I thought I would share our day today. Nothing that special, just a quiet day with my babies. Have I mentioned I am ready for spring?? Aaron stops home every afternoon to give Camden a green.....has to be green lollipop. Today he surprised me with flowers. Awww! I love that guy! Don't let this picture fool you. She is not in a deep sleep. This is one of her 15 minutes naps. Today Ailyn is on a nap strike all together. She is not grumpy, and is happy as can be. I hope this means she will sleep 6 full hours tonight. Every morning we gather around in my bedroom to get dressed. The beabs play on the bed. Camden loves to make Ailyn laugh. Today I just happened to have my camera upstairs. I love to capture moments I want to last forever. Ailyn is off in nowhere land here, but Camden for once is posing for me! I was busy getting school work ready and Ailyn woke up (surprise, surprise). Camden went in and got her and set her up with toys. He was so sweet. I heard him say "Ailyn we need to get some work done today" This week we are on Letter N. You can find our projects here http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/01/prek-letter-n.htmlCamden has really impressed Aaron and I with how quickly he is learning his letter sounds. Today we worked on our reading program, it's a lot of repetition. I am so proud of him, he is learning to sit longer than 3 minutes and doesn't have much longer until we move to the next level. Go Camden! Camden loves to decorate for every holiday. So we started doing a Valentine's Day project every day. I found this idea on this blog, she has great ideas! http://mymontessorihomeblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/valentine-hearts.html "Look Mom no hands!!" In the past week, Ailyn is really starting to get closer to meeting some milestones. Just today she was soooo close to rolling over from back to front. We notice she is starting to use her feet more, before she would just hang them. As you can see above, she will stand up to reach toys. She is also reaching more. She has found out that Mommy's glasses can come off now. I guess it's time to put the contacts back in.
This is a typical day at our house. Being home bound bites. I am ready to take them to the zoo, or the park. 2 more months....2 more months.....2 more months..... I think I can....I think I can....
I was able to get Ailyn an ENT appointment right away. The ENT was great. She looked at her tongue and agreed it's needs to be "clipped". Ailyn's GI and therapist from the hospital talked to this doctor before her appointment. I really love how her doctors and therapists work together. It shows us that they really care about the best interest of Ailyn.
We chose to do the outpatient surgery. She explained how she would do it in the office and we immediately knew we didn't want that option. The parents help hold the baby down, there is a ton of blood (because it's the mouth) and it's traumatizing for the child. We do not want to put Ailyn through anything stressful at this point if we don't have to. Another reason is that Ailyn is at the age where she might be too old to do it in the office. Being 9 months, she has more nerves and they don't recommend it.
We are hoping to get her in as soon as possible. The doctor is checking her schedule.
The doctor did a scope down Ailyn's nose. THAT was traumatizing for me! I couldn't hold her, I had to ask a nurse too. I could never watch the feeding tube get put in. I can't stand seeing her cry that hard. The great news is her nose and throat look great! She did see some congestion (not a cold) and will follow up with her to keep an eye on it.
As for the possible VPI, it's too early to tell. Ailyn has never had drainage out of her nose or recurring ear infections. Those are markers for the VPI. She will also keep an eye on her for this.
A few of you have asked....
Why didn't they catch this earlier?
I also had that question when we first found out. I wanted to blame someone for maybe causing my baby to suffer through feedings for 9 months. I wanted to scream at every person that has said Ailyn is too small and were so close to putting a feeding tube in her. It took me a few days to calm down and realize that we are doing the best thing for Ailyn. We are in a very highly rated hospital that is known for it's care. And, I agree.
We were told her size might have been an issue when she in the NICU and for the first few months home. It was just missed. The way I feel about it now is that we found it now, not later on when it might cause her speech delays. I am willing to help Ailyn in every way possible.
Are you sure she is getting the best care?
FOR SURE! Read above... From Ailyn's very first day we have been very fortunate that she has had the best care. All her doctors and nurses care for her, and I can tell she is not "just another baby". They treat her as one. And, believe me! We speak up if we do not like care she is getting. Daddy and Mommy have had to put our foot down before.....and we will again! ;) So no worries! I appreciate the worries. Makes me s happy to know she has so many Mommy and Daddies out there!
Any other questions please email me or message me here. I will keep you updated!
Can you say cabin fever? Keeping a 5 year old boy as active as Camden cooped up all winter is dangerous. It never fails.....4pm rolls around and he goes nuts until 8:30 bedtime. So this is my real life entry for the week!
Last night, Aaron and I were researching everything we needed to know about Ailyn being tongue tied. We had no clue how much controversy there was over it!! We found that either people are very against it or really for it. The people against it were doctors and the people for it had experience because their own child had it done and it worked great. I was stressing out about this and look over to see Ailyn on Aaron's knees staring at me. It made me realize we are so lucky to have her here with us and this is a small hurdle we have to cross. She will be fine with whatever we decide to do.
Then I got this smile. Made all my stress go away. And, yes my camera is always within 1 foot of me!
So thank you so much for all the advice you have given me. Thank you for sharing your experiences with me. It is so nice to know we have so many people supporting us through this crazy journey! I will update you when we have an answer.
We just got home from the feed/swallow study. The doctor took us into a room to watch her eat before the study. Ailyn preformed perfect, showing how terrible she eats. She looked into Ailyn's mouth and immediately saw that Ailyn tongue is tied. Normally, this is caught at birth. I am not sure why this was never caught. She has always had issues with feedings, she has always taken over a hour to eat a 3 ounce bottle. I have stressed to every doctor how terrible she eats. I am thinking Ailyn has too many doctors and they just assume the other is taken care of it. I have always been thrilled with her doctors. I have said from birth that we have had the most amazing doctors care for Ailyn. So I am not saying it was negligence, I am just upset it was never caught. We didn't do the feed/swallow study.http://www.tonguetie.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=2
I called her OT and she apologized for never seeing this and said it all makes sense now. She has seen many children get "clipped" and the children started feeding perfect after a few days.
Our pediatrician had a different view. He says there is no evidence that it affects feeding and weight gain. He referred us to an ENT to look further into it. I am sure it will take a couple months or more to get an appointment. Hopefully, we can talk the GI into getting us in sooner.
We have had to deal with hearing different opinions for each doctor. One will say "why isn't she eating solids???" the other will say "No, solids" We have learned to bite our tongue and know they are all doing their best to help Ailyn.
It all makes sense to me now. I wanted to nurse so bad in the NICU. I nursed Camden with no problem for 22 months. Ailyn never latched on right, she made a clicking noise when she ate. She never was able to suck hard enough to pull down my milk. I agreed to stop nursing so she didn't waste calories feeding. It was the hardest decision I had to make, but I wanted to do what was best for Ailyn. (no worries, I am not upset with anyone about this...I know it was best, just hard on Mommy)
Ailyn has always taking so long to feed. She will play with the bottle and lose interest after a 1/2 ounce. Getting 3 ounces into her is hard work for us. She has never had a good suck on the nipple, she makes a clicking noise like she can't get good suction.
Ailyn sucks her thumb....or tries too. I always thought it was odd how she sucked her thumb!
Aaron and I are looking into doing what's best for Ailyn. We are following our gut instincts and pushing to get "clipped"
That wasn't all :( Since the NICU, Ailyn has had a lot of congestion in her throat. She sounds like she has a cold. She has never had a cold. The NICU made sure there was no infection. No one knew what it was. One of her doctors (not sure which one, we have a ton) said it's normal for preemies and she will grow out of it. So we stopped asking.
Ailyn was doing her growl that she does (you can see a video of her doing it on the side bar) We just thought she was just growling at us! The doctor noticed how quiet Ailyn is. Her coos are very low. The doctor said she sounded like she had a "nasal voice". She said this might be VPI. not sure what the growling means. She did say some babies do it. The ENT will look into it more. We don't know much about VPI yet so I can't answer questions yet. http://www.craniofacial.vcu.edu/conditions/vpi.html
I am so glad to have some answers. I hope this is the cause of her feeding issues and the procedure helps. Thank you for the well wishes for today!!! I will keep you updated.
We also did marble painting which I thought was a ton of fun......Camden said "I already did this in my school last year" Yes, I am fully aware he needs a haircut bad. That's one downfall to being homebound, we never can get out. Daddy is taking him soon. No worries, Becky! This is what Ailyn was doing while we did our school work. Notice the crib in the background? It's become a nice decoration ;) I don't fight her with naps, since they only last 20 minutes. When she woke up, Camden and I worked on Ailyn's room. I figured since she is 9 months old, she deserves to have her room finished. My cat decided to do a little work to her brand new rug. Daddy still has to paint the floor boards and finish the ceiling. Thank you Auntie! I am trying to find a good picture of Ailyn when she was teeny tiny to hang under it ;) Still a work in progress. I had a lot of "help" from Camden. Hopefully, I can post pictures of the room finished very soon!
Tomorrow Ailyn has a big day. She has a feed study downtown. I had called her GI about her feeding issues (again) and told her that Ailyn is now coughing in the middle of her bottle. I think she is getting too tired when she eats and lets the milk pool in her throat. Her GI wants to make sure everything is going down the right way. We don't need her to aspirate!! I wish we could find out why it takes so long for her to eat. Right now we are working on a bottle that I made 45 minutes ago!!! When my sister was here she said "It seems like you feed her all day long!!" It's so true. Every hour it seems I am trying to get an ounce in her. But, she is gaining weight correctly so I am assuming once her reflux gets better, it will change.
Come back for an update on the feed study tomorrow night!
Happy 9 months Strawberry!!! Happy 6 months Apple!!! Camden named Strawberry and Apple when Becky and I found out we were pregnant (less than 2 weeks apart) Ailyn came out with Strawberry blonde hair and Evan came out with Apple red hair. Kinda neat. This month Ailyn and Evan got to celebrate their special day together. Greg, Becky and Evan flew in on Friday. Of course I end up being the one with the bad germs!! I have been fighting off a bad sore throat and cold. We were all really careful with the babies toys,blankets,ect. Clorox Anywhere spray was our best friend. We used up a whole bottle in 3 1/2 days! We were very lucky to have amazing weather, it was nice to be able to get outside. We love having Greg and Becky down. It's always a good time. It makes me miss my little sister and wish we lived closer. Especially now that we have babies so close in age. Camden loooovvves his Uncle and Auntie, they are great about playing and paying attention to him....which makes Camden very happy! Ailyn and Evan are the same age adjusted. They are very close in height and 3 pounds difference....of course we had to weigh them. Ailyn was 11.2pounds and Evan was 14.2 pounds. They are on the same level with most milestones, Evan is a little ahead on some gross motor but overall they are a lot alike. That made us feel a lot better about Ailyn's development. Ailyn and Evan were so cute together. They would smile at each other and watch what the other was doing. It was neat to see them interact. I can't wait for them to grow up together. Camden was so good with both of them, he loves "baby Evan" just as much as Ailyn.
Thank you Greg, Becky and Evan for making the trip down. We have been lonely all winter being stuck inside. We will see you at Ailyn's first birthday party!!!!! OXOXOXOXOXOX
What a perfect day for a family photo shoot!! Becky, Greg and Evan flew in yesterday to spend the long weekend with us. Evan is 6 months, Ailyn's adjusted age. It's been so neat to see Evan and Ailyn watch each other. Ailyn has never been around another baby! I posted ALL the pictures because it's easier to show them here than anywhere else ;) So sit down, relax and enjoy Becky's family!!
I have been asked to post pictures of our classroom. Since I just did all the floors upstairs yesterday, I figured now would be a perfect time to share pictures. It has taken me months to figure out a system that works for us. I had NO clue how to homeschool when I decided to keep Camden home. I think I am finally happy with our "classroom". I decided to add extra hours to our school week. I think Camden's attention span has increased some and he is more willing to sit longer. Some days we spend 3 hours in the classroom, some days only a half hour. That's what I love about homeschooling, there is no set rules.And, you can go to school with no shirt on and comfy pj bottoms! We can do what works for us. Last week and this week, we are working on the letter S. We of course had to make a strawberry ;). We have started a new reading program. (Thank you Nanna!) It's a lot of repetition which is very boring to a 5 year old as active as Camden!! I made him a chart and after each lesson he will get a sticker. At the end of the week if he gets all his stickers, we will reward him. We are going to start with 3 days a week to start. I have a feeling this will not be easy! But, I think this program is great and will be very good for him. I have finally figured out a great way to organize my day. The blogs I read have been so so helpful!! There is system called "workboxes". I have read a lot about them and it seemed like something that would really work for us. I have set it up "my" way but am still learning how. Basically, it's a set of drawers (I use 4 for now) Each day you add your childs school work to each drawer with all the supplies they need for that paper or project. This has saved so much time for us. Before I printed out all our work on Sundays and knew what we would do throughout the week, but it was never organized. This way, I fill the drawers each night with what we will do the following day. Camden knows to start the day with first writing his name on a card he has on his desk, then he walks over to drawer 1 and starts his day. When he finished he moves onto to the next drawer. When the drawers are empty, our school day is over. We get more done this way and I am less stressed preparing our day. What does Ailyn do while we work?? Well..... I try to put her down for a nap in the next room over. Her naps last 15-20 minutes. I try to start with the work he will need the most help on. When she wakes, she either sits on my lap or plays in her corner. I made sure the room is childproofed for her when she starts crawling around (Ailyn please wait to crawl) Growing up my favorite book was "The Monster At The End Of The Book", I bought it long before I had children so I could read it to my nuggets. It has been a favorite of Camden's since he was two. He can "read" the book word for word. For Christmas I found this DVD version of the book. He can read along with it. It is THE BEST EVER!!!! We watch it over and over. (Logan would love it) Thanks for asking me to share our lonnnng boooring days. It's so nice to know we have so much support!
I thought I would share our day today. Nothing that special, just a quiet day with my babies. Have I mentioned I am ready for spring??
Don't let this picture fool you. She is not in a deep sleep. This is one of her 15 minutes naps. Today Ailyn is on a nap strike all together. She is not grumpy, and is happy as can be. I hope this means she will sleep 6 full hours tonight. 
Every morning we gather around in my bedroom to get dressed. The beabs play on the bed. Camden loves to make Ailyn laugh. Today I just happened to have my camera upstairs. I love to capture moments I want to last forever.
Ailyn is off in nowhere land here, but Camden for once is posing for me! 
I was busy getting school work ready and Ailyn woke up (surprise, surprise). Camden went in and got her and set her up with toys. He was so sweet. I heard him say "Ailyn we need to get some work done today" 
This week we are on Letter N. You can find our projects here http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/01/prek-letter-n.html Camden has really impressed Aaron and I with how quickly he is learning his letter sounds. Today we worked on our reading program, it's a lot of repetition. I am so proud of him, he is learning to sit longer than 3 minutes and doesn't have much longer until we move to the next level. Go Camden! 
Camden loves to decorate for every holiday. So we started doing a Valentine's Day project every day. I found this idea on this blog, she has great ideas! http://mymontessorihomeblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/valentine-hearts.html
"Look Mom no hands!!" In the past week, Ailyn is really starting to get closer to meeting some milestones. Just today she was soooo close to rolling over from back to front. We notice she is starting to use her feet more, before she would just hang them. As you can see above, she will stand up to reach toys. She is also reaching more. She has found out that Mommy's glasses can come off now. I guess it's time to put the contacts back in.
