What time is it?! It's Tummy Time!!

Those of you who know what I do for a living will not be surprised by this post in the least!  My mission over the past few days has been to start building tummy time into our routines a little at a time.  All the kiddos spent some time on their tummies in the NICU, including sleeping on their tummies. (which they can do safely because they're attached to all the monitors)  Tummy time didn't even cross our minds during our first week home, but now that we're getting our feet under us at home, I figured it was time. So periodically over the past couple days we've been sneaking in some tummy time while they're awake either just before it a little while after eating.

 

Sometimes tummy time leads to sleepy time!  Right Isaiah?

And sometimes it is better with a buddy and a little boost from a rolled up burp cloth

 

Tummy time gives you a different view of the world, doesn't it Ellie?

And sometimes it's just a nice place to hang out during the feeding line up

 

And sometimes Mommy pulls double duty and gets sneaky by getting us on our tummies on top of her body! (Avery is on her tummy on my chest and Ellie's doing tummy time on my lap)

Because they were born at 34 weeks, we can have them evaluated to see if they qualify for early intervention services. About 80% of my caseload at work consists of early intervention kiddos (birth to three) including a lot of preemies. Most of the time preemies qualify for PT services because their motor skills are naturally a little behind, since they weren't even supposed to be born yet! (And let's be honest, gravity is a bitch!) Since the goal of early intervention is to help families incorporate therapeutic activities into their daily routines, I don't know that we will even take PT services if they qualify, but figured it would be good to have the comprehensive evaluation done anyway to make sure we aren't missing anything.  So I made the referral yesterday and requested a specific evaluator, who I know has great experience with preemies.  We'll let you know how that goes!