What is happening

Vivian had her four month appointment yesterday. All was well with her stats: 14 lbs. 11 oz. and 24 3/4 inches, all in the 75th percentile. Her doctor encouraged us to start solids at five months, but I'm undecided about it at the moment. I think it will more likely be around six months. We are gravitating towards a daytime sleeping schedule that is not at all rigid. She usually sleeps until 8:30am or so (after being awake multiple times at night), naps for 30 minutes during our daily outing, and then takes a longer nap in two spans while Bennett sleeps in the afternoon. Then she needs another 30 minutes or so before dinner and is usually out for the night by 7:30. I wake her to eat again before I go to be between 9 and 10. It doesn't seem that she is even close to sleeping through the night, although I don't really expect her to at this point anyway. She sleeps much better at night when swaddled, but she is old enough now that we are trying to wean it. This has led to very frequent waking that we are going to have to tough out. Her room will hopefully be ready in the next few weeks and we can begin that transition.

Speaking of transitions, Bennett has been going through a couple of his own recently. He is in his big boy bed all the time now with little trouble. We just left it in his room until he was ready to go in it himself, which only took a couple of weeks. He absolutely loves it and jumps in whenever he is in his room. He hasn't gotten out of bed yet, which probably has something to do with the darkness of his room. We haven't had to introduce a night light yet, so he can't see anything to get up for. He is also out of the highchair and we are all eating meals at the actual dining room table. That one was very easy...it just took awhile for me to get his seat ready. I suppose potty training will be the next transition. I don't think we are even remotely close to that.

Bennett will be getting speech, feeding, and play therapy which will hopefully start this or next week. I got a call asking about our insurance on Friday so I know things are in the works.

Wow! Exciting kid talk.

In more exciting news, Melanie and Gwendolyn are coming to visit in the middle of March. They will stay with us for two nights and with Melissa for two nights. I'm very excited to have them! It's always nice to have guests to break up what can be a boring routine some days.

Bernie is getting his truck ready to sell this week. We are going to become a mini van family in the very near future. It's a little bit sick, but I'm excited. It will be nice not to cram all of our crap in the Prius with the dog for traveling. Our road trip up north should be a lot more comfortable this year.

I suppose I should update on the Missoula job situation. About a week after Bernie applied, he checked on his application. Apparently it did not get forwarded to the Missoula office because he did not sent in a piece of paperwork proving that he works for the government (seriously?). He had never sent this in when applying for a job before and it had never been an issue, but this time it was. Since the application deadline had passed, he was unable to turn it in and was deemed ineligible. We were disappointed to say the least, but it turned out fine in the end. After the selection was made (someone from the Missoula office got the job), Bernie talked with the boss there and got feedback on his application. He wouldn't have gotten the job or an interview, but wasn't far off. So we got all that we would have if the application had gone through and Bernie will be able to make his resume that much better for the next opening-wherever that might be.

Oh, and spring is coming! We don't have it nearly as bad as you Montana people do, but I'm very ready anyway. Parks, walks, and regular play in the back yard...here we come.

Sigh

We have been having a rough week around the Meier household. Everyone has been sick with a nasty head cold/upper respiratory. Bennett had a high fever for a couple of days followed by the hacking and snot factory. Bernie had a milder version. Vivian and I were last but were both miserable for a few days. Both kids ended up at the doctor just to be sure it was nothing serious. Bennett and Bernie are basically better. Vivian and I are still recovering. I felt the worst for her. She's so little and helpless. Hearing those racking coughs and hoarse voice were almost enough to drive a mommy over the edge. She even puked up what little food she had in her belly a few times after a coughing fit. I rented a damn pump and everything so my supply wouldn't dip while she was busy eating hardly anything and I was getting plugged ducts.

Blah. But now we are feeling better and I really really really hope we can avoid having anyone sick for even a week or so.

And then there was Bennett's speech eval. We were referred to Colorado's early intervention program because he will likely qualify for free services due to him being significantly speech delayed. Vivian and I felt like crap, and it had just snowed a bunch, and it was cold, and can I complain a bit more about it? Anyway, we went into a room with lots of toys so they could do the eval while watching Bennett play. There was a speech pathologist, a social worker, and a psychologist (and a physical therapist about halfway through). They were asking us questions from every direction. These were questions I really could have used some time to answer. Keep in mind that I had to fill out a huge written evaluation before the meeting. Why can't you include these questions in the paperwork so we can think about it a bit? Grrr...

Vivian was absolutely pitiful and whined a hoarse whine the whole time. I was overheated and overwhelmed. I actually told Bernie that I felt like checking into the psych ward for a few days after the evaluation. I'm feeling much better today, but that was tough.

It seems that Bennett's speech delay is bleeding into other areas of his development, most importantly, his play. He doesn't seem to have much imagination or pretend play yet. Instead he is very cause and effect oriented and seems to have some compulsive behavior (must "drive" everything he picks up). So, he will be getting speech therapy as well as sessions with a feeding specialist (his eating habits are very texturally controlled). They mentioned another kind of therapy that I can't remember.

So this is all very difficult. Just when you think your preemie may have come away unscathed, they don't. I just hope we can get things back on track.