Know that expression...

"I'm so hungry, I could chew my arm off?" Well, our daughter takes it to another level! There's no in between for her - she's either not hungry or starving. She will be just fine, happy and smiling and playing and then out of nowhere she gets frantic and then she starts sucking on anything that crosses her path. Most times she sucks on her fists so hard you wonder if it doesn't hurt her. Tonight Daddy was holding her and she got a hold of his top lip and we were certain she was going to suck it right off. He had a hard time prying her away. :laugh: She will suck your face, your clothes, your fingers, your hair, her play mat, her bib...anything until she actually gets her food. There's also the bobbing of her head that she does and just how excited she gets when she knows that food is coming. I'm sure a stranger to our home would think we starve her by the way she carries on!

We are also happy to share that her reflux is so much less severe than it was even two weeks ago. Thank you for all your prayers! The first week she was home we were dealing with her spitting up after almost every meal and now I think we average once every 2-3 days and it's not usually much at all. God is good.

You have all been so patient so here are a few pictures! Sorry for the delay Mom! :)





There's no such thing as too many Daddy and baby pics.

Grandmothers Rock!!

We have moved and we are fine! Sydney did so well during the 12.5 hour car ride considering that she was just becoming accustomed to her car seat. This move would have been so much more difficult without Sydney's Grandy. Miss Thang slept with her the night before we left so that Daddy and I could sleep since we both were driving. Grandy took care of her while we were working with the movers to get everything loaded in the truck and she entertained her whenever she would wake up during the trip. I didn't even mind her singing so much this time. :wink:

Things Sydney does not like:
Anything cold - hands, food, her bath. She would rather starve than take a lukewarm bottle. She definitely gets that from me. B will eat cold leftovers straight from the fridge but I need my food to be piping hot. :laugh:

Her reflux wedge that she occasionally sleeps in - she's not a fan of the restraints at all.

Her eye patch - she's crankiest whenever we make her wear it.

Things Sydney LOVES!:
Bath time! - She's getting to the stage where she actually fusses when we're taking her out. She looks like she could sit in the tub forever

Walks outside in her stroller - She's fascinated by everything there is to see.

Her swing - Since her reflux is so much less severe, she's tolerating many more things and becoming very independent. She has taken quite a few naps in her swing this week

Sleeping on any of the three of us - we all love it too. It's good snuggle time. Thankfully she will now sleep in her own bed because she had gotten to stage where she wouldn't sleep comfortably at all unless she was ON somebody. We gradually broke that habit.

Kisses - She smiles the biggest smiles whenever you kiss and play with her. We love to see her personality emerging.

Today Grandy and I are going out to get some necessities for the house and Sydney and Daddy are spending the day together - alone - for the first time. I'm not even slightly concerned because she has a fantastic father who knows her so well. They're both sleeping and snuggling in the recliner as we speak. :love:

Oh! She weighs just over 11 lbs now and her 0-3 month clothes are all tight even though she's just 6 weeks adjusted. She's really tall too and totally fills out her all in one/sleeper outfits.

Regular updates will resume next week!

One month at home!

Sydney has been home for a month and what a month it was! We're really learning to understand her and what her various cries and actions really mean. She's also interacting so much more with us and she loves to play the smiling game with us. It's been so good to see her progress the way she has.

We went to see the neurologist yesterday and she was happy with Sydney's development so far but did note that she does need to complete her occupational and physical therapy. She has some sensory issues primarily related to the fact that she spent such a long time in the hospital being touched a certain way and being in that environment. She likes having her hair gently rubbed but she absolutely does like for anyone to hold her head or for anything at all to be on it. She also has a very strong reaction to her feet being held because in the hospital that usually meant that they were about to take blood from her heel. If you hold her feet now, she immediately tenses up and cries. Her vision is improving in the right eye and she's focusing better but she does focus the left eye first and then the right and not both at the same time. This is something we expect to improve over time especially with her using the patch. She's doing great with all her other developmental milestones and the doctor was impressed with everything else that she was able to do. I cannot tell you how many times doctors commented yesterday that she's really doing so well in light of all the odds that were against her based on her gestational age at birth. Her head circumference measurement was right where it needs to be but the doctor did stress the need for her to have another MRI by the time she is 6 months adjusted because babies brains do grow and develop rapidly during the first 6 months of life.

This past weekend she had some major reflux episodes and on Monday night I noticed some blood in her spit-up. It was old blood and not bright red but blood nonetheless. The neurologist was also concerned and tried to get in the see the Gastrointestinal (GI) doctor yesterday but they had no open appointments. Thankfully the Medical Center was right next door to their Childrens' research hospital so they referred us over there and that's where we spent the entire day. Little Miss even got her very own infant sized hospital gown. It was sooo cute! I only got a pic with my camera phone since we left the regular camera at home because we were not expecting a trip to the hospital. I'll try to post those pictures tomorrow.

We did all kinds of tests, XRays and blood work and everything came back fine but they did say that her tummy is irritated from all the spitting up and all the acid build up was making it worse. This means that her stomach and throat don't have time to heal before she spits up again. She seems to be getting past the spitting up on demand and now appears to be fighting it coming back up. Poor baby. We've been incident free since Monday and that is a very long stretch for us. Please pray that we're nearing the end of her battle with reflux and that she will be totally healed.

We're less than 36 hours away from moving. Please also pray that Little Miss does well during the trip and also remains reflux free.

Shout out: Congrats on the new addition to your family, Ryan and Devie!

Like My New Perfume?

It's called Eau De Spit Up and it's made by Sydney. It's free and it's usually dispensed on demand after one of the following events:

• When a certain person is put in bed after falling asleep, day time or night time. Apparently not sleeping in someone's arms is for losers.
• When a certain person is crying and is offered her binky. Don't you dare try to interrupt a crying fit!
• When a certain person is just not in the mood for her medicine. Some days she is and some days she isn't
• Immediately after Mommy showers. Who doesn't need some perfume right after a shower?

Random cuteness. Methinks we need to brush up on our photography skillz.

Bumbo is a bad word in Jamaica but not in our house! :rofl: Sydney in her Bumbo seat:




:love: Her fists are clenched 75% of the time, asleep or awake.

Shots- Round Two

Sydney took her other shots like a champ today. One scream while the needle was in and then she looked around and smiled. She's so cute. She weighs 9lbs 7oz today and that equals a gain of 4oz since last week. Considering that she gained 15oz last time, the doctor was actually happy that the weight gain slowed down because we're not trying to have her gain 1lb per week. Still, we're at 1lb 2oz of weight gain in 12 days so there's no issue here. She has also grown 1 inch since February 22 and is now 20.5 inches long. Head circumference check is right where it should be and we are especially happy about that. She will need another MRI in a few months and we're just praying that any lingering issues will be resolved by then. God is perfectly able to do it.

We also talked a bit about setting things up with her specialists and doctors when we move. Earlier this week I had been researching pediatricians online and I checked for doctors affiliated with the excellent children's hospital in our city and one particular doctor jumped out at me for no apparent reason. Anyway, today the pediatrician asked me if I selected a doctor yet and I told her I was still working on it. She said that she knew of an excellent doctor there and she also happened to be Jamaican. On a whim, I told her the name of the doctor I had come across and it was the same person! It was just the confirmation I needed. It's very important to us that Sydney has a good primary care physician based on her history and this just made me feel so much better.

We have a VERY VERY busy week next week with visits to the cardioligist, neurologist and developmental progress clinic as well as lots of packing, planning and organizing and then moving day on Friday. Please pray everything goes smoothly and don't worry too much if you don't hear from us for a few days.

A few pics

:love:




Mother!!! Enough already!

No, I haven't abandoned the blog

:smile:

Rest assured that when you don't see any updates, it just means we're busy and/or everything's fine. We haven't had to go to any more doctors since last Wednesday so there's nothing new to report there. No news IS good news.

We're moving in 11 days so when I'm not doing something for or with Sydney, I'm usually doing something related to the move. Or sleeping. Let me tell you something people...you don't know how good sleep is until you have a baby. :laugh: Babies are hard work and we're blessed because there are 3 people who contribute to Sydney's daily needs. She has her adoring Grandy and the best Daddy ever and still, we're all tired. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change it for ANYTHING but to quote another blogger, "God knows why he made babies so cute." I always had this fantasy of having twins but now I'm in awe of anyone who takes care of more than one infant at once. And single parents? My hat is off to you. People reading this who don't have kids are probably thinking, "Seriously how exhausting could it be? Babies just eat, sleep and poop!" Yeah, I know. I used to be one of those people. Parents know exactly what I'm talking about though.

Anyhoo, since I've spoiled you all with frequent pictures, I'll post some later. You can stop emailing and calling and IMing about it now. You know who you are. :)