Roll Over, Roll Over...

When we were little, we used to sing "There were 5 in the bed and the little one said 'roll over, roll over'". I'm not sure who else knows the ditty, but it goes on to have "one" fall out and repeats until you count down to one, at which point, the "little one" goes to sleep. I sing this to Andrea sometimes, especially when we're doing PT, part of which involves rolling her from side to side to help strengthen her muscles. Well today, Andrea was on the floor having "tummy time", (a torture invented now that babies only sleep on their backs) and was working hard to get her head and chest off the floor. I looked over at her, since she was complaining loudly, and at that VERY MOMENT she managed to roll from her stomach to her back! She was quite surprised by this, and lay on the floor looking perplexed until I picked her up. I eventually put her back on her stomach to see if she'd repeat the trick, but so far, she refuses to perform on command. Still, it was a treat to see, and we're very proud of her!



In today's picture, Andrea is hanging out in her "Giraffe Bouncy Seat", a gift from my friend of longest standing, Ann Marie. (Now that I'm 40, I figure I can't refer to my friend as "oldest"...besides, she's younger than I) I may have mentioned that we let the boys pick many of the items for Andrea's room, and we have quite the animal theme going in the decor and accessories. Fortunately, Ken and I are animal lovers as well. In the NICU, Andrea was in a "Giraffe" isolette, so we decided that the giraffe will be her special animal. (Kenny George has a thing for polar bears) I may have gone somewhat overboard in buying giraffe themed things for her, from her hair brush to the holder for her pacifier. When she's old enough to have an opinion, I won't force them on her, but truthfully, baby giraffes are so cute, it's hard to not love them! I have to say, at least so far, she doesn't seem too interested one way or the other.

In other exciting news, Andrea continues to do well without the oxygen. We give her at least 4 hours off each day. (She can be off up to 8, but has to be on the monitor, and I can't always pull that off.) The biggest drawback to taking the cannula off is that Andrea HATES when we have to put it back on. She's much happier without it, and never stops trying to get rid of it. If she can't pull the tegaderm off, she'll settle for getting the prongs of the cannula in her mouth, where she proceeds to suck on them. I find this quite gross, but we can't seem to make her stop. I guess she at least gets the oxygen support that way. She used to do the same thing in the NICU with the CPAP (excuse me, "nasal IMV"), which I'm sure drove the nurses crazy. It's certainly making me insane!

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble”
Helen Keller