yikes! Glad I brought her in. Plus, I won't lie - Madi was waking up every couple hours and we needed to get her back on track. It's amazing how spoiled you get when given the chance to sleep through the night on a regular basis. We went to the dr on Thurs and by Sunday Madi sounded much better and was sleeping almost through the night. She still has a lingering cough but nothing like before. While at the doc's we got her first of two flu shots. Hopefully that'll cover her and we'll pray it's an easy year for RSV. We're still arguing with insurance over her Synagis shot in March so I really don't want to have to start those shots again. Silver lining is that they get us to max out of pocket in about two shots.
Side story: so when I went to pick up Madi's prescription the pharmacist asked if I needed a dosing syringe. Doc had already told me it would be 2ml/dose so I said no. Pharmacist then proceeded to tell me how important it would be to give Madi the right dose. Obviously the lady didn't look to see that we've been giving Madi 2ml of medicine every day for about a year. I told her we had plenty of syringes at home. Unbeknownst to me an older gentleman had walked up behind me and when I said we had plenty of syringes at home he gasped and said "Good Lord!" Aw geez, not like that. Made me chuckle.
Last week I was feeling spry and decided to try and wrangle both of the dogs and Madi for a walk on the Monon. Instead of taking the stroller I put Madi in the baby carrier. She was pretty content in the carrier, even held Bruiser's leash for a while. I couldn't see her face but I could tell she was flirting with the folks passing by based on their comments. Madi absolutely loves to be outdoors. Not too sure what we're going to do this winter. I wonder how she'll react to touching snow for the first time...
I took a few pictures after our walk. Of course Madi zoomed in on the metal part of the leash, shiny!
Thursday we have another follow up at the developmental clinic. It's usually a rather long appointment as we're seen by the nurse, therapist and doctor with each person having their own evaluation. We're expecting the all-clear like always. Especially since our pediatrician said Madi's developmental milestones are tracking with full-term 1-year olds. I'll let you know what these guys say. Since we'll be by the hospital we might just pop in for a visit.
Madi is pretty much done with bottles and gets everything from the sippy cup. She does know what real cups are for so we had to pull that from the bath toys. Can't have her drinking the bath water, gross. She has a tea set that came with two cups and she'll pick one up and put her to her mouth. She also likes the cold bottom of a can. We usually can't get a pop from the Pepsi machine without Madi right there to suck on the bottom of the can for a while. It'll only be a matter of time before she picks up one of our opened cans and helps herself. Hopefully it'll be a pop and not a beer!
Pete and Bruiser are still great with Madi. Pete's friendly but he tends to move out of her way whenever she gets close. Bruiser just lays there and takes whatever she dishes out. For a while Madi was fascinated with his ears. She'd look at the underside, pull on them, stick her finger in there and Bruiser would just lay there. She's laid on top of him, crawled over him, grabbed his tail and tried to put his paws in her mouth. If we're outside playing fetch he'll put up with her taking his stick. That is saying a lot as the dog has an oral fixation, gotta have his toys to chew on.
We had our first real sickness last week. Madi had a runny nose off and on, figured it was due to teething but all the sudden in a span of a couple days she got so congested and developed this horrible cough. It was like she felt the gunk in her chest but couldn't figure out how to bring it up.One time she did figure out how to bring some of it up, and her entire dinner. Vomiting must be one of the scariest things to a baby. Madi cries and gives you this look like "what just happened to me and why does my nose burn now?" I took her to the doc and some nasty stuff is going around. Dr. McManus has seen kids go from a "cold" to pneumonia in a couple days time so she put Madi on an antibiotic right away. Said most parents aren't bringing in the kids early enough to head off pneumonia. Yikes! Glad I brought her in. Plus, I won't lie - Madi was waking up every couple hours and we needed to get her back on track. It's amazing how spoiled you get when given the chance to sleep through the night on a regular basis. We went to the dr on Thurs and by Sunday Madi sounded much better and was sleeping almost through the night. She still has a lingering cough but nothing like before. While at the doc's we got her first of two flu shots. Hopefully that'll cover her and we'll pray it's an easy year for RSV. We're still arguing with insurance over her Synagis shot in March so I really don't want to have to start those shots again. Silver lining is that they get us to max out of pocket in about two shots.
Side story: so when I went to pick up Madi's prescription the pharmacist asked if I needed a dosing syringe. Doc had already told me it would be 2ml/dose so I said no. Pharmacist then proceeded to tell me how important it would be to give Madi the right dose. Obviously the lady didn't look to see that we've been giving Madi 2ml of medicine every day for about a year. I told her we had plenty of syringes at home. Unbeknownst to me an older gentleman had walked up behind me and when I said we had plenty of syringes at home he gasped and said "Good Lord!" Aw geez, not like that. Made me chuckle.
Last week I was feeling spry and decided to try and wrangle both of the dogs and Madi for a walk on the Monon. Instead of taking the stroller I put Madi in the baby carrier. She was pretty content in the carrier, even held Bruiser's leash for a while. I couldn't see her face but I could tell she was flirting with the folks passing by based on their comments. Madi absolutely loves to be outdoors. Not too sure what we're going to do this winter. I wonder how she'll react to touching snow for the first time...
I took a few pictures after our walk. Of course Madi zoomed in on the metal part of the leash, shiny!
Monday, October 3, 2011
pumpkin patch
Yesterday we took off in search of a pumpkin for the house. There were two orchards about the same distance from the house, one was having a festival so that's where we headed. Wasn't exactly what we had in mind when we pulled up. The "orchard" was essentially a big backyard surrounded by housing developments. As you looked at the pumpkin patch, right behind a privacy fence was a little neighborhood, playground equipment in the backyards...not quite what I'd pictured. This place was what I'd call a city-orchard. Somewhere folks familiar with skyscrapers and bellmen come to experience "the country." Next time I don't see mention of taking a hayride to the apples or pumpkin patch I'll know they're talking about a city-orchard. Hopefully the warm weather will stick around long enough for us to try again and make it to a true country-style orchard. We did snap a few pictures while we were in the backyard orchard:
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