Monday, January 28, 2008

Personality



This video shows one of Addy's experiences using her sippy cup. She has just started to show some interest in it. We shot this video second and she was beginning to lose interest. However, a video taken shortly before it actually caught her using it quite nicely with mom's help. You will enjoy her talking in this video.

Addy has really started to show us a little personality. She is generally very happy and playful. She gets mad when she's playing with a toy and she can't get it to do what she wants. It's actually kind of nice to see. We also have noticed much more laughing and smiling lately.

We will be going for Addy's IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) on Friday. This will be a plan of action that we sit down and write with the early intervention team, outlining her goals and objectives for the home service program. We are also noticing quite a difference now that she is on a large increase of her acid reflux medication. We seem to have the hunger more under control.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Hanging around the house




Not quite long enough!

Addy and Auntie Colleen

Friday, January 18, 2008

Blanket Sledding

An exciting week!

Well we have had a busy week around here. Addy received her new hand braces on Wednesday. They are hot pick and are very small and cute. She doesn't seem to mind wearing them. They give her a good stretch between her thumb and pointer finger (which is currently very tight), as well as provide us the opportunity to start stretching her wrists little by little.

On Thursday we paid a visit to the gastroenterologist. Didn't think there was going to be too much new news, however there was. I spoke with him about her weight gain and her constant hunger. He said that it is related to the acid reflux. She is probably experiencing a lot of reflux, which we can't see with our eyes and it's causing her to have an uncomfortable feeling. When babies are this young, they can't differentiate the difference between that uncomfortable feeling and hunger, so they assume they are hungry. Eating also makes the uncomfortable feeling subside, so they want to do more of it. Therefore, her reflux med has been doubled and we are already noticing some differences in her appetite. Very interesting!

Friday, we had our re-eval for Early Intervention. Addy of course qualifies with the diagnosis of Arthrogryposis, but even without the diagnosis she did have some scores low enough that would have qualified her. They were extremely impressed with some of the things she was doing (the same therapists saw her at a month old) and gave me a lot of input about her developmental progress. We also had a bonus professional. A former colleague of mine who is a psychologist stopped in to say hello and asked if she could stay to watch Addy's eval. I had no problem with that. It gave me a chance to chit chat with her and ask lots and lots of questions. She has many years of experience in testing kids cognitive ability at young ages and with disabilities. Therefore, she was able to watch Addison and give me her opinion. Addy scored highest in the visual motor area which coincides with a lot of the same developmental aspects of a cognitive test at an infant level. She scored at age level and it was felt by all that her limitations are only physical in nature at this point. Some of the skills that I currently don't see her doing are only because the physical limitation doesn't allow her to show us those. All in all, we spent a couple of hours there and left with many previously unanswered questions answered.

We then went on to therapy where we found out that Addison's previous physical therapist, Steve, from downtown Children's hospital is moving to our current site and we are now slotted to be on his caseload. We are thrilled. Steve was one of the therapists that I felt was the most knowledgeable about Addy and worked with her the best. We are so excited to be back with him!

So we had a great week and we hope that the news just continues to get better from here. Early Intervention will begin for Addy next month, with a therapist coming out to our house once a week.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Grandma

Well, we have had an emotional holiday season of 2007. Grandma Mares fell on Christmas Eve and broke her hip. She had surgery on Christmas morning and has been in Henry Ford Hospital for rehab since then. She is expected to return home sometime within the next couple of weeks. Needless to say, our little miss Addison has been great therapy for grandma. We have been to the hospital to visit almost everyday. Addison's favorite thing to do is lay in grandma's hospital bed, watch the movable TV and play with the long cord that activates the light on the wall. Oh yeah, and we have discovered that she likes balloons!

Other than that, all is well. Addy's surgery for the tubes in her ears shortly before Christmas went very well. You wouldn't have even known she had surgery. Addy had a good Christmas and was spoiled by friends and relatives. She is going to be re-evaulated for early intervention on the 18th of January. We have some follow up doctor visits within the coming weeks.

Get well soon Grandma. We love you!