Waffle Night

Meghan loves her waffles....tonight she at a chicken nugget and some cheese while she waited for them to arrive on her tray. This was her plate when she saw what I gave her:

And, here's the current anatomy of a bite. She's getting very very good at using her pincer grasp to move food towards her mouth - it still takes the whole hand, but she's improving drastically! 

Unstacking the Rings

Meghan does not allow the rings to remain stacked...she unstacks them as soon as she realizes that you have put them all back on the stand. She has gotten very efficient at this task, too!

So proud of herself - yet another time she has maintained the non-stacked rings! 

Busy at Play

So happy and adorable wearing Dada's hat. 

Smiley, giggly, and crawling towards Mama's camera. 

Her two favorite parts of the farm set - the windmill and the horse cart. 

Nap Nap!

When Miss Meghan naps, she naps hard. Yesterday I had to wake her up a little bit early from her morning nap in order to make it to her doctors appointment on time.

She was sleeping so hard, I feel bad waking up this adorableness.....

She is so sweet and so smiley when waking up from a nap....even when we have to wake her up early! It's one of our favorite parts of the day - getting cuddles, smiles, and giggles from our girls!

Playing with My Camera

Someone now has the ability to play like Mama....

Then she realized that hers still doesn't take pictures....and needed to go get Mama's.....

Meghan's Nine Month Appointment

Today we had Meghan's nine month appointment!

Great Things from the Appointment:

1. Meghan's nurses and doctor were surprised by how well she is able to self-feed for her age. They were also shocked to hear how much water she is able to drink from a straw cup! Especially against the backdrop of all of  her struggles with eating, this is an awesome milestone for her! 
2. The doctor was so proud of her round belly and all the rolls on her thighs. He opened her diaper to finish her physical exam and laughed aloud when he realized that she has even more thigh rolls hidden within her diaper! 
3. Meghan has gotten tall! She will be moving out of her infant carrier this weekend. Unfortunately this comes just as the weather is getting cold and I will no longer be able to carry her into places bundled up in her carseat :)
4. Because of her awesome growth, the dosage of her reflux meds will need to be increased slightly. It is hoped that this will help with some of the concerns that were noted. 
5. Meghan has met all of the fine and gross motor milestones expected for her age.

Concerns at the Appointment: 

1. Meghan is slightly congested everyday. Since we are out of allergy season, it would seem something is causing that extra fluid build up. She has no fluid on her ears (yay!). He did notice an anomaly in her ears (has no effect on her ability to hear) that is very likely caused by the congestion. Increasing her reflux meds is hoped to decrease the fluid build up and normalize her ears. If not, we will likely go see an ENT at 12 months to be sure there is nothing to be concerned about. For now, he said to continue diffusing eucalyptus essential oil in her room as that keeps the fluid moving and consequently allows her to continue drinking bottles (as her method for taking bottles, due to her tongue struggles, requires being able to breathe through her nose). I love that my doctor supports using natural methods to help her wherever possible. 
2. Meghan's speech skills have regressed. A month ago she was making vowel sounds, b, d, and m as well as starting to experiment with p. She now makes vowel sounds with an occasional b (in the past week I've heard d once). Any regression is concerning, so this is something that we will be talking to ITS about. It's possible that she's just taking a meandering path of gaining/losing sounds as she's learning to talk - but we want to be sure to monitor is closely.

Nine Months Old

Meghan is nine months old today! In my mind nine months is when they transition from baby to big-kid-baby. So many toys, dvds, games, etc. are marketed for ages 9-36 months. Nine months is when they are expected to begin the several month process of switching the majority of their calories to solid foods rather than milk. Nine months is when most people say they are "mobile" and nine months is when they really become very involved in the adult world.

Meghan is definitely becoming very aware of the world she lives in and wants to be very involved! She is definitely mobile - crawling, pulling up, and cruising a bit. She's changing into a toddler a little bit more everyday.

And, she's a sweet, spunky little girl!!

(yes, this one's blurry - but it sooo depicts our girl!!)

Best Place to Read

Meghan has found the best place to read on cold wintery mornings....right over the heating vent (exactly like her mama and aunt used to!).

Best Place to Read

Meghan has found the best place to read on cold wintery mornings....right over the heating vent (exactly like her mama and aunt used to!).

Reading Together

These two love reading together. Meghan loves listening to stories and especially loves doing that as part of her special time with Daddy in the evening. I LOVE watching them during this time :)

Reading Together

These two love reading together. Meghan loves listening to stories and especially loves doing that as part of her special time with Daddy in the evening. I LOVE watching them during this time :)

Pot Roast - YES PLEASE!

Meghan loved pot roast tonight at dinner!!

Teething Crackers are Yummy!

I have been experimenting with making Meghan gluten free crackers - and I think we have a winner! She enjoys these crackers so much! Yay!

The Rings Shall Not Be Stacked!

Meghan will not tolerate having her rings stacked up on the post! She can hear us stacking them from a different room and will crawl to where the rings are in order to un-stack them. That's what she did yesterday - she crawled from the family room to the play room when she heard me stack her rings to put them away.....

One Pacifier, Two Pacifiers, Three, Pacifiers, MORE!

Meghan has been finding pacifiers all over the house...if one is in her mouth when she finds another she studies it with great interest. Yesterday, she had three together at once!

Giggles

Meghan has the CUTEST giggles. She was super ticklish part of Sunday, and we got it on video!

Little Bookworm

On Friday November 14th, Meghan started turning pages in board books on her own. She has since figured out that reading can involve more than simply pulling all of the books off the shelf :)

This girl loves her books! She can sit and listen to me read 10 or more in one sitting. She definitely has favorites and pulls those off of the shelves first.

Sometimes she will pull books off the shelf, make eye contact with a parent, and pat her leg and rock (what she does while we read or listen to music). She definitely seems to be inviting us to come read to her! 

Sweet, Sweet Sleeping Girl

Saturday was a big day for Meghan. We got together with Cole's mom, brother, sister-in-law, and 2 nephews. It was fun to spend time with our family!

Because of her sensory processing difficulties, Meghan became overwhelmed after a while with the extra sound and excitement in the house. We are working with her on learning to exist in loud environments, but she's young and we're still in the early stages of helping her.

Needless to say...she was tired on Sunday. She went down for a good first nap, and since neither she nor I were feeling well, we stayed home from church and she slept for a straight two hours. She was so so sweet....all cuddled up and sleeping so peacefully.

This little girl....she's all sweetness! Sometimes it is so hard for me, as her Mama, to know she is struggling with things that are just part of normal life for other kiddos. But I also know that God has crafted her perfectly and put her in this family because it's his perfect plan for us to be a team. We are on a journey of learning and growing with our sweet girl and we will continue to help her along the way. We are blessed beyond belief to have this special baby girl in our lives. 

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:14

I do not cease to give thanks for you. Ephesians 1:16a

Sweet, Sweet Sleeping Girl

Saturday was a big day for Meghan. We got together with Cole's mom, brother, sister-in-law, and 2 nephews. It was fun to spend time with our family!

Because of her sensory processing difficulties, Meghan became overwhelmed after a while with the extra sound and excitement in the house. We are working with her on learning to exist in loud environments, but she's young and we're still in the early stages of helping her.

Needless to say...she was tired on Sunday. She went down for a good first nap, and since neither she nor I were feeling well, we stayed home from church and she slept for a straight two hours. She was so so sweet....all cuddled up and sleeping so peacefully.

This little girl....she's all sweetness! Sometimes it is so hard for me, as her Mama, to know she is struggling with things that are just part of normal life for other kiddos. But I also know that God has crafted her perfectly and put her in this family because it's his perfect plan for us to be a team. We are on a journey of learning and growing with our sweet girl and we will continue to help her along the way. We are blessed beyond belief to have this special baby girl in our lives. 

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:14

I do not cease to give thanks for you. Ephesians 1:16a

Results of Meghan's Sensory Profile Assessment

Here's some more of the story of Meghan's evaluation and diagnosis journey....the results of her sensory profile were sent to her grandparents a few weeks ago, and I forgot to post them on the blog at that point: 

October 23, 2014 - 8 months old
We had a meeting with Meghan's occupational therapist/feeding therapist to go over her sensory profile. She has variance in three senses (vestibular, proprioceptive, and auditory) and a "super strength" in one (visual). 

She needs much more proprioceptive and vestibular input than most kiddos. This was what we suspected and we have been working on putting interventions in place for her - a swing in her room, her jumperoo, swinging outside, her weighted blanket, chewy jewelry (I wear, not her), etc. 

She needs much less auditory input/help organizing auditory input than most kiddos. This is also something we have noticed about her. She likes music and noise that she expects and is organized - that's even calming for her! But random noises or a variety of noises are very overwhelming for her. So, keeping background noise down while she's eating is a big deal - not working in the kitchen while she's eating, working to keep noise from eating (clanking forks, etc.) quiet or helping her understand those noises as parts of meals, keeping conversation volume quiet, etc. This seems to be helping her eat her solids much better. She startles at unexpected noises easily and so we try to help her calm after those experiences. She also easily become overwhelmed in loud environments that aren't organized; so church service with loud music is fine, but a room with tv/music, conversation, other kids playing, etc. is very, very overwhelming for her which we have noticed on several occasions before this. Our therapist gave us several ideas for helping her function in her environment and how to help her develop her tolerance/calming skills in the next few years.

Meghan LOVES visual input - it's something we can use to help her calm her body! 

Meghan's therapist helped us to think through daily routines as well as upcoming changes and how to help Meghan's sensory system through them - holidays, family time, wedding, first birthday, etc. We have a lot of ideas of things that we can do to help her when we notice her becoming overwhelmed and to help her calm her body through changes. 

Meghan takes her bottles while watching a movie - and we were kind of concerned about this. But her therapist says it is just fine - the music helps give her something auditory to focus on so that other noises in the environment are not a distraction and the visual helps to calm her as she takes the bottle. Bottles were so hard for so long and so anything that helps her work through them is a great tool - and since bottles are a short term thing at this point and solids are completely functional, this is completely acceptable :) So we watch Baby Signing Time when we give her bottles. Teaching sign in important for her - so it's a double win with our time! 

A New Use for Chucks

Meghan has (sadly!) outgrown her little chucks. They have acquired a new function....her most favorite toy, and sometimes teether.

It cracks us up when she has a toy in both hands then decides she wants something else or that she wants to pull up - one thing goes to her mouth to be held to free her hands. It's effective!

Demolition!

Miss Meghan is very mobile. She is very independent. And she loves her toys. ALL OF THEM!

This is what the playroom looks like most of the time now:

But, she's having so much fun - I love the sight. She's playing hard. She's learning!

(with a bit of bedhead!)

Fridge Animals

I generally do not buy Meghan toys that need batteries & there are very few exceptions to my rule. But, I found this for $1.50 and it fits my guidelines for acceptability. To say she loves it would be an understatement - it plays music when you touch the button and she rocks back and forth smiling! I moved her to the family room to get her diaper changed and in the time it took me to get the stuff out, she had crawled back to it!