Sophie's Physical Therapy Journey

Sophie had her physical therapy evaluation on Thursday at Children's Memorial Hospital. It went well, but I left feeling more than a little overwhelmed. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but being told that everything we've been using/doing with Sophie since the day she was born has been basically The Exact Wrong Thing To Do was a surprising and dismaying thing to hear.

The PTs were both very, very nice. Which is good, because we are going to be seeing quite a lot of them. They spent some time with Sophie, checking out her range of motion in several different body areas and positions. Sophie, of course, screamed about 75% of the time and spent the other 25% looking at me with this "what is going on, who are these people, and when are you going to hold me again?" look on her face. It was a long hour, but we found out a lot of really interesting and vital things.

• Sophie has mild plagiocephaly and not-so-mind torticollis. NOT congenital torticollis, as our pediatrician first thought, which is really good news b/c that means there is no physical reason for Sophie's head to favor the right side - she just does it from habit. (Who knows why? One of my first questions, and the PTs said it could be for any number of reasons.)
• We must get rid of just about every comfort toy we own - the Exersaucer, the Jumperoo, the swing, and the Bumbo. From now on, she spends all her time on the floor, in my arms, or in the travel yard if I need to keep her contained. The reasons behind this giant purging of equipment are quite numerous - click here and scroll down to read up on them if you are interested.
  
• You can click here to get an overview on how Children's treats torticollis through therapy. (The woman in the first picture on the web page is one of Sophie's therapists). Sophie and I must go for a 50 minute session once a week at least until she is walking - maybe longer. We also have a long list of exercises that we must do at home whenever we can. I think, of all the things they told me that day, this floored me the most. I had no idea it would be such a time (not to mention financial) commitment. But, apparently, it is.

After hearing how limited her range of motion is and that the torticollis has already started to affect the structure of her face (so bizarre, but her jawline is actually beginning to tilt), I needed no further convincing. Obviously, we are all in. There's no point in spending all this time and money if we aren't going to do everything they say, so I'm following every word of their advice. We haven't used any of her big equipment toys since the appointment, and in fact we are getting rid of all of them as soon as we can. We also started working on her exercises right away. She's getting tons of tummy time, and I'm also concentrating on getting her to sit up on her own. So far, so good.

I am so grateful that the torticollis is nothing more serious, and I feel so blessed to live in a city with such a well-respected children's hospital at our disposal. But, to whine for just a minute, the changes have already been kinda hard. I work from home, and I really relied on being able to put Sophie somewhere for awhile so I didn't have to worry about her moving or falling over while I got things done. She needs much more supervision now, and I truly don't know how I'm gonna juggle it all when my work at the children's theatre starts back up full force in July. But I've no doubt it will somehow all come together. Right now, our first priority is Sophie.

I'll definitely keep everyone updated on our progress. The PTs are going to closely monitor her improvement and adjust her therapy accordingly. They gave me an idea of some things we may have to try if she doesn't respond to the current therapy as it's designed now, but I'm not focusing on what ifs? at the moment. My ongoing mental mantra is "one step at a time, one step at a time, one step at a time." Nothing else to do but take a deep breath and dive in. We'll see where the tide takes us.

Say Cheese!

I took the girls to get their pictures taken today. It was quite an undertaking - more so than I had expected - trying to keep them both entertained through two outfits each, three set-ups and numerous poses. But in the end, I was really happy with the way they turned out. I realize I am exceptionally biased, but I find both girls stunning. See if you agree...

Doctor Doctor, Give Me The News

Today brought yet another trip to the doctor for both girls. As soon as we arrived back home from Indiana Sunday, our good friend Fever was waiting to welcome us with open arms. Em's temperature has been up (way up, scary up) and down ever since. Sophie had her 6 month immunizations today, so we combined two appointments in one trip and headed out to see Dr. McDermott.

Emma is now back on antibiotics, plus a four-times-daily dose of Albuterol. But the up side is that she got a breathing treatment (she LOVES breathing treatments) and scored four stickers. Sophie screamed her bloody head off with each of the three shots she was forced to endure, but she recovered quickly after a brief bout of nursing and a hit of Tylenol. For those into stats, Sophie weighs in at a robust 17 lbs, 2 oz and is 23 3/4 inches long. She's almost exactly the same size Emma was at this age, so if nothing else at least we are consistent.

Next up: Children's Memorial on Thursday for Sophie's physical therapy evaluation, and then a follow up for Emma on Monday. Fingers crossed on both.

To end on a more positive note, I'm including a picture below that I've dubbed "Sophie in a Blanket." She is starting to figure out how to roll continually now, and the other day she rolled herself right up in the quilt her Great Nonnie sent her. Snug as a bug in a rug. Pretty cute, huh?

Happy Memorial Day!

Just got back from visiting the family in Indiana. We had a really great time. Emma spent her nights sleeping with Grandma and her days running wild with Callie, so she was in heaven. Sophie shared some quality time with Cadin and thrived on all the extra attention. Chris and I even got to go see Indiana Jones! (Thanks, Mom.) Here are some pics from the weekend.

The girls with Grandma

Sophie and Cadin rolling on the floor

Aunt Jenny with the four youngest

Sophie playing cards

Heeellllllllloooooooo!

Someone pointed out to me that I never reported on the success or failure of Sophie's sleep training, so I am happy to type that we finally have a baby who sleeps in her crib! (We do not, however, have a baby that sleeps through the night, but one step at a time.) Yippee!

Sophie's been very fussy lately, so Em decided to sing her some songs today that she'd learned in school. Here is a video of Emma's version of "If You're Happy And You Know It," apparently inspired by the TV show "Seinfeld." (If you are a fan of the show, you'll know what I'm talking about. If not, too hard to explain.) Note in the video background the infamous Balloon, Emma's "baby" that I talked about in my most recent Emma On A Wednesday blog entry.

The World According To Emma

Dressed for school and ready to GO!

Car rides to Em's school in the morning are often very interesting. She is prone to the oddest declarations while chilling in the back seat. Here are some sample sentences from today's drive - all uttered with no perceivable frame of reference.
"Butterflies eat bugs and oranges."
"Mom, stop! I wanna climb that tree!"
"I don't like yucky doctor medicine, but I DO like breathing treatments."
"Sophie is my little baby."
"Can the pigeon drive the bus?" [10 second pause.] "No."
"Boys pee standing up and girls pee sitting down."
"And that's the problem with ripped pants."

Hittin' the gym

So, I've actually been keeping up my gym attendance the last couple of weeks. This week has been my hardest yet. Monday I took a Group Step class. Tuesday was Group Kick. Last night I took a Power Technique course and then jumped right into Group Power. Saturday I'm gonna hit the Group Groove class. I took today off b/c I could barely raise my hands to finger-comb my small, small amount of hair this morning. Instead of actually working out, today I shopped for working out. Sophie and I made a trip to Walmart after dropping Em off at school, and I picked up some actual workout clothes. Until now, I've been schlepping to the gym and back in whatever old sweats and t-shirts I unearthed from the back of the drawer. But now that I'm relatively sure I actually like this and plan to continue doing it, I figured I should treat myself to some fancier activewear. Albeit from Walmart. But still.

Haven't lost a single pound yet, but if soreness counts for anything then I should look like Jennifer Aniston in, oh...about 45 minutes.

Emma on a Wednesday

• Recounts her dream last night about a Daddy lizard and baby lizard (Emma dreams often about lizards). The lizards stuck out their tongues and growled at her and then the house fell down and she had to crawl and chant "ah-ga-ya-ga-ah-ga-ya-ga" to get out safely and then she told the lizards "you think you are scary but you are not that scary" and then she woke up.
• Carries two spoons around with her all morning, one for "delicate things" and one for "hammering."
  
• Debates with me the confusion between Lady and the Tramp's mean rat and Ratatouille's friendly rat. After I explain that not all rats are mean and not all rats are friendly - that it just depends on the rat - Em observes, "Yes, that's true. But there's only one rat that's a fry cook." She then changes the subject, confusion apparently over.
• Colors a mermaid in her Dora coloring book and then gets so excited b/c she "colored her first tail!"
• Gets into a wrestling match with her new "baby" - my Mother's Day helium balloon. Balloon sleeps in Emma's room at night and goes with her everywhere during the day. She lays him down for naps, shouting "and I don't want to hear a peep out of you!" as she turns on sound machine and shuts the bedroom door. During the wrestling match, she bites the balloon's ribbon. When I tell her not to bite her baby, she says, "But he likes for me to bite him." She growls at me with the ribbon wedged between her gritted teeth. Then Emma and Balloon lay on the couch together and watch Tarzan 2.
• Puts a Parents Magazine renewal notice in a plastic bag so she can give it to her Daddy for his birthday "because it's exactly what he asked for." (Sorry to ruin the surprise, Chris.)
• Performs an interpretive dance recital for Sophie and me that includes a new move - twirling in a circle while raising her foot and slamming it against her knee. She dubs this the Turnaround, something she has "been learning for 20 years ago, and then I twirled and I was 3." She also slaps her legs a lot and explains to me that she "learned to slap at school." The performance is entitled Dance Pottyhead.
• Comes up to me while I'm gabbing on the phone with my dear friend Laura and asks out of nowhere, "What in the heck are you talking about?"*

*This one technically happened Tuesday night, but it was too cute not to include!

Rolling and Burping

Sophie really, really likes being on her belly. (I personally think the below pic is one of the cutest ever of Miss Sophie Patrice.)
This is so strange to us because Emma HATED tummy time as a baby. There are no pictures or videos in existence of Emma on her stomach before...oh, I'd say late 2006. Seriously. In fact, she despised being on her stomach so much that she never crawled. She scooted everywhere she went until she was about 18 months old, and I don't think she truly mastered the art of rolling over until age 2. Just for the heck of it, here's vintage video of Emma scooting, circa May 2005:

Sophie, on the other hand, refuses to stay on her back. At all. The minute you put her down, she flips herself right over. This pleases us because we hope it indicates a natural future progression from crawling to sitting to standing to walking...which was not how Emma did it at all. However, her tummy obsession has made the sleeping transition from car seat to crib more difficult than we had anticipated. We tried doing sleep training last night. I lasted about 20 very long minutes, during which Sophie made sounds I have never ever before heard come out of her mouth, before I went in to rescue her. I found her face-first in her own spit-up, drool and snot. No, no, no. Obviously, that's not gonna fly.

So today, Soph and I got a sleep positioner at Babies R Us. It's designed to keep her on her back or side while she sleeps, and we hope it will also make her feel snuggled and secure like the car seat currently does. I really, really hope it works. (Really, really, really.) I'll report back soon with results. In the meantime, I took this video of Sophie rolling over today. Be sure to watch 'til the end so you don't miss the best part...

Happy Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day with two kids.
I woke up (at 10am!) to lots of Mother's Day treats. While I was sleeping, Chris took the girls out in the pouring rain to get me all my favorite foods, a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a big balloon. Chris also gave me a lovely card and two tickets to see Poison (complete with an awesome certificate designed by the oh-so-talented Tammy Stockton, thank you Tammy!) Poison was my favorite band in high school (don't you dare judge me!), and Chris thought I'd have fun reliving the glory days. Very cool gift.

Emma made me a necklace with beautiful beads--thirteen beads, to be precise. (This is apparently a very important detail as she counted them for me three times.) She is very proud that she made the gift herself, and I loved seeing her face light up when she gave it to me.

My favorite gifts were the two cards that Emma drew for me at school. She dictated exactly what she wanted to say to her teachers, who wrote it all down for her. Here is what each card said:

Card #1:
"Mommy, I love you. I love you, even when I'm mad. I love you because it's so much fun! I love you because I'm happy! Love, Emma"

Card #2:
"I love you so much. I have to take doctor medicine. I love you, because I'm sad, and then I love you very much, and then I love you really much, and then I go pee in the toilet, and then there's something I need to tell you. Emma"

Best. Day. Ever.

Oh, Sophie

Sophie just rolled over in her car seat. She somehow flipped herself onto her stomach and then became hysterical because she couldn't figure out how to get herself back. I think she's trying to tell me she's ready to sleep in her crib, sans the seat. (Hey, NOTHING gets by me, huh?) And this can only mean one thing...Sleep Training. [Insert ominous sound cue here.]

I've been hoping the situation would resolve itself on its own, but alas, that seems not to be the case. She's clearly outgrowing the car seat, but we've tried transitioning her to the crib twice before and she's never been able to stay asleep for more than a couple of hours without nursing. Uggh...I HATE sleep training, but it seems the time has come to jump in with both feet. Bleegh. It's like ripping off a band-aid...you know it's gonna hurt, but yet it has to be done. Best to just get on with it and try to finish as quickly and painlessly as possible.

And the littlest one takes a hit

Em went back to school today. She's still on antibiotics and has a pretty nasty cough, but the worst seems to be behind her. Chris also feels almost normal again, and I never had it very bad...which I hope means that I dodged a bullet and not that I still have a bad run awaiting me. Sophie, however, finally succumbed yesterday. We went to the doctor and she is now on antibiotics too, fighting off an ear infection and probably the flu. Today was a long day of amplified need. Normally Sophie tends to get fussy if I leave the room. Today, she would burst into tears if I even stopped looking at her. Here's hoping tomorrow brings her (and me) some relief.

Ironically, the most disturbing part of our visit to the doctor wasn't the routine checkup...it was when I was told that Sophie may have congenital torticollis and she's being referred to Children's Memorial Hospital. You can check out the link I provided to read up on the condition (thanks, Mom), but suffice it to say that what Chris and I have considered just a cute Sophie-ism all these months - i.e., her tendency to tilt her head to the right - is, in fact, probably more serious. I'm trying not to panic because we haven't even seen a specialist yet, and if she does have this condition, it sounds very treatable. But still, leaving the doctor's office today, I felt like a really horrible parent for not having noticed this sooner. Actually, if I'm being completely honest, it goes deeper than that - the truth is that I DID notice it, and my Mom noticed it too, and I just dismissed it because the idea that something might really be wrong with her scared me. It took the doctor insisting that I get it checked out - and checked out soon - to shake me out of my denial. I'm not proud of that, and it's a pattern that I've shown with Emma as well - not wanting to recognize or acknowledge when something is off. And if it turns out that my stupid refusal to do anything about this sooner compromises Sophie's recovery in any way, I will never forgive myself.

But, as usual, I am jumping the gun.
First step...see the specialist.
Second step...get diagnosis.
Third step...treat the problem.
Fourth step...mentally torture myself for rest of life.

Hangin' In

Progress report: doing better here, but Em in particular is still sick. However, even in the midst of a double ear infection, mild bronchitis and the flu, Emma loves to ham it up with her little sis. Here are a couple boredom-inspired photos of the girls from the last few days.

Still Sick

We are all still sick here, which really sucks. Poor Emma's been battling a fever since last Saturday, and it just won't let her go. Chris has missed three days of work this week, between being ill himself and staying home to help a sick me with the girls. I keep going up and down - one day I'm good, one day I'm bad. The only one of us that remains healthy is Sophie, and I am crossing my fingers even as I type that sentence - not an easy feat, but I don't want to take any chances.

So, we have to cancel a trip to Indiana this weekend that we were all looking forward to, which sucks. Everyone's in a bad mood, which sucks. We've spent the equivalent of Emma's college fund on Children's Motrin this week, which sucks. Basically, there is a lot of general suckage going on around here right now.

I promise to be more witty in my next entry, but right now I don't have it in me.

Next...a marathon

Sophie rolled over today! She's been working up to it for awhile, but today she officially got herself all the way over. Hooray!