the hips don't lie (part III, at least)

Last week flew by so quickly. There are still a bunch of things we are working on. There is a lot to do and we're trying not to get overwhelmed by all the things that need to be accomplished.

We started the week out with an adventure. The whole family including Nanny & Babu went out to dinner down the street at Tap & Vine. A lot of stress that had built up surrounding the adventure, but we figured we could venture out with the support of the boys' grandparents. Jenn took the portable feeding in LJ's little backpack( see below pix). LJ even slept in his sling for a little while allowing her the rare ability to eat with both hands. It was totally worth the hour of preparations getting the equipment rounded up, the kids dressed for the cold, piling everyone into the car and waiting 15 minutes for a table. Things went better than expected and now that we know we can do it, there will be more fun outings!


We also got a second ultrasound of Lewis' hips and with it, good news. It came in the midst of Lewis' first snow/ice storm this week. Unfortunately, Jenn forgot to move the car down our very steep driveway. Luckily Bop and his trusty SUV came to the rescue. He drove us to Fairfax INOVA Hospital for an ultrasound of LJ's hips. (See the original "Hips Don't Lie" post from December and the "Ahoy Matey" post from a couple weeks back). After going back to the pediatrician again, we were given a referral to get a second opinion. This ultrasound was the precursor to our appointment this Monday. The doc who read the ultrasound on site says there's no problem. Hopefully the new orthopedist will agree.

Speech therapy is going pretty well too. The therapist thinks his sucking is a bit disorganized but it's to be expected. She explained that infants learn the suck, swallow, breathe, suck, swallow, breathe pattern. Lewis is doing the suck, swallow and then breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe before he takes another suck and swallow. With practice that should improve. She commented that his whole affect was changed since he has been off the Phenobarb (Did we mention he's off the phenobarb? Maybe that's why he doesn't sleep anymore...). The speech therapist really thinks he is starting to look more and more alert. We are going to be having a joint meeting with a nutritionist soon so that everyone can get on the same page with LJ's feedings. In the meantime our homework for the weekend is getting baby Lewis' fingers in his mouth, getting him to suck on these neat little nuk brushes she's given us, and using a tiny massager to get him used to different sensory things.

We've even been trying to squeeze in a little "me time" in between all the preparations + doctor's appointments + visitors. Of course this is all made possible by our lovely parents who have been helping out. Can I tell you how nice it is to leave the house all by myself? Anyways, I went for a haircut and facial then met up with a friend for dinner tonight. Josh is getting a nice respite tomorrow - going on an overnight hunting trip with the boys this weekend.

LJ's Aunt Joanne and Uncle Jeff will be here for a visit this weekend. And although our "to do" list seems to be growing longer by the minute, we'll be able to tackle it with the help of some free babysitting [hello, grandparents!].