I Like to Move It, Move It

I love this picture! It's perfectly Addie - huge smile, on the move, with no fear of falling. March has been a fun month for the Humphreys. We've had several 70ish degree, spring-like days with windows open and quick adventures outside. ..and now it's cold again. Snow is in the forecast. ..and it's officially, technically SPRING now. Easter is next week for goodness sake! I'm not really complaining. ..but maybe just a little. The warmth and sunshine were just so incredibly good for my heart and soul, that's all.

So, here is our 21.5 month update! We had two doctors' appointments this week, so I have some updated stats, challenges, and prayer requests.

Weight:  22.6 pounds! Her weight gain is slowing down, but that's actually the goal right now. None of her docs want or expect her to keep gaining like she did when we first moved to Pediasure. Slow and steady now.

Height:  Still 30.5 inches. Time to move her out of her infant carseat (she's almost too tall!). ..I'm admittedly a little sad at putting that away. We brought her home in that carseat. ..

Clothes: We are transitioning into 2T clothes!! I can't believe it. ..and again, I'm a little sad. My baby is a little girl now!

PT/OT:  We're back out of braces. Again. We sent them back to be refit again, and even after they brought them back, we were having problems getting them to fit right. Then we went to see Dr. Trainer this week, and she said they were seriously overkill. So, she wants us to back up and start with inserts to see if they will help Addie enough for now. On one end of the spectrum we have our PT thinks braces are the answer, and on the other we have Dr. Trainer who says inserts for now. Have I mentioned how much I hate having to choose between two different courses of treatment?? Well, I do. I don't have an MD or have a license as a PT, so I don't know how I'm supposed to know what is best. I guess since the braces still don't fit quite right, we'll back up and punt and try the inserts. I do agree with Dr. Trainer's explanation of why she starts small and only goes to more involved treatment when necessary. ..but it's Dr. Trainer (those of you who know her know what I'm talking about..). ..and I'm almost embarrassed to say that I agree with her thinking! Well, not really embarrassed but shocked to hear the words "Dr. Trainer", "Agree", and "Treatment" in the same sentence coming from my mouth.

In other PT / OT news - Addie has started standing up / pulling up by pushing up with one foot from a kneeling position in the last day or so! This is a big deal in my world.. She's been pulling up / getting up by leaning into the couch / wall / window frame and kind of planking into a stand with both feet side by side. PT and OT have been pushing to get her to go from a crawl, to a kneel (think Tebow'ing) with one leg in front and push up with the back foot to a stand. This indicates that she can use each leg independently. Until yesterday she refused to do it that way. ..and suddenly it clicked!! It's one of those beautiful things that I love to catch out of the corner of my eyes and just watch her do.

Addie also took 4 steps independently today! She's doing an awesome job walking holding just one of our hands, especially on the wood floors, and she is the speediest crawler I've ever seen.

Speech:  We haven't added many new signs since last month, but Addie is starting to build on her vocalizations. She can now say, "Mama", "Da" for Dad, "bye-bye", "Ha" for hot, "Uh-oh" complete with hand flourish, she can tell you what a cow, the monkey, and a dog says, and she's working on what a donkey, chicken and cat say. We found this awesome iPad app thanks to our ST! Peekaboo Barn (and there is also Peekaboo Fridge) is the cutest app ever, and Addie (and Philip and I!) love it. Thanks to this app, her animal knowledge and mimicking is growing by leaps and bounds. She has learned to sign "eat" and we're working on "stop" and "go". I can't say enough about integrating sign in alongside or pre-language. Signing has helped bypass a lot of frustration for us and for Addie since her language skills are delayed. Granted, now that's she's frantically signing "All done" every 30 seconds or so, I'm kind of regretting that one. ..but not really. It allows her to tell us when she's done, and we respect her when she tells us that. She's just going through a phase where nothing holds her attention for more than 30 seconds. ..which makes for a tired mommy by the end of the day since our activities are mostly limited to inside the house again now that it's decided that winter wasn't quite ready to leave.

Eyes:  Still patching 8 - 10 hours / day. That whole bit last month about Addie not fighting the patch. ..yeah, I take that back. Her shortened attention span has reminded her that when all else fails, pulling off her patch gets attention. We've gone through 5 - 6 patches each day for the last 4 days. I'm sure she will cycle back to not fighting it so much. ..hopefully sooner than later!

We saw the eye doc this week, too. She was really pleased with the improvement in Addie's eyes and was able to get an eye measurement on Addie for the first time! She's only +1.5 in her left eye, which isn't bad enough to explain the wandering. ..so she said to be prepared to talk eye muscle surgery next visit. She can't guarantee we'll be ready then, but she wants me to know that is coming. That's not what any mama wants to hear, and I'm trying to do my due diligence and research vision therapy (sometimes suggested as an alternative to the muscle surgery or at least in conjunction with it). The surgery is supposed to be "pretty easy" and is even done under local anesthesia in adults. ..but when it's your baby and / or your baby's 5th surgery. ..there's nothing "pretty easy" about it.

Hearing Aids:  Much like the patch, aids are once again a battle. ..I'm going to try to re-focus on them now that we're back out of braces. Emphasis on TRY.

This month Addie loves:  Still always moving! She's also starting to develop a little toddler attitude that shows itself from time to time when her moving is inhibited - she lets you know when you're in her way and pushes you to let you know you're supposed to be getting out of her way when she's cruising. She LOVES looking out the window in our breakfast nook / sun room! She enjoys pecking on the windows with her little pointer finger and knuckles, pressing her nose up against the cool glass, scratching on the screens when it's warm enough to have the windows open, and cruising from side to side. The window is guaranteed to buy me at least 5 - 7 minutes of entertainment in one place. She's starting to explore the house a little more on her own. I'll turn around and she's gone. ..which is incredibly satisfying when we were once afraid she wouldn't ever be moving independently. She has started "helping" me put away her laundry and all of our socks. ..always placing them in their place with a flourish like "Ta-Da!!". She gets so excited if you ask her about "Barn" (Peekaboo Barn) or "book" (which means either of her two favorite books. ..thank goodness we like them both pretty well!). She is completely fascinated with magnets - they're all over our kitchen floor, on the side of the refrigerator, on the front of our dishwasher, on our outside door to the garage.. .if it's metal and a magnet will stick, Addie has found it. She has renewed her love for Patty Cake, and we still play peekaboo at least 20 times a day. She has discovered the velcro on her shoes and spends most of the day with the bottom velcro undone. She loves bringing me her hearing aids once she's pulled them out.. .I applaud her responsibility on that. She still loves milk and she's moved on from Goldfish to White Cheddar Cheetos. 

Prayer Requests:

• We're on the downhill slide of RSV / Flu season. ..it's been a rough one all around us, but thus far we've managed to stay healthy. Please pray we make it through these last few weeks (weeks!!!!) healthy (and sane!).
• That Addie's eye continues to improve and for wisdom and direction as we approach a possible surgery this summer. 
• That we're doing the right thing moving out of the braces and into using inserts for the time being.
• As spring approaches, we'll start to venture out more. Please pray for us as out of the house activities are pretty foreign and will take some adjusting to for us as parents and for Addie. Even though she's almost 2, she's been "out" very little since we've had to be so cautious (secluded) in the winter months and last summer her reflux and feedings were such a chore that we weren't able to get out much. We're excited to get out and figure out a new normal, but I know it will be an adjustment.

Cruising in her favorite window..

Checking out the central vac. ..nope, nothing in there.

She prefers to watch the outside from the inside.. .gotta work on that.

Exploring. ..

Hello!

Sharing birthday cupcakes with grandmama. ..

She even tasted some!!

Milk face!! Notice the cheetos on her chest. ..she likes to chew on them then spit them out. ..ew!

Getting up like PT wants her to!!! We've worked on this, literally, for months.. victory!!

Still moving. ..

Time to read! "How Do I Love You"...

I Like to Move It, Move It!

Have magnet, will travel. Notice her little shorts! First day in shorts!!

**Yup, she's not wearing a patch in a lot of these pictures.. .I'm telling you, it's been a battle this month.