Monday I went to Children's Hospital Los Angeles to have them take another look at Mia's skull. The plastic surgeon thinks that the only way to correct her head is to do another skull surgery. As you can imagine, my heart sank into my stomach when he told me that. He thinks her head is too tall and he'd like to take some off the top to lessen the height, he then would like to fix the front at the same time. He said we can wait to fix the front until she is 5 or 6, but he wouldn't be able to take away the height from the top of her head at that point, so that's why he'd like to do it now instead. Please pray for us in a decision regarding this, we don't want her to have to go through surgery again and this is only cosmetic, but at the same time, we know that teasing is rampant with kids who look or act different. So there's a lot of psychological implications regarding this. Sometimes when I look at her head I do think it is tall, but then sometimes I don't, so please pray for wise discernment regarding this, if we do the surgery it would happen fairly soon...in the next couple of months.

We also saw an opthamologist while we were there and she said that Mia is near-sighted already! We are just going to monitor it and she'll be checked out again in another 4 months to see if there is any change, if there isn't then she won't need glasses, but if there is, she might be getting glasses already!

It ended up being a very long day, we were there from 8-5 and so we were thankful to finally get back to Bakersfield that evening. The next day we headed back to LA for a helmet fitting. That went well, she made some minor adjustments and we'll follow up in another month with her.

Today we started therapy again! Mia is doing really well and she continues to make progress...she just started using her pincer grasp, and we'll continue to work on those fine motor skills. Pray that she'd start crawling and walking, I know she wants to so bad and I know it is completely possible, nothing is impossible with God! So pray for our patience and for her to gain those skills.

Sleeping is definitely hit and miss, last night there was one feeding, but the night before 2-3...she's eating so much more, which is great, but we want her to do all of it in the day! And she's putting on weight, she's now 17 pounds 12 ounces...I feel like there is hope at getting to 20 pounds in the next couple of months. That would be so nice!

LA Childrens Hospital Appt on Monday

"Mia takes a break from her favorite toy, Junior Asparagus"

Lisa, Mia and Grandma Cheri went to LA sunday night to be at LA Children's hospital bright and early for Mia's appointment with their cranio-facial clinic. The unknown is always scary, and we don't know what they are going to say tomorrow. Lisa and I are very grateful for how Mia's head looks, it looks so good! We are hopeful that God will continue to re-shape her head, and she won't need another cranial vault surgery.
The three snookies will return to Bakersfield Monday afternoon, and on Tuesday morning, will drive back over the hill to Torrance for Mia's helmet adjustment/appointment. So, that is a couple of very long days for them, and we are looking forward to the day of not having to make the trek over the hill. :-)

Learning Language

We've noticed that Mia has definitely acquired some language. When we ask her to smile she does that immediately. If we ask her to show us her hands, she'll hold them up and look at them. If we start saying Pat A Cake, Pat A Cake, she'll start clapping her hands. And just today, when the song If You're Happy And You Know It Clap You're Hands is playing, she'll join in and clap her hands. There are a few other words she knows and phrases...and whenever Elmo comes on TV, she says, "AYE", really loud. :)

Mia got this table for Christmas and it's been really good practice for her standing...she likes her table alot. Next week we are going to start therapy again, so pray for good progress with that, we'd love to see her crawl and walk eventually. And there is my hair, the only semi-decent picture I have. :)

Mia got her 3rd round of Synagis this morning and has been doing fine since. I'm trying to stretch out the time between her feedings so she'll take more at each feeding, but she's not too keen on that idea. :)

I also chopped all my hair off because it was time. Mia would run her fingers through it as a comfort and so I didn't want to do anything drastic before surgery or immediately after, but she's healed enough that we agreed it was ok to do. She kept putting her hands up to touch it for awhile, but now she's used to it. She still likes to play with my hair, but now she doesn't yank it quite so much...nice for Mommy, I didn't like the headaches I was getting before. :) I'll have to find a picture and post it. The new mommy hair that is!

Vacuums are Friends, Paper Shredders are not

Mia told me today in no uncertain terms that the paper shredder is not a friend, in fact, it is a horrible enemy that must not be allowed to speak at all. She welled up in tears every time I tried to grind a paper. I told her it was not bad, it was ok, but that did not help at all. I then pulled out the vacuum and she told me it was fine, the vacuum is her friend, I can vacuum all that I need to.

Aside from that we are doing great, Mia was supposed to get a Synagis shot today, but it wasn't ready, so she'll probably get that on Monday instead.