Oh my word! Where have I been? I feel SOOOOO lost without writing! In fact, I just looked back at the last blog and I thought I had posted the final update to Lily's finger but I didn't!!!! I've LOST my mind! I'm sooooo sorry! The Fall and the Holidays just blew past me. I think I just saw my life fly by before my eyes (I looked dazed and confused ;0 like I always do!)! It's been soooooo busy! We all get that way don't we?!!
I'm at least dedicating one day a week to posting a blog. That is my RESOLUTION to anyone that wants to read it and even to myself. I feel so free when I write. I feel my best when I write! And apparently... I'm a little more SANE when I write! I think it keeps me a little more alert and "together". To give you a glimpse of my insanity, when I ask Dale "have you seen my keys?" (which is every other day!) ... he always says with a smirk, "have you checked the freezer? because you left them there last time." That's right... that is a good taste of "the crazy" I reside in!
So it has been 10 months exactly from the day we got our hands on Lily! March 11th is our 1 year anniversary!~ I can't believe it. It feels like we have had her always!~ She is the most joyful child I have ever met! And she is so smart! So playful! And a bit of a tease!
First, I want to share with you what I already thought I shared (b/c I'm nuts!)... the final pics of her finger.
So when they took the final cast off... this is what it looked like
(this is top view obviously;) You can see a little bit of the dark dead flesh.
Here is bottom view. Does not looks good right? Well...keep scrolling down.
Her finger had grown back so much...it was time to cut off the dead flesh.
So the doc did. Now look at the top view and bottom view. Amazing right!?!!!!
And a week later...with no cast and exposed to the fresh air...it looked even better!~
It was such a relief! A huge relief! And it was fun to see her start using her hand. It took her a few days. She would hold her arm like it was in a cast.
She would run...pumping one arm. It was stink in' cute!
And it was quite lovely to watch her sleep with no cast.
Here's a glimpse of her sleeping habits;0
Happily coloring:)
And Tub time is the BEST! Fully submerged and lovin' every second of it!
A QUICK glimpse of FALL/WINTER in Review:
Obviously, I'm so behind... but here Lily is as a Ladybug for Halloween. I call her "Lily-Bug" so it was appropriate. She loved wearing the costume! She wore it several times...including her MDO (Mother's Day out) class parade, the boy's schools for their parades and Halloween itself.
The boys were Ninja's which is appropriate b/c they are SO protective of her! Love it!
Here she is as a Elf at Christmas with her wonderful Big brothers.
She was part of a Christmas program at her school. It took her a few minutes to get into it. It was funny. I know they practiced a lot and of course when you practice...it is in front of empty seats. So I could see in her eyes...she's thinking, "what are these people doing here? why are they staring at us?"
She goes from THIS...
Toooooo THIS :)
Here she is at one of her speech therapy sessions. She really has gotten into it. In the first 3-4 sessions she was not cooperating. But now...she thrives and really tries to imitate what is being worked on. We are working hard on pronunciating "b's and p's." When she closes her nose with her fingers, it comes out better and more forceful from her lips, otherwise, she is used to using her nasal passage as she always did before since there was a palate hole from birth.
She has the "n" sound down now. Oh yeah, you guessed it! Everything is "no!" In fact, it's not just "no"...she says, "no no no" and waves her finger back and forth 3 times as she says it! I never thought I'd feel so thrilled to hear "no" from a child. It is a HUGE deal for her to find out that she can press her tongue to the roof of her mouth and make a sound. So, now I'm trying to get her say a different "n" sounding word.
Considering her hearing tests were still rather inconclusive, I took the loner hearing aides back. I'm not convinced (nor is anyone who works with Lily or see's her on a consistent basis) that she needs aides. We will test again soon but for now, she is thriving without them.
Here a few fun moments since the last blog.
Jake turned 10! I can't believe my baby is a decade old!~ ahhhhhhhh!
And Noah turned 7! We had a wonderful overnight trip into Chicago to do the boys favorite things... going to the lego store, eating out, watching movies in the hotel room, swimming, bday party and pizza, and Zoo lights! So fun!
The cousins joined us in the hotel room for Noah's bday party!
Zoo lights!
And here is Christmas Eve... at Gamma and Gampa's.
The cousins eagerly await for present opening time!
Kissing cousins! ha! Ollie and Lily adore each other;)
It was a wonderful 1st Christmas as a family of 5.
2014 was a life changer for us. We are grateful for all that we had to endure to finally get this little girl in our hands. Lily was meant for us and we were meant for her. God knows what's He's doing for sure. I hope and pray 2015 is an incredible life changing blessing for you all. Thank you family and friends for being a part of ours! Love to you all!
