Normal

Nothing particularly exciting happened last week, and as I pondered what news to update about, it occurred to me that it was really just a normal week...and then the impact of that thought really hit me. Normal. For a long time I wasn't sure our life would be "normal" again. When your child is born fighting for her life, spends over four months in a hospital, and then comes home with strict instructions to stay completely isolated for months, "normal" really isn't an adjective you often use. Yesterday, as I pushed my cart through the grocery store, baby in tow for the first time ever, it really sank in that after almost 10 months, we are finally entering into a state of normalcy. To the outsider, they would just see a wide eyed cooing baby checking out her surroundings, not knowing how significant this trip to buy groceries really was for our little miracle. A stranger wouldn't understand how close we came to never getting to leave the hospital with our sweet baby. In fact, about once a month I run into someone who knows of our story, but doesn't follow the every day details of her triumphs and struggles that I share here in the blog. A question they often ask is "So is Casey completely normal now?" I used to cringe at this question, and try to formulate a response to explain just how far she has come, but that there were still so many unknowns. While we know that our girl still has some catching up to do as a result of her extreme prematurity, for now we can celebrate that though our updates may be less interesting to read, our days are starting to lean a lot more toward normal. And I think I like the sound of that!

This face she was making cracked me up

 Daddy's girl

Another cute outfit from her Gigi

Such a cutie pie

 I don't know how I left this one off last week.  Since we have been in isolation for so long, we have had to miss out on a lot of family get togethers and Sunday lunches.  When we celebrated Mother's Day with my family last weekend, Meemaw finally got to hold Casey for the first time. 

 Snuggles with my girl!  (Please excuse my pajamas and glasses)

"Mmm, Carrots!"

She was so fascinated by the elephant on her outfit I could barely get her to look up.

She is getting a lot better at sitting up, but every once in a while she topples right over.