Whew! It is hard to believe that 2011 has come to a close, but after the year we have had, we are excited to see what amazing things this new year has in store for our little family. Casey has been home for almost 3 weeks, and I feel like we are just starting to settle into a routine. When your child is in the hospital the days seem to crawl by, and I could swear that the second my maternity leave started they have just seemed to fly by. I'm not really sure where the time goes, but we seem to have no trouble filling the hours (and some days we are just lucky if we are both bathed by 3:00 in the afternoon!). Of course, just when I think we have a routine down, something always seems to throw it off (such is the life with a baby though right?). I can say that we definitely make time to squeeze in lots of cuddles during the day, and we have been so excited that we are seeing even more smiles from our sweet girl this week (a couple that we think were even directed at us!). For the most part she has been eating better, which is a huge relief not to worry about every single milliliter that enters your child's mouth (not that we aren't still faithfully counting and recording them at every feed). She still has a ways to go with feedings, but for now the feeding tube has remained out! We didn't have a weight check this week so I don't have an official number, but based on the snugness of some of her newborn clothes, I think it is safe to assume we are still gaining. Casey was also evaluated by ECI this week (Early Childhood Intervention) to see if she qualifies for services. ECI provides services from birth through age 3 for children that qualify with developmental delays and disabilities. After a comprehensive evaluation which looked at all her areas of development, it was determined that she does qualify in several areas and she will start receiving Speech (to work on her feeding skills) once a week and Specialized Skills Training (they work on things like tracking items by both sight and sound) twice a month. At this time she does not qualify in the area of communication, but she will also be assessed in the next week to determine if she is eligible for Nutrition and Fine Motor skills services, which we expect she will be. It sounds like we are going to be busy, but we are very relieved that she can start receiving interventions immediately to help her start catching up. The best part about the ECI Program is that all services are provided in your own home, which means we won't have to risk taking our preemie out during RSV season (but it does mean that we may have to find more time in our day to work on Mommy's housekeeping skills since we will have lots of visitors).
In addition to her next ECI evaluations and appointments this week, we also have her 6 week follow up for her eyes on Thursday. Please continue to pray that the ROP is resolving, and for her to keep progressing with her feeds. Prayers are also appreciated that the ECI evaluators will get an accurate picture of her skills and that the services will provide us with tools and strategies that will be helpful for her development.
Enjoy her latest pics:
Pretty in Pink
Apparently I was boring her
Looking adorable in her island ensemble
Sometimes we like to sleep with our Wubbanub in the most unusual places
Dressed and ready to cheer Baylor on in the Alamo Bowl. Sic 'Em Bears!
This was her response when I told her Baylor won!
One cute giraffe
Loving her swing
"What, Daddy has to go back to work this week? Waaa!" (This is how I feel about it too, Doodle! Especially since all the night shifts will be mine again, but it sure has been nice having him with us all this week!)
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