Getting Caught Up

I've been negligent on my posting for the last few weeks. Tim was super busy at work for a few weeks in there and I was doing a lot of baby duty. Things are starting to get back to normal though so I thought I owed everyone an update.

First (excuse the belatedness), here is a pic from Kacey's 7 month photo shoot:
These monthly updates have taken a difficult turn. Kacey now knows that she can grab the "month" sign and attempt to eat it. I think we'll have to be creative at 8 months so we have a chance to get some better shots. Also, check out her "getting ready to crawl pose" above. It may be about time to baby proof...

After a consultation with an occupational therapist at Children's Hospital, we found out that the muscles and tendons that connect her thumb to her palm are a little too tight (more so on her left hand than her right) hence the reason she's been having a little trouble with her pincer grasp. Yesterday we had splints made that she will wear at night until those muscles loosen up a little. Last night was her first night wearing them. All in all, it went fine. She awoke a few times, unable to grab her own pacifier, but I'm certain she'll get used to them pretty soon. She's such a trooper.

Happy Half-Birthday!

Our little baby Kacey is half way to being a whole year old! My how time flies! When she was just a few days old and we were operating fully under survival mode, 6 months seemed like a lifetime away. It might be a cliche, but they do grow up so fast. And things just get better every day. I know this post is a bit belated, but I wanted to wait until we had her official 6 month doctors appointment to post so I could give you all updates.

I had to miss Kacey's 6 month pediatrician appointment (thanks to my civic duty of jury servitude), but luckily she had her daddy there with her. She's still a lean, mean awesome machine. She's measuring in now at 27.5 inches tall and 13 lbs. 6 oz. The pediatrician wants us to up her solids intake to at least 2x per day so she gets even more calories. She definitely has her daddy's metabolism. She's still not on the chart for weight over height, but she's gaining weight so we're thankful for that.

She also handled her shots like a trooper and Dr. Feines gave her a little book with kittens in it. It's very cute and Kacey thinks it tastes really good too. Eating books is her favorite (at least until she can read them). By the time her next appointment roles around, Kacey's old pediatrician will be back from her maternity leave. At least there will be no shots at that one, just blood work (like that's much better). Timmy took her to the physical therapist again to take a look at her hands again. She's doing much better, but we still have a few things to work on. Her daddy bought her a new rattle to help her left hand grip a bit better. We're not too concerned about it. We know she'll be just fine.

Anyway, check out my favorite picture from her 6 month photo shoot. Yep, she's reflecting on her first 1/2 year here. I think she's having a pretty good time so far...I know we are.

All Sorts of Updates

I know, I know...it's been a while. Apparently, unlike Timmy, my New Year's resolution wasn't to post 3 times a week (although maybe it should have been). I do have a ton of Kacey updates though to get out of the way and then you can expect me to post much more often than I have been.

Ferber:
Well, I have to say that, all in all, Ferber has been a huge success for us. Kacey now falls asleep and stays asleep in her crib throughout the night. By night 2 she was falling asleep with NO crying. It's really been amazing and I'm so proud that we've given her the skills to put herself to sleep. Lately teething has caused a few tougher nights and she wakes up occasionally to have us replace her pacifier, but for now we're okay with that. Hopefully that will get better on its own, but if it doesn't, we always have Ferber in our back pockets. At least the swaddle will be gone soon. We're down to not swaddling for most naps and only swaddling one arm in during the night.


Weight Check:
We met with Kacey's temporary pediatrician, Dr. Feins, at 4 months and 3 weeks. She weighed in a whopping 12 lbs 5 oz. For those of you keeping track, our little Kacey gained as much weight in the last 3 weeks as she did between her 2 and 4 months appointments. Needless to say, the pediatrician was thrilled, as were Timmy and I. It's such relief to see her thriving so well. We did mention to Dr. Feins that we had been noticing Kacey turning her right hand when reaching for things. The doctor referred to it as "pronation". You might notice it in one of her 4 month old pictures posted in a previous post. It seems to just be a positional muscle preference that she'll grow out of, but, as a precaution, we had x-rays taken (which looked perfectly normal although Kacey was not happy about having them done) and we're meeting with a physical therapist and a hand specialist at Children's Hospital. We're not overly concerned, but we'll let you know how that turns out.

Other Fun Stuff:

We took Kacey on her first trip to the Boston Children's Museum with some of her friends from my mommy and baby group. She had a great time with all of her little buddies and she loved having her daddy take her all over the place. There's not a lot for an infant to do, but it didn't take long before all the little ones seemed pretty tuckered out. Here's a picture of her enjoying the "water bed" in the infant room.

Kacey also spent some time cheering on her Patriots in the Super Bowl, but we all know how that turned out. Shh...don't tell Kacey, she fell asleep before the game ended and we still haven't been able to break the news to her.

She also got her first pair of New Balances, which was very exciting for both her and her daddy. She can't wait to get out there with him on the road. We think she rocks them!

Okay, well, that's all the updates for tonight as I should be heading to bed now. I'll post again tomorrow with more Parcell family updates. Thanks for reading!