Cardiology, 10months, Teeth, And Photo Shoot

Kylee had her 3 month post op checkup with the cardiologist on 15th.  I'm happy to say there really isn't much to say.  The cardiologist said from a listening standpoint everything sounds good and all her stats were good.  He did mention that the little chunker may be gaining too much weight, but i don't think so.  She weighed 18lbs which is 3 more than what she weighed right before surgery, plus she is only in the 20th percentile for typically developing babies.  We follow up with him in 3 more months and at that point they will do a sedated echo to get a really good look at how her heart is functioning.  Overall a great appointment. 

Kylee turned 10 months on the 18th.  It is hard to believe that in 2 months we will be celebrating her 1st birthday.  Where does the time go?  She amazes me as well as her therapists at how much she is progressing.  Every week when the therapists see her she has improved greatly.  She has figured out how to go from laying down to sitting up, although not the way we would like her to, but nonetheless she has figured it out.  It makes her therapist cringe when she sees her doing it.  She will get her legs spread all the way like she did a split and then push herself up.  Since she already has problems keeping her hips in line, this is why the therapist doesn't like it.  Oh well.  Since she has figured this out, nap time has become fun for Kylee.  She usually will sit in there for awhile just playing with her animals before falling asleep.   She has started to figure out how to scoot around really awkwardly with one leg tucked underneath her.  She is also bearing alot of her weight when in the standing position with assistance.  We have been working on her fine motor skills and she has picked up these things fairly quick.  For example, we have been working on some simple signs, like more(since you can't feed her fast enough) and she can do the sign, as well as clap and wave bye-bye.  Just in the last week, I have been trying to get her to say Mama(just the sound) and she picked it up within the week.  As usual, she is still soo happy except she has been a little fussy on an off, but she just got her second tooth.

Speaking of teeth, Kate has her first loose tooth.  She was so excited when she realized this, but now, she is not anxious for it to fall out.  She could care less when the tooth fairy comes.  She had her adenoids out last Tuesday and did great.  She will still complain that her neck hurts(which i guess is common), but other than that, it hasn't really bothered her.

Sunday, the girls had a photo shoot.  I found this awesome organization called Littlest Heroes Project.  It is made up of photographers all over the us and other countries that donate their services for free to kids 18 and under who have had serious illnesses or disabilities.  As usual Kate loved posing for the camera and Kylee was more interested in trying to eat the grass than look at the camera.  Here is a link to a few of the pics that our photographer, Melody took.  http://snookysmilesphotography.blogspot.com/2010/04/beautiful-inside-and-out-baby.html.

Here are a few other random pics of the girls.

I ordered this cute shirt from another mom with a child who has down syndrome

My Two Silly Girls

So after reading what other moms had to say about keeping their blogs public, I decided for now just to keep it public.  I have been thinking with the large amount of unborn babies with down syndrome who are aborted, it would be good to show how having a child with down syndrome, although a little extra challenging, is such a blessing!

So, the past few weeks have been busy as usual with appointments and therapy.  Kylee is doing great!  She had her hearing test a few weeks ago and she passed in both ears!  She initially failed in the left ear, which was thought to be fluid, but there are no signs of fluid, so no tubes for now.  In a few weeks, Kylee will be getting a cranial band(helmet) to help correct the shape of her head, plus the main reason we decided is due to the asymmetry in her face.  It is very apparent in the mirror.  So she will have to wear the band for a few months.  Since we started thickening up her formula she has become a piggy when it comes to eating, even with solid food as soon as the spoon leaves her mouth, she starts whining.  She loves to eat and of all things, she likes spicy things, hot sauce, mustard, onions!  She finally got her first tooth about a week ago and is working on another one.  As far as developmentally, she is amazing her therapists.  She is on the verge of crawling.  She will rock back and forth on all fours, but when she goes to reach for something she does a belly flop.  If you help her she can move forward a little without flopping.  She has also learned to drink from a straw, which may sound silly, but for kids with low muscle tone, it's a big thing.  She will hopefully be starting with occupational therapy in the next 2 weeks, which will help with working with her hands, such as feeding herself and will help with doing some sign language.  Thursday is Kylee's 3 month post op appointment with the cardiologist, so we're hoping for some good news.  As usual, she is such a happy girl, in fact we went to a little get together for the down syndrome association here in charlotte for new parents and of all the babies, she seemed to be the happiest one.  She has even started to play little games where she tries to kiss your cheek, but as she is going in for the kiss she makes this playful "i'm gonna get you" noise. 

As far as Kate, she is as goofy as ever.  Every day, she is somebody different.  It can even change throughout the day.  She has many different characters she likes to pretend to be, from Sonic the hedgehog, to all different types of animals, Hannah Montana and sometimes she wants you to call her Frank even when we are out in public.  She's such a funny girl.  She has been doing amazing with her reading skills.  Every other night she has to read a book and she knows almost every single word, even complex words.  We went to the school where she will be starting Kindergarten in the fall.  It's a newer school, which is very nice, plus i love the fact that it has a great special needs program for preschoolers.  She is soo excited because this Saturday she is going horseback riding with her friend Megan and then she is having her first sleepover with a friend from school.  Since Kate has been constantly sick, which the doctor thinks because her adenoids are enlarged, it has been contributing to this.  She will have them removed next Tuesday.  So we're hoping this does the trick and will hopefully lessen the amount of times she is sick. 

Here are a few pics of the girls, I've really been slacking in the pic department.  Kylee loves to interact with Kate.  She talks to her, trys to grab her hair, smiles at her constantly and will just stare at her. It's so cute to see them interact with each other.

trying to grab Kate's hair

not sure if she is talking or yelling at Kate

always posing

here's a cute quick video of Kylee trying to get Kate