Colorado Here We Come . . .

It's now official - we are moving to Colorado on April 30th! The appraisal on our house came in and things are moving along nicely with the sale. Jamie told his boss about our move and he will be keeping his job and working remotely. We've made the reservation for our moving truck and we are getting started with packing!

Jamie's Aunt Sandy lives in Denver and will be loaning us a place to live until we can find a house of our own to buy (thanks Aunt Sandy!). We are looking forward to the big move!

As we get ready to move, I'm getting status reports from Kinsey's therapists so we can give the future therapists information on her progress and skills so this week I asked each of them to tell me where they would say she is developmentally. All of them said about 10-11 months for speech (feeding), gross motor and fine motor skills. At least she's consistent in all areas!

The speech therapist gave us some new cups with straws to try to teach Kinsey how to drink from a straw. We've tried it a couple of times and she gets the liquid part way up the straw, but not all the way. She'll get it soon!

I taught Kinsey something new this week - to play the keys of her xylephone :) I just put it in front of her and hit the keys a bunch myself, then took her hand and showed her how to do it a couple of times and then she started doing it herself. Here's a video: http://youtu.be/lJkbK9iqyUQ

Kinsey also helped Daddy mow the lawn this week - he held her on the tractor and she just hung out the whole time. She's been on the tractor before, but the last time he lowered the mower deck she started screaming right away. But this time she didn't mind it. Here's a picture and a video: http://youtu.be/3WT3-Fc0als

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I've been making lots of clothes for Kinsey lately - just having fun with fabric and the sewing machine. Here's a picture of her wearing an outfit I made (you can't see the shorts, but they're there too).

Finally, we got the pictures from Kinsey's last photo shoot. Here they are - Enjoy!

More New Skills & Experiences

We've had another fun and eventful week! Last weekend Jamie attached Kinsey's CoPilot bike seat to his bicycle and we all went for a bike ride. We found a helmet that is small enough for her - and what do you know it has ladybugs on it! Kinsey liked the bike ride until she got tired, then she cried the whole way home. Hopefully she will like it again next time - maybe this weekend.

Kinsey also experienced her first injury the same day as the bike ride. While Jamie was getting the bikes ready she was playing in her ride on car. She leaned over and the whole thing toppled on her and she hit her head on the driveway. She scraped up her nose and forehead pretty bad, but it's nearly healed up already. 

Her injuries - they looked much wose the next day.
You wouldn't know she was hurt from the big smile on her face!

 On Monday Kinsey and I had a playdate with our friends Liz and Lorelei. They joined us for Stroller Strides in the morning then we went to lunch and then to the Zoo. We had such a great time! Kinsey and I fed the giraffe some tree branches, she pet the goats in the petting zoo, watched the butterfies in the butterfly exhibit and watched the penguins swim around! This wasn't her first trip to the zoo, but it was the first time since she's started to become more aware of things around her. She really liked it this time! Here are some great pictures from the day:

Getting ready to feed the giraffe

Feeding the giraffe. She didn't want to let go of the branch,
but he took it from her anyway.

In the butterfly exhibit with Lorelei

Watching the penguins swim. This is my new favorite picture.
I LOVE the lighting, the way she's watching them and her cuteness!

Brushing the goats

Petting the goats

Kinsey has also learned another new skill this week - she's started sucking on her lips. The speech therapist was very impressed and said that's an important skill that comes before speech. She's doing it all the time and she spits when she does it sometimes too. Sometimes she spits pretty far - watch out, she's like a camel! Here's a video of her doing it (turn your sound up so you can hear it too): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OocmKDaFAn8&feature=youtu.be

And here's a video of something she's known how to do for a while, but I just now got it on tape - turning on the bathroom faucet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT3-RC14jyY&feature=youtu.be

In other news, we've completed all the paperwork and steps to getting her walker, now we just have to hope that insurance doesn't dilly dally and we get it before we move (so far it's looking like we're still moving at the end of April - still waiting for the results of the appraisal, but should have that on Monday).

 

I've been busy getting Kinsey in to see all her doctors, getting copies of her medical records, getting referrals for new doctors in CO. It will be a process!

 

Anyway, I think that's it for this week.

New Skills & Experiences

This was a pretty eventful week!

It started out with Kinsey getting her legs/feet casted to start the serial casting process. The Dr. has recommended this process to correct her feet, which involves a new cast each week for 6-8 weeks, then surgery followed by another cast for 4-6 weeks. With the house on the market we weren't sure if we should start the process now or not, but we went ahead and they put the first casts on her feet on Monday.

Well sure enough we got a good offer on the house that evening and the house is now officially under contract. If the appraisal comes through OK, the closing date is April 30th! That would be the same time that Kinsey would be ready for surgery so we decided it was best to postpone the whole thing until we're in Denver. So she only wore the casts for about 8 hours and we took them off. I guess you could look at it as a test run :)

Later in the week, Kinsey had a Spring photo shoot with our special needs photographer - we did some general pictures, some Easter and some tea party type photos. It will be a few weeks before we get all the pictures, but here's the sneak peak we have so far:

One night this week Jamie was outside fixing something and he was right outside the window where Kinsey was sitting in her highchair. When she first saw him she sat in her chair and laughed and laughed at him - it was so cute. I turned her around so she could see him better and she sat and watched him for a while. I didn't catch the laughing on tape, but I did get this: http://youtu.be/Me3uXUtB8CY and here's a picture too.

This week we also discovered Kinsey learned another new skill - she knows how to close the doors on her pop-up toy! Aunt Cheri gave her this toy for her birthday and the last time she played with it she would try to close them, but didn't know how to get her hand out of the way. I rotate her toys periodically so she hadn't seen this one in a few months, but when I gave it to her this week she immediately knew how to do it! I help her open them all and she closes them so quick! I took two videos of this: http://youtu.be/KK7t_2QwR9Y and http://youtu.be/7YBwibqcFgY

And finally, I took Kinsey for her first haircut (just a trim) today! We went to my hairdresser Sunshine and Kinsey did a great job. She kept trying to watch what Sunshine was doing with her hair, but she's always liked to have her hair brushed so she liked the haircut too :) Here are a bunch of pictures:



A Whole New World

Saturday is Kinsey's 16 month birthday and it's like a whole new world in our house these days - feeding Kinsey is a piece of cake now! She actually cries when she's hungry (which is about every 2 hours), opens her mouth wide for the next bite of food and eats all kinds of things she wouldn't eat before, like fruit and yogurt. She's even started to eat some Stage 3 foods that are chunkier, although she still prefers the creamy stuff. I can't believe how much of a difference the surgery has made and so wish we had done it sooner!

But even better is Kinsey's new skill: she can suck from her sippy cup! No more squeezing a bottle or cup for her, she does it all on her own now! And she won't let you squeeze it into her mouth either - she wants to do it herself! The first time I realized she could suck on the cup herself I nearly cried. It's the most amazing thing to watch and listen to :) I knew she would physically be able to form suction after the surgery, but I didn't know if she would know how to do it or if we would have to spend weeks and months trying to teach her how, but she figured it out all on her own and fast!

And that's not the only big girl thing about her, we've also put away the bottles and she's drinking exclusively from a sippy cup now!!! So exciting! Now we're working on getting her to hold onto the cup herself too. She understands the concept and puts it up to her mouth sometimes, but doesn't have it down quite yet.

Kinsey lost a little weight after the surgery, as to be expected, but she's back up to her pre-surgery weight now and will hopefully keep packing on the pounds. I'd love to see 20 lbs on the scale soon!

In the last few weeks Kinsey also seems to be a lot more engaged with people and her surroundings. She smiles and laughs when you do something funny or just when she sees you, she laughs at Bailey more and she's watching more things around her. She also really likes the other kids at Stroller Strides. We have playgroup after class on Wednesdays and she really likes to watch and touch the other kids.

Kinsey isn't wearing the no-no's anymore or the mittens when she's sleeping. In fact, I even gave the pacifier back to her the other night, but she doesn't really need it. She likes her thumb just as well.
We had her follow-up with the surgeon and he said everything looked good - just a few stitches left to dissolve.

We finally got Kinsey's new hand splints. These are much easier to put on than the original ones and she doesn't seem to mind them too much. She hasn't really worn them yet though because she sticks her finger in her mouth and I'm afraid the material might scratch her mouth. Once she's healed completely she'll start wearing them a little at a time until she works up to wearing them overnight.

Today I took her outside to play on her ride-on car (the old fashioned one, not the remote control car). Her feet can touch the ground now so I took the foot rests off so she can push herself along on it. She's not quite sure how it works yet, but she's starting to figure it out. Here's a video: http://youtu.be/95ImLprAFxg

And here are a few pictures from last week:

Playing at the beach with Daddy

Laughing at Bailey - he is pretty funny looking!

Hanging out with Gramma

Playing with Mommy's Fabric - she's going to be a crafter!

Recovering Very Well!

Kinsey has been doing just great since her surgery. For anyone who doesn't already know, the surgery itself went really well and it took less time than expected. Kinsey was in a lot of pain, but the medication helped her a lot. That first night she would open her eyes and just give us the most pitiful look like she didn't understand why she didn't feel well. But she slept well that night and woke up the next morning starting to act a little like herself again. She wanted to sit up and play a little and started taking in more fluids. We got to come home that night and you could tell immediately that Kinsey was happy to be home!

That weekend she kept taking in more and more fluids and played quite a bit, but had to take frequent little naps. On Monday she was giving me a hard time eating her formula so I decided to see if she wanted food instead and sure enough she gobbled it right up! This week she has continued to eat more and more food and seems less interested in formula. She hit a new record when she ate 3.5 jars of food yesterday - it's obvious that swallowing is much easier now (even though she's still healing) and it's SO much easier to feed her!

Kinsey is doing ok with the "No No's" that she has to wear to keep her hands out of her mouth. She actually doesn't seem to mind them at all except when she's sleeping. Jamie had the idea to put mittens on her hands when she goes to bed instead of the No No's so she can still put her hands up to her mouth, but can't get her fingers in her mouth. This has worked well, although she is waking up and crying more than normal because she can't self sooth by sucking on her thumb. But overall she's sleeping well with the mittens. We also let her take the No No's off when she's playing with toys that she can't get in her mouth and when we're watching her so she doesn't put her fingers in her mouth either.

Kinsey and I got back to Stroller Strides on Wednesday and again today. She is feeling better and better each day, but she is still taking Motrin 2-3 times a day for the pain. We are stretching out the amount of time between doses slowly, but giving it to her whenever she seems to be uncomfortable again.

Gramma came to visit on Monday and they've been having a great time together - reading stories, trying out coloring, playing, going for walks, and just hanging out together. Today we took Kinsey to the beach, but she was tired when we got there and wasn't too happy about it. Gramma is leaving tomorrow though
:(

We go back to see the surgeon this Thursday for Kinsey's follow-up. I think he will be happy with her healing so far. On another note, we're finally getting the new hand splints this week and the Gait Trainer Walker has been approved, I just have to get it ordered through our insurance.

Here are some pictures from this week and a video of Kinsey coloring with Gramma http://youtu.be/FJ3sEwaNdGQ :

Coloring with Gramma

Sending Facebook messages (really!)

Checking out the sand

Playing with Gramma at the beach

Kinseys Footprints in the Sand (a little blurry)