Lindy gets her first brace

I hope everyone had a good week. It went by quickly for us. A lot of NC, even the beach, got snow this week. We just got a trace of it, barely anything. We were jealous of our friends and their snow!

Last weekend was a great weekend. GrandBob and Suzette came up last Saturday to babysit the kids so we could get out for a little bit. We ended up just running errands but we did enjoy dinner out. Last Sunday was a glorious day - my birthday. I turned the big 32. Lynn and Anna came up to take me to lunch and help me celebrate. My hubby made my favorite cake (chocolate with rainbow chip frosting) for me. I talked to all of my family on the phone and had a very good day.

GrandBob and Suzette Everyone celebrating my birthday!
Me and my delicious cake. Me and my adorable kiddos.

On Monday we had OT with Lisa. She worked with Lindy on feeding herself with a spoon. She got to see Lindy pull up to her knees on the coffee table.

Thursday was the big day for Miss Lindy. She got one of her braces for her feet. We went to the same place we go for physical therapy but another therapist actually made her brace. I forgot my camera so I don't have pictures of the process. She used plaster to create a mold first of how her foot should be. It was wet and cold and Lindy didn't much like it at first. Then she used this plastic stuff that she heated up and was able to mold it to the shape of Lindy's foot. Lindy had to sit very still so the therapist could make sure her foot was in the correct position. The only way she would sit still was if I was singing to her. I'm sure the therapist enjoyed my show! We were there for 1.5 hours and we got one brace completely done and the other one partly done. We have to go back on Monday to finish up the left one. We are to let her wear them for about 15 minutes at a time to begin with and then check her to make sure there aren't any deep red marks. Lindy doesn't seem phased at all by having it on her foot. The hard part is that Lindy never stands for 15 minutes. She just isn't there yet. So far I haven't seen any red marks at all. If you know Lindy you know she has the cutest little crooked toes. Well, not in the brace. They are lined up straight in the brace. The brace might eventually straighten them out for good - which I can't actually imagine! The more she stands the more we'll be increasing the time she wears the brace. If it appears to be helping her then she will have to end up wearing it most of the day. As for how long she'll have to wear them, we don't know. Just depends on how much they help her.

After her hearing appointment we headed to the hospital to get new ear molds made. We just couldn't get the latest pair to be quiet - always had some kind of interference going on. I almost had to move in and live at the hospital though. I left PT and drove to the hospital and parked in the parking deck. When I started looking, I couldn't find my wallet anywhere. I knew I had it at PT so I called over there to have them look around. The secretary did find it for me which was a huge relief. But that meant I had NO money to get out of the parking deck. I didn't even have an ATM card to get money to get out of the parking deck. I had no change in the car (used it all on the toll roads going to OH over Xmas). I seriously didn't know what to do. I finally asked the audiologist what they do if you have no money to get out of the parking deck. She wasn't really sure so she leant me $2!!! Thankfully we have gotten to know her pretty well - her husband is actually a fellow Methodist pastor like Drew. She saved the day. Lindy and I got to go home! Of course we had to go back by Comp Rehab to get my wallet and then we went home.

We finished up Thursday with a visit from our hearing teacher. We talked about trying to find a speech therapist with some knowledge of vocal cord paralysis. Based on everything we know Lindy is hearing, she really should be babbling by now. Right now we are trying to figure out what to do with her. We know Lindy can hear us and understand us but right now she has no way to talk back to us. We are actually going to start incorporating a few of the normal baby signs so that Lindy might be able to actually tell us something. If she did not have vocal cord paralysis then we would be shying away from sign language. We have chosen to teach Lindy using the auditory-verbal method, meaning we want her to hear and talk. Some children will rely on sign language instead of talking so they usually do not recommend signs. But Lindy is a bit of a different case so we are going to try a couple signs with her.

Lindy is progressing in other areas though. She actually started waving bye-bye at the end of last week, but I forgot to mention it in my post. As usual, she puts her own spin on it. She raises her hand straight up in the air. But she does it in response to "Say bye-bye" so we are sure it's her version. We'll keep working on getting a little waving action. Her other big milestone this week is that she pulled herself up to her feet when she was in her bed. She has no problem getting to her knees but on Thursday she pulled herself right up to her feet. It only lasted a few seconds, but I saw it. Will and I were standing right in front of her when she did it. Hopefully she'll figure out how to do it other places as well. I see her trying it all over the place, she just hasn't gotten it anywhere else.

I feel bad because most of the time Will gets the short end of the posting stick . He just doesn't have as much going on as Lindy. On Wednesday he had his 7th tooth finally break through. He got one on the bottom right, next to his front tooth. One more is still on the way but should be through any day. He's been Mr. Fussy this week because of his teeth. Another new Will thing is that he will be having a great time and in a great mood until he sees his food. Then he starts crying and acting like he is starving. While you are feeding him he squawks the entire time. Makes for interesting (loud) dinners these days. The cutest thing Will has done this week is to continue to rub noses with everyone. After many attempts at getting him to rub noses with Lindy, he finally did. It is SO stinking cute! He puts his nose on her forehead! It's so fun to see them interacting. Will has also started giving us hugs. He leans his head down on your shoulder and lets you squeeze him and love on him. He's so sweet!

That sums up our week. We had a good dinner last night with our friends Mark, Mary Allen, Conner and Tyler. It was fun to hang out with and see the kids play. Enjoy a few more pictures.

Instead of Where's Waldo, this picture is Where's Will?

Drew found him inside the toy bin! Silly boy!
Does she love her brother or what?

Look at that hair!