Dare I Say.....

I think that our aforementioned sleep issues have been solved, or at least remedied. It seems that if we are extremely diligent to give D a warm bottle of milk right before we transfer her from our bed to her crib, that she will more than likely sleep through the night (we have yet achieved 100% perfection). The last couple of nights she has also slept without pants or socks (or a combination of the two). I really do think that D prefers to sleep a bit on the cooler side, much like her papa.

On a much more "Spring" note, the family has taken a walk each night this week after dinner. It has been SO nice for papa to leave when it is light outside and to have time after he comes back to eat dinner AND take a walk! I am so excited about summer and our nightly walks. Last night we even finished the walk off with popsicles in papa's recliner. The princess had to have access to BOTH flavors because just lime or just strawberry would not satisfy her!

I'm going to try to find a good popsicle mold so we can make our own here at home, but these 100% fruit ones are pretty tasty!

YEAH!!!

Today I took D into Seattle to have her hearing test due to a slightly unnormal test at her last development assessment.

Well, I'm happy to report that her hearing is perfectly normal! YEAH!!!!

A Perfect Weekend

It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend here in Washington. Jeff worked hard on Saturday so we only had to do a couple of things on Sunday and then we were off to enjoy ourselves! After we mowed and seeded the lawn we spread a blanket out on the grass and just relaxed in the beautiful Spring air. Later during the day we went and picked up lunch and then went down to the water to picnic and put our toes in the sand. We spent the rest of the afternoon lazying around, taking naps, and watching shows on TV. And last evening Jeff and I had a great date night complete with steak, shrimp, wine, and a movie at the theatre! I could not have asked for a better day with my family.

A Perfect Weekend

It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend here in Washington. Jeff worked hard on Saturday so we only had to do a couple of things on Sunday and then we were off to enjoy ourselves! After we mowed and seeded the lawn we spread a blanket out on the grass and just relaxed in the beautiful Spring air. Later during the day we went and picked up lunch and then went down to the water to picnic and put our toes in the sand. We spent the rest of the afternoon lazying around, taking naps, and watching shows on TV. And last evening Jeff and I had a great date night complete with steak, shrimp, wine, and a movie at the theatre! I could not have asked for a better day with my family.

A New Hair-Do

D doesn't look too thrilled with her fabulous new hair style, does she?

On another hair note. D still has what I believe to be cradle cap at 19 months old. Either that or she has an extremely greasy scalp because I'm still peeling greasy "scabs" off of her head. It seems like it got better and then is now back again. Any suggestions???

High-Fives and Blowing Kisses

D is still making great progress. I love these times where she is rapidly developing and dread the ones where we seem stuck in a stand still for weeks.

She has learned to give five and has learned to blow kisses (somewhat and when she is in the mood). She has learned the power of the sign for "more". She has (I'm totally jinxing myself here) slept through the night three nights in a row. She loves to drink strawberry, peach, banana smoothies with papa.

Therapy is going well, too. She can now put wooden dowels into holes, something she couldn't do at her last developmental review. After an air splint treatment she can pick things up with her right hand. Her right hand overall is much looser and usable and she is really trying to use it as an assist hand now.

She is still the same frustrated girl, but I have found that if I let her push her wagon walker around when she gets upset, she tends to calm down.

She seems to have gotten older, too. Everywhere we go, if someone hasn't seen her for a couple of weeks, they always say how much bigger and older she looks. I can't believe that she is 19 months old!!!

Phase or Frustration?

Lately Darsie has been, what we have dubbed, The Mad Kitty. She gets really upset/frustrated about something and just screeches. She wants this, she wants something else, she doesn't know what she wants. Is this the start of the terrible two's? Or is this her frustrated with not being able to walk?

Trust

Today, D went to PT with Mr. Larry. Since the other PT was there today as well, they told me to leave D with them and go get a coffee or go shopping. What?? Leave my baby that is attached to me and that I'm also attached to? Of course I trust both Larry and Johanna 100% with D but the thought of leaving her had just never ever occurred to me. I'm so used to just going into her therapy and actively participating. It was just a really strange thing to leave her there with them and go shopping.

I ended up going to Target and buying a new swimsuit for myself for D's hydrotherapy (we missed this Monday's session because D has been a bit under the weather). When I got back to Larry's to pick D up, she smiled soooooooo huge when she saw me that it just melted my heart. It totally sucked leaving her there but coming back completely made up for it. I knew in that instant that she saw me that she had been both completely fine and that she is totally in love with me.

Sensory Fun!

Darsie is receiving therapy four times a week now and we try to fill in with a bit each day. So, yesterday D and I had a bit of sensory fun and of course some good fun with markers.

Her sensory fun consisted of sitting in a big tub full of beans and rice mixed together. Her therapist from the Washington State Elks left them with us and D just thinks that those beans and rice are a blast! She loves to kick her little feet around in them and to scoop them up with her hands and old bottles. We put a towel under the container because D also delites in putting handfulls outside on the bin. Yesterday the fun ended because D was throwing it far outside with great force. Nothing a vacuum cleaner can't take care of though.

After we cleaned up from the sensory adventure, we got our her "table" (a cardboard box) and her stool. Not only is this fun but it is also therapeutic. When she sits at her table with her feet flat on the floor, she is getting sensory therapy. She also works on putting both hands on the table to aid in weight bearing.

I've really found that she fights anything that is not fun...but luckily, it is pretty easy to make her therapy fun.

Duh duh DUHHHH!! A big D Announcement!

What day is not complete without a delicious ice cream cone? This was taken Friday on an excursion to the zoo. Spring was in full force and the animals were all a bit...amorous ;)

Anyways, onto the Darsie announcement!

Darsie can no get into a sitting from lying down and also out of sitting properly! She has only gotten into sitting on her own once, but ONCE is awesome! She is also getting up into quadraped a lot more and starting to think about what to do with her arms and legs besides rock and launch! Crawling is just around the bend.

Do you ride a motorcycle and want to support Hollyridge?

Twenty Fourth Annual
Bob Merriman Memorial
Washington Governor's Run

May 6-7, 2006,
Camping open at noon, May 5th

A benefit run for Holly Ridge Center's Infant Toddler Program
brought to you by Chapter WA-B of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association

For additional Information and registration Visit: www.governorsrun.net

Grand Prize - New 2005 Honda Gold Wing GL1800
Sponsored by The Brother's Power Sports
Bremerton, Washington

Jeff and I will be there on our Harley for at least one of the days! It should be fun and it only costs $25 per rider. Besides, it is for an awesome cause!!!

Hydrotherapy is FUN!!!!

D really enjoyed her new session of hydrotherapy. I have a feeling that she is going to become quite the little fishy.

Currently, Hollyridge's therapy pool is saltwater and kept at about 94 degrees (I think). D first started out with just her toes in the water and splashing her feet around a bit. Then she wanted to put her hand in the water and splash some more. And finally we got her all the way in. She loved walking along one of the steps with Diane's help and we also finally got her to lay on a kickboard and float around with her feet up. She was so adorable in her bright yellow suit, too.

I think that D really enjoyed it and hopefully we will see some great results from it, too!

Just Because I Needed Some Awwwww Factor Today

D's first REAL bath when she was 4 weeks old


And then another bath, but this time just a few days ago at 18 months.



It is just amazing to me how much of a difference there is. Yes, true, there is 17-months between the two photos. But she went from being the most beautiful itty bitty in the world to be a gorgeous almost crawling toddler.

Yeah Darsie!!! We love you!!!

If you want to see more of these old pics before I get around to blogging about them, visit www.jeffwells.com/images.asp. My DH has done an excellent job about keeping a visual journal of D. We were much better in the beginning, but it is my fault since I'm supposed to supply him with the photos. I've got them, I just need to resize, etc...