A Healthy Sophia

Last week was a busy week for Sophie. She had 3 doctors appointment, turned 2, had a birthday party, and went to preschool. This post is primarily about her health progress (check her birthday post for more on her turning 2.)

I praise God for the progress Sophie has made in the last 3-6 months. We went to her pediatric GI doctor on Tuesday and got a good report from him. She is now back to the 50th percentile for her height and she weighed in at 23.5 pounds. She is still in the 5-10th percentile for weight but the doctor was happy with her weight gain, as was I. She had clearly had a growth spurt recently since she had been waking up around 10-midnight and eating a completely extra meal. Her specialist has finally deemed her a healthy and petite girl. The doctor also worked with us to decide on a plan to try to get her off both of her medications. We have to be careful in removing her medications because if she still really needs them and we don't realize it quick enough we can make her swallow problem worse and end up again with her not wanting to eat or drink. We have removed one of her medications already and are watching her for the next couple of months. We have a repeat Barium Swallow test at the hospital scheduled for late October and if she has had more improvement in her swallowing then we will try to remove her other medication. I was thankful to her the doctor say her is very confident Sophie will outgrow her reflux and swallow problem. Praise the Lord!

Next was her 2 year checkup with her pediatrician which went very well also. He said she is now right on track developmentally. He did have a concern about her feet and referred us to a foot and ankle specialist to have them looked at. When she walks both of her feet still turn in a lot of the time. This is common but typically by age 2 it has corrected and the feet no longer turn in.

We saw the foot and ankle specialist later in the week. The doctor said it isn't very severe but we do need to keep an eye on it. He gave us an exercise to do with her at home for the next couple of months and then he will check her again in early November.

All in all, a good report on her health. John and I were both relieved to finally have a good report on her from her specialist.

Baby Broom is ...

To even the count with my brother and his three boys, we will have the three girls in the family. Zoe and Sophie will have a little sister!

She looks healthy and her measurements are good. Her heartbeat was strong and she is moving all over the place. I have been feeling her move for nearly three weeks and the movements are getting a little stronger. Last night John even felt his first kick! Pretty exciting since it's earlier than movement can usually be felt externally.

We asked Zoe what she thinks we should name her new little sister and her immediate suggestions were Catsy (?!) and MacKenzie.  Luckily we have a few more months to mull that decision over.

We are very excited to have another girl and thank the Lord she is healthy!

let preschool begin

This morning both girls very happily started preschool at TotSpot preschool. The preschool is less than a mile from the house and when the weather is cooler definitely within walking distance. This is Zoe's second year in preschool  and Sophie's first. 

When preschool ended in May Zoe asked me for probably the first 3 to 4 weeks when she was going to preschool. She had such a good time last year in with her teacher Ms. Nelay and Ms. Kristen. I started talking about her starting preschool again a couple of weeks ago to get her excited for the change coming. When I told her she was getting a new teacher, Ms. Gretchen, she wasn't too sure about that. At first she said she would not like her, but then when we met her last week at "Meet the teacher" night she changed her mind. This morning she kept asking when we were leaving to go to preschool. She told me this morning that she liked Ms. Gretchen and that she was pretty. When I took her to class and she saw her teacher there was no 'bye mom" - she took off running and gave her new teacher a big hug! Even though it would be nice to feel a little missed I wouldn't change her independence and excitement.

We had originally planned to start Sophie in January when she will be 2 1/2 like Zoe was when she started. Long story short we decided a month ago to check on the possibility of getting her in in January and put her on the waiting list. At that point and she was #7. I really hadn't expected her to even get in for this school year. We got a call last week that they had an opening for her so we decided to go ahead and start her now since there is no guarantee that there will be an opening in January. She was so excited this morning to carry her backpack into the school and walked into the classroom also without even a "bye mom" or a glance back. I was actually very happy she did that well since she has been  more attached to me than Zoe ever has. She did great in the class and was pretty happy to see me when I picked her up. Zoe has been very excited for Sophie because she gets to have Ms. Nelay for her teacher this year. I think it will be a great year of learning and socializing for her.


What to do with my mornings on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Oh, the list is so long but hopefully by the end of the school year it will be shorter.    

And then there were three

That's right ... Zoe and Sophia are going to have a new baby brother or sister.

Kelly is 3 months pregnant and starting to feel a little better. We are excited about the addition to our family that will arrive in January or if, following tradition of the other two, will be late arriving in February.

Sophia's Barium Swallow Study

While waiting for her test, John & Sophie racing the car across the table

This morning Sophie had her third modified barium swallow study at Cardon Children's Medical Center. The test is done in one of the radiology suite at the hospital with a radiologist, a speech-language pathologist, a radiology technician, and John and I. Typically the child is seated in a special chair that is placed next to the radiographic equipment that takes the pictures as she swallows, but today our special little girl got to sit on Daddy's lap after a very vocal protest and unwillingness to drink in the "special chair". They gave Sophie liquid that has been mixed with barium (and chocolate syrup, yum) to make it show up on the x-ray monitor.  It is really interesting to see the x-ray video of her drinking.

Enough about the test - to the results:

To recap her two previous studies-

Her first Barium Swallow test was in August 2010 and showed she was silently aspirating when she drank or ate thin, half-nectar, and even sometimes nectar consistency liquids and solids. She had some penetration of the airway, but did not aspirate with honey consistency. 

Her second Barium Swallow test was done in November 2010 and showed she had a small improvement in her swallow but still silently aspirated with thin and half-nectar consistencies. She didn't have as much penetration with the nectar consistency as the first test. 

I had hoped and really believed we would walk away from the test today knowing she no longer has a swallow defect. I was mistaken. Despite my disappointment there is good news in the results. Today she had penetration of the vocal cords (airways) with the half nectar and full nectar consistencies but no aspiration. Their recommendation now is to thicken her liquids to half-nectar instead of full nectar. 

I think I was surprised by the results today because John and I had stopped thickening her liquids about 1-2 months ago because we found she would drink more water and milk when they weren't thickened. She hasn't regressed in her eating or drinking since then which would be expected if she was still having problems. 

Well, I thank the Lord for the small improvement in the test results but really for the great improvement she has made in her eating and drinking over the last 8 months.

Crossroads Toddler Family Fun Day

On Saturday our church had a Toddler Family Fun Day at one of the childrens pastor's home. There were yummy snacks and lots of activities for the children. Zoe really liked the play house including the cell phone inside. She talked to Papa, Nana, Ryan and daddy on the "play" phone. Sophie had a blast with all the water activities, especially the play pool with water toys.  All in all a great morning of fun outside in the Arizona spring weather.

Lunch with Great Grandma Crowley

Yesterday we went with Nana and Papa in their car to Phoenix to visit with my Great Grandma Crowley. Zoe sat next to great grandma during lunch and had a great time. We don't get to visit with her very often so it was great to see Zoe so comfortable with her. It was a good visit and the girls did great.