February was a GREAT month!

Hello all,


This past month has definitely been full of developments for Janai. I'm so excited to share the news. I can't thank God enough for all the progress our Janai has made.

You might remember from a previous post, that Janai was only eating IF she was dream-fed, or fed while asleep. Well, I'm happy to report that the issue has been "somewhat" resolved. Yes, somewhat. But at this point, "somewhat" resolved has made our lives soooo much easier. So, I'll take that!

Like I said, she's eating consciously again. I guess the problem was that we were trying to feed her too often, and she wasnt hungry. We were feeding her every 3-4 hours. She now eats every 4-5 hours. At first, she still ate the same amount of milk (5-6 ounces), but she is now able to consume about 7ounces per feed; sometimes a whole 8 ounces....woohooo! Granted, there are times that she is only willing to eat 4 ounces, but that is when she has choking spells. When that happens, she is usually hungry much earlier; so, it compensates. In total, she eats less than she used to, but she seems happy as is. She used to eat 30-35oz per day. Now she averages 25oz per day. Dr. Krishna was so good at calming my fear that she was becoming "afraid" of the bottle, and he convinced me to relax about it. Thank you! Thank you, Dr Krishna! I was worried that she would not gain enough weight, but at her last well-visit to the Dr. Rossell, Janai showed good weight gain, so I'm pleased. We still struggle sometimes, but it's MUCH better than before.

As of Feb 1st, she started solids too. She started with sweet potatoes. She loves them! She's getting a bit better at it each day. My Mom feeds her during the week, and I get to practice on the weekends. I used to think it would be easy to feed her, but it is challenging to get the food far back enough in her mouth so that she swallows it rather than spit it back at me. And there's been quite a few times that she amuses herself by spraying the food back at me! Gotta love raspberries! So, I'm happy to report, I'm getting better at feeding her each time, too.

She is THIIIIIS close to rolling over, too. She turns to both sides easily. If I offer her my hand, she'll grab it and roll over (front to back) on her own without me having to pull her. She's able to stay on her tummy a lot longer too.

Janai is also very alert... aka nosy! So, she loves to sit up to see everything that is going on. The smallest sound or object moving, and she's on it! Just like her Momma! She's getting pretty good at holding her head. Her back is still wobbly when she's sitting up, but she demands to be sitting rather than laying down. So, we got her a bumbo chair last week, which she uses a few minutes a day. She seems to enjoy it. She looks so cute in it!

She started laughing too! It makes us feel so happy when we hear her laugh. Adrian is constantly blowing kisses at her, which makes her laugh every time! My parents, Adrian and I cant seem to get enough of her laughter! I never thought I would feel so much joy with something so simple! We are so blessed that in the grand scheme of things, she is doing wonderful!!

Oh! We finally put her in the jumperoo too. She loves that thing! (even though she looks pretty bored on the below jumperoo picture. ha!)

Medical Updates: Last, we had a swallow study. I could write a whole post over that visit, but won't do that. In short, we waited 2 hours before they started the study. Needless to say, Janai did not cooperate. She was so mad. She swallowed some forced liquid about 8 times. The "study" showed that her swallow issues are ok now as she didnt aspirate despite the fact that she was crying. I'm not comfortable with those results as she still has chokind spells, and I think they couldnt make a true assesment based on 8 swallows. So, I'm hoping the doctor will repeat.

Another medical update: at the last well-visit, we mentioned to Dr. Rossell that, twice now, when Janai has gotten scared from an unexpected noise, her head sort of shakes for a few seconds. It has lasted maybe about 15 seconds each time. The doctor wants to rule out any convulsions (epilepsy), so Janai is going to have an EEG (electroencephalogram) in the near future. I'm hoping everything turns out OK from this.

Last in medical updates: we have the last RSV shot in March, a hearing test in April, eye exam in June, and Developmental review in July.

Let's see... what else? what else? Oh yeah! She's is officially sleeping in her own bedroom! As of February 15th, actually. I slept on the floor in her room the first week though. It was a bit hard to dettach, but I'm happy to report that I'm back in my bed, and she still sleeping in her crib. She's so much better there because she has so much room to more around and she gets distracted with the wall and her mobile, etc. Plus, her sleep is not disrupted as it was when she was in the co-sleeper in our room. It's a bit hard to wake up and walk to her room, but it doesnt happen too often. Adrian and I take turns to go attend to her if she doesnt go back to sleep on her own. She's sleeping about between 8-10 hours a night now! Woooohooo!!! Sleep anyone??? I'm still pumping, and I pump after she goes to sleep, but I'm getting more sleep than before. Thank God!! Now, I can repeat what other parents say "It does get better!".

....and.... at last...after this long story (like I ever write short notes, huh!).... the pictures: here you go! Enjoy!