I have started this blog post many times since October, but something always interrupts me… hmmmm….
Just now as I was typing the above sentence I had to stop and go deal with a very unhappy sleeping Lilah. :)
So where have we been? Let's take things month by month:
Just now as I was typing the above sentence I had to stop and go deal with a very unhappy sleeping Lilah. :)
So where have we been? Let's take things month by month:
November
We started off November with the Family's first donut crawl. We visited three different donut establishments in the twin cities with Auntie Alicia. Even though it was cold, we had a blast. We even got to hang out with the bakers in the back of Mel-O-Glaze! One of the bakers has two year old twins.
Alec and Lilah both started crawling. Alec picked up his knees and away went the guppy crawl. Days later Lilah figured out what to do and it was off to the races. I spent a few hours with her practicing how to get from her back, roll over and get from her tummy to sitting up and that was all it took… she was rolling over like a pro! I guess all she needed was a little motivation to get the skill down.
We celebrated their first birthday by driving around town to our various Thanksgiving day destinations and eating cupcakes and cake. I was a little worried that Lilah would not want to eat the birthday treats and we would miss out on the classic birthday smash fun, but she surprised us all.
Lilah and Alec also learned they get both a new Uncle in 2016 and a new cousin in June of 2015!
Here are a few pics from November:
Alec and Lilah both started crawling. Alec picked up his knees and away went the guppy crawl. Days later Lilah figured out what to do and it was off to the races. I spent a few hours with her practicing how to get from her back, roll over and get from her tummy to sitting up and that was all it took… she was rolling over like a pro! I guess all she needed was a little motivation to get the skill down.
We celebrated their first birthday by driving around town to our various Thanksgiving day destinations and eating cupcakes and cake. I was a little worried that Lilah would not want to eat the birthday treats and we would miss out on the classic birthday smash fun, but she surprised us all.
Lilah and Alec also learned they get both a new Uncle in 2016 and a new cousin in June of 2015!
Here are a few pics from November:
December
December flew by in a blur. Alec discovered his love of forbidden places (mostly the toilet and the dog's water bowl) and we have been doing our best to keep him out of those places ever since.
We went to visit Santa at Ridgedale and had a great time! It only took about 20 seconds for Lilah to size up Santa, decide she wanted nothing to do with him. Alec followed suit. What a memory.
We had a one year follow up at the NICU clinic at the hospital. They gave Lilah an echo and her heart no longer has any sign of the murmur! The Cardio doctor officially banned her from the cardio department of the clinic! Yay! The kids were also given a cognitive test called the Bailey's test and scored pretty high. The NICU doctor said the next year would be a struggle because the kids will be thinking more advanced then their motor and communication skills. They strongly encouraged us to keep up with the sign language.
The kids (and I) enjoyed our first Hanukkah party with Uncle Steven and Aunt Linda. They really got into all the music and enjoyed Sandpa's piano playing!
Christmas has been postponed due to an illness in the family so we hope to celebrate at the end of the month. Santa brought a music table which is daily entertainment.
Lilah was introduced to hershey's kisses and ate two whole kisses in a matter of minutes. It was amazing to see and I wish she would eat all of her food with such control and excitement. More on her eating progress in a bit.
Here are a few pictures from December:
We went to visit Santa at Ridgedale and had a great time! It only took about 20 seconds for Lilah to size up Santa, decide she wanted nothing to do with him. Alec followed suit. What a memory.
We had a one year follow up at the NICU clinic at the hospital. They gave Lilah an echo and her heart no longer has any sign of the murmur! The Cardio doctor officially banned her from the cardio department of the clinic! Yay! The kids were also given a cognitive test called the Bailey's test and scored pretty high. The NICU doctor said the next year would be a struggle because the kids will be thinking more advanced then their motor and communication skills. They strongly encouraged us to keep up with the sign language.
The kids (and I) enjoyed our first Hanukkah party with Uncle Steven and Aunt Linda. They really got into all the music and enjoyed Sandpa's piano playing!
Christmas has been postponed due to an illness in the family so we hope to celebrate at the end of the month. Santa brought a music table which is daily entertainment.
Lilah was introduced to hershey's kisses and ate two whole kisses in a matter of minutes. It was amazing to see and I wish she would eat all of her food with such control and excitement. More on her eating progress in a bit.
Here are a few pictures from December:
January
We spent New Years Eve at home with our good friends who also have twins. It is so fun to see our kids growing up together.
Alec has started to walk and each day he is getting more and more confident. The amount of time he spent taking steps today was amazing. It's only a matter of days before he is running all over the house.
Alec has started to walk and each day he is getting more and more confident. The amount of time he spent taking steps today was amazing. It's only a matter of days before he is running all over the house.
Lilah's eating
It's hard to explain Lilah's eating. I feel like we are spinning wheels but every time we get in front of a speech therapist, they are thrilled with her improvement. They clearly see something I don't. We see someone once a week now, rotating between the hospital and home visits.
She isn't taking any measurable volume in solid food by mouth so she is not any closer to getting off the g-tube. However she has gotten better at trying foods on her tray and there have been some very great feeding days.
The amount of spit up has decreased significantly. She very rarely throws up during a feeding these days. The only time she struggles is when she is upset whether it be at taking a nap/bedtime or if she gets hurt (and you know how easy that can happen with all the activity of a one year old) and then we have to get her to a sink pronto.
One of the therapists said that the main goal is forward progress no matter how small. She said many times these kids will all of the sudden take off with eating and I am holding on to that. As long as they are pleased with her progress (whatever that may be) then I can hope one day the light will go on and she will start eating.
For now we solider on, putting food in front of her at every meal and exclaiming how delicious it is! Now if we could just figure out a way to get everything to taste like a hershey's kiss...
She isn't taking any measurable volume in solid food by mouth so she is not any closer to getting off the g-tube. However she has gotten better at trying foods on her tray and there have been some very great feeding days.
The amount of spit up has decreased significantly. She very rarely throws up during a feeding these days. The only time she struggles is when she is upset whether it be at taking a nap/bedtime or if she gets hurt (and you know how easy that can happen with all the activity of a one year old) and then we have to get her to a sink pronto.
One of the therapists said that the main goal is forward progress no matter how small. She said many times these kids will all of the sudden take off with eating and I am holding on to that. As long as they are pleased with her progress (whatever that may be) then I can hope one day the light will go on and she will start eating.
For now we solider on, putting food in front of her at every meal and exclaiming how delicious it is! Now if we could just figure out a way to get everything to taste like a hershey's kiss...
RSS Feed