Graduate

This Jelly Faced boy right here is my little graduate! Today he officially graduated out of the Birth to Three program. What was actually written on his paper is he is age appropriate in skills and has met goals. Yippee! I am so proud of him. A little sad that we won't have that reassurance anymore that he's getting there and doing okay, but mostly happy. I know he's doing great. I worry because I'm his mother and that's what we do, but I know he'll be fine. We still have the Parents As Teachers visits from the FRC. I am about to do his 18 month Ages and Stages questionairre so we can see where he is and then when September comes we will do it again to make sure he's still progressing. If not we can call his therapist again. No one thinks this is going to be necessary though. He has grown and changed so much in the past six months. Six months ago he wasn't walking at all. He had just really started crawling. Now he's almost running, climbing into everything, and generally pushing the limits where ever and when ever he can. Last night he reached up onto the counter and took his plate down while I was serving his sisters. I had no idea he could even reach the counter.

He tries to climb into the bath tub for baths, he picks out what toys he wants in the tub, he says uh-oh, thank you, ball, bob (his nickname for his pacifier), go, mama, dada, and NatNat (he's getting ready to say Kate Kate I can tell). He makes car noises and shooting noises. He'll even click his tongue to call our pet gerbils just like daddy does when it's time to feed them. He will point to what he wants to eat or drink in the cabinet. Sometimes he has even managed to help himself to some Cheerios in the cabinet. He pulls tissues and wipes out of the containers and scatters them everywhere. Everyday he pulls the books off of the shelves and occasionally will stop to flip through a book or two. He goes into his sisters room to check on them during homework time. He screams if you tell him no. Don't ever tell him no because he'll just break your heart. He scribbles on paper with a crayon. He closes my computer desk for me when I'm not at it. He begs daddy for soda every time he has a can and daddy always gives in and he'll plop down on the floor and patiently wait for that straw. He'll get a diaper and the wipes for me when it's time to change him. He'll get "bob" and go to his bed when it's time for bed. He waves bye bye when he wants to go and then goes to get his coat. He gets mad when anyone leaves the house without him. He will feed himself with his fingers and a fork and spoon. He drinks from a sippy cup or a cup with a straw. He has even gotten the "it's mine" concept and doesn't like when another child even looks at a toy that he has claimed as his own even if he's no where near it. He can put simple shapes into a shape sorter. He can throw a ball. And I think most importantly for me he can now walk away from me to go play for a little while and know that I'm not leaving him. But he still comes back to get some cuddles.

So yeah, I think he'll be okay. Keep up the good work CJ. I love watching you grow and learn new things.

My Boy is AMAZING!

I just have to brag about my little boy. So please don't mind me. You don't have to read if you don't want to I am just so filled with amazement over him right now I am about to cry and I had to share.

Now CJ has been through many challenges already in his short nine months of life. He started out with a traumatic c-section birth because he was breech with the cord wrapped around his neck twice. He then couldn't regulate his temp or his sugars and needed to spend time in the special care nursery. And then he was jaundice and needed to be in photo therapy for a day. And all of this just happened a few days or even minutes after birth. What a tough beginning.

And he did not stop there either. Nope, he wasn't gaining weight and we went through a long six months of trying to figure out why until I finally found a wonderful doctor who figured it was something as simple as acid reflux. So he had to stop breastfeeding (okay granted that was probably harder on me than him) and is now on special formula and was constantly being monitored for his weight.

We got that all under control though only to discover he was physically delayed. He wasn't rolling over or sitting up yet. So we got Birth to Three in and then we realized his head is slightly flat in the back. So now he's got 12-14 weeks of wearing a helmet.

But still he has been pulling through everything life has thrown at him with a smile and a lot of determination. He has taught me a lot about keeping my chin up.

But why am I gushing today? Well, his therapists were just here and my little boy blew their socks off. He's now sitting up completely unassisted. He reaches out of things and pops himself right back up. He's getting himself down onto his tummy (where he has always hated to be and still isn't fond of it) and discovering all the world has to offer him. He's pivoting himself around in a circle on his tummy. He's pushing himself backwards. He's reaching and you know what? My little boy is finally starting to roll! They have even gotten him into a kneeling position today and he stayed like that for a good five minutes. It was just AMAZING! It's not going to be long before he's crawling and I'm going crazy trying to find a new place for everything. But it's AMAZING! He is AMAZING! I am in awe of him. I'm one proud mama. And now he sleeps. He worked hard impressing all us ladies today. He deserves a nap.

But here he is playing after he got up from his nap. I couldn't get him to roll over, but you'll get the idea of why I'm so AMAZED with him.

Note: this was written on Monday, but I didn't get the video uploaded until Tuesday.

9 Months of CJ

Yesterday CJ was 9 months old! I would have posted this yesterday, but I was too busy Making Memories.

It's hard to believe CJ has been in our lives for nine months. It has been a whirlwind. He's come a long way. He was born via c-section on November 1st 2007 at 8 a.m. He was in a breech position with the cord wrapped around his neck twice. I should have known then life was going to be an adventure with him. We started out having to send him to the special care nursery because he wasn't regulating his temp. So he spent time being warmed in an incubator. I only got to see him for a few minutes before they took him away. And then he didn't come back to me until the afternoon. He wasn't done there though. While we were in the hospital he became jaundice. It was back to the special care nursery for photo therapy. Now we were down to only being able to have him out every three hours for half an hour for feedings. We weren't discharged until five days after his birth.

We were so happy to have him home, but his weight became an issue very quickly. I was going in for weekly weight checks. He even lost weight at a time. I was being accused of not feeding him. He was admitted to the hospital for another five days and we were worried out of our minds. This was when he was 3 months old. They made me stop breastfeeding and put him on 24 calorie formula. Things didn't entirely improve from there though. He was slowly putting on weight and finally in the end of April I found a new doctor who was willing to explore more. All this time the poor little guy had acid reflux. Now that he's on the 24 calorie formula and acid reflux meds he is thriving. We finally got to stop the weight checks and just go in for well baby visits.

And this also gave us the chance to focus on other issues that went by the wayside during all this worry of his weight. First there was the fact that he hates tummy time and wasn't sitting up. So we got him in to Birth to Three. He's been receiving physical therapy for 2 months now and is doing great. Then there was the discovery that the back of his head is slightly flat. So we got the referral to Cranial Tech and now he's wearing a DOC band 23 hours a day for the next 12-14 weeks.

Not sure what will come up next with him. It has been an adventure every single day though adjusting to life as the mother of a little boy, but I wouldn't give up any troublesome moment we've had for the world. He has handled everything these doctors have thrown at him with a beautiful smile on his face and probably a lot better than I have. He has taught me a lot in just the 9 months since he's been here and I'm sure he'll continue to teach me a lot more.

I love you my baby boy! Happy 9 month birthday and thank you for adding so much excitement to my life!

CJ's Physical Therapy

CJ has been receiving PT since June because he wasn't rolling over or sitting up yet. His therapists have been so impressed with him. When we first started he really had no upper body strength at all. Now CJ is sitting up on his own and will reach for toys in front of him or to the side and get himself back up into a seated position. When he gets on his tummy and isn't screaming (which is still a struggle) he will hold himself up with his arms and reach for toys with one hand while holding himself up. He can even be up on his knees. He doesn't get his trunk up off the floor, but it probably won't be long. His therapist came out today and she was so impressed with what she saw from him. And in all honesty I don't do too much with him. He's been doing it all on his own. It is so fun watching him begin to do these things. He is making super progress.

Where Did it Go

For weeks now I have been telling people that CJ has his first tooth. The other day I was checking to see if anymore teeth were coming in and I felt nothing. Not even his first tooth. Where did it go? This is my 3rd baby I should know what a tooth feels like, right? It was hard and sharp. I must admit he never let anyone get a good look at it, but it had to be there. What are these teeth doing? Playing peek a boo? So CJ is 7 months old now and still without teeth. Oh well he's got time. I sure do feel like a fool though.

Sunday CJ turned 7 months old. He's getting so big. He is finally moving out of the 3-6 month clothing and into 6-9 month clothing. Just in time for the warmer weather to get here. He had his first taste of french fry last night, but didn't seem too impressed. He was much more interested in Kaitlyn's applesauce.

We are moving forward with his Birth to Three stuff. We have an IFSP in place now. Services will likely start for him next week. He will see a special education teacher once a week and an Occupational Therapist once a month. This should be interesting as I'm told the OT is hearing impaired. I'm hopeful that she's more enthusiastic than the Physical Therapist that came out to evaluate him though. I could have had her come out to do his therapy once a month, but I decided that we wouldn't get that much out of her. I've been assured that the OT is completely capable of addressing CJ's motor issues though. We've gotta get that boy rolling and sitting already. In the meantime I was given some things I could try. I was told I could sit him in a box or a square/rectangular laundry basket. Sit him in the corner so he can't flop to one side or the other. I haven't tried it yet. Joe thinks it's crazy. He's a pain though. He was home when the Special Ed Teacher came out to do his IFSP and he refused to be a part of it. I told him he should have been and now he's questioning me on what this person is telling me to do with our son. Doesn't seem that he has any room to be saying anything since he doesn't want to be too involved in this whole process. So instead I've been laying him on his tummy on the couch or bed because he seems to like that better than the floor. And since it all starts from tummy time I want to get him to tolerate that a little better. Then he also has this seat which is like a Bumbo seat (just a cheaper version) that the PT had told me was a great place for him to sit. So he's been spending more time in there. We have the other problem of because he prefers being on his back the back of his head is flat so if we can't get that to come out then he's going to have to wear a helmet. So much more motivation for us to get him off his back.

So here's what CJ does now. He holds his own bottle. He rolls front to back. He says ah ma, da da, ga ga, ba ba. He just babbles he's not saying those "words" for anything, but he's very vocal. He's a very social little boy. He will go to just about anybody and smiles all the time. He's still very hard to get to laugh. He holds it in. He's just like his daddy in that respect. Somehow he does manage to scoot himself along the floor. He's got very strong legs so when he's laying on the floor he just kicks till he gets himself somewhere. He loves being in his jumperoo. He gets that thing going real good. So this is my little 7 month old baby boy.