New at the Gustafson's

Nicholas has been feeling great for the past week and a half now. No more teething pain! We are so glad that's over (for now) because it is not only tough on Nicholas, but tough on us when we don't know exactly how to make our baby boy feel better.

Nicholas has a new home teacher through the ESD named Julie who comes to visit every Wednesday afternoon. Last week she brought him this super cute little piano, which has now become his favorite toy. In fact, it's really the only toy he wants to play with anymore! He pushes the keys and says, "ah" and "ooh" in a sing-song voice. It makes us so happy to see him love music so much.

Also, our little guy has become quite the squirmy worm lately. If he's sitting on my lap, he will throw himself off to the side, often flipping his entire body over...so we always have to make sure soft surfaces are nearby. He also enjoys these new couch stretches while he's wearing his KAFO's. He is starting to like standing more and will often want to stand upright (in his KAFO's) between mommy's legs for support. He also enjoys throwing toys on the floor and trying to reach to grab them. He's been grabbing and holding my hands when he cuddling with me which I think is adorable and makes me smile every time. He is starting to eat a substantial amount of food. Lately he likes chicken nuggets, yogurt, Goldfish crackers, veggie burgers, cheese, waffles with maple syrup and bananas.



Yesterday morning we went to Doernbecker's Children's Hospital to do what I thought was going to be a swallow study, but it was just a doctor observing Nicholas while he ate breakfast. He suggested giving Nicholas Pedia Sure to increase his calorie intake and he also suggested putting butter in many of his foods. According to his observations and the observations from Dr. Link, Nicholas's pulmonologist, they think his respiratory system is working efficiently right now and he shows no signs of aspiration or discomfort while eating. Jeff and I were happy to hear that!


Also yesterday we became the proud renters of this cough assist machine. This machine will help Nicholas to inhale and exhale and will cause him to cough when he has mucus built up. The technician who brought the equipment out showed us how to use it and even let me try it using an adult size mask. Nicholas was kind of freaked out by it because it's noisy, so we let him touch it and listen to it before we actually tried it on him. But, unfortunately, he hated it anyway. So we are planning on using it a couple times a day to start with to help him get used to it and keep it from being too scary for him. Any suggestions on how other parents make it fun/less scary would be appreciated!

{Also, on a side note, I am thrilled that my camera dried out and is working normally after it was accidentially thrown (with me holding onto it) in a friend's pool last weekend. Thank goodness for my genius husband who had enough sense to take the battery and memory card out and told me not to turn it on for a few days. Voila! Now it works like it never saw the water! Gotta love mechanic hubbys!}