ABR Take 2

We're home now. Caleigh is in bed an hour early and things have calmed down. We got to the hospital at 10:30 this morning. A man at the parking garage told us that parking spaces were limited and we would have to drive around a lot. We got into the hospital and walked among the sickies. There were kids everywhere wearing masks and coughing. Heck there were adults doing the same thing. The ER was so packed there were chairs down the hallway filled with people. It was ridiculous.

We had to hang out in the special procedures waiting room for about an hour and a half before going into pre-op where we waited for another hour and a half. Only one of us could go back into the testing room with Caleigh so Eric went back to the waiting room while we started with Caleigh. The plan was to give her a sedating medicine by enema so that they didn't have to intubate her. If you have read about Caleigh for any period of time you know that she doesn't always follow the plans. We got in the room and they gave her the enema. She preceded to poop it all out within minutes. Caleigh did fall asleep for about 3 minutes until I put her on the bed. She was out cold and then all of a sudden she was up. They decided to give more medicine by enema to make up for what had come out. She was up. Wide eyed and ready to play. Her muscles were loose and she was chowing down on her hands like never before. She was also babbling like crazy. The anesthesiologist came in and gave her gas through a mask and then she was out. I gave her a kiss, asked her not to be dramatic and then went to the waiting room with Eric.

About forty five minutes later we met with the audiologist about Caleigh's hearing. She does in-fact have a mild hearing loss in the lower range according to the ABR. This does not include common conversation sounds. Pretty much it is suspected that Caleigh's brain injury is the culprit again. The brain may not be processing the information correctly. She asked if we thought Caleigh heard dogs barking & door shutting. She does. She also asked if Caleigh likes songs that have a heavy bass to them. Those are the ones she loves most. So the loss of hearing is very mild and no reason to be concerned at this time. She also believes that Caleigh doesn't need hearing aides. If we were to do hearing aides the normal ranges of her hearing would suffer. So the benefits wouldn't be worth it. We will follow up with audiology once a year from now on.

About fifteen minutes later they called us back to recovery to be with Caleigh. As soon as we walked in we could hear her crying. She was mad...very mad. After I got her calmed down the anesthesiologist came back in and talked to us. They did have to intubate and get an IV. We had told her how hard it is to get an IV, while talking before the procedure. She said it was easy to get the IV, but counting the holes on Caleigh's body, they had to stick her 6 times. I guess our definition of "easy" is a little different. They gave Caleigh some fluid. We started water by g-button. Signed all the paperwork. They took out the IV. We took off.

All in all, the whole ordeal lasted about 5 hours.

We are all very tired. It's so draining being at that place. Everyone is wonderful and many of the nurses, no matter what department, seem to remember us. That doesn't make the fact that we get to spend our days at the hospital instead of a normal place like the park, zoo or even mall any better.

Caleigh is recovering well. The only problem she is having is that her face looks horrible. She doesn't do well with tape, adhesives or latex of any kind. It's all over her hospital bands, but what can you do? So we will be working to heal her poor skin over the next few days and praying none of us gets the flu from our short stay at the hospital.

September Weekend

This weekend has been wonderful. Friday night we hung out at home, ate pizza and relaxed. Saturday we spent most of the day packing Caleigh's stuff for an overnight stay with her Mimi and Pop. I know most kids require lots of luggage, but I'm pretty sure what we had to pack for Caleigh was ridiculous.

Eric and I dropped Caleigh off, got her in bed and then headed out to eat dinner. Alone. Together. No Caleigh. Ok, just so everyone is on the same page now. Eric and I had an impromptu date night. By impromptu, I mean planned about a week ahead of time. I can pretty much count on one hand the number of times this has happened since we brought Caleigh home. Even though I miss my girl during these adventures we really do enjoy having adult time together.
Eric and I stopped and ate some sushi. I love sushi and don't get to eat it near as much as I would like. I had a girlie drink called a Sexytini which I'm pretty sure every mom out there needs at some point. The name says it all.
Cell phone pictures, but you get the idea. We laughed at how many people were out on a Saturday night and got a nice dose of what people are actually doing while we hibernate inside. It kinda sucked. We used to be those people. On the other hand we feel safe at home. Eric and I made it to bed by 10pm and I was quickly asleep.

The whole reason we took Caleigh to Mimi & Pop's was because Eric worked today and our friends were having their baby baptized this morning. I wanted to attend the baptism, but didn't want Caleigh around all the people at church. Plus I have no clue (on any given day) how she will react to people singing. Mimi & Pop's was a safe bet.

I woke up this morning at 8am to a completely quiet house. It was weird, really weird. I took a nice long shower and actually got to do my hair. It all felt too calm. I had flashbacks of pre-Caleigh Holly. Spending at least an hour getting ready to go to the grocery store or something mundane like that. Now days I'm lucky if I get a shower every other day. Oh, how motherhood changes things.

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The trial of sweet potatoes is coming to an end and I just got done making up a batch of green beans to start tomorrow. Caleigh definitely had more trouble with the sweet potatoes then the yellow squash. She didn't stool as much and when she did it was more difficult for her. Other than less stool, which isn't a terrible thing with a short gut kiddo, the sweet potatoes are a keeper. Thanks to everyone that found the sweet potato post from October of last year. Becky of Misspriss.org was the first to comment (Congrats!) So send me an email with your address and I will mail out your copy of Blue Sky July.

Green Beans start tomorrow! Knock on Wood....

Tuesday is Caleigh's sedated ABR hearing test at the hospital. Please pray all goes well and we don't pick up any buggies along the way.

Sweet Potatoes?

Here's a few pictures from Caleigh's new ball-pit. A little birthday money helped out with it and Caleigh just loves it. She's been spending lots of time in the pit. We practice sitting, prone and plan old supine. It's a lot of fun.

On Monday, I had to change Caleigh's g-button. The ring that the tube plugs into came out of the button. It was weird and I've never had that happen before. I can handle placing a new button no problem now. It's just a hole and I don't get all squeamish as I did the first few times. It's much easier to handle at home compared to packing up and going to the ER. Caleigh's had three different brands of g-button and by far we love the AMT mini one balloon button the best. Caleigh's stoma sight is amazing. The days of massive leaking, maxi pads and granulation tissue are far behind us!

Caleigh went the entire 5 day trial of yellow squash just fine. There was a 28 hour period where she didn't poop, but picked right back up at her normal 3-8 stools a day. I think her guts are trying to get used to the 'real' food.

Yesterday, we started the sweet potato trial. Caleigh was wiggly and fussy all day. We started to attribute the change in behavior to the new food. As soon as we walked into the OT clinic Caleigh had a melt down. I'm pretty sure this was because she didn't feel great and she knew the place from the old OT. Due to scheduling the new OT is coming to our house once a week and we are going to the clinic once a week. So Caleigh went into her screaming mode, pooped, screamed, pooped some more, screamed and then stopped as soon as we walked out the door. When we got home she was in a better mood. So maybe her guts were trying to get used to the extra fiber? She's back to stooling again, no problem. I'm journaling everything that happens with each food. I remember something happening with sweet potatoes last fall, but couldn't tell you what it was. So we start over new with each food. Trying to create a good list and still trying to get Caleigh's guts to adapt to solids.

As a matter of fact...here's a little contest for Caleigh's readers. Because I'm lazy...ok, don't have time! The first person to find and post to the comments, the link to the post(s) about Caleigh's reaction to sweet potatoes will win their very own copy of Blue Sky July by Nia Wyn. Get to searching & Good Luck! {Sorry only shipping in the USA}

Her Voice Updated

On Friday, our speech therapist surprised us with a trial Boardmaker Activity Pad. I was really excited, but all the examples that came with it looked like something a 3rd grader should be learning (as you can see on the picture). I took it home and vowed to learn about it front and back. After some reading I put two 4x6 pictures on it, set up button perimeters, recorded what the button represented and voila!
Let me just throw in a side note here. Our vision therapist didn't think the BAP would be a good choice for Caleigh. She said it was a little advanced for her. Our speech therapist thought it wouldn't work either, but wanted to try it out so she got the loaner for Caleigh. She mainly thought Caleigh wouldn't be able to activate the pad easily because of her difficulty with fine motor skills.

Ok, so I turn on the device set it in front of Caleigh. I started out simple. Elmo vs. Cookie Monster. She nailed it. Then I got really excited. I started pairing pictures. I made color blocks, shapes and yes/no options. 2-3 choices. She did well. The only thing that could be a problem is the amount of pressure she has to place on the pad. I think she can learn to work through this though. Maybe there is another device out there that is similar but doesn't need as much pressure??

We have the device until October 1st, and I think the possibilities are almost endless with this thing. Well, as endless as my brain's perimeters. It's not as fancy as the computer type devices, but I don't think we're ready for those yet. It has a great feature called a smart pocket. The pocket has a sim card in it and you can pre-program the pocket to keep the lesson. So your not having to set and record before each use. It would definitely last her a lot longer than some of the suggested devices that just work with choices. The Boardmaker can help with lesson plans and I think the learning possibilities are great.

I've tried to get a video of Caleigh using the device, but she just isn't into performing on demand. We go to speech tomorrow so hopefully she will want to use it then.

Yellow Squash That

Check out Caleigh over at TherExtras. Since Barbara asked to use Caleigh's picture we had made adjustments to the stander that have really helped Caleigh. We moved the knee supports up slightly (not shown). We played with the tray and now Caleigh doesn't look like the tray is eating her armpits. Oddly enough we have found that by putting the stander in a completely upright position Caleigh's head control is better. If the stander is tilted she tends to lean her head forward (probably a vision thing). Her head stays up by putting her straight up in standing. We've now made it the 30 minutes twice a day with the help of Baby Einstein. Caleigh's cute shoes are making some not so nice marks on her feet so we will be looking into that as well. We all know the cuter the shoes the more they hurt.

Today I am going to Whole Foods in between therapies to buy 32 squash. 32. Last night I made and froze enough squash for 1.5 days. We finally got together with the dietitian and we plan on starting a blended diet again (yes, again). Now that allergies aren't the culprit my plan is a little different this time around. Since there may be several in-tolerances I plan on taking it slow. Starting by adding 4oz of a chosen vegetable to her tube feeds for one week, unless Caleigh has a reaction. Then we will switch to a different 4 ounces of vegetable for the second week and so on. I plan on following a similar schedule of what you would typically feed a baby just starting to eat. Once we get a good repertoire of veggies we will move on to fruits and from fruits to meats. At the same time keeping all of the approved foods in rotation by mouth. The variety of tastes is very important to Caleigh's sensory system even if it is one taste a day. I'm hoping to have a good list of things that Caleigh doesn't have a reaction to. That way she will eventually be on all blended food by tube.

Yesterday, I took Caleigh for the remainder of her 2 year shots and a check up. Without us actually planning to, Caleigh has been on an alternative vaccine schedule. Her hospitalizations and what was going on with her kinda decided what vaccine she got and when. Caleigh is now officially all up to date.

After talking to our Pedi she suggested we get the flu shot yesterday too. And by we I mean Caleigh and Mommy. Eric always gets one with the line of work he is in. I've never had the flu shot before, but felt it was important to Caleigh's health this year. I've been worn down and tired lately and that usually means I get sick easier. I've had a fever blister for the past week too, which is another sign. I would kick myself if I gave her the flu, so I smiled and picked my left arm for the injection. I'm happy to report I'm still alive this morning.

I talked to the Pedi about the swine flu and she said that it's crazy. They have stopped sending in the samples for further testing with the state because they were all coming back as the H1N1. They are now treating all of the type A cases as swine flu. She's pretty sure that the majority of the boom will be over by the time the vaccine comes out in late October. She suggested staying at home at all costs. Try getting our therapies at home, don't go to the store, stay away from other children. Yeah, hibernation....one month early this year. This is going to make for a long winter.

I came home turned on the TV and the news was on talking about a 3 year old that died that morning, in Dallas, from the swine flu. The child had "underlying medical conditions." They said that the child had a neurological condition and COPD. The neurological diagnosis really got to me. It made it personal. My heart goes out to their family. At the beginning of this week an 11 year old died from H1N1 as well. Our prayers are with them.

Of course, what the media isn't telling us is that close to 40,000 people die each year from the regular ole flu. Having a child with several chronic conditions doesn't help our chances with either flu and being safe is our number one priority.

The OT...she's gone. I actually talked with the owner first to see if there was anyone else within their company we could use and it turns out it's her. She is coming this morning to our house to start seeing Caleigh. Even better she told the old OT that we wouldn't be coming back. So I scraped by that one. Hoping this a good fit.

An Ark...I'm building it

Ok, I was building an Ark, but the sun came out briefly this morning and I packed everything up. It's been raining since Thursday. That's 4 days. We've lost power for hours on end and our rain gauge indicates that we've had over 10 inches. Caleigh's beloved pool sprung a leak earlier in the month and it was almost empty, but not anymore! It's full, green and ready to go. Sad, I know.

When the power was out it reminded Eric and I of some paperwork that we signed when Caleigh first came home. She was on 3 different pumps and needed so much medication. Not to mention all the TPN supplies that needed to stay refrigerated. Caleigh was considered a level 1 patient, with home health, if a disaster happened. Someone would come to our house and take us to a safe place with a generator if the power was going to be out for a long period of time. This weekend we made sure Caleigh's feeding pump was charged in between outages and really we could bolus feed her if needed. Oh, how things have changed for the better.

The weekend was low key. We laid around a lot and did laundry, cleaned, did some crockpot cooking (when the power was on). Saturday and Sunday Caleigh wanted nothing to do with sleep. Sunday she basically cried all day. We had no clue what was going on. We gave tylenol, thinking it was her teeth, but that didn't help. By bedtime her belly was hard so we 'helped' her out with a thermometer. Pooping proceeded and she fell asleep. We also gave her a little Miralax and by the morning she was all clear and happy. Caleigh's belly has been doing so well lately that I didn't even think about constipation. Usually it's totally the opposite. We all slept well that night.

Yesterday, Caleigh's vision therapists brought by a lightbox. They had been backordered since we started vision therapy a year ago. Caleigh doesn't seem very interested. They also brought by a TechTalk communicator. The one they brought has 8 grids and I think it's too much for Caleigh to start off with. I'm going to take it to Speech therapy with us this afternoon and see what we can do with it.

Here's Caleigh in her new stander. It's the Leckey Squiggles stander. The purpose of this equipment is to help Caleigh's bones stay strong. If you don't use it you lose it, i.e. bone density. We are supposed to work up to 30 minutes twice a day. Right now Caleigh has only done 20 minutes once a day. She gets a little antsy being all strapped in. So maybe today will be the day?

Here's Caleigh in her standard, run of the mill high chair. She doesn't have any support in it. The straps are the only thing holding her up.

On Friday, a PT from ECI met us at the house and made an insert for Caleigh's highchair. It's made with closed cell foam (a packing foam) and she cut it with an electric knife. It has a custom head support and lateral support as well. We are using the tray's pummel as the abductor support. It works for Caleigh. Apparently this is an old school method, and the foam is getting hard to find. The ECI PT that came out has done over a thousand of these. Our PT was there to watch and learn. Our Speech therapist set up the appointment. Everyone working together, what a novel idea. I'm hoping this quick fix will help with Caleigh's eating. Check out how tall she looks sitting up...

Yesterday, we took Caleigh for her allergy skin test. It took maybe 30 minutes and when we were done Caleigh had NO allergies. They test for close to 40 things and nothing came back positive. So the verdict is that she isn't allergic but she is intolerant to certain things. Go figure. Caleigh didn't cry at all and it was basically one of the easiest tests ever. It looks bad, but those red marks are just the scratches and they are completely gone now.

For those that are interested, I plan on firing our OT today. We had an appointment last Thursday too and it was horrible again, possibly worse than Wednesday's appointment. Wish me luck, I hate doing things like this.

A New Set of Wheels

Today was such a big day for Caleigh.

This morning we got up. Grabbed some coffee and headed to the showroom of our durable medical equipment supplier.

{I swear my husband has a smile, but throw a camera in his face and this is what you get}

Today was the day that Caleigh was fitted for a wheelchair. Whatever you call it...travel chair, adaptive stroller, feeding chair, positioning chair...it's still a wheelchair. It has wheels and it's definitely not a stroller.

I've dreaded this day for a long long time. In my mind, a wheelchair is a sign of a person that can not walk. I've learned that isn't necessarily true. A wheelchair can be for someone that can't walk long distances easily or can't stand for a long time. The possibilities and reasons are endless. Even so, it's my baby girl in a wheelchair and it's just something that I will have to wrap my head around. I will say that just because we have decided to get Caleigh a chair doesn't mean that we have given up on her independent mobility. I will never give up. The chair is meant to be a convenience that can support Caleigh better so that she can strengthen her weak points. Plus, she weighs 27 pounds and me being only 5 foot tall (on a good day), it's just getting hard to transport the princess.

I have plenty of people to thank for helping us with the decision. I don't think I would have started thinking about a chair if I hadn't seen Kendall sporting her awesome KidCart and seeing how supported she was. And for Kendall's mom, Jocalyn, that made it ok to have a chair. Meeting Barbara from TherExtras and talking about the options plus reading her series on wheelchairs really helped. It gave me the state of mind to ask for a visit to the DME showroom instead of them coming to our house. Our PT was a big supporter as well and went with us to the fitting.

Wow, I'm starting to sound like I won an Emmy. {I'd like to thank the people} Actually, it kinda feels that way. Today was an Academy Award kind of day with Caleigh.

We got there and tried out Caleigh's new stander, which will have to be another post. After we were done with the stander, the rep brought out 5 traditional stroller type chairs. It was great to see them all lined up and I must admit that most of them were just plain ugly, but that wasn't that point. Which one would help Caleigh the most? After going through all of the features on each one we decided on the Leckey Squiggles With a Kimba Spring Base. We are also going to order the high/low base for the house. We were told our insurance and medicaid doesn't pay for the high/low bases and we would probably have to pay the $1500 for that. We will try other resources before paying and we are praying that funding will come through.

So after we decided on the Leckey chair we walked over and looked at 4 pediatric power chairs. After going over the specs and features of each one we put Caleigh in a Permobil K300 for a spin, just to see what she would do. Looking at power chairs is kinda like buying a car. The chairs can cost anywhere from $10,000-$25,000 depending on what options you get. There was talk of rear wheel drive as opposed to front wheel drive. Battery life. Hey, kinda like a hybrid. Oh, and they weigh about 250 pounds!

Seeing Caleigh in this chair changed my life. It took a whole 2 seconds for her to figure out what the joystick does. The moment it 'clicked' she smiled and then ran the chair straight into my legs! After all, the goal was to get mommy.... I teared up, literally she was moving and moving fast all by herself for the first time in her life. How liberating for her. I started dreaming about her driving herself up to her classroom and how different that would be from me pushing her there. The mental, self-esteem and emotional capabilities could be endless.

{Not the greatest photo ever, but this is Caleigh in the Permobil Power Chair}

The chair wasn't fitted for her, just a demo, so she had a little trouble reaching the switch and her feet were hanging instead of securely positioned. After a bit she was ready to get out and we started talking about the possibilities of Caleigh having a power chair. The Permobil is front wheel drive so she would be able to go over thresholds, grass, and gravel at the park. Places that a regular wheelchair might not be able to go.

So the plan is to order the Leckey manual wheelchair and as soon as that comes in the paperwork will be started on the power chair. Apparently, it's a tricky thing trying to get insurance and medicaid to pay for two chairs. If we order the Permobil first then they would deny the Leckey. So through all the red tape, we are looking at 6 months to a year on the power chair and about 2-6 months on the manual chair. I'm glad we started now, but who knows it might go faster.

I'm sure there will be obstacles along the way for us, but if your out there debating a chair for your child....do it, it will change your life and your child's life for the better. Plus you will have 2-6 months to get ready and wrap your head around the notion. {A little PSA from Holly Gray}

We came home with the new stander and then had an appointment with an ECI physical therapist to make an insert for Caleigh's high chair.

All my fears and dread are behind me. I couldn't stop smiling from the experience with the power chair. I was teary eyed and wired the whole way home. I can still see that smile on her face. What an amazing day it was.

PDF Brochures:
Permobil K300
Leckey Squiggles Seating System

OT Rant

What lies below is a Rant. If you want to stay in a positive/happy mood don't read.

Why is it so dang hard to get a therapist that listens to the parents? I know, I know they ARE the therapist and they ARE trained to do the therapy. I'm not a trained therapist. I'm just a trained photographer...big difference.

Today we had OT at the fairly new place. We've been 4 times now. Initially I liked the lady. She's good. Good at telling me what I wanted to hear during the evaluation.

Caleigh needs work with her fine motor skills. Check.

Oh great you do sensory stuff. Awesome. Check.

Vestibular. The more the better. Check.

No need to work on oral motor. We have that covered with speech and we are taking the SLOW route. No Problem. Check.

So by the 3rd visit I could tell we weren't on the same page. All that was happening was swinging, crying, bouncing, crying, listening to a therapeutic listening CD with huge head phones, crying. 30 minutes of crying each time and an exhausted Caleigh afterward. It's useless.

I talked to Caleigh's speech therapist about the approach I should take with the new OT. Caleigh is so defensive with her mouth, ok, who am I joking...with everything. So our speech lady basically said to tell the OT to get out of her sandbox...politely, of course.

So today happened. I dreaded going all last night and this morning. I kept quiet while all of the above happened for the first 20 minutes. Then she did it. She busted out the yellow chewy tube. She asked if we had one. We have 5. We don't use them. "Well, we will use one here then." Huh, well. At this point my blood was boiling. So she proceeds to stick it into Caleigh's mouth while she is crying and trying to block it with her tongue. I'm thinking "Dear Lord, please don't let this set us back 3 months!" So she can tell it isn't going well, and she can probably read my face so she stops. After she is done with Caleigh she hands her over to me. After I get Caleigh calmed down she starts talking about giving me a sheet on mouth exercises. So I proceeded to tell her that we do exercises, many many excercises. Then it was my chance....

"Since you bring it up...we are working really hard with our speech therapist on Caleigh's oral motor skills. We've been moving at a snails pace and honestly we've come pretty far. With Caleigh being so defensive it is necessary to be on the same level. So, since that area is covered I would really love to work on fine motor skills and whatever sensory integration you think Caleigh could benefit from. I completely understand that the body works as a whole and that you believe the mouth has a lot to do with it, but I would really like to stick to what we originally talked about."

and then she said it... she argued with me...

She said that I was right, the body is a whole system and oral motor was a huge part of her work and that she would still work on that. She said the plan is to work on vestibular, sensory, listening, oral motor and fine motor.

She did NOT listen to me. Seriously, did she hear nothing but lalalalalaladadadada, the entire time I was talking?!?!?

It isn't just her plans for Caleigh which involve way too much to start with. Aromatherapy, another DAN doctor that will cure Caleigh's gut problems (yeah right), cranial sacral (which we already do with our Chiro) but she knows a better lady... bath foam on her arms and legs... I could go on and on.

It's just that for someone that has been doing this for a long time she doesn't seem comfortable with Caleigh. Her movements are jerky, she isn't gentle when Caleigh is arching, she seems almost flustered that Caleigh is crying and annoyed that I am in the room watching.

It's like watching a 2 year old kick a 40 something's butt.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it, but I don't think we have a good fit.

Off to PT....I LOVE our PT.

Little Red Scooter

Caleigh's Labor Day weekend wasn't stressful at all, she had a nice relaxing time.

Mine on the other hand had a little drama....

I woke up on Friday morning with a little knot on my eyebrow. I thought, yea, another dang pimple. That night I had a girls night out for a friends bachelorette party. It was fun with a capital F. So I woke up on Saturday morning with my little bump turned large and red. It hurt. By Sunday my eye was swollen shut. I went into the afterhours clinic at our doctor's office. Had to wait for an hour and a half with all the coughing people joking about the swine flu...hahaha...no. The doctor seems to think it's a bug bite or a pimple gone bad. She gave me some antibiotics and told me it was infected. "Uhhh, thanks...it's red and swollen, I knew it was infected...your the lady with the script pad....do your thing." This morning it's a little bit better, but still hurts. Oh and I look like Shrek.

Enough mommy drama, on to Caleigh.

The hearing test went fine. Nothing happened really. She passed all the tests that she can do while awake, but they still want to do another ABR while she is sedated. So far we are scheduled for Sept. 29th. There might be some mild hearing loss in the lower 500 hertz range. Nothing significant, but we will just have to wait and see.

The endocrinologist called with Caleigh's labs. All the girl hormones are normal and all the boy hormones are normal. Which means she isn't having a hormone problem, this was the thought behind the body odor. Caleigh's vitamin D level was low once again so we upped her supplement. We are going to repeat labs before we go to our next appointment in a few months. Maybe the Oreganol Oil is the body odor culprit?

Caleigh's also been eating about a tablespoon of homemade applesauce 2-3 times a day. She isn't having a reaction to it and her eczema on her face is clearing up. The store bought applesauce we tried made her face flare up. The store bought brand has preservatives. Maybe those are a problem? This morning I made homemade pears. Hopefully those will go well and we won't have any reactions. Maybe I need to become Betty Crocker and make Caleigh's food from scratch? If that means she eats by mouth....I'll do it.

Here's a few photos of Caleigh on her new tummy scooter. We were able to buy her some fun therapy stuff with birthday money and this was one of them. If you look up Fun and Function at Amazon.com you can find some good stuff. Caleigh seems to like the scooter and it really helps with balance and head control. She even kicks her legs and tries to crawl on it. The scooter requires serious parental supervision though. Caleigh's big smiles are aimed towards Elmo Live....

I'm still working on the slideshow....there's a lot of photos!

Thursday and Friday are going to be big days for Caleigh plus Mommy & Daddy. More on that later...

First Fishing Trip

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope. ~John Buchan

Caleigh's first fishing trip was uneventful. There wasn't a fish in sight and really it didn't matter.

The morning was breezy, too breezy for fishing on the shore. We played in the water, listened to music, watched daddy try to catch Caleigh her first fish and of course mommy took pictures.

Caleigh loved the sound of the water hitting the shore. She laughed and smiled a lot. We wrapped things up just before nap time.

The day was wonderful, memorable and relaxing.