Still Hard at Work

Ashley Kate continues to work hard each and every day and as I shared with you last week we are starting to see it pay off. Dave and I sit back and watch her every evening and are amazed at how quickly things are changing. Don't misunderstand me, she's not going to get up and walk across the room anytime soon, but she is making progress and that is a blessing.
Last night before bed(please excuse this hair don't. I had just pulled out her ponytail for bed) she gave us all quite a show. I won't show you the many "ugly" faces we captured on film between these photos, but I will show you the final product that ended in a success. She worked for about 30 minutes in this position just trying to figure out what she was supposed to do now that she can hold herself there. She never actually made any forward progress, but to see her hold herself in this crawling position encourages our hearts. She has started bouncing or rocking and that tells me that someday she's going to figure it out.



At this time she just looked confused to us. She had been sitting here for a while and just didn't know what else she wanted to do. We encouraged and laughed a lot because of the many looks and "lips" she was giving us as she tried to convince us this was just too hard for her.


Eventually she just laughed along with us and accepted the fact that this is the way it was going to be. I love this silly girl who thinks she "can't" figure this stuff out. Good thing we have figured out that she can.

We also had a very exciting thing happen yesterday afternoon. Her voice came back. I mean she started making phonetical(sp?) sounds again. As we painted she played and then began saying, "b,b,b,b,b,b,b,b,". Over and over again. It was sweet and beautiful and the best conversation I have had with her in years. It was so exciting!

I wanted to give some more detail on the back packs. I am happy to pick them up, but don't want you to be disappointed. They are not standard size back packs. They are minis. This makes them perfect for our feeding pump(we use the Infinity, Light by Zevex) and a few diapers and wipes. The pocket on the front fits the pump perfectly and I just allow the tubing to come out of the side without zipping it closed all the way. There is no pocket to hold the feeding bag itself like in our medical packs, but I have had no trouble with just sitting our bag inside of it. I am planning on sewing in a little hook on the top of the inside to hook the bag on, but for now it is working just fine. It is a little larger than the mini pack sent to us from Zevex. If you are still interested let me know. I don't mind ordering them for those of you who don't need them for feeding pumps, but other than being big enough for a small child's diapers, snacks or treasures I don't think they would really work. They wouldn't work for a school pack. Anyway, I am making a list in my notebook and you may send your checks to the address listed on the side of her journal. Again, it is my pleasure to get them for you. I really hope the vendor comes back next month! If they don't I will quickly return your money. Most of the vendors are regulars and have their own spots in the pavilions. I will do my best. Hope that helps you in deciding what the back packs can be used for.

Well, I'm off to do laundry and run errands. There is so much to do before we leave for Nationals. Blake is so excited and in the spirit of if all has bleached his hair blond. Unbelievable! Its only for the tournament and all of his friends are doing theirs tonight(at least they better be! ha, ha). Their only 12 once and we want them to remember this week forever. Hope you have a great day! Trish