Wow, time has really gotten away from me these past few weeks. It got me thinking that time with Natalie is a unique gift. Most parents will say that kids grow up so fast. The first year is especially quick as they change from a small sleeping-all-the-time infant to a jabbering-into-everything toddler. Because Natalie’s low muscle tone has caused her gross motor development to lag behind, it’s hard for me to think of her as almost being a year old. It’s as if her delayed development forces me to pay attention more and definitely causes us to celebrate small victories that might have been missed for a typically developing 3rd child. Time for her goes a little slower and therefore allows us to enjoy her as a baby longer.
Here’s what’s been going on with us. The day before our first check up for her star band progress, David had a car accident. The car was not totaled but it was not drivable for 2 1/2 weeks while being repaired. I had to postpone our first star band appointment to get some errands taken care of for the car. We went the next week and Christina said she could already tell the cranial band was helping. We won’t get Natalie scanned until the next appointment, though. Tomorrow starts her 5th week of wearing the star band. Natalie has completely adjusted with only some small redness and extreme smelliness when we take it off of her for the one hour a day. We had a stomach bug go through the house last week so she had to take a small break from wearing it but we are all back to normal now.
I did end up painting the helmet again so got some pictures of the original pattern. This second time seems to be working better, though, with very few scrapes in the paint job. I used a spray primer and then the pink spray paint the first day. The second day, I brush painted on a varnish. The third day, I painted the butterflies and another coat of varnish. I’m still having some trouble at the strap with paint peeling but, for the most part, it’s staying on this time. I just love seeing her little pink helmet head to match her smiling pink cheeks!
The big kids are out of school for Christmas vacation and anxiously counting down to Christmas. I think they tell us several times daily how many more days are left. David and I will both be working this week so it’ll be a challenge to find ways to entertain them before the big day. I’m hoping to get some Christmas cookie decorating in and then of course visits from two of their out of town aunts will help.
Below is an impromtu shoot in front of our Jesse tree. We add a new ornament every night to show how the old testament stories pointed to the coming of Jesus. So far we have a globe, apple, rainbow, sky full of stars, ram, jacob’s ladder, coat of many colors, burning bush, trumpet for Jericho. We seem to keep falling behind so will probably end up skipping a few to get to the end.
