Blessings Galore

Early Intervention paid us a visit on Wednesday. I'm not sure why I had low expectations for the program, but I was blown away by just a 30 minute visit with them. I love that they will visit us and provide us with the knowledge necessary to help Abby best. After signing all sorts of forms (I feel like we're famous giving away so many autographs...), they laid Abby down to see where she was developmentally. She is really great at tracking with her eyes and moving to where sounds are coming from. She's smiling (if you're lucky enough) when we smile at her. She's bringing her hands up to her mouth more and opening her hands to extend her fingers. She was able to grab onto a rattle and move it around a bit. We can close her legs together while still in the harness to be sure her hips are still getting the movement they need, instead of just laying open 24/7. My favorite part: she clucked her tongue a couple of times, imitating like a pro and she's now decided to start talking! Oh, be still my heart. It's adorable. They were really impressed with how she's doing. We have another appointment scheduled for Monday with a physical therapist and we're excited about the progress we can make we lots of work.

She's started to enjoy bath time quite a bit.

On Thursday we visited Shriner's again. This was a great appointment! We can really tell that her foot is making great progress; it's nearly straight and then they will need to raise it in order to have the regular 90 degree angle at the ankle - right now it's almost pointed straight down. She had another hip ultrasound to see if the harness is doing it's job. I was really worried that no improvement had been made and we would have to change our plan again. However, her hip is almost perfectly normal! The doctor said it has improved remarkably and has done so very quickly. What normally takes several weeks only took two. We were ecstatic. She's still in the harness for at least 2 weeks until another ultrasound, just to be extra sure that she'll be okay, but I'm optimistic. Wow, such a relief.

She found herself in the mirror.

Last night I went to a mom's night out held by the Intermountain Support Group. I was a little hesitant to go, but I came back refreshed and excited (just ask Rhett - I talked his ear off for a couple hours about it...). I was reminded at how easy we have it. In the group of 10 women, we are the only situation where we don't have to catheterize every few hours. Granted, we may have to cath in the future, but right now we're flying easy. She hasn't had any shunt issues where nearly everyone else had to have crazy revisions due to malfunctions. We were in the hospital, not in the NICU, for the longest. They were all surprised that I was happy we were there for 3.5 weeks, but I loved that we were (side note: none of them had heard of our plastic surgeon, so they didn't quite understand his stubbornness that we've grown to love). We also have a great pediatrician, which I guess is another battle that had to be fought. It was also great to all be able to relate stories about the lack of communication among doctors. Definitely not my favorite and I can say with certainty, it wasn't any of theirs either. Such a wonderful night.

This is the mischievous look we get regularly.

Today we went in for her two month visit to the pediatrician. Two months?? Yes, two months. I can't believe she's that old! Our doctor was impressed with how she's doing and I was happy to hear that she looks great (second and third and tenth opinions are always wonderful)! She is in the 24th percentile now for weight - so that's a good improvement (although I guess when you eat your parents out of house and home, you gain weight nicely). She also took her shots like a pro. She only cried for about 20 seconds and then was fine. Have I mentioned that she's tough?

Milk coma. This is why she's gained weight so quickly.

Long story short, this week was incredible. I feel so blessed to not only have a wonderful daughter, but to be surrounded by so many fantastic people - especially Rhett. I'm thrilled at her improvements and couldn't ask for more!