we didn't actually fall of the face of the planet

it's almost overwhelming to get caught up at this point- 2 months later! but here's an overview:

• we had another developmental pediatric appointment pretty soon after the last post. it went well. (I LOVE OUR DEVELOPMENTAL PEDIATRICIAN!) wren was still behind on a few things... still holding on to some of those primitive reflexes she had the first time. i had been worried about her moro reflex, but the dev ped said that she thinks it was just an excess startle reflex... not a full fledged moro. that was some good news! of all the gross motor skills that wren was lacking in none were absolutely terrible. she said that she wouldn't be surprised if wren has delays... but she doesn't expect her to be physically handicapped. she asked me the question "what is the number one thing that people need in life to be happy and function in society?". and i said "the ability to get along with people- social skills?" unsure of my answer. she said i was absolutely right. she said that wren holding a pen different, or walking with a limp won't keep her from being a perfectly happy woman... she said that socially wren is doing great.. all of her problem solving skills and responsive interactions are going really well.

-the one that she still had/has is the atonic neck reflex. here's a picture:

it's also known as the "fencing reflex"

here's a video on how to check. (i believe this is a series on primitive reflexes- pretty interesting.)

-she also wasn't looking for things that were outside her field of vision at that time. (the test for that was a toy that she was following that the doc dropped behind her. she didn't try to look for it.) she is definitely doing that now!
-wren is also sitting up and playing now... everyday, for at least a few minutes without falling over- haha... then, smack! a faceplant. she hasn't learned to lean on her arms yet. she doesn't seem in a hurry to... i try to limit her bumbo/boppy/corner of the couch time to about 15 minutes a day. remember i did a post a while back on "the dangers of the bumbo" haha... not really! but, it does offer too much support. so, if your child is behind in sitting, it's not a good thing to offer them that extra support very often. they need to work on sitting up themselves. we almost always carry her/wear her now. (if she's sleeping we'll take the car seat in.) sitting her up on our laps and only offering a hand on her lower back so she doesn't fall. (this was at the recommendation of the dev ped as well. she said as opposed to letting her stand up- which is cute and we used to do all the time to have her at eye level with us- it was better to give her the practice at sitting, which she has to learn.

• we moved- twice! out of the house we were living in.. in with my in-laws for a few weeks... then on to oklahoma.. where we are now.. and almost have all of our stuff unpacked! if i could get caught up on laundry and get the books packed away we'd be officially done. :) we're having some people over for dinner tomorrow night. i intentionally committed to that to light a fire under my not-unpacking butt. it worked- and before we knew it, we had a house that could be welcoming! (the dirty clothes and 15 boxes of books safely stored away behind a closed door.)
• we've sleep trained- twice! with the grandparents' love of rocking, we fell out of practice...er.. wren fell out of practice at going to bed by herself. we've also had some bouts of teething pain (it seems to get worse then better then worse.) to deal with. she's still sleeping through the night, about 10-12 hours, depending on when we put her down. she wakes up at about 730 every morning, regardless of her bedtime. we're back on track with the babywise method now... and loving every minute of it!
  
  
  
  
• i've struggled with breast milk supply issues, gotten my supply up, and learned that the little bird would like to wean. talk about depressing. somewhere in there my electric pump broke- and i went through 2 hand pumps, now working with #3. (for some reason they keep losing suction.) anyway, now my supply sucks again, but i've started pumping anyway. it looks like i've got a long road of pumping ahead of me. i guess i should just be happy she'll nurse once a day... i'm not sure how long that will last... as of now, she's only willing when she's really tired. i'll keep you posted.
• we've found that wren has a hollow leg- or something. she's eating us out of house and home! we'd been feeding her earth's best baby food. (along with the stuff i make periodically.) it's available at target for a reasonable price. well, i can tell you that it is not available in lawton ok ANYWHERE for a reasonable price. we could only find it at a few "healthy" stores.. and we're looking at over $1/jar. she's eating somewhere between 32-38 oz per day. nursing once, and taking one to two 9oz bottles... the rest is baby food. we recently ordered some happy babies food from the M-I-L who can get it through her store. i'm hoping she likes it. i also have started making a "meal plan". that makes me a real responsible grown-up- right? anyway, i'm trying to consolidate my shopping, an overlap our meals into things she can eat. i'm sure by the time we move again i should have it all figured out and a nice routine. i found this website, dinner tool, that is pretty helpful. i've just been adding in some of my own recipes as well. (the grocery list tool is a joke- it doesn't add any of the ingredients together. so, you could have 1/2 onion listed 5 times separately...i decided to just make my own list.)

-she can actually pick up puffs! it's adorable... and it's probably just the slobber that makes her hands sticky enough to do it... but she can get about 1 out of 15 in her mouth all by herself. :)
-she tries to feed herself.
-our "little" bird now weighs 14lbs 10ounces! she's getting so heavy to carry around. but, compared to our other preemie friends she seems to not be gaining weight in relation to the amount of food that she eats! must be daddy's metabolism... it's not mommy's.

• on that note- mommy apparently doesn't have a metabolism. i feel like a beached whale lately. a whale beached in oklahoma of all places. p90x couldn't get here soon enough... but at this point i feel like even getting out of the house would be a start. riding my bike would be a step forward... walking? and not just to the fridge. soo... either i'm going to have to buy some more lane bryant clothes (which btw are great for us big chested ladies- they make them cute and roomy on top!) or i'm going to have to stop eating. the husband says it's not as bad as i think... he told me "i think you have anorexia, but without the ability to stop eating". ahhh... love. :)
• we had some "off oxygen hooray" pictures taken. i'll post a link soon.

i've got a few more posts planned.. and now that we're mostly caught up... it doesn't seem so foreboding to log on. :)