Big Girl Updates- 18 Weeks

Iyla Grace was 18 weeks old yesterday (on the 18th! A 'golden' week milestone) and has been making some amazing 'big girl' strides lately.

Over the weekend she worked on napping flat on her back:

On the studio kitchen carpet, no less....

Attended her first SXSW music festival:

She was clearly impressed by the bands 

Dressed in a little green to celebrate her 1st St. Patty's Day:

Irish Jig!

A little River Dancing on the new quilt that my friend Jen made for her. 

We love it!

She also made a very successful transition to sleeping flat on her back in her Pack n Play! We have 2 nights under our belts now... and so far, so good. I've been keeping her swaddled, as I don't think that inhibits her ability to move her neck and don't want to spring too many changes on her at once. She's been going to sleep around 7:30 and is up to nurse around 12:30, 4, & 6, then up for the day by 7:30. She has been falling back asleep pretty quickly, and I think enjoying this change!

Yesterday in celebration of her 18 weeks, Iyla mastered a new skill: grabbing her feet! And it is all.she.does now:

 Wahoo! Connecting the dots. I'm wondering how long it will be before she figures out how to get those toes in her mouth!

She has to concentrate SO hard while she does this- she grabs, fusses, concentrates, then grabs again.

When she wasn't catching her feet yesterday, she was either crying or sleeping. The day went like this: nap, wake up crying, nurse, grab toes, nap, repeat. She was definitely having a growing day!

She spent a lot of time passed out in my arms

She's been working on more neck strengthening exercises like sitting in her Bumbo:

And right now- as we speak- she is trying out a big girl nap in her crib:

Aaaaaand- she's up!. Till next time....

Torti-what?

TortiCOLLIS.

It's confirmed that Iyla has Torticollis- which literally means "twisted neck." Not that this is any surprise. We've noticed from the beginning that Iyla preferred looking to her left. At her 2 month appointment I brought it up with the Pediatrician filling in for our regular one, who didn't seem to think it was a big deal (in retrospect I am a little annoyed by that- obviously we thought there was a concern, and interventions should probably have begun then). Since that appointment her tilt has become more pronounced, and when I visited our chiropractor this week he confirmed that indeed she had toriticollis, and that he wanted to now see her weekly for treatments.

So just what causes this pasta sounding ailment? With babies it can either develop in utero from being a bit cramped and having the neck tilted in one direction, or during the birth process if the neck gets strained. In both instances one side of the neck can become restricted and tight. As far as treatment goes, our Pediatrician said that one school of thought would refer her at this stage for a corrective helmet (NOOO- not the helmet!) while another school of thought opts to do daily stretching to hopefully correct the tightness. She is in the vein of following a stretching regime- and I will also continue our weekly visits to the chiropractor. I am hopeful that is all it will take!

You can see in this shot how her head shape is flat on the bottom and elongated on the top... which should hopefully normalize with sleeping flat & stretching. 

More importantly- how cute is this picture?

When we move back into our house Sunday (we have renters there now during Austin's SXSW Music Festival) another shift we'll have to make is to go cold turkey on the bed routine with no more swaddling and no more Rock n Play inclined sleeping. I expect to be a walking zombie for awhile as Iyla gets adjusted to sleeping flat on her back with occasional flailing arms waking her (this is a girl who LOVES her swaddle!). I was a big weenie when I tried to transition her to her flat Pack n Play last month- after 2 nights of poor sleep I resigned and put her back in the Rock n Play. Apparently the Rock n Play sleeper doesn't encourage her to be moving her neck around as much as she should be (first time mom FAIL) -so sadly it will be a thing of the past.

We are also supposed to have her doing tummy time a LOT more (avoiding lying her flat on her back as much as possible save for sleeping). Good thing this little one loves standing strong on her feet (which is acceptable); bad thing that she screams after about 1 minute of tummy time. We have a lot of adjusting to do!

Limiting the play time on her back will definitely be a challenge! 

She and Sam love laying on the play mat together.

This is how tummy time begins.....

And this is what happens after about one minute

I hate tummy time!

Iyla's stats, as I suspected, are still long and lean! At her 4 month appointment today she was 24 inches tall (25-50%), 10 pounds 12.2 ounces (5-10%) and her head's circumference was 15 1/4 (5-10%). And that girl was charming our Pediatrician! She was smiling, cooing and squawking away while being examined. She cried hard when her shots were administered but settled quickly once I nursed her. She was in great spirits for the first couple of hours after we got home- but had a bit of a meltdown at bedtime, prompting me to give her a very low dose of Tylenol.

A brief conversation about her doctor appointment

In other news, Iyla is rockin' some seriously ADORABLE new headbands I found on Etsy. I haven't been a fan of any head bows or head gear on her save for cute hats- but these headbands are a whole different story. I am a bit obsessed!

Melt my heart! 

And this was taken post shots- what a trooper! You can tell her eyes are a bit glazed, but she was doing everything she could to remain in good spirits. 

Can you say DROOL!?!

Yes, I am cute. Even with my drool neck.

We've been enjoying our time staying in our sweet little garage apartment. Iyla is back to bathing in her baby bathtub (there is only a shower up here)... and BC has been spearheading the bath time. She loves it!

Absolute delight for her Papa

Tomorrow we are hoping to make it out to enjoy some of the SXSW Festival action. I've purchased baby headphones, and we will make the most of the ONE baby wearing item Iyla will tolerate- my Maya Ring Sling:

Here's hoping our little one gets a good night's sleep tonight so she can be back to her joyful spirits tomorrow!

And... We're Out

Monday I got our anxiously awaited N/T blood test results back. They went like this:


For my age, my standard risk for having a baby with Downs would be 1:120
With my blood test results? This risk went down to 1:720


For my age, my standard risk for a baby with the Trisomy chromosomal disorders would be 1:440
My bloodwork lowered this to 1:4400.


We took those as GREAT results! The nurse said these results lower our risks overall to less than 1%, and that these tests are about 80% accurate. Hooray!


Given that data, we decided it was time to go public on Facebook with our announcements. Below I have cut & paste both mine and BC's posts. Can you guess whose is whose? Definitely shows our personalities.


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Otis & Sam diligently prepare for their big brother roles. We are thrilled to announce Baby Lambert is on the way- joining our family in late November!!

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Because there aren’t already enough Lamberts in this world, we’re bringing in one more ... Suck it, not-Lamberts!

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And..... the first post is mine, the 2nd BC's. I am sure his mom was so proud! ; )


My work has really picked up over the last week, and I am finding myself working long hours and becoming absolutely brain fried by about 7pm each night. Overall I am so grateful to be busy, as I figure I am in the 6 month stretch to bring in as much income as I can before Baby Lambert arrives! 


BC and I are also seriously considering finishing out the space above our garage into a small studio apartment, to provide extra income potential when the baby arrives. We've already gotten architect's plans and are moving forward to get several bids on the finish out. Austin hosts several major festivals each year where thousands of folks flock to town needing housing. The SXSW festival rental of our home went so well (we even got pregnant during that time!!!), we figure having the garage studio as an option to stay in (with cats & baby) would allow us to rent out our home more often. We even had professional photos taken, and created the "Austin Haskell House" website:


http://www.austinhaskellhouse.com/


If you ever are planning a trip to town and are interested in renting either our house or the studio apartment (which will hopefully be completed before the baby arrives!) definitely drop me a line! This will also be a great space for friends & relatives to stay when visiting us here in Austin.


I need to step away from the computer now... my brain fry is demanding that I retreat to some mindless reality TV. I'll post again later this week with week 14 updates!