Isn't She Lovely?

My beautiful baby girl is growing up! She's 18.5 pounds and just under 32 inches tall. Her personality is really starting to shine too! Her extreme separation anxiety is starting to melt away and she's as goofy as ever. She's obsessed with noses and is constantly pinching anyones she can get her hands on, even the dogs nose. She "sings" and dances to music and is especially fond of Lady Gaga and Jason Mraz.

Although her speech is exploding, her speech therapist is going to start looking for augmentative devices appropriate for her. Although I'm fairly confident that she'll get the hang of the whole talking thing, it can't hurt to try. We've noticed that Romy has a difficult time with words that contain the letter M or N which are usually the easiest to pronounce, yet she can say words with a K or C sound which are more advanced. They put her at a speech level of about a 16 month old which is pretty much the same as the rest of her cognitive ability, not too bad for a former 25 weeker with cerebral palsy. Cognitively, she's about 4 months (adjusted) behind her peers but she's been closing that gap more and more every time we revisit her abilities. At one point she was 10 months behind!

We've been going on nightly walks and that's when she really starts going off, she babbles and waves and says bye to trees, dogs, people and passing cars.

As for an update on her medical issues....sigh....here goes:

Gastro- As you may remember Romy had two GI study's done, both with conflicting results. Since her eating has improved quite a bit and she has steadily put on weight, we've decided to hold off on any further testing or diagnosis. Honestly, I'm beginning to think that her tummy is just fine and she was sensing MY anxiety over her eating (or lack of) habits. Once I relaxed and let her set her own pace, she just kind of handled it herself. She has days where she doesn't eat much and days where she won't stop stuffing her face.

Neuro- Romy got another rounds of botox a few days ago. He DOUBLED the amount this time in hopes that it will actually have some sort of effect. Last time was a complete bust. He also upped her baclofen just a smidge. Ever since, her legs have been significantly looser and she's been standing longer and with better posture than before. I'm not sure if it's the botox or the baclofen, but either way it's great. She continues to do pretty well with her braces and was standing up holding onto the couch and *gasp* took one itty bitty side step and promptly fell flat on her butt. I was completely floored and I was so happy that her therapist was there to witness it with me. I think we scared her a bit with our screaming and clapping.

Ophthalmology- Romy's strabismus surgery has been bumped up to January 27th, as in just a few weeks away. The doctor thinks that Romy isn't using her left eye at ALL. Something that I don't agree with 100% but I still think the surgery is a good idea. If I completely cover her right eye, she's still able to track with her left so it kinda debunks what the doc was saying, but hopefully it will improve the vision in her left eye, which is the weaker of the two. We're also patching again. The only thing that makes me nervous is that Romy's strabismus is only evident SOMETIMES, there are many times when you can't notice it at all. I worry that loosening the muscles will cause her to turn her eye outward vs. inward. Pray for good results, k?

So there you go, a big ol' fat update on all things Romy. She's doing pretty fantastic if I don't say so myself. Oh and as always, here's some very recent pictures of my favorite girl:

She's been all smiles lately.