Standing

A lot of this has been going on lately. It seems like she is almost always trying to pull herself up to stand. Sometimes she lifts her (straight) leg up and climbs right on the couch. Here she is sporting her shiny hip helpers playing on the ipad. Her knees are locked, which is not great, but we are just thrilled that she is standing. We are seeing a LOT more movement with Lyla. More army crawling than rolling. More time on her knees, especially when wearing the hip helpers. And she's even taken a few knee steps when on all fours! I told parker and mabel that we would have a party when Lyla starts crawling, cake and all! Can't wait!

Also, she turned 2 in September! I need to post about that ASAP!

Standing Up

Today Lyla stood up all by herself by pulling herself up on the outside of the bathtub!!!!! Parker and Mabel were in the tub playing after their bath and Lyla really wanted to play too! She just loves the water and really likes the Ariel swim Barbie. I was in the bedroom(bathroom...) and I hear the kids shout with excitement "Mom! Lyla is standing up and she's splashing the water in the bathtub!" I ran in there so fast and couldn't believe my eyes! I didn't get a picture as I was so worried that she would fall in or fall backward not being able to stand for very long. She did it a second time too and we all cheered so loud. Lyla clapped too ( while standing against the tub). It was an amazing sight to see. And just as wonderful was how truly happy and proud both Parker and Mabel were for her. I could cry..sniff sniff...

My Summer In Pictures

My Summer in Pictures

In June we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I loved going in the baby area and bouncing around on the water blob. I also thought the jelly fish were really cool! We got to go to Auntie JJ's wedding in Capitola too.

I'm getting to be really good at sitting up and sometimes it keeps me up later at night.

I had a few naps outside. Some at Parker's swim practice and this one over at Grammy's house.

I love seeing what my older siblings are up too. Mabel was on the ipad so I wanted to help.

 I got to celebrate Independence Day at home. Last year I was in the hospital and got to watch the the fireworks from the window.

Grandpa and Vovo got a new boat and I loved going fast on the water. 

This is a comfortable position.

Had an echocardiogram. Dr says everything looks the same. My mitral valve is leaking but for now it's ok.

Read some stories with Daddy and Mabel.

 Helped Parkie build with Legos.

Rode the carousal for the first time and was really unsure at first. Once it started moving I felt a lot better.  

Sometimes when Mommy says "cheese" I smile:)

We went to the beach for Mabel's 4th birthday and I had fun in the sand and putting my feet in the water. Then I took a nap. 

In August we went camping at the D.L. Bliss campground in Lake Tahoe. We went on a fun hike and got stuck in a hail storm. I liked getting wet and then sitting around the camp fire.

 Sometimes Mommy lets me sit in the forward facing car seat. 

I'm doing a lot more Army crawling.

And pushing myself into hands and knees.

I started warm water therapy in July and really love the water. I'm working on strengthening my core and Mommy can already notice a difference in how I'm sitting and how more often I am sitting. I also now have 4 teeth and 2 more are coming in. One bottom tooth and the rest are molars! I can take objects out of a bowl and am working really hard to learn how to put them in the bowl. I love playing "roll ball" and can also play "throw ball".  I really love drinking water from my bottle and having bigger tastes of food. I can sign "more" and put my arms up when someone asks if I want "up".  I have 3 bolus feeds during the day and then I  am hooked up for 12 hours at night.  I love pulling hair and blowing raspberries. I am currently 20lbs and 31 inches long. I can wear sizes 18-24 months.

First Time Swimming!

Lyla has had her feet in the pool before but we've never had her floating around in her little floatie. She LOVED being in the water; splashing so hard her face was drenched and drinking as much pool water she could (and then barfing it all back up). We officially have 3 little fishies.

(oh, that hair!)

Hands Free

This month Lyla has been slowly lifting both hands from the ground while she is sitting. Sometimes she'll grab a toy or whatever is around and play with it for a few seconds. But usually it's to clap her hands. She's very proud of herself. She also is turning herself around while in the sitting position. She's not quite upright and she still spends the majority of time on her rolling around and on her back, but we are still seeing more and more of her sitting up. And every once in awhile she will get on her hands and knees for a few seconds. 

We went to the speech therapist and have since been working on giving Lyla a little bit (5ml) of almond milk twice a day and also food tastes (dipping the spoon in puree and touching it to her tongue). She loves the milk and even reaches out and pulls for it back to her mouth! I've seen her increase the time she wants it in her mouth. Which is sometimes too long even though she's comfortable because she has spit up afterward. With food tastes she was pushing away the food at first and not even wanting it, but now she will open her mouth for some! These are just small progressions but huge for Lyla!

 We've also been able to continue to increase her pump feeds. After visiting the GI last (above photo), Lyla is now getting 60ml/hr for 16 hours! In the morning her food ends at 6 am and I'm able to take her, pump free, to drop off Parker at school! It's so much easier picking her up out of the car without a backpack and cords following that I have to be careful for and worry about clipping onto the stroller and moving out of the way! The break in the morning is the longest from 6am-9am. But works out wonderfully since she doesnt spit up a ton of milk during school drop off (nothing in her tummy). She still spits up, but not the same amounts.

She has also been bearing more weight on her legs! When you lift her up, she doesn't stretch her legs down to standing position. Instead they just curl up. But we've been working on her standing from the sitting position. She sits on a short little step stool and stands holding onto the couch. She will even stand if you ask her too! (while sitting on the step stool)

She also went to her first Sacramento Rivercats game! I think she had a good time.

Weight Progress

Lyla's GI is very happy with her weight progress. Her historical charts are scanned below:

March and April - 18 & 19 months

 Things we've been up to lately:

For Daddy's birthday we went to Farrells ice cream and Lyla sat in a high chair for the first time! She did really well sitting in it, propped with a blanket. It was nice to have her level with the rest of the family.

Trevor and I went on a nice long (20 mile) bike ride with just Lyla. She had the whole trailer to herself and was so good. Just made it a little bit harder on Daddy!

                                      

 We went on a short hike during Conference weekend. The whole family was able to go and Parker and Mabel were excited to have both Mommy and Daddy. We walked a trail by Ancil Hoffman and Lyla hiked on Daddy's back. She really enjoyed the walk and didn't even spit up!

 Here are the girls during a little break.

 Our little gymnast.

 Easter weekend we went to GG and Poppi's house for an egg hunt and crafts. It was Lyla's first time around all her cousins. She's was pretty tired and ended up being rocked to sleep in my arms. The nap didn't last long, but I very much enjoyed the snuggle time.

Lyla is technically old enough and weighs enough to sit in a forward facing carseat. Problem is her head control is still not 100% and neither is her core so we haven't switched her from the infant rear facing seat yet. But just for fun, Mabel and I buckled Lyla up to go pick Parker up from school. I think you can say she loved it!

We have been steadily increasing Lyla's milk rate and she's doing great! She is currently at 47ml/h for 19 hours. We've also been to the speech therapist and implemented a plan to slowly introduce Lyla to foods orally. She gets a bottle of water 2x a day and gets 5-10ml. She doesn't have a steady suck, but she reaches for the bottle, takes what she wants, pushes the bottle away, and then reaches for it again. Love it! The puree's haven't been as successful. She's only spit up after tasting the sweet potatoes, but been ok with the green beans and peaches. All I do is dip the spoon in, and touch it to her tongue. She hardly gets any, but the point is the taste.

She is still sitting with support (tripod sit) but the last couple of days has been turning herself around while in the sitting position! Showing more core strength and trying new things!

Before bed Lyla gets a kiss from everyone and then we say goodnight. Lately we've been waving goodnight to her. Well tonight she was getting fussy and I asked her if she was ready for bed. Then I said "Lyla, you want to go night night?" and she started waving!!! Not 100% sure if she put the two together but I just about exploded. It was Awesome.

Last month I was holding up two familiar toys, one in each hand, and then asking Lyla to get one of them (specifically). She almost consistently went for the one I asked for. We tried that over again for a week or two and she could mostly do it. I thought it was so great, but she hasn't done it since. Kind of a bummer, but we'll keep practicing.

Oh! and she has TWO teeth! One on the bottom (right side) came in end of March and one right above it mid April. It's super exciting. I just hope more start popping through soon!