Hello Dairy, I've Missed You

Lewis had an appointment with his pediatrician today and I'm happy to report that everything looks good! He is 14 lb 8 oz and 26 inches long. That's too small to even be on the growth charts... but he's gaining weight like he should be, so the doctor isn't concerned. Coleman and I aren't very big either so I'd be more surprised if we had a huge kid.

I'm not sure if I ever wrote about it on here, but at Lewis's 4 month appointment, we figured out he had a dairy allergy. His life didn't change much, but I had to break up with one of my best friends- cheese. It was really more of a temporary break, because I recently started adding dairy back into my diet and Lewis hasn't shown any signs of the allergy. Sooo I asked about it at his appointment today and I'm happy to report.... cheese and I are back together. Also ice cream and butter and cream in my coffee and lots of other delicious things. I got back from the appointment and immediately ate way too much pizza for lunch. If he tolerates this dairy overload, I'll start introducing it into his diet too, in the form of yogurt, to begin with.

I'm still in the process of figuring out therapy and insurance. There are a few different options we're considering, including aqua therapy. The problem is figuring out the right therapy at the right time AND trying to get it covered by insurance (which is next to impossible). I've all but given up on having any help from insurance for therapy. Here's the quote from our policy book:

Short-term outpatient physical therapy is covered when medically necessary for a condition that can be expected to improve significantly within 60 consecutive days. 


So yeah... not much help from them. I'm so incredibly thankful that we have so many therapy options to choose from. It's hard to know what's right for Lewis, though. And even if I think I have the answer to that, it never aligns with what insurance will pay for. Ugh. Anyway, I stressed about that for a while and finally realized that I don't have all the answers. So I'm praying about it and waiting. I'm not very good at waiting. If you've ever stood in anything even remotely resembling a line with me, you know that. But other than this blog post, I've successfully kept from obsessing over it for a few days now, and I feel good knowing that God knows what's right for Lewis and will show me a way to make it work. He'll show me what I need to do.

Look at those hands go!

Lewis holds onto the bar on the stool to practice sitting up without anything to lean on... 

Only this is what he usually ends up doing.

Since Lewis doesn't lift his legs very often or very high, I lean his legs up against something, like this, so that he can see when he moves them. It gets him to play with them which is really important for his development and awareness of his bottom half.

 It's obviously super fun!

 And a random photo session...

 That included lots of drool...

Some bubble-blowing... 

Some sly grins... 

And letting Mom know she should probably think about vacuuming... 

But he was sick of laying on his belly and decided he'd rather suck his thumb and watch the fan go around. It's his favorite thing to do lately. Yes, I purposely picked the picture of him lifting his leg. I know it's not much, but I love every single movement that kid makes.

Lewis works very hard to do things that would come naturally to a lot of babies. We work with him every day and have recently seen him make some progress which is so rewarding to see. I've been taking videos to track his progress and I can't wait to share it with all of you soon!