So many reasons to give praise

Hello All. I know I have been slacking on posting lately. We have been so busy in a good way lately. So, here is a little bit of an update. Teryn is growing and making lots of developmental progress. We went to the doctor yesterday to follow up on her ear infection. It looks great. Her new weight is 14 pounds 15 ounces. She is growing so big SO fast. We have our neurology appt at the end of the month. Our doctor's office is working on getting an MRI set up and scheduled since Teryn is due for one this month. This is follow up monitoring for the hydrocephalus to make sure that it is remaining stable. We got Teryn's seizure med levels back and it is still great in the therapeutic range. This means we do not need to go up on the dose as long as she is remaining seizure free. The day she had the two seizures we had been playing for a while with a toy that has blinking lights. Until we can rule this out as being a trigger there will be no more flshing lights for her.

Teryn's apnea spells have decreased dramatically!!! All praise be to God! The past couple of times her monitor went off were false alarms. I know this because I was watching her chest move and could hear her. It sometimes alarms when she is in a deep sleep and breathing shallow. We are now to the point where we are taking it off unless she is sleeping or we are walking around the house doing chores. This is such a miracle. I remember the times when she would have about as many as 10 apneic events in an hour even while awake. Wow God is so good for making our little girl so strong.

She is continuing to swallow on her own and only needs help when she spits up the saliva and mucus that has pooled in her throat. I am not sure she has the suck/swallow coordination down since she still has some trouble if she is sucking on her paci. However, it is still a huge improvement from the past.

We have been seeing the early interventionist every other week and she is very impressed with the growth she is seeing. Teryn and I work on skills every day and she is really improving. She can focus on a person's face at length now and loves to coo back and smile. We are also beginning to see her focus on objects at length and will even track slowly in both directions!!! The interventionist got to see this yesterday. Teryn and mommy were so proud to show off this skill since it has been a very tough one to acquire. There is a lot of room for improvement with this but the progress so far make me so happy. Our sweet girl still has a bobbly head when sitting up but her head control is getting better every week. We have not seen the OT or PT here yet which is very frustrating but I am doing the things I was taught in the hospital and have been doing some research myself. I recently ordered a book and DVD with play exercises for development. It is a program designed by therapists from a variety of backgrounds and targeted for children at risk for delays. It appears that it will focus on some of the areas where we are behind. I am so excited to get it. I hope that it will be beneficial for us.

Teryn has gotten so good at coordinating her hands to her mouth. She has also finally figured out how to get just her thumb in her mouth. She is such an amazing little girl. We are so blessed to be chosen to be her parents.

Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to:

Grandaddy found our camera and decided to take some silly pictures of himself while no one was looking.

Aunt Jenn came over to visit.
Teryn has been sitting with us during dinner. She loves her highchair and looking around from that angle.

And of course, what do babies eventually do in a highchair? Sleep.

The ducks have been loving our yard with all of the rain. These are the babies. They are getting so big.

Cousin Sydney came to visit. Teryn smiled and laughed at her. It was fun to see her.

Reading a bedtime story with Daddy.

The most amazing sight on Earth. This sweet little baby smile. I have to fight back the tears just about every time I see this beautiful moment. We waited so long for it.

Getting kisses from Xavier.

Xavier is trying to share his toys and get Teryn to play.