Rolling over!

We spent father's day weekend with both my parents and Jeff's parents and sister up at Clearlake. While the weather was stormy on Friday, the rest of the weekend was warm and sunny. On Saturday, Jeff and the grandpas spent the day golfing while the ladies stayed home to relax with Elise. Elise has been trying and trying to roll over for about a month but with no success. Wouldn't you know with the boys gone, Elise rolled over! She rolled over from her stomach to her back three times. While I truly believe this was an accident, Elise enjoyed all the clapping and excitement. Not to worry, she rolled over for Daddy the next day-- on Father's Day! What a present!!









(Brutus on the left)


(Garth on the right)

Nicu followup

Elise had her first of several followups with the special care clinic. The Toledo Hospital has a followup program that they offer most of their Nicu preemie patients. Since Elise had such low APGAR scores immediately following delivery, we were offered this followup care. So, this past Thursday, Elise met with a neonatologist physician, nutritionist, speech therapist, and physical therapist. The news was good-- she is developmentally at or past where she should be at 5.5 months. Developmentally Elise should be functioning at a four month level as she was born almost 6 weeks early. But Elise can do most of the things that other 5.5 monthers can do.

The only concern was from the physical therapist. Like a lot of preemies, Elise has a stiff neck on the right hand side. Apparently this is common with preemies because they are treated and cared for only on one side as they stay in their islet beds! If we help Elise to stretch her neck muscle over the next several months this is of no concern. However, if untreated, this tight muscle can develop a hard knot that can affect many things from rolling, walking, down to hearing issues. So several times a day Jeff and I have to carry Elise in a modified football looking hold. This allows her head to passively hang and stretch out the tight muscle. Personally, I think she looks super comfortable and enjoys her new view of the house.

Our next followup won't be until November-- unless Elise's neck doesn't improve beforehand- which is unlikely if we keep carrying her around like a football!

Great grandmothers and cereal

Jeff and I loaded up the car on Saturday and made the trek to Medina with Elise and dogs in tow. We were headed for a visit with my parents and for the first official visit with the great grandmothers (both my parent's mothers). When I had previously been in Medina with Elise, back in March, the flu bug had hit both of my grandmother's assisted living residences. Needless to say, we passed on a visit then!

On Saturday, we stopped in to visit with Granny- my father's mother. Even suffering with Alzheimer's, Granny knew she loved a visit from a baby! She brought up the fact that she'd be willing to keep Elise if we should ever be selling her. Of course, Granny had a funny smile when she said this. We visited for about 30 minutes in her room until Elise became a bit too warm and fussy. We will have to visit again soon.




On Sunday, we stopped in to see Grandma Sophie- my mother's mother. She was ecstatic with the visit! The four generations of women poised for a picture together. What a memory. Of course, Grandma made sure to 'show' Elise off to all the staff and residents when she walked us out. Being the first great-granddaughter in the family has its perks! You get treated like a rock star!

Elise has taken a turn for the worse in the sleeping department. Previously, we had been sleeping a few days a week all the way through the night while the rest of the nights we would get up once for a feeding. However recently, Elise has started to awaken twice for feedings each night. We figure Elise must be going through a growth spurt- something the doctor had warned us may happen around the 5-6 month mark. Our pediatrician had told us that it was ok to start feeding her rice cereal if we found that her normal bottles would not sustain her for long periods of time. Last night, was Elise's first spoonfuls of her 'delicious' cereal. A few tablespoons of cereal were added to her nightly bottle routine. There was no difference with her sleeping last night- but a few tablespoons really isn't a lot of food. Hopefully within the next few weeks, we will fine tune the amount of food we give and Elise will get the hang of eating with a spoon. She seemed to enjoy the first few spoonfuls but quickly became frustrated that her belly wasn't filling as quickly. All within time!