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| Swingin' |
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| Lookin' around |
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| 'Well, what had happened was...' |
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| Exploring with her great-grandfather |
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| 4 generations!! |
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| With Pops |
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Visit to Great-Grandma's
Right before Thanksgiving we took Sydney to great-grandmother's house for the first time. Her house is on a large lot in a rural area, so Sydney loved looking around at all the nature surroundings. She got to see a cat which she 'pet' a couple times, rocked and swang on the front porch, and went exploring with her great-grandpa Ron and Pops. Sydney is so blessed to be able to know her great-grandparents!
Zoo- Part II
Before Thanksgiving we took Sydney back to the zoo. We purchased a year membership to the aquarium which also gets us into the zoo for free, so we have tried to take advantage of it as much as possible. When we took Sydney to the zoo for her birthday, we went to the 'Africa' side of the zoo where we saw elephants, giraffes, and zebras. This time we went to the 'North America' side and saw alligators, bison, puffins, a grizzly bear, and turtles. We were able to see the bison super close up. They were snoozing but woke up while we were there and started walking around. Sydney loved watching them moving and quickly started saying "bison". We also got to watch the sea lions during feeding time. They did a bunch of tricks for their fish treats. Sydney had a great time, and I think enjoyed seeing her MeMe, Pops, Uncle Brent, and Aunt Catherine just as much as seeing the animals! :)
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| Checking out the alligators |
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| Looking at a bobcat with her Daddy |
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| Playground time! |
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| Bison |
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| Checking out the animals with MeMe and Pops |
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| Loving seeing the bison |
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Hand Update- 7 months post surgery
A while back we met with Sydney's hand surgeon. It is so hard to believe that seven months have passed since her surgery. I can still easily bring back memories of anticipating and worry about her having the surgery, yet it seems like her hands have always been the way they are now.
Our appointment with the surgeon was actually a quick one. After x-rays, (which get harder every time she has them done) we talked with the doctor about Sydney's future possibility of more surgery. At this point, we're basically in the same place we were last time. She will most likely want to operate again on Sydney's right hand when she is about three. This will be to hopefully straighten her ring finger out a bit. We are unsure of how much more flexibility she will gain with further surgery which is our main concern with that hand. Otherwise, she wants to see Sydney again in a six months just to check in again.
No big news, but no bad news either! We'll take it!
Our appointment with the surgeon was actually a quick one. After x-rays, (which get harder every time she has them done) we talked with the doctor about Sydney's future possibility of more surgery. At this point, we're basically in the same place we were last time. She will most likely want to operate again on Sydney's right hand when she is about three. This will be to hopefully straighten her ring finger out a bit. We are unsure of how much more flexibility she will gain with further surgery which is our main concern with that hand. Otherwise, she wants to see Sydney again in a six months just to check in again.
No big news, but no bad news either! We'll take it!
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| Waiting with Daddy |
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| Waiting on x-rays |
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| Taking an important call |
Monday, November 28, 2011
First NC State Game
Recently we took Sydney to her first NC State basketball game. I am quite certain this was one of the things Blake was looking forward to most about having kids- being able to share his passion for NC State sports. Seeing as how he was a manager for the State basketball team his freshman year, I think the fact that her first Wolfpack experience was to a basketball game made it even more special to him.
We both were cautiously excited about taking her. We weren't sure if she would be intrigued, scared, or even overstimulated. Once there, she was enthralled with listening to the pep band and watching the action of the game. She even started clapping along with the crowd. We stayed until halftime (past her bedtime), and she seemed to enjoy every moment!
We both were cautiously excited about taking her. We weren't sure if she would be intrigued, scared, or even overstimulated. Once there, she was enthralled with listening to the pep band and watching the action of the game. She even started clapping along with the crowd. We stayed until halftime (past her bedtime), and she seemed to enjoy every moment!
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| At the RBC Center |
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| Watching all the goings-ons |
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| Wolfpack In The House!! |
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| Go Pack! |
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| Too busy watching the action to take a picture |
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| With her daddy in front of the Reynolds floor |
Saturday, November 19, 2011
And we have a crawler!
~Be strong in the Lord with his energy and strength. (Ephesians6:10)~
As it seems with many things in our life, Sydney's crawling has been quite the adventure. I know it seems late for me to say she is a crawler, and that's because it is. When we went for Sydney's 12 month well check, one of my main questions/concerns for the pediatrician was should we be worried that Sydney was not crawling? The short answer was yes. Now the why is more complicated, but long story short, the cause of the late crawling is a combination of her not being able to use her hands/arms for a month following surgery as well as the fact that she is on the small side which can sometimes cause a delay. Her pediatrician referred her for an evaluation to determine if she qualified for physical therapy.
Well, this referral turned into a much bigger deal than I anticipated. We were assigned a service coordinator who came for a home visit. The service coordinator then scheduled an evaluation time. The evaluation consisted of the three of us, plus the service coordinator, a social worker, and a physical therapist...overwhelming to say the least. It was hard enough knowing that Sydney is delayed physically, add on top of that the stress of having three strangers come to the house and expect her to "perform", well it gave me a few gray hairs I'm sure.
On the day of the evaluation, we were told Sydney would be tested in five areas: gross motor skills, fine motor skills, expressive language (how she communicates), receptive language (how she receives and understands language), and problem solving skills (really...on a 13 month old??). My main area of concern of course was the lack of crawling as well as the fact she was unable to get herself from a laying down position to a sitting position and vice versa. I was also interested to see how she would perform in the fine motor category, especially since I'm not sure what a 13 month old is supposed to be able to do fine motor wise and to see if her syndactyly has hindered her in this area at all. Well, they of course evaluated those areas last. I suppose this is because they wanted her at her "peak" for the more academic skills. The evaluation lasted about an hour or so. I must say she sat down in front of the three strangers and performed to her little heart's content. It was as if she were putting on a show for them. She spoke about every word she knew and imitated just about every animal sound she knew as well. She was even able to do a few things I didn't know she could. For example, one of the evaluators asked her to "give Mommy the _____." The tricky part was I couldn't hold out my hand as a clue that she was to give it to me. She turned right around and handed me the object. There were also some tasks she was not able to complete, such as a simple puzzle, but this did not really surprise me. They warned us before beginning the assessment that they would be asking her to do some tasks she would not be able to complete but not to worry. They had to follow the complete test and some tasks are above her developmental stage (ie puzzles).
After finishing the evaluation, Sydney went down for a nap and we discussed the results. They basically compared Sydney with other 13 month olds and graded (for lack of a better term) her on a bell curve. They divided the bell curve into the following categories: above average, average, slightly delayed, and significantly delayed. When going over the results, the evaluators started with Sydney's strengths. She tested above average in both expressive and receptive language (insert proud mama comments here) and average in both problem solving and fine motor. Unfortunately she tested significantly delayed in gross motor. Now, in the moment I was ok with this result. I have discovered since having Sydney that I am the type of person who goes with the flow in the moment and has to process things after the fact. So while discussing the results, I held myself together. Following the evaluation, I found myself feeling sad, frustrated, and guilty (why I'm not sure, comes with motherhood territory I guess). I think every mother's hope is that her child is normal developmentally and it's hard when that doesn't happen. Believe me, I know this is not a huge ordeal in the long-run, but right now it's hard to see my baby struggle. So the results mean that Sydney qualifies for physical therapy.
Fast forward about a month and a half and....we have a CRAWLER!!! Sydney has had four physical therapy sessions and she make leaps and bounds worth of progress each time. Her therapist comes to the house and basically plays with her for an hour but manipulates the play into opportunities for her to practice crawling, pulling up, sitting down, and even walking behind a rolling toy. She is great about leaving us with assignments to work on throughout the week until her next session. Each time I can see improvement. In fact, yesterday she crawled up the STAIRS. I mean, to go from not crawling (actually, she did an odd crawl when she basically pushed herself with her legs using her arms a little bit but kept her head on the floor...it was a bit awkward) to being pretty much fully mobile in four weeks is pretty darn amazing.
The therapist guessed Sydney would be crawling 'normally' by Thanksgiving, but Sydney has blown that prediction out of the water. I can already see Sydney being a determined child, not letting anyone tell her she can't. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to be writing another post soon saying she is walking! Until then, here is a link to a video of our crawler from a few weeks ago. She is much quicker now!
As it seems with many things in our life, Sydney's crawling has been quite the adventure. I know it seems late for me to say she is a crawler, and that's because it is. When we went for Sydney's 12 month well check, one of my main questions/concerns for the pediatrician was should we be worried that Sydney was not crawling? The short answer was yes. Now the why is more complicated, but long story short, the cause of the late crawling is a combination of her not being able to use her hands/arms for a month following surgery as well as the fact that she is on the small side which can sometimes cause a delay. Her pediatrician referred her for an evaluation to determine if she qualified for physical therapy.
Well, this referral turned into a much bigger deal than I anticipated. We were assigned a service coordinator who came for a home visit. The service coordinator then scheduled an evaluation time. The evaluation consisted of the three of us, plus the service coordinator, a social worker, and a physical therapist...overwhelming to say the least. It was hard enough knowing that Sydney is delayed physically, add on top of that the stress of having three strangers come to the house and expect her to "perform", well it gave me a few gray hairs I'm sure.
On the day of the evaluation, we were told Sydney would be tested in five areas: gross motor skills, fine motor skills, expressive language (how she communicates), receptive language (how she receives and understands language), and problem solving skills (really...on a 13 month old??). My main area of concern of course was the lack of crawling as well as the fact she was unable to get herself from a laying down position to a sitting position and vice versa. I was also interested to see how she would perform in the fine motor category, especially since I'm not sure what a 13 month old is supposed to be able to do fine motor wise and to see if her syndactyly has hindered her in this area at all. Well, they of course evaluated those areas last. I suppose this is because they wanted her at her "peak" for the more academic skills. The evaluation lasted about an hour or so. I must say she sat down in front of the three strangers and performed to her little heart's content. It was as if she were putting on a show for them. She spoke about every word she knew and imitated just about every animal sound she knew as well. She was even able to do a few things I didn't know she could. For example, one of the evaluators asked her to "give Mommy the _____." The tricky part was I couldn't hold out my hand as a clue that she was to give it to me. She turned right around and handed me the object. There were also some tasks she was not able to complete, such as a simple puzzle, but this did not really surprise me. They warned us before beginning the assessment that they would be asking her to do some tasks she would not be able to complete but not to worry. They had to follow the complete test and some tasks are above her developmental stage (ie puzzles).
After finishing the evaluation, Sydney went down for a nap and we discussed the results. They basically compared Sydney with other 13 month olds and graded (for lack of a better term) her on a bell curve. They divided the bell curve into the following categories: above average, average, slightly delayed, and significantly delayed. When going over the results, the evaluators started with Sydney's strengths. She tested above average in both expressive and receptive language (insert proud mama comments here) and average in both problem solving and fine motor. Unfortunately she tested significantly delayed in gross motor. Now, in the moment I was ok with this result. I have discovered since having Sydney that I am the type of person who goes with the flow in the moment and has to process things after the fact. So while discussing the results, I held myself together. Following the evaluation, I found myself feeling sad, frustrated, and guilty (why I'm not sure, comes with motherhood territory I guess). I think every mother's hope is that her child is normal developmentally and it's hard when that doesn't happen. Believe me, I know this is not a huge ordeal in the long-run, but right now it's hard to see my baby struggle. So the results mean that Sydney qualifies for physical therapy.
Fast forward about a month and a half and....we have a CRAWLER!!! Sydney has had four physical therapy sessions and she make leaps and bounds worth of progress each time. Her therapist comes to the house and basically plays with her for an hour but manipulates the play into opportunities for her to practice crawling, pulling up, sitting down, and even walking behind a rolling toy. She is great about leaving us with assignments to work on throughout the week until her next session. Each time I can see improvement. In fact, yesterday she crawled up the STAIRS. I mean, to go from not crawling (actually, she did an odd crawl when she basically pushed herself with her legs using her arms a little bit but kept her head on the floor...it was a bit awkward) to being pretty much fully mobile in four weeks is pretty darn amazing.
The therapist guessed Sydney would be crawling 'normally' by Thanksgiving, but Sydney has blown that prediction out of the water. I can already see Sydney being a determined child, not letting anyone tell her she can't. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to be writing another post soon saying she is walking! Until then, here is a link to a video of our crawler from a few weeks ago. She is much quicker now!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!
Anyone who knows Blake, knows his love of Halloween. He refers to it as his "Superbowl and Christmas all wrapped up into one". This being said, it's no surprise that Halloween is kind of a big deal in our house. Our house was decorated pretty much beginning October 1st and Sydney had an outfit for just about everyday. Again, Halloween is quite the ordeal for us.
A couple pictures of her outfits:
Our yard:
We of course did the traditional Halloween things like carving pumpkins and going trick-or-treating, even though that was only to two houses. We decided to dress Sydney up as a duck this year. It was an easy decision since "quack quack" is one of the first things she said. When we went shopping for a costume, she saw the duck costume on the rack and started "quack quacking"....that sold us for sure!
Over the years, I know Sydney will come to love Halloween soon as much as we do!
A couple pictures of her outfits:
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| "Ghouls just want to have fun!" |
Our yard:
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| Grisswald-esque? |
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| Ready to decorate some pumpkins! |
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| So helpful (Ok, so she was really pulling the pieces out...) |
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| Mr. Pumpkin Head |
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| Sydney as a ladybug |
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| Vampire Sydney |
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| Look, a pumpkin! |
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| Carving a pumpkin |
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| Our jack-o-lantern |
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| Duck Sydney |
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| Trick-or-treating at MeMe and Pops' house |
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| Blake loves an excuse to dress up |
Over the years, I know Sydney will come to love Halloween soon as much as we do!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
NC State Fair
We decided last minute to take Sydney to the State Fair the last weekend it was in town. She continues to love looking at books about animals so we thought it would be fun to take her to see the animals at the fair. I'm glad we did! She loved looking at the ducks, goats, pigs, and cows. I think we'll definitely make another trip next year.
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| Checking out the ducks |
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| Goats! |
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| More goats! |
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| Looking at donkeys |
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| Prize winning sheep |
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| Saying "mooo" to the cows |
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