All About Makenna: 10 Month Update

Makenna is 10 months old!  It is insane to think in just 2 months we will be celebrating her first birthday.  I really can't believe how fast this year is flying by and how big she is getting!  When Makenna came home at 6 weeks old she was a very small and fragile little baby.  Weighing 7 pounds 1 ounce (up only 7 ounces from birth) she was just barely in the 5th percentile.  She stayed small for the longest time and was in newborn clothes until almost 4 months old!  However after we got her home and her tongue tie was corrected, she took off and became a wonderful little eater!  Today my sweet girl is in the 50th percentile, weighing an amazing 19 pounds and fits 9 & 12 month clothing!  She is also getting to be so long, at about 29 inches she is nearing the 75th percentile!  Amazing!

Another amazing feat this month is that Makenna finally rolled from back to front for the first time!  She definitely hasn't mastered rolling, but I think she is getting closer.  Right now she is only willing to roll to the right side.  She doesn't lift her head enough, so her arm gets stuck underneath her
and stops her from being able to fully roll over.  It's a learning process though, she's getting there!




She has also gotten even better at sitting this month and doesn't fall backward nearly as often (we still

can't walk/look away from her though, even for a second, unless she is surrounded by pillows).  In physical therapy she is currently learning how to shift her weight and reach for items located on her left and right sides.  This skill is particularly scary for her.  She doesn't like feeling as though she isn't completely balanced, she prefers to play at midline, but when she puts her fear aside she can usually do it without falling over!  Mastering this skill will help her learn how to get into or out of the seated position on her own, which she can't do just yet.  Right now when Makenna is finished sitting she either reaches out for us to pick her up or she just falls backwards - scary!

While gross motor skills seem to have hit a little plateau this month, her fine motor skills really took off!  Every two months or so her pediatrician has us fill out a survey on her development.  On her 7 month survey her fine motor skills showed a cause for concern, but this month she had a perfect score!  She can pick up small puffs, feed herself, and even pass them from hand to hand.  She loves really playing with toys now and no longer immediately put everything in her mouth.  She will play by shaking, hitting, and pushing toys, which is so fun to watch.  She has learned how to turn pages of books and loves to take toys out of baskets (still won't put them back in though).


Socially Makenna continues to blossom.  She is incredibly well-behaved in public and never cries or fusses.  We get comments every where we go about how alert, engaged, and happy she is.  She loves people-watching and enjoys taking in all the new sights and sounds.  What surprises me most is that even with as sheltered as she has been, crowded and loud places don't phase her a bit.  This month her sense of humor really started to develop.  She now finds goofy dances and weird noises particularly funny.  She also has started to enjoy playing typical baby games such as "so big" "where's Makenna" "peek-a-boo" and "patticake." She started saying  "mama" last month, but this month she started using it in reference to me.  She will call for "mom mom" when I am out of sight or if she wants something.  She has also started using a little sign language this month and knows how to sign "more" she won't do it every time, but it is so adorable when she does. 

Food wise Makenna has decided she doesn't like purées anymore.  We have been doing baby led weaning with her, which is going pretty well; however, there are so many foods she can't have that we never really no what to feed her.  Still, gone are the days of ever having food to myself!  She now loves eating little pieces of whatever we eat, especially turkey, avocado, watermelon, corn, and whole-wheat pasta.  Yesterday I gave her puffs and I was dipping pita chips in guacamole.  She refused to eat her puffs until I dipped each one into the guac for her.  It is so cute that she already wants to be like me.  This month she also learned how to drink from cups while I hold them and has begun mastering the art of drinking water without choking! 



Another exciting thing this month is that Makenna got her bottom two front teeth.  So far she has been the easiest teether ever.  No fussing, drooling, chewing, or anything out of the norm!  In fact both teeth broke through (about 2 weeks apart) and we didn't notice either one until they were already completely cut.  Everyone said I would be the first person to notice her teeth because she would bite me while nursing, but oddly enough, Rex actually noticed the first tooth.  So far teeth have been a non-issue for nursing, what a relief!

Last toothless grin picture!

Sleep this month continues to be rough, but In general it usually doesn't bother me too much.  When
she is awake during the night she is always happy and just wants to nurse and snuggle with me.  I know the desire to cuddle won't last forever and that makes me sad.  In the meantime I'll take all the cuddles she will give!  This month she also started to cut out her third nap most days and sleep a little bit longer during her second nap instead, which has been wonderful.  I am actually able to get some work done while she sleeps now!

My mom and my sister are both teachers, so overall the best thing about this month was having them come visit us several days a week over the summer!  Makenna really enjoys seeing and interacting with them, I'm sure she will miss seeing them so much, but they will still come visit after school some days and on the weekends!







Health update:  Up until her brain surgery on June 2nd, Makenna's head was growing about 1cm a month (instead of .5) due to the hydrocephalus.  After the surgery we continued to measure it and in just over a month it had grown 2 full centimeters.  Not good.  We called neurosurgery and they wanted to see us immediately, so on the 14th my mom and I went down there, expecting she would need shunt surgery.  They said if she didn't have CDH they would do shunt surgery the next day; however, her CDH makes getting a shunt less than ideal.  Makenna's organs aren't in the same location as everyone else's and she has a lot of scar tissue from surgery, together these things would cause a shunt to malfunction, and that is not good at all.  So they decided to hold off a month and continue to measure her head, in hopes that the fluid just needs a little time following surgery to stabilize.  Well in the month following our visit to Shands, her head grew a perfect 0.5cm!!  Unfortunately, that doesn't mean she is in the clear.  We will be measuring her head again this month (and for many months/years) hoping for the same amazing result.  She also had a two
hour eye exam to be sure that the excess fluid from hydrocephalus wasn't putting strain on the muscles and nerves in her eyes and she was seen by an audiologist to make sure ECMO didn't effect her hearing.  Thankfully right now they said her eyes and ears appear to be great!

All in all Makenna remains the wonderfully sweet, smart, and social little girl she's always been.  She loves people, almost never cries, and  really just enjoys being with Rex and I.  We couldn't have asked for an easier, more perfect little miracle!

Height:  28.5 inches

Weight:  19lbs 

Eyes:   Still grey, sometimes they look brown and sometimes green.

Hair:  Brown and getting longer

Clothes:  She is wearing mostly 9-12 month clothes.

Diapers:  Cloth full-time (minus vacations, size 3)

Food:  Listed above

Sleep:  Waking up more times than I can count a night....

Favorites:   Makenna really loves small balls, her egg shaker, books, her banana tooth brush, and eating puffs!