Wordless Wednesday

When Julia's awake I can't believe how quickly she is growing up. But when she sleeps.....she still looks like my little girl.

Special Moments

When you have a child that is significantly delayed with motor skills you learn to treasure each moment that unfolds that feels "normal." Today we had one of these moments when Emma and Julia hung out in Emma's crib for a bit after Emma's nap while I put away laundry. Julia climbed in the crib and I placed Emma in a propped sitting position and saw - for the first time ever - Emma playing in her crib. Emma loved it and just laughed and laughed and laughed.

Then, Julia started looking out the window and Emma kept yelling at her so I placed Emma at the window with Julia and Emma started squealing with delight. They looked out the window together for a long time watching the school bus drop off kids and the cars come and go. Emma fell down a few times and just laughed hysterically before yelling at me to put her back up again and I happily obliged. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the girls looking out the window together - watching them share this "normal" activity together actually made my day!

Safe Landing

We have a lot of changes going on in our lives right now. We're hoping to sell our house and move around the time that Emma transitions from early intervention into pre-school. We are also working on new communication methods for Emma as a bridge to verbal communication. This mainly consists of using eye gaze to communicate yes/no and picture cards to continue to immerse Emma in language. This is in addition to working on sitting, crawling, standing, walking, eating, talking.

To be totally honest, all of this can really be quite nerve-wracking. It seems nothing comes easy to our little girl, but you would never know it when you are around her. She always seems to have the biggest smile for everyone and a laugh that will make you melt.

Although the list of things we are working on is quite long, we try very hard to balance the job of Mommy and Daddy with the role of therapist. I'm happy to say that Emma is quite a well balanced little girl even though she does tend to be a bit over-scheduled some days! Most days our family is out and about in the community and Emma is enjoying everything that a typically developing 2 year old would enjoy.

Immersing our entire family in typical activities does requires a fair bit more effort for me and Chris. We are not the parents at the party chatting with our friends while our children play. Because Emma loves to play with the children, and she needs help from us to move, we are the parents that are immersed in the kid's activities. We are - by necessity and desire - hands on parents and know that our efforts are completely worth it.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about something I read somewhere along the way - God never promised us an easy passage, only a safe landing. I find this quote pretty uplifting, especially during those nerve wracking days!

Photo for the day

I'm taking a class on photography with my new camera and last week's lesson was all about depth of field. I love how some photos look with the blurred background and this lesson taught us how to do it. I just uploaded my assignment for comments and I'm looking forward to the feedback. I thought I would post the photo here, too, since it would make Chris laugh and I like to make him laugh.

Happy Easter!

I'm a day late in posting this, but we wish everyone a wonderful Easter holiday!