More Good News for Annie

My sweet little Annie has just struggled so much, and like her big sister, always, always has a smile through it all.  Annie has officially been accepted into the First Steps program and will be receiving care from a speech therapist and an occupational therapist for her feeding issues.  Much thanks to my sister, Tricia, for her help with Annie's neck.  The evaluation team felt that Annie's torticollis has been mostly corrected.  The evaluation team evaluates children in six developmental areas:  cognitive, visual, communication, gross motor, fine motor, and, feeding.  Annie is on target or above what they expect to see for 3 month old.  Her oral motor development is below and her feeding was all zeros.  

We have another meeting on the 12th to determine goals for Annie and to get her therapists.  Of course, the best therapists are already booked but I am not above begging.  I sent them both pathetic emails and am planning on calling them later today.  I'm hoping to get her speech therapists in place before the 19th so she can attend Annie's swallow study.  Once the therapists have committed we just need our ped's signature and we can FINALLY get some help for Annie.

We have found some bottles that are working AWESOME!  Ironically, I had registered for them a long, long time ago but had never found any in stores.  NOW, Babies R Us is carrying them.  They are Austrian - Mam - but are vented at the bottom and have a shaped and textured nipple.  When Annie's drinking, you can actually hear the air coming out of the vents at the bottom.  She doesn't take half an hour to drink 6 ounces and has had a significant drop in spitting up.  And the bottles are so darn cute!

Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.  It has been a challenging couple of months for all of us, especially Annie.    

More Birthday Pix & Vids

Annie & Grandpa

Annie & Aunt Robin

Emma's balloons from Aunt Mimi

Gram & Annie - Hmmmmmm

Emma opening presents from Mommy & Daddy

Twinkle Toes Annie

Opening presents 

Emma & Hannah hugging

Mommy's Little Star

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMMA!

It's 1:20 in the morning and I have been either cleaning or baking for two days so not many pictures right now.  And, yes, Annie, I'd be happy to make a castle cake for Reese.  Here are some vids and pix to tide you all over.  More are coming soon . . .

Emma's castle cake that Mommy made.  Believe it or not, it only took 7 hours to make - about 12 total with interruptions, etc.

Princess Emma (or Emmarella) eating a carrot.

Emma and her cake!  Notice how comfortable she seems with her "court" around her.

More pictures and videos are coming soon.  This has been the birthday of the baby doll.  Emma is WAY into dolls and Polly Pockets, or as she calls them, Polly Dollies.  

But FINALLY . . . 

Emma walking down the aisle in Stacey's wedding.

Emma's 3rd Birthday Weekend

Here are some pictures from today.  Annie tried a bowl of cereal and actually got some in her mouth.  The photos don't really capture the magnitude of the mess.  Emma got to open her presents from Mimi today and Mommy spent most of the day making Emma's cake.  More to come tomorrow.

UPDATES on Annie & Emma

My brain is not functioning today.  Between Annie's evaluation, Emma's party, new textbooks at work, a new schedule for my freshman, new team teaching, and, who knows what else, I forgot some things in the last post.

Dr. Lisa wants the swallow study suggested by the First Steps evaluators.  They basically add barium to something that the child eats - I'm assuming to her formula - while a radiologist and a speech pathologist watch.  It's scheduled for August 19 @ 8:00am - the second day of school.  Hopefully it won't be too traumatic for any of us.  Later today we have to go out and find some new bottles to try.  The evaluators feel that the Avent nipples are too stiff.

Emma is doing great without her binkies but she does struggle at nap and sleep time.  She sobs and cries and says, "I want my binkies back."  It really is pretty pathetic because her chin quivers and her voice shakes.  

BIG Weekend

We have quite a big weekend coming up. This morning, Annie had her evaluation by First Steps. They said her cognitive, communication, and, visual skills are exactly where they should be with her communication and visual skills being excellent. They felt she was well aware of and interested in the world around her. Her gross and fine motor skills are also fine with the exception of her inability to suck. In terms of the sucking issues the evaluators felt they had more questions than answers - join the club! The body posturing is typical of children with reflux, however, they usually don't see sucking problems as profound as Annie's in children without documented medical and/or physical disabilities.  We'll have a determination meeting soon to explore Annie's eligibility for services but we were told to ask my friend from our mom's group if she could recommend any therapists - we're assuming she's eligible.  For the time being we're going to continue to use the positioning recommended by the lactation consultant and try some softer nipples.  I'll be so thankful to finally get some help with her.

Annie LOVES her exersaucer but she's supposed to hold off on it as it promotes the posturing associated with her reflux.

Emma is turning three - or as she says, FREE, on Sunday.  She has been so excited about her party that she can't stand it.  Sometimes, I can't stand her enthusiasm and effervescence either.  She got a birthday card from my aunt & uncle (Thanks Aunt Cindy & Uncle Lee!) and HAD to go shopping.  She bought a ginormous swan and new goggles - her old ones broke.  I thought for sure that she'd choose pink since everything else had to be pink but she wanted blue to match her Ariel mermaid swimsuit.  

Last weekend we tackled some work outside.  Here are some pictures of Emma helping me with the bushes.  

We took Emma to the zoo yesterday.  Heaven to a three year-old is the zoo!  All she wanted to do was see the sea lions, ride the horses, ride the carousel, and, ride the train.  Here are some pictures.

This was as Em was asking if she could "get in there".

 

The Binkie Fairy Visits . . .

With Emma's third birthday approaching, we decided it was time (past time) for the Binkie Fairy to pay Emma a visit. I had been talking to her for about a month about who this fairy is and what she does and Emma seemed ok with it all. She so eagerly put her binkies in the envelope she found yesterday morning. I sat on the couch and sobbed. I was so proud of her. Nap time wasn't too bad. She threw a little fit and then cried. She really needed a lot of reassurance. When she woke up from her nap, we told her that the Binkie Fairy had been to our house. We left a trail of confetti (aka Fairy Dust) to a gift bag full of BIG GIRL goodies. She was so excited. Bedtime was more of the same but by 11 we decided she could "rest" in the big bed until she fell asleep. It seemed to work and she was out like a light.




Here's a video of Annie from Sunday morning. She's such a happy baby.