8 Months Old And Many Milestones

Kaitlyn turned eight months old this past week. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. She has learned so much and taught us even more. Here are some of her latest milestones and her new list of goals.

Kaitlyn, AKA:

Sister, princess, and big girl, and even sometimes Ms. Piggy. This girl loves to eat and we are thrilled about that. See she is a heart baby, and only 4 1/2 short months ago she was very sick and had open heart surgery. You would never know by looking at her the health hurdles she has overcome. Other than the faded scar on her chest there are NO signs of heart surgery. She is our hero!

Developmental delays are evident in children with Down syndrome. But to be quite honest her delays are almost unnoticeable. We know her milestone's are extra special and celebrate each one with her.

Her greatest ability now, and I imagine well into the future is to melt hearts. Yes, all babies do this, but their is something "extra" special about Kaitlyn. She's changing people in a huge way, I could cry just thinking about, she's bringing a lot of people closer, and God I thank you!

Kaitlyn continues to develop a hilarious personality. We are constantly cracking up at this little goofball. In one breath I will tell you how laid back she is, birth order might have a lot to do with that, but in another breath I will say she definitely has a mind of her own, which could be the red hair, but I'm guessing it's her genetic makeup. It's a gift and a curse! The picture below is Kaitlyn rolling her tongue, she does this all the time, especially when she eats fruit. It is so funny to watch. All our kids can do it, they get it from their Dad's side of the family. I don't remember the boys doing it until they were much older though. She's too cute!

The video below is Katie jumping in her jumperoo. This was a huge milestone for her. One day it occurred to me that I might have to teach her how to jump, she would just sit or stand in there and play with the attached toys. The jumper is next to the computer and one day I heard a much familiar noise next to me. She was jumping, a lot! It wasn't gradual, it was instant, and she loves to do it. She is so proud of herself and smiles like crazy. The video below is sideways, I apologize, I grabbed the camera quick and shot a short video. It's a pain to turn your neck but it's worth watching. For some reason the video is huge, it won't let me edit the size, so you can't see her pretty smile much!

This is a picture of the great smile I can get while she is jumping.

Another skill Kaitlyn has learned is how to take off her headbands. Lovely!!!

Another thing Kaitlyn has done is teach the dog great patience. She is so fascinated by this very large animal. She has zero fear!

Below is a picture of Kaitlyn pushing up with her arms. This has been her GREATEST milestone so far. We worked in therapy on this for a long time. She has great core strength and leg strength but was very weak in her arms. When on her belly she always looked like she was swimming. One afternoon at my in-laws she just did it, she pushed up and placed weight on her arms! I cried. This was a HUGE deal!

Got Toes?

She is so flexible, I think most children, especially those with Down syndrome are. Her feet are her favorite toy and snack. This grosses her Dad out, I love it! Notice the chunka's (thighs and arms) on this little girl. Don't you just want to eat her up.

So Kaitlyn has achieved many things over the last months. She is eating baby food (fruit/veggies/cereal). She tends to be very quiet but does make some open mouth sounds. She rolls from her back to belly, and belly to back. She loves to stand while holding our hands.

The next step for Kaitlyn is to decrease formula and increase baby food. Sit-up, I really think she could do this if she wanted to. She has a really strong back and legs, but she has no desire. You set her down and she throws herself backwards or purposefully goes forward to get on her belly. She does not enjoy the bumbo seat, she would rather be standing or on her belly. We are also wanting her to babble (bababa, mamama, or dadada). Crawling is a ways off, but she is making progress in the right direction. She can move in both directions while on her belly, she's not really scooting but she does it some how?!

So that is Katie in a nutshell. We are loving every minute and rejoicing in every milestone!

We love you big girl!!!

Kaitlyn's Cute Giggles

This video was made for my parents. Her giggle is adorable and they miss her so much. Enjoy!

(Pause the music at the bottom)

An All Around Update

On a day to day basis things have been pretty quiet around here, but when you look at the last weeks all put together I think I have come up with enough for a post. So here are a few updates...

My Mom...

Back in November my Mom was diagnosed with Bone Lymphoma. The cancer was pretty aggressive, when they found it it was already in both thighs and her ribs. She began chemotherapy right away. The plan for treatment was 6- 3 week rounds of chemo. The doctor seemed confident that she could "kill" the cancer but said she had to treat it aggressively, and that she did. My Mom is half way done. The chemo has been tough to say the least, she's been hospitalized twice, and the doctor has scaled back on the strength of her treatments each time. My Mom is a petite lady, they could only give her as much as her body could handle. After the third treatment it was decided that they would give her a break and let her regain some of her strength and some of the weight she's lost. This ended up being just what she needed. She was able to put on some weight, get her appetite back, and start feeling better. She went this morning to start her 4th treatment. Last week during her "break" she had a PET scan done to look for the cancer. And with a huge "sigh" I can tell you she had a clean scan, no cancer seen! Thank God! All the horror of the last months is paying off. Thank you to everyone for all your prayers! They worked for Kaitlyn and now they are working for my Mom. She will continue her treatments, but as of now things look good!

Brady and Bryce...

Brady is our 5 year old. The two boys are the best of friends but are polar opposites of each other. Brady is sensitive, shy and quiet in public, but at home he keeps us in stitches. His new found sense of humor is something else. He is so goofy. He's bossy at home and SHY at school. For some reason he really has a hard time opening up at school. It is so hard to watch. We try so hard to give him the tools (words) to be more CONFIDENT! But none the less...he loves school! He is a bright little boy, he learns everything they teach him and more. He's writing sentences, and starting to read, he's way above where he needs to be academically. We are very proud of him, but at the same time sad that he lacks confidence with his peers. His teacher reassures us he is making progress. His shyness baffles us because at home and around friends and family he's so different. He is such a comedian, and is working on becoming a magician, and he LOVES to draw and write. It is so fun to watch him grow into this next stage of boyhood. I love this little man.

Bryce is our 3 almost 4 year old. He and his brother are 16 months apart. He goes to preschool two mornings a week. We both needed this this year. It seems to be just what he needs. He enjoys being with me on his off days and misses his brother terribly when he's at school. Bryce is so different then Brady, they compliment each other well. Bryce is outgoing, silly, but emotional. When I say emotional I say it in all sense of the word. You never have to guess what he is feeling. He's a lover, Mommy's little boy. He tends to be the patient child, but also gets grumpy, angry, frustrated, and he speaks his mind :) This is his best and worst quality. He has grown up so much in the last months. He too is hilarious. He loves music, dancing, and his guitar! He's become quite the entertainer. What melts my heart the most though is the special spot in his heart he has for his baby sister. He's had this since the day she came home. The two of them are going to have something special. He is able to make her smile like no other! I love that little boy.

Kaitlyn...

Can you believe she is 6 months old already! The last months are such a blur. I watch her "Heart Story" movie that I made and lived and feel like I'm watching someone elses life. It is so crazy. The scar on her chest fades daily, she's doing great!

At her last wellness check she weighed in at 13lbs 10ozs. She is gaining and growing wonderfully. She still seems like such a little peanut though. After surgery we learned that she was aspirating. She had such a problem with projectile vomiting the weeks before surgery and chronic congestion. We had her scheduled for a swallow study before surgery but with her surgery date getting moved up it didn't get done until after surgery. The swallow study confirmed what I had thought, she was aspirating! Luckily it wasn't bad enough where we had to thicken any of her formula, instead we had to keep her on a very slow flow nipple and feed her sitting upright. Since surgery we had a follow up swallow study and she did much better. No more aspirating. She also had a 6 month hearing screen. It was recommended since hearing problems can be common in children with Down syndrome. She passed it fine, and we will follow up again at 12 months. Developmentally she is doing new things constantly and getting stronger by the day. An Occupational therapist comes to work with her every week. She is rolling some from her back to her belly, she is reaching and grasping at things. Her muscles in her core and legs have gotten so much stronger. We've started her on cereal and veggies. It took time and patience but she is learning to eat from a spoon. She loves dinner time! She makes each day so much better!

Baby #4...

I can't believe I am 16 weeks pregnant already. Having a busy household make the time fly for sure. Yesterday I had more blood taken for the second part of the sequential screen (We are testing for Trisomy 21 and 18). We should have the results Friday. Friday I am scheduled to have an amniocentesis, I go back and forth daily about whether or not I will have it done. I had the procedure done with Kaitlyn, I hate it, it doesn't hurt, its just my nerves, and the idea of the whole thing, if I want diagnostic results I need to have it done. We will see.

My morning sickness is almost gone. It creeps up on me from time to time. Right now my greatest problem is headaches. They say they should get better after the second trimester. I'm hoping! Other then that things are fine. Hopefully Friday we will get some reassuring news about the health of this baby and maybe even find out the gender. Thanks for following...stay tuned...

We're Home!

I had good intentions of keeping everyone updated better. I started many posts but there never seemed to be enough time and when I came back to the computer what I had wrote had become old news. I will write more on Kaitlyn's courageous "heart" journey soon, but for now a quick update for all our loyal readers.

We are home, we came in last night. It all happened so fast. On Sunday we were told 5-7 more days and we left Wednesday. She is eating like a champ, Kaitlyn did all the hard work and earned us a ticket home!!! We snuck in and surprised everyone, it is great to be with the boys again. I have never missed anything or anyone quite as much as I missed them.

We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!!

This picture is from Monday! It was the first day that she started acting like herself. She started smiling again. Oh did I miss that smile! She is 100% tube free now. That feeding tube you see in the picture is history, she's eating great on her own!!!