MERRY CHRISTMAS

Singing In The Rain

This week has been damper than usual. We have had a mighty good down pour of rain in the past few days and it looks like it will be here for Christmas too. Jen's family is coming down for the holidays in a few days and we hope they don't hit too much of the bad weather on their drive.

Kalista has been couped up in the house because of the weather and hasn't been able to enjoy her usual walks outside. The dogs have also been a bit stir crazy since they miss the outdoors too. Bella and Kalista have been having staring contests to buy the time away.


Kalista had OT this morning and Matt was finally able to attend for the first time. As luck would have it, she was having a grumpy day and cried for the entire session. It could be those growing pains or she was tired or walking through the rain put a damper on her spirit...who knows?! It was a first for Kalista. She is usually a smiley gal and ready to try new things...but not today.

Santa Pictures Are Up

Our Weekly Update

It's the weekend before Christmas and our house is filled with Christmas music, presents and holiday cheer. We put our tree up and decorated it with all our favorite ornaments. Kalista loves the beautiful lights that cover the tree at night. She even helped wrap some of the Christmas presents this year....well...more like played with the gift wrap and tissue paper. The crinkle of the paper is much too enticing for her.

Here's the latest in the Lam house:

Kalista has been working hard in OT with feeding. She still uses her g-tube 100% of the time for nutrition and feedings, but she can now devour a teaspoon of baby food at a sitting with the help of Jen's finger as a spoon. She is a big eater in the evening and that is when we work the most with her. Her favorite is still applesauce. We tried veggies this week in OT...yummy green beans...but she didn't really enjoy it at home. We were also given Dum Dum lollipops to try as oral stim homework. Who thought babies and candy couldn't be in the same sentence?

This is Kalista's "I'm Done" pose after eating.

Kalista and her new homework item: Dum Dum lollipops

We had our first physical therapy evaluation this past Wednesday with Tami. We were given activities to work on: sitting side saddle, crawling pose, weight bearing on her arms while standing and transitioning from lying to sitting. Whew...just typing all that gave me a workout!

Because of the "O", we haven't had much tummy time and that is putting Kali behind in her gross motor development. After reading many posts on the MOOs site about how other families created special foam cut-out beds for tummy time, Matt and his engineering team decided to create one for Kalista.

Our special tummy time board
(made of an elevated wood slab with a hole cut out for the belly)

Tummy time is still not her most well-loved position

Kalista is also developing an elaborate vocabulary: ba, ma, oh, mmm, ga. No "mama" yet though! She giggles at us whenever we make the motorboat sound, pop, click or smack our lips. She has also started reading to us before we go to bed...just kidding. We do the reading, but she likes to turn the pages.

Enjoying her books before bed

Other than that...we are just chugging along with our daily routine and can't wait until Christmas comes.

I'm Seven Months Old!

Kalista is now a whoppin' SEVEN months old! She's become quite a little girl.

Newbies:
Her new thing is staring at people. She has turned into a sponge and is tracking your every move and word you say. Her personality continues to shine through and it seems like we have a little giggler on our hands. Kalista is probably the most easy going baby and laughs and smiles all the time.

Her new favorite toy is our dog, Bella. The two of them have become best friends and Kalista often gets upset when Bella ignores her. Kalista loves to pet her whenever they are close enough to interact and Bella loves to be pet and loved on, so it is a win-win situation for all. "Good doggie!!"

No teeth yet, but Kalista is doing a great job chomping down on our fingers whenever they make it into her mouth. She has a good bite going on! Kalista is doing much better with her tastings and can easy devour a teaspoon of baby food at a feeding session. Applesauce is her new love. The sippy cup has been more of a challenge, but today she let us give her a few swigs of water....so it's a work in progress.

We are still in awe that seven months have gone by in a blink of an eye.

We Made It Through Another Round

Kalista waiting to see Dr. Berent

Hidee Ho everyone! Yes...it was a long and grumpy day for the little one. We had a trip to the pediatrician this morning for her well delayed 6 month set of shots. She always takes them like a champ, but this time around, it made her feel a bit more under the weather than we thought. We are chalking it up to the flu shot, since that is the only thing different than her 4 month set.

Kalista weighed in at 15 lbs, 6oz and is now 25 inches in height. Her head circumference is in the 50th percentile, but her height/weight are in the 10-25th percentile. It must be her big brain that makes her top heavy!

"Toga a la blanket " is the new pediatric office style

We had our trial class at Gymboree yesterday and Kalista had a great time after the first ten minutes into it. She went in with her fists clenched and weary of all the other babies around her but eventually warmed up. Funny how every baby communicates differently. Clenched fists have always been her way of telling us that she is uncomfortable and apprehensive. It's way better than a crying fit. So after a good 45 minutes of singing and playing, Kalista crashed into a three hour nap. Gotta love the free parent time to catch up with things!

If you watch the show "Modern Family", our visit to Gymboree totally reminded us of the episode where Mitchell and Cam brought Lily to that playgroup. If you don't watch this show...you really should. Watch it on Zulu, because it is hilarious!!!

Rock On Christmas!!!

Rock on party people and enjoy the holidays!!!!
(Thanks (Uncle) Bill for being a part of this rock video)

Spread the Joy

We decided to go a little disco this year in our holiday cheer!

Cardiology Update

Kalista saw Dr. Perry today for her cardiology follow-up. He confirmed that she does have WPW (Wolff-Parkinson-White heart arrythmia) after further EKG testing, but it looks like it is not causing any SVT (supraventricular tachycardia) at this time. He told us we should not worry and if there are any symptoms that need treatment, Kalista will be old enough by then to tell us how she feels. So...we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

We have scheduled an echocardiogram in February 2011 to double check and make sure the PDA ligation surgery that was done way back in May is truly patched up. Not sure why this was not done while we were in the NICU since it seems like proper follow-up, but better now than never. The cardiology team wants to make sure Kalista is properly fit to undergo another surgery next spring.

Other than that....no other medical information at this time. They did measure her growth and she is at 25 inches in length and a little bit over 15 pounds. Her hair has to contribute for at least 2 pounds since it is so thick....just kidding.

SANTA!!!

Kalista made an early visit to see Santa this week. We're not sure what she wished for because she was sitting on his lap for a good 45 minutes. It must have been an extravagant story or a very long list. It was nice because Santa wasn't as busy as we thought he would be. When she saw Santa, Kali didn't cry, she didn't really smile, she just stared at him with a serious face. She even took home a souvenir...part of his beard. Oops or more like ouch (poor Santa)!!! Those little hands of hers have a mean death grip nowadays. Watch out for your necklaces, earrings, glasses...you name it...she'll grab it and won't let go.