Helmet

We just got back from Elijah's appointment with the orthotist, and he does indeed need to wear a helmet for his plagiocephaly. Based on the measurements that were taken, he falls within the Moderate range for needing orthotic help. The orthotist strongly suggested that we do it and I wasn't about to argue. They took a plaster mold of his head today and he didn't like that so much. In fact, I've never seen him cry so hard before. He cried so hard that he threw up green beans all over the doctor! We'll head back on September 10th to get the helmet fitted, which will be custom made based on his molds taken today. He will need to wear it 23 hours per day for 4-5 months. That sounds like a long time, but I'm sure he'll get used to it quickly, as will we. We even got to pick out the design that will go on the helmet. I figured we may as well go all out and get the craziest design they had. The design is called "Tornado" and has multi-colored swirls. The doctor said, "Oh! No one has ever chosen that design before!" Then I guess that makes Elijah pretty cool, huh? This isn't exactly what we were hoping for, but we most definitely want the best for our baby and with all that he's been through and has yet to go through, it is the least of our concerns. He'll be the cutest little helmethead ever!

Gotta go wash all the dried plaster out of his double chins now...

6 Months Old

Today Elijah is 6 months old! Time is so strange. It's hard to believe our baby is 6 months old already, yet it feels like we've been through soooo much in that time and that February 20th was eons ago. We are so proud of our little man. He's been through a lot and he is such an amazing boy.

Update on medical: I'll be heading back to work on September 10th, so it is my mission to get Elijah as far along as possible in gross motor development before he goes to daycare. He has finally started to lift his head off the floor, but only for a few seconds at a time. We'll take that! It's progress. He still isn't rolling over, but he is close. His sitting is getting much better (with support from us) and his head doesn't bobble around hardly at all anymore. We have an appointment with an orthotist to get a consultation on the plagiocephaly. I'm anxious to get the helmet on him (so we can get it off!) if that's the route we have to go. Next week is his 6-mo. check, and the following week is his cardiology check, and in between there are physical therapy appointments and lots of physical therapy with Mommy and Daddy at home. He's still pretty squeaky when he breathes, but who knows where that is coming from (all these specialists don't!).


Look! Head is off the ground!


Tumbling action shot, on the way down from a successful push-up


Sitting up with Daddy's help

1st percentile??

We had another PT visit today and Elijah was MAD. He was a tired boy and screamed through the entire thing, so not much progress was made. His PT gave me a printed assessment of where she thinks Elijah is at developmentally. He is right on schedule with cognitive and fine motor skills, but is in less than the 1st percentile for gross motor skills (neck strength, arm strength, rolling over, pushing himself up, etc...). I knew his surgery had caused him to be behind, but I had no idea he was this far behind. We have been working with him SO HARD every single day. It is a constant, tiring job, so it's frustrating to know that he still has such a long way to go. His surgery and recovery came at a time when it was really important for him to be on his belly, about the 3-month mark. Oh well, we will keep working and eventually we'll get him caught up! Soon here I have to go back to work, so I'm hoping we can do some major catching up before then so we won't have to expect our daycare provider to do all this work for us.

His flat spot is better, but still flat. Depending on what Eli's pediatrician says next week, we may be heading to the plastic surgeon to get fitted for a helmet.

Elijah has been so aware and alert lately. He does something new every single day. Yesterday he figured out how to blow peas out of his mouth and spit them all over Mommy. Today he starting saying, "Bob," over and over. Hmmmm....I wonder who Bob is? The last friend he couldn't stop talking about was, "Aboo." It's so fun to see him grow so quickly and to see what each new day brings. He's such an amazing little baby.

Giggling man

We got Elijah's sweet little giggle on video tonight. He has such a cute squeal. You have to listen for it through the grunting..

Back with our man

Here's a pic of our naked little man right before we left for vacation. We got him all cleaned up for Auntie Lissa.



We had an amazing time in Vegas! We ate great food, went on some fun rides, won some money gambling and had a great time meeting friends. We had a difficult time the first little while we were there because we really missed Elijah (mostly me, I was really crabby), but once we relaxed by the pool and realized this was VACATION, it got much better. Some highlights: rides at Stratosphere, sushi at RA, dinner at FIX (excellent prime rib), dancing at Light, meeting our "heart" friends Mike, Terri and Matthew for dinner, staying at Bellagio and enjoying their beautiful fountains and pools, winning $400+ gambling (for low-stakes people like us, this is huge!) and most importantly, enjoying some alone husband-wife time. Here are some pics.....


View of one of Bellagio's amazing pools


Dan and me under archway between the pools


Daytime fountain view from our room


Nighttime fountain view from room

Vegas!

I have a bit of Mommy guilt and angst about leaving our boy for a couple days, but I have to say that it has been a trying year and Dan and I are very excited about our upcoming trip. We are going to relax in the pool (in the very hot Vegas sun), eat some good food and take in the busy Las Vegas atmosphere (and also meet fellow heart parents Terri and Mike!). We fly in late Thursday and get home Sunday afternoon, so we will only have two full days away from the cutest baby on the planet. He will be in excellent hands. My sister is gracious enough to watch him, so he'll be having a great time at Auntie Lissa's house.

At today's physical therapy visit, Elijah's PT suggested looking into getting him fit for a plagiocephaly helmet. We were really hoping to take care of his giant flat spot without having to go that route. We've been doing everything in our power to get him lying on the other side of his head. I think we'll wait till his 6-mo. check, which is coming up soon, and see what his pediatrician thinks. I know that some parents say no to the helmet and attempt correction themselves, but honestly, if it's best for our man to get it, then that's what we'll do. It's definitely not the end of the world and things could be much much worse! If he does get it, it sounds like he'd have to wear it for ~3-4 months.

Elijah is still squeaky and wheezy, but I think it might be progressively getting better. It's hard to say, though, because I'm around him constantly. We have another check-up with his cardiologist in a few weeks so I'll feel good once that gets here and we can get him looked over pretty thoroughly. His napping has been AMAZING and his neck is slowly but surely getting stronger. We work so hard with him every day so he can "catch up." We're so proud of all the hard work he's done lately. He's awesome.

Ok, well we have to get ready for our trip in between poopy diapers, applesauce and physical therapy. I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'RE ACTUALLY GOING ON A TRIP!

Chunky Monkey

I don't mean to detract from the news on Baby Isaac (see previous post...he's doing great!), but these pics are just too cute not to post. Thanks, suite7 girls, for the shirt. Elijah is a BV Beaver, too!

Good news about Baby Isaac!

Baby Isaac had his heart surgery last night and is in the Stanford ICU doing well. Yaayy! I'm so glad they were finally able to get him in for surgery so he and his family could start recovering and moving forward. Kathy posted post-op pics of him on their website and he looks great!

Yay Baby Isaac, way to go...

Random stuff

Our little bobblehead, sitting in his chair...



We went outside to grill the other night and I said, "Uhhh....move slowly away from the wall and don't freak out.." (even though I was the only one freaking out.) A bat! I've never seen a bat around our house before!


Soooo Dan killed it. Sorry you little baby bat....(and sorry to all of you hurt by this, but seriously, it's a BAT!)



Elijah was a crabby guy tonight. I don't think he slept very well last night, so he was a little extra tired. He was unwilling to smile for us, but we got some good pics of his juicy double chin/neck...




And finally, we've uploaded video to youtube that we've had since Elijah was home from the hospital back in March. Here are some of our (many) faves. I can't believe how little our man was just a few short months ago. What a little peanut! If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing his trademark Roaring, you can hear it now!

Bridge catastrophe, a postponed surgery & an appendectomy

We luckily were not near Mpls when the bridge collapsed last night, but we're sooo sad about this. It's tragic. As far as we know, all of our friends and families are safe. We've had a few friends tell us that they had driven over the bridge within an hour of the collapse. That hits way too close to home.

Baby Isaac's surgery was postponed yesterday, so hopefully they can fit him in today. Dr. Hanley had an emergency surgery in the ICU to tend to, so that's why Isaac got bumped.

My sweet little niece Emma had her appendix removed last night. I'm so glad they caught it before it ruptured. Thankfully she is doing well today and doesn't have a fever anymore and is expected to go home by 11:00 this morning. Get well, sweet little girl! We'll see you soon!

I'm hugging my boys a little extra tight today.