Isabelle Bentley

Look who is finally in her big girl car seat!

When we went to the ER the other day, the doctors kept mentioning how she has eczema. Other doctors have mentioned it before but really no one said to do anything. Anyways, she has it everywhere. Arms, legs, back, face, chest. It doesn't seem to bother her. I think it may be connected to us not washing her clothes in dreft anymore because I never really noticed it before then. But it could be anything. So we are rewashing ALL of her clothes now.  It also started around the time we put her on milk... God I hope it's not milk related. She didn't start milk until December 9 though. As I look back at pics she didn't have it in the summer but did as the weather got colder so maybe it's cold weather related? I've also been putting vaseline and aquafore because other people with kids who have it recommended it. 

Isabelle is clapping and giving high fives if you ask her too. She also is sitting up by herself form the floor and going from sitting to the floor neatly.  She's also feeding herself a lot. And likes to. Although she haaates holding her bottle. Refuses to do it. She eats the food we are eating and chunky baby food too. Not eating with spoons yet by herself but with hands.  If you help her, she will stand for a few seconds and she loves to jump. MUCH better at putting weight on her feet.  Babbling like crazy. Mostly saying "dada". And... drum roll please... we saw her take 4 crawl "steps" this weekend.  And so it begins.

Isabelle had two Christmases - one in RI with Scott's family.  And one in NY with mine. Here are 4 generations: my grandma, my mom, me and Isabelle.  My mom made her that hat and the xylophone is probably her favorite toy.  Loves ripping the paper open. Most of her gifts. And sibling pics.

Isabelle's runner sent a new medal. AND  HAND MADE QUILT OF ALL THE SHIRTS SHE'S GOTTEN FROM RACES SHE'S DONE since being matched with Isabelle. 

I am so proud of Isabelle. She's eatin stage 3 chunky food. And she eats all the food we give her off our plates. And puffs and this baby Jax stuff. Some kids with DS have sensory issues and need purees much longer. You may notice that she is in the ER above. Another trip due to her turning dark purple on her hands and feet for a few hours. They did a chest xray. They are clear. Her SATs were 96-100.  They also did an ekg and called her cardiologist. He basically said he's not worried. He said some kids with ds just do this and there is no explanation for it. She had a cyanotic episode.

Isabelle's hair is starting to grow in back finally. It gets matted very easily if she's on her back too much, though. But it's long enough to put in pigtails. <3

Recently I started giving them baths together. SO MUCH EASIER and quicker.  However I don't really trust her to sit up so I got this sit up seat for her. Lifesaver. They got recalled because parents were leaving the kids in them and walking away and so the kids were tipping them over and drowning. I literally don't get that. I don't move an inch away from them when they are in the tub. She loves splashing around in it. By the way, the water has colors because we have tablets that turn it colors. One of Jack's favorite things to do is pick which color the bath water will be.

The title of this entry is inhalers. Plural.  We went to a pulmonologist today. She's had a terrible cough since September. It really hasn't gone away and it's gotten worse in the last few days. I took her to the doctor on Monday and they said her lungs are clear but wanted her to see this pulmonologist. Izzie coughed all night and all day at daycare and all the way to the doctor and then NOTHING for the entire time we were at the doctor. I explained how bad it was and that we had 2 ER visits and 2 rounds of steroids for 2 croup incidents. But since they didn't hear it and her lungs are clear... the doctor wanted to do Zyrtec for a month to reduce the phlegm and open her tiny airways more. When I started to put her clothes back on... she had a coughing fit and the doctor said "Oh... nevermind. We're gonna skip right to the inhalers and treat her for asthma." She doesn't have asthma but they treat it like asthma to open the airways more. So she has

I put Izzie's 9 month clothes in her drawers! Her legs are still 6 month but her body is 9 month. So cute. 

Izzie had her ear tubes follow up. They checked her tubes and they look good. They did a test of them to make sure they weren't blocked by fluid or wax. They're not. They also did a few different hearing tests on her. In one, she was wiggling around too much so we need to repeat it in 3 months. In the other, we sat in a sound proof room and they played noises through speakers and talked to her through a microphone. She did not do well. At her EIT appointment yesterday they also noticed she doesn't respond to noises - she doesn't turned her head if you ring bells to one side of her, for example. However, if someone talks, she turns. However, she didn't really turn for quieter noises on her right ear. It's not definitive so we need to repeat. She's obviously not deaf but people with DS can have hearing loss so she may have slight hearing loss. Nothing I'm worried about.

So Izzie sees early intervention (EIT) for physical therapy once a week and speech twice a month (but that's switch to once a week in January). They did her re-evaluation that happens every 6 months and they look at 5 areas: social interaction, cognition, gross & fine motor skills, adaptive and language (receptive and expressive). I'll get her exact scores next week but she qualified for 4/5 areas. You need to get a 76 or less to qualify for services. She was in the 60s except she got an 82 for social interaction. She's very attentive and copies things with her mouth (like kisses). That's awesome! She didn't qualify for one area! It uses something called the Battell test. 

Christmas 2016 card.

Scott skated for the MDSC All-star team against the Bruins alumni team.

Not only is Isabelle clapping but she's following directions if you ask her to clap which is awesome!

She popped a second tooth - the one right next to her first one!

Election - what election? Isabelle got her first tooth today! And likely, it's been there for a day or two and I didn't feel it because it's POPPING out. Looks to be bottom left. Usually kids with DS's teeth come in later and in a different order. Hers came BEFORE Jack's and the left tooth. It looks like it may be a little jaggedy but we'll soon see! It also looks like she's getting another near it - see the white bulge? Her cheeks were red today which prompted me to check. 

As Coach Belichick says - we're on to 2. It's hard to believe - Isabelle is now 1. <3 Izzie mowed down on another cupcake. Loved it. Grandpa Bentley made this awesome collage for her. And this, my friends, is where I leave you. One post for every day of her first year. I will, of course, update when there is need/want to but it will not be daily. I hope you've enjoyed watching her grow day by day. :)

Well here it is: the last first day Isabelle will ever have. She's lived every other day of the calendar once.  Isabelle's first birthday party. About 80 people came. I had a ton of help decorating and setting up from my mom, Scott;s mom & grandma. Under the sea theme. We had a paint a sand dollar station. Jack painted like 5. This is Donna - Jackson's and Isabelle's dyacare provider. Could not have lucked out more than we did with her. Isabelle looooves icing. It took like 100 hits but the pinata finally broke.  Jack also wouldn't get out of the ball pit.  <3 she is going to be the best dressed baby ever. How awesome is this cake? I know I say it all the time but we hit the jackpot with our friends and family. They have no idea how big of a support system they are to us. 

Isabelle's runner sent her some wicked cute clothes, tshirts from the buddy walk she did and two awesome medals from her runs. Isabelle has the best buddy ever! Dad, Isabelle and I went to baby sign language at the MDSC while grandma & grandpa Bentley watched Jack. 

Grandma Fuchs came for a visit. 

Happy girl doesn't know she's about to go under for ear tubes. You're gonna do WHAT to me? The surgery took 20 minutes and she woke up fine, we cuddled and she ate. Then we headed out. The guy said her canals are very small and they were filled with fluid. Her right ear had thick fluid in it. She could hear but not very well. He got all the fluid out and placed the tubes in. So now she should hear everything pretty clearly.  We were right down the road from dad so we visited him at work and she was the star of the show!