Is It Sunday Already?

Last week turned out to be another busy week, which is why I’m writing my post on Sunday afternoon.

Monday started with Lindy having occupational therapy with Lisa. It went well and she thinks Lindy is on the verge of sucking. We’re still waiting for her to get the hang of it! Wednesday Lindy had her deaf and hard of hearing teacher here. She seems really impressed with Lindy and her hearing. She was very excited to see Lindy clapping to patty cake. You can just start singing it and she starts clapping. Because we aren't clapping, just talking, she is obviously hearing us. She hears us and understands it and knows to clap! Very exciting!

Thursday was a long, long day with 5 appointments. I think I scheduled them all on one day back when gas was $4 a gallon. I need to remind myself not to do that again. It started off with a hearing check up for Will. He did great and passed with flying colors. For now he’s been cleared of any hearing issues from being premature. The pediatrician will do hearing checks on him when he’s older.

The next appointment turned out to be very disappointing. Both babies had swallow studies and we were very hopeful that one (or both) of them would get off the thickener. Neither did and in fact Lindy took a step backwards. The good news was that both babies were fine on the purees and solid foods. This is actually a step forward for Lindy. 3 months ago she was penetrating (not full-on aspirating but letting a little bit go into the upper part of her airway) the purees. Both babies have currently been on what they call nectar consistency. Actually I think I usually make Will’s a little thinner and Lindy’s a little thicker than nectar. We tried Will with the bottle and he did fine with that. Then we tried him with the straw sippy cup and he was aspirating like crazy. It went down past his vocal cords which is pretty serious aspiration. We were shocked. So many people have told us that kids usually do much better with the straw than a bottle. We tried him at the regular nectar consistency (a little thicker than I had been making it) and he did fine with the straw. Miss Lindy, well who knows what she was doing. We tried her on what I usually give her and she clearly aspirated it. The next step is going to a honey consistency (which she had been on for awhile but 3 months ago had improved to nectar). She was actually penetrating the honey a little bit. She basically completely regressed. Instead of getting either off the thickener we are making both thicker. I really was very disappointed. I went with really high hopes and came out with them dashed. We go back in 4 months to see how they are doing. I’m not getting my hopes up next time.

That afternoon we went to the neonatology clinic that has been following their progress. Will weighed 20lbs 9oz and Lindy was 17lbs 6oz. Will was 29inches long and Lindy was 27 1/8 inches long. They did a developmental assessment on them since it was around their one year adjusted birthday and Will is pretty much right on target with his adjusted age. Lindy, well Lindy is nowhere near being on target with her adjusted age. This isn’t news to us. We know she is delayed; we don’t need anyone to tell us. But we are consistently seeing Lindy do new things and we know she is progressing, it’s just at her own rate. I don’t think it’s fair to put her on some kind of time table since kids with vision and hearing losses are known to develop late. As long as we see her move forward then we’re happy.

We ended the week with Lindy having a physical therapy appointment on Friday. Although she is very pleased with Lindy we are going to move her from every other month appointments to monthly appointments. She is on the cusp of some big movements so we are going to give her a little extra help with those. The best news of the week is that so far no one feels any cerebral palsy in either of them. We are getting closer to being out of the woods on that front.

We ended our week with a trip to Raleigh for what we termed the baby tour. Friday we visited a friend of mine from college, Nicole, and her new baby girl, Madison. So sweet! I’m sure Madison does not want me to come back as I accidentally knocked her head with Lindy’s. She cried so hard and I felt so guilty! That evening we spent the night with my best friend Carrie. Her 3 year old, Anna, loved the babies. Saturday afternoon we got to see 3 more new babies. Drew’s two roommates from divinity school have both had babies recently. Todd and Amy had twin daughters, Atha and Nora, in August and Kris and Katie had baby Claire in September. And of course we saw Claire’s big brother Micah. It was fun to see all the little ones. It’s hard to remember when ours were that small and it wasn’t that long ago.

The babies (well maybe Drew and I) are trying to catch our breaths from all the running around. The babies (well maybe Drew and I) were pretty tired this morning and not in great moods. Good naps today are helping them catch up on their sleep. Have a great week!

Property of Mom Forever (Remember this ladies)

Lindy has been wearing some hair barettes this week. They look pretty cute. Until Will comes over and takes them out. He has also discovered her hearing aides. I've caught him pulling them out of her ears. She doesn't need any more help in that department.

One of my new favorite outfits!

So sweet.

This was Thursday morning before the long day of appointments. No one was smiling when we walked in the door that evening!
Thre is a lot of clapping going on these days in our house.

A funny picture of Lindy getting Will. It's usually the other way around!

Will never has any interest in this toy until I sit Lindy in front of it. Then he takes over.

Nicole and baby Madison (after she stopped crying!).

Lindy, Anna, and Will

The Hope Valley Road gang and their offspring. That's a whole lot of baby in that picture! Our get togethers have drastically changed!

Me and Claire, Drew and Lindy, Todd and Nora, Amy and Atha, Kris and Micah and Will

Lindy and her new girl friends. Funny to think she is the biggest and oldest! Claire, Lindy, Nora, and Atha.