Thank goodness we are FINALLY! more than halfway through the month of June!
Unfortunately June has seemed to drag for both, Nolan and I... so we will be welcoming July with open arms! ;-) July was Nolan's original deployment date...
I ran into our FRO (Family Readiness Officer) at the O'club last week and she said it has hit everyone this past week or so.... I am kinda glad it isn't just me and Nolan that are I guess really starting to truly realize that the guys are gone, and won't be back for quite a bit longer... BOO!
To pass the time and stay positive through it all, Liam and I have been staying busy.... some days I think we are too busy, so I am starting to build in 1 day a week that we have nothing to do and we just hang out at home together! As of late, it has been Wednesdays. :-)
On June 1st, I took Liam to the O'Club pool around 4pm and he didn't object too much to having his feet in the water, as well as getting in a little bit. The pool has a graduated entrance, much like a ramp, so I am able to sit in the extremely shallow water with Liam. Since that went well I signed us up for a swim class here on base that started on Monday of this past week! (June 13)
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June 4 Melting Pot in Wilmington with the Thunder Chicks |
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Nolan's calendar square, July 2 |
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| The back of his square... since he winged July 2, 2009! :-) |
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| July's morale calendar that I mailed to Nolan on June 6th. |
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On June 9th... the MOST beautiful flowers were delivered to our house!
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| Happy 5 years to us! :-) |
Nolan had them delivered a day early so that I could enjoy them ALL day on our anniversary! He is so very thoughtful! He called shortly after they were delivered too! They smelled just as good, if not better, than they looked! And it was amazing each morning (of this past week) to see more and more of the star gazer lilies turn from white to pink and then open up! The roses opened up a lot more too! They were so nice to have in the house - and they lasted a solid week! :-)
Nolan was also able to call on the 10th as well! What a blessing to have such an amazingly wonderful, thoughtful, caring and loving husband! :-)
As I mentioned before, we share the same anniversary with another couple in our squadron, so we girls met for dinner at Texas Roadhouse (fitting right? since we both were married in TX) :-)
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Anniversary Dinner with Sherri and Nate
Nate wasn't too fond of the picture taking idea... |
Back to the swimming....
I originally signed up for an evening class, in hopes that the water would be nice and warm, but since I was the only one, they moved me to the Parent/Tot class that meets from 940 - 1010, 4 days/week for 2 weeks. The first day, Liam pretty much fussed the entire 30 minutes... I felt horrible, maybe he just wasn't ready for this/it was just too cold... I talked to the instructor about moving to a class later in the summer, but she said to try another day... Thankfully on day 2, he enjoyed about 20 minutes of it and then started fussing... On Day 3, the water was a lot more cold that it has been, so our class spent the first 15 minutes learning about pool safety, sunscreen, gear, etc. and then got in the water for a little more than 5 minutes... the rest of the time we sat at the graduated entrance and let the babies (6 months - 18 months) sit in the water/play with some pool toys and Liam and I both enjoyed ourselves! :-) Day 4 was cold, but Liam did great - Success!
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Yes, I make the poor boy wear that hat...
He doesn't have enough hair (although he is getting more on top) and I definitely do not want his head to burn!
We are still working on getting rid of the cradle cap - almost gone though! |
We have been playing various games
humpty dumpty sat on a wall
(and then falls in the water and pops back out a few times and then back onto the ledge ;-) ) motor boat, motor boat
(which he floats on his stomach while we move in a circle... then the motor boat "steps on the gas and goes so fast!" and we go in a small circle in place FAST! )
tick, tock (where he is tilted left, then right, (repeat) and when the clock coo coos he goes up out of the water)
He enjoys reaching for various floating objects (these round saucer type things and rubber ducks) which end up in his mouth! :-)
He is not really a fan of floating on his back (with his head on my shoulder and the rest of his body sort of laying on my arm)
I would say overall it is going well, and we are both enjoying it... he passes out as soon as we get in the car, so it is very tiring for sure! :-) I am thinking about signing up for Session 4 which would be at the end of the summer... maybe he would like it even more when he is a bit older!
Liam has also had OT 2 times a week, for the first two weeks of June and last week he only had one session, since we had swimming during one his appointments and I wasn't able to reschedule...
Liam is making GREAT progress with regard to his right side/arm, however his occupational therapist, Megan, and I both agree that his stiff neck is still an area that needs more work/time...
Most of Liam's sessions (50 minutes in length) begin with 20 minutes of manual releases, which are when Megan uses the body heat from her hands to warm the muscles around Liam's neck... so that during the rest of the OT session his neck is loosened up and he is more willing to turn it to the left... If you sit behind him, he is always looking at about 2 o'clock...
Over the past few weeks, Liam has been working on his back at reaching up (lifting his right shoulder off of the mat) to grab at toys, as well as on his stomach, to support himself with one arm and reach with the other (specifically practicing holding his chest up with his right arm).
He also practices rotating on his stomach, by twisting and moving his arms out in front of him to grab at toys. He practices pulling his legs up and over (instead of extending his body/arching his back) to roll over.. specifically over his right arm, which he has to pull out from underneath himself. In the same respect, he has been working on using that right arm to push himself back over to his back, from his stomach... He is not too much of a fan of being on his stomach, as that requires more work from his arm(s). He is doing well though! :-)
Megan has also given me some exercises to "wake up" Liam's lips before eating... He had done really well at eating rice cereal at 3 1/2 months and then at 5 1/2 months when we tried sweet potatoes and he would just let them sit in his mouth, wait for his mouth to fill up with saliva, then gag and spit it all back out... He has gone so far as to gag himself and throw back up the few ounces of formula that he ate prior, so that isn't such a great thing... So far he is liking squash and that is about it... although he will suck on/eat frozen pureed banana in a mesh feeder thing... so we will keep trying the peas, sweet potatoes, and oatmeal... as well as other fruits and veggies..
While it is important for Liam to learn to "eat", at the same time, however, I don't want to take away precious formula calories for baby food... Liam doesn't eat much to begin with... 10+ oz/day less than he "should" for his body weight.... about 24 oz in 24 hours.. He is, however, eating 6 oz bottles at a time, most of the time, which is a great new change/age appropriate! :-)
This past week, Megan, had him on a medicine ball, looking at himself in the mirror/grabbing at toys attached to the mirror, while she supported his waist and ever so slightly rolled the ball, forward and back, as well as left and right. This is to continue to strengthen his trunk muscles, specifically to get his right side equal to his left.
Until next time!
