Week in review

Last Monday was Sarah's first visit from the Early Intervention physical therapist. Miss Jane was Sarah's PT in the NICU as well so it was nice to see a familiar face. She was very pleased with Sarah's overall progress, in particular her high muscle tone. She's starting to loosen up a lot which is making things like sitting up in her high chair much easier. We have two PT appointments next week and two scheduled for March (along with two OT appointments) and then we'll move to once a month appointments.

Thursday, we saw the pedi for the second half of Sarah's seasonal flu shot and her February Synagis shot (for RSV). She weighed in at a whopping 13lbs!!! Her last Synagis shot will be in March as the RSV season in Alabama (supposedly) ends then. Unfortunately, I think it's like the "seasonal" flu that just sort of keeps going.

Thursday night is my Rally obedience class with Ralphie. Brandon had an appointment so Sarah attended her first training class! There was a new Level I class running at the same time and I was getting more than my fair share of odd looks - wearing a baby in a sling while working a pit bull thru a Rally course! Sarah did quite well and even slept part of the hour.

We're taking it easy this weekend in preparation for a busy week ahead. Monday is the kick off meeting for our March of Dimes March for Babies coming up in April! I hope you all will consider joining Team Sarah Francis and walking with us! If you can't join us, please consider donating to our team. All money raised will go to help other families like ours and other babies like Sarah.

Tuesday is PT for Sarah and that evening, our EI office is offering a "how to" class on lobbying state representatives for increased funding.

Wednesday. Oh, Wednesday will be fun. I have a (routine) mammogram that morning and then I'll be going to SIT at the local Social Security office in hopes of getting Sarah's SSI straightened out. I've been trying to do it over the phone since she was discharged in NOVEMBER and I've gotten nowhere. Honestly, I'm more looking forward to the mammogram than I am to visiting Social Security.

Thursday is PT appointment #2 for the week.

I'll be using Friday to relax!

Have a great week!

Solids - Week 3

Intro to green peas:

I was a little worried about this to be honest. So far we've tried sweet potatoes and butternut squast...both pretty sweet. But she really liked the peas - we're three for three!

Rolling, rolling, rolling....!

Pardon the screaming...she wasn't upset, she was pissed.

And the look of surprise once she made it over...

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Yes, it's a tutu. Yes, it's pink. This from someone who had no idea what she would do with a little girl... I went out in Friday's snow to buy the supplies. I blame it on cabin fever ;-)

Speaking of snow, we got about 2" here this past Friday. Certainly NOT what we're used to! We bundled Sarah up and took her out quickly for a few photos. She was totally unimpressed (as were the dogs!). We also used the snow as an excuse to go to dinner - we knew that very few people would be out and about. Sure enough, we walked in to Ruby Tuesday and it was empty!

We had our first visit from Sarah's Occupational Therapist last week - she spent about 45 minutes playing with Sarah and showing me ways to help her loosen her muscles up. Like so many preemies, she has high muscle tone, particularly in her chest/back. It's common in preemies because the portion of the brain that controls the body's muscles had less time to develop. With appropriate therapy, Sarah is likely to outgrow this by 12-18mos. We have her first of three February physical therapy appointments early tomorrow morning.

Sarah ate sweet potatoes over the course of last week with no apparent allergic reaction so this week we've moved on to butternut squash. If she liked the sweet potatoes, oh boy, she LOVES the squash! Though it might also be that she's just getting better with the spoon. Most of the time, she'll open her mouth when she sees it, and the majority of the food stays in her mouth now. Here she is in her new highchair enjoying her dinner...looks pretty excited huh??

One year ago tonight Brandon and I were freaking out over a + pregnancy test...little did we know that we'd just be starting to calm down a full year later.

For the last two weeks I've been thinking I didn't have much to update, but looking back thru my photos, I was wrong! First, Sarah found her thumb Slimy, spit covered hands patting my face aren't exactly my idea of a good time, but hey, it keeps her happy. If she'd just learn to ball those other four fingers up, she wouldn't poke herself in the eyes so much!


She's slowly starting to notice our dogs. As many as we have, I'm amazed how anyone can NOT notice them! I was holding Sarah one night and Ralphie climbed right up next to her (on TOP of me!). He's quite gentle around her and is happy with anyone who can pet him. I think I need to send this one to the doctor who was concerned about Sarah's safety ;-)

We've been giving Sarah a bit of formula/cereal with a spoon each day for a couple of weeks now - it's slow, and not always fun, but she's getting the hang of it. The problem is that drinking from a bottle and eating from a spoon require two entirely different movements from the tongue. And really, Sarah is not even four months adjusted so she's still pretty young to be trying. She's been doing much better this week so we decided to introduce a sweet potato to the mix. We steamed and pureed a sweet potato and mixed a tiny bit in with her formula/cereal. Here she is before we got started - look at that clean WHITE bib:

She slurps it off the spoon:

Hmm...that bib's not white anymore... Lesson learned: take her clothes off before she eats anything with color!

We also got the okay to ditch the apnea monitor last week. I had to have our pediatrician call and request the report from the monitor company (which is absolutely ridiculous). I was never told what the report said, only that it was okay to d/c the monitor. Um, what about all those brady alarms we were having? I love our pedi, but his office staff and I are going to have problems before it's over with. I'm pretty sure they either 1) assume I'm willing to take their word for anything and everything without question or 2) assume I'm a complete idiot. I assure you, neither is the case - I quickly learned to advocate for Sarah while in the NICU and I don't plan to change now. With that said, I was more than happy to pack the monitor up and deliver it straight to the UPS Store! Goodbye - you served a great purpose, but we won't miss you!

Finally, we picked up a loaner exersaucer today (thanks Quinn!). Sarah's still a bit short so her little legs just hang there, but she was quite interested in the little toys, especially the ones that make noise.

We have our first appointment with our Early Intervention occupational therapist this Tuesday and we have three appointments with the physical therapist thru the end of the month. We also have another pedi appointment on the 18th for her February Synagis and the second half of her seasonal flu shot. Beyond that, we'll hang out at home and wait for Spring to arrive!

On a non-baby related note, Brandon and I attended a city council meeting last week to speak out against a recently passed "dangerous dog" ordinance that automatically assumes that ALL pit bulls are "dangerous". I prepared a list of speaking points and I printed out photos of our Ralphie, and like everyone else who attended the meeting for the same reason I did, I was totally patronized by the mayor and the other council members. We don't live in the city with the ordinance (nor do we spend our tax dollars there), but it's becoming all too common...and it's getting closer and closer to home. Normally, I would have waited for someone else to speak up, but I want Sarah to learn that it's okay to go against what seems to be the popular opinion. And I want her to know that it's okay to NOT sit back and take it - even where the government is involved. Some people say the word activist like it's a bad thing...I tend to disagree.

**Don't forget about the March of Dimes March for Babies coming up April 24th! See the MoD link on the right side of the page to donate or to join the walk!!**