Everything went great in LA today. Mia's bottom looks really good. The plan is to go back on Tuesday during her surgeon's office hours and he will show me how to stretch her at home. Pray that I would be able to do that because if not it will require lots more LA trips and anesthesia, which we don't want. Continue to pray for soft scar tissue also.

In this past week, we have been working on squats and pulling to stand, Mia's leg strength has increased substantially to the point that she is almost pulling to stand on her own. How exciting!!! Tonight I was practicing with her walking sideways with the couch (for the life of me I can't think of what they call it, maybe cruising using furniture)...anyway, she can do it on her own, but she is real wobbily, but she's never done that before, so I'm so excited about her progress!! Keep on praying for more leg strength! And Praise God that He has given her the ability to this, what a miracle!

What a cute baby!

I took these pictures the other day and was trying to get Mia to smile real nice for the camera...no such luck. A year ago she would roll over and smile for the camera if you brought it out, we could take pictures all day long and have tons of opportunity. Somewhere she decided enough was enough and she will only play along for a few moments, if that. Oh well. :) I like her angry faces anyway.

Tomorrow we go to LA for her surgeon to put her under and do a serious stretching. I think after that I will be doing it at home, if possible. Pray for safe travel and that everything would go smoothly, that her bottom would be 100% healed and that it would be scarring softly.

Today we went to LA for a doctor visit at Children's Hospital LA...it's kind of nice to have a Saturday appointment so Brad can come too. We were seeing their plastic surgeon who does cranial vault remodeling surgery too. Since there was a possibility that we might do another skull surgery, we've been following up with him instead. Anyway, we've already decided that we aren't going to do another because Mia's head looks really good at this point. He was actually really pleased with her head too, he did still think it was a bit tall, but did note that he does this for a living so his eye scrutinizes kids' heads more than the average person on the street. He thinks that it won't be that noticeable when she is bigger. He talked about how we can possibly do a minor surgery when she is 6 to fill in any missing stuff from the front so she doesn't have the ridgeline anymore. So, that was good news and of course we were happy with our visit today.

After that we were off to Palmdale to visit my brother's family and their lambs. Two of their kids are doing 4H and are raising two lambs (they become sheep when they are older...) for the fair this fall...the lambs are Sassafras, because she's sassy, and MoMo, because she'll bring in MoMoney. MoMo is real gentle and let Mia sit on her and pet her...which she thought was great. Sassafras was bit more skittish, however, Mia couldn't stop laughing when we said her name...she also got real excited when the lambs chased each other around the yard. I think Mia will definitely be an animal lover someday...well, she already is now, but I definitely forsee animals in our future with this little girl and it's great, I'm glad she gets enjoyment out of God's creation.






My other brother who lives in Sacramento with his wife and 4 boys, yes, 4 boys, were down to visit this past week and their youngest boy is 3 months...I have to say it was really neat watching Mia learn to love this little baby. For awhile now she hasn't wanted anything to do with dolls of any sort, she gets real bashful around them...well, the same thing happened when she met our new nephew, Jon-Luke. She got extremely bashful and didn't want anything to do with him, but slowly, over a couple of days, she learned that she really liked the baby. And at one point, he was crying, and she crawled over to him with a look of immense concern on her face. Very sweet. So, we got to see them today also and Mia immediately wanted to be by the baby and touch the baby, she loves the baby. :)

Thank you for praying, we had no adverse reactions to her immunizations! Praise God!

Her bottom looks wonderful, I'm actually very excited to start the stretching process. I know Mia probably isn't, but it's nice to know we are finally moving forward. Pray for soft scar tissue and the ability to control her bowels.

Immunizations

Today we went and saw Mia's pediatrician for a check-up and to update her on everything that's been going on with Mia. Plus, we needed to get some more of her immunizations done, so pray that she doesn't react to them, that she doesn't get a fever. At this point, we only have the MMR and chicken pox immunizations left, so we are getting close to the end of the road on those, but those are the scary ones, but we're not there yet. Overall, she thought that Mia looked well and still thinks that she can talk someday, even though our neurologist doesn't think so, so keep praying that she would learn new sounds and develop more audible speech. We still keep working on sign language with her, but we know and trust that if God wants her to speak audibly, He will work it out so she is able.

Mia weighed in at 21 pounds, she is now 32 inches long...what a long string bean! I haven't talked much about her weight recently because I have truly given it over to God. I don't worry about it anymore, I trust that she will continue to slowly gain weight and grow at her own rate. I still want her head to keep growing, but I also trust that in the end it will be the perfect size for her body.

Here in our town, our pediatrician runs a new NICU at one of the hospitals and they are learning how to do an infant development test that Mia gets done all the time at UCLA when we attend their NICU follow-up appointments. So, our pediatrician asked if Mia could be a guinea pig for them and if they could run the test on her and see how their results compare to UCLA's results. :) Of course, we'd be happy to do that, so next week Mia will be helping them out. I think it's great and I think it will be nice to get the test done a second time and see if the results are similar.

Her bottom is healing great, please keep praying for soft scar tissue and that God would be preparing us now for the stretching process.


On a side note, I think of how God has used so many of you in your faithfulness to prayer and the miraculous results we see with Mia and I think of how that's how it should be in the body of believers. I'm so grateful for all of you who continually pray for Mia. I'd like you to remember another young man from Bakersfield in your prayers if you think of him. His name is Andy Smith and he was in a motorcycle accident a week or so ago. He was burned very badly and has quite a tough road of recovery in front of him. Anyway, he is a believer and I know that he and his family could use your prayers. He is 26 and I don't know much more, but if God places it on your heart, will you remember him in your prayers. Will you pray for a miraculous recovery, like Mia's. Here is his website and you can go there to get updates and read more about his story.

http://www.carepages.com/carepages/updatesandprayersforandy