Downtime with family and fall transitions

Gesina and I have been busy enjoying the few warm days of summer lately and beginning our fall transitions. Normally fall is my favorite season of the year but with such an oddly cold summer, I feel a bit cheated!

Gesina's first transition was to visit a new GI doctor and see a nutritionist. We got the "g-tube" lecture which was annoying. Granted, the doctor didn't receive Gesina's records (of course, that's hundreds of dollars wasted on a general consult because neither my pediatrician or prior GI doctor, both of whom referred me to the new GI, sent over Gesina's records), so the GI doc used the time to tell me what he could do for me... insert a g-tube. I listened like a dutiful mother but was seething inside. My daughter is at the 12% for weight and is not even 8 months old and is wearing 12 month old clothes! I think we are way past that drama. Grrrr. The nutritionist was very helpful though. She was amazed at the diet we had Gesina on because it is very nontraditional. I don't mind it because it WORKED but do agree that due to the low volume of liquid, it is not sustainable in the long-term. So we came up with a plan to get us off the crazy diet and move toward a more sustainable diet. Gesina now takes 20 ounces of formula at 27 calorie per ounce INSTEAD of 12 ounces of formula at 44 calories per ounce each day. We are also lowering the amount of oatmeal from 1 Tbs per ounce to 1 1/2 teaspoon per ounce. The goal is to get it to only 1 Tbs of oatmeal per BOTTLE. So, how is she doing with all this?? AMAZING! She is taking her 20 ounces or more each day and is even showing signs of being hungry :-) Can't wait to tell the GI doc that we won't be needing the g-tube thank you very much! She is vomiting a lot though. I may have the GI doc switch her from Prilosec to something else to see if that helps with the vomiting up of whole bottles.

Gesina has also had some therapy transitions. I finally fired my PT and the new one can't start until next week. We also have a new OT that I've never met because my usual OT is having surgery. Finally, we've added an additional OT through a private company that follows a "medical" model versus the "coaching" model that early intervention (EI) uses. This caused some drama with EI as they claimed it's not best practice to use both... ummm, yeah, right. My private OT has been calling them trying to get their records to ensure they are on the same page. Further, most moms I've talked to online with kids with similar histories as Gesina use both. Finally, my insurance doesn't cover private so I'm not going to stop EI because I can't afford to go all in with private. Sounds like turf wars to me. Either way, I've applied for a secondary insurance through the state that if we qualify for, will pay for the private therapy instead of EI. Fingers crossed on that as it takes about 4-6 MONTHS to find out if we qualify.

Gesina's daycare has had transitions as well. She and all her classmates have graduated to the next room. This means new teachers I've been training and new schedules. I'm transitioning Gesina to 4 days a week in daycare instead of 3... it's killing me :-( I need to do that as I have to start getting back on track at work this fall with more (and new to me) classes to teach, 2 new PhD students to train, 30 new MA students to matriculate, and I'm again heading my local professional society. I'm a sucker for punishment but I've often found that the more facets I have in my life, the more centered I am when things don't go "well" in any given one. In other words, I'm probably a better mother if I have a full life outside of mothering... at least this is what I tell myself!

And finally, Gesina got some serious family love this past weekend at the family reunion! She was held the whole time by every cousin I have and when not at the reunion, my sister and her grandma and grandpa got some snuggles in. In fact, she was so spoiled with family cuddles that she spent the whole first day home demanding to be held. She's incorrigible but as usual, I loved every minute of it. She was also amazing on the ferry ride and just slept, played with my hands, and even drank her bottles (I was seasick by the end but she held that formula down like a champ). Of course while she was at grandma and grandpa's, the "diet" went out the window with her first tastes of mashed potatoes and gravy, ice cream, and chocolate frosting. That's mashed potatoes in the picture below.

She was so good on the ferry and at grandma and grandpa's that we'll have to get a few more visits in before the ferry stops for the year.

Next up, rest and relaxation! We are finally caught up on doctor's visits for a few weeks. Just transitioning to daycare more often, more therapy, and more cuddles until the fall semester begins. I'm going to be horrible at more daycare... I think I'll pick her up early today... Oh how I love that little girl!