Sadie Spotlight

Sadie and I took the two hour drive on Monday for two appointments. It is so nice when I can double up like that. She was a good rider, though I know she missed her sisterly entertainment. Our first appt. was the developmental check up for her adjusted one year of age. They did all sorts of things with her. They gave her blocks to see if she could stack them or bang them together. She just played with them. They put a raisin and small container in front of her to see if she could pick up the raisin and put it into the container. Yes she did! They gave her a peg board and pegs to see if she could put the peg in the board. She just laid it on top. Next was a crayon and paper to see if she could mimic coloring. She tried to, but she was more interested in seeing if she could pull a cap off the crayon. (Like she does with markers.) They put a rubber ducky in front of her with a clear, plastic container over it with the opening in front. They were looking to see if she could figure out to reach in front to get the duck instead of grabbing on top. She did it! So she did well with most of these checks. The doctor was pleased with all that. However, she thinks Sadie is rather quiet for her age. Though she says "bye bye" and "uh oh" the doctor would like to hear more babbling sounds. The other thing she would like us to get an evaluation on is with a physical therapist since Sadie crawls and pulls herself up (nicely, the doc said), but she isn't cruising. She thinks Sadie's muscle tone in the torso is a little weak. So we will have the early developmental network come over soon to do a full evaluation on Sadie. I'll admit my mother's heart was a little saddened by all this. However, once I focus on all the positive things my miracle baby is doing, this is only a couple of small things. Since we have been home, I hear Sadie babbling, "conversing" with her sisters (via spitting and "uh-ohs). She is also taking more steps when I hold on to her hands.

After our appointment, we made the rounds to see all of our nurses. First stop was my doctor's office. I visited with the techs/nurses who had seen me twice a week to take the ultrasound pictures of Sadie (with no fluid!). It was a treat seeing them. We then walked down the 4th floor to see any of my nurses who might be working. I found three, and it was great visiting! Last stop - NICU. We saw an NP that I just loved and two of Sadie's other nurses. It's always so fun to see them respond to Sadie seeing how much she has grown and changed.

We finally left the hospital to meet up for lunch at Olive Garden (yum!) with another one of my nurses/friends and her daughter. It was a delightful time catching up with each other. Thanks, K, for joining us! All week I was hoping to get some shopping done between appointments. That didn't happen. I had time to run into Barnes and Noble to get a book for Brandon, and then I went to a grocery store to get some of my favorite cereal. I can't find it locally any more. By then it was time to get to the other appt. Sadie took a 20 minute power nap on the drive there. We saw the pulmonolgist. Sadie weighed 18 lbs, and get a load of this - her O2 was 100%! Doctor seemed pleased with the things he saw and heard. He went ahead and had her do a sweat test to check for Cystic Fibrosis. Though she wasn't showing signs of having it, he wanted to be completely sure. We praise God again because the results came back normal! Sadie also had another x-ray taken. He found some spots on one lung that he is going to monitor. I'm sure those "spots" had a more official name, but I don't remember what. I just know they were white. :) He says it could be because of her lung disease (I don't like that label) or from her RSV and pneumonia. She could also be aspirating some while she eats. So we will go back in two months for another x-ray to see if it has changed any. We'll take any prayers we can for this matter.

We then made the drive home. The time was good; God answered many prayers.

Now onto other things. Sunday evening we had our first Family Fishing Night. Brandon has a membership to a private lake where he likes to take Analise fishing. He has fished there many years, so he knows Analise will be successful. A successful fisher girl likes to keep fishing! The other girls and I went along, too, to have fun. We went for a walk around the lake a couple of times. It's nice and peaceful out there. Here is Maisie watching Analise fish.

Daddy and daughter fishing!

Analise caught four fish. Her favorite to catch are blue gill and sunfish. Here she has a large mouth bass. She barely touches the fish, and Maisie pets them!

I think these are priceless...

This morning we went to the library to see a ventriloquist. Analise enjoyed him a lot. Maisie tuned in and out, and Sadie was along for the ride like most things. Later this morning I realized it's Maisie's turn to have pink eye. She is the last one to get it, and hopefully this won't go full cycle again.

Sadie's glue came off her chin this weekend, and I realized it really didn't do what it was supposed to do. Her chin is still rather split. She will have a nice little scar, I do believe.

I borrowed a baby walker from my sis in law so Sadie can have something else to sit in while the girls are outside. I didn't always want her just sitting in the swing. We put her in it yesterday to see what she would do. Sadie quickly had a V8 sister behind her racing her up and down the hall. However, this afternoon, I think Sadie enjoyed being in it outside so she felt closer to the action.

That's about all the news from here!