Eight Months? That Can't Be Right.

It is hard to believe that Kinley is already over 8 months old. I really don't know where the time went. On the one hand it seems like just yesterday we were at Children's Mercy, but on the other hand it seems normal to have Kinley at home and making so much progress. Each day Kinley seems to be discovering new things and it is so much fun to watch.

Since the last time I updated the blog not much has happened. We have had a few appointments, but no big changes in Kinley's care.

The first appointment we had was with Kinley's friend from Parents as Teachers. Kinley always enjoys those visits because all she has to do is show off her old tricks and play with new toys. Kinley is still pretty much on track developmentally. She just recently started repeating consonant sounds, which is a good sign. She will say dadada and babababa along with other sounds. It is pretty cute to watch her "talk".

Kinley also saw her OT from Infant's and Toddlers of Johnson County. Once again, Kinley had a good progress report. Jami tried out some new foods on Kinley and it went pretty well. I don't really know how to explain what Jami fed Kinley because I was not able to be at the appointment, but Kevin described it as fried green beans. Basically it is a high nutrition, high calorie snack that Kinley can feed herself with her hand. It will dissolve in her mouth, but not quite as easily as the puffs that we are feeding her now. Kevin and I are supposed to keep offering Kinley baby food after most bottles, at least 2-3 times a day. Preferably we will offer Kinley baby food at the same time we eat so it is more of a social event for Kinley. Kinley remains NG free, so Kevin and I are very happy about that. Kinley is also getting better at eating baby food from a spoon. We have found that she likes it when we mix baby food with rice cereal and warm it up before feeding it to her. Kinley also really likes these sweet potato puffs that I bought for her.

The next appointment was at the pediatrician's office to get another round of the RSV shots. Kevin and I were not looking forward to making Kinley get more shots, but we were excited to see how much weight Kinley had gained since last month since she has been eating really well. We were disappointed to learn that even with all her oral intake, she did not gain any weight from the time of her December RSV shots to her January shots. She was 16 lbs 4 oz at both visits. Kevin and I decided that Kinley must have been on a growth spurt, because she has been eating really well and we were really surprised she had not gained any weight. Oh well, we figured that Kinley had an appointment at the Special Care Clinic later in the week, and we were sure we would hear if they were concerned about her weight.

The visit to the Special Care Clinic went better than I had expected. Kinley weighed 16 lbs and 9 oz on their scale, so as far as they were concerned that was good enough weight gain, especially since Kinley is eating exclusively orally now. Kinley did fall to just above the 25% for weight (she had been closer to the 50%), but she is still around the 50% for height and head circumference. We were told that we can continue to do what we have been doing with feedings and to schedule another visit in a month. We were supposed to see the occupational therapist at the appointment, but due to a scheduling glitch, she was not available. We will try to hook up with the occupational therapist at our next appointment.

Another bit of good news is that Kinley is finally starting to get into a routine. She will usually wake up around 8:00 am and eat her first bottle before 9:00 am. Then she will usually jump in her jumper and play for a while before taking a nap. When Kinley wakes up from her nap the cycle repeats itself again. Kinley has been eating four times a day about 4 to 5 hours between feedings. Kinley will usually take between 6 and 8 ounces at a bottle and gets spoon fed after at least 2 out of her 4 feedings. Bedtime has been around 10:00 pm. It has been so nice to have some resemblance of a routine. It has allowed Kevin and I to better plan our days and we have even been able to work in a few shopping trips with Kinley to get her out of the house for a little bit.

Just yesterday Kevin noticed a tooth trying to come in. It is barely visible, but you can feel it starting to come in on her lower gum line. It doesn't really seem to bother Kinley, she has been her normal, happy self for the most part. She is one tough little girl.

Kinley has not started crawling yet, but she is close. For now she is mobile by rolling on the floor everywhere. Watch out, if Kinley decides that there is something she wants, she will find a way to get it.