10 Months Old!

10 months. 10!!!!! Abby has now been an outside baby longer than she was an inside baby and can finally celebrate the great accomplishment of being out of the hospital as long as she was in the hospital (approximately - I didn't count days. Also includes our first two blips at home). Good job, baby bird!!!! 

Abby has some big stuff coming up this month. Tonight, she has her repeat sleep study to assess the severity of her sleep apnea and whether or not she needs to remain on oxygen at night. Given that we cannot, for the life of us, keep the cannula in her nose for more than five seconds (she pushes it out even when she appears fast asleep), it would be awesome if she no longer needed it! I think they should make sleep studies a dual venture: hook the kid up to examine their sleep habits, and hook the parent up to study the effects of sleep deprivation. So much valuable information to be gathered. 

Abby also has her MRI next week, which I am admittedly quite stressed out about (please see previous post for details). She still has this lingering cold, which needs to be gone before it will be safe to put her under general anesthesia. Hopefully this next week will be enough time to finally kick this thing.

We've been getting lots of questions lately along the lines of, "Is she mobile yet?" "Is she eating by mouth yet?" "Does she have any teeth yet?" "Is she saying mama/dada?" In short, the answers are: nope, nope, nope, and nope. And that's ok. She's making progress little by little, and given all that she's been through, I think that's pretty fantastic. She IS making all sorts of adorable noises, grabbing her feet, rolling onto her stomach, working super hard to roll back off of her stomach, and is getting closer and closer to sitting unassisted. We attempt tastes of baby food, which she promptly gags and pukes up, but she gets the nutrition she needs through her g-tube, and that's what matters. She enjoyed her first baseball game, finally made a trip to church, admired the jellyfish at the aquarium and planes at the USAF museum, slept through a strawberry festival, and has been frequenting local parks. She's very busy. :)

Abby currently loves grabbing faces, including the dogs', lounging back in her stroller with her feet up on the lap bar, helping with her g-tube stuff, and reading stories with us. She is pretty much happy unless she's over-stimulated, and just generally a joy to be around. We like her an awful lot. 

Jameson wrote Aberdeen's letter this month. :)

_______________________________

Aberdeen,

I sit in our Ohio home with just the dogs while you and Mom are at the hospital doing a sleep study. I'm pretty sure you're not going to enjoy it very much (smelly glue on your head), but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. Sitting here has given me some time to think about you and your life. You've been outside of Mom for 7,296 hours! That means a lot to me, because I didn't always know that would happen. But you've spoiled us rotten over the past few months. We've been living at home and not going to the Emergency Room, or even the hospital, except when we wanted to. Thanks!

 

You're hollering at me a lot more, which is nice. You get super excited when I carry you facing me in your car seat.

 

I'm super bummed when I have to leave you, but I feel this new drive to do a really good job so that you'll always have what you need.

 

I love your smile and your pretty eyes and dancing with you. My favorite time of day is reading to you before bedtime. I really think you're listening to me (even when my Winnie-the-Pooh voice is atrocious). We snuggle together with your head really close to mine and we go on adventures through bizarre lands of Wockets, Circuses, Dragons, and Tiggers. As we roll around and look at pretty pictures together I'm truly happy. I laughed so hard the other night that tears started running down my face. I was trying to do all the voices in a book and found myself doing a 1950's radio announcer voice for an 8-year old who was talking about zig-zaggity ladders. I don't remember being that happy and carefree.

 

Lately, I've felt this urge to explain how tough we are to other people. It's the weirdest thing, because they'll ask if you're doing alright and I feel like telling them all of the things that you have coming up and that you may never be alright, so there! It’s like you being alright is “wimpy” and if you’re not doing poorly then what makes us special? Pretty weird feeling, but I’m sure I’ll get over it.

 

The future with you is always a big mystery. I’m believing and trusting God more, which makes it more bearable.

 

Thank you for still being here Aberdeen. 

 

Love you always and forever,

The Luckiest Dad in the World