Questions Answered...

Today was a long day for Allyson, however she was remarkable during her appointment which began during her normal nap time and lasted an hour and half. Allyson was not to have a big breakfast before her appointment and very little food if possible. We were fortunate enough to have Allyson sleep until 8:15 this morning. I had her diaper bag filled of food and ready to walk out the door by 8:30. We arrived at Mary Freebed at 9:05 (we cannot wait until all this construction is down with downtown) we checked in and our 9:30 appointment began at 9:50. I waited as long as I could to not give Allyson very much and it was time for her to drink her milk. Miss. Ellen could not have come at a better time to take us back. It did not take long for Miss. Ellen to figure out what Allyson is doing. Miss. Ellen (whom I hope is Allyson therapist all the time) confirmed our thoughts and also identified another issue that needs to be addressed. L Allyson’s tongue is not working the way it should at all which was our thoughts upon taking her in. However she is also not drinking the way she should either. However our ped did not ask for a videography swallow and she was going to recommend to the ped that this particular evaluation should be done. When Allyson is drinking she is gulping and the milk is splashing in the back of her throat against her wind pipe. This can cause issues much later (age 3) for her throat and wind pie. Allyson when eating is not swallowing properly or handing solid food textures properly. If you swallow think about each step your tongue takes. It curls, pulls to the side a bit and touches the top by the little rough part. Allyson’s tongue does not do this at all it flounders around in her mouth kind of like a wave…now try and make your tongue do that! Hard to do huh!! Her tongue does not know that it needs to go to the side of her cheek to reach food and to begin to gum it. So with that being said we have been officially referred for Oral Mouth Therapy 2x’s a week for up to 12 weeks! We were given homework to complete between now and our first appointment while we wait for our insurance approval to schedule the visits.

There is nothing we could have done to prevent this from occurring, and looking back it all makes sense from the time she was born and we had difficulty breastfeeding.

On another side not Miss. Ellen kept complimenting on how well Allyson was behaved and how easy going she was. She was not scared at all and was very willing to work with her. She was astounded at how Allyson is learning very quickly on how to balance her self and was quite impressed with her limited walking skills are when she has the support or an object. :)

Mary Freebed

We go next Tuesday to Mary Freebed. I am impressed we got in so fast. We will be there an hour and half while they do what they call an Oral Mouth Evaluation. Hopefully they will be able to tell us how to resolve the issue of her tongue thrust issue with food. Hopefully we will be able to catch it before it continues to cause issues with her speech. We have noticed a time or two this weekend that her tongue thrust can sometimes cause a problem when she tries to say a word or babble. The tongue thrust should have gone away on its own by the time she was 7 months or so so based on reading I have done though her doctor said it should have ended around 6 months. I'm glad we will have caught this issue before it causes more problems.

9 Month Appointment

Allyson had her 9 month appointment today (which was really more like a 10 months)

Her stats

21 lbs 9 oz
28 1/4 inches tall
46.4 cm head circumference

All seemed to be good overall. She refilled the prescription for Allyson so we are on more antibiotics for another week. She was concerned that Allyson really isn't progressing much in terms of eating table food and the reflex action we see when she eats. So we are being refereed to specialists over at Mary Freebed for that. Hopefully it wont be a long wait to get in there.

It's Official - Allyson is a Spartan!!!!

It wasn't a pretty game today, but that didn't matter to me. Saturday mornings are Daddy's favorite. Why? Well because I have a new fan to watch Michigan State football with. Every Saturday morning (or game days), we hang our MSU flag out in the front yard. We put the MSU football jersey on our doggy (see picture). We sing the MSU fight song (Victory for MSU will soon be a favorite phrase). We sit and cheer for the green and white. When MSU scores a touchdown, Daddy yells touchdown and throws his hands in the air. Well today, Allyson did the same! She threw up her arms as well and then immediately started clapping after Daddy said yeeeaaaaaa! Even Grandpa & Grandma T. got to witness the event.

Now if we can only get the stinkin' Lions to score touchdowns.

sicky land with personality.

We have entered the icky sicky land for the fall 08 season. On monday Allyson woke up with a fevor of 103 so I stayed home from work to tend to her. She was not her normal self at all. She was full of cuddles and wanted to just lay on you. On tuesday at 5:30 am we saw she still had a fevor so Michael called in so I could go to work. By mid day she appeared to be fine. She acted normal and played with her toys but not much cuddling and no fevor..my thought was maybe its teeth...but i didnt feel anything that made me think yeah there are teeth there. Wed she went to daycare and was fine. Today she was fine before I took her to daycare and headed to work. I picked her up at normal time and put her down for her afternoon nap...Brody and his mom Erin came over for a visit to do my hair and while Erin made a run to store Allyson woke up...and then threw up. So i cleaned up allyson and kept the kiddos seperate and waited for Erin to return only to have to cancel due to allyson suddenly being sick again. I waited abit..called the doctor...gave medicine...it didnt stay down very long and landed on my rug in the living room...then michael came home. He changed his clothes and then came to take ally so that I could finish taking care of her bed and making it again. It wasnt but a matter of 60 sec before michael called me into the room "I dont know what to do shes throwing up come here! its all over...me.!!".She has taken 3 sips of gatorade. Im a bit worried about hydration...she is sooo picky about what she drinks. She hates juice, she hates water...she loves her milk...She doesnt hate all juice..she loves pear juice..but we dont give her that due to the diaper explosions that are subsequent there after. They say this year is supposed to be a bad year of the flu as its already started in full force and its early. So wash your hands.

Lately Allyson has shown quite the little personality that she had been hiding the last 9 months. She loves to tease. Her favorite way to greet you is to head butt with your forehead meeting. Michael thinks she will never have a first kiss with a boy (she will be ancient when this happens) but it instead will be a head butt. She will sometimes lean forward and act like she wants to head but you and as you lean forward and in she quickly pulls her head back smiles, and ocasionally laughs and has a very coy look on her face. Since she hasnt been feeling well we have been allowing the blanket that she sleeps with out of the crib when shes not napping/sleeping so she can suggle with it . She has come up with the funny look that she will give you...giggle and grab the blanket and put it ontop of her head to play peak aboo. She thinks its so funny. In other news she can also push her push and ride toy across our living room standing up taking steps, so I doubt it will be long before she can walk. Oh and she loves the fridge..she will crawl at lightning fast speed if she hears someone in the kitchen opening up the door and crawl around you to take a peek inside. Tonight she discovered we have a long fridge door handle and was attempting to open it..oh dear...are we in for trouble or what once shes really walking..