Here are the technical updates. As of her last appointment with her cardiologist, she is right at 23 inches long and just under 14 pounds. Of course when they weighed her she had missed a meal, so she may be over 14 pounds now. She certainly does not look like she has missed a meal.
Now for what everyone wants to know. Her recovery is going great. She is so much more active and alert now. Everything she does is about trying to interact with her environment. In the last few days she has made a concerted effort to reach for her toys when you dangle them in front of her. For the last week or two she has tried to reach for your face when you hold her (assuming she does not fall asleep in your arms, which is very common). Now her gross motor control is not very good yet, so all this reaching is basically controlled flailing, but her daddy likes brag on her and exaggerate what she is doing.
She also trys to talk to you. Her therapist calls it cooing. I like to call it talking. We are supposed to mimic the sounds back to her so she will keep making them.
She has also started to try to support herself in a sitting position. What do I mean, you are asking? I don't blame you. I could have phrased that better. Basically, if we have her sitting in our lap she will use her abs to try and support herself in that position. Usually what happens is she gets a rocking motion going as she tenses then releases her ab muscles.
Our therapist also has us doing some leg exercises with her. This is to help her build muscle tone so that she will hopefully start moving on her own close to the same time as most babies.
Most importantly, we are trying to feed her from a bottle again. Since she has a good suck and is trying to talk to us, she should be able to feed from the bottle. We are very excited about the fact that she will take a milliliter or two at each feed. We are hoping that this means she will take to it sometime next week. Right now it is small victories, like she will open her mouth when she sees the bottle. We are very excited.
Laura watched her first College football game this past weekend. Unfortunately, the Aggies lost. However we got these great pictures out of it. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
However, the most important thing she has ever done is seen in these pictures. As everyone can plainly see she is trying hard in the second picture to give the Aggie Gig'em sign. She will get a second chance this Saturday. I will let you know if she succeeds.
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