Thanksgiving With Alayna

Alayna is doing better each day with sitting! We can sit her with some toys and put the boppy pillow behind her and she plays "upright" for a good 5 or more minutes. It's very nice to see.

"Mom, put the camera away!" It is funny how she can be so smiley and the minute I bring out the camera she senses I'm doing something.

She has the sweetest little face.

Alayna and her 3 siblings and 2 of her cousins pose for a picture together. This doesn't happen very often, so I took advantage of it. Alayna was getting tons of attention at this time.

Family photos with all of us are very rare too. I wanted one to help us remember our first Thanksgiving with Alayna at home!

Me and Alayna just relaxing and enjoying the day.

Alayna showing off her improved sitting again. And of course, she is still cutting her 2 year molars and chewing on her hands, her blanket, or nearly anything else she can manage to fit inside of her mouth.

Alayna is definitely trying to tell us something here and I don't know what! She is also modeling her first ponytail. She has "crazy, curly" hair and it is growing in very long in the back. Kind of like a mullet, lol. But it is very cute. Lexi had similar hair and patience is the key because she has beautiful hair now. It will all grow eventually.

Alayna loves eating bananas out of the self-feeder. The only problem is that they are a mess to clean out of the mesh bag. But see how well she holds it with two hands? Way to go Alayna!

More play time. The CTC loaned us a little table that is perfect for her to put over her lap and have toys on it. It doesn't make her reach so far and actually gives her a signal on her legs when she starts to fall backwards. She actually corrects herself and uses her tummy muscles to pull forward and sit back up. It is nice to have and she enjoys throwing all the toys off of it!

Alayna put this butterfly toy in her mouth and was bobbling it back and forth with only her teeth. No hands! It was cute, so big sis Lexi decided to capture a photo. It makes us proud to see her wanting to put things in her mouth. She didn't always want to do that. I think it is a key step to eating different textures and being able to tolerate the feeling of them in her mouth. And also her getting over the fear of allowing something unknown near her lips and mouth is great.

More banana!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving seems to be a day that becomes more meaningful to me as each year goes by. Maybe it is just me getting older, but I seem to reflect more and realize the importance of giving thanks for the things that I am grateful for. This Thanksgiving was extra special for my husband Dana and I because we had our little girl, Alayna, at home with us and she is healthy. Last year was her first Thanksgiving and she spent it in Iowa City trying to recover from RSV and pneumonia. That was a very exhausting time for both of us both physically and mentally and we are thankful that this year was nothing like it. This Thanksgiving we enjoyed being with our 4 children, cooking, baking cookies, putting up the two Christmas trees, watching TV, shopping, sleeping, playing the Wii, and just hanging out. For these things I am thankful. The kids are already asking how many school days until Christmas break! I'm counting too.

Ear Update

I have wonderful news regarding Alayna's ear. Last week I had to take her in and she had blood in her left ear and it was unknown as to whether the tube was in place or not. And we didn't know where the bleeding was coming from. Well, I took her to see Dr. Neptune this Friday and the tube was still there and looked to be just fine. He said it looked like it was functioning like it should be! He believed that the bleeding was caused by a scratch somehow because he did remove quite a large scab from the inside of her ear. WEIRD! I've never seen Alayna put her fingers in her ears, but maybe she did? We are continuing to put drops of Ciprodex in her ears three times a day for at least another week to make sure it doesn't get infected. It is looking much better and I haven't seen any kind of fluid coming out of it. I hope this adventure is over!

Sleeping & Other Updates

Alayna has been sleeping much better. At least for now! I don't want to jinx myself by praising her too much because tomorrow it may change! She still tends to fall asleep early in the evening usually before 8pm, but has been sleeping to around 6am. Not too bad for her. If she wakes up in the middle of the night, that is news to me. I continue to sleep with a baby monitor on and I don't hear her. Maybe that's because either I don't want too or I'm exhausted. It's probably a combination of both. One day we are going to have a huge celebration in this house for the last day I ever make a bottle and change a diaper and the last day I turn the baby monitor on! You are all invited too! These are the little milestones I talk about on this blog and how huge they are in Alayna's development. It's these little things that so quickly passed with my other three children in a blink of an eye and I never really realized it. It is neat seeing things for what they were and are in "slow motion" with Alayna. Gosh, how it makes me thankful for the three "typical, healthy" children that I have.

Alayna continues to change all of the time. She is becoming more alert with her surroundings each day and is beginning to carefully watch things like her siblings talk to her or me in the kitchen. This weekend was a first, at least I think, that I realized she was watching me in the kitchen and looking for me. I loved that! She continues to make sounds and "babble" and use her tongue to try and "talk". You just have to catch her in the talking mood. Most of the time it happens when she is getting undressed to go take a bath...what's that all about??!! She is funny. We continue to work on getting her to reach for us when she wants picked up and we are trying to get her to wave "bye-bye." For now she just smiles at us and the connection isn't there quite yet. She continues to be very cuddly and we love hugging her. I have a short video of her giggling, but I'm running out of time. So, I'll post that next time.

Tomorrow is December 1, which is hard to believe. Christmas is just around the corner and I look forward to spending it with my family. Unfortunately shopping time is limited having 4 kids, but we'll get it done somehow. It used to be at the top of my list of worries, but not anymore. Alayna has that way of putting things in perspective for me! I heard a saying the other day that went something like this: "Our character is defined by the choices that we make. And we have the opportunity to make the right ones." It made me think of course. So maybe the next time I see a bell ringer at Walmart, or a donation can someplace, or a flier for someone needing help, or whatever it may be, I'll stop and think twice about what the right choice would be. Humm...just something to ponder.