Baths Are For Babies

Addy had a fantastic week last week. The big news is Addy took rice cereal - from a spoon! The Speech Therapist said Addison did fantastic. She doesn't take a whole lot but it's something new so it's to be expected. She taught us how to open her mouth by placing our finger on her chin, put the spoon in and then close her mouth with the same finger on her chin. Addy does lots of smacking as she's getting used to the texture of the cereal. She did such a great job during Speech Therapy that Gail gave us the okay to do it once a day with Addy! We've been doing it since Thursday and Addy is doing awesome. The most she has taken via mouth was about 15 cc's which we're assuming is pretty dang good. We're so proud of her. It definitely makes Dee Dee and I a bit nervous while we're doing it because the last thing we want is for her to choke but she's doing great. This Wednesday we get to try out carrots! I'm hoping each week we get to introduce something new. Not sure if I mentioned in previous posts however Dee Dee and I have decided to make Addison's baby food. We knew from the start that we wanted to have Addy's food be organic however we were just going to use the Gerber Organic premade food. After reading that the shelf life of baby food is about 2-4 years, we decided the healthiest option for Addison was to make our own organic baby food. We bought a book of recipes and we are actually really looking forward to it! We figured we'd make the week's worth of food (when she gets to that point) on Saturday or Sunday of each week.

The other cool news is April, the Physical Therapist for the study Addy is in, came on Friday for her 6 month (adjusted) examination of Addy. She was thrilled with how far Addy has come. She said although Addy isn't holding her head up completely quite yet, she can definitely tell the difference from the last time she was here. She also said Addison was a lot more active with this examination and incredibly responsive to auditory prompts. Addy's regular Physical Therapist, Delores, came to check out the examination as she hadn't heard of it and wanted to see it first hand. All of us noticed that Addy is using her left leg a lot more than her right so we will be working a lot more with her right side. We won't see April again until Addy is 10 months adjusted so it'll be REALLY interesting to see how Addy is doing then!

As I mentioned in the previous post, Addy had her CT scan done and we got in to see Dr. Bowman (Addy's Neurosurgeon) on Thursday. For those that have been following our story - Dr. Bowman isn't the most personable of all of Addy's physicians. Don't get me wrong - we wouldn't want any other doctor - Dr. Bowman prides herself on being amazing - and she is. However, the fact that Dr. Bowman isn't that personable made pretty much the first thing out of her mouth more meaningful... One of the first things Dr. Bowman does is checks Addy for muscle tone. One of the main signs of Cerebral Palsy is increased muscle tone (almost stiffening) or decreased muscle tone (almost limp). Addy's Physical and Occupational Therapist (as well as previous visits with Dr. Bowman) have revealed increased tone in Addy's hamstrings. When Dr. Bowman finished her tone evaluation she turned to us and said, "You guys, she has like no increased muscle tone!" To hear that from her made us so happy. She went on to say that Addy looks fantastic and she's very pleased with her progress. She showed us Addison's CT scan which showed her ventricles are a bit smaller than last time. She decided to dial up her shunt setting a bit to allow a little more fluid into the ventricles to get them back to the size she likes. Addy has tolerated the new shunt setting as if nothing has even changed. We will see Dr. Bowman again in about 2-3 months and this time will be getting an MRV (Magnetic Resonance Venograph) instead of a CT scan. Reason being is that Addy will need brain scans every 2-4 months to keep an eye on her ventricles and shunt. The MRV uses no radiation which is obviously a lot healthier for her. Definitely a successful visit to the Neurosurgeon!

Oh! Before I forget, Addy is now 14 1/2 pounds and 24 1/2 inches! Such a big girl! :o)

We've finally come to a solution for Addy hating her baths. We decided to try holding her in the shower. She LOVES it. She just looks around and actually opens up her hands to feel the water. Maybe she will like baths more once she can sit up - until then - baths are for babies not big girls like Miss Addy.

We've got a pretty busy month this September. Garage sale on the 6th, Granny Nan's birthday is the 7th, Dee Dee's tonsillectomy on the 11th and a trip to Minnesota for Cousin Sarah's wedding on the 27th. The biggest news for me is my adoption of Addison will be official on September 12th. Please keep your fingers crossed the final judgement goes through without any delays! :o)

Love to All!