Pics and few updates

We went to the Homeplace for Brian's birthday last week...very good eatin'!

Look at the ham of the family now! She did this pose on her own!

Listening to a cd of a Jimmy Buffett book...

I met with Olivia's OT last week and she wants us to start putting the hand brace or kinesio tape back on Liv's right hand/arm. Olivia is showing more independant use of her hand, especially during therapy sessions and it seems the botox did help her be able to use it more. We see Dr Brown again in March and will probably have to get a new order to be fitted for her foot brace, again, this one is getting too small.

Liv is becoming quite the little "princess"--she calls herself that when she wears a dress! She sometimes doesn't want to wear the clothes I've picked out for her to daycare, so she'll take her dad back to her closet to pick out something else :) Back on Valentine's Day, I did see where she'd cut two more of her 2yr molars, so one more left! She's been a little fussy lately so we're thinking it's on it's way! Be glad when that's over!

Next Thursday we leave for Myrtle Beach for the weekend! Brian and I are so looking forward to time away from work. We should be able to take Olivia and swim in a heated indoor pool and just have lots of fun family time-can't wait!

Happy Valentine's Day

Olivia had a great party day at daycare Friday with valentine's from all her classmates and candy even brought home! Brian picked her up because he got off work early Friday-no OT at Shenandoah now, of course! Please pray for Shenandoah Life Insurance Co now as they go through this huge transition of an almost complete merger to the state taking over. Many are now worried about the longevity of their jobs at this point! Saturday, we took Olivia to MYGYM and signed her up for the remainder of the month-she loves it! I'll post pics soon.

She spent the night with Nana & Papa H and got even more spoiled rotten. Brian and I ate at Kobe Jap. Steakhouse with our Sunday School class and back home to watch a movie. We went to church today and to a new members lunch afterward...yummy chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc. Today we're cleaning the house and watching the Daytona 500, of course, and enjoying the rest of the day with our baby girl! Someone's birthday is this Thursday...could it really be his 33rd??!! WOW, THAT'S LIKE ANCIENT! :)

The latest doc appt

Friday was my first formal ultrasound with baby #2! The first thing to find out was the SEX!!! Brian was staring at the monitor like he was about to find a needle in a haystack...and blurted out, "It's a girl!" And the lady doing the ultrasound agreed!!! So, we have another little girl on the way! Our baby girl, Olivia, is going to be a big sister. We are all extremely excited!
The ultrasound is at 19 weeks 4 days...will post as soon as scanned. Next appt. is Feb. 28th where another ultrasound will be done to get pics of her face--could NOT get her turned around this time! And good news...at 28 weeks, my OB/gyn office does the 4D Sonograms for their patients, yay!!!

Miss Olivia went to her first circus Saturday. Brian and I took her and it was fabulous! She loved the elephants, tigers, sheep dogs- but everything kept her attention the whole show that's for sure! Brian and I haven't been to one in years and seem to remember it being more exciting than this, but hey, the kids seemed to enjoy it.

latest ultrasound-was 15 weeks

Here is the pics we got from the ultrasound 3 weeks ago...little hand in bottom picture is easy to see. Baby's head is to the left, facing down in the top pic.

she's growin' up

All this potty training and toddler bed stuff is making me realize how fast our baby girl is growin' up! And things like the fact she is growing out of her latest foot brace AGAIN don't help, either. I tell ya, she will be in school before we know it, I don't even want to think about that quite yet. We are getting very excited about the OB appt. next Friday--ultrasound, here we come! Can't wait to see the new baby in June, then we'll have the cutest TWO babies on earth!!! :)

milestone

Last weekend (twice) and today, we've rushed Olivia to the potty to do #2 and she does it! How great that I can post this milestone on a blog and be proud of it! She's still going in the potty about half the time, so we're still training, but she's getting there!

I met the PT & supervisor at daycare Tuesday for the monthly session. It went well, they said her foot positioning is much better than before and could still see a difference after we put on the kinesio tape (rt leg)...she didn't seem to swing her hip and leg out and around when running, but completely straight. So we are going to continue with the tape as long as her skin tolerates it. We have an appt. next week to check on her foot brace, though, because it either needs adjusting or we need a bigger one already! It's rubbing a few spots on her foot.

We put Olivia's Princess "big girl" bed in her room on Sunday are are transitioning her into that this week...she doesn't like for us to leave the room until she falls asleep! :( but each night seems to get a little better...a LITTLE. Hopefully it will be easier for her to fall asleep here soon so we can get some sleep, too! Well, that's all for now, will post sonogram pics soon!

This week

First full week back to work...yuck. But for Olivia, she got to see her best bud, Abby, at daycare every single day-life was good! Although "Abby's sick" (Liv tells us this every day at least three times), she did make it to daycare. Linda came over Wednesday for speech with Olivia...she's coming along great and I really do not think we'll continue that therapy come April. The PT and OT are different stories. The botox has definitely helped some muscles relax in her right arm and so it's easier for us to stretch her arm, hold her right hand, etc. She seems to be using it more on her own now that the tone/tightness is not as overbearing, for lack of a better word. We're working with her on holding things with both hands, crawling/any kind of weight baring on that hand and grasping items with her fingers. She's been using the right hand to assist her left with lots of things, even before the botox, though. OT still sees her once a week. PT once a month-scheduled for next Tues. and speech sees her twice a month for 45 min. here at the house. All this may change come April when Olivia turns 3 and doesn't qualify for Early Intervention services. Today, Bri, Liv & I met a group of people at Grandin Court Elementary out by our house to do an initial evaluation of Olivia's situation. We wanted to see if she qualifies for therapy assistance through the school system, but currently she does not. They base it on educational needs and since Olivia is on track or very close to it on all aspects except the use of that right arm, her needs are more medical (therapy)... if she had needs like keeping up with other children on the playground, climbing stairs, writing, etc. then she would have qualified (therapy would be provided there at school for free). But they were all very supportive of what we're doing right now with having her in daycare full time,keeping her stimulated at home and with therapy, etc. They said in the 3yr old program there, she may be exposed to children that aren't the best role models for her like she has now, too, which was a big concern. The preschool program would only be 3 hours of the day at her age. Once she turns 4, she could go there for pre-K, but Lakeside Daycare has a pre-K program, too, so we'll probably just stick with that. So basically if any new issues come up that affect her educationally, we can call them to reevaluate her, but for now it's best to keep her where she is.

As for other issues, we are still potty-training. It's going pretty well, she is just not there quite yet! She took off her diaper the other night before we put on her pajamas, gave it to me and continued to play in her room and peed on the floor!!! :) And her new phrase is "no want it".