Happy Half Birthday!

It's hard to believe this little boy was born six months ago today. Happy half birthday Beckett!

We got news from the doctor yesterday that RSV season is still going strong, and influenza is even more rampant. Since he was only a day away from his six month birthday they gave him a flu shot on top of the RSV shot he was going in for. And they told us that it would be at least mid-May before RSV / cold and flu season would be over. So now we are supposed to keep him in quarantine even longer than we thought. Some birthday present. Thanks a lot doc.

Oh well, that's about when my birthday hits so maybe he will take me to the zoo for my birthday or something cool like that.

True Love

Every day since last weekend Ellie has mysteriously woken up in Mommy and Daddy's bed. After a couple of tries on Daddy's side, she found the success rate was much higher on Mommy's side. On Monday she must have heard Daddy putting Beckett back in bed after the 5 AM feeding, because around 6 o’clock she came shuffling out into the living room rubbing her eyes. She walked toward Daddy as soon as she saw him and when she saw that he was eating she said “I’m hungry.” So Daddy got to eat breakfast with Ellie before tucking her back into bed and going to work. The same thing happened Tuesday and by Wednesday she didn’t even have to say anything.

But this morning Ellie didn’t wake up after Beckett’s feeding. So instead of eating breakfast at the beginning of the morning routine, Daddy decided to wait until the end. She was still asleep. Well, Mommy had to wake up early for Beckett’s doctor appointment anyway so Daddy decided to wake up both of his girls.

“Ellie, do you want to wake up and eat breakfast or go back to sleep?”

“Eat breakfast.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go back to sleep sweetie?”

She pushed the covers aside, climbed into Daddy’s arms, and promptly fell asleep. Daddy thought that since she was so tired she might want to sit on his lap. But at the table she said “Hey, thought I was gonna sit over there.” (pointing to her ‘usual’ spot) She ate silently until she got cold, so Daddy brought her pink princess blanket. She was still cold so she sat in Daddy’s lap (with the blanket) until after breakfast when Daddy tucked her back into Mommy and Daddy’s bed so she could “stay warm” under the covers.

I feel loved.

Happy St.Patrick's Day!

Ben said we should use this picture because he looks like a angry little leprechaun protecting his pot of gold. :) And yes, the shirt says "My dad's a geek." He liked the pink one his Aunt Anna got for his sister, so we decided to get him one of his own.

I get by with a little help from my PT/OT friends....

Yep, still here. Yep, apologizing again Grandpa Whipple on the blog slacking. Hopefully the photos I just posted at the singing serenade the other day will make up for it! This is my fourth post today! Whoot! (P.S. This week, I taught Ellie the song "You are my Sunshine." My Great-Grandma Ruby Whipple taught it to me, and I have fond memories of going over to her house and listening to her sing and play the harmonica! So Ellie and I decided we would call Grandpa Whipple the other day and sing it to him...and we were on a roll, so we sang to some other lucky callers too!)


So here is is...our life lately...poor Beckett...he has no idea how crazy this family is! :)

1. Mama is super excited about this one: Beckett has made some improvement in the dirty diaper making area. Ever since we started some infant massage techniques with Occupational Therapy, we have a new baby in that department. He went on his own TWO times last week, and has already went TWICE just yesterday. I know. I know. Probably shouldn't be number one, but I gotta start somewhere! :)

2. Beckett has been going to Occupational Therapy with Debbie at Cook's Children's Rehab center once a week to help with motor skills. This week was our second session. What we are working on: tracking (he is really social, and will track our faces really well, but doesn't track toys and moving objects really well) Since then, Mom has been practicing with toys. Our homework you could say. Also, we noticed that he doesn't like to come mid line very well (he prefers to have his hands up to the side of his head, almost in the touchdown position). I don't think the back to sleep, no swaddling SIDS prevention recommendations help this matter. So our OT homework this week was: infant massage, support neck and shoulders with towel roll, practice side-lying to bring hands together, practice tummy time over your leg with shoulder support. He just isn't strong enough to really lift his head with out being completely bobble head just laying on the floor. So they compared it to doing a push up off the ground vs. off the counter. For now, we have to help him strengthen like "45 degrees" rather than "90 degrees" if that makes sense. I've seen GREAT improvement even in just a week. He still doesn't like to stay side-lying, but I get to prop him to get him more used to being on his side. He also will come mid line more this way.

3. Physical Therapy is with Kelli through ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) twice a month. She really helped focus on supporting his chest and back while sitting up so we can work on the bobble head. His goal this week was to really balance and try to keep his head in the middle, and forward. (He likes to check out the sky a lot)...so this we do the "Beckett Sandwich" and again, this week I have seen A LOT of improvement. He doesn't love this exercise, but it's helping. We also rotate between floor time, and positioning him on a bobby with shoulder rolls...to help him get mid line and to give him some range of motion to look both ways side to side. He has recently found his HANDS so that is helping him want to come midline too! Oh, AND on floor time the other day, he actually kept his head straight up, (usually it is always to a side when he is on his back) AND followed my face and voice and went from ONE SIDE to the MIDDLE and to the OTHER SIDE! This is HUGE! I was SO excited!!!!!!

Another thing we are working on is encouraging vision and head turning to the "LEFT." He favors his right side a lot. And if you remember, Beckett had a Grade 2 brain bleed on the right side. The right side of your brain controls the left side of your body. So we want to make sure Beckett "knows" there is a left side to turn to. His muscle tone is good for the rest of his body, but it's just something we have to keep in the back of our mind as we don't know what the brain bleed will affect neurologically and physically. Oh, and another thing he did this past week was lift both of his legs up at the same time. YES! Hopefully the belly bulge will be disappearing soon, as B man starts working on those core ab muscles!

4. Our pediatrician last visit, had us get cranial x-rays to make sure Beckett's sutures weren't closing prematurely. His head shape is a little long, so just needed to make sure. We had the X-rays last Friday, and the results: GREAT! No signs of sutures closing. So we'll just chalk this up to big Gramkow noggin genetics. :) His head is still a bit misshapen, we are supposed to check with Dr. Hanson next visit to see if she does want to keep our appointment with the cranial maxillofacial specialist in May.

5.  Nutritionist with ECI is finally scheduled to come beginning of April. Hopefully we can get off of this 27 calorie fortifying business! Obviously, as long as he is still growing along the curve, that's the most important. 

6. Beckett is SMILING quite a bit now! And is starting to tell me stories ;) His Big Sis is always telling him that he is so so cute! :)


Ok, that's all I got time for now...heading off to a picnic outside with the family. :) Blessings!

Our Hands

We are the hands and feet of Jesus, given the task to make disciples of all nations.

Our Little Fighter Pilot

Photo repeat for the brother...

Can you tell which is Ellie and which is Beckett?

Smiles and Doctor Ellie :)

 All Beckett smiles here! Melts. Mama's. Heart.

And don't worry DRG...Ellie is taking over listening to Beckett's heart...

and bowel sounds. :) 

And now she is waiting to see who is going to be brave and get shots!