Saturday, January 28, 2012

Updates

We've been trying lots of new things this week.  For starters, we tried transitioning Sophia from her baby crib, into her toddler bed, but that didn't work like we hoped it would :)  She LOVED her new bed.  Sophia is a very independent little girl, and the fact that she could get in and out of her own bed, was awesome.  Right after Randy changed her crib into a toddler bed, she was in and out of it getting books off her shelf and taking them back to her bed to read :)  We were excited about it, until about 11:30 PM that night.  We were about to head to bed, when we hear a "THUD."  Instantly I knew she had fallen out of her bed, and when I got into her room, there she was sitting up, half asleep, on the floor :(  So we rigged up a temporary solution for the night and things were fine.  Until two mornings later...  We didn't have time to switch it back to a crib yet, and Friday morning when Jayden and I were in my bed watching TV, we hear another "THUD" and I knew once again she had fallen OVER the baby gate this time that was up to block the hole she had fallen out of two nights earlier.  She came out unharmed from both falls, but needless to say the baby crib is back and we'll just wait a little longer in trying to make our baby grow up too fast!

This week was also Jayden's first time as a soccer player!  She is doing the Upward Soccer program at a local church in town and we are all excited about it.  It's something completely new, for all of us, and something to keep Jayden busy a few nights a week.  She practices weekly, on Thursday evenings, and then has her games on Friday evenings at 7 PM.  She got hooked up with a cool uniform, some shin guards and her own water bottle :)  She's going to be one cool soccer chick :)  Pictures to come soon!

Another big accomplishment this week was another hard core, successful, feeding experiment with Sophia's oral feeds.  We did another 2 day feeding trial with Sophia and even though it was long and rough and exhausting, it was worth it!  I am getting her to expand a little on her list of foods that she will successfully eat and we are slowly getting more fluids in, which is HUGE!  We are going to stick with this, weekly, and work our butts off until we figure out just what it's going to take to get this little girl of mine to eat my mouth, 100%!!!  Every time I think about how far we have come in our feeding journey with Sophia, it just makes me want to cry.  I remember in the beginning how she could only take 1 ML of formula, by her feeding tube, and it took her an hour to take it!  In case that doesn't make sense, 30 ML's = 1 ounce, and my baby could only take 1 ML per hour!  Then we faced severe reflux issues, LONG and SLOW feedings that took almost all of our day, and no oral in take of ANYTHING.  Inch by inch we have come SO FAR!!!  I am so proud of her :)  I don't know when, but one day feeding tubes will be a thing of the past for us, I just know it! 

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Food Update

We tried our 2 day feeding trial on Thursday and Friday this past week and overall I would say it was a partial success.  Sophia replaced almost all of the calories that she missed from her tube feedings with real food, but her fluid intake was WAY off .  I also felt like I was constantly hounding her to eat, eat, eat, all day long and it was a little stressful trying to make sure that we would get as close as possible to our calorie goal.  Sophia also has a limited amount of food that she will almost always eat, and for the most part it's not really all the best of foods.  But it was a good start and I got the information we need to make some adjustments with our speech therapists and try again in another 2 weeks! 

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Food Attack Trial

Monday Sophia and I went to see our speech specialist at Riley and got an exciting homework project to start working on :)  We are going to do a 2 day trial where I will feed Sophia regular foods every 2 hours in the morning, then I will give her a tube feeding and flush at naptime and then we will do 3 more feedings in the late afternoon/evening, every 2 hours, and then end the day with her 9pm tube feeding.  So Sophia will wake up at 7:30 am and I will give her breakfast, bacon of course :), and then I will give her a snack at 9:30 and lunch around 11:30am.  All of these meals will be given without the tube feedings.  So if she's hungry, or thirsty, she'll need to eat, and drink, by mouth.  Then she'll get her PediaSure, through her tube, around 2pm, and then a snack at 3:30, supper at 5:30 and another snack at 7:30.  All of these will also be given without any tube feedings, just oral intake.  Then she will get a second tube feed of PediaSure at 9pm and we will start this all over again on day 2.  Our goal is to get her to take in as close to the same amount of calories that she would normally get with her missed tube feeds, but with real food and drinks :)  After two days we'll see how things are going, tweek the kinks out and try again in about 2 weeks, unless things go unusually great, then we can just keep going.  But we're taking baby steps here and I don't expect her to just start eating and decide she no longer needs the tube, but I'm excited because we've never done this before and it will leave room for her to be hungry and thirsty and we know she can both eat and drink, it's just getting her more motivated to do both!  Wish us luck, we plan on trying this out at the end of the week, and we'll keep you posted on how it goes!!!  Here's to some good eating! 

Picnic for 1

Since Jayden was still at school, and this little peanut cannot seem to wait till she gets out for some grub......she had a picnic, all. by. herself!

WHAAAAT?

Cheese and goldfish, yum!



"I'm bored, and I miss my sister.  Picnics for 1, really suck!"

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Snow suits and Snow boots....Part Two

The last two days we have spent some time outside playing in the snow.  Friday we went sledding with some friends and Saturday we played in our yard.  It was really cold both days, but the girls had so much fun and barely noticed the temperature.
taking a ride on the sled at home

she wasn't crying, but her nose and eyes wouldn't stop running! BRRRR! it was cold and windy Friday!

Friday at Deming Park, we were sledding with friends :)

yes we duct taped her gloves on to make sure they didn't fall off or that Sophia didn't pull them off!

"I LOVE SNOW!! And being outside!"

Jayden was showing Sophia that you can eat the snow.  That's both of their favorite things about the snow now :) 

Eating the snow :)

getting ready for the snow ramp


Yep that's the ramp.  Pretty pathetic, but Randy did the best with what we were given.  Next snow, it will be bigger and better!  The girls liked it anyway...






Saturday, January 14, 2012

Potty Time

Don't get too excited......we aren't using the potty, yet.  We are just trying to get aquainted with our new friend, the potty chair.  So far Sophia seems to like her potty chair, but we've decided to ease our way into this and take things nice and slow this time around......and hopefully nobody will get hurt!


Just chillin' on the potty :)



Thursday, January 12, 2012

Snow suits and snow boots.....

.....we'll need both if we get anymore snow!  We literally lasted 5 minutes outside today after lunch.  It was COLD!  But the girls enjoyed their 5 minutes and then we high tailed it inside where it was warm and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon!


this pictures makes me cold just looking at it :/  BRRRR!


Playing chase with Shelby dog. 


not quite enough for a snowman :)

Out with Dave and in with Andy

Jayden was line leader at school again this week and she decided to bring a completely new friend home this time, Andy the Alligator.  We've had Dave the Dog at our house twice now and Morris the Moose once.  When I asked Jayden who she would be bringing home when she was line leader, she told me Morris, then Dave, then Morris BUT somewhere in between our conversations, she decided on Andy.  And I must say, he was a very nice and pleasant alligator to have around. 


Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Oh Mister Sun.....

......we have SO enjoyed playing with you these last few days! 


feeding her Shelby dog


every little girl has a John Cena doll, right?  (well actually the wrestler belongs to her big sister, but she's pretty fond of him too)

Heeeey!

"I'm outta here!"

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Bouncin' in the house

Sunday we decided to set the bounce house up, in the house.  The girls had a blast and wore themselves out!  So it was a win-win for all involved :)
 Scary Jayden

 Scary Sophia

Jayden, practicing her flips


Soph

Sophia, practicing her flips, or trying to break her neck! :/

This is what these two do....beat each other up.

Resting, or keeping a watchful eye on Jayden's next attack....

That watchful eye paid off!

:)

Scary Sophia # 2

trapped.....

....but not for long!

Mommy and Sophia :)  (she got hot and needed her shirt off :)

Kisses :)