9 months

Ainsley was 9 months old on Tuesday.  Where has the time gone??? 

9 months

9 months

She's DONE with pictures!

We've had a pretty busy week.  Monday we had a follow up appointment with the neurologist.  I went into the appointment thinking it was going to be a routine check up and everything was fine.  Well, it didn't exactly go like that.  They did a few tests with Ainsley and asked me quite a few questions.  Ainsley wasn't where a 9 month old should be according to them.  They want to do further tests on her to check for developmental disabilities.  They're more concerned with her gross motor skills than neurological at this point.  She doesn't really stand up by herself and they said she should be holding onto the couch and standing by herself.  She is doing it a little now, but only for a few minutes at a time.  I'm sure you all have seen pictures of her fat thighs.  If you had thighs like that, I'm sure it would be hard to stand on them too!  There are quite a few other things that they think she should be doing, such as:  saying mama and dada (she said mama for a few weeks but stopped all of a sudden and quit saying it altogether), picking things up with her pointer finger and thumb, crawling, waving bye bye, and my favorite.....trying to get to a toy if it's in a glass bottle.  REALLY?!?  Who puts a toy in a clear bottle to see if their child will try to get it?! 

I called Joel on my way home from Springfield to let him know that the neurologist referred us to Four Rivers and wants further testing done on her.  We both have worried a little about her, but we were both questioning if she is really that far behind other babies her age.  She started playing pat-a-cake last Friday.  I've been trying to get her to do it for a few months to no avail, and while at Grandma Shelly's Friday afternoon, Grandma got Ainsley to do it.  I about died!  I was so happy that my baby could do it!!!  She doesn't exactly clap her hands together, because she leaves her right hand in a closed fist when she brings her hands together, but she definately is playing pat-a-cake.  Her hands are always in a closed fist, and that is something else that worried the neurologist.  One good thing they said was that when her hand is in a fist, her thumb is in a "good position".  If her thumb was a certain way, then they would have worried more about it, but it isn't that certain way.  I think they're making mountains out of mole hills at this point.  I knew we were going for Ainsley's 9 month well baby checkup the next day with the pediatrician, so I wasn't going to get too worked up over it until we talked to the pediatrician.

Trying to be like Papa with her shirt unbuttoned!

Tuesday afternoon we went for her 9 month check up and she weighed 23.2 pounds and was 28 1/2 inches long.  She was in the 99th percentile for weight, 75th percentile for height and 54th percentile for head circumference.  I told the nurse and the doctor what the neurologist had said the day before and the doctor said that there are a few things Ainsley isn't doing that most 9 month olds do, but she wouldn't be too concerned with it.  Pulling up and standing while holding onto something is something she would be concerned with if Ainsley wasn't doing it at a year old, not 9 months.  But, because of the neurologist's concerns, she said to go ahead and let Four Rivers come in and do the evaluation and we'd go from there.  The neurologist said they want Ainsley to go to physical therapy if Four Rivers doesn't take her on.  We have the appointment for the lady from Four Rivers to come on Tuesday afternoon to do an initial evaluation.

One of the bigger things the pediatrician was worried about was that Ainsley gags on her baby food (stage 2) and puffs.  I think she is getting better with the puffs since Tuesday, but she is still gagging on them.  The pediatrician said that her neck muscles may not be developed and that if we keep feeding her and she keeps gagging then she could correlate all food with gagging and stop eating it altogether.  We'll see what the lady says on Tuesday in regards to this issue.

Yummy...

Other than the few concerns listed above, the pediatrician said she's perfect.  Ainsley had her first dose of the flu shot while we were there and we have to go back for the second dose in a month.  All the nurses loved her helmet and the "Just Fixin My Melon" on the back. 

Nosey Rosey watching the neighbors

Being outside wears her out!

LOVE that face!!!

After having two doctors tell me that they had some concerns about my daughter's development on Monday and Tuesday, I didn't know how the week could get any worse, but it did.  Tuesday afternoon Papa cut his arm with the chainsaw while cutting wood.  It was bad enough they had to take him from Carlinville to Springfield.  He ended up in surgery early Tuesday evening.  Surgery went well, and he was sent home that night.  What else could possibly go wrong???  Well, on Joel's way home Tuesday night, he hit a deer.  I go a call about 6 o'clock Tuesday night from Joel and he started out with:  "Tris, you're going to have to call State Farm tomorrow."  Seriously?!?  It's never good when a conversation starts like that.  He hit the deer pretty good and it did quite a bit of damage to the front of his truck ($3,100 according to the estimate).  Luckily, he wasn't hurt and didn't have Ainsley with him.

Halloween pictures!

She looks like a little old woman without any teeth!  LOVE IT!

Ainsley got her second tooth two weeks ago, so she now has her two center bottom teeth.  When I "brush" her teeth at night, she really bites down on my finger with them.  She's still trying hard to crawl.  Monday night after we got home from trick or treating, Ainsley got on her belly and from her belly "walked" her way up to a sitting position with her hands.   She did it 5 or 6 times in a row.  She hadn't done it before and was never able to get herself sitting up from laying down.  It was like she was telling that neurologist-"Take that...I can do things, and I'll do them when I want to!"

Standing and playing!

We went to Hanger a few weeks ago for an appointment to check on Ainsley's progress with her helmet.  They did a scan, which showed improvement.  I have been able to tell a difference in Ainsley's head for a month or so, and the scan confirmed it.   On 8/9, her cephalic index (CI) was 98.4% and on 10/18, it was down to 94%.  They like for it to be in the mid 80's, but we're very happy with this progress.  The cranial vault asymmetry (CVA) on 8/9 was 10.4mm and on 10/18, it was 6.6mm.  They start a cranial band on a baby when the CVA is 6-7 or above, and we're almost out of that range.   Below are pictures of the scans from 8/9 and 10/18.

Scan on 8/9/11-notice how the right side bulges out

Scan on 10/18/11-the bulge is almost gone and it's not as flat.

They think she'll be done with the helmet the week after Thanksgiving.  She may have to wear it to bed until she outgrows it, but that's just to get the life out of the helmet.  We might as well, since we paid for it!  The Orthotist was really happy with the progress Ainsley has made with the helmet, especially with the different foam, which is softer.  

I can't believe we have less than a month to go before she's done with the helmet.  She's going to look so different without it!  Her hair has really grown out, and it pokes out of her helmet around the ears.

Ainsley has a "sord" like Uncle Tanner!

We had family pictures taken with the Freeman family last weekend and also had Ainsley's 9 month pictures done.  It was cold and rained a little, but then turned out to be nice right as we were finishing up.  As always, I think we got some really good pictures and can't wait to see them all.   We've got a few sneak peeks already.  Check them out!