Happy St. Patrick's Day!

💚🍀 Happy St. Patrick's Day! 💚🍀

We feel very LUCKY to have you following along with our family!

Audiologist Results

Just a quick follow up from last week's post, we went to the audiologist and they could not do the full test, as Olivia did not tolerate things stuck in her ear.  So instead they did a different test, which involved Olivia sitting on my lap and turning her head when she heard noises.  And the results were that she definitely has no hearing damage in one ear and most likely does not have hearing damage in her other ear.  So all in all a great appointment. Going forward, we do not have follow up appointments for that unless we see any issues.  So we were excited for that!  

Since this is a short post, I thought I would include some cute pictures from this week:

Dad went to the last home VCU game, Olivia and I cheered from home as the start time was 9PM!

This month we have been taking part of the #21dayrealaloud challenge, where we read to Olivia everyday for 15 (ish) minutes.  It has been fun enjoying all the books from friends and family!

Olivia attending her friend Madeline's birthday party and was very excited, though her face does not appear as such!

Still loving her chair!

On Tuesday this week, we went back to the NICU for a photo shoot for some upcoming fundraising, so stay tuned for that!

Enjoying the beautiful weather and our sweet pink car from Aunt Morgan and Uncle Tommy!

15 months

Olivia is now 15 (and a half) months!  She took her first steps on January 20th and can now be found walking all over the house and sometimes breaks into a slight run!  She is certainly a cautious walker, and even our PT said that she thought she might have been taking so long to make sure she got it right when she did it!  She falls, though sparingly and she seems like such a big girl now!  What is it about overalls and walking that make my little baby suddenly seem like she is 3.5!  (Please notice how many times we had to roll up those overalls--little miss shorty)!

Olivia's currently favorite pastime (after swinging, of course), is to press her hands up to this door and say kitty when looking at any animal in the backyard.  It always makes me run to see if we have a new cat back there!  Nope, that's just Brutus (in fairness, he is a few pounds lighter than our cat, so I can understand her confusion).  But I always say, oh no, that's the doggie!  In addition to kitty, Olivia also says: Dada, Momma, bye, more (both speaking and signing) and has been rumored to say Gaga, Hi, yes, and Chicken (though it might be more sounds than anything else)This picture is of Olivia a week ago, when she was sent home early from daycare cause she had a fever.  I spent the afternoon and the following day with her playing outside, taking a walk, running errands. because this "sick kid" never acts sick.  On Friday she was slightly off, so we went to the doctor and she had an ear infection!  That is how she is, easy going and laid back. 

She is almost always happy and cheerful, but she has recently learned that she can cry in protest to get her way.  And it is amazing how quickly she can turn it on and off.  But baby girl, we are onto you now...

She loves her mom and dad something fierce and is very hesitant around people she is not super familiar with.  But is also easy going if she is handed off (so long as mommy isn't mentioned or within ear shot).  We can definitely see parts of her personality that favor both myself and Marc!

She is loved something fiercely, not just by us but by her village!  Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, neighbors and family alike.  People love her (almost) as much as we do!  And we could not be more proud of everything she has overcome in her short life!  We are constantly amazed by her progress!

I can also see a little stubborn streak in her, but I think that stubborn streak might have been part of her fight, so I will take it!  When my mom and I were at a consignment sale a week or so ago, Nannie was trying to pick out a toy for this little one, we picked up dolls, drums, stuffed animals, puzzles, noisemakers and more.  But she was not biting, then all of the sudden, she gets down, walks over and sits in this chair.  It was love at first sight and she was not leaving without it (thankfully it was only $5, so her Nannie easily gave in), but it was funny to see her determination--no, I do not want another baby doll, thank you very much, I will take my own personal chair and she has sat in it everyday since!  Please check out little Miss with her legs crossed posing for her picture! 💗

I am not even kidding, this was her last night with her book to read.  We are currently taking part of the #21daysreadaloud challenge, though we plan to do it for the whole month.  It has been a fun challenge, reading books from friends and family that were given to us just after her birth.  Reading the notes of encouragement and prayers--it is an easy reminder of where we were just a year ago and how far we have come!  I was just talking to a friend that recently had a baby, and we were bemusing the fact of how lucky we are to know that it takes a village to raise a child and how lucky we both were to have such a village!   

Its easy to fall in love with her sweet face over and over again--even if she has just pulled out everything from under my sink!  I am sure one day I may be made at her, but it has not happened yet!  (Well maybe when she wants to play at 3am....)

Per my last post, we have said goodbye to one doctor, but will be visiting a few tomorrow, so if you would be so kind, please be praying for us:

1. We see the audiologist tomorrow to make sure Olivia did not have any long term damage from her weeks of vancomycin.  This was the super strong antibiotic that Olivia was on in the NICU for MRSA and meningitsis.  One of the side effects is hearing loss, particularly in preemies, so we are praying and hoping Olivia did not experience any of that (we have not seen any red flags to indicate such things)

2. She will also get her last synagis shot.  This was the shot she has gotten every month for this RSV season and last.  We only qualified through 3/20/19, so she gets her last dose tomorrow and we are hopefully that will carry us through the reason of this RSV season.

3.  Not necessarily a pray, but an additional fun first appointment for us is to see the pediatric dentist tomorrow.  They encouraged us to get her in after her 1 year appointment.  So that should be exciting to see, so far, she loves her toothbrush! 

All in all, we have an action-packed day tomorrow!  And in maybe the most exciting news yet, Olivia will be getting to meet Mickey Mouse next month as her and I tag along to Disney while Marc has a conference down there!  The excitement (at least for me) is building!  Hope everyone has been having a great start to your March and gets ready to enjoy the longer days!  I know I am excited to light past 6pm :)