pictures

Not much to update since my last post, but I wanted to share these great pictures we took at the park today.

trains, trains and more trains

Trains, trains and more trains! Yep, its already started. Those of you who know Tim well, know he has an "obsession" with trains and the minute we got pregnant he was hoping for a playmate. Hailey is only 14 months and has already been train watching and now she has the whole Thomas the Tank Engine set and I have no say in the matter. HELP! His mom who "lovingly" encourages this obsession bought Hailey the whole set at a yard sale for $34.00. Can you believe it? Also, those of you who know my apartment wonder how it fits. Lets just say now my bedroom is a playroom as well as every other room in the apartment.
Well, here is Hailey and Daddy putting together the track ...



And here is Hailey after her photo shoot last week with Elmo ...



Lastly, for a health update, those of you who remember Hailey's NICU days will remember that she dealt with alot of "bowel" problems and was glycerin dependent for probably 6 months of her life. Well, we have dealt on and off with constipation since then. Now it is so severe it is causing bleeding so they have started her on miralax once a day and will check in with us at her 15 month appt. In the NICU they had said we should probably run more tests when she turned a year to check for problems, but since she was doing so well I didn't bring it up. We will see what the doctor says next month.
Also, Hailey had physical therapy yesterday, it went well, but now she is not as comfortable with Jen as she was before we started trying the lite gait. She is so afraid of it that she is much more clingy which makes it harder to do the therapy. We are still waiting on our eval for OT, it could take up to 6 weeks. Jen, our physical therapists, thinks they won't get us a specialist because Hailey isn't that bad off, but might give Jen the o.k. to spend more time with Hailey working on sensory as well as physical aspects. She is so close to walking its crazy. Actually, she took her first step yesterday and stood alone for the longest I have seen her. She has the motion of walking down and has great balance she just won't give up the security of holding something unless you distract her. Last night though if you put her close enough to things she would let go and move between then with ease actually taking a step toward them not holding anything.
GO HAILEY GO!

occupational therapy

Well, another week (ha, ha). What can I say? Hailey had a good week overall and seems to be over her ear infection. We decided to slowly start adding whole milk to Hailey's diet on Sunday. By Monday her body was covered in hives. The ped said to try Lactaid milk instead, after that she developed welts. Finally, we started soy - she hates plain soy - so tried vanilla soy tonight. She drank it tonight before bed so we will see what happens. Needless to say I have every kind of milk imaginable in my fridge. What is strange is that she eats cheese, drinks milk-based formula, she has eaten mac 'n cheese, ice cream and other milk products with no problems. I guess whole milk is just more potent?! I just hope the rash goes away soon and the soy does the job.
As far as therapy is concerned, she has her physical therapy today and the therapist has some concerns so she is referring us to occupational therapy as well. She did up a report and said its nothing serious, but how do you tell a mother not to worry? I looked up online about sensory issues and came upon "sensory processing disorder". When reading up on that it would explain alot of Hailey's behaviors. I found this explanation on a website ... "in the womb, a baby spends her time curled up, cozy and warm in the dark, listening to her mother’s heartbeat and muted sounds from the outside world. Meanwhile, her nervous system is developing at astonishing speed, forming thousands upon thousands of essential nerve cell connections. When a baby is born prematurely, her immature, disorganized nervous system isn’t ready to handle all of the sensory messages bombarding her". The good news ... "with appropriate interventions and time, most children develop needed central nervous system connections and sensory input starts getting more familiar and more comfortable. Not always, but most of the time, children can overcome their sensory problems, especially with parents who develop their own "sensory smarts."
So, needless to say, as a mother I am worried, but the outlook is good and we caught it at such an early age that she can easily be worked with and we can all develop those "sensory smarts". I just don't know how I am going to keep up with all these appointments!
Just for reference in the report Jen put that Hailey has made tremendous progress in the past 2 months and what she is concerned about is gravitational insecurities, apprehension with movement, not being able to remain in one spot for an activity etc ... So we will see where we go from here. Today I felt guilty because if she wasn't born prematurely she wouldn't have so many hurdles to overcome. Really, overall she has done amazingly and I guess I have to focus on that.
On a better note ... Hailey is so darn cute and here are some pictures to prove it :-)

My dad had a photo shoot with her on Saturday ...

Happy Adjusted First Birthday!

As of tomorrow Hailey is "officially" 1! Ha, ha ... Tomorrow, September 16, was Hailey's due date. Can you believe it - 64 days after she was actually born! This is why I am always adjusting her age because whether she was in the womb or outside she was still developing as if she was in the womb. That is why she needed help breathing until her lungs developed, why she couldn't suck on a bottle etc ... So even though she is now actually 14 months, her adjusted age would be 12 months. They adjust preemie's age until 2 because they meet alot of milestones between birth and 2 years of age and as long as a preemie is on track for their adjusted age there is nothing to worry about and Hailey is right on track.
She is finally feeling better! YEAH! Hopefully we can enjoy the nice weather this weekend. Yesterday, we went and had PT at her therapists house. She has a machine called a lite gait and it has a harness that holds the child up over a treadmill which is supposed to eliminate them holding on to anything and have them get the feel of walking. Hailey is SO close to walking, but as the PT says she is just not confident enough to let go. So we tried this machine and she screamed - as I assumed she would. She did settle down at times, but didn't like it overall. She kept looking for something to hold on to for stability even though the harness was doing that for her. Jen did say that in the 3 years she has had the machine Hailey did the best first time walking. So even though she was screaming, she was walking on the treadmill. Funny ... We will try this for a few minutes every week.

Here are a couple cute pictures of Hailey at the park -

double ear infection - ouch!

So I know Hailey wasn't getting better, but when she started getting sicker I started to worry. Last night she wasn't acting right and ended up with a 101.6 temp. The ped said to start giving her motrin/tylenol every three hours. She thankfully slept through the night and we kept the fever down, but this morning it started to climb again and she just wanted to sleep so we took her the peds office for an emergency visit. Well, the verdict is she has a double ear infection. Yep, both ears. Oh Boy! She has been very tired and cuddly today (which is kind of nice since she is ALWAYS moving), but I do miss my spunky baby. He put her on antibiotics so hopefully she will be feeling better soon. Before she gets better she did make sure to pass on her cold to her Daddy, Nana,Uncle Matt and Kare Bear. Isn't she kind? I am hoping I don't get it! We made them a peace offering of chocolate chip cookies today to try to make them better :-)
I do want to note in the midst of this she is getting steadier on her feet and cruising furniture like a pro. I think she will be walking in no time. On Thursday she is going to the physical therapists house (she has a clinic) and trying out a machine called the lite gait. It is a harness they strap on her and have her walk on a treadmill. Sounds interesting, but I guess it can speed up her walking.
Well, I am looking forward to the extra hours I can spend with Hailey during this time with my job and know God will provide either my hours back or a better job. Please keep praying!

fears realized

You know how I have been writing about my "fears" of RSV season approaching?! Well, she doesn't have RSV, but she did catch a bad cold. I know, I know, many have told me its a part of life and it builds her immune system etc ... but it still stinks and she is miserable. It started Tuesday night and she was up all night crying. I think mostly she is miserable because she can't suck on her binky due to not being able to breathe and that frustrates her. If she wasn't a binky baby she might sleep better. But what can I do?! Yesterday you could hear that the cold had moved into her throat as she is raspy. I am just praying it doesn't move into her lungs because that is where it gets scary. Tim also woke up this morning sick ... ARGHH ... and to think this is the first (in a while) and probably last 80 degree, sunny weekend we will have this year!!! Hopefully we can enjoy some of it!
On a side note, I did take her to the pediatrician because of the constant crying (to make sure it wasn't an ear infection) and to check on her reflux, because it has become quite worse. And we found out her zantac dose was not even therapeutic. We hadn't increased it because she seemed to be doing better at her 12mo appt. So it was doubled from 1ml 3 times a day to 2ml's. We can even go up as far as 3ml's if this doesn't work. She hasn't been cringing and choking so much so I think the zantac is starting to work though she is still spitting up which makes her congestion worse. An almost 14 month old spitting up - I thought that stopped early on (ha, ha)! Oh, and before I forget to top it off, our baby who carefully and slowly grows teeth has decided now would be a great time to bring in her top teeth. YES - a teething, sick, reflux baby! And I wonder why all she does is cry ... I just wish I could make it better!!!! Keep us in your prayers!
Oh, and on a good note. Tim has a job, not only a job, but a great job! He goes in today to meet with the owner, get his letter of employment, salary and start date!

Happy Homecoming Anniversary!

Today marks 1 year that Hailey has been home with us. Can you believe it?! 53 days after her birth she came home ... What a wonderful year it has been! I have been thinking back on this day for the past week and just can't believe how far she has come! She came home weighing 5lbs, 3oz and is now a "big" 17lbs, 3 oz. She is still the same feisty, precious bundle of joy we brought home and I am so lucky to be her mom.
Just think in only 12 more days it will be her adjusted birthday/due date! Funny, huh?! So many days to celebrate, we just better not celebrate them all with cake or I am in major trouble :-)
Well, on to this weekend. It was pretty uneventful. We relaxed, did a little shopping, celebrated my brother's birthday and took a trip to the beach. I have been pretty sad that summer is over (the season is to quick up here), but I am now getting into the fall mode and looking forward to pumpkin picking, halloween, thanksgiving, christmas and all that comes with those fun holidays. Just think how much fun Hailey will have this year as those holidays approach!
Since I went on a picture taking "spree" this weekend I just had to share ...

Trouble with a capital "T"

Well, not much to report this week (that is usually a good thing :-) Hailey had physical therapy on Monday and did well. Jen said again that she probably won't be with us much longer. Pretty much Hailey's only issue is still her "core" strength which makes her accident prone. She can crawl, cruise etc, but due to low tone in her core she is extra wobbly. I can't take my eyes off her for a second or she is bumping into something with her head! She did suggest buying Hailey a walker because she is independent and likes to walk on her "own". So we took her advice and Hailey is now a happy to be up and walking around with her toy whereas she preferred crawling or cruising before - God forbid she have to hold our hands to walk (ha, ha).

Here are some pictures of her walking ....





Also, I had to post this picture my dad took at my birthday party. Here is Hailey playing with her friends, Wyatt and Adia.




Still no more teeth to report. Not sure what is going on with that. I guess they will come when they are ready. I also have to mention for the records that as Hailey gets older the more I realize how much she is like her daddy. She now even mimics habits he has that annoy me half to death! I won't go into details - but Tim and Ms. Tim Jr. spell TROUBLE with a capital "T" for Mommy :-) This weekend is my brother's 21st birthday. Can you believe it!?
Happy Birthday Uncle Matt! We love you!