It would appear that I am woefully behind on updating this blog, and therefore on updating some of Aubrey's biggest fans. I apologize. My laptop is on the fritz and I just haven't had enough time at another computer to download pictures fill everyone in. I'm going to attempt to do that now, if Aubrey will continue napping for a little while longer. :)
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| Poor Murphy gets baby fingers up his nose, but he doesn't mind. |
Aubrey is now pretty much running everywhere, full speed, all the time. She loves balls (tennis, basket, raquet, whiffle, soccer, pretty much any kind), and we frequently fish her tennis ball out from underneath our couch. She's not talking much yet, but she babbles a lot. She does say "daa-dee," and I'm pretty sure she has said "dog" and "ball" at least once each.
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| She thought she was as big as her cousins who were playing basketball. |
She has conquered drinking from a straw! She started out by sucking on those pouches of fruit and veggie purees, and finally transferred that talent over to a cup with a straw in it. We still have to thicken her liquids since we're not sure if she can handle them at a regular thin consistency. She'll probably have another swallow test in the next month or so. She's eating anything and everything, and for lunch she likes to have deli-sliced turkey and cheese with avocado and strawberries on the side.
We're done with physical and occupational therapy for the near future. Both therapists thought she was doing wonderfully, but wanted to continue to see her; we were ok with that...until we got our first bill in the mail. Insurance paid for everything last year, but in March we received a bill for February; we tried contacting the billing department and never heard back from them. At the beginning of April, we received a bill for March. We finally got in touch with someone and found out that insurance would no longer cover everything (it would have been nice if we had been notified of that before getting a bill!). The therapists agreed that because Aubrey was doing so well, and because we work with her so much at home, that they're ok with her not coming. That's good, because that bill adds up to a little more than we'd like to handle per month. The OT said for us to please bring Aubrey by occasionally because they're going to have withdrawals. :)
This past weekend, Adam and I left Aubrey overnight for the first time since she came home from the hospital. It was our 5th anniversary; we didn't go out of town, but it was good for us to be able to have complete conversations and spend some adult time together without a pretty toddler attached to my leg. Aubrey did fine and we did fine, but I think she was glad to see us when we picked her up (and yes, I was glad to see her too). :)
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| Left: Aubrey taking a "selfie" with my phone; right: showing off her blue jeans |
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| Left: the face I get when I won't give her my phone; right: she forgives me. :) |
I mentioned to my friends on Facebook that they would have to bear with me in celebrating all the seemingly mundane things that Aubrey accomplishes. I don't know how many parents whoop and holler and post a picture of their kid using a straw for the first time, but I did.
Before we left NICU #1, one of Aubrey's doctors sat us down and gave us
"the talk," aka "as a 24 weeker these are all the things that could
still be wrong with your baby." The list
was long and terrifying, ranging from small delays to things that could
leave her in a wheelchair, or mentally incapacitated, or both. Feeding
issues have seemed to be the worst of it (praise the Lord), some of
which we still struggle with (she gags SO much). So, when she does something "normal," that any kid her age would do, I can't help but tell everyone. She's still a miracle.
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| Cheesin' in her Easter dress |
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| Gosh, she's sweet. |
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| At church together on Easter |
-Keli
