Random Tidbits

So much happening these days!

* Verity is 11 MONTHS OLD! That means we are on a huge countdown to her first birthday and party! Her actual birthday is February 28, but we will celebrate with an open-house-style party on March 3. Yikes! Only 4 weeks to plan this extremely special birthday celebration!

* We missed our nurse Margie this past week but are happy for her to get a work-from-home job. She did agree to come help us out now and then so Ted and I can sneak away for a date afternoon. (Dates are extremely hard to come by these days...)

* An LPN came Wednesday and Thursday to help fill in since her kiddo was in the hospital. She was very sweet and adored playing with Verity. So we did get some schoolwork done after all.

* We interviewed a new nurse who will start full time on Monday. It seems like a good set-up...praying that all goes well as we transition next week. Margie set the bar high!!!

* We also interviewed a night nurse who will start NEXT weekend working Sunday and Monday nights. Two nights of sleep IN A ROW!! I love this lady and am so excited to have her help with Verity. She is someone who is a kindred spirit to me in many, many ways.

* Verity is reaching for toys and rolling, not completely all the way, but definitely rolling back and forth and has managed to roll from tummy to side several times. (We usually have to position her arms for her to do this.)

* Nights continue to be difficult, although we had a "good" night Tuesday, only waking 3 times.

* Verity is growing like a weed! Some of her pants/jammies are getting too short! We haven't weighed or measured her since January 22, but at that point she was 13 pounds, 4.1 ounces and 62 cm long (just over 2 feet).

* Pretty sure she is teething, although we've said that for a few months now. She doesn't yet have any teeth, but this past week she has been a drool monster and loves having her gums rubbed! I don't know that she's really been any more fussy than usual, though.

* We are making gains with her head control, and with her body growth has come a sturdiness that wasn't there before. Her once tightly clenched fists are so much looser, but she still holds her hands in the fisted position, though her fingers do wiggle quite a bit.

* Here you can see Verity sitting in Rhema's high chair like a big girl! She can't tolerate this for TOO long yet, but it's so fun to have her UP close to us at the table instead of down in her seat on the floor!

* This is a Squiggle Mat, a special needs item that our secondary insurance will cover. It will take up to 2 months to actually get it, but Verity will be able to use it for quite some time. The in-home therapist and equipment specialist brought it in last week to see if it was something that would work for us. And the answer is definitely YES!

* All in all, I think you can see that this little girl is most certainly compatible with LIFE! We are in awe at how far we have come over the last year. It has been, undoubtedly, the hardest year of our lives, but here we are, caring for a baby who had a 10% chance of reaching her first birthday. Stay tuned for more posts as we continue the countdown to ONE YEAR OLD!