Making progress

We're working on sitting up!! 

I've been working with Wyatt a lot on sitting up over the past few weeks by holding him at his hips.  He can't sit on his own yet, but last night I had the idea of putting his little boppy around him to see if that would be enough support.  I was sooo excited to see how well he did with that!  He sat up like this for about 3-4 minutes before he got tired and fell back.

Daddy came home while we were sitting and so he came over and started playing with Wyatt.  I snapped this picture of the two of them and I LOVE that their expressions are exactly the same.  Like father like son!! :)

I've also been trying to figure out a way to work with him where he can put pressure on the bottom of his feet.  Most babies you can just pick up by the sides and try to make them stand up while holding them, but Wyatt's skin just can't handle that pressure.  I've always known he was sensitive on his sides so I try to not pick him up that way.  Well... I've now learned that he is SUPER sensitive and still very fragile.  When he had his OT assessment a couple of weeks ago, Wyatt regular OT came as well as her supervisor.  The supervisor had never worked with Wyatt before so I quickly explained his skin condition and that he's fragile and blisters easily so we needed to be gentle while working with him.  A couple of hours after the therapy session Wyatt was pretty upset and when we took his clothes off for his bath we discovered this

 

I had forgotten to tell the supervisor to not pick Wyatt up by his sides until it was too late.  I didn't realize there was going to be this kind of damage though!  I was really surprised to find this owie.  It's about the size of a half dollar.

  I'm so glad he can still be such a happy boy with wounds like this because I think I would just be a big baby and cry all day!

His legs were also covered in blisters.  This happened as a result of trying to put pressure on the bottom of Wyatt's feet.  The supervisor would hold his leg and gently push his foot onto a stuffed animal.  From what I can tell she was being gentle so I am by no means upset with her.  This is just a part of what being Wyatt is.  {She was really upset when she found out about all of his owies from the therapy session though}  The blister pictured below is a ginormous one that popped right before we were going to aquaphor him.

 All the angry red spots are blisters surfacing from under his skin.

He cried a lot while we were getting him ready for bed, his little tears make my heart sad

But then he saw me with the camera and stopped crying haha

He was dosed with Tylenol for the pain and went to bed pretty good.  He woke up screaming around 1 or 2 in the morning so we gave him Tylenol again and it helped him get through the night.

This is how Wyatts chest looked the next day.  His curse is also a blessing.  Because he produces skin so quickly, he also heals pretty quickly.  Within a week I couldn't even tell he'd been hurt.

 This was his hand that night though.  This poor kid had blister after blister after blister for a week and a half straight.  We had to give him Tylenol 5 times over that span of time.  Oh well... we had a pretty good drug free run going, I guess it had to end sometime.

So anyway, because of all of this, I have been trying to come up with a different way for Wyatt to put pressure on his feet without anyone actually making him do it.  And then I was like DUH, try a jumper.

I've stayed away from jumpers and walkers and things of that nature because most therapists that I talk with say they inhibit the mobility of babies and actually holds them back a little.  Now I'm thinking it's time to look into it.  So I hung a jumper in one of my doorways and put Wyatt in.

He didn't totally dig it at first, but after his 3rd session he's doing better!  He tolerates it for 10-20 minutes and it's fun watching him sway back and forth on his feet.

 His left foot

 and right foot

 He was soooo bored, or maybe tired.  Either way he was really spacey the whole time he was in it.

I'm going to bring up using the jumper at Wyatt OT session tomorrow and see what his therapist has to say about it.  If she doesn't like it, hopefully she'll have some good suggestions for other things that might work better.

So yay for progress!

Rolling over, supported sitting and practicing putting pressure on feet.  Wyatt has had a BUSY two weeks!

OT/PT review

We got what we wanted!!! Wyatt has been approved for PT 1x/week and OT 1x/week!!!  

He gets to keep occupational therapist which is awesome because we LOVE her and the regional center is searching for a PT that has previously worked with children that have uber sensitive/fragile skin.  Yay!!! I'm so happy that Wyatt is going to be getting this extra therapy and hope that it's exactly what he needs to continue to improve his development.

p.s. if you haven't already, please consider donating to our fundraiser.  Just click the donate button at towards the top right of this page and you can donate through paypal.  Thank you!

Rolling over!

I think Wyatt and I must be in tune with eachother.  I wrote a post yesterday about being worried about his development and then today he rolled over.  What?!  I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!

My little man rolled over!!!!!!

After he did it the first time I rolled him back onto his tummy to see if he would do it again.  And he did!  I got him to go from his tummy to his back SEVEN times!  

{no, I don't think my voice could go any higher lol}

And then I decided I should stop torturing him and reward him with food :)

I'm so proud of my little guy!  We are definitely going to be practicing lots and lots of rolling over this week so that he can get it perfected :)

He'll catch up... right?

I'm trying SO hard to not compare Wyatt to other babies.. but dang it, it's getting kind of tough!  I can totally handle babies his age doing way more stuff than he can.  I've always looked at him as his adjusted age {3 months behind}.  He's 10 months now, so he's like a 7 month old.  And I can handle him not doing things babies his adjusted age are doing because I know he's delayed.

But I'm starting to go a little crazy that babies that were born 5 or 6 months after Wyatt are doing things he isn't.  They're sitting up all by themselves, and pulling to stand.  Wyatt doesn't even roll over yet!  But I know Wyatt has more than just preemie things to deal with here.  I'm sure his skin is the main cause for his snail paced development in motor skills.  Sigh.  I just can't wait until he can do all the things everyone else's babies are doing.  I want him to start reaching some major milestones dang it!  The dr.'s initially said he'd catch up by the time he was 1 year old.  I don't know if that's actual or adjusted but either way, that gives him 2-5 months.  Here's to hoping it's somewhere between those numbers!

Sending off the lantern

I love our new tradition of sending off a sky lantern for how old Michael turns every year. We let it go in a park by our house that's in a more industrial area and next to a golf course so there weren't buildings nearby. The lantern flew perfectly and probably went 1000 feet high before the light finally winked out.
This is going to be such a fun way to celebrate him every year :)