Catching Up :)

It's been a while since we updated, and there has been a LOT going on lately!! First off, A week ago today Zach had his Neonatal Follow-up clinic, where he has his round-robin visits with all sorts of specialists, who are tracking his progress, offering any advise of people to refer us to, tracking his weight and growth. All kinds of fun stuff!! So we got there at 8:15 and were there until after noon!! What a long day, but also such an exciting one! I remember Zach's first follow up clinic we went to, which was for his 6 mo adjusted age, and I remember seeing all of these other kids running around, former preemies who were now 2 and looked like jsut any other kid, and I remember thinking to myself, someday that will be Zach... he will get off this darned oxygen and grow all big and you will never know he was such a sick tiny baby for so long... Well my friends, that day has definately come!! He was one of the older kids there, and he was walking around, playing with the toys, looking like any other 2 year old :)

It was a great day! First we started off seeing a Pediatrician, who gave him a VERY thorough up & down. She was so impressed with how he is looking, and we did talk about his teeth. Zach had his first dentist appt about 3 months ago and the dentist diagnosed him with Ameleogenesis Imperfecta which is basically that the enamel in his teeth is defective, and pretty much non-existant. There are also pits & grooves in the teeth, which is why they appear yellow, because you are basically seeing he inside of the tooth that the enamel normally would cover. When I told the pediatrician this, she laughed a little and said, "That's not what it is, its from his biliruben levels being so high, as well as the many infections he had" also she said (in her own opinion) that it shouldnt affect his adult teeth!! WOO-HOO!! i figured that was what it had to be, but the dentist didnt agree with me... Anyways, he then saw the general nurses who weighed and measured him, completely naked he is now 25 lb 7 oz, and 33 inches long!

Then we saw the Developmental Psychologist, who had a whole series of tests and interacting scenerios for him, to asses how his reasoning skills are developing as well as all sorts of other developmental things. We were in there for a good hour, which was amazing Zach did as well as he did, he was so focused, and didnt start to fidgit at all until the very end when she was telling me the results! She said that his main problem is Gross Motor development (which we already know), his walking is at about an 11 month old level and other than that he did really well with the tests, much better than she was expecting! After that we saw the Nutritionist, who was a little concerned that his weight had fallen off the curve (which confused me because at his 2 yr appt he was right on his curve, so i dunno, lol) But then she saw how he scoots and said, no wonder!! That scooting (combined with the walking he does now) is burning a LOT of his calories!! So she gave us a sheet with all sorts of ideas for "Power Packing" his foods, and getting as many calories in as possible, so we are working on that right now! Over all it was a great, very positive appt, and we are going back on the 3rd of Oct to see that Opthamologist, and also the audiologist.

Now, fast-forward a week, and Zach is walking about 3/4 of the time, and only scooting about 1/4 fo the time. He has also learned how to stand up on his own, without holding onto anything!! He's a walking fool now!!

Zach also started his Kindermusik class today at Kids on the Move (the place where he gets his Physical Therapy through). He did pretty ok considering it was his first day, and that class is of about 8 kids, all 2 yr olds, and pretty loud (which we all know he doesnt do so well with). But he did really well, he only cried about half the time, and that was at parts where it got pretty loud. He did love the different musical instruments they had, and loved the music itself, so we're pretty excited to keep going :) It goes through the week of Thanksgiving, which its pretty exciting. They also use a lot of signing, so it should be an extra help as well for him to see the signs being used from more people than just mommy.

So here's a video of Zach standing up on his own :) Also carting around his blanket, which he somehow got out of his crib, and has been dragging around behind him all afternoon :)