First of Many

Kymee's First Day without the Bottle

Boo. She loves her bottle. It will be sorely missed.

As sad as it is to see it go - it has to be done. 2 1/2 weeks til surgery - she NEEDS to drink from a cup. She is ready. Kymee is growing up so much. She's had so many firsts this last couple of weeks.

First Curls

Yea! Hair.

First time saying "Mama"&

First time giving kisses on demand!

o

First time to sit without support

First Time to pull herself up

First Artichoke

First day completely on the cup

Kymee loves to eat!

She bangs on her highchair when she wants more.

She's a mess! She sneezes avocado all over her face.

So here comes the cup. Boo.

She HATES her pink noseless cup - she screams when she sees it coming. So . . .

I offer her a sippy cup. I have read a blog by a mom with a baby with cleft palate who says her baby learned to drink from a sippy cup in which the flow stopper has been removed. So I figure I'll try the same. No luck. Kymee pushes the cup away, and purses her lips together.

I take the lid off the sippy cup and try to get her to drink from it. Boo. She screams, as if I have offered her pickle juice.

She sees that I am drinking from a real life water glass, and reaches for it. "Good idea," I think. "She can drink like Mommy." I put water in mine, and formula in hers. She drinks. No screams. Yea.

Boo. The formula squirts out of her nose as fast as she drinks.

Thankfully, Laurie, the ECI worker is coming today. She says we should try a new cup. Unfortunately, after looking in her car, she doesn't have one to give me. She finds a different cup - one she has never used with a client before. But, we can try it. It looks like Kymee's bottle, but she drinks from it like a cup. Here's the cool part . . . You can control the flow of liquid - slow, medium or heavy. I adjust it to slow - we can move up from there.

Kymee takes right to it. she drinks 10 oz. (The cup only holds 4 oz, so I have to keep refilling it) I throw a towel over both of us to catch the drips, spills and nose squirts. But to my pleasant surprise, almost no run off fluid. It actually went down Kymee's throat! She's drinking!

She drank ALL her formula from the cup today - NO BOTTLE! All from a happenstance the therapist had in her car. Praise the Lord - maybe the next two weeks won't be a stressful as I thought they would be.

Yoga with Kymee & Kermit

Kermit Does Yoga

Kymee does Yoga

Plank Poise

Downward facing Dog

Upward Facing Dog

Cow Poise

Modified Reclining Angle Poise

Locust Poise

Happy Baby Poise

Nurture over Nature

"Kymee has the predisposition to be "slow" because of her biological background." the caseworker informed us.

"Then again," she stated, "it may just be environmental, and changing her environme

nt may make the difference."

Nurture over Nature

So our goal is to expose her to "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anyt

hing is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Phil. 4:8

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful:

The Lord God made them all.

Beautiful Sounds

Kymee attended the Myerson Symphany for the first time at 5 mouths of age.

And at 6 months we went to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. She loved listening to drum beats from around the world.

After previewing every classical CD on the shelf, Andres bought her this for Christmas.

I read poetry to her every day - I love beautiful words, as I hope someday she will too. My current favorite is William Blake's "Songs of Innocence"

A CRADLE SONG

Sweet dreams, form a shade

O'er my lovely infant's head!

Sweet dreams of pleasant streams

By happy, silent, moony beams!

Sweet Sleep, with soft down

Weave thy brows an infant crown!

Sweet Sleep, an

gel mild,

Hover o'er my happy child!

Sweet smiles, in the night

Hover over my delight!

Sweet smiles, mother's smiles,

All the livelong night beguiles.

Sweet moans, dovelike sighs,

Chase not slumber from t

hy eyes!

Sweet moans, sweeter smiles,

All the dovelike moans beguiles.

Sleep, sleep, happy child!

All creation slept and smiled.

Sleep, sleep, happy sleep,

While o'er thee thy mother weep.

Sweet babe, in thy face

Holy image I can trace;

Sweet babe, once like thee

Thy Maker lay, and wept for me:

Wept for me, for thee, for a

ll,

When He was an infant small.

Thou His image ever see,

Heavenly face that smiles on thee!

Smiles on thee, on me, on all,

Who became an infant small;

Infant smiles are His own smiles;

Heaven and earth to peace beguiles.

Beautiful Art

Kymee has already enjoyed the Dallas Museum of Art

And her favorite book is "Art for Babies" - all black and white pictures done by famous artists.

She'll just stare at the pictures

Beautiful Smells

I love pure essential oils.

Kymee's favorites: Peppermint, Lavender, and Eucalyptus

No Picture Available

SCRATCH
AND
SNIFF

The social worker asked, "So how do you feel about the possiblity of Kymee being slow?"

My response, "God has a very special plan for her, and he has given her every her everything she needs to accomplish that purpose."

My job is to expose her to the best, love and nurture her, and teach her to fulfill her purpose for the glory of God.

He gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell

How great is God Almighty,

Who has made all things well.

Cecil F. Alexander

Debate Case for Kymee

Resolved: That Kymberlee Rose Piñero will be prepared to drink healthy clear liquid from a cup before surgery in April

Inherency

(For you non-debaters in my world, this means the facts in the status quo, or what's happening now)

1. Kymee was unprepared to drink clear liquid after the first surgery
2. The nurses fed Kymee Gatorade
3. Gatorade is not the healthiest liquid for infants
4. Research proves Coconut water is the best clear liquid

http://hubpages.com/hub/Coconut-Water-A-Natural-Energy-Drink (All my debate friends must forgive my lack of proper sourcing)

• It contains lauric acid which is also present in breast milk and is known to boost metabolism.
• It has the same amount of electrolytes as human blood. In fact it is a universal donor, identical to human plasma.
• It contains more potassium than most energy and sports drinks.
• Coconut water is much more nutritious than fresh milk.
• It is also healthier than orange juice.

5. Kymee Likes Coconut water

A picture is worth a thousand pieces of random evidence

Plan

Mandate 1: Offer Kymee Coconut Water daily - first in a bottle, than the cup

Mandate 2: Train Kymee to use the cup

Notice the tongue. Kymee does not use the roof of her mouth and cheek muscles to suck because of her cleft palate. Instead, she moves her jaw up and down, and uses her tongue to press the bottle to extract liquid. She tries to do the same with her cup - stick her tongue out and push the side of the cup with it - no success.

A. Exercise Cheek Muscles

Not overly lightly, we must squeeze Kymees cheeks in - like an annoying grandma - squeezing the cheeks together and saying, "Who's a pretty baby?"

B. Exercise Tongue

Place finger on tongue - without having Kymee chomp down with her one shark tooth - and press lightly. The edges of the tongue should curl around your finger.

Agency & Enforcement: Mom, Dad, Sibling, Grandparents, and All Prayer Warriors

I as the Affirmative team reserve the right to clarify the affirmative case if any questions should arise.

Solvency

1. Kymee wiggles her bunny toes in anticipation of her coconut water

2. Kymee smiles in contentment when coconut water is "All gone!"

A vote for the Affirmative is a vote for Kymee's health and happiness.

Cry-Baby

Some mornings are good.

Most mornings are good.

Kymee wakes up cheerful and offers huge smiles, warm hugs, and cooing "I love yous" to

Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa. (Brother and Sister are still in bed - so always miss these precious moments.)

Some mornings are bad.

Some mornings,

and lets be honest,

some random afternoons, evenings, and nights

are very, very bad.

Thus was this morning.

Kymee woke up screaming - you heard me right - not crying - SCREAMING

She does this randomly. Not quite as often as she used to, but still more often than I'd like. She can be playing, perfectly happy with tummy time - and then be screaming. Or like this morning

she just woke up that way.

Why you may ask?

1) The doctor calls it "Colic" - a label I have learned means nothing except "I have no idea why she cries and doesn't stop - and your insurance doesn't pay me enough to find out."

2) The therapist says, "She hasn't learned self-soothing skills, she must be taught" - but

they have yet to teach me how to teach her how to stop the screaming once it starts.

3) The cardiologist says, "It is most likely still the drugs in her system she had en-vitro" - this one makes the most sense to me

4) Mommy says, "I don't care why - just make it stop"

Forget "Self-soothing" I try "Mommy-soothing"

I sing. I cuddle. I rock. I pace.

She glares at me out of the corner of her eye, as if to say, "You're my Mommy you're supposed to make it better."

I offer her "Wubby"

No Luck.

I offer her "Bunny"

No luck.

Side Note:

I have never believed in inadament attachment objects - I believe babies should be attached to real live people who love them. But all my reading, and talking to other moms with medical need babies - attachment items can help get them through moments when Mommy and Daddy aren't available - like when you are being wheeled into an operating room, or waking from anesthesia in the recovery room. So - we are trying hard to "make" Kymee attached to her "Wubby" or "Bunny" - her seemingly favorite comfort items.

Back to the story: She continues to scream.

Mommy offers a handful of comfort.

I pray for her as she grabs my fingers in desperation. I pray God will heal her and give her peace. I pray for me too, that God will give me wisdom and patience.

She finally wears herself out, falls into a fitful - hicuppy sleep.

Luck.

Or better yet

God's Grace

Peace

And

Answered Prayer

Some episodes are 20 to 30 minutes, some are an hour and a half.

This one:

One Hour

Ten Minutes.

An hour and ten minutes of God teaching me how to love like He does.

Happy Hearts Don't Float!

Background:

Birth: heart murmur.

2 Months: EKG ~ small hole in heart

5 Months: EKG & Echo-cardiogram ~ hole smaller, heart surrounded by liquid.

Floating Heart = Very Scared Mama

1/11/11 - Cardiologist Appointment

EKG

Tracts heartbeat

Not bad - until the tape was ripped off

Echo-Cardiogram

Takes pictures of heart

You try keeping a 6 month old perfectly still.

Results

Murmur remains. Small hole remains.

NO LIQUID AROUND HEART!!!!!

Doctor's explanation: It was probably from her operations, and it went away on it's own.

Mom's explanation: GOD ~ PRAYER OF SAINTS

Kymee has a happy heart!

Kymee's Cup

First day of in-home therapy

"Drinking from a cup."

A funny looking cup - A nose-less cup

(The little pink one looks like Kymee's)

The purpose of the cup is to allow a child to sit completely upright and not tilt their head when they drink. This way gravity works and the liquid drips down the throat. If Kymee tilts her head back to drink, as we do without thought, whatever she is drinking will creep into her roof cavity and come out her nose. Goal - down the throat, not out the nose.

First Try

Pictures Speak loader than words!

(Tip:Rubbing a baby's throat lightly encourages her to swallow)

Second Attempt

"I want my Mommy!"

"I did it - now give me my bottle."

Moral of the Story: Never send a therapist to do a Mommy's job