Little Miss 6 Months Old

It's hard to believe our little baby is 6 months old.  So much has happened since that day in November when she decided she was ready to meet us... a few days earlier than we expected!... and she's been surprising us ever since. 

We've been really busy lately with lots of appointments.  We went back last Monday for our routine ultrasound and appointment with neuro.  We usually just see the neuro nurse assistant but this time our neurosurgeon, Dr. Nagib, came in to see us.  They saw that her brain ventricles were a little more enlarged since last time and that her head growth was in the normal range.  She seems to be in good spirits, eating, sleeping and acting normally so they decided we don't need to come back for 6 more weeks.  It's been tough coming in every other week - it's a stressful day, it's time-consuming, and we get so nervous about what kind of news we'll get - so we're thankful not to be coming back until mid-June. 

Last week we had another Cranial-Sacral therapy appointment.  Her therapist commented that her she was really tight through her hips and legs and had to really loosen her up.  I know that's because we haven't spent as much time as we should on her physical therapy lately.  She's been really tired at the end of the day and now with the teething she's been fussier than normal.  But it's a good reminder that we need to be working her legs as much as we can, and shows just how important that daily activity is.  Even a few days of not doing those exercises affects her.  Last week we also took her to the eye doctor, and her eyes look really good.  There was some concern with drifting back when she was a tiny baby, but that has cleared up very nicely.  We will continue to see her eye doctor every 6 months to make sure her eyes stay healthy.  Since she has hydrocephalus, it's important to make sure that added pressure isn't affecting her eyes.  So far, everything looks good (yay!) but this is just another thing that goes along with her Spina Bifida.

Then finally we had her 6-month check-up with her pediatrician.  Everything seems to be right on track with her development.  She's doing everything he would expect her to do at this age - she's moving toys from one hand to another, looking up when her name is called, and starting to remember a toy when she drops it.  It is really nice to hear that she is meeting these milestones.  But this is when we start to see that she's not meeting the physical milestones.  She isn't rolling consistently, so we have to work harder with her tummy time.  And things like pulling herself up or starting to crawl aren't going to happen "on time."  All in all, though, we couldn't be happier or more proud of how she's doing!  For her stats:  she's 15#, 26" and head size of 42 cm.  When she was first born, she was barely on the charts b/c she was pretty small.  Now she's at the 50th %ile for length, 30th for weight and 25th for head size.  YAY!!!  I can tell, just in the last couple weeks, how much heavier she feels and that she's putting on the weight.  She has chubby little arms and legs and her face is getting rounder.  And she's getting so cute!

Now we're on to teething!  This past week she's really been working on those bottoms and I can tell they really bother her.  She has been fussy and really drool-y so I hope they come through soon to give her a little bit of relief.  Although, I kind of want them to stay away for a little while longer... there's nothing like a gummy, toothless grin!  We also started giving her solid foods.  On Saturday morning I made some oatmeal.  She was more than willing to open wide but then wasn't quite sure what was going on when she realized it tasted different and had a new texture.  She got a little more oatmeal last night, and seemed to kind of get it a little more.  I bought a sweet potato and an acorn squash that I'll give to her later this week or weekend.  It's so much fun to watch her try new things. 

This weekend was also my 1st official Mother's Day.  Last year I was about 12 weeks pregnant so we had a little celebration but this year was so much better.  Ty cooked breakfast for me, we went to church and then went down by the lake.  It was a beautiful day, we had lunch in a cute little place and walked around town.  I couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate being a mommy.  Then we grilled salmon and lobster tails for dinner and finished off the evening with some chocolate cake and ice cream.  Yummy!!!  Being a mom is so much better than I ever thought it could be.  I couldn't imagine not having this little baby in my life, I just love her so much.  And it doesn't hurt that she's the cutest baby with the best little personality. 

Whew, that was a long update!  I'm happy that we don't have any appointments coming up for a few more weeks.  We're just going to enjoy this beautiful late-spring weather and our 6-month old baby girl!