Brinley Noel: June 2015

The past few weeks since Brinley's birthday party have been life as usual around here. It is wonderful to experience spring this time around. The flowers, grass, hanging out on the hammock, watching the kids play with the sprinkler. Last spring was spent in the NICU. The contrast has had me musing more than usual. Trying to wrap my mind around the warp-speed pace of last year and the "new normal" now (not that life is anything near slow or dull). We still have 1 week and 1 day until we hit Brinley's homecoming anniversary. Crazy!

Little miss has been working so hard to learn to do all those big and little things that come naturally to most kids. She has made such wonderful progress this last week and we are so proud of her hard work and diligence! It probably sounds funny to use those words in regard to a 1 year old but it's true. Even when the therapists arrive in the middle of Brinley's nap she wakes up with a smile and gets right to work. She is such a gem! This past friday she had myofascial therapy and it was one of those where "E" knocked it out of the park! Her gains: lazy eyes much less frequent, started using both hands together more often both in "random" wiggles and play time, has transferred toys from one hand to the other (YAY!), has exponentially increased her standing abilities. Honestly, most of my motivation for writing this post was to show you all the following video.

I mean how exciting is that?! Laughter, tears and cheers!!! Thank you all for your persistent prayers!

Peter is working on the swingset this week. There is some lawn prep and stuff that need to be done but pictures will be up as soon as the swingset is!

Continued prayer requests:

-Eye movements and vision (We are still working on the glasses. As the script can change every 3 months we're working on trying to figure out how to pay for them)

- Tongue/mouth/muscle healing and growth

-Continued success with therapies. We have just increased both special ed and speech to 3x/week and added occupational therapy 2x/week. This on top of PT 2x/week and myo 1x/week. Nurse "M" sure was right about that revolving door!

-Favor with Dr appointments. I have dealt with most of the appointments up to now but am taking a break (for psychological reasons). Many thanks to my superhero husband and his somewhat flexible work schedule for making this possible!

-God's wisdom in Brin's care, balancing all 4 kids and their needs and getting quality family time in the midst of our busy schedule

-We are meeting a possible new nurse tomorrow in hopes that we will have more flexibility and not burn out any of our lifelines!

Thank you all for still being here a year later. You bless us. You are God's hands and feet. Your prayers and support make a difference!

She loves the pool and has a 5' splash zone