Fur-Ever Friends ...

Okay, so I know my mother-in-law "Huni" will be horrified by this post, as will any other non-dog lovers (if there ARE any other non-dog lovers actually out there ... and I don't want to use the word "dog haters" ... but it's close to that! ha! I think what makes it worse between Huni and Cassie, our wonderful, sweet 6 1/2 year old, 70 lb pure-bred Black Labrador Retriever, is that I think Cassie senses her dislike for her and tries even harder to be near Huni, sniff her, sit by her, etc ... maybe she's trying to convince her that she is lovable ... I don't know ...)

Anyway, I do love dogs (well, most dogs ... I am a little bit of a dog-snob, I will admit) ... and I do love our dog, Cassie. Ash and I got her for our 2nd year wedding anniversary gift to each other ... kind of a test run to see how we'd do being parents of a dog and then, we could work our way into being parents of actual children ... ha! I picked Cassie out of the liter, myself, and (conceitedly) even worked from home during the time she was a puppy, so I trained her and she knows LOTS of fun tricks! Of course, she LOVES Ashley even more than me ... but apparently, her loyalties have changed once again, because as soon as Kendall came home with us, Kendall immediately became her new favorite! I really can't blame Cassie, though ... Kendall is so sweet and adorable ... I don't know how anyone could resist her!

I was a little worried about how Cassie would be with Kendall, but she was great right from the first day ... one of the main reasons why we decided to get a Black Lab so long ago ... because they are fantastic with kids and Cassie does not disappoint!

Cassie follows Kendall & I everywhere around the house, all day and all night long! She is never more than a few feet away from Kendall, sitting or lying down next to or as near to her as I will let her ... it never fails ... no matter what time it is ... those middle of the night feedings we used to do ... Cassie would get up from her sleep to come join Kendall & I for the feeding until I put Kendall back to bed. There have been times where Cassie will come to get me if Kendall has woken up from her nap and is crying in her bed (and I apparently haven't gotten Kendall soon enough). Now that Kendall is grabbing everything in sight, Cassie is a favorite target of her's ... she grabs her fur, reaches out for her face ... anything she can possible touch, including Cassie's eyes, nose, ears and her teeth! Of course, we are always right there with Kendall (and don't let her grab her teeth!), but Cassie is just so sweet and just lets her do it. Cassie has enjoyed getting close to Kendall, but she also likes to get just barely out of reach of Kendall's little hands. Kendall jumps up and down and bounces around with excitement each time she sees Cassie coming ... or hears her coming and stops what she is doing to look at Cassie ... I think these 2 are going to become the best of friends ... as long as Cassie can endure Kendall's treatment of her!

Here are a few pictures Kendall and Cassie and their growing relationship over the past 6 months that Kendall has been home with us ...

July 2009

August 2009

Taking a nap after tummy time ... Cassie joined in the nap session too (in the background) ... you can see her better in the next picture ... September 2009

December 2009

January 2010

Watch out Cassie ... she's comin' for you!

(And what do think of this post's title ... "Fur-Ever Friends" ?... It cracks me up ... my sister used to take her dog, Sassy, to a dog grooming/boarding place called Fur-Ever Friends, and I've always thought it was a cute/clever name for a place like that ... ha!)

Strollers, Shopping Carts & Highchairs ...

Now that Kendall sits up so well, about a week ago we transitioned her to sitting up in her stroller (without her car seat attached), the shopping cart, and the restaurant highchair ... and she seems to really enjoy it ... Little Miss Social Girl!

Here's Kendall riding along in her stroller ...

Doing some grocery shopping ...

Hanging out at Chapps' Burgers with us and Huni & GranGran ...

Feet, Toes and Sweet Potatoes ...

Several weeks ago Kendall found her feet ... which I keep covered with socks as her feet are always a bit chilly ... but for these past several weeks, I can't keep socks on her feet for more than 3 seconds before they are in her mouth, soaking wet with her slobber and drool, and we're off to get another clean & dry pair! But this past week, I actually found her sucking on her toes ... I'm not sure if this was her first successful toe-sucking event, or possibly just the first time I'd actually seen it ... but there she was, so happy with herself and apparently enjoying the taste of her yummy toes! (Just a side note, but I am constantly amazed at her (and all babies') flexibility!) So yay, Kendall ... for yet, one more part of your development being met ... good job, girlie!

Kendall and her feet ...

This weekend we started trying Sweet Potatoes ... so far, so good ... she is still eating a tiny amount (about a teaspoon) once a day, but we have now moved to feeding foods twice a day to help increase her a bit ... so we'll see how that goes. Now I know you won't believe me when I say this, as you know that I don't cook, but I've decided to make Kendall's baby food (as least for the most part, as least for now) ... I'm just going to try it out to see how it goes for a while. We'll still use commercial baby food as well, but I'm going to try the homemade stuff as the majority of it ... ok, you can pick your chins up off the ground and start to recover from the shock of reading this now ... ha! Over the weekend, I made her the sweet potatoes, green beans, and peas ... and are in the freezer in ice tray cube shapes, just ready to go when she is! And I've got squash to make next, once we've finished our 5 trial days of sweet potatoes, to make sure she's not allergic. So far, so good!

Therapists appt : 6 month evaluation

Friday, 01.22.2010 was Kendall's 3rd Therapists appointment with Our Children's Home with Baylor ... this evaluation was for her 6 month development age ... so, she's 8 1/2 months old with a 6 month corrected age, as of January 13. The therapy evaluations are part of the "Neonatal ICU graduate" program at Baylor ... to help determine how she is doing developmentally and to try to prevent/assist with any additional delays that she could have from being extremely premature.

The first time we went there she was a corrected age of "40 weeks gestation or newborn" (we had been home from the NICU for 2 weeks) and she got an normal average rating ... doing what a normal newborn would be doing. The second evaluation was when she was a corrected age of 3 months ... and she got another good report ... being exactly average for 3 months. So, we were interested in finding out what today's evaluation would be ...

And, she got another good report ... although, we had a bit of difficulty getting her to participate and do the things they were trying to evaluate her on ... in between a sobbing meltdown ... it was quite a performance! Kendall had to miss her nap for us to arrive to the appt on time, so she was over-due for a nap, and then I think she gets overwhelmed when all 3 therapists are in the room and it's a new place, checking her out ... so she just proceeded to meltdown. She did get calmed down, but really didn't do much of what they were looking for ... of course, until they all 3 left the room ... and she was so happy again ... babbling and playing (for only Mommy to see, but she did remain happy when they all came back in, too). Most everything was right on average ... but her sitting and balance was at a 8 month level (which is really great), however her "locomotion" (her movement during tummy time; reaching out for toys during tummy time) was around a 4 month old. (She was still in her mood when this was being tested ... I know that she does a lot better at her tummy time at home than what she was showing them, but there is certainly room for improvement ... she really doesn't like tummy time, so we are going to work on that so we can eventually get her ready for crawling.) But, all in all, we got another good report! Her feedings (bottle and spoon) are looking good as well ... she got the okay to be moved up to the next bottle nipple (Dr. Brown's Level 3), so we are hoping this will decrease the feeding time. Currently she takes about 45 minutes to drink 4 or 5oz, and this is every 3 hours ... so we are hoping the Level 3 will speed the feed up a bit ... we'll see. We're also going to increase the number of times she tries baby food ... we had been doing it once a day, but we're increasing to twice a day for the week and then moving to three times a day next week, to see how that goes and to hopefully increase her food intake.

Here is Kendall with her 3 Therapists ... they are all so sweet and patient ... and so helpful! Even though Kendall is doing well, we always get a little homework to work on and a list of things that they'll be looking for the next time ... so I know what we should be focusing on or things to be looking out for (that preemies are known for) ... it has definitely helped us in trying to help her!

Kendall with her Physical Therapist, Kelly and her Occupational Therapist, Sabrina

Kendall with her Speech & Language Therapist, Sarah

We'll be back again in 3 months for her 9 month evaluation! (And I've got a better appt time during the day, so we can prevent another meltdown, hopefully!)

Christmas ... part 3

On Saturday, 01.09.2010, Kendall got to celebrate the final Christmas celebration of 2009 ... our 3rd Christmas gathering ... so she is quite a pro by now!

We met up with my Uncle Todd and Aunt Nita (who hosted the afternoon at their home in Grand Prairie), my cousin Kayla, and my parents and grandmother (the 3 of them drove in from Abilene for the day. We didn't get to see my grandmother on Christmas due to her catching the 24 hour stomach bug on Christmas Eve ... poor MawMaw.) We had a great brisket meal and opened more presents ... and Kendall got to show off her latest trick ... sitting up all by herself!

Aunt Nita and Uncle Todd ... thanks for hosting all of us!

Kayla (my cousin) and MawMaw

Opening a present from MawMaw ...

Posing with her new book ... Twas the Night Before Christmas ... from MawMaw ... I think she's got this whole posing-thing down!

MawMaw reading Kendall her new book ... Kendall LOVES books ... thank you, MawMaw!

Opening a new Carter's sleeper ... from Nita and Todd ... Kendall is also sporting her pink fur-collar sweater from them ... she got to open it at Thanksgiving because Nita was worried she would have outgrown it by Christmas ... it's a 0-3month and she's still wearing it! We love it!

Rice Cereal ... sooo yummy!

Kendall is nearly 8 1/2 months old now (with a corrected age of 6 months) and as of today, is eating rice cereal! We are so excited for her to take this big step in her development, as we have been waiting for her Doctor's approval to start this process. Preemies, born as early as Kendall was, are known for having issues (with lots of thing), but especially with feedings ... in swallowing, in putting food/allowing food in their mouths, liking different textures, gagging, vomiting, etc, so we've been a bit anxious to see how she would do (since she's been doing so well with everything else) ... and her Doctor and Speech Therapist both wanted her to wait until after she was 8 months old to start it, in hoping she'd be accepting of it and her body would be able to handle it. So, we've waited and we tried it today ... it was a great first run!

We sat her in the bumbo chair and rolled the video camera ...
Kendall before her first bite of food ...





And Kendall after her first meal of rice cereal ... Way to go, Kendall!

She took over 10 spoonfuls, which was more than we'd ever expected. (I'd made a normal "first cereal serving" which is 1 tablespoon with 4 tablespoons of formula, but she might of consumed about 1/2 teaspoon of it. Tomorrow, I'll make 1 teaspoon and see how that goes ...it says to offer 2 tablespoons of it on Day 2, but since 3 teaspoons equals 1 tablespoon (I'm pretty sure), I think we'll be working our way to that much for a while! She is only drinking 4-5oz 5 times a day and weighs about 14 lbs!)

Sittin' up like a big girl!

Well, it's official ... Kendall is now sittin' up ... all on her own! She's been working on sitting (the "tripod sit"/prop sitting since Thanksgiving) ... by Christmas, she was really doing good to hold herself up for a few minutes, except when she would reach out for something and would lose her balance. But, now she's got it down ... so this is when we are documenting it ... (hope that is accurate with the way it's normally measured.)

Here are a few pictures of our Little Miss sitting up and playing ...



Getting in a little tummy time ... I love it ... her long beautiful eyelashes and the fact that she is talking to the little ladybug that is embroidered on her blanket ... telling the ladybug all about it, I'm sure! We have quite the little talker on our hands ... I guess you could say "like mother like daughter" ... ha!

Happy 8 months & Happy New Year!

Happy New Year and Happy 8 months, Miss Kendall Grace!

Just a little tidbit about our Kendall ...
January is a big month for us, as Kendall officially turned 8 months old on January 1st ... it's also our first month not to go to a monthly doctor appointment for Kendall, so we will have to wait until February to see how much she will weigh on her next appt (which will be for her 9 month check-up). She will have her next therapist appointment with her occupational, physical and speech therapists to assess her growth and development as a 6 month old (her corrected age in mid-Jan.) ... so far, at her other therapist appts, she has been right in line with normal full-term babies born in July, so we are excited to see how things look this time. We also get to start her first food ... rice cereal ... this month ... and we are praying that Kendall's body is ready and able to start taking food, without additional challenges ... we are sooo excited about trying it out (well, at least Mommy is ... I don't think Kendall has any idea about it yet)!

Kendall is LOVING her toys she got for Christmas ... and we are having a great time playing with her! Now that she is quite sturdy, a bit more balanced and is enjoying sitting up with little assistance, we decided it was time to bring out the Exersaucer that her Huni and GranGran had given her as a baby shower gift, many months ago ... and she LOVES it! She is happy to sit and even stand, in it and loves all the (attached) toys (which Mommy loves, as well, as Kendall does love to pick up and throw down things, often!) ... and she even moves herself all around to each station ... Yay, Kendall! Here's our happy girl ... havin' some fun!

On New Year's Day, we hung out at home, playing with Huni and GranGran (who will be heading out to visit some other folks after the weekend), and then spent the evening at Ashley's cousin's Aron and Fritzie (and their 3 precious girls) for dinner and game night! We played Guesstures ... and we had a BLAST! Ashley's family is quite the gaming family!

I didn't take any pictures of our time together, except for the following ones of Kendall (8 months with 5 1/2 months corrected age) and Rylie (11 months) ... they were twinkies that night, as we both arrived for dinner unknowingly dressed in the same Carter's outfit ... aren't they just adorable!

Kendall and Rylie with their grandmothers Mary Lee Rogers "Huni" and Dee Ann Odom "Nia"

All the girls ... Kaelynn, Kendall, Huni, Rylie, Nia, and Ashleigh (or as we call her "girl-Ashleigh" and our Ashley is known as "boy-Ashley" ... ha!)