On August 23, Kaycie turned 1! Already! It is hard for me to
wrap my head around the journey of this past year. It is amazing to look back
and see how much my little girl has grown and changed and started to become
comfortable with her world. I has been exciting, heartbreaking, and inspiring
all at once, and I cannot wait to see what Kaycie does to tackle her next year.
On Sunday at church, the "other" Andy spoke (Andy
Stanley is our usual pastor; Andy Jones is on staff at Watermark.) He was wrapping
up a series called, "In the Meantime". It has focused on the question
of "What do we do when there is nothing we can do?" It has been an
eye opening and inspiring series that I would encourage you to check out.
Anyway, Andy spoke on Sunday about his "in the meantime". Listening
to his story about his children brought me to tears...I think for the first
time ever at church. I felt like I could have told a similar story. I spent so
much time this year with a focus of fixing and problem solving and researching
when I probably could have better used my energy simply thanking God for a
child who has been an incredible gift without questioning if this was my fault
or if we could have done something differently. She has been given to us for a
reason, and now that I have been able to sit back and relax, I can see all the
amazing things she has already accomplished. I would not change one thing about
our story...I think we have been given some of the coolest kids ever and I
cannot wait to see how their story unfolds. Here is the link to the series if
interested….it is the final message that Andy Jones delivered. http://northpoint.org/messages/in-the-meantime/
If you have spent time with Kaycie, you will quickly notice
that the baby she was at 6 months is a different child than who she is today.
She is a spitfire. She has no clue she can't do everything her brother does,
and she has the bruises to prove it. Since her balance is lacking, she uses her
head to catch herself…it always has a few black and blue marks on it. She
laughs, she engages with strangers, she dances...oh how she dances. We were at
breakfast last week and music was playing over the speakers. She couldn't stop be-bopping...she
even had a grandma waiting next to us dancing to oldies with her. She stands up
to LJ when he tries to take her toys...I have no doubt who will be the one in
control of this house.
For Kaycie's birthday, we went to the aquarium with Grandma
and Grandpa. I think both kids enjoyed it, and the whole time we were there I
kept thinking about how that trip could not have happened a few months ago...we
even went to the dolphin show with lights and loud noises and survived! You
will notice that sometimes Kaycie has her hat on and sometimes she doesn’t. She
goes through moments of not messing with her aids and some days she just can’t
leave them alone. She has been getting her molars in, and so she has been
pulling at her ears a lot. I don’t think it has anything to do with her aids,
but they seem to be getting in the way.
Kaycie was 20 pounds at her 12 month check-up and the doctor
was super happy with the progress she is making. She also had a 12 month
audiology check, and they were able to test her hearing without her aids in.
She tested at the same level that she did right before she got her hearing
aids, so that is good news! As of right now, we are just staying the course and
enjoying life! She still goes to speech and physical therapy. She still has her
deaf mentor come, but we have cut back to twice a month for now…it was all
becoming a little over whelming! Kaycie likes to babble like her brother. She
has words that sort of come and go because she is so focused on the physical
skills that she keeps letting words go. It is normal and we aren’t worried!
As far as I go, my pregnancy has been pretty uneventful, and
we love uneventful. I have stayed out of hospitals and have not had to make any
after-hours calls to the doctor. That is a success around here! I started my
injections again at 16 weeks, so hopefully those help again as well. I still
have the joy of ultrasounds at every appointment, but they are not worrisome at
all. Honestly, I have been so busy lately that I have not had time to stress or
worry too much. It is probably a good thing for me!
We, and by “we” I mean Matt, has been busy tiling the floors
in the bedrooms and bathrooms in the little spare time he has had lately. It is
a project that we have wanted to do since we moved in, but it just now hit the
top of the priority list. Mostly because the carpet had to go! We chose a wood
grain tile, and I love it…eventually we will do the whole house, but it is a
slow process with not having a lot of time to work on it, so after the bedrooms
are finished, we will be stopping all projects until after baby. Our bed has
been in the family room a few weeks while we tile and room shuffle the kids so
their rooms can get done. I keep joking that I can clean the family room and
bedroom twice as fast as I used too J
I also told Matt I wasn’t putting our old furniture back into our room once it
was finished. We really didn’t want to spend money on new furniture right now,
so I have been spending my evenings learning the joys of Annie Sloan chalk
paint and wax!
LJ has a birthday next weekend, so I will update again with
pictures from his birthday. He started school a few weeks ago and loves it!
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| LJ couldn't wait to give Kaycie the card he made her...this was brithday morning. |
