Ruthie's 23-month stats

I'm not even going to try to apologize for the lack of blogging lately - just suffice it all to say we have been super busy just living life. :)

Chronological Age: 23 months, 2 weeks, 3 days 
Adjusted Age:  20 months, 0 weeks, 1 day

Weight:  21lbs 8.5oz 
Height:  31.75 inches

Head circumference: 18ish inches

Diapers: size 4...she could really still fit in a 3 (easily) waist-wise but length-wise she needs more room (have I mentioned this child is tall and skinny?)

One-Pieces & Dresses: 24 months for shirts and one-pieces; pants are about 18 month

PJs:  24 months 2-piece jammies most of the time

Shoes: size 4s, and she is finally to the point that she WANTS to wear shoes and will bring them to us to put them on her. And....it's highly important that WE wear our shoes in her presence - she strictly enforces that. :)

Teeth: 4 top, 4 bottom, all 4 one-year molars and (just in!) her bottom eye teeth!

Naps:  Usually 12:00-2:00ish

Sleeps:  7:00/7:30pm to 8:00/8:30

Feeds: still 100% G-tube dependent, but that is about to change - read below. :)

Personality:  She is running everywhere now, climbing everything in sight, and so smart it scares me sometimes. She can see things done one time or listen to me explain it one time....and then do it perfectly. She doesn't forget anything and sometimes I wonder just how much of her past she does remember, when she shows fear of something or seems to remember a word I don't think she would have any correlation to. This girl floors me.

We are headed to the Marcus Center in less than two weeks to begin our feeding-therapy. We will be there for 6-8 weeks, depending on progress, and it's going to be difficult for all of us. Daddy and Momma will have to be apart for the majority of it, and that sucks. Daddy will come down for 1-2 days every other week when he has the days off. Ruthie's therapy will run approximately from 9-4 every day, with a break for naptime. It's going to be a long day, but I keep reminding myself that in the long run, this is what is best for her and what we have been fighting for so hard for the last year. We will be returning home sometime in September. 

Ruthie had her first day of "school" a couple of weeks ago, and be going a few more times before we leave for Atlanta. She seemed to enjoy it and was happy to shoo me away when we dropped her off. She was happy to see me when I got back but she was so busy playing that she wasn't at all desperate to leave - I guess that's a good thing. ;) For the most part I was happy with how it went, though when I picked her up, her breath smelled like peppermints and nobody could tell me why. That really bothered us b/c she is not supposed to have anything except her food, and the thought of her having a peppermint in her mouth scares me - she could have choked. It also could have been gum from somewhere....who knows where....but the part that bothered me most was that nobody seemed to know why. She was happy and busy though, so we'll see how the next few days go. She'll be going in the fall as well - 2 days a week, so hopefully I can get some sewing done. Kangaroo-tique has really taken off and I'm super busy just trying to keep up most of the time. I should be sewing right now instead of blogging, but it's naptime and the house is quiet and I'm just enjoying laying on the couch for a few minutes.

Ruthie is still going to weekly occupation and speech therapies. Her speech is still very delayed - she has a few "intonations" that she says, but if you aren't around her much (ie: a lot) then you'd have no idea what she's saying. She has a few clear words - mama, dada, byebye, nighnigh (nightnight), uh-oh, and that's about it. Her intonated words are cute though: da! (go), dede (all done), ma! (more), du (down), waa (water), paha (open), ahpa (help please), and a few more that I can't think of right now. The more I read about apraxia, the more I see it in her, but she's made great strides in speech therapy and we're definitely going to continue. We've been looking for basic communication apps on the phone and Ipad to give her more "mobile" choices - our PECS books works well but there are only so many pictures in it and the phone is just easier. 

Probably a lot more to update but I'm having brain fog today - still working on surgery recovery and large doses of Tylenol. :)

 When did all this growing-up happen?

 Snuggles with Momma :)

 She really enjoys playing outside and finding things to bring you.

 Playdates with our friends Pierce and Noah!

 Family pictures on vacation.

 Snuggles with Daddy on vacation.

 

 We went to the aquarium! She liked it but her attention span isn't long enough yet.

We are so blessed to have such a happy, outgoing little girl.