Amazing little girl

Megan did such an amazing job this past week. She was a trooper. She is so happy to be home and back in her bed.

Italian Wedding Soup and Chicken Parmesan

For dinner tonight Megan had Italian Wedding Soup, Chicken Parmesan and Green Beans. She will eat anything you give her and she likes it.

Love that she is a great eater.

Sam may just be alright

After lunch today Will played with Megan in the floor while I was feeding Sam on the couch. She would look up at me, especially when I was burping him. At one point Will asked her if she wanted to sit beside us on the couch and she said no.

Eventually Will took Sam so he could snuggle him (he was still sitting in the floor) and I sat on the floor beside him and was holding Megan. I played with her in my lap for quite a few minutes and then sat her on my leg facing Will & Sam. She was fine with it. Eventually I moved her to Will's leg and she "patted" Sam on the leg a few times.

I moved her onto something else so that if he got fussy she wouldn't associate it with her touching him (he didn't).

Not so sure about Sam

Will was sitting on the couch feeding Sam and I was playing in the floor with Megan. She was really watching daddy - she would look over every few minutes to see what he was doing. She was fine, until I stood up to check my phone. Then she started to cry. She was fine again once I sat back down, until he started crying because Will was burping him and he wanted to eat more. She didn't like the crying.

We tried later to introduce them but as soon as he touched her she was unhappy. I tried to sit her on the arm of the couch and he was laying on the couch and that didn't go well.

This is going to take some getting used to - she is not the only little person getting our attention anymore.

Such a big girl

The last 2 days have been very rough for Megan. The first day she had the 3 hour car ride (which she is not used to), ate lunch after 1p and didn't lay down for a nap until 3p, and then she only slept for 5 minutes. She had a bit of a rough night. The crib she is in is smaller than hers so she keeps banging things on the rails and waking up.

Yesterday she ate lunch on time but didn't lay down for a nap until 4p. She had a better night, but was still up quite a few times. She is currently fussing at the moment too.

BUT through it all, both days, Megan was delightful. There were a few times when we had to take her for a short walk outside or around the hospital to give her a break, but she did amazing. She has been such a trooper through all of the changes to her environment and routine and we are so proud of her.

Today will likely be another day for her that she will go a long time before she gets her nap. Sam is being discharged today and the hospital told us to be there around 10 but that it would likely be lunch time before he was released. We are hoping it goes quickly because we would all like to get out of there, but know that hospitals have a weird time warp system where everything seems to happen in slow motion.

Not impressed

Megan was not impressed with Sam; she just wanted to steal his blanket. It wasn't a very good situation - Will has holding Sam in a chair and I put Megan on his leg too and she couldn't really see him, etc.

We will do better introductions tomorrow when we bring him home from the hospital.

Time to meet Sam

Megan wasn't allowed into Nichole's room yesterday. You have to be 12 years old to get in the maternity rooms. So Will and I took turns sitting out in the lobby area with her.

Well, last night Nichole called me to let me know that she received special permission from the doctor for Megan to go back into the room today. She wanted to see the kids together and her 4 year old was allowed back yesterday so she set it up for us.

We are planning on being back at the hospital around 9am this morning to spend time with Sam and Nichole.

Being a big sister comes with....

1. A 3 hour car ride (longest she has been in car seat in months is about 45 minutes)

2. No morning nap because of 3 hour car ride

3. Eating lunch 1 hour later than usual

4. Having to stay awake for 9 hours when she is usually only up about 3 at a time

5. Crying and crying when she finally got to a bed because she is soooo over-tired; and somehow only sleeping for 5 minutes.

AND she didn't even get to meet him.

BUT she was amazing. She wasn't upset about eating lunch so late, she wasn't difficult to manage due to no naps - she was a little fussy but for what she went through it was nothing. Such a big girl.

Falling over asleep

Megan is currently asleep. She was sitting up in her bed and fell asleep leaning forward. This is the second or third time she has falled asleep in that position, but this time she managed to grab onto the covers on her way down. She loves to cover up and snuggle with the blanket.

Singing, dresses and other things

Yesterday Megan pulled herself onto her knees in her crib using the fish tank, and then she pulled herself into high knees and reached up to the top of the crib to try to stand, but she was just barely too short; which aggrivated her. So great that she is trying.

She is singing all the time now - she is in her crib right now singing away and dancing to her music. So very sweet.

I put her in a dress today. This is the first time, other than for pictures, that she has worn a dress. I didn't put her in any when it was cold so now that it is warm enough for shorts I thought I would start letting her wear her dresses. She loves her dress - she keeps picking it up and dropping it so that it covers her legs. She looks adoreable in it.

Pulling up on....everything

A few days ago I blogged about Megan pulling up to standing using her fingertips on the walk-around toy piano.

Yesterday I was sitting in the floor and Megan was sitting on one of my legs facing Will. Will was laying on the floor propping his chin on his hands so his face was at face level for Megan and the top of his head was around her eye level. She loves to play with Will's head - it is nuts how much she loves it. Anyway, she reached out, grabbed onto his very short hair and used it to pull herself into standing. It was so cute - she would stand there, leaning against Will's head and "banging on it like a drum" and then she would sit back down and a few moments later she would do it all again.

Today she was sitting in her chair with her musical table at her lap and I was sitting on the couch working on adoption documents for Sam. I looked down and she had reached across the table to two very secure handholds and she pulled herself to standing. I quickly stuck my leg out so my foot was under the table so I could hold it still for her. Once she was standing she looked at me and I clapped for her. Because of the way she was holding on she couldn't really play with much so she sat back down.

She has the concept and technique for standing up if she is in a sitting position at a 90-degree angle, give or take.

Such a sweet girl

Megan is getting a little brother very soon. We are so excited. We talked to her about it yesterday and when we would tell her Sam was going to be born soon she would get a big smile and clap. She is going to be an awesome big sister and she will definitely ensure that Sam is tough. :-)

Standing all by herself

Today Mandy brought a chair for Megan to use to learn how to go from her knees to sitting - unfortunately the chair is a little too high for Megan so she will have to learn to stand up to then sit. Megan was too tired at the end of her session for Mandy to show me what she is supposed to do, so I doubt we will make much progress on that front before next week.

The chair is slightly higher than her music chair - maybe an inch higher, if that. Megan was sitting in her musical chair and kept trying to reach the piano on another toy so I turned the chair around. She immediately tried to stand up, but the music chair plays a song when you leave the seat and it was very distracting. So, I changed chairs so there would be no distractions.

Megan reached up and using her fingertips held onto the piano keys and pulled herself to standing. She then stood there by herself and played with various toys. She did this several times, for several minutes at a time. On two different occasions she was a little "reckless" when standing up (she practically jumped up)and she started to fall over sideways - both times she reached out and grabbed onto a toy and righted herself.

We were so proud of her - she did such a great job and not only did it by herself she instigated it herself.

Growling

Megan started making a new noise a few weeks ago that we weren't sure what it was. She sounded like she was straining her voice and "screaming". Today we discovered what she is actually doing is growling. We rawr & growl at her all the time when we are playing and today she was doing her noise back at us.

By herself and without her supergirl shorts

Yesterday Megan tried to get up on her knees by herself but she didn't stop and ended up sitting on the other side of her legs (she had her shorts on).

This morning, before we put her shorts on her, she grabbed the bench and pulled herself up. Her legs were spread out at the hips, but she was up on her knees. After putting her supergirl shorts on her she pulled herself up a couple of times.

Such a confident, big girl.

UPDATE
She has been trying to get on her knees in her crib by pulling up on her "bumper". This bumper is designed to specifically prevent that, it just gives when pulled on. This afternoon she pulled up onto her knees by using her fishtank.

Trying

I just caught Megan on the monitor trying to stand up in her crib. She was sitting, facing the side of the crib with one knee bent and the other leg out straight in front of her. She had her hands on the top of the crib and tried to pull herself up. She fell backward when her straightened leg slipped.

This is the first time she has ever tried to stand up in her bed. Things are getting interesting.

Knee time

This morning, while I was sleeping in (thank you hubby) Will played with Megan. He said that she did great. He didn't put the shorts on her and sees how important they are for her right now. He said she had issues stabilizing, but she still wanted to do it.

Then after I came down she was sitting in the floor playing and she tried to get on her knees to play with the music table. She did everything right, she just didn't quite make it there on her own - I helped her and held her hips so she could stay there for as long as she wanted. I will put the shorts on her when she gets up from her nap.

Amazing shorts!

Today was Megan's physical therapy session. Mandy brought a pair of spandex type shorts for Megan to try. They are called Hip Helpers and they are amazing. The legs of the shorts are sewn together so that Megan's hips have the support they need for her to be up on her knees.

Mandy said that some kids hate them because they can't move in them but some kids take to them. I am so glad that Megan likes them. She did great with them when Mandy was here, after she got used to them; and then we put them on Megan when she got up from her nap and she did so great. She is getting up on her knees and staying there and able to get out of it easily.

Megan is even trying to get onto her knees by herself - the first time she has even shown any interest in doing it herself.

Gotta love tools that work.

New friend

One of my dearest friends came for a short visit last week. She was here for 3 days and stayed with us while in town. Megan loved her. The second day she was here Megan was sitting on the couch and Lisa was sitting in the floor in front of her and Megan just laughed and chatted with her for quite some time.

It was so adoreable to watch because Megan doesn't talk to a lot of people other than me and Will.

I am looking forward to better weather - I really need to get her exposed to other children so that she can make real friends.