corner view “white”

Corner view is back!

And what a wonderful theme to start participating with! Jane  at Spain Daily posts a once a week theme and asks that people from all around the world interpret it from their little corner. Click on any of the worldwide friends listed below to see about life in their corner of the world. It is truly a photographic feast for the eyes!

The first thing I thought of  with white is our dear Zuzu’s actual middle name.  Her middle name IRL is Abelia. Most people hear that and ask if it is a family name. A few old southern gardeners understand instantly. It is a lovely little bell-shaped flower that blooms throughout the summer. Lovey’s maternal Grandmother also used to love these little flowers and so when we moved to The House of Two Gables and found our home ensconced in them we were tickled. We have lived in this home for 3 years before dear Zuzu entered our lives with a bang. While she was just a tiny egg in my womb I would often let my mind drift to baby names while I was out in the yard tending. Abelia was always at the top of my list as either a first or middle name. When the time came to talk about names in reality though I was a bit worried about saddling a small one with a name so unusual and took it off the list of options. Once she came out and Lovey and I got to see her precious little face and spirit though, the lovely little flower came back to both of us.

Gratitude Journal

AJ

AJ

 

1. evening routines

2. Gifts 2

3. Dr Baker, ENT

4. Natalie Dixon’s willingness to give the Momma’s suggestion a try

5. Tubes!

6. A safe return from general anesthesia

7. Classic Trisomy 21

8. A quick and friendly geneticist

9. Dinner on the table

10. A day with the little one

11. Lovey’s attentiveness

12. a certain almost 3 yr old saying, ” Thank you Momma for my salad, I’m going to try it, Mommy I like it!” (even though you know she probably won’t eat it- this time at least

13. Homemade lasagna- down to the noodle!

14. a friend’s crafty ways designing super-hero capes

15. a last minute dinner invitations

16. a rainy day

17. Rainy Day Music- The Jayhawks

18. Fairy wings and tu-tus

19. New Q

20. Lovey’s love

21. “New to us” Zutano duds

22. nursing a baby to sleep w/out any aids

Fave-O-Lit Fridays

Arrival

Arrival of Zuzu

First Breath of The Quail
First Breath of The Quail

In the Basket Marty Brought to the

Hospital After the Cesarean

by Thorpe Moeckel

 

Asparagus-pasta cobbler; raspberry bread; fresh
baked whole wheat bread; collages

young Molly did
on construction paper – de Kooning-esque –

with catalog clippings, great swirlies
of magic

marker, & filaments of glitter-laced glue;
Parmesan-mushroom wild rice;

boxed pear juice, boxed mixed fruit juice;
soy milk; mangoes; cold

cucumber-yogurt soup; fresh strawberries;
cut lilac; blackberry tea;

a hand-turned ceramic vase; a doll
sewn of scrap fabric, of stuffed athletic sock;

and a bouquet of herbs: fresh
mint, fresh rosemary, freshest sage.

“In the Basket Marty Brought to the Hospital After the Cesarean” by Thorpe Moeckel, from Odd Botany. © Silverfish Review Press, 2002.

The Quail’s Day, 7 months into it & loving it

Neck n Neck

Neck n Neck

This photo is respresentative of the culmination of a recent physical or gross motor spurt.  See that neck? I was staring at this photo trying to figure out what was different and all of a sudden I realized there was a neck! It seems that physical therapy is kicking in! The Quail turned 7 months a couple of days ago and we can offiicially say that she is tripod sitting- for a few seconds and then down she goes. Her trouble lies in that reflex to jut herself back when she is upright. But on the whole she is balancing in a sitting position better. When you pull lightly on her hands when she is laying on her back you can see when she activates her stomach muscles and starts doing the work. When I hold her I can now count on her latching onto and proceding to eat whatever I am holding. It happens daily as it still catches me off guard and I don’t think to move what I’m holding out of her reach.
She’s completely full of charm and appeal these days.  Right now as I type and pump she is showing off next to the desk holding her bottle to her mouth in one hand and grabbing her toes with her other. This is new. PT is focusing on belly strengthening activities and it’s done wonders. When we hold out her diaper to her she lifts her little legs. When we walk up to her and say, “Up-up” she lifts her little arms up. And the grins and giggles are easy to come by these days and we are eating them up! She also smacks her lips when she is hungry and she anticipates you tickling her when you start to lean over her.
Her favorite things right now are her peeps (she’s more of a people then a toy kiddo), her blankies- hand her one and she unabashadly snuggles it up to her mouth and rubs it back and forth across her face with great zest. Her exersaucer- She will play with the toys attached to it and also whatever you set on it- babydoll or spoon- up it goes to her mouth.  She also watches Baby Einstein- Baby Wordsworth (Or Baby Ruff-Ruff as Zu calls it)  intently.. She’s hanging out in her high chair during mealtimes and watching us closely- we’ll start cereals soon.
Nursing is still not going well- honestly I’m not finding enough time to practice each day which is extremely disappointing but also a reality. Everytime I sit down to try- her sister comes in and wants to nurse- which was so beautiful in the first week home and one of the reasons I champion as to their bond- it’s such a hard thing. But that’s life right- bittersweet? 

Fluid-Free

Yay-hoo!

Yay-hoo!

Thanks to everyone for all of their good thoughts, prayers and wishes! The Quail came through swimmingly. There was fluid in both of her ears today, although not a lot and it wasn’t infected. It was a relatively quick process. She was cheerful and chipper this morning prior to it,   of our not offering her, her breakfast. I had woken prior to midnight last night to give her a last round of milk prior to the cut off.

Unfortunately Zuzu had an accident in the middle of the night which woke us all up so we did have to manage to swing the Quail back to sleep without any milk later. Her ENT is the same one that did Zu’s tubes and those worked out well so when we heard we were to treat any ear infections aggressively in order to minimize potential hearing loss we went to him and he was happy to do it with only the fluid retention instead of waiting for repeated infections. The anesthesiologist also dosed her with Zantac when I told him that she is an extremely spitty baby. We had asked our own pediatrician about this repeatedly and they had said that the Zantac would not stop the vomiting and that every baby has reflux and if she wasn’t crying or in pain or losing weight because of it then they would label her as a “happy spitter” and leave it at that.

Last night Jodie (EI) had urged us to ask for a referral to a pediatric gastroenterologist with all of the vomiting though and prior to that Kathy ( OT) had pointed out that even if she isn’t in pain because of the GERD that doesn’t mean it isn’t damaging her esophagus. Which is true as well- it is just so hard to know what to do sometimes.

Well since the zantac dose this morning she has had MINIMAL spit up- in fact I would even call it that- spit up- not vomiting. Perhaps it is a coincidence and she would have had a less spitty day- anyway? Who knows- all I know is she got Zantac this morning, the dr said it would take effect quickly and quiet the acid  in her stomach and now she is less spitty. So I called the pediatrician’s office  back when we got home and told the nurse what happened today and that I wanted to try Zantac to see if can make a difference. She spoke with the PA on duty who agreed it was fine to try and they called in the medicine.

Wish the little bird luck- I really hope it makes a difference for her- not only in terms of her own comfort and digestive health- but if this can minimize her vomiting- that can only maximize her growth and with every percentage we gain on the growth charts- that is one sure-footed step away from the cloud of potential open-heart surgery.

Today is definitely a good day.

Please think Good Thoughts for The Quail!

Attachment

Attachment

 

Please think good thoughts for The Quail tomorrow. She goes under general anesthesia for tube placement. Her sissy had this done at 1 yr- so we are a little nervous about her having it so young. But it is for the best for her speech and language development as she has been retaining fluid from an ear infection since the beginning of August.  Can’t wait to see if this helps her hearing!

Zuzu Day- Practice makes Perfect

Word up!

Word up!

 

The Birthday Girl-to-be caught a glimpse of the birthday cake she requested. Last weekend I decided I needed to practice making this cake. I work with a wonderful pastry chef and she gave me her red velvet cake recipe. Zuzu has requested a WordGirl birthday party and this will work together synergistically! The color turns out exactly the right shade of WordGirls superhero costume! Since PBS hasn’t seen fit to actually license out any paraphanalia yet I’ve been left to my own devices and this was what I could come up with in terms of decorations. I found I can make a cake stencil if I try hard enough. A dear friend is helping me to make the capes the kiddos attending will get to decorate and adorn their little selves with as well. Between those handy items a wonderful playground and good company I think the party will be a huge success.

Now I just have to explain to Zuzu that we don’t get to keep having practice cakes…..