Another Great Week!

Do I really need a sweater? Already?


Pretty in purple!


I love my bath time!


I'm a big girl. I can sit up on the couch.


I'm happy! I love to smile and it melts mom's heart.

Thanks for all of you continuing to look at Alayna's blog. If I can find time to post something new once a week I'll be doing good! I know many of you wish I would post more often and I do too! But it is so hard to find the time in the evening when I should be grading papers or getting ready for the next day :)

Just a quick update on what happened this week. Alayna visited the CTC on Monday for her usual physical therapy session with Kim. The session was at 7:45 am which is earlier than what Alayna is accustomed too. But this works best with Dana's work schedule. Kim showed Dana a new technique with the exercise ball to try and get Alayna to increase her weight bearing through her legs and push with her forearms. We will try to do this two times a day. She was just getting over a cold and ear infection and was fussy for the most part during the entire session. Dana said she'd get pretty ticked off at times. She babbled "mama" while fussing and Kim heard it too! It brought tears to Dana's eyes. Kim said that many times kids "talk" while in stressful situations or when they are unhappy. I wish I would've heard it!

She has gotten over her wheezing and handled her breathing treatments well. Boy do those work! It only took about 3 treatments to see a huge difference. Alayna is adjusting well at Lori's (her babysitter). I do notice that she is pretty tired in the evening though. It's probably because she gets a lot of attention from the other little ones at Lori's. Emily and Ella are little girls who go to Lori's and they are 2 and 3 years old. They are absolutely adorable little girls and I can tell they like to help take care of Alayna. And don't forget Douglas is there and he likes to be in her face when he can be! Douglas will be starting half day pre-school on September 24th and he is excited. He even gets to ride the school bus. He is looking forward to it....we'll see how the first morning goes! I'll keep you posted on that.

We still haven't heard any results yet regarding Alayna's renal ultrasound from September 4th. It will be two weeks this Tuesday, so I plan to call Dr.Neptune to check with him this week. I know it can sometimes take awhile, but I'm just anxious to hear. I guess that no news is good news right now.

I do have to say that Alayna's swallowing is getting much better. We have thinned out her formula a bit and she takes it well. Her timing, coordination, and breathing with the swallowing seem to be maturing. If that makes any sense at all. Again, it is just something I always took for granted. I just figured everyone was born knowing how to swallow. And it's official.....she can now sneeze without throwing up!!! That is a major milestone for us. I'm not kidding on that one either. I was getting really tired of changing outfits two or three times a day and washing tons of bibs and burp cloths. She is still very sensitive to sunlight and bright lighting. But so am I, along with my mom, Annette, and Mimi. We all sneeze when we walk out of Southpark mall. Weird!

Alayna continues to grow. Her weight has seemed to slow down a bit, but I'll tell you what. That carrier is getting heavy. I'm going to have to get online and ask my Yahoo 1p36 Support Group on what they did as their children got older and grew out of the carrier. All of my other kids moved to a "normal" rear-facing car seat around 9 months old. But they we also "normal" developing and could sit in shopping carts and highchairs at places. I had a place to put them. I'm just not sure what we'll do with Alayna yet. I don't mind the carrier as it is are only option right now. But she will be 8 months September 29th and I was just thinking ahead a bit. My concern is when we go places like out to eat, Wal-mart, etc. If she can't sit up my options are very limited. I'll keep you posted on what we do about this. Right now she is staying in the carrier. I may just have to keep it packed away in the back of the van and use it as a portable seat for those occasions.

Two weeks from Monday we will head to Peoria for another ABR hearing test and an evaluation by Dr. Morgan, a developmental doctor that is very well known in the state of Illinois. I have mixed emotions on both of course, but know they have to be done. I'll keep you posted on that too.

Have a good week everyone. Here are some recent photos of our little angel. I know she was sent to us for a reason and I've learned a lot of things along this path. I was talking to a family friend, Sue, today at a ball game. She told me that many special kids defy the odds against what doctors may say. She also told me that they have a way of getting us wrapped around their little finger and I have to agree with her 100%. They have a way of touching people lives a bit differently than us normal people do. Isn't this world a special place :0)