Chubby Cheeks

We had our nutrition appointment yesterday and it looks like the Duocal powder is working. Kalista gained half a pound in two weeks. She is back to her 16lbs, 8 oz and getting back on to the growth curve. Yahoo!!!!


Kalista also met her new occupational/feeding therapist, Lauren, today. The two hit it off well, but we are sad to be leaving Adriana, our past therapist. We had to do some recapping and updating during our therapy session today, which made us look at the big picture and how far we have come. When we look back to last September, when Kalista came home, she has made some really good progress. She will pick out her favorite foods (ugh...Slim Jims and Cheeto Puffs) and put them in her mouth all on her own, compared to not wanting anything in her mouth at all. We still have a long road ahead of us, but we are definitely proud of our little angel and all the progress she has made.

Teething Woes

We started off the week with Kalista's one year pediatrician appointment for her S-H-O-T-S. We suppose from this point on, we will be spelling out key words to protect Kalista's little ears. So needless to say, she got her infamous vaccinations. As usual, she was fine throughout it all.

Oh my, those little teeth are sharp!! Kalista is teething and trying to put everything in her mouth. As you can tell in this picture below, she is trying to eat our furniture since her teething biscuit didn't do the trick.


Putting Orajel on her gums has been tricky since she will take a bite of you with her new pearly whites on the bottom. And like we've said before...those two little things are sharp! We LOVE the nighttime strength Orajel since it is a blessing. Kalista no longer wakes up in the middle of the early morning crying from the pain. Those three o'clock morning wake ups seem to make mom an ogre beast for the rest of the day. Watch out Shrek!



The positive thing about teething is her increased her appetite to gnaw on almost anything. Healthy foods are obviously not on that list.....except carrot sticks. That apparently is still the exception to the rule.


Now that she can make decisions, she will often take her non-favorite foods and feed them to the dogs. She will either drop them over her high chair and look down to see if Joey and Bella will fight for it or she will sneak it under her tray so they can come up and get it from her. When we catch her in the act, she gives us this look. It is exactly the one you see above in the picture--we call it the "who me?" look.

We have good news! Kalista's teacher, Jodi, came early this week along with Linda, the school speech and language therapist. She told us that Kalista is on track with her speech and language development, even though she has not been getting the same oral input (meaning eating, sucking, swallowing) as her peers. That was very reassuring to know, since research has been shown that non-oral experience can delay speech development in some kids. We knew Kalista was going to be a chatter box someday.



We had our OT/feeding therapy this morning and we have found a common thread in everything that Kalista likes to "eat". They all seem to be solid and very flavorful. She loves the taste of Doritos Nacho Cheese chips, pretzel sticks, Veggie Stix and Fruit-by-the-Foot (since it is attached to paper). We know it all sounds like junk food, but we are happy that she puts any food into her mouth. Earlier this evening, Kalista decided to venture into uncommon area and accepted baby corn back into her circle of trust and honeydew for the first time. We also noticed that if we use "adult" utensils instead of her own cute, bright colored plastic kid version, then she is more willing to try. What a D-I-V-A!

Our OT and probably parents across the world would cringe at the sight of the next few pictures. We really are not raising a junk food addict, but it was too funny not to capture it on camera.

It has been a long discussion in OT about Kalista not wanting to drink from all five different sippy cups that we have for her. They all have something different about them: sippy lip/no sippy lip, silicone/plastic, handle/no handle...you get it. We've even tried cold, ice cold, room temperature and warm beverages with no success. So...it just so happened that we had just finished drinking a can of soda and rested the can on the coffee table. Our little protester of sippy cups decides to cruise herself over to the table, takes the empty soda can and tries it out for herself. Yah....explain that one!

(Um yeah...no endorsements here...right?)

The funny thing is that it looks like she has mastered the art of drinking from a can.

Standing By Ourselves???

Can you believe it? Kalista standing up without holding on to anything. She has made some huge strides in the past two weeks. We saw her teacher today and she said the same thing. It's cute since some poses she squats like a sumo wrestler and other times it's so grown up like. Our baby is turning into a little girl!


What have we been up to since our last post? Hmmm....plenty of doctor appointments. We spent the past three days visiting Rady Children's for all of Kalista's appointments. It kinda felt like the movie "Groundhog Day"....we wake up...get ready....head to Rady's...come home...feed Kalista a few times...go to bed and then it starts all over again. So here are the latest specialist/doctor updates:

Nutrition:
Yahoo...we got samples. We are about to start Peptamen Junior as her new meal mixed with breastmilk this weekend. That means Jen still needs to pump for another few more months ("Maybe"....says Jen). The great part about all this is that we don't have to feed Kalista as often since it packs in a whopping 30 calories per an ounce (compared to breastmilk of 20 calories). This means we can spread out our meal times farther apart to encourage Kali to get hungry enough to try new things by mouth. We'll see how it goes as we do a trial run.

Cardiology:
Kalista made it through her sedated echocardiogram yesterday and she did fabulous for the hour long procedure (...and she did look like Sleeping Beauty by the way). The echo technician said that everything looked great, but we get the final results from Dr. Perry on Monday. Kalista was not a happy camper since the sedative weakened all her muscle tone. She ended up being one floppy gal for about four hours after we got home. You can tell that she wanted to play and stand...but her legs kept giving out on her. Poor thing!!!

Occupational therapy/Feeding therapy:
Um yah...not much there to update all of you on.....fresh fruit smoothies and keep working on what we have been doing. We got the suggestion to try seaweed since Kalista likes the texture of paper. How Asian is that? Too bad she can't have rice and raw fish with it...mmmm...Sushi.

It has been a truly busy week and we still have Friday to go. We are so glad this is going to be a low key weekend. We are in the midst of planning a big birthday party for some little person we know and would love to finish tying up all the loose ends this coming weekend. Whew!

The Weekend Already?

It is a restful weekend all right. Matt and Kali are picking up Matt's parents in Los Angeles this weekend and bringing them down to San Diego for the week. Jen is holding down the fort and caring for the dogs, since it is wet and wild here with the recent storms.

Kalista attended her first individual occupational therapy session this past Thursday and cried through most of it since she is just in that phase. We swear she does eat and drink at home. Occupational therapy via Skype may be the answer...too bad OT involves hands-on activities with Kalista though....doh!

Kalista and her teacher, Ms. Jodi, get along very well and we have been working on a little sign language, mirror play and possibly getting Kalista more mobile on a scooter board. Jen found a great deal on a plant stand on wheels at IKEA for under $5....so we'll see if that will work for now. We are thinking since Kalista doesn't want to crawl, she can sit on the scooter board and use her legs to scoot around the house. Obviously, we want her crawl, but that tummy sure gets in the way when she stretches out her legs. She is definitely motivated to get going, we just need to find a way. She is starting to hop on her butt to get from one spot to another. It works but it takes 15 minutes to get 3 inches....not very efficient.

All Is Well...FINALLY

Whew! Everyone in the house is back on their feet again and have made a stunning recovery. We may have spread to each other the entire flu and cold season germs all in a matter of three weeks... but hey..if it means no more ailments for the year then it was worth it.

We saw the pediatrician yesterday and we have been weaning her off pedialyte since she is still not having the best looking diapers yet. Hopefully by tomorrow she can return to her full milk amounts and tolerate it.

Due to the craziness of this week and slow recovery, we had to reschedule Kalista's cardiology appointment and sedated echocardiogram. We couldn't follow the regimen of not giving Kalista anything to eat or drink for a few hours, given all that we have been through this week, just to be sedated. It took them almost 9 months to realize that they should have double checked to see if her PDA ligation surgery was successful, a few more weeks won't matter.

It was also supposed to be Kalista's first one-on-one OT session this week, but we had to be put that on hold until next week. She's hungry, but not really in the mood to eat still. A few finger swipes of applesauce here and there, but that was it. Hmmm...stubborn (just like her mama)!

I'm Eight Months Old!!!

Yup...you got that right! Kalista is officially 8 months old today.

Here's our latest adventures:

1. We saw our nutritionist on Tuesday. She says that Kalista is on the growth curve and that we are doing well with weight gain and height. Kalista is now 15 lbs, 15 oz now and 26 inches. We are adding one ounce to her total feedings to account for her age bracket. That makes it 810 mL (27 ounces) a day. Other than that...no other nutrition concerns.


2. We are coming up soon in saying goodbye to our "Lil Steps for Feeders" group and heading into individual occupational therapy since Kalista has progressed so well. We need to emphasize more of the feedings issues and less on the fine motor skills. Today, Kalista got to play with large marshmallows (sticky!), Slim Jim beef jerky, and we almost got gummy worms...but we ran out of time in our OT session. For homework, it looks like we are to encourage Kalista's food exploration one step further and let her touch the food, talk to the food, play with the food and smell the food that we may be eating. Our mantra for the week will be: "Kiss the food Kalista, the food loves to kiss you".

Mmm...pickle lover like mama?

3. Our Gymboree class is fueling Kalista's motivation to get moving. She is starting to think that it is pretty cool to be able to crawl and get around. She stares at all the other little ones in her class as they interact with each other while crawling from one side of the room to the other. This week, she has learned how to pivot herself in a circle while sitting on her bottom. We found out this morning when she was trying to escape from our occupational therapist. Crawling is still a challenge, but she is slowly getting there. She loves to plunge forward into your arms from sitting and has taken a few face plants in the last day or two. Poor baby!!!


4. Balls. What can we say....she loves them as much as our dogs do.

Come and play with me!

5. Our days of continuous sleep are over as we know it. Kalista is going through some crazy stage that makes her wake up at midnight and won't go back to bed until 1:30 am. She cries and tosses and turns like she can't find a comfy position to sleep in. Ugh!

Hey...I'm a baby. What do you expect?

6. Lastly, Kalista has a new expression.

The STINK face!

So....that sums up all the new things that have been going on. Stay tuned for more exciting news!

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.

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.

Old Friends & New Friends

Update from Monday:
We saw Dr. Saenz for the bleeding button incident and of course the darn thing stopped bleeding right a day or two before the appointment. Matt brought her in and the doc looked at and said everything looked good. Not anything to worry about....thank goodness. The area looks much better than a week ago, almost as if nothing ever happened.

So what's new???
Kalista has been busy playing with her friends this week. Quite the social butterfly we have raised! It was a "dads and daughters" playdate on Tuesday. She had a chance to play with Lyla, who is a little bit older than Kalista, and they just sat and stared at each other. It seems like that is what babies do at six months...just stare at each other and play with what's around them.

Getting ready for some lunch with the dads

We also had mini playtime in occupational therapy. Kalista was laying next to her OT buddy on the mat and Kalista reached out to hold the other little girl's hand. It was too cute! Too bad we didn't have our camera at that moment... oh well.

Headlines on the feedings: We have found our new favorite food to taste....PEARS. We tried bananas, but it didn't seem to tickle her taste buds that much. Now that she has tasted real food, rice cereal and milk has become boring. She continues to like holding a carrot stick in her hand and when Kalista drops it to the ground, our furry daughter, Bella, is ready to swoop in for the steal. We think Bella is catching on and is super chummy with Kalista since she is now the giver of foods....more like the weakest link. Our OT goal this week is getting used to a sippy cup and possibly tasting from it. Oh boy...we've skipped bottles and graduated to sippy cups!

Little Feeders Here We Come!

Field trips can be exhausting for Kalista

We had our OT evaluation with Molly over at Rady Children's this morning. It looks like we have been approved to move on to the Little Steps for Feeders therapy group to help Kalista transition from her G-tube to eating by mouth. It was pretty reassuring that what we have been doing at home (oral stim and taste testing) with Kalista has been bang on target with what they suggest. We just need to add in a few bubble blowing sessions and water play and then that'll top the list.

Kalista's PJs are getting too small

We both had the day off and did some cleaning since we have guests heading into town this weekend. We also did some cleaning in the nursery and realized our baby doesn't fit her 3 month sized PJs anymore. It was bittersweet since those were the outfits she wore in the NICU (some of you may remember the blue one with pandas, the little fuzzy ducks and the ruffle butt car PJs). It is true, babies grow so fast out of their clothes. Goodbye 3 months....Hello 6 months!!

Hanging out with Joey after a long day

Now that Kalista is getting older and bigger, she can now hold her own around the dogs. Joey still likes to come up and lick her toes...but she just nudges him with her foot and he moves away. For all of our sakes, he has never been a face licker unlike Bella (Thank goodness!!). We can only handle one face lickin' dog in the house. Kalista likes to babble at the dogs and they just stare at her with puzzled looks....waiting for a word that makes sense..like "treats".

Instead of Dumbo...It's Bumbo!

It's BUMBO time!

Dad delivering the BUMBO to the NICU

For those of you who don't know what a BUMBO is, it is a little foam seat that is molded to fit babies 3 months old and older. Well, really until they can't fit in it anymore. We were tossing it around and looked on the bottom to see where it was made. We were thinking, like everything else, it was probably "Made in China". To our surprise, the BUMBO is made in (drum roll).....South Africa. Let us practice our Afrikaans shall we..." Howzit?" "We're planning to have a jol (party) with this BUMBO."

Kalista's toes are so adorable when she sits in her Bumbo

Jen has not been feeling well for the past few days because of a cold and has been banned from the NICU. So...Matt flew solo to Kalista's OT session where the Bumbo seat was introduced to Kalista. The session went well and it was perfect dad and daughter bonding time. Kalista seemed to enjoy sitting in her new seat, especially since she was able to see and play with Mallory monkey, her mirror and her rings at the same time. Everything was within an arm's reach away. What more can a girl ask for?

Kalista also got this cute little pink finger toothbrush for us to work with her on her oral stim. Hopefully, it will also do wonders for her gums and tongue. Gum massage anyone?

As always, once her OT session was done...she fell asleep.