Rock n roll star

Sort of snow day

So Stillwater got just a tiny bit of snow, sleet, and ice. It wasn't even enough to warrant putting Alaina in her snow suit! However, this is problematic in Oklahoma given they don't treat the roads well/have proper snow and ice removal strategies. So I kept Alaina home this morning, waiting for it to warm up a bit. The university is open but public schools are closed. I had to find some creative ways to distract her while I cleaned the kitchen this morning. You can see her making movement toward mobility.

She has gotten really good at taking the star "blocks" off of her stacking toy and putting them back on. However, on Sunday she was having a little trouble with it and I really enjoyed watching her persistence! That is definitely a quality I want her to have throughout her life. Love her face at the end!

Thanks to everyone checking in on us. Alaina is doing great. We are finishing up the last of her ear drops which she HATES. She still has yucky drainage and is somewhat grumpy but she's doing really well.

Silly Sunday pictures

Sleep while the baby is sleeping

I've noted previously that one of the most common pieces of advice new parents are given is to "sleep while the baby is sleeping." It's great advice if you're willing to quit all other aspects of your life (i.e., eating, showering, going to the bathroom, cleaning, laundry). The interesting thing that is left unstated is the part that the adage is not saying is...you won't sleep when the baby is awake. Pretty much ever. And ugly parenting secret #87 is this, babies don't sleep when we most want/need them to. Just plan for that. It's more reliable than Newton's law of gravity.

So yea, Sunday night was about as bad as we could have imagined. I reminded myself frequently "yes, it could be worse. The three of us could have a stomach virus. Someone could drive a car through our front window. A meteor could hit our house. We could be experiencing a quakenado (apparently only a thing in Oklahoma?)" but yea...it was pretty terrible, at least sleep-wise. I put Alaina to sleep around 8 pm and she woke up at 10. Chad went to feed her and she was absolutely shivering from head to toe. Earlier in the day, she had been playing and acting normally, but she felt a little warm and was running a fever of about 100. We chalked it up to teething or ear issues. It may have been a virus though because her fever did shoot up to 102. She wouldn't eat or take Tylenol. She kept falling back asleep while being rocked but couldn't be put in her crib. This dance of rock, walk, lay down, wake up screaming, rock, walk, etc. lasted until 1 am when Chad took her. He let her play for about half an hour and she did fairly well. However, when he tried to put her back to sleep, she got very upset. I was able to get her to sleep off and on but had to be continually walking and rocking her. Of course, she wasn't allowed to have any food or liquid after midnight because of the procedure, which made things considerably more difficult. I stayed up with her until 3:30 but just couldn't do it anymore so Chad took her and of course (!!), she went right back to sleep when he put her in the crib. We were especially ambivalent because we had concerns that they might cancel her surgery since she had a fever (which did go back down, by the way). Just a note in case you were wondering, it's hard to parent on less than 2 hours sleep. But I was glad she slept from 3:45 until we got her up to leave at 5:45.

Now, given our lack of sleep, you may not be surprised to hear that we first drove to the wrong office. Fortunately, Stillwater is a small town and we were able to make it to the right building (which is right in front of our neighborhood...) and were only 8 minutes late for the appointment. I had a lot of concerns that Alaina would be inconsolable given her lack of sleep or food but she was a trooper. She was very calm while they took her vital signs and height/weight. The nurses commented on how good she was being. And she was pretty adorable in her little hospital gown.

 

The surgery itself was very fast. Chad and I barely had time to move our things into the recovery room and prepare a bottle for her before she was out. Seriously, it was 11 minutes from when they took her from us to when they brought her back. Yes, I timed it.  The doctor indicated there was fluid in both ears. In one ear, it was the consistency of engine oil and the other ear was a bit thicker. Neither were horrible (jello is bad apparently) and they were not infected, which of course made Chad and I somewhat question if the surgery was even really needed right now but whatever. Nothing we can do about it now. I was also irritated to learn that we have to use ear plugs every time we bathe her, for as long as she has ear tubes. Annoying.

Alaina was pitiful coming off the anesthesia. She just seemed so confused and mad. Also you could tell she was disoriented and her little head kept flopping forward. Poor little thing. She was angry the entire time we were in the recovery room, especially since they kept coming back to measure her oxygen with a pulse ox on her big toe. They finally let us go after 30 minutes of observation.

Fortunately, Alaina had a few decent naps, so Chad and I did take advantage of sleeping while she napped. Throughout the day though, she had serious mood swings. She was happy some of the time.

But mostly she was mad and grumpy.

Last night her sleep was still pretty dysregulated but we are hoping that's just a product of all that she's been through this week. I guess we will soon see...   

T - 1 day and counting

Alaina gets her ear tubes tomorrow morning. We'd certainly appreciate your thoughts and prayers. We feel good about our decision to get them (& to get them done here, with general anesthesia). Honestly, our biggest concern is the "no eating after midnight" rule. There were a couple of days last week where Alaina slept solid from 7:45pm until around 7am and we started thinking "great timing! This is perfect!" unfortunately, however, the last three nights she's gotten up between 1-2am to eat (i.e., how I'm posting now). I think we will probably wake her for a bottle at 11:30 and just pray that doesn't disrupt her sleep cycle too much and she sleeps until we get her up to leave at 5:45. We are glad we have to be there so early. I know Monday morning may be rough so I'll be practicing my patience and mindfulness. And doing whatever I can to prepare today. We really hope this fixes her ear issues as well as helps her cough & congestion.

We hope everyone had a happy Valentine's day. We got take out and just chilled at home. My birthday was yesterday. It was pretty low key; certainly not the best actual day but I'm so thankful for all the last year has brought me. Thanks for all the calls, texts, cards, FB posts, and flowers. They were the highlight of what was otherwise a somewhat crummy day. More about that in a later post perhaps.

Here are a few more pictures, including a hilarious one of Alaina, mad because Chad wouldn't let her have his cookbook fast enough. Little chef in the making...

10 months

Such a happy girl! Not much new to report. She has added an -ell- sound to her verbal gymnastics and she is still relying on us for most of her mobility needs. Recently she has tried squash, which she loves. Chicken from a jar, not so much. You would have thought we were abusing her she was making such a fuss.In other fun, Alaina very rarely wears shoes (her mom is from Kentucky, you know), so she was fascinated by shoestrings.

On Sunday we did something totally crazy. We took Alaina to the grocery store. She loved it. She is so curious about her surroundings and the people who fill the space around her. Because of this (at least so far) we have been fortunate that she is exceptionally good in public. Sunday was no exception. In fact, the person at the check out lane commented that he wished all babies were like Alaina (who was happily chewing on her hand and conversing with me in her babble talk). He thought she was adorable and we agree.

Smart chick

Weird to be on the other side

As I noted before, this has been a crazy week. We had an invited speaker come to the department which took up some of my very limited discretionary time the last couple of days and tomorrow is our graduate student interview weekend. Ugh. Anyhow, I wanted to update on Alaina's developmental evaluation, though I've been feeling bitter that I can't really recall the few paragraphs I had written previously.

The bottom line, as I said in the last post, is that she's doing fine overall. She scored average to above average in all areas, except motor. She did such a great job. I was proud of how well she behaved, especially given that she had not had a nap that morning. She was mostly pleasant and happy, though she got hungry toward the end. It was truly interesting for me as I watched them assess her and ask me questions. Although they used different instruments than I have administered (Battelle Developmental Inventory and Early Learning Accomplishment Profile), I was still able to have a sense for which area they were assessing and how well she was doing. Apparently I gave myself away as a psychologist (or educator) when I noted her joint attention. Oops. 

There were two assessors, a Child Development Specialist and a Speech-Language Pathologist. They loved Alaina. The child development specialist said, on several occasions, "Man, you can't get anything by her!" because Alaina is so observant. That's a weird thing to feel proud of. ;) They also both said she should "be in a magazine" because of her cuteness. We are just waiting for Baby Vogue to contact us. Here she is practicing her Zoolander "Blue Steel."

For those of you guys who like data, here is her actual information. Just like in my former developmental reports, I feel like it's important to note that "these are based on a developmental evaluation and the results do not suggest that Alaina is deficient in any way, nor are these results predictive of later child and adult functioning.  At this age, these results are only indicative of delays that may be improved." 

Now that that's out of the way...The assessment was broken into 5 broad areas (adaptive, personal-social, communication, motor, and cognitive). She was within the typically developing range in all broad areas. Adaptive development is fairly limited at this age but includes things like holding a bottle, feeding self finger foods, etc. She was squarely average in this domain. The Personal-Social domain looks at social development. They liked how Alaina showed a (strong) desire for social attention, gestures to be picked up, and discriminates between familiar and unfamiliar adults. Again, she was just on the high end of average in this domain, particularly for adult interaction. Alaina was again on the high end of average cognitively, doing a nice job physically exploring her environment, searching for hidden toys, (sometimes) being able to occupy herself, and showing good attention and memory. In terms of language, her receptive language was a little below other areas (other than motor), though still within normal limits (Standard Score = 9). They said they believed this was due to her ear troubles. Given that she is starting to recognize words and sounds, I was a little surprised because I thought her receptive languages skills seemed pretty high. But this is why you don't test your own children. :) Her expressive language skills were a strength, with her results being a standard deviation above average. Her fine and gross motor skills, on the other hand (pun was noticed, but not intended), were a standard deviation below average (though still in the typically developing range). The gross motor is due to her lack of crawling, inconsistent rolling, inability to pull self up, etc. However, they also noted that she appeared to have the physical capability but indicated they feel she is simply "laid back" and not motivated. Which is pretty much what we all think. And I am okay with that. She is learning on her own and I know she will get there when she is ready. So, the data suggests that she has a 30% gross motor delay. In order to qualify for services, she would need a 50% or greater delay. They suggested waiting two months and seeing if she became more mobile. I fully anticipate she will. 

They also completed a pediatric middle ear screening by drawing the tympanogram--this screening examined canal volume, admittance peak, and pressure peak. The screening did show possible middle ear fluid, consistent with what we have been told by the pediatrician and ENT. They also recommended ear tubes. While we do not know that her motor skills are slowed by this, it could be a contributing factor (it could also contribute to receptive language troubles, though again, her skills are largely average). So we have an appointment in Stillwater for ear tubes on February 18th. We were given an option of having the tubes placed here, under general anesthesia, or to go to Oklahoma City for the procedure completed under local anesthesia only (which would require Alaina to be in a papoose restraint system). Although the idea of her being placed under general anesthesia is a bit nerve wracking, I think we are more comfortable with that. Chad has been in contact with several providers and my insurance company though because it seems there is an approximate $5,000 difference (before insurance) if we have it completed in Stillwater vs. Oklahoma City, with Stillwater being exorbitantly more expensive. Clearly we wouldn't pay that much of a difference but it could be as much as a few hundred dollars more to have it done here. If we go elsewhere, it will probably be longer before she is seen and in the meantime, I think we will have to take her back to the pediatrician because I really believe she has another (double) ear infection. The fun never ends, right?

Seriously though. She is really stinking cute. Fortunately for all of us. 

Stupid blogger

I had started a post about Alaina's developmental eval and apparently it didn't save. So frustrating!! The short story is that it went well, she didn't qualify for services, and they also recommended ear tubes. I'll try to post the details in the next couple of days but things are all kinds of crazy right now.

In the meantime, enjoy photo evidence that leggings are not made for every body. ;)

Behind the scenes

I keep meaning to update this week but things have been crazy lately. I had a number of emails and messages from concerned friends and family members about ear tubes, developmental milestones, introducing new foods, and just validation. Thanks for that, everyone. I hope that people also know that overall, Chad and I know we're doing a great job and feel very lucky to have such a sweet baby girl.

Our developmental evaluation is scheduled next Tuesday. We are really excited to see how she behaves in the office. She is appropriately guarded in new situations so hopefully she warms up quickly. It is funny, she has gotten a bit more mobile since the last blog post. She scoots a little on her bottom from a seated position (mostly just in a circle), she stretches with her go-go gadget arms/limber body, and she scoots backward a tiny bit (though this seems accidental). Although we never see it, clearly she is capable of rolling. She really seems to like sleeping on her side. So glad we moved her to her crib. She is doing a great job. We still have one or two more difficult nights every week or so, though some of that may be related to teething. Her bottom gum looks swollen so her first tooth may appear sometime soon.

She is so silly. Lately she really likes biting my nose. She thinks this is hilarious.

Also hilarious--playing peek-a-boo. In this video she is a little more focused on the phone than playing but it's still cute.

Her new foods this week were pumpkin and chicken. Pumpkin was a hit. Chicken was not. We will keep introducing it, though. I did not want to puree the chicken (that just grosses me out) so I cut up boiled chicken into small pieces. She is not a fan.

We did meet with the ENT this week. Alaina was fantastic at the office. She continues to amaze me, particularly at how well she does in public! Basically, Dr. Crawley indicated that Alaina's ears are no longer infected but she does still have fluid behind the ear drums of both. He indicated that the fluid could range from watery to honey to jello. He said that currently hers is just fluid but that he doesn't think it will go away on its own. He recommended tubes but said that this wasn't a decision that had to be made immediately. He said that while her congestion and cough were not stemming from the ear infections, getting the ears cleared up might allow her body to focus on clearing up the congestion (and perhaps allow medicine like Zyrtec) to work better. I'm not entirely sure I follow that logic. Chad is pretty convinced/ready but I want to wait just a little bit before deciding. Especially since it would require us to not feed her after midnight and baby girl is a gruuuuuump when she is hungry. So we will see. I think we will get tubes but I'm not in a rush to get them this week. And we may see about a second opinion.

Each week I take a photo to mark how big she is getting. It is surprising how some weeks she makes such huge differences. Anyhow, the photos are so static and don't show that sometimes I have to take so many pictures to get one. So I thought I'd take a "behind the scenes" look. It's so crazy how quickly she is approaching that 52 week mark...things are definitely speeding up now. :(