6 Months...

Our sweet, beautiful Shelby Frances is 6 months old today. I can't believe it!

We love you, Shelby girl!

Adios Paci

Harding has known it was coming for a while now......the day that he had to say goodbye to a faithful companion--his pacifier. In fact, a couple weeks ago, he told a lady in the grocery check-out line, "I'm 2 years old. When I turn 3, no more paci!". Trip and I have been reminding him of this big step for some time. We told him that when he turned 3, we would have a birthday party and chocolate cake, and that he would have to give his pacifiers to other babies that need them since he isn't a baby anymore. I am not sure that knowing this was coming has made it actually happening easier for any of us. You see, Harding has absolutely loved his paci since he was a couple days old--check out the pictures below for proof. He usually slept with one in his mouth and one in each hand. For the past couple nights, Harding has not gone to sleep as easily as before. He has come up with multiple reasons for us to stay in the room with him. He even cried himself to sleep the first night, saying "I'm not 3, I'm still little" and "I don't want to give my paci to the babies, I need it"--we almost caved right then. I must confess that Trip and I will miss the pacifier as well. It was wonderful to have something that immediately calmed (and quieted) Harding whenever we needed it. Plus, this milestone is just one more bittersweet reminder that our little boy is not a baby anymore. I know I went a bit crazy with the multiple paci pictures below, but I'm feeling somewhat nostalgic that my son is growing up so fast. Plus, babies and their pacifiers are just precious!!

Happy Birthday to Harding

Thanksgiving Week Recap

We had such a busy and fun Thanksgiving holiday. Here is a brief recap:

I ran the Asheville Turkey Trot with my cousin Jessica. Then we had Thanksgiving dinner in Mars Hill with Trip's family. On Friday afternoon, we went to see Nemo on Ice (thanks so much for the tickets, Leslie) and then went to my parents' house to hang with my family. Trip drove down to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech vs. Georgia football game yesterday. I watched it on t.v. with my parents and Chris and Grant (unfortunately the wrong team won). Then, tonight we had family and a couple friends over for Harding's birthday party (he turns 3 tomorrow). Anyway, it has definitely been a whirlwind. And we have so much to be thankful for! I hope everyone else had a happy Thanksgiving.

Jess and I (pre-race):

Here we are waiting for Nemo to start:

Shelby bouncing--her new favorite activity!

Harding getting ready to eat cake:

Harding and his best-bud Derek playing with birthday toys:

OT, etc...

An occupational therapist from the Early Intervention Program came out today at my request to do an informal evaluation on Shelby at the same time that she had PT with Beth. Beth and I have been slightly concerned that Shelby often fists her left hand and isn't able to use it as adeptly as her right hand. Since OT deals with fine motor skills, we wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything important. The OT visit today went really well. Garnett (the OT) confirmed the fact that there is some asymmetry between Shelby's two sides, but only slight. She told us to basically keep doing what we have been doing, which is to massage her left hand and thumb and to try and figure out ways to encourage her to engage that hand and arm. She also suggested that we do a formal OT assessment towards the end of January and look at picking up OT on a regular basis then.

Today's evaluation marks the beginning of a very busy month for Shelby. We go back to Duke on December 7th to follow-up with Shelby's neurosurgeon and orthopedist. Then we have her 6-month pediatrician check-up and Shelby's neurologist the following week. Finally, we have an appointment with Shelby's ophthalmologist on December 23rd. I look toward all these appointments with a mixture of anticipation and dread. I love finding out more about Shelby and her brain because it helps us to understand her and care for her better. At the same time, I am absolutely terrified of getting bad news. Anyway, please keep us in your prayers with all these upcoming appointments.

In the meantime, Shelby continues to progress developmentally and is interacting with us more and more. She constantly reaches out to touch our faces and smiles and "talks" to us in baby gibberish. All of these are very good signs. We have also noticed in the past week that her vision is improving, which is so great! She continues to amaze us and we are certainly blessed to have her in our family!