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!

Oink, Oink. Trick or Treat!

We dressed Ainsley up on Sunday afternoon and went down to Hettick to trick or treat.  Ainsley's costume was a surprise, and Tanner was the only one that guessed what she was going to be.  Joel picked out her costume, and I think it was because the baby in the picture on the costume was so cute.  The baby had their tongue sticking out and was chubby, like Ainsley.  I have to say, Ainsley looked pretty adorable in her little pig costume also! 

I tried to think of a costume that we could work her helmet into, but I'm not very creative.  The pig costume actually worked ok, because we were able to get the head piece around  her helmet, and the pink helmet blended in quite nicely with the costume.  Two days before Halloween, Mom asked if Ainsley was going to be a pencil for Halloween....using her pink helmet as the eraser.  There were a couple more she thought of, but it was too late at that point. 

Uncle Tanner playing with Ainsley while Mommy tries to figure out her new toy from Grandpa Bill.

Ainsley and Rowdy.  Rowdy wasn't in a very good mood and didn't want his picture taken!

Drake (pirate), Ainsley (pig), Lani (Taylor Swift), and Jack (Rambo with a really bad haircut)

I'm really behind on blogging, and am hoping to get caught up tomorrow or later this weekend.  I've been terribly busy with work and we didn't have internet for a week.  We've had lots of doctor appointments and it seems like something pops up every day.  Ainsley is growing and learning new tricks every few days.   I'll elaborate more in the next post.  Stay tuned!

Happy Halloween!!!

The perfect pumpkin

I know I'm behind on blogging, but I've been terribly busy!  Mom came over yesterday and informed me I needed to blog (that was right after she informed me how dirty my windows were....which she didn't offer to clean), so I guess I'll blog and leave my windows for another day.  She was good for one thing yesterday afternoon, and that was getting Ainsley to sleep.  She fell asleep sitting up just how the picture shows.  My poor baby was so tired!

Joel took Sunday off and he headed down to Hettick with me. We picked Dad up and went to Broom's Orchard to find a pumpkin for Ainsley.  Of course, she loved being outside and watching everyone walking around.  Joel thought we should get a short, fat pumpkin (to look like Ainsley) but we finally found the perfect pumpkin. 

This picture cracks me up-I wanted to get a picture of Ainsley with her pumpkin, and this is what I get!



Dad had some pretty mums along side the house, so I took a few pictures of Ainsley with her pumpkins.

She finally found the pumpkins!

That afternoon I ran over to an open house for a friend who just adopted a baby girl.  They have been trying to have a baby for years and went through infertility treatments with no luck.  After the latest infertility treatment was unsuccessful and when she was at a low point, they received awesome news that their adoption profile had been shown.  They adopted a healthy baby girl a few weeks ago.  I couldn't be happier for them and know that they are going to be awesome parents.  It made me think about how much Joel and I went through and how lucky we were.  I wouldn't wish infertility on my worst enemy.  I'm so glad that precious little baby girl found parents who will love her to pieces and cherish every day with her. 

I have to post about something that gave me a very good laugh.  Okay, okay, I'm not going to lie.....I'm still chuckling typing this.  It's amazing how fast you can forget about something, but when you're reminded of it, you can see it as if it happened yesterday.  I would like to say a big "thank you" to Jill Meisenheimer for mentioning this.  When Tanner was little (maybe 4) he would run along our driveway when a car would come or leave our house and chase them all the down the driveway and over to the "T" road barking like a dog.  Sometimes Brownie (the dog) would chase the cars with Tanner, but I can still see him with his little buzz haircut chasing cars as they pulled out of the driveway.  I had to get this down in writing somewhere so I would never forget about it again!  Hilarious! 

"Little Barky Tanner Gillespie"

This is going to be a "make fun of Tanner entry" because while we were at Dad's, Tanner came walking in the house chuckling carrying a paper towel tube.  It just wasn't any paper towel tube, though.  It was one he had just found on the porch that he had made when he was younger.  As you can read in the picture (if it's not too small), it was "Tanner's sord".  And, what a "sord" it was!  Of course, Ainsley liked it and Joel had to take her picture with her new sword.

Ainsley with Uncle Tanner's "Sord"

Ainsley is trying very hard to crawl these days.  She wants to go places so bad, but just hasn't figured it all out yet.  She can get up on her knees and rock back and forth but can't get both legs under her.  I've said this before, but the helmet is actually a blessing!  She face-plants it at least 4 or 5 times a day now that she's trying to crawl.  If she sees something that she thinks she wants and is too far out of reach, she'll scoot herself over to it on her butt or do circles to grab it.  I've taught her how to fake cough and when she wants to do it, she can REALLY pull a fake cough from way down in her.  She almost looks like she's going to throw up because she's trying so hard to get a "cough" out.  It's pretty funny!

She's also figured out how to play with toys.  What I mean, is if something should be pushed, she'll push it.  If it should be rolled, she'll roll it.  She loves to bounce.  Every time I pick her up and put her on my hip, she immediately starts "bouncing" on my hip.  If you hold her on your lap, she has to squirm around to a point where she tries to bounce on your lap.  One of the things that I wish she wasn't going through is the seperation anxiety phase. Any time I leave the room, and she sees me leave, she'll start crying.  As soon as I walk back into the room she calms down.  It makes it very hard to run to the bathroom, make her bottle, fix lunch, etc.

As you can see-she knows exactly how to play with that toy!



And how do you play with your own toes???  By putting them in your mouth, of course!

Holding her own bottle is still a work in progress.  She can do it when she wants to, but if most of the time she's just too lazy and wants you to do it for her. 

She was wore out this night and didn't even get a bottle in her before she crashed!  She held on long enough so she could see Daddy for a little bit.

Joel's been in the fields late almost every night, but he's still found time to have fun with Ainsley after he gets home.  Here's a video of them getting in trouble with Mommy.  There's a half black rubber duck now in the bathroom that use to be pink, and it was all from the night in the video.  Joel got the walker out tonight for Ainsley to try.  I think Daddy had more fun with it than she did.  By the time I got back down to the basement with the video camera, she was starting to lose interest.  Check out this video to see how Daddy plays with the walker.

We've had a few highlights in the last few weeks.  Joel finally installed her "big girl" car seat.  She's no longer in her infant carrier, which makes me a little sad.  No infant carrier means she's also sitting up in shopping carts now instead of being stuck in her carrier in the cart.  It made it hard on Mommy to shop with her sitting up in the cart because she wanted to play with my list.

I snapped this right before she swiped her bow off her helmet.  I had to re-trace my steps a few times to find the bow that she flung off her helmet and landed in various aisles.

I had a few more moles removed a few weeks ago and didn't get the best news on them (it wasn't the worst either).  They were both dysplastic nevus with moderate atypia.  That means that they had abnormal cells and there was a good chance they could develop into melanoma.  I had to go back last week so they could take a margin of each one and do a futher biopsy.  They called earlier this week to let me know that both came back fine and they got all of it the last time.  I have to go get my stitches taken out next week and don't go back again for another 5 months.  In the last few months, I've had around 40 stitches.  Let's just say I'm tired of stitches for a while. 

On a positive note, this is my 100th post!  Not only is it my 100th post, but I looked at my stats and I've had over 10,000 views to my blog.  Wow!  That's a lot of people checking in on little Ainsley!

8 months

Ainsley is 8 months old today!

8 months old!

  

8 months old!

These last few weeks have been full of many changes.  She has started to get clingy and wants to be held more than ever.  That isn't a bad thing, but she's started squirming and wants to stand up and bounce, sit down and bounce, grab anything that's in sight (including my hair and glasses), cuddle, and do all of it right after the other.  Don't get me wrong, I love the cuddling and everything, but sometimes the helmet gets in the way.  I've been knocked in the nose numerous times by the hard helmet and it's brought tears to my eyes numerous times.  She also regularly hits my collar bone and mouth with the helmet.  I have to admit that the helmet has been nice over the last month.  When she falls over, I don't feel so bad about her hitting her head on the floor.  The other day I walked into the living and found her laying on her back under the rocking chair footstool (that glides) and she was taking the footstool with her hand and making it rock back and forth and everytime it would hit her helmet and make a loud thud.  I guess she thought it was a game, because she just kept doing it.

She's also started grunting really loud when she gets mad.  Her little face will turn red and she'll grunt for as long as she can before she has to take a breath and then do it again.  Two weeks ago after her helmet follow up appointment, I ran into the mall to look for a cardigan for Ainsley for Abby's wedding.   I was in Macy's when she started grunting.  When I say grunting, I mean loud!   At first, I thought she was just pooping so I continued looking for a cardigan, but she didn't stop.  I finally had to take her out of the stroller to calm her down.  I took her out to a bench and tried giving her a bottle, but she didn't want it either.  When I tried putting her back in the stroller, she started crying and grunting.  Since I was by myself, the only thing I could do was put Ainsley on my hip and carry her while pushing the stroller with my free hand all the way to the other side of the mall.  Please keep in mind that Ainsley has her helmet on while all of this is going on and grunting as loud as she can because she's still mad.  People stare hard enough when she has her helmet on, but having a baby with a helmet on who is loudly grunting all through the mall is a way to guarantee that everyone will stare at you.  I walked as fast as I could to get to the bathroom, but the more I walked, the more my pants (which were a little big) kept sliding down.  Needless to say, by the time I got to the bathroom my pants were pretty far down on my butt, enough so that you could see about an inch of my underwear.  I know we were a sight to see that afternoon in the mall!  Oh, and the best part:  Ainsley had pooped and all she wanted was her diaper changed......sigh.

Ainsley had her follow up appointment with the Orthotist a few weeks ago and everything was well.  She shaved some more off the helmet around her face and made the hole on top bigger.  We're still wearing the knit hat all the time under the helmet.  Last weekend she had another reaction to the helmet, but it was only a small spot on the back of her head.  I put the medicine on it and we left the helmet off that night and it was gone the next morning.  I've been noticing the side of her head sticking out quite a bit where the seam of the helmet is.  I called Hanger on Thursday and they had us go in that afternoon to make sure it was ok and to shave some foam out of it.  The bulge on the side of her head is a fluid pocket, which is common.  They said it will go away a few weeks after she gets her helmet off, and shaved some out of the inside by the seam so it wasn't cutting into her head as much.  It made me feel better just knowing that it wasn't going to permanently bulge out and it would eventually go away.  We go back in a few weeks for her next appointment where they will do a scan so we can see the progress she's made.  We can tell that the helmet has already helped the back of her head.  It's not perfectly round by any means, but it is starting to round out, especially toward the bottom.  One ear is sticking out farther than the other now, but the Orthotist isn't worried about it at this point.  

Waiting for them to bring her helmet back-at Hanger Orthotics



Wearing her hat that goes under her helmet

 She started getting sick late last week and slept in bed with us all night for the first time last Thursday.  About an hour after we put her to bed (in her crib) that night, she started coughing and choking on her phlegm.  Joel ran in to sit her up and picked her up and she immediately threw up all over him.  We were worried she was going to choke again, so we put her in our bed.  She was so stuffed up and I don't think any of us got a very good nights sleep that night.  She tossed and turned and our queen bed just isn't big enough for three people. 

She is literally into everything now.  It's so funny because she knows when she shouldn't have something and she'll hesitate for a few seconds before grabbing it.  Her favorite things are:  my glasses, hair, the phone, remote, my cell phone, laptop, keyboard, and my office phone cord.  When she's sitting in the kitchen while I fix supper, her favorites are the pumpkins out of my fall decorations on the island.  She'll grab one and play with it until she drops it and then grab another.   Here's a video of her doing it and below are pictures.

Getting into Mommy's pumpkins

Ohhh...I've got two!

I think I'll snatch another one!

When she takes her bottle she has to "play" with my hair.  My Mom says that I played with her hair while taking a bottle when I was a baby too.  Ainsley will squirm around and fuss until I let her get a handful of it and once she does, she'll start taking her bottle again.  She rolled from her back to her belly for the first time last night.  I got up this morning to get her out of her crib and walk into her room to see "Just fixin my melon" instead of her adorable little face looking up at me.  She was laying on her belly!  I couldn't believe it.  I don't know when she rolled over, but once I walked in, she started whining because she couldn't roll back over to her back. 

One of my favorite things from the last few weeks is that Ainsley has started saying "Mama".  She doesn't actually say "Mama", but instead mamamamamama.  She'll really do it when she's tired or mad, but if I prompt her she'll do it then also.   You can hear her saying mamamama in this video.

She has started to "spit", which isn't actually spitting but rather taking her tongue in between her lips and blowing so that spit forms and she drools all down the front of her.  One of the little boys at the sitter doesn't understand why Lisa lets Ainsley "spit" because you're not suppose to spit!  She can also turn the pages of a book and has started using her pointer and thumb to "pinch" or pick things up.  I'm worse than an animal (according to my brother) when it comes to shedding, and my hair is all over our house.  Ainsley will spot one of my hairs on her blanket and she will sit there and try for a few seconds to grab it.   She'll finally get it and once she does, she just stares at it in her hand.  I have no clue how she sees them and why she's started grabbing them instead of playing with her toys, but it's pretty impressive to watch her find a stray hair on her blanket and pick it up to examine it.

Helping Mommy with laundry

 

She loved playing inside the laundry basket!

Her first tooth popped through Thursday.  She's been a little crankier than normal, but not much.  I blamed that on her being sick for the last week, but now I'm thinking it may be the other way around.  She was cranky and had a runny nose because she was teething.  It wasn't too bad, though and I'm hoping the rest of her teeth are as easy as this one was. 

We also got her "big girl" carseat this week.  Joel hasn't installed it in my car yet, but hopefully he can get that done tomorrow.  It's been a sad week in the Freeman house with her getting her first tooth and switching car seats in the same week.  My baby isn't going to be a baby much longer!  She's started inching forward on the floor and she really wants to be on the move.  I'm thinking she'll be mobile in the next month.

Here's another recent video of her and Joel playing.  Have a great week!