We were blessed by our friend Megan with a free airline ticket that expired in October, so we decided to fly Grandma out to keep us company while Matt had a business trip to Chicago. We had a ball! Elizabeth had her first professional haircut...with darling results. And Ruby turned into a full-flegged crawler. We were so sad to see her go, and are left counting the days until Christmas!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Future Olympian
I can't wait for 2024. I'm 9 months old now, and am practicing push-ups so I can be in top form when it comes time for the Olympic trials. Mom's got me on a hi-carb diet...mostly milk and rice cereal...just how I like it. I'm nearing 24 pounds and before too long, I'll be giving Shawn Johnson a run for her money! 
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Adjusting Expectations
While overall, our appointment with the feeding therapist went well last week, in the aftermath, I realized I'd been hoping for a magic bullet. A "just hold the spoon this way and viola! She's suddenly able to chew!!" kinda miracle. That didn't happen, and as a result, I walked through a few days of disappointment where I was once again reminded of my deep desire to keep my bags packed in Holland, and not stay here too long. Ugh. It's such a process. One day, I feel peaceful and at rest, and the next, I'm gunning to get on the first flight outta this place. The bottom line is, Elizabeth is going to have to learn to chew, one incrimental step at a time and I need to make some adjustments to my expectations so that I'm not doing more damage to her fragile desire to eat and chew with my unrealistic goals for her.
I know I just sent out an email a few months ago with the miraculous news that she was eating again...what happened?? Well, that has not changed, she's still taking lots of pureed foods by mouth. but we've been struggling to get the volume we need into her since she needs 1200 calories per day to stay on her growth curve. (staying on the growth curve delays the need for daily growth hormone injections...a task her mommy isn't looking forward to) AND it's not helpful to be trying to teach her to chew (one cheerio at a time...for a grand total of 15 in a half hour!), while also trying to get her to take a lot of pureed volume...they're sort of mutually exclusive goals. As a result, we've brought in a dietician who is helping me design a blenderized diet (high calorie, low volume) and I've ordered a cookbook to help in the process. I'm focusing on providing E with positive interactions with food and preparing her blendrized meal, and taking a break from being her feeding therapist for a few months...we'll leave that to Mary.
The good news is, in the week since, E has really blossomed and is seeming more relaxed about meals, I'm less frustrated and we're having some really enjoyable experiences around food. That's an aswer to prayer.
Here are a few videos of our girls...They are simply delightful. The first is of Elizabeth playing Mommy to her doll. She aparently learned from watching me, because I've never taught her to do that.
After I clipped Elizabeth's nails, she wanted to use the clippers and went directly for Abby's nose. I'm not sure she gets the idea yet. Ruby's full of chatter these days, she's signing "more" and clapping and waving and might be trying to sign "all done" not sure on that one yet. We're having lots of fun.
I know I just sent out an email a few months ago with the miraculous news that she was eating again...what happened?? Well, that has not changed, she's still taking lots of pureed foods by mouth. but we've been struggling to get the volume we need into her since she needs 1200 calories per day to stay on her growth curve. (staying on the growth curve delays the need for daily growth hormone injections...a task her mommy isn't looking forward to) AND it's not helpful to be trying to teach her to chew (one cheerio at a time...for a grand total of 15 in a half hour!), while also trying to get her to take a lot of pureed volume...they're sort of mutually exclusive goals. As a result, we've brought in a dietician who is helping me design a blenderized diet (high calorie, low volume) and I've ordered a cookbook to help in the process. I'm focusing on providing E with positive interactions with food and preparing her blendrized meal, and taking a break from being her feeding therapist for a few months...we'll leave that to Mary.
The good news is, in the week since, E has really blossomed and is seeming more relaxed about meals, I'm less frustrated and we're having some really enjoyable experiences around food. That's an aswer to prayer.
Here are a few videos of our girls...They are simply delightful. The first is of Elizabeth playing Mommy to her doll. She aparently learned from watching me, because I've never taught her to do that.
After I clipped Elizabeth's nails, she wanted to use the clippers and went directly for Abby's nose. I'm not sure she gets the idea yet. Ruby's full of chatter these days, she's signing "more" and clapping and waving and might be trying to sign "all done" not sure on that one yet. We're having lots of fun.
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