Happy Easter from Kinsey (and Columbine the bunny):
My Aunt Vonda made these matching scarves for me and Kinsey.
You can't really tell here, but they have the breast cancer ribbon in the pattern :)
Friday, March 29, 2013
Happy Easter!
It's Friday, but Jamie had the day off today so I've been thinking it's Saturday all day and I almost forgot to post a blog. So, I'm going to do a quick post of just Kinsey's Easter pictures. I'll provide an update on the week's happenings (which isn't much) in next week's blog.
Happy Easter from Kinsey (and Columbine the bunny):
Happy Easter from Kinsey (and Columbine the bunny):
Saturday, March 23, 2013
On the Move
We had a great time last weekend with our Easter photo shoot. We borrowed a bunny from a friend for the pictures so we had a real, live bunny for Easter pictures! Kinsey loved her, maybe a little too much - she was so excited it was hard to get good pictures! But Nicole did a great job as usual and we got some great pictures. Here's are a couple sneak peaks, but you'll have to wait till next weekend for the rest!
Last weekend we also went to a new friend's first birthday party. Kinsey was really into it - she wanted to play with all the presents and the wrapping paper, wanted to help dig into the smash cake, etc. She's a real pill now that she's scooting everywhere and getting into everything! Speaking of which, it's getting really hard to get her to concentrate during her therapy sessions. Now when she gets tired of whatever exercise we're doing, she just scoots away! Stinker!
I got my new computer this week and the afternoon that it came I sat Kinsey in the box that it came in so that I could go in the other room for a few minutes without her getting into anything. She liked it:
http://youtu.be/WDd-dqBm2uI I've resorted to shutting her in her bedroom so I can take a shower in the morning (when I don't get a chance to do it before she gets up). She doesn't mind. There are plenty of things to play with in there and not much she could get into trouble with so it's a safe spot for her. She really likes finding old toys in her closet and dragging them out. This week she found an old Donald Duck Easter bunny and she brought it all the way out to the kitchen and proceeded to have about a 10 minute conversation with it. Here's a snippet of that: http://youtu.be/6B4dCIVPvVc
Her favorite thing to do though is go in my craft room and get into trouble with all my fabric! I've started keeping the door closed so she doesn't go in there. The other day she went in and brought this little storage bin out with her (and you can see her fabric mess in the background too):
She also likes to get into the dog food now too!
This week I signed Kinsey up for 2 new classes: swimming and a new music class. Swimming will be Saturday mornings for a little more than a month. It's pretty much just a water introduction class, not really swimming lessons. It's in a heated therapy pool so I think she will like it. We start next Saturday. We will also start our new music classes next week. I found a different place that is much cheaper than the class we were taking, plus it's a Music Therapy class for children with special needs. She always really liked music class, but just recently she'd started to get really into it so I think she will like the new class a lot too!
Last week I bought Kinsey a new push toy at a consignment sale: a stroller for her baby doll. She really likes it and the wide wheel base is perfect for her.
Tonight I found a video from a few weeks ago that I think I forgot to share. This is Kinsey trying to get up on her hands and knees in her crib. She's continuing to do this all the time and getting better and better at getting up on her arms. She even seems to be trying to move her legs, but not going anywhere yet. http://youtu.be/S8_8fz1D_Ls
Finally, here's a cute video of Kinsey playing with Rock N Roll Elmo http://youtu.be/CnyK2rVPhpM and some of the pictures from our trip to the zoo last weekend. More of these pictures still to come:
Last weekend we also went to a new friend's first birthday party. Kinsey was really into it - she wanted to play with all the presents and the wrapping paper, wanted to help dig into the smash cake, etc. She's a real pill now that she's scooting everywhere and getting into everything! Speaking of which, it's getting really hard to get her to concentrate during her therapy sessions. Now when she gets tired of whatever exercise we're doing, she just scoots away! Stinker!
I got my new computer this week and the afternoon that it came I sat Kinsey in the box that it came in so that I could go in the other room for a few minutes without her getting into anything. She liked it:
http://youtu.be/WDd-dqBm2uI I've resorted to shutting her in her bedroom so I can take a shower in the morning (when I don't get a chance to do it before she gets up). She doesn't mind. There are plenty of things to play with in there and not much she could get into trouble with so it's a safe spot for her. She really likes finding old toys in her closet and dragging them out. This week she found an old Donald Duck Easter bunny and she brought it all the way out to the kitchen and proceeded to have about a 10 minute conversation with it. Here's a snippet of that: http://youtu.be/6B4dCIVPvVc
Her favorite thing to do though is go in my craft room and get into trouble with all my fabric! I've started keeping the door closed so she doesn't go in there. The other day she went in and brought this little storage bin out with her (and you can see her fabric mess in the background too):
She also likes to get into the dog food now too!
This week I signed Kinsey up for 2 new classes: swimming and a new music class. Swimming will be Saturday mornings for a little more than a month. It's pretty much just a water introduction class, not really swimming lessons. It's in a heated therapy pool so I think she will like it. We start next Saturday. We will also start our new music classes next week. I found a different place that is much cheaper than the class we were taking, plus it's a Music Therapy class for children with special needs. She always really liked music class, but just recently she'd started to get really into it so I think she will like the new class a lot too!
Last week I bought Kinsey a new push toy at a consignment sale: a stroller for her baby doll. She really likes it and the wide wheel base is perfect for her.
Tonight I found a video from a few weeks ago that I think I forgot to share. This is Kinsey trying to get up on her hands and knees in her crib. She's continuing to do this all the time and getting better and better at getting up on her arms. She even seems to be trying to move her legs, but not going anywhere yet. http://youtu.be/S8_8fz1D_Ls
Finally, here's a cute video of Kinsey playing with Rock N Roll Elmo http://youtu.be/CnyK2rVPhpM and some of the pictures from our trip to the zoo last weekend. More of these pictures still to come:
Friday, March 15, 2013
28 months - quick update
On Sunday Kinsey turned 28 months old! This week, she has continued to eat well and is staying above 20 lbs. She is really on the move these days scooting all over the place and getting into everything! Gone are the days of putting her down to play with her toys and being able to walk away. It's so cute to watch her scoot around!
This week was our last music class so I'm looking into new classes for her to take - maybe swimming! We'll see.
The weather was beautiful here this week so Kinsey and I took advantage of it and went to the zoo today with my friend Nicole and her boys Hayden and Dylan. We had a great time (after much difficulty with traffic, road construction and parking issues to get there). We were there all day and Kinsey and Hayden had a great time together. They were holding hands a few times too :) so cute. Nicole is a photographer and she took lots of pictures today - I can't wait to see them! We are also seeing here tomorrow for Easter photos!
Speaking of photos, I don't have any to share this week because my computer is dead. I'm writing this from my iPad and while I could upload the photos and videos, it's more work than it's worth. I will just add them to next week's blog once I get my new computer!
This week was our last music class so I'm looking into new classes for her to take - maybe swimming! We'll see.
The weather was beautiful here this week so Kinsey and I took advantage of it and went to the zoo today with my friend Nicole and her boys Hayden and Dylan. We had a great time (after much difficulty with traffic, road construction and parking issues to get there). We were there all day and Kinsey and Hayden had a great time together. They were holding hands a few times too :) so cute. Nicole is a photographer and she took lots of pictures today - I can't wait to see them! We are also seeing here tomorrow for Easter photos!
Speaking of photos, I don't have any to share this week because my computer is dead. I'm writing this from my iPad and while I could upload the photos and videos, it's more work than it's worth. I will just add them to next week's blog once I get my new computer!
Friday, March 8, 2013
20 Pounds?
I'm not sure I want to believe it, but Kinsey has tipped to scale this week at more than 20 pounds - for the first time in nearly a year! Last time she was weighed, a few weeks ago, she was 19 lbs 9 oz. I thought she felt heavy earlier this week, so I weighed her. This usually results in a huge disappointment, but this time she had gained weight - up to 20 lbs 1/2 oz. (One night after eating a ton of mashed potatoes and gravy, she even weighed in at 20 lbs 14 oz, but that was a fluke!)
I'm not sure how this happened, except to attribute it to the Prevacid. We started giving it to her on Saturday and she immediately started eating better and more - even complaining between meals that she was hungry (she's never done that). She burps much easier now and it doesn't stop her from continuing to eat. I just hope this is a trend that continues! It would be nice if I actually had to buy her some new clothes this summer instead of her still fitting into last year's clothes. :)
Obviously, Kinsey is over her sickness from last week. She still had a bad cough for a few days this week and still has a gunky nose, but she's totally feeling herself again :)
On Monday, we had two doctor's visits down at the Children's Hospital. The first was for an ultrasound for a routine check of her kidneys. Trisomy kids are susceptible to a couple of cancers, one is called Wilms Tumor, so they recommend an ultrasound every 6 months. They checked everything in her abdomen and everything looked perfect! After a brief trip to the mall for lunch and a drive back to the hospital in heavy snow, we returned for our second appointment, which was with Kinsey's orthopedic surgeon. We went to see her about the possible leg length difference, which turned out not to exist. An xray revealed her legs are with a milimeter of each other in length so no issues there. While we were there, the Dr also looked at Kinsey's feet and her AFOs. Since she is walking so much now the Dr. said it's time for shorter ones called SMAFOs that will only come up to her ankles (her current ones go up to her calfs). This is great news because the height of the AFOs she has now prevent her from being able to bend her ankles, which makes her walk funny and prevents her from being able to sit down in a chair (Did you realize you bend your ankles when you bend your knees to sit? I didn't, but you do!). I think the new SMAFOs will help her walk even better than she is already. Her PT is very excited about them too. They will take a few weeks to come in, but we're excited.
The other big change this week is Kinsey's new hairdo. In a moment of exasperation I decided to have Kinsey's bangs cut. The straw that broke the camel's back? Tuesday morning Kinsey pulled her ponytail out so I put a hairclip in instead and no more than a minute later she had pulled that out too and was screaming about it too. I thought she was crying because she pulled hair out with the clip (which she always does), but a few minutes later she was screaming harder. Then I noticed the hairclip was clipped to her finger and she couldn't get it off. So I called the hairdresser and took her to get bangs that afternoon! I really didn't want to cut her hair, but I'd just had enough. At first I wasn't too crazy about the bangs, but I think she looks really cute and it is SO much easier to take care of her hair now!
Kinsey's also been doing something new this week and it really looks like she's trying to figure out how to crawl! We keep finding her on her stomach with her knees up under her, but her head is still down because she's not pushing up with her arms. It really seems like she's trying to push up though and trying to figure it out. Here's a little video of it: http://youtu.be/Bb-Cdq3mKhE
The weather was really nice this week so I took Kinsey to The Farm on Thursday morning. She really enjoyed seeing all the animals again. I think the cow may have given the goats a run for their money on her favorite this time!
We're supposed to get some more snow this weekend - our most yet forecasted at 9 inches in our area. I hope it's nice enough and sticks around long enough to take Kinsey out in her sled for a little bit.
Oh, and here are a few pictures from a couple of weeks ago that I forgot to share: Kinsey helping with the laundry - sorting socks. And a video: http://youtu.be/PG2_LTXQ3K4
I'm not sure how this happened, except to attribute it to the Prevacid. We started giving it to her on Saturday and she immediately started eating better and more - even complaining between meals that she was hungry (she's never done that). She burps much easier now and it doesn't stop her from continuing to eat. I just hope this is a trend that continues! It would be nice if I actually had to buy her some new clothes this summer instead of her still fitting into last year's clothes. :)
Obviously, Kinsey is over her sickness from last week. She still had a bad cough for a few days this week and still has a gunky nose, but she's totally feeling herself again :)
On Monday, we had two doctor's visits down at the Children's Hospital. The first was for an ultrasound for a routine check of her kidneys. Trisomy kids are susceptible to a couple of cancers, one is called Wilms Tumor, so they recommend an ultrasound every 6 months. They checked everything in her abdomen and everything looked perfect! After a brief trip to the mall for lunch and a drive back to the hospital in heavy snow, we returned for our second appointment, which was with Kinsey's orthopedic surgeon. We went to see her about the possible leg length difference, which turned out not to exist. An xray revealed her legs are with a milimeter of each other in length so no issues there. While we were there, the Dr also looked at Kinsey's feet and her AFOs. Since she is walking so much now the Dr. said it's time for shorter ones called SMAFOs that will only come up to her ankles (her current ones go up to her calfs). This is great news because the height of the AFOs she has now prevent her from being able to bend her ankles, which makes her walk funny and prevents her from being able to sit down in a chair (Did you realize you bend your ankles when you bend your knees to sit? I didn't, but you do!). I think the new SMAFOs will help her walk even better than she is already. Her PT is very excited about them too. They will take a few weeks to come in, but we're excited.
The other big change this week is Kinsey's new hairdo. In a moment of exasperation I decided to have Kinsey's bangs cut. The straw that broke the camel's back? Tuesday morning Kinsey pulled her ponytail out so I put a hairclip in instead and no more than a minute later she had pulled that out too and was screaming about it too. I thought she was crying because she pulled hair out with the clip (which she always does), but a few minutes later she was screaming harder. Then I noticed the hairclip was clipped to her finger and she couldn't get it off. So I called the hairdresser and took her to get bangs that afternoon! I really didn't want to cut her hair, but I'd just had enough. At first I wasn't too crazy about the bangs, but I think she looks really cute and it is SO much easier to take care of her hair now!
Kinsey's also been doing something new this week and it really looks like she's trying to figure out how to crawl! We keep finding her on her stomach with her knees up under her, but her head is still down because she's not pushing up with her arms. It really seems like she's trying to push up though and trying to figure it out. Here's a little video of it: http://youtu.be/Bb-Cdq3mKhE
The weather was really nice this week so I took Kinsey to The Farm on Thursday morning. She really enjoyed seeing all the animals again. I think the cow may have given the goats a run for their money on her favorite this time!
We're supposed to get some more snow this weekend - our most yet forecasted at 9 inches in our area. I hope it's nice enough and sticks around long enough to take Kinsey out in her sled for a little bit.
Oh, and here are a few pictures from a couple of weeks ago that I forgot to share: Kinsey helping with the laundry - sorting socks. And a video: http://youtu.be/PG2_LTXQ3K4
Friday, March 1, 2013
Sick
It's been a long week here with Kinsey being sick all week. It started with a stuffy nose on Sunday and by Monday night she was miserable. Then Tuesday morning she began throwing up too - the poor kid managed to catch a cold and stomach bug all rolled into one! We took her to the doctor on Tuesday morning in the middle of a light snow storm and rush hour traffic. Fortunately, Jamie was able to go with us so I didn't have to drive in the snow with Kinsey screaming and throwing up the whole way there. (I still haven't driven in the snow and this would not have been the right time for that!) The doctor tested Kinsey for RSV and the Flu and both of those were negative. He gave us a prescription for something to settle her stomach and the medicine for a nebulizer (which we already had, but couldn't find - it's really hard to find something when your baby is screaming at 3 am and you're half asleep and have no idea where you put something 2 months ago). The nebulizer seemed to work well for her and we only had to use it a few times. We cancelled all of Kinsey's therapies this week and we even missed music class for the first time. Anyway, we had a rough couple of days, but Kinsey is getting her energy and appetite back now. She still has a stuffy nose and nasty cough, but she's rolling with it now.
On a positive note, this sickness I've been able to get Kinsey to drink a little Gatorade! I started out by watering it down a lot (75% water) and slowy easing her into more Gatorade and less water. Now she will actually drink pure Gatorade. I'm excited about this because she has never been willing to drink anything other than water or milk. Well, I guess she's also had a little sprite here and there, but she would never drink juice, pedialite or gatorade. So she's expanding her taste buds and that's good. Plus it's good to get the extra electrolites into her when she's sick.
This week we also had a small victory over the insurance company! Kinsey's been on Zantac for a while now and I don't feel like it's helping enough with the burping (she still stops eating because she needs to burp and sometimes it takes 20 minutes or more). Anyway, the doctor gave us a prescription for Prevacid a while back, but the insurance company denied coverage for it. They sent us a letter with a mile-long list of all the things we had to try first before they would cover Prevacid - like over the counter Prilosec and other things that she can't take because she's a 2 year old! The doctor kept fighting it with them and told me the insurance company said they didn't know her age, which is crazy stupid because they obviously have all her details on file and her birthdate was even on the top of the denial letter they sent me! Rediculous! Anyway, Kinsey's doctor is great and she kept fighting it. She even told me when insurance companies do stuff like that it just makes her fight harder. I can't say enough how much I love her! So today, she finally got approval for it! And I went straight to the pharmacy to pick it up before they change their mind or something! We'll see how that works for Kinsey.
Last weekend (before the sickness set in) Jamie played around with the wheel settings on Kinsey's therapy walker. We had the back wheels locked so the walker wouldn't roll away with her landing on her butt, but that was frustrating because she couldn't turn or back up at all. She was having trouble steering the walker and always veering off to the right. The therapist tried to figure it out last week, but we didn't get anywhere. So Jamie messed around with it and we ended up taking all the wheel locks off. That used to result in her walking like a crab - going in all directions, but now she's got good control over it and steers it very well. Here's a video: http://youtu.be/5ZkBBbInkWU And here's a video of one of her favorite things to do when she's in the walker: playing with the oven buttons. (Don't worry, the oven door is locked and so are all the controls. The only thing she can do is set the timer, which she has managed to do on occasion!) http://youtu.be/EtiXLAIEluw
We have done a little playing this week too. Here are some fun videos.
Playing with a new book that has lots of tabs and things to pull in different directions. I showed her how to do this particular thing once and then she did it herself: http://youtu.be/8cvD9DdgTz0
Playing the xylophone: http://youtu.be/sIBHabWE9W4
Putting the coins in the piggy bank (as I mentioned last week): http://youtu.be/46HxWLsZeU0
Drawing on her magnadoodle. I opened this last night and gave it to her. She immediately began holding the pen correctly and drawing on the screen! She's never done this with a crayon before so I was really impressed! http://youtu.be/frT9oeQYUU0
Please keep Kinsey in your thoughts and prayers that she continues to get over this sickness. For the record, this is the first time she's been sick in more than 2 months, a record since we've moved here. Not sure why, but she's been sick a lot more since we moved.
On a positive note, this sickness I've been able to get Kinsey to drink a little Gatorade! I started out by watering it down a lot (75% water) and slowy easing her into more Gatorade and less water. Now she will actually drink pure Gatorade. I'm excited about this because she has never been willing to drink anything other than water or milk. Well, I guess she's also had a little sprite here and there, but she would never drink juice, pedialite or gatorade. So she's expanding her taste buds and that's good. Plus it's good to get the extra electrolites into her when she's sick.
This week we also had a small victory over the insurance company! Kinsey's been on Zantac for a while now and I don't feel like it's helping enough with the burping (she still stops eating because she needs to burp and sometimes it takes 20 minutes or more). Anyway, the doctor gave us a prescription for Prevacid a while back, but the insurance company denied coverage for it. They sent us a letter with a mile-long list of all the things we had to try first before they would cover Prevacid - like over the counter Prilosec and other things that she can't take because she's a 2 year old! The doctor kept fighting it with them and told me the insurance company said they didn't know her age, which is crazy stupid because they obviously have all her details on file and her birthdate was even on the top of the denial letter they sent me! Rediculous! Anyway, Kinsey's doctor is great and she kept fighting it. She even told me when insurance companies do stuff like that it just makes her fight harder. I can't say enough how much I love her! So today, she finally got approval for it! And I went straight to the pharmacy to pick it up before they change their mind or something! We'll see how that works for Kinsey.
Last weekend (before the sickness set in) Jamie played around with the wheel settings on Kinsey's therapy walker. We had the back wheels locked so the walker wouldn't roll away with her landing on her butt, but that was frustrating because she couldn't turn or back up at all. She was having trouble steering the walker and always veering off to the right. The therapist tried to figure it out last week, but we didn't get anywhere. So Jamie messed around with it and we ended up taking all the wheel locks off. That used to result in her walking like a crab - going in all directions, but now she's got good control over it and steers it very well. Here's a video: http://youtu.be/5ZkBBbInkWU And here's a video of one of her favorite things to do when she's in the walker: playing with the oven buttons. (Don't worry, the oven door is locked and so are all the controls. The only thing she can do is set the timer, which she has managed to do on occasion!) http://youtu.be/EtiXLAIEluw
We have done a little playing this week too. Here are some fun videos.
Playing with a new book that has lots of tabs and things to pull in different directions. I showed her how to do this particular thing once and then she did it herself: http://youtu.be/8cvD9DdgTz0
Playing the xylophone: http://youtu.be/sIBHabWE9W4
Putting the coins in the piggy bank (as I mentioned last week): http://youtu.be/46HxWLsZeU0
Drawing on her magnadoodle. I opened this last night and gave it to her. She immediately began holding the pen correctly and drawing on the screen! She's never done this with a crayon before so I was really impressed! http://youtu.be/frT9oeQYUU0
Please keep Kinsey in your thoughts and prayers that she continues to get over this sickness. For the record, this is the first time she's been sick in more than 2 months, a record since we've moved here. Not sure why, but she's been sick a lot more since we moved.
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