The past few weeks

The past few weeks have been very encouraging! We have seen Jordan start to accept foods and other objects put in her mouth. She is pushing up more when placed on her belly and starting to clap. Small accomplishments, but a good sign!

The past few days she hasn't been feeling well and hasn't eaten much solid food but before then, she was taking about 1/4 cup cereal made with 1-2 oz. formula at lunch and dinner as well as 1/2 -1 container of stage 2 fruits or veggies per meal. She is trying new foods every couple of days and I even got her some "Pirate's Booty" (suggested by her therapist) as a solid (not pureed) food to try soon! She also started drinking out of a sippy cup. We put a few oz of formula in it and she sips on it throughout the meal. She usually takes about 1/2 -1 oz per meal. The only downside to all of her eating is that she isn't nursing as much. I am kinda concerned about her not getting enough, but the nurse said she only need 12-18 oz per day at her age. I will talk to the therapist at Mary Free Bed when we go in there (hopefully soon!!)

Jordan is also doing well when we use a baby toothbrush to move around inside her mouth. She used to guard all the time and now uses her toungue to play with the toothbrush! Her gag reflex is still pretty far forward in her mouth and we are continuing to try to improve that. In fact, her gag reflex is pretty severe, because when I tried to give her the antibiotics prescribed by her doctor yesterday, she threw up because of the taste/consistency. When I tried again later, she did it again. The worst part was that at bedtime I tried to give her the Zantac and she gagged again. It seemed that any time of medicine dispenser is immediately gagged on. We will be heading in to the doctor again today to see if there's anything else they can do to help her.

Jordan's clapping is soooo cute! The only thing we are kinda concerned about is that she holds her left hand still in a strange position and claps her right hand into it. I will talk to Betsy about it next week when she starts therapy.

Overall, we are happy with the accomplishments we see. The hard part for me is trying to fit it all into my busy days! Most of it can be done throughout the day as I am going about my regular routine, but I find many days that aren't routine and at bedtime I realize I haven't done any therapy with her all day long. I am trying hard not to feel guilty and know that it is beneficial for her anything I do, even if it's not as much as I would truly like to be doing.