31 for 21: Day 7 ~ A Weekly Update

I am a "type-A" personality by nature, learning to be a little more flexible by demand. After all, as mommy to four children, it's not exactly easy to find time to stay on top of all the little details that I like to follow. My new best friend is an app on my smartphone which allows me to do a voice recording and saves it with the date and time. I can even email it to myself so that I can have a copy on my home computer. This is the one of the few ways I have to keep track of milestones and mental notes and appointments and such.

Anyhow, my little Levi was born on a Friday and so typically I review all my little voice recording notes and update his "happenings and stats" page with what was going on his world the past week, but since I'm blogging every day this month, I'll take this opportunity to make it an actual post.

This past week, Mr. Levi has definitely starting interacting even more than before. His smiling and cooing for attention has increased. He occasionally manages to grab ahold of the toys dangling from his car seat handle. He's frequently reaching for Mom or Dad's face and loves to hold our fingers. When he's hungry, he smacks loudly on his hands and has rolled over a few more times this week.

He had another PT session on Tuesday and his therapist says she feels he's doing pretty well with head control. He doesn't always lift it very high when he's on his tummy, but when supported in an upright position, he does a fairly good job of turning it to look left and right and holding it up off his chest except for when he's rather tired. He's been spending some more time hanging out in the Bumbo and in the high chair.

Just yesterday, we received his new supplements. Instead of taking Poly-Vi-Sol and Zinc and B12, he'll be getting all his extra nutritional supplements in one vitamin specifically formulated for those with Trisomy 21. It is called Nutrivene-D. Many people have anecdotal stories of cognitive function improvement shortly after beginning this supplement, so I won't be surprised if something occurs for Levi. However, I think it may be hard to tell with him only being 3 1/2 months old. Also, I'm doing it because regardless of the short-term gains, I think it will provide him overall better health in the long-term.

I did obtain another supplement for him as an alternative "therapy" if you will. It is called Longvida Curcumin and is derived from Tumeric, a spice used in many Indian dishes. Curcumin is an antioxidant and is believed to have multiple potential benefits. Longvida™ may significantly support cognition, memory, and general health.

I do want to make sure he's doing well with the Nutrivene first though, so the Curcumin will have to wait a few weeks. In fact, thanks to it's bright orange color, I suspect it may be quite messy to put in a bottle of breastmilk, so we may just wait until Levi is eating some solid foods like rice cereal or oatmeal before introducing it.

Now for the stats and of course, his weekly photo opp!

Weight: 14 pounds, 8 ounces
Length: 24.25 inches
Head Circumference: 15.75 inches

15 weeks

He's rocked the "bald and adorable" look ~ now if he could just get to growing some new hair!