Getting More Expressive!

Alayna is getting more expressive each day. It is very reassuring that she is doing this. She is responding so much better to voices when people talk to her and try to get her to smile. She is developing lots of "rolls" too, notice the double chin above! Her strength is still improving and she seems to support more of her weight when held up on her feet in a standing position. Unfortunately, I'm still battling her "throwing up" every now and then. Usually, she doesn't do it more than once a day and sometimes there are days where she doesn't do it at all. I've quite giving her Prevacid because it isn't helping that at all and she isn't showing any more signs of acid reflux. I even had to pull over in Loud Thunder to clean up a major spit up mess. Douglas said, "Mom, Alayna's throwing up." UGH! And then I had to battle a few bees that got inside the van. Oh, if I only had a video camera attached to my head. Never a dull moment I tell you what!I'm going to try and give her unthickened liquids here soon just to see how she responds to it. I'd love for her swallowing to improve and see her have enough coordination to go back to a normal bottle nipple. I only have 8 cross-cut nipples and I'm washing them way too often! Hopefully, in time she will be able to take a normal bottle!

We visit Dr. Horwitz, our geneticist in Peoria, two weeks from today. I'll keep you informed as to what he does at this visit. I have absolutely no clue what to expect. We obviously know her diagnosis and I'm not sure what his part in the whole thing is. I look forward to him seeing Alayna, but at the same time I'm reluctant because I don't want to hear any news that would bring me down. We met him once and he seems to be a very nice doctor.

Like I said in the last blog, we took the kids to see the fireworks in Milan. What a busy place Benny's Pizza was! A bunch of fun and we got to see alot of faces that we haven't seen for awhile. It was nice and the kids had a blast. Douglas, who is 3, didn't like the fireworks and Dana had to walk around with him. I think both the noise and the "closeness" of them scared him. Alayna, well she ate her last bottle for the night at 9:00pm and she went to bed. She missed the entire show and she didn't mind at all! She is truly a great baby. There is just something about her...you just want to squeeze her when you see her.

I know that I try to live one day at a time and not look to the future too much. It's hard though. Anyway, I was asking our physical therapist about local schools that cater to special needs kids. Because I feel like I'm constantly thinking about it. I really hope Alayna will be able to stay within our school district and go to Andalusia for pre-school and Illinois City for elementary school. That is my dream and it would be ideal. However, there is a school behind Target in Moline called SKIP (Special Kids in Preschool). I've driven by this many times, but didn't realize what the school was about. Again, it's an option for special kids and it is truly reassuring that it is there. I can't believe all of the little ones born in our community this year. I know Macy H., Laikyn P., Claire S., Stella R., Emma R., and a few more little girls and boys. Sorry if I mispelled a few names. They will all be classmates of Alayna's and I pray everyday that it will all work out that she will be in school with them. They all come from good parents and families and Alayna has the possibility of having some really neat girlfriends. She is still trying to "talk back" when people talk to her, so this gives me hope that all will work out on the communication end of it!