Dear Penny who is 9 months

Dear Penny, I cannot believe you are already 9 months old. You are such a big girl and when I look at you I fall in love with you all over again each time. I call you my penny pooper because you like to poop. :) Right now you love it when someone sings the alphabet song to you. You always smile so big. You also love love love to play peek a boo. You are in love with your older brother Nathaniel and your daddy. It's ok that you look at me and still think of food. I still love you. I took photos of you today in a beautiful sage green dress with tole but you were more interested in eating the dress. That's ok. The physical therapist was so impressed with you on Wednesday afternoon. She loves that you play peek a boo and she still maintains that your muscle tone is top notch. I love that you eat anything I give you. You started to eat tilapia this week and you love it! Any day now you will start to sit on your own. I feel that is my job to teach you why that is so worth while. I love you!!! Audrey is with me and she loves you too.

Guess who is an M&M ??

When will you sit up?

Penny is still working hard on sitting on her own. I know that I am supposed to wait for her to be able to reach these milestones on her own time, but I know she can do it. I just feel that she is being lazy. Is this a horrible way to feel?? I'm ok that she is not crawling, she is no where close to that, but she is so so so close to sitting on her own that I just can't understand it. In other exciting news, I am convinced she is playing peek a boo with me! I was changing her into her pajamas last night and I put her night clothes on her face and said, "Where's Penny?" She pulled the pajamas off her face and smiled, then pulled them right back up ON HER OWN to cover her face again. We did this 4 more times and she really got a kick out of the game. :) She is just so stinking cute. I have to post more pictures of her when I have a chance.

Oh, and the mythical being post, I had Penny in mind when I answered the questions. She is the pegasus. lol!

I'm a mythical being!!

You Are a Pegasus

You are a perfectionist, with an eye for beauty. You know how to live a good life - and you rarely deviate from your good taste. While you aren't outgoing, you have excellent social skills. People both admire you - and feel very comfortable around you.

What Mythological Creature Are You?

Something Interesting did Happen

Nathaniel had a play date today. It was a first date for both him and me. His mother and I ended up having a lot to talk about. Her 3 year old just graduated from Birth to Three so we knew some of the same therapists. She believes that the vaccinations her son received before his 2nd year caused him to have a high level of mercury and lead in his body because his blood draws indicate high levels of these metals and she cannot think of any other way that he was exposed. So his symptons have lead his doctor to diagnose him with an autism spectrum disorder. Thanks to my mom, I have a wonderful link to a websit for Autism Awareness. Please take the time to watch it because "For charity specific donations , whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com will pay $1.00 per view of the designated charity’s videos - until the number of viewings equals the amount donated less .04 per view. The .04 expense is Revver.com's .03/view webhosting charge and California Community Foundation's (CCF) 1.25% administrative expense. OVER 95% of money donated goes directly to the chosen charity!"

Click here to see the video

Nothing to write about

Anyone ever see the movie Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead? All you Hamlet fans should definately pick it up and/or add it to the never ending "to-do" list. It has been quite awhile since I have seen this movie, but there is a pretty humorous part about having "nothing to write home about." That is kind of how I feel this week. Penny is still working hard at trying to sit up on her own. She pushes herself up with her arms so high and then I like to get in there and pull her butt up so that it forces her into a crawling position, but then she gets mad at me. She is eating like a champ though, so that is good news. We have even decreased the amount of rice cereal we add to her purees. Her food is no longer the consistency of peanut butter, more like yogurt. Which, by the way, I did try giving her some yogurt the other day. SHE HATED IT!! That's ok, it probably wasn't warm enough for her highness. She is very particular about the temperature of her food. She is still such a good baby. She sits there and babbles away. It is so cute. We have a video of it that I will need to add some day soon. She is just out of control when it comes to speaking her mind about something.

Oh, and Scott's boss gave him this electric piano that he no longer needed. It . . . was . . . still . . . in . . . the box!!!! We have been super excited about this all week. We put our Penny up to the keyboard all the time so she can bang away and make some music of her own. The sound quality is amazing, you can't even tell the differnce between this and a real piano. I'm even a little inspired to finally have Scott teach me somc chords. Plus, Scott is so HOT when he is playing the piano.

Am I doing this right? - You know, parenting?

So, on my long list of items to worry about with Penelope, I have had to add feeding skills. I have read that the low muscle tone thing typically makes it difficult for infants with T21 to eat. Appearantly, the low muscle tone, or hypotonia, makes it hard for Penny to coordinate the muscles in her mouth and therefore, it is hard for her to bring the food to the back of her mouth and swallow. There are a lot of muscles that need to work in concert to accomplish this seemingly simple feet. Alot of children with T21 also have an aversion to textures. Hard things like crakers can cause terror in some children. I don't think that is a problem with Penny. She likes to take carrots out of my hand and shove them into her mouth so she can teethe on the cold vegetable. I finally introduced puffed rice. I put it in front of her so she can decide whether or not she wants to try out a pincer grasp. She sitll rakes the puffed rice with her fingers and spreads them over the place. I know she is working things out though and she will get it -- sooner rather than later.

I just have concerns because when we give her pureed foods, the quasi-liquid seems to just slip out of her open mouth and drip all over the place. Then there are the much loved raspberries she blows in the air, spraying food all over the place. I love food showers!! However, when we add a bunch of rice cereal to the puree to give it an almost oatmeal consistency, she does really well it. I have concluded that it is because the texture just sticks to the inside of her mouth, so she has no choice really but to swallow it. I guess she doesn't like the sliminess, but then, can you blame her. My concern with adding the rice cereal just makes me wonder, am I cheating?

Check out new pictures of Georgia!!

This is Penelope's friend who had surgery the day after Penny when Penny was only 6 days old. Georgia was supposed to have surgery the day before, but Penny bumped her one day. If you have time, check out these beautiful pictures!

The Pictures I promised

Can you see who got some teeth?
And someone is sitting on her own. . . about 4 seconds before she fell on her face. :)

Cardiology appt today

Penelope had a follow up appointment with her cardiologist today. I was priveledged enough to see a picture of Katie's baby. She is very cute of course. Penelope's appointment, however, was not as I had hoped it would be. Her left branch pulmonary artery is stenotic. Her cardiologist told me that I shouldn't worry even though the artery is only 2/3 the width that it should be. I remember when the cardiologist came from surgery and told Scott and me that the surgery was a huge success; that they found that they were able to work with the existing left pulmonary artery instead of rebuilding that too. I guess I should have known that her surgery news was too good to be true. Ah well, everyone says she is doing remarkably well. She is only 6 weeks out of surgery. Well, hopefully her cardiologsit is right and there is nothing to worry about. Maybe the LPA will grow with her and eventually catch up to the right side. Right. . . On the positive side, my baby is 17 and 3/4 lbs!! She is also 28 and 3/4" That means that, per the CDC statistics, she is in the 95th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight in the typical kid charts. She is over 95th percentile for both of these in the T21 growth charts. She is trying to learn new things like holding on the edge of a coffee table and sitting on her own.

Wow!!

Penny is sitting on her own for almost a minute at a time. I took a picture of it that I will have to post soon but I am too tired to do it now. It has been a busy weekend!

Super Baby

These may be better; does it look like Penny is trying to fly away? Believe it or not, but Nathaniel took the picture above and to the right. I think he did a great job! Look at Penny trying so hard to be like her big brother.

Penny is Gaining Some Muscle

Penny is really raising her whole body. Her PT is so impressed with her strength and ability!! I was so happy to see her raise herself this high. She was so proud of her self too I think.
She just loves to look at Daddy and smile. She is such a ham. We told her she needs to do at least 20 push ups everday so she can get big and strong like the rest of the family.
OK, now she is smiling for Mommy! I love her enormous smile. Can she open up her mouth any wider?? She must be thrilled about something I am doing.
I couldn't get a great shot of this, but she lifts her arms and her legs at the same time. Something her PT is very impressed with as this indicates strong abdominal muscles. Scott and I think it looks funny because it looks like she is going to fly away. :)

It Finally Came!!!

Today I got home from work and I felt a tooth in Penny's mouth. Yay!!!!! All her hard work teething is paying off. One tooth down and a bunch more to go. I can tell she is really happy with herself. Right. . . . She is still just such a happy baby for the most part. I love to laugh with her and sing to her. She responds so nicely to me.

Also, I want to wish a happy belated birthday to a special baby Zoe. Her mom found me through Little Hearts, org. Zoe also has Tof and T21. Welcome to the world little one!!!

TAX BREAK

Tax break for parents of special needs children.

PLEASE READ THIS PETITION AND CONSIDER SIGNING. As the beginning of the petition states, "parents of healthy children get tax breaks for college tuition, yet no one is required to attend. The parents of special needs children, who may or may not ever be able to attend college, do not get tax breaks at all. . ."

Penny's first movie

Ok, so Scott and I figured this video thing out? I know this is kind of boring, but she is so darn cute. I hope you enjoy.

where I want to be right now

I am so tired right now. Penny and I did not sleep much last night. Nathaniel slept in my bed too, but he made sure to remind me that he was there by screaming every so often and hitting me in the face with his flailing arms. sigh. . . I liked it when he woke up at 6:30 and proclaimed, "Mommy, I slept really well last night." Yes, I was proud that he says "well" correctly, but I was more bitter that someone besides me got any sleep. I wish I was at Lake Tahoe relaxing in a boat. Thanks dad for sending me this picture. It has been a big help lately.

"P"

Penny had a good weekend, I think. . .what is her recourse anyway, "Mommy, I'm bored, let's go hit the bar." I don't think she will be saying that to me anytime soon. :) She slept until 5 am both Sat. morning and this morning. I said it before, but I will say it again, "I AM SO HAPPY SHE IS BACK TO SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!" We still haven't sat down with the speech therapist. We had expected to start with ST last month, but the therapist had a cold at the beginning of the month so we canceled, and then she had surgery. . . you know. But we really need to call her and get her in before the end of the month. I started to use some sign language with her this weekend. I showed her "mother," "father", and I took the letter for "P" and then pointed to her as well as doing that with the letter for "N" and pointed at Nathaniel. I had asked Nathaniel Friday night if he had any thoughts on a visual representation of his name. He did not so I said you can be "N" and then a point in his direction. It made him happy. We have physical therapy coming on Tuedsay. We love love love her. She is just so supportive in all that we do and that is sometimes really good for Scott and me to hear.

She's back to her Old Self

We are on a roll here with Penny sleeping through the night. For a few nights now Penny goes down between 8 and 9 and sleeps until 5 am. Of course, we would like her to sleep until at least 10 am, but I guess I need to be happy for what I have. :) She is such a sweetie while she sleeps. I want to kiss her and love her forever. I can't believe she is almost 8 months old. I haven't even gotten used to the idea that I have a daughter yet. If anyone has the time, I highly recommend getting over to jibjab and making a little video of yourself in the starring you section. I laughed my butt off.

Almost wordless Wednesday

I notice that a lot of bloggers I keep up with their "Wordless Wednesday." I would like to jump on that band wagon with this picture I have always loved of Nathaniel at our wedding. In the background is my cousin's daughter, Nadia. Nathaniel was about 2 1/2 here. :)