Holy smokes I haven't blogged in a month! I guess that's a good segue into life with Lucas is busy!
I am so incredibly blessed to be able to be home spending my days with this little guy.
He is thriving and we couldn't be more proud! We are continuing to do physical therapy with a cranial sacral therapist in our home as well as seeing the chiropractor once a week and he loves both. In fact his therapist puts him to sleep most weeks while working on his head and neck. We are seeing a huge improvement but really ... a picture is worth a thousand words right?
To fully appreciate the progress here lets go back and start at the beginning. While there is no way to know for sure it is the opinion of his physician and therapists that he was pretty cramped in his birth mom's uterus and as a result the muscles are really tight on one side of his body making it really hard and uncomfortable for him to be in certain positions. We noticed around 2 weeks of age that he really only turned his head to the right and he hated laying flat. I mean HATED it. It seemed that he was only comfortable being held of in his swing.
It wasn't until his therapist began asking questions about rolling on his side that I realized he was spending little to no time on the floor because it was so uncomfortable for him. We amped up the therapy and trips to the chiropractor and before we knew it our little guy had a new favorite toy!
We were ecstatic!! And it only took a couple weeks before he started trying to roll over. If only that pesky lower arm could get out of the way :)
The more time he spent on his floor gym the more comfortable he got. We even started a Friday evening tradition where Mom puts him down on the mat, turns on Dateline and watches as Lester Holt's voice literally lulls him to sleep.
No really ... this happens every Friday night. I'm tempted to start recording every Dateline episode I can since his voice is clearly mesmerizing ;)
As it became more comfortable for him to lay flat (head even facing left!) we thought it might be time to stress tummy time a little more than we had been previously. He LOVES it!!
Another thing we implemented to help strengthen his core and round out his little noggin was baby wearing! He finds this especially relaxing. Generally within minutes of putting him in the carrier he is sound asleep, often times snoring away.
Here he is chilling with Auntie Wole while she helps Mom clean the house.
BTW - if you are thinking about getting a carrier we highly recommend the Boba :)
SO ... this brings me to our first picture. To date Luke has been able to fall asleep in his swing and on his play mat but never in his crib. I know he is still young but we prefer to make the transition before we have to move a bed into the kitchen for him ;).
My first step was to upgrade his crib mattress to something more firm. He needs the added support. Still this was not enough to trick him. We even moved some Christmas lights in there AND his swing to try and get him used to the room.
He is smarter than we are ... and was not fooled here. I had to do some real critical thinking to figure out what we were missing. The mattress is firm like his floor mat which is regularly fell asleep under now. And he had the lights from the kitchen so what am I missing?? The floor mat had flashing lights and played music so what if we try that? I bought him the Einstein crib aquarium.
This thing is awesome! It plays classical music and lights up while the fish move around. Every 10 minutes is gets softer until it eventually turns off. The first night I put him in there awake but very tired and he cried for about 3 minutes before falling asleep and sleeping ALL NIGHT!!
And we positioned him so he had to look left to see the new aquarium and it worked. We were so proud and feeling so blessed. And to have it continue was just amazing!! Here's to hoping we make enough progress in the next 3 weeks to not need a DOC band to help his head shape.
What else can I tell you about life with Lucas? He is developing just the best little personality.
He laughs at me whenever I have to change a poopy diaper. I swear it's only funny to him when there is poop involved. Stinker! And his laugh is adorable. We are trying desperately to catch it on video but no luck yet.
He just lights up whenever he sees me or Daddy. It just melts our hearts and we cannot believe the ways in which adoption has blessed our lives. One of his favorite things to do is hang out with me in the kitchen while a do dishes or prepare meals.
I LOVE this time together and I hope it lasts a lifetime. It will be so fun to have him help me with these things once he's older. He has also discovered the TV now and is so fascinated by the colors and movement.
I have used it a few times to get him to lay with his head facing left for an extended period of time. He's a big Disney Junior fan with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse being the bribery show of choice. He also likes football and cycling which are ironically his Dad's favorites as well!
Something about the announcers or the movement and colors, not sure but we are running with it. Check him out as he shows support for his favorite teams.
Some firsts for Lucas since our last blog include his very first Grandparent's Day ...
He is now sleeping through the night! About 9 to 12 hours every night!! Sadly his 3 year old red lab sister Bella is not and while up taking her out one night we saw this guy on our front window! How cool.
He got to meet his Uncle Benjamin (Beej) for the first time this month. We hope next time he can stay longer.
I think that just about sums it up. We have never been so happy and are constantly in disbelief that this long time dream is out reality now. Lucas is amazing and we are so thankful to be able to share him with all of you <3
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