Ode to the Snuggie

Oh, dear snuggie...
You keep my husband warm,
and away from the blanket that i dont like to share.
You allow your sleeve to be used as a hat
and give Jeff confidence to hold a remote while staying warm.
This is his life's dream, and you have made it come true.
You sprinkle your sleepy dust on him,
and cause him to slumber
so i can get things done, uninterrupted.
You have done great things for our family.
Thank you, Snuggie. Thank you.

9 month checkup

I have no idea where the time went, but our baby is 9 months old now. AHHH!!
I love this pic because its her new thing to prop her arm up on her little leg. It reminds me of my Daddy and makes me smile :-)

I took her to the Dr today for the 9 month check up. It was pretty uneventful. She weighs 19lbs 15.9oz which is the 69% and she is 28.9inches long which puts her in t he 87%. She's not as big weight wise b/c of her sickness over the last couple of weeks. She just wouldnt eat well.
Rhyan is slightly developmentally behind in her gross motor skills. This is because of her neck and reflux issues. The Dr said we're doing everything right and to not worry, she'll catch up. Little does the Dr know, i'm not worried :-) We've been dealing with her being developmentally behind because of her neck since she was 2 months old. We're used to it. We work on it, but we're not worried about it.
This bib is her college fund. "Kisses: 25cents" lol

She also said that her verbal skills are GREAT and her fine motor skills are doing well, also. That its really just her tummy strength that is lagging which makes it difficult for her to pull up or crawl. It will come, i assured her :-) lol. Rhyan has consistently been about 1-2 months behind on rolling both ways, sitting up, pushing herself to prone while on her tummy... its just expected that crawling will come a little later, too. She did note, however, that her legs are really strong and that she might just start running one day and skip crawling and walking. haha...

She encouraged even more table food and said the only things "off limits" are cows milk and peanut products. Otherwise, she's good to go. All meats, all veggies, all fruits are ok. Good thing since i've been giving her chicken lately :-)

Ok, so all is well here. Monday we'll know more about her neck. OH!!! The baby crawling boot camp is going well and she got up on her knees on her own yesterday for the first time (at tracys house, of course... where theres brand new, plush carpeting). She is a princess and will only do new things in her bed or at tracys... she's not doing hard things on the hardwoods around here! Smart girl :-)

Head/Neck update...

I took Rhyan to Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta for her follow up head scan today. She is only wearing her helmet at night these days so i was nervous about how she would be looking. But i'm happy to report that she's down to a 7.2mm difference. Let me put this in perspective for you. First off, we're speaking in millimeters difference in the shape of the roundness of her head as the left side compares to the right. They get this measurement by taking a digital scan of her head and then digitally taking a spliced section of the widest part of the head (as if you were looking down on her head, the widest part) and ask the computer to take diagonal measurements. Rhyan started with an 18.9mm difference. Richard, the head scan guy, said when a kid starts with that big of a difference, they have the goal of getting them under 10mm. They feel if they accomplish less than 10mm,they have done well. So for Rhyan to be at 7.2mm and still being as young as she is (meaning she still has time to see even more improvement) is phenomenal!!! It is very exciting for us. The "normal" range for someone who has never had a neck condition like hers is a 6mm difference. So she should get very close to that. YAY!

We also went to therapy today. She has a collar that they made for her to wear that keeps her from tilting her head to the side. We havent been having her wear it b/c there were some issues w/ it, but they fixed those today. We saw a new lady (who will be her permanent new lady... no more switching) named Anitra. Anitra was very nice and very understanding of my concerns that we've not seen improvement lately. She did admit the neck muscle is still very tight and said to keep working on it and she'll decide next week, if we've not seen improvement, that she'll give us a referral for surgery. I know, its not great, but its at least moving forward. Being stagnant is no good :-(


She also said Rhyan is a "long way from crawling" b/c her tummy muscles arent strong enough. So no more jumper or exersaucer. Floor time only. We have to practice being on hands and knees, reaching far in front of her while sitting so she can grab a toy and "baby sit ups". We're deeming this to be: CRAWLING BOOT CAMP. I'm sure Rhyan will love it :-)

Ok, prayers still appreciated as we seek wisdom on how to move forward with treating our baby girl.

Like Father, like Daughter

My two favorite people in the world :-) (doesnt hurt that they're both cute, now does it...)



Daddy comforting Rhyan while she was sick and needed a shoulder to lean on...


Rhyan and her daddy are similar in so many ways. They share the same eyes (although the color comes from her uncle jason!), the same snore (yes, she snores! AHH!!!), the same love for laughter. During independent play time, she will start laughing out of no where and just giggle at herself. She's very self entertaining, which is true of her dad, as well. Jeff and Rhyan are both laid back and loving and sweet, but stubborn and strong willed and frustrating at times (while i on the other hand am perfect :-)). They are both precious gifts that I cant believe God allows me to enjoy. *grateful*

Chompers

ok, so i totally stole the title from Donna :-) But it was a cute idea and i'm not creative, so...

Rhyan has officially cut SIX teeth. She has been such a trooper, too. Never missed a nap or woke up in the middle of the night. She's been whiny during the day but i think thats to be expected. So i thought you all might like to see her (goofy) grin. I love it :-)

Update

Rhyan went to therapy yesterday. Her Daddy took her :-) Her new therapist, Diane, said she still has about a 10 degree tilt in her neck (to the left) and that we want between 0-5 degrees. They fitted her with a collar to wear that will help her want to keep her head up/shoulder down and she tolerates it ok. I cant really describe it so i'll try to catch a pic of her wearing it sometime.

She's been sick this week. She's had a cold and I was concerned about her cough so i took her to the Dr Wed. She was "fine" and her "lungs sound great!". Today, however, i could hear her wheezing. So at the risk of looking like an idiot/crazed 1st time mom, i took her back for another check and $35 copay. And i'm glad i did. Baby girl has bronchitis.

I told the dr that w/ Jeff having ear infections growing up, he's very protective/concerned w/ her ears. And that since i grew up with asthma and constantly got bronchitis, i'm always concerned w/ her lungs. So between the 2 of us, she doesnt go unchecked for much :-) But, i'm glad i've had experience w/ this b/c we have to use an inhaler w/ Rhyan for a couple of weeks which I'm a pro at!

Anyways, she's definitely feeling better which is great. She has 3 of the top 4 teeth in and that last one you can literally see through the gum, so it'll come any day now. Poor girl is going through a lot! But we're on the tail end now and things are looking up!

Christmas

So this post is a little late... sue me :-)
Here were the Christmas events, in order (which the pics are not!):
-Christmas eve part one was at Mama's house (Grammy).
-Christmas eve part two was the annual gathering at Mommie's house (grandmother) where the entire crazy clan (20+) gets together in her little house that I still call "home". Fyi, I did a video of this event this year and so i have NO pictures. Not one. Because if i dont take it, it doesnt get taken :-( Feel free to rag on Jeff for that...
-Christmas morning.. SANTA came! I also got mostly video of this and very few pics. In fact, Jeff and I dont have a single pic of all of us on Christmas eve or Christmas day. Awesome. Rhyan seemed to like her gifts (like she has a clue! haha)
-Christmas afternoon we spent driving up to the Mountain house in Sky valley, GA to get together with Jeff's fam. The fire was warm, the coffee was good and Rhyan did great :-) I have the most pics from this event b/c jeff was acting all annoyed by my video taking skillz. And b/c i "made" him take some for me :-)

Overall, we had a great first Christmas with Rhyan. I'm really looking forward to next year! (or rather, this year...) Ok, pics!

Opening her present at Grandmothers house. Aunt Elizabeth helped. What a sweet "pink baby", blocks and toy from Lydia!


With "Onnie" and "Grandad" at the waterfalls in Sky Valley the day after Christmas!


All her presents (from Santa and my side of the family.) This is whatever she had by Christmas morning. The gifts from Jeffs side of the family came later that day and didnt make the pic :-(


Rhyan helping "Grammy" open her gift!


With Jason and Liz. I'm not particularly liking how she looks more like them than us! Its the blue eyes... and i love the blue eyes :-)