Life with two boys =…. Cereal anyone?
A semi quick update: We cleaned our house from top to bottom for the arrival of the County case worker, Speech Therapist and Physical Therapist who would be perfoming Grady’s Early Intervention Initial Evaluation. I thought focusing our energy on a clean house would take away from my pre-eval anxiety. I have to say it is bit odd to think that your newborn son can be ranked, graded, compared and scored at one month of age. But they came, and so they did… the evaluation took about an hour and half and within that time they were able to asses Grady’s development on various levels. I am awaiting the final report (so please excuse my lack of terminology or knowledge) but at this point in time, Grady scored exactley where he should be on the “typical” baby charts. It is my understanding and knowing that as he gets older he carries the possibility/likeliness to begin to fall behind given his diagnosis. But at this point in time we are at an even playing field and we are going to work hard to maintain the best we can. Grady is strong and able right now, and he flexed all his newborn skills for the evaluators. Who knew that you can hear vowel sounds come out of a newborns mouth when they are grunting. The fact that he sleeps through the night gave us an advanced marking! Sleeping Champion of Early Intervention. GOOO Grady. I want to post more about testing and such when I get the full report. They want Grady to decrease his feeding time because it has been assessed that he takes to long breast-feeding probably due to his lower muscle tone. BUT… Mason and I would breastfeed for 45+ per session as well, but I didn’t have anyone tell me otherwise and well he gained weight so I never thought twice. They recommended Speech therapy once a week to work on his feeding time. Physical Therapy twice a week to build his tone and maintain his progression. Special Instruction once a week (I am still waiting to get the overall description of this service) and then for 6 sessions Grady is getting Baby Massage. So that is a total of 5 sessions a week. Wow.
The Ski house might have more burnt toast in the upcoming weeks, oh and mainting a clean house for all our new visitors should keep mommy’s mental (in)sanity in ship shape.
Weight Check: Grady weighs 9lbs 3 oz… he gained 1pd 9oz in 2 weeks. So I guess my drawn out feedings are working! Gooo Mommy.
without wings 
What a great job you are doing. Your a good Mommy and I am so proud of you. I am proud of all of you. Love you.
Awesome on the nursing! Don’t let the “experts” tell you it’s taking too long unless it’s not working for you. Can I just say that 5 tx sessions/week seems excessive to me. If it works for you, great! But, if not, don’t be afraid to decrease them. Just my $.02! 🙂
Loving your blog and all the cute pics, btw!
I agree Tara…I am sure when the weather gets nice here in NY I am going to itching to get outside too…we will have to see how it goes..I like yout $.02 Keep em coming!!oh, I am the breast-feeding expert for my own kids, they missed that memo!! lol
That does seem like a lot of therapy, but then I start to wonder if I’m doing enough for Claire…all this second guessing makes me crazy some times. Right now we are doing OT and a nutritionist every 2 weeks. I’ll be interested to hear more about your therapy sessions.
Claire has been smiling for the past 3-4 weeks, but it’s been only the last week or so that her smiles actually correlate to things we do. She’s started smiling if we make silly faces and kiss her cheek! It’s still a little sporadic when we get smiles though.
Go Grady…….(and mommy too)! Glad to hear he is doing so well:) Regarding his therapeutic schedule…..I feel that we should always grab whatever services we can and offer those to our children……they will either tolerate their sessions or show signs that it is a bit too much. Either way, they will decide!! You can always cut back on services if it is too much. But getting services can sometimes be difficult. Get them while you can:) Something tells me this little guy is going to do just fine!! Good luck!!
Congratulations on Grady doing so well! I have been following this blog since you were pregnant and I am so glad everything has turned out so wonderfully for your family.
As for the nursing, I think it is totally normal for a baby to nurse for that long of a time, Down Syndrome or not. My daughter nursed 45 mins-1 hour for months after she was born and she has done just fine with her weight.
Keep up the great mommying! You are such an inspiration and such an amazing soul at the young age of 25. I wish everyone had your maturity and spirit!