Morgan and physical therapy

I got some good feedback today from the physical therapist. Basically Morgan is at a 4-6 month developmental age. (She was 9 months old on the 11th.) The physical therapist said Morgan's main problem/delay is lack of muscle development. She needs to strengthen her trunk/core, her arms and her legs. It's not a problem that was caused by anything, but more that she just hasn't developed like she should have. It doesn't help that Morgan is a very passive baby either. Right now, when she get frustrated with something, she'll cry for a little bit, then she just gives up. I was given some basic exercises to do with Morgan to help, but we will also be going to physical therapy once a week. I did ask the therapist if this delay was something that would eventually fix itself. It will, however not necessarily in the correct way. So Morgan may learn to sit up on her own, but she may not learn using the correct muscles. If she were to continue this incorrect behavior, it could be much harder and more painful to correct later.

Good News!

At the babies' 9 month well baby visit, we discussed with our pediatrician some concerns that Matt & I were having regarding Morgan's development. She is not doing some of the things she should be able to do for her age; rolling over, sitting up, self feeding, attempting to crawl. The pediatrician suggested we take Morgan in for a physical therapy evaluation. When I called the place, we weren't going to be able to get in until the last week of April. That's a tough thing, being told to go see if there's a problem with your baby and having to wait 6 weeks. Well, the good news is, the physical therapy office had a cancellation and they called me! We are going this afternoon! No wait for my baby. After I get all the details, I'll post again. I really don't think it's anything serious, but at least Matt & I will know how we can help Morgan acheive these important steps in her development.

Until later today...C-ya!

Milestones for Megan

The McMillan household caught a stomach bug over the weekend and it is finally gone, with all of us except Matt getting some degree of it. Silly me excused the babies fussiness extreme gas on teething, but now I think it was the bug. (I still think they are teething. Or at least Megan is again. She drools constantly and goes through about 1 bib an hour.)

Anyway, I have not had a chance to update you all on some milestone for Megan. My big baby is quickly on her way to toddlerhood. Megan has 2 teeth, she can sit up on her own (even goes from laying down to sitting position), she claps her hands, and she has even started crawling. Yep, I said it. I have a crawler on my hands. Megan sorta does this funny looking crawl, on her hands and knees, but uses one foot. Matt got some videos of the goofy crawl and of Megan clapping. He is converting them so we can post them here.

As Megan and Morgan are my last babies, I am sad to see babyhood go away. Good thing Morgan is giving me more time to enjoy it though. Morgan still is very much my peanut and is taking her sweet time doing the things that her sister Megan is doing. I think Megan just wants to go play with her older siblings, Mason and Maggie.

Here it is...

So here is the picture I've been waiting for. THE TEETH! This picture shows so well Megan's bottom teeth. I'm so sure she is working on a few more since the drool is CRAZY! I swear we're going through one bib per hour around here. I am doing a load of laundry everyday because I'm running out of bibs. I guess that's another one of those items that I thought I had enough of. Oh well, it's off to the dollar store for a bunch more.
(If you click on the picture, it should make it real big for you.)

Jump, Jump, Jumperoo

Megan LOVES the Jumperoo. It is so funny to watch her jump in this thing. But I think it's even funnier listening to Mason try to make Megan jump. Check out this little video I took. And no, that's not me talking to Megan, it's Mason. That boy loves his sisters.

9 months

Matt and I took the babies for their 9 month well baby visit today. It went pretty well I think. So here are the stats:

Megan
weight: 20 lbs. (50-75%)
height: 29 1/4" (90-95%)

Megan is sitting up on her own and can go from laying down to sitting by herself. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth and sometimes crawls backwards. I know moving forward is coming soon. During this last week, Megan has also learned to wave HI. It is so cute. And of course, every time I try to get it on video, Megan just looks at me like I'm crazy. Megan is also getting real close to eating big people food. She is self feeding Cheerios and the baby toddler foods. But dang it, baby food is expensive. And I have to buy 2x the amount, so the sooner I can get Megan on big people food, the better. I gave her some baked potato yesterday and today and she liked it and was able to eat it just fine. I'm going to try steaming some veggie this week and give those to her. I'll let you know how it goes.


Morgan
weight: 16 pounds 10 oz. (10-25%)
height: 28 1/2" (75-90%)

We call Morgan our little Peanut because she is just that. Compared to her sister Megan, Morgan is much more petite and she seems way more delicate. Megan is kind of a tank compared to Morgan. Anyway, Morgan is still very content to just lie back and watch everything going on. She is still rolling from her back to her stomach and well, that's about it. This last week, we did see her roll from her stomach to her back a couple of times, but she's not rolling across the room. Morgan doesn't sit and is no where near crawling. We were able to discuss our concerns with the pediatrician today and he is having us take Morgan in for a physical therapy evaluation. (We aren't able to get in until late April, so that update will be in a few weeks.) We are not comparing Morgan's development to Megan's because we know that each baby develops at his/her own pace. However, even taking into consideration Morgan being born 4 weeks early, she should still be doing some of the things she is not (rolling and sitting). So we'll take her to get evaluated and proceed with their recommendations. We want to make sure that we are doing whatever we can to prevent major delays in Morgan's development. Like with Maggie's hearing, we started the therapy before she had the surgery to prevent further delays. Matt and I are looking at Morgan's situation in a similar manner.



Overall, both girls look great. They really are good babies and we are having so much fun with them.

Megan in the walker

We went and bought a walker last night. We put Megan in it for the first time this morning and she immediately made a beeline for the blinds on the back door.

"Pay it Forward" giveaway

A week ago my friend Christy posted a "Pay it Forward" giveaway on her blog. It was a cute little way to make someones day in a special way. I liked the idea and so here goes...

THE RULES: The focus of this is to do an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and "pay it forward."I will send a small, fun gift to the first 3 bloggers who post a comment on this entry.
In turn, those three will post this information and pick 3 people they want to send something to and then the game will continue!! The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found, anything you want!! Just a gift that will make the person's day!!
If you are interested in participating, be one of the first 3 bloggers to leave a comment!!You have to promise that you will then post about this on your blog, link back to me, and then send something to the first three people who sign up to play along through your blog.
So, if you are like me, and LOVE getting mail, then now is your chance to play along. All you have to do is be one of the first 3 to leave a comment... ON THIS BLOG!!

Sleepy babies

Matt's birthday cake

I don't really know what this was all about but it was very funny. Thanks babe.
- Matt