Happy New Year!

She is starting to have an interest in toys and is now beginning to look at them.
This is her favorite toy right now. It is small enough to hold, but she whacks herself in the head:(
"HELLO!" She gets it up in front of her and really checks it out. It's neat to finally see her connecting her cognitive and motor skills together.

Cousin Julie gets some Alayna time on New Year's Eve. Thanks for having us all over Matt & Juli! It was fun and your house is beautiful. Lexi wants to come play the Wii!
Mommy and Alayna on New Year's Eve. We are gladly welcoming in the new year.
" I'm in my pj's, but I stayed awake until after 11:30 pm! I didn't want to miss out on anything!"

Okay, I'm feeling a bit frustrated because I already typed this once and it wouldn't connect to blogger.com to save and publish the post. Isn't it frustrating when technology doesn't work right? I'm not sure what happened, but I'll give it another whirl! It is a New Year and the blog needs a new look. I hope you like it. I'll stare at it for awhile and I may still make changes. It's just like anything else. Change doesn't come too easy for some of us!

Happy New Year everyone! It feels like a big breath of fresh air to me. It's like something has been lifted off of my shoulders. Though I'm not sure why I exactly feel that way. Maybe it's because last year was full of trials and tribulations and this is a new year. It's like the dark cloud has been lifted and removed. 2008 is a new beginning. Like starting all over again. Alayna will turn 1 year old in just 26 days. It is so hard to believe. The memories of the day she was born and the overwhelming emotions I had are still so embedded in the forefront of my mind. When I say it feels like yesterday, I truly mean it. We are working on her birthday party plans and can't wait to honor our little angel!

I'd like to update you on her recent doctor appointments and other things that have been going on. First, she is recovering well from her double ear infection. However, she is still having a tough time getting rid of the wheezing and coughing. Breathing treatments continue to fit into our schedule and we hope the coughing goes away soon.

On Wednesday, we visited the Department of Otolaryngology at the U of I Hospitals. Alayna will be getting tubes put in her ears on Friday, January 11th. Dr. Manaligod will perform the procedure. He will put a tiny cut in the eardrum and insert the tubes. He is unsure of what type of tube he will use until he gets in there. Alayna will be put to sleep by gas mask and shouldn't require an IV. It is an outpatient procedure and will probably be in the morning. They do the surgeries by age and since she is so young, she will be one of the first patients. We won't know what time until Thursday, January 10th. It takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. However, an audiologist will perform an ABR to test her hearing immediately afterwards. I'm so glad that things are finally moving regarding her ears and hearing.

Today, Alayna had her 6 month evaluation of being in the Early Intervention program. The meeting was held at the CTC and her speech therapist, physical therapist, developmental therapist, and Early Intervention coordinator were all present. This meeting was supposed to be in November, but because Alayna was sick it was rescheduled. Alayna is delayed and we know that. It comes with the diagnosis. It is sometimes hard to swallow and deal with, but she is making gains across all domains. Progress is there, it is just slow. But hey, it is progress! She is functioning at approximately a 3 month level. Her delay in development ranges between 65-80%. It is a pretty significant delay, hence I requested that we possibly increase her therapy sessions. She will continue to go to PT twice a month for the next 6 weeks because her therapist will be on maternity leave. However, after that the occupational therapist is going to evaluate her and she may start to do OT twice a month.

I've contacted Comprehensive Rehab in Muscatine. I'd like to get Alayna in to work with these professionals as well as the CTC. Of course I'm waiting on the necessary paperwork to be faxed and that is frustrating! I was told it was sent, but according to them they never received it. So, I start back at square one and had to call her doctor for another referral request. Hopefully this will be set up and accomplished before I go back to school on Monday. They have evening hours that would hopefully allow both Dana and I to be involved in her therapy.

I called American Prosthetics today to see what the status of her helmet is. The secretary was unable to give me an update and needed to contact the doctor. She told me she would get back to me as soon as possible. It is now 4 pm and I've yet to hear. All I have to say is that this helmet better be in the process of being made. Her casting was 2 weeks ago today and I was told it should be no more than 10-12 working days. If it isn't in the process, they are going to be dealing with one very upset mother. Should I call them now or later to warn them??

Alayna has definitely shown more of an interest in toys lately. Her favorite is the rattle that you see in the photos above. It is narrow enough for her to grasp. The drawback is that it is hard and she often smacks herself in the head with it. I think I need to invent a special needs rattle with a narrow middle and soft, padded ends so the kids don't hurt themselves. We continue to work on the rolling from back to tummy and tummy to back. It's improving, but she isn't there quite yet on her own. Sitting and holding her head mid-line is also much better.

Well, as you can see our New Year has started off very busy. It's already full of appointments and Dana and I look forward to fulfilling another deductible! Ha, ha. No really, we are thankful for Monsanto and it's good health insurance. But it helps to joke about it and keep smiling.

2008 will be filled with lots of accomplishments by Alayna. I look forward to the New Year and sharing them with all of you. It is my pleasure to educate everyone through our experience and hopefully pass on information that may help another family. God continues to provide us strength and he has already answered many of our prayers. May God bless all of you in this New Year.