February 19, 2014

I know it's been a while, but the last couple of weeks have been crazy! Let's see...as far as Aubrey goes, she's doing great.  Went to the plastic surgeon so he could re-check her hemangiomas, and he's very pleased with how the one on her nose is doing.  He wants us to keep putting the cream on both of them and come back in a year.  He said by then, the one on her nose should be almost gone and they can laser the rest of it off.  He said they'd also take whatever was left of the one on her neck off then too.

playing at the park with dad

We went back to PT/OT today, and Aubrey cried for the first half of the hour.  Again, she was doing what they asked of her, but she wasn't happy about it.  The OT said they were going to try putting her up on a shoulder to comfort her for 30 seconds when she got upset, then get back to work.  She said that goes against every book she's read--they don't want to reinforce her when she's mad/upset by holding her in her favorite position.  But she also said that every child is different, and if this helps her calm down enough to do what they need to do with her, they'll try it.  They were very proud of her walking skills--she's gotten a lot better in the last week.

Leading the music at church

Our family adventure began, like it did for most people, last Tuesday night.  Adam had to work that night, so I was worried about him coming home Wednesday morning in the freezing rain.  Thankfully he got home fine, and Aubrey and I stayed home since the weather was bad and getting worse.  We watched the ice accumulate on the 1000 pine trees around our house; then we started to hear them crack.  We had power up until about 8pm Wednesday when a limb fell on the line from the road to our house. The power only partially went out, but neither the heat nor the refrigerator would run.  That meant we had to wake Aubrey up and to to the neighbors' house to spend the night (they still had power and have a wood-burning stove).  We had a nice warm place to stay, but since Aubrey had to be woken up, she thought she'd had a nice nap and would stay up a while.  She didn't go to sleep until about 1:30a.m., which means we didn't either.

Hanging on to her mama for dear life

Trees cracked all night and morning, and we surveyed the damage that afternoon. The house and my car were fine, praise the Lord, but Adam's patrol car wasn't so lucky.  A tree fell right across the top of it, crushing the roof and light bar and smashing the windshield.  It had to be towed away. We were without power until yesterday afternoon--the rest of the street got it back on Sunday, but the power company had to come put the line back into the side of our house and it took them awhile to get to us.  Poor Adam had to work nights all last weekend, so he slept in the cold house all day while Aubrey and I stayed warm at my parents' house. Thankfully we're all back together at home now; however, our yard looks like a tornado came through, so there will be many more days of cleanup.

She now knows how to turn lights off, and tries as often as possible.

Most importantly, out of everything, is this: today marks one year since Aubrey came home from the hospital! As Adam has said about things before, this year crawled by so fast.  We are blessed that she has been so healthy; the majority of babies born as early as she was are readmitted to the hospital at least once within a year of being discharged.  She's doing so well, and we couldn't ask for a more awesome baby.

Left: one year ago, the day she came home.  Right: today!

-Keli

February 5, 2014

The last blog post says that Aubrey had taken several steps--she's now up to about 10 or 12  as her top number of steps at a time.  We went back to therapy today (we were supposed to go last week but it was canceled because of the bad weather), and she only cried on and off this time, not half an hour straight.  She also did the things they asked her to, unlike last time when she flat out refused.  The OT said that she thought Aubrey COULD walk further than she does because she doesn't fall--she just stops and sits down like she's just done with it all.  She also said that she thinks Aubrey's fussing during therapy has to do with sensory overload; she thinks Aubrey doesn't like all that change at once.  New people, new toys making noise, other children making noise, the therapists asking her to do tough things that she hasn't done before...it's just a little too much sometimes.  We're going back next week so we can get back on our regular day and schedule, so hopefully going back so soon will make it easier.

She knows what the remote does and points it at the tv, the stinker.

Aubrey wasn't particularly impressed with the snow last week.  Thankfully that Wednesday and Thursday were Adam's normal days off, so he didn't have to work in all that mess.  I stayed home on Wednesday, so we all stayed snug and warm in our house most of the day.  We did bundle up that morning and take a walk around our neighborhood and let Aubrey touch the snow and stomp around in it a little.  She smacked her hand down into it them promptly shook it all off and gave me a look that said, "Are you kidding me with this stuff?" We got some cute pictures though. :)

Aubrey had her 15 month check up with the pediatrician last Monday: she weighs 15lb 13oz (so close to 16!) and is 28.5 inches long.  She's still on the charts for height at the 5th percentile, and still hasn't hit the chart for weight.  She's still growing just fine though according to the pediatrician, because her weight is still on the same curve as it has been since she was in the NICU.  The doctor was impressed with all her teeth and her almost-walking.  Aubrey took everything like a champ until the 2 shots came around (though she didn't appreciate having her ears looked in, either).  

Thankfully Adam's coat is big enough for two. :)

-Keli