Today Mia had more therapy and it seems to be helping alot. She's real close to being able to sit up on her own. She still needs more arm strength to roll over, but we keep working on that also. We are so pleased with how well she continues to do.

She got weighed today also and is now 13 pounds 3 ounces. Slow and steady...makes me think of the turtle and the rabbit. We're just thankful that she keeps on growing!

We also tried carrots today for the first time...Mia was not excited at all about the orange things...as soon as I gave her a little her lower lip came out and closed up the mouth, she did not want that. We'll give it some more chances though.

Mia's scar is healing real well, we think that maybe by next week she'll be able to start wearing her helmet. We imagine that it is not going to be a fun adjustment, so please pray that she'll tolerate wearing it and that it will be a good fit. After we wear it a few days we'll go back to LA for any adjustments and then it should be good for awhile.

Mia also got weighed today and she is 13 pounds 2 1/2 ounces. It's not a big change from last week, but at least it is a little more and she isn't losing weight. Thank you for continuing to pray for her on this issue.

Cousins

Mia has lots of cousins on her mommy's side of the family, but only 1 cousin on her daddy's side...and that is cousin Joy. We've sure enjoyed spending time with them this past week and it's been fun having the babies together. Anyway, Lisa got them these "Little Rome Rompers" because Tim & Rachel & Joy will be in Italy and she thought it would be fun to have the cousins take pictures together. Here are a few of those photos...

P.S. Mia, you used to be that tiny...even smaller when you were born...it's nice to see how big you're getting! We love you, Mommy and Daddy.

More Therapy!

Mia had her first visit from her "teacher" with the superintendent of schools. She teaches kids 0-3 years and she visits the homes of some of her "students", like Mia. So she'll be working with Mia 1 hour a week on some of her basic skills. Today was just an informal visit and she assessed her to see where we were starting from. Next week the real work will begin. :)

She said, "when Mia is 18 months you can send her to school!"...oh my goodness, I started to get scared, I don't want to send my baby to school...I was getting separation anxiety already...but then she told me that it is 2 hours twice a week and parents are required to stay with their babies. That calmed me down and I thought this could be a great activity.

Anyway, Mia is doing real well with the sleeping thing...one more night of 7 hours of sleep! Yay! It feels so good. Please keep praying for her feeding...I am calming down a bit and not so worried, so thank you for praying for me, it's working!

Sleep

It has been a long time (aside from hospital stays) that Brad and I have gotten a full nights sleep. Partly because I feel like I need to wake Mia and feed her in the wee am hours so she'll get more food in her body. Well the last couple of days I've done that she has fed horribly when we wake her at 7. So last night I decided to let her sleep. We fed her at 11:30pm and she didn't wake up until 6ish. And then when I fed her at 6:30 she took her full bottle, which was so nice. So we're going to keep on trying that...and it felt so good to get a full nights sleep! We might finally be past the waking up in the middle of the night phase...wow, 8 1/2 months later...very excited if we are!

Please continue to pray for Mia's shoulder/arm strength, we continue to work on building that up with therapy. We continue to be so thankful for God healing her.

Today Mia had another round of physical therapy. She's doing so well with it. I can already see the improvements. We've been working on strengthening her shoulders/arms because that is the reason she can't push herself up when she's on her tummy and that is why she can't roll over. She's been doing a lot better since then...I think we'll soon have a child who rolls around a lot, she's getting really close to consistently rolling herself from her tummy to her back. And her head control is so good these days, she's almost to the flower pot stage...you know, where you sit them on the ground and they just sit there...they don't move...

We also tried apples today for the first time...I thought, maybe she'd have more success with fruits and want to eat more of it...nope, she's just not a big eater these days, so pray that I would have patience with that.

Here are some fun pictures of Mia and family. Do you like how Grampa Flash is reading Mia Popular Science...you never can start too early. The other picture is Mia with her Nana and Grampa and cousin Joy.

Mia is doing well, but pray for her eating. She hasn't been eating too well these past couple of days, so pray that her appetite would increase.

13 pounds!

Sweet Pea!

Mommy and Daddy are so excited because you now weigh 13 pounds 1 ounce! We love that you keep getting bigger and stronger every day. You've been at therapy quite a bit this week and they always remark at how well your head control is! You still want to grab things with your right hand more than your left hand, but we continue to work with you on that.

And you still have a scab on your head that we are waiting for it to heal so that you can wear your helmet. It's a slow process, but one of these days you'll put on that helmet of yours!

We love you sweet pea!
Mommy and Daddy

Cousin Joy

Cousin Joy and her proud parents, Tim and Rachel came to town late last night, and today, Mia met Joy for the very first time. When Joy asked Mia what advice she had to offer for the next 8 months, Mia remarked "Enjoy being small now. You won't be a size 0000 forever...and don't be afraid to try the avocado, it's good!" And if you're wondering is cousin Joy wearing Mia's shirt...she is! Mia was happy to share with her cousin Joy!

Mia continues to do well. We had another occupational therapy visit today and the therapist hadn't seen Mia in about 2 weeks...she thought her head control was noticeably better. We worked a bit on that today and it wore her out. When we got in the car she was asleep within minutes.

And Mia also tried avocado for the first time today. I think she liked it or at least tolerated it. I was told by a NICU nurse that avocado is what they feed babies when they can't get them to gain weight any other way. It's a really good fat and packs a lot of calories for a little bit. So we'll see how she does with avocado for the next couple of days.

Yesterday we went to LA to get Mia's helmet. She did not like the fitting process. They had to put the helmet on and figure out where it was too tight and then cut those parts off...like around the ears. She also has a few spots on her stitch line where when we took the stitches out it ended up bleeding and so putting the helmet on and off irritated those a bit. The gal told us not to wear it until those have healed completely because the helmet will only irritate them more. So we are praying that her stitch line will heal quickly so she can get to wearing this helmet of hers. Pray also that when she does start wearing it she responds really well to the helmet therapy and we don't have to wear it as long as they anticipate (12-18 months).

Mia also got weighed today. She is now 12 pounds 14 ounces...so close to 13 pounds, but not quite there yet.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Dearest Daddy,

I love you so much and I wanted to write you a note on Father's Day to let you know. I love it when you kiss my cheeks and play "tuba solo" on them. It feels so funny it makes me stop and listen...I like that alot alot alot! I also love it when you kiss my head all the time...sometimes you'll sneak up on me and kiss my head when Mommy's holding me...I like that too...I try to look at you, but I know it's you before I see you! I like the silly games we play, like when you tell me funny things or sing me funny songs...I especially like the one about the water buffalo...Daddy, can I have a water buffalo? In the song you tell me everyone's got a water buffalo. Most of all I just love that you're my Daddy!

I love you all of it Daddy!
Mia
aka...sweetheart, baby eagle chick, sweet bunny...and lots of other names you call me!

Beautiful Baby video

This is a video of Mia exercising on Mommy. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Happy 8 Months Sweet Mia!

Sweetheart,

Today you are 8 months old. Mommy and Daddy can hardly believe its been 2/3 of a year...Mommy is a math teacher so she knows! You are doing really well. We went to physical therapy today and they showed Mommy exercises she can do with you to strengthen your neck/shoulders. The physical therapist thought you had pretty good head control, so we are going to keep on working on it at home!

She did tell Mommy that the jumperoo is not a great thing for you because it can cause you to put weight on your legs improperly, but that a few minutes a day would be ok. That's all we do anyway!

Today we did another try with sweet potatoes and that went over very well! You were opening your mouth for more!

We love you baby girl and are so proud of how well you are doing, we know it is a God thing!

Love always,
Mommy and Daddy

Mia continues to get bigger every day and I'm not sure how it happens because looking at the amount of food she takes in it doesn't seem possible (she's just not taking in as much as they wanted...). Well, I can't say I don't know how it happens, I do know...it is definitely a God thing. So thank you for praying and thank you God for being gracious and allowing her to gain weight. She's now 12 pounds 11 ounces, which is 6 more ounces then last week Tuesday! She's doing great. :)

Mia is a flamingo

Mia is looking very cute bouncing in her chair, doing her very best flamingo impression. She is doing awesome! Thanks for praying!

Sweet Pea,

Today Mommy and Daddy weighed you and you are now 12 pounds 8 ounces! You keep getting bigger, which is great. Lately you've been wanting to stand up on your legs and we've put you in this "jumperoo" thing which you really like.

Oh, and you got your first tooth! It's a bottom one...and it is barely through, but it is definitely a tooth...and it's been there a couple of days, Mommy just keeps forgetting to mention it.

We love you all of it!
Mommy and Daddy

Mia had a really good day today. We went to see an occupational therapist today. She put Mia at 5-6 months developmentally with her fine motor skills. Those are things like reaching for objects and grabbing objects, etc. Also tracking with her eyes falls into this category. The OT said she'd like to see her 2 times a week and then we can taper off as I learn more and can do much of this at home for her.

We also heard from her pediatrician that she does not have a UTI! Praise God! That was a real good way to start the weekend.

Roll Over

Mia continues to do really well. Today I put her on a blanket in the living room and I looked over and she'd rolled onto her tummy. Now we'll have to work on getting her to roll over from her tummy to her back. And she just can't stop talking...which is great. I've also noticed that she's moving her left arm and hand a lot more also. Each day there seems to be improvement!

I took her to the doctor yesterday and they collected a urine sample, so we'll here back on Friday whether or not she has another UTI, let's pray that she doesn't!

Sweetheart,

Yesterday Mommy took you to see your pediatrician and you weighed 12 pounds 5 ounces! You are getting so big! She thought you looked great and said she wouldn't have known you had a stroke unless Mommy had told her.

Yesterday afternoon you started having dark urine in your diaper, the same stuff that came before all your other urinary tract infections, so today Mommy is taking you back to the pediatrician so they can collect a urine sample and send it off to the lab. Mommy doesn't know why this is happening...she doesn't want you to have another UTI.

Yesterday Mommy also tried you on peas again and you seemed to do ok with those. Each day we keep giving you just a little bit so you get used to having a different kind of food in your mouth.

We love you all of it sweetheart!
Mommy and Daddy

Regional Center

Today our county regional center came out to evaluate Mia to see if she qualifies for any special services. The visit was so encouraging. The group that came out (3 people) told me that they would not have known that Mia had a stroke in her last surgery if I hadn't told them. They were so impressed with how well she is doing considering everything she has been through. So they evaluated her developmentally and put her at about 4-5 months developmentally (she's almost 8 months now) and they weren't shocked that she was there because she's spent so much time in the hospital already. They agreed that she qualified for services and we'll be having someone come to our home once a week to work with her on the developmental skills she is missing...like sitting up and rolling over and walking, etc. But they were just so impressed with how much she is doing and they kept telling me that...it was very encouraging to hear that from someone with an unbiased opinion. And they thought that she understands what she sees because she is reaching for and grabbing objects. And they know she understands what she hears because when we say things like, "I'm kissing you..." she'll break out into a huge grin. That was real encouraging to hear also. We just know that God has done an amazing miracle in her life and we are so grateful and thankful. Thank you God!!!!!

Church

Sweetheart,

Today we took you to church for the very first time! You were looking around at everything new and did real well in church. Afterwards there were quite a few people who came up to see you. (You were sleeping in Mommy's arms...) They wanted to see the baby they had prayed for!

After that we went home and Grampa Flash came over for awhile. You were rolling from side to side on the floor and that made Mommy and Daddy real happy. We can't wait for you to roll over from your tummy to your back again.

Here's a picture of you and Grampa! And if you look real close "Cindy No", otherwise known as CindyCat, is in the background!

We love you,
Mommy and Daddy