Summer at the Barney's

We had a very busy and very fun summer here at the Barney household! :)

{hence my lack of blogging, my bad!}

We went to a graduation, had a family reunion, and went to Missouri to see my side of the family and lots of other smaller things.

Wyatt is growing up a lot and we have grown closer as a family.

 Fathers Day

at the beach

at daddies softball game

 getting in the tub at Grandma and Grandpa Pope's house

hanging out in the grass

 hugs in the backyard

So to sum up Wyatt's big milestones for the last few months...

On 6/28 Wyatt said his very first word, "kitty".  And then he didn't say it again forever, but he definitely knows what a kitty is.  He knows mama and dada and tries to imitate a lot of the words that we say to him.  He understands sit down and come here and on 8/25 he started to wave 'hi' and 'bye'.
 Wyatt is still in 3 different therapies a week {PT, OT, and infant teachers}, with one on hold {aquatic} for the next month because it is SO hot outside.  I'm grateful for the programs that are available to help him because, drum roll please, as of 5 weeks ago he started cruising, and a few weeks ago he started bear crawling!  I have a crawler now!  All this kid wants to do is stand though so I'm pretty sure he'll be walking within the next month.  He just has to get his balancing act down.  :) As grateful as I am for the therapies, I'm so ready to be done with them!  I'm anxious for Wyatt to be all caught up.
Bear Crawling!

Driving daddies car

 Cruising like he owns the place

Shortly after Wyatt started cruising he FINALLY started rolling onto his tummy.  I know he's known how to do it for forever, he's just stubborn like his momma and has to be motivated enough to do it, haha.

My little guy has eleven teeth now.  The 4 in front on top and bottom, plus the 2 upper molars and one bottom molar.  I expect the other bottom molar to break through any day now.  I try to keep my fingers far away from those things, baby teeth are sharp! {kudos to all you mommas that are still bf'ing with those little daggers in}

As you can see from the pictures above, Wyatt has a helmet.  His head is SO flat!  Something that is very common for preemies.  I put off the helmet as long as I could because I was afraid at how it was going to affect his skin.  Fortunately, we haven't had much of a problem with it.  He keeps it on very well and after 5 weeks of wearing it, I can see a difference.  Fingers crossed he'll only have to be in it for 3 more months!

Wyatt recently had his bi-annual high risk infant appt.  At this appt he's given the Bailey test to see where he is at developmentally.  This is how he scored;
Cognitive - low age appropriate - 11 months
Receptive communication - mild delay - 9 months
Fine motor - low age appropriate - 10 months
Gross motor - mild delay - 10 months

About a week later, his OT assessed him at home and these were her results;
Cognitive - 14 months
Fine motor - 12 months
Gross motor - 10 moths
Adaptive - 14 months
Social-Emotional - 10 months

It was explained to me that Wyatt's better scores with his OT were due to the fact that the test was done in a familiar environment and he was cooperative so he 'tested better'.  See, this is how the scoring on this test works.  Say the therapist puts something on the ground so that they can observe if the baby can pick it up.  If the baby won't pick up the object, even if it's something they do all the time at home, the therapist has to mark that the baby is unable to perform that task.  Personally, I think it's kind of dumb because to me it means the test scores aren't really accurate, but whatever.

So Wyatt is almost caught up to his adjusted age on just about everything but gross motor skills and communication.  He'll be assessed in November to see if he can start speech therapy.

Bath time is still a favorite around these parts.  I've started doing saltwater baths and oatmeal baths in addition to bleach baths.  Wyatt's in the water anywhere from 45-60 minutes each day and he loves it.  I think he would live in the tub if he could :)

 the picture below was his first oatmeal bath.  He had been going crazy with itch all day and was SO happy to finally feel better!

Wyatts skin is looking pretty good these days.  He has his good days and his bad.  Times where he blisters more {like when he's teething} and times where you can't even tell he has a condition until you get up close to him.  I'm happy to say that I'm about 85% confident in taking care of him now... sometimes when he's uncomfortable I only think about skin issues and forget about the things all babies deal with, like ear infections, so I still need to work on that!
This is how his feet have looked lately.

 Wyatt being silly

 he loves his daddy so much!

I will update more tomorrow, it's late!  But if I don't post this now, I'm afraid it will sit as a draft for forever! :/ That's just how my brain has worked {or not worked} lately haha ta ta for now!