Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Life is busy as always!


Our little Owen is sitting up! And he’s getting his first two teeth on the bottom. He shows new and improved coordination, and he’s much more intentional with his motor skills now. He's playing differently, and is almost always grabbing for new things. The OT says promising things about his progress. We've been working on the crawling stage. He is beginning to make small movements in that direction, but we're working to help him build up his shoulder strength.

He's been sick a lot lately. He has had congestion and a cough for almost a month now. His breathing has been labored at times, and he still has to do breathing treatments quite frequently. The doc says its going to be a tough winter for our little guy. When he struggles, for safety, we have to take him into the ER so his oxygen saturation levels can be checked. This last time we went, he was okay. They also tested him for RSV and the results were negative.

He hasn't been eating great due to his breathing struggles. Like the speech therapist says, "If he has to choose between eating and breathing, he's going to pick breathing." There have been ups and downs with his drinking from a straw cup. It has been nice though, to overall see him more motivated to drink. He's been trying new things to eat like peanut butter, guacamole, and hummus, and he's been eating foods with his mum mum's, celery sticks, and veggie straws. We're trying yogurt again. We're adding texture to his foods with crushed graham crackers. He's even been having cheese puffs to work on skill building.... We're always adding something.

He weighs 17lbs and 3oz. He's 26.25 inches long.

His follow up eye appointment went well. He has no scar tissue from the ROP. He has slight far sightedness in one eye and a slight astigmatism in the other. We'll take him back in a year for another checkup, and the hope is that both will improve with time and growth.

OT services have been helpful. We're learning lots of new ways to help him breathe easier through massage and positioning. She's also helping with the crawling efforts.

Daycare is still going well!

Owen had a nice Christmas!

 **Daniel and I can't seem to figure out how to add pictures to this new set up . we'll keep trying to figure it out . in the meantime check out Facebook . we'll try and add some there . 

Halloween!

 My First Halloween

 

Look how my little feet have grown

 

Owen had a happy halloween! He got to go trick or treating with the daycare at a nursing home. He gave them lots of smiles.

Its been awhile....

Owen watching football.

He does that a lot with dad.



Still loves his monkey!



Its been a busy month.......

Here's the gist....

-Owen had surgery on Oct 1. Surgery was a success, but recovery was a different story. He spent two days in the PICU after surgery.

-We now have pulmonology in the picture. Owen gets a Pulmicort breathing treatment every day. He takes Singulair every day. He also gets Xopenex as needed.

-Owen has a sacral dimple. And he has a birthmark on his back which lines up with his spine. This apparently is sometimes evidence of a tethered spinal cord. This was a big scare. However, the MRI showed he does not have one!!

-Owen is eating lots of different foods. We call him Mikey a lot because he’ll eat anything: squash, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, etc. He’s making progress with the cup too; baby step progress, but progress. We’ve moved up to the straw cup and he seems to like that pretty well. We can’t wait for him to drink. He’s sure got eating down. Hopefully we’ll see light at the end of the tunnel soon. We’re looking forward to the day that the gtube is no longer needed.

- We ended the overnight feeding. So far, he still sleeps through the night.

-OT services start in Nov. Speech and nutrition will continue.

-We got the home and community based waiver. So he’s good with daycare until Aug 2013. It also covers any healthcare needs that insurance doesn’t.

-We also get respite with the waiver. We’re looking forward to a registered nurse being our babysitter 50 hrs per 6 mos.

-It appears that his hearing is good. He did have some fluid in his middle ear, so we do have to go back for another follow up to be sure. -The pediatrician said this is normal with babies.

-The whole in his heart is closing!! This was fantastic news. We don’t have to go back to the cardiologist for a year. And that’s just to be sure. They said he has a “normal” heart. :o)

***Owen weighs 15lbs and 3oz. He's 25.25 inches long.



So, the new plan is to update the blog at least one time per month J

--We will however put up new pictures of Owen in his Halloween costume!

I really like my oatmeal cereal!

 

 

 ----btw, look how this bib used to fit me. This was when I wore it on St Patricks Day!

 

 

 

 

My first day of daycare....



I'm really realxed going into it. No tears from me. 

Mommy on the other hand, she had a hard time leaving me.

 



I gave her lots of hugs.

 



And I showed them all what a big boy I am.

 



 

 

Things are moving right along. We've had a busy couple of weeks. I went back to work the Tuesday after labor day.  It was tremendously hard to leave him for 8-9 hours. Fortunately, we had grandma visit to help with the transition. She stayed home with him the first week. The second week, he started daycare at Sproutlings. He went half days for two days and a whole day for one. Next week is the real deal. No more grandma to help us adjust..

He's been doing great there so far. The daycare seems really experienced with special needs such as his. He has circle time with the other babies. A lady came and played the guitar for them one day. Then they had a puppet show. He's not used to all the excitement there yet. He's not yet sleeping much when he's there.  

They work with him well on his feedings. He's been doing well with eating his oatmeal cereal. Its been a very positive experience for him. Right now, he just gets it 2 x per day. We have to move slowly and make sure he's balanced nutritionally.

He weighs 13 lbs and 5 oz as of, not this past Friday, but the one before. He'll be weighed again on this coming Tuesday. We have a follow up with the neonatologists.

 

 

We also had pictures taken by the fabulous Traci Gould. Here are a few....



 

 

 

I'm a cubs fan!

Look how I've grown....

 

Owen weighs 12 lbs 9.5 oz! He's seven months old today. His corrected age is officially four months. That means its time to try food! So far, he seems to like his oatmeal cereal. The nutritionist and the speech therapist say some babies like Owen skip right over the bottle, and move into spoon feeding and sippy cups.

 

 

I'm going to be a rock star.

I'm still good at nap taking. I think I get that from my mom. 

My new high chair is great. Its very comfortable.

 



My eyelashes are so long. I'm hopng someday soon my hair catches up with that length.

 



I play really hard. Sometimes I get so sleepy that I fall asleep in the middle of my play, and I just can't let go of my toys.

 



I'm getting to be such a big boy!

Both of my grandmas do make me smile :)

Owen is doing well. He's doing great sleeping through the night.He's working hard on his exercises to improve his oral motor skills. At this point he's not as fussy during that time, and he even smiles a little bit. That's exactly the goal we've been working on; to help him have a more positive oral experience.
His gagging episodes are better. They still happen, but not as frequently, not as long, and not as severe. The Zantac is helping.
Owen is set up to start Sproutlings on the 10th of Sept. We're still waiting to hear about Medicaid.

 

 

 

 

Brevon is already introducing me to spiderman cartoons!

I'm so relaxed! Dad knows how to help me chill. And I do love my sleep sheep!

Owen started his new feeding schedule last night. He slept through the night from 11pm to 6am. It was great! He woke up in a happy mood this morning. He did tummy time, rolled from his side to his belly and from his belly to his side. He enjoyed play time on the floor for longer than usual. He took some of his 8:30am bottle. He went back to sleep for his feeding via the Gtube afterward. He wasn’t as fussy during the afternoon; which has been his new trend. So far, it looks like a good night’s sleep is going to make a big difference for him. We’re hoping that solid rest will help him be more organized with his suck, swallow, breathe skills, and he will be more successful with bottle feeding.

We’re working on new exercise strategies to help him improve his feeding skills. We’re back to only doing the bottle two times a day again. But we’re doing more positive oral exercises. The nutritionist and the speech therapist are wonderful! They’ve both got a lot of experience, and are helping to explore options for increased success.

Owen also started Zantac yesterday. He hasn’t been on that since before the Gtube. The gagging episodes appear to be reflux; minus the spitting up of course with the nissen. They say it will take a week to see the effect of the medication. We’re hoping that eventually it helps him be more comfortable and more open to feeding experiences.

He weighs 11lbs and 3oz!! –Thank you, Gtube, for his steady growth. And brain development!

I went to the good ole L&N building today. We have to wait 7-10 days to receive the determination on his eligibility for continued Medicaid coverage. I sure hope he’s eligible. We don’t have a lot of childcare options otherwise.

Tomorrow, we’re visiting Sproutlings. The First Steps people say its so great it will “blow you away.” We want to be sure that Owen is in the right hands during the daytime hours. Its not on the way to work like Kidz Club, but it sounds like it’ll be a place where we can be confident he’s getting the best care.