I woke up this morning thinking "Today was SUPPOSED to be a big day for Bodie. It was the day he was SUPPOSED to have his Glenn. It was the day his surgeon was SUPPOSED to have his first opening to get Bodie in. This is the day we were SUPPOSED to be pacing the halls, waiting anxiously for updates, worrying and praying he'd make it through the infamous 24-48 hours post-op." But, instead, what wonderful joy, we're sitting here 3 1/2 weeks post-Glenn, for all intents and purposes completely recovered, and enjoying other wonderful milestones!!! Praise God! Lots of fun stuff going on in the Bennett household this week...
Rocking and Rolling
(you can click on the pic to see it actual size)
Little man is finally rolling, ready for this, BOTH ways!!! He finally figured out rolling from his back to his belly earlier this week (he had been working on it
forever - that dang arm on the bottom got him stuck every time). I haven't ever really pushed him too much on tummy time simply because it seems we have always been either recovering from or on the precipe of another open heart surgery, and since he hated it so much, I just didn't bother. But, we had his early intervention assessment earlier this week and the PT gave me some recommendations for doing tummy time in a way that he would like it. I started implementing her suggestions and wouldn't you know it, within a day, this smart little guy was not only pushing up but rolling from his belly to his back! I was totally shocked simply because up until this point, he would more or less just smash his head into the floor and scream most of the time we put him on his tummy (hence, why mommy didn't do it too much). Now, it's almost impossible to keep him on his tummy, because he immediately rolls back over to his back! Our next big challenge is sitting - we're working on that. :-) The great news is that he qualifies for early invention. Not that there was any doubt (I mean, come on, this poor kid has spent more time in the hospital on an incline than anywhere else - not exactly the right position to be honing those gross motor skills), but it's nice to finally be moving on bringing OT and PT out to the house. (Our Regional Center will not assess kids until they are at least 7 months, so we had to wait until now to get the ball rolling.) The therapist who assessed him was totally impressed with how well he seemed cognitively (the fact that he was flirting with her and wanting to play all of her games didn't hurt!).
Double Double Drumroll, please!!! Little man has officially DOUBLED his birth weight! Yep, we're a little behind schedule (I think they're supposed to do that around 4 months and Bodie's almost 8 months, but again, he's seriously spent 60% of his life in the hospital at this point, so we're THRILLED that he's met this milestone!). He is growing like a TANK at this point and we're all (mom, dad, Bodie, cardiologist and pediatrician included) excited! (By the way, he was 7lb13oz at birth, so technically 15lb10oz was doubling, but he shot from 15lb9oz yesterday to 15lb12oz today, so I missed my chance to take the pic at 15lb10oz!)
Mommy's Little HelperSierra has become quite the big helper to me these days. Today, Bodie was losing his mind screaming in the living room (don't worry, he was safe - he was playing with his toys on his blanket and I had left for a minute to put some laundry in the bedroom). I was on my way back in and I heard him stop screaming, so I immediately walked more quickly, worried about what I would find given that big sister had been left alone with him. This is what I found...
Bless her heart, Sierra had gone into the kitchen, gotten his bottle out of the fridge and started feeding him. I had to explain that it's not that great to feed him lying flat on his back, but I was so proud of her. And she was so proud of herself. It melted my heart. Then, since she was on such a roll, she decided to help get him dressed after his diaper change:
And speaking of little missy, I have to share this pic from yesterday. It was raining, so I promised her she could go outside and run around in the rain for a bit. I didn't realize until after I'd already promised her, that we had misplaced (given away? who knows - our lives our crazy right now) her raincoat. So I figured the ski jacket would work. I told her to make sure to put her boots on. Well, I was so fixated on the missing raincoat, I didn't realize until we got outside that somehow, pants hadn't gotten into the mix. Oops...