Em

I always know when I have taken too long to update Emily's status as I start to get phone calls and emails...and I REALLY want to thank all of you for that! You have no idea what it means to a mother to know that almost a year and a half later, people still care and still pray for my little baby and our family. Thanks!

As you can see below, she is seeing. Her eye sight continues to get worse but she is looking at that piece of bark pretty intently so we just let it go (plus, we can't change it so why worry, right?). She has moved up to 12 month clothes and weighs almost 18 pounds. 

Ok, the truth is, she is actually just deciding what side of that bark to put in her mouth first. She has yet to drop the very primitive 'oral exploration' where absolutely everything goes in the mouth. It gets a little frustrating for me since I cannot just let her play anywhere without making sure she doesn't eat horrible things. It also frustrates her teachers since they can't teach her skills like coloring or even stacking blocks because the crayons and blocks just go in the mouth and when you tell her no, she looses interest and goes to find something that can go in the mouth.

She currently has a teacher coming out to our house 4-5 days a week to work with her on her skills. Two days a week it is primarily speech. Which is why it amazes me she isn't adding vocabulary but this is Em, she takes forever to learn anything. She does officially have a name for Kylie, Daddy and our dog Sammy (whom she calls 'Go'), but Mommy is still out of the loop. Otherwise, her only new word is "Mo" which means more (or cereal, I'm not sure which).

These pics are taking Z to the park to get her out of the house since baby brother was born and Daddy had to go back to work already. This is how you work it with three...

Z doing her best airplane impression.

And chasing after K. They do this all day long...I chase you, you chase me. Sadly, we must lose the joy in that as we age.

This is to show you that Em's gross motor skills are doing fantastic! She is doing excellent at climbing and, well, trying to keep up with big sister. She tries everything but is not so coordinated or balanced as she thinks she is so she usually ends up on her bum, crying...not because she is hurt, mind you, because she is angry she can't do it. :-)

BTW, K is doing spectacular!  She is becoming less reserved and at least tells other kids 'no' when they try to boss her around.  Daddy is still her favorite person on the planet and her speech is down-right understandable.  Yesterday, she 'called' Em's teacher on her phone and babbled for a bit, then said, "I cah (call) you later, Em crying.  Bye, Bye!" and she hung up. 

Em's eating continues to be her biggest learning issue. She is pretty proud of herself since she just mastered the sippy cup and is starting to keep stuff in her mouth on the first try (although much of it takes several tries still). She wants to feed herself and be independent but her mouth just doesn't work quite right to get enough food to sustain her. So, we still have to feed her pediasure in the bottle and feed her like a baby since she can't concentrate long enough to eat unless she is wrapped up in our arms.

I haven't been back to the pulmonologist to get the full skinny on her sleep study but if you recall, we were not using the oxygen since she rips it off her face, so the choice was more serious action or just let it go and hope she is fine.  We are returning the tank, so the results must have been at least acceptable. I tried to ask questions but they won't tell me anything over the phone.   

So, how is she? In my mind, great! I know where she has come from and I see that she is progressing...super, duper slowly but progressing none the less. If you ask a dr, she is still very delayed. The fact that her gross motor skills are doing so well gives us hope but only time will tell where she will end up. If I've learned to be patient through this experience, I have learned 100-fold to be patient while I wait for our future to unfold.  God is in control and I will choose to laugh and enjoy the journey along the way...as exhausting as it may be! 

God Bless!!