PT Update and Dentist Visit

Sydney is still going to PT once every other week.  This past week her therapist took measurements and the good news is that she is turning her head the same number of degrees left and right and the same range with her tilt left and right.  The bad news is when she plays, she still tilts her head 6 degrees (so she’s not in midline all the time).  The therapist believes the tilt is due to muscle memory and the only way to really correct that is to have Sydney wear a TOT collar (to read more about the TOT collar click here:  http://www.symmetric-designs.com/index82.html).  The collar will basically keep her head in midline while she plays and hopefully remind her to keep her head straight.  We have to get the collar ordered and the therapist will fit her and she’ll only wear it when she plays.  We’ll take it off for feeding, bath, and sleeping.

Today was Sydney’s first dentist appointment.  We saw Dr. Elsner in Fredericksburg (not our family dentist because he doesn’t seen children until they are 3) and he was excellent!  He was very personable and met and talked with Sydney before he brought us back and checked her teeth.  She did great!  She didn't cry or try to get away from him!  He said that everything looks good and her teeth are coming in at the right place and pace so she’s on track.  He gave us a Sydney sized toothbrush too J She’ll go back in one year for another check-up. 

1 Year Appointment

Today was Sydney’s one year doctor appointment.  She is 28 ¾ inches tall (40^th percentile), weighs 18 pounds 12 ounces (40^th percentile), and her head is measuring 48 cm (upper 98^th percentile which is normal for her).  She got three shots today and she tried so hard not to cry but it just hurt too bad!

The BIG 1!!

Today is Sydney’s birthday!  We had a cookout at the house and friends and family came to watch Sydney eat cake and open gifts.  She was soooooo very tired by the end of the day but she had sooooooo much fun!  Grandpa and Grandma Rhody came up from SC and Grandma and Grandpa Basham and cousin Chrissy came up from FL and the alllll the local family came too!

Her party was Hippo themed….it just kind of formed into that theme once I started to plan the party.  My nickname for her (among others) is Hippo.  When she was only a few days old, she would wake up hungry and suck on her fingers….when I heard the sucking noise, it reminded me of that game, Hungry Hungry Hippos!  I made Hippo decorations, ordered Hippo shaped cups for the kids, and had Hippo shaped cakes made.  It all turned out really cute!

Sydney received all kinds of clothes and gifts that she is going to love….because most of the toys make noise! LOL!  She did get a lot of books and she sure does love her books too!  She also really liked her cake!  Only recently did Sydney begin to pick up her food and feed herself so I was really happy when that happened because I knew she would get to dig into her cake at her birthday party!

Here are a few pictures from the party:

We also had some professional pictures taken for her first birthday which included a Smash the Cake session:

Today was the day!!!

We had our final band appt today @ 9am. They took 3d images so we could see the changes to her head shape. They also took photos from all angles and provided us with a side by side line up with the original photos and the new ones. Her head will always be angled somewhat but it looks so much better than it did!

Sydney now has to learn how to not hurt her head! When she had her band on it protected her for the most part but as soon as we got home she went to roll and knocked her head! I imagine we'll have bumps and bruises soon!

11 months old!

It's official!!!!!

Sydney's last day in her band will be July 18th and that won't even be a full day since her appointment is at 9:00 am! At her final appointment they will take "after" pictures and 3D images of her head and compare the before band & after band shape. Yay!

Happy 4th of July!!