The Smiths in South Bend: May 2011

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Yay Hannah!

Just wanted to give a shout out to little sister Johannah for graduating high school! We're so glad we were able to attend the graduation and share that time with her. We couldn't be more proud. She was an amazing student in high school - good grades, student council president, editor of the school paper, speech champion and artist. Plus she managed her photography business, played in the church praise team, and much more. She is a very talented and special young woman. Now she's headed to OU in the fall to major in photography, bringing over $50,000 in scholarship money with her! Can't wait to see what the future holds - we love you, Hannah!

Maryn says "peace"

"What is this key for?"

A new Honda Civic!!!

Senior pic

Ten Months Old

I can't believe another month has passed, and we are less than two months away from Maryn's first birthday! Maryn is doing great. She was wonderful during our recent trip to Oklahoma. She has become very social lately. She re-acquainted herself with her grandparents and aunt and uncle very quickly. She won every one's hearts with her big cheesy smile and her kisses. There were times when she was quite a ham, which surprised us. She was also very interactive with strangers at the airport and on the plane rides, which was very entertaining. She would wave and point and smile to try to get people's attention; needless to say, it always worked. At one point she had a crowd of about 10 college girls gathered around her stroller. It was pretty hilarious. We were told about a thousand times that Maryn is the cutest baby in the world, and everyone commented on those cheeks. :)

Maryn is very into finger foods these days. The only spoon fed foods I can get her to eat very much of are yogurt and anything mixed with mashed potatoes. She's also really loving her sippy cup. We aren't sure if she's gained any weight since her doctor visit; I'll have to take her in to be weighed some time soon. She's doing a little better with her gross motor skills. She pulls up on us when she's in our laps and a couple of times she's gotten on her hands and one knee on the ground. But no mobility yet. We have the evaluation with the physical therapist on May 27th, so we'll do another update after that.

Her newest thing is playing peek-a-boo. She started doing it on her own, without us teaching it to her. She covers her eyes with her little hands and it's pretty much the cutest thing ever. She thinks it's lots of fun. She also really loves giving kisses; most of the time she claps for herself afterword, which makes us laugh. As I mentioned, she loves to give this big cheesy smile where she wrinkles her nose and does this funny growl sound.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day 2011

I love being a momma. I love my little family. And I love my momma (can't wait to see you soon, Mom!).

Today, Billy and Maryn gave me two books (biographies - Billy knows me well) and a homemade card (I cried). I was also gifted with rest, chocolate chip cookies, coffee, time to myself. And the sweetest kisses from the sweetest girl. But truly the best mother's day gift is the gift of motherhood. My sacred task. And I'm reminded that I need to spend more time on my knees thanking God and asking for the grace to be a momma in pursuit of His heart.

Mother's Day pics:

Me and my love

Posing :)

Ta-da!

Happiness

Maryn was a little confused about the holiday. Instead of "momma" she started saying "da-da". I think it will be hilarious if she says "momma" on Father's Day.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Doctor Appointment

Maryn had her 9 month check up with her pediatrician last week. Maryn continues to be very healthy. However, two things came up that concerned her doctor. First, she fell off her growth curve in her weight. From birth until now, she has stayed steady at around 25-30th percentile on all growth measurements. In the last 2 months she has sharply dropped to the 3rd percentile for her weight, at 16.0 lbs. She has only gained a few ounces. Her height (27.25 in, 30th percentile) and head circumference are still right on track. If she had been at the 3rd percentile this whole time, her current weight wouldn't be a concern; it's the sudden drop that is a little worrying. There are a few possibilities as to why this has occurred. Perhaps she is in the midst of a growth spurt in which she gained length first and now will fill in with weight. This is what we are hoping for. But it could be that she just isn't getting enough calories. She still isn't crazy about eating solids, so her doctor thinks this may be to blame. So we've been instructed to continue breast feeding (no formula supplements needed) but to really try to get her to eat more calorie dense food. Easier said than done. Especially since she is picky and EVERYTHING seems to make her constipated. Poor baby. But in the last week she has really started doing better.

The pediatrician's second concern is her lack of mobility. At the time of her appointment, she still hadn't rolled from back to front, and wasn't really trying very hard to get toys that were out of reach; no scooting, no slithering, no getting her knees under her, no moving to a seated position, and definitely no crawling or pulling up anytime in the near future. So he wants to make sure her gross motor skills aren't developmentally behind due to some kind of muscle weakness or neurologic issue. Best case scenario is that it's just her contented temperament, but he felt it was worth checking out. So we had a consultation with an organization that provides therapy for babies who are developmentally behind. Thankfully, she is right on track for other milestones - fine motor skills, verbal skills, social skills etc. If her gross motor skills don't dramatically improve over the course of this month, we will meet with a pediatric physical therapist and another developmental specialist on May 27 for an official evaluation of Maryn's motor skills. If she is found to have a 25% delay or more based on the milestones she should have by her age (it's scored like this: no skill - 0, new skill - 1, mastery of skill - 2) then she will have to have some therapy to get her back up to speed. If she is still having issues at age one, she will be referred to neurology to rule out any more serious neurologic causes for her delays.

So...plenty in the above two paragraphs to keep Billy and me worried! We've been praying about it a lot. Lo and behold, in the last week, for whatever reason (maybe because we've been frantically working with her on her skills) Maryn has decided to meet a few more motor milestones. She rolls over now, like it's nothing. She does a little scooting on her belly on the floor. And she moves from a seated position to her tummy purposely and without crying. We've even found her on her stomach in her crib. All in the last week. We are hopeful that she won't even need the evaluation. Even if she does, I think she will catch up eventually with no problems. Billy thinks she's just a genius and doesn't have time for athleticism because there are too many things going through her head...like historical analysis or calculus or something. Lol. We'll keep you updated on her progress. Pray that we won't be anxious. And pray we can get the girl to eat! :)

Rolling over requires cell phone bribery:

One area in which Maryn is definitely NOT behind is teething; we're working on tooth number 8! This pic shows off her teeth but also her beautiful, joyous, infectious smile. I thank God every day for this smile:

This is how Maryn prefers to play - contentedly sitting on the floor:

We tried to motivate mobility by putting her toys all around her just out of reach. "What do you want me to do again, Mom? What if I just want to look at them, and enjoy their beauty from afar?"