Since returning to work we've been very fortunate that both my sister and my mother-in-law have been able to help watch the kids when Dusty is working. While getting ready to leave I decided to get a picture of Grandma playing on the floor with her grand babies. They love when she comes over!

Max naturally has to run over to the camera so we took a picture together. (I can turn the screen out so he can see himself as we take the picture.) Yeah, he is pretty dang cute!

Dusty surprised us on Saturday by bringing home a Christmas tree. Naturally he insisted on screwing it into the ground so it couldn't tip over like a past Christmas, that was really upsetting! I had Max help me decorate the tree and showed him how the ornaments go on. The next time I looked, I found this big heap of ornaments on the tree; maybe he'll get it next year.

After Max went to bed I restrung the lights and hung all the ornaments so they were out of his reach. He was having too much fun pulling them off and on. Good thing Dusty screwed it into the ground because it would have tipped over that day with all the time Max spent pulling on the ornaments. The tree looks a bit funny decorated only on the top half, but at least we have a decorated tree. Plus, it is a useful visual point to have Rory look at while doing her neck exercises!

The Petersons were kind enough to lend us their Bumbo so Rory can work on strengthening her neck muscles. You can tell she still favors her left side but she is getting a lot better at turning to the right, and making her use all her neck muscles will help out with that. Thank you Petersons!

Also, as I stated in my previous post, I was able to take Rory to her second physical therapy appointment and I learned a lot while I was there. For starters, I was disappointed to hear that we could have started therapy at 2 weeks when we first told our pediatrician about our concerns. I understand that some babies may just grow out of the problem, but it is frustrating to know we could have been helping her weeks earlier.

The therapist also informed me that I should expect Rory to go back to favoring her left side with major milestones like crawling and sitting up. When she starts using new muscle groups she'll stop focusing on the neck muscles. This is just like how a talking child may stop talking as they start to walk, basically they are focused on just the one activity. It makes sense, but I didn't know to expect that so I'm glad I found out beforehand.

While therapy will eventually drop down to once a month, we should expect to do the exercises with Rory through her first year as major milestones will bring set backs and we'll have to make sure she gets back on track to using her neck to its full potential. After that we shouldn't have to worry about it. I really wasn't expecting all of this so it was a bit overwhelming at first, but I'm glad to know it all now and am thankful that she shared this with me in advance. It is a joy watching Rory as she is changing so much and the exercises just mean we'll be even more focused on her so we shouldn't miss anything!