Pipsqueak thought it was a pretty good holiday - after all - she is a huge fan of candy ;) ha ha ha
Hers was the Dora pumpkin ;)
Adorable Agnes :)
and big brother Minion ;)
There you have it - a successful first Halloween :)
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
First Halloween!!!!
With our adoption, we have had the pleasure to watch Pipsqueak experience the 1st of several things :) Halloween was one of them!!! It is just starting to gain some popularity in Latvia - but is not common practice like it is here :)
Pipsqueak thought it was a pretty good holiday - after all - she is a huge fan of candy ;) ha ha ha
Pipsqueak thought it was a pretty good holiday - after all - she is a huge fan of candy ;) ha ha ha
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Four months home!!!
I know - I am a terrible blogger ;) I guess it's because I am working on being a GREAT mom :) I don't know if I am succeeding - but I keep trying my best, every single day!!
Our 4 month home update on Pipsqueak is a good one :) Attachment is coming along, her brothers and sisters adore her, and I think the feeling is mutual :)
She is learning new signs and word approximations daily. Her grasp of the English language is nothing short of amazing :)
She has now been evaluated by OT, PT, and ST :) We got new orthotics for her, as she pronates pretty badly on one foot :) These ones are much more comfy than the ones they had for her in Latvia :) But - I will say it is is impressive that they had orthotics for her and she wore orthotic shoes from the time she could walk in the orphanage. That shows that they cared about her and worked with her - yayyyyy :) So grateful she was in a good baby house!! Recommendations were for 2x monthly of each, so we will see when they can fit us in to their therapists schedules - still waiting to hear.
Pipsqueak has also seen opthamalogy, cardiology, ENT, our pediatrician, had blood work done (twice), received a few missing immunizations, and seen a sleep specialist and had a sleep study. It appears our Baltic beauty has severe sleep apnea :( Sooooo - she will be having her tonsils and adenoids out early in 2014. It is very common in children with down syndrome to have OSA - their airways are small and often floppy. There are different points to obstruction, but a T and A is usually the first intervention taken. Littlest Dude had a T and A and still has OSA, we did further testing and found it is his tongue that is causing the obstruction. We have the option to do a tongue reduction on him, but have waited a bit to see if as he grew his airway would open up more. There are other places the obstruction can occur, but we don't know exactly where til we take some initial steps and see if those interventions improve the sleep. Littlest Dude averages 7-8 episodes an hour, Pipsqueak averages 24. That is a lot of arousals/episodes - changes in body positioning every hour - so it does make a huge difference in the quality of sleep and attention during the day.
Pipsqueak loves playing outside, playing with our puppy, her brothers and sisters, sweeping ;), jumping, sliding, swinging (yayyyy - we worked through the sensory on that!), going for walks, watching SigningTime, eating yogurt, fresh fruit, and ice cream :) Ring around the rosies and duck duck, goose are her favorite games, and she loves to sing and dance :) She is very joyful and fun and funny :) She is also very patient with all the running around that happens with big families :)
She is a fan of her bath, and has been known to climb in fully dressed if I turn my back for a minute :) She "organizes" drawers and cupboards, climbs on things, makes messes etc... Just like any typically developing 2 year old :)
She gives hugs and kisses and says I love you :) She can be snuggly and cuddly and fiercely independent all at the same time.
She is beautiful and brave and special :)
She is doing well.
We love her.
We are blessed!!!!
Our 4 month home update on Pipsqueak is a good one :) Attachment is coming along, her brothers and sisters adore her, and I think the feeling is mutual :)
She is learning new signs and word approximations daily. Her grasp of the English language is nothing short of amazing :)
She has now been evaluated by OT, PT, and ST :) We got new orthotics for her, as she pronates pretty badly on one foot :) These ones are much more comfy than the ones they had for her in Latvia :) But - I will say it is is impressive that they had orthotics for her and she wore orthotic shoes from the time she could walk in the orphanage. That shows that they cared about her and worked with her - yayyyyy :) So grateful she was in a good baby house!! Recommendations were for 2x monthly of each, so we will see when they can fit us in to their therapists schedules - still waiting to hear.
Pipsqueak has also seen opthamalogy, cardiology, ENT, our pediatrician, had blood work done (twice), received a few missing immunizations, and seen a sleep specialist and had a sleep study. It appears our Baltic beauty has severe sleep apnea :( Sooooo - she will be having her tonsils and adenoids out early in 2014. It is very common in children with down syndrome to have OSA - their airways are small and often floppy. There are different points to obstruction, but a T and A is usually the first intervention taken. Littlest Dude had a T and A and still has OSA, we did further testing and found it is his tongue that is causing the obstruction. We have the option to do a tongue reduction on him, but have waited a bit to see if as he grew his airway would open up more. There are other places the obstruction can occur, but we don't know exactly where til we take some initial steps and see if those interventions improve the sleep. Littlest Dude averages 7-8 episodes an hour, Pipsqueak averages 24. That is a lot of arousals/episodes - changes in body positioning every hour - so it does make a huge difference in the quality of sleep and attention during the day.
Pipsqueak loves playing outside, playing with our puppy, her brothers and sisters, sweeping ;), jumping, sliding, swinging (yayyyy - we worked through the sensory on that!), going for walks, watching SigningTime, eating yogurt, fresh fruit, and ice cream :) Ring around the rosies and duck duck, goose are her favorite games, and she loves to sing and dance :) She is very joyful and fun and funny :) She is also very patient with all the running around that happens with big families :)
She is a fan of her bath, and has been known to climb in fully dressed if I turn my back for a minute :) She "organizes" drawers and cupboards, climbs on things, makes messes etc... Just like any typically developing 2 year old :)
She gives hugs and kisses and says I love you :) She can be snuggly and cuddly and fiercely independent all at the same time.
She is beautiful and brave and special :)
She is doing well.
We love her.
We are blessed!!!!
Pretty in pink :)
Dreams DO come true :)
Painting pumpkins!
Some paint did actually make it on the pumpkin - good thing it's non-toxic :)
playing outside is soooo fun!!!
Our little "Agnes" from Despicable Me on Halloween :)
Our little stinker ;) ha ha ha
Littlest Dude and Pipsqueak love!!!
Princess and Pipsqueak love :)
Fun at the farm with friends :)
Sooooo grateful for this ray of sunshine in our family!!!!
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