Isabelle's 6 months old!

Today, Isabelle is 6 months old. It's hard to believe it's been 6 months already - so much has happened since she's been born. On one hand it feels like she's so tiny and she was just born, and on the other we don't remember life without her; can't imagine life without her and she's had such an eventful life already. Today she had her check up with our pediatrician. She weighed 17.2 pounds (75%), was 25 1/4" long (45%), and her head was 17" around (75%). She's our smallest baby of the three, but still nice and chubby and short! :) She also had her check up for her tubes today and they looked great and were clear. They rechecked her hearing and passed in the left ear and the right ear plug kept falling out and it was too noisy (we brought big brother with :) so it was inconclusive. But she responds great to sounds now, so we're not concerned. I brought Isaiah with cause he has been saying his ear hurts and had a fever last night - sure enough - an ear infection! So he's on antibiodics. Isabelle got 3 shots today - and Isaiah kept reminding me and the doctor that he did not need shots. :) She has started rolling over more consistently now to her left from back to tummy. We bought her a bumbo chair - it's a chair designed for babies 3 months and up that cannot sit up on their own to help them sit up. She does pretty good. Her head is still pretty wobbly in it, but she gets better each time she's in it. It's great for her therapy to help her use other muscles. Her therapist was out yesterday morning and was again impressed with her improvements. She noticed how much stronger her right arm seems to be and that she keeps that side of her body very tense. Her head is getting quite flat in the back so we have some techniques to work on to help it shape better. She's come a long way, but we get a slap in the face sometimes as to how far behind she is - like today when I was filling out the milestone paper the doctor does. She really is not doing a lot of things she's expected to at her age. It's easy to forget because it becomes the norm when that's what you're around all the time. It takes things like that paper at the doctor, or putting her in the exersaucer that my other two kids were using at 3 months and she still isn't close to using it at 6 months to make you go, oh yeah, something's wrong. I asked a lot of questions to our pediatrican today about the testing she's had done and what the neurologist is suggesting - going to Mayo clinic, etc. She says we've ruled out most common disorders now and most of the "scary" ones as I called them. She talked about all the different enzymes in our body and how if even just one of these is a tiny bit off it can cause problems. I'm sure she dumbed it down quite a bit for me, but basically she said they have to just keep plugging away and ruling things out and sometimes they just never know. I was sharing how I'm getting antsy for answers and I would like to know more about what we're looking for, what we've ruled out, etc. She said it can be a long process and to just keep remembering that. I have great days when I fully enjoy Belle and her progress and just enjoy her and I have days where I'm overwhelmed with anxiety and wonder and the amount of organization involved in having a child with special needs. I am not an organized person, so it takes a lot of energy for me to remember everything and do all that she requires with therapy and following up on things. This morning it all bubbled up to the service and I had a good anxiety attack and crying time. I was trying to pack up to go, find all her papers for the doctor while the daycare kids were all asking me for breakfast items, and getting Audri off to school....I couldn't find papers I knew I had put in a spot and I was nervous for the appointments today....I'm still fighting off my cold....I have been having a lot of interviews for the daycare, so I need to remember all these people, when they're coming and the papers they need...Jose is just so busy with work so I do a lot of this on my own...so anyway, sometimes it's all just too much. It could be so much worse. I feel like such a whiner; I really don't have it that bad, it just all seems to hit me at once ever so often. We will just keep taking it a day at a time and even a moment at a time in some cases. Thanks for hanging in their with me and allowing me to "vent". :)

The bumbo chair

Muscles are getting tired....I'm leaning....