Hello, Warm Weather!

     Boy, oh boy are we having fun these days.

But first off. We have......wait for it.......a night nurse! I'll call her D. D was with us every other Sunday night and then our other nurse quit. D had some switches in her schedule and planned to work with us more full time for March and April. She was here more than she wasn't. Made a huge difference for me. For the month of April she is here Sunday thru Friday night! I got a call from the agency last week and they told me something like, "I'm sorry, but starting in May D won't be with you Sunday and Wednesday nights." Hesitant to believe the implications of this statement, I started laying everything out so that I could hear her say loud and clear that D was staying with us. And, yes! Starting in May it's a permanent placement Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday! 

We are overjoyed. We feel very comfortable with D. Leo likes her. She doesn't fluster easily. She can hold Leo. She has already seen his good and bad nights. It feels like a great fit. I am increasingly aware of the unsteadiness that nighttime nursing can be. Even with this new placement I am reminding myself that D's schedule may change. She may need to leave or choose to leave. She's not locked in to us. But she's as set as it goes with nighttime nursing. We are grateful for God's provision and moving forward in that. If something changes, He's got us. 

Since we're talking about nights, Leo's nights have been going better. Ever since getting a cold he seemed to be waking up much earlier consistently. If he sleeps past 5am it's a good morning. He had a couple of 2am mornings, but has started to sleep past 6am a couple of times. I do believe he is over this cold. My current theory is this. He's adjusting to food (always is, right?). But we recently started him on some laxatives which have proved to make him more comfortable and help him empty out. His puking has also decreased a lot so I think we're starting to see that he's adjusting to his current amount of food. Brad and I even lessened the nighttime feed (which means adding food during the day) to try and help him sleep at night. That helped for a bit, but we were still seeing 4am mornings. What I noticed was that he was usually waking up to poop (even if it wasn't for two hours, he would still poop in the morning). So we switched his laxatives to the morning and I give him extra water in the evening to try and encourage things through his system. I hope we can help him regulate more and, thus, sleep through the night. His molar is also coming in so that's fun. 

So what's the fun stuff?

1) Therapy! Let me just explain the video. Leo's in the stander. There's applesauce on the tray. Leo seems to be feeling the applesauce when his hand is on the tray (more with his left hand) and then he works to getting his hand in his mouth! He's working so hard to coordinate so much! 

He's been rolling to his stomach a lot more. He can get pretty upset when he's on his belly, but the more he does it the more he just seems to hang out on his belly. 

Therapists and friends have recently just commented on how aware he is. We are so excited to see all that he's doing! It is easy to assume that someone like Leo isn't aware of people or things going on around them. At least, in my experience that's easy to assume (with Leo and others). But it's such a joy to see that he knows what's up. He is responding to people more and more. I was in a mom's group the other night and everyone laughed so Leo laughed--really loud. It was the sweetest thing. He is understanding what we say to him. And he's communicating what he wants, too. It's just so fun. 

And, can I just say? It's interesting to step into the world of behavioral things with Leo. We are first time parents so we've never dealt with the two year old years before. Navigating what Leo can control and what he can't is interesting. We don't want to scold Leo for doing something he can't control. But we want to recognize that he's aware.

2) Leo and I are hiking/walking! As the weather gets warmer, I'm looking to spend as much time with Leo outside as I can. I've told a couple of friends that my new goal is to strap Leo to me and climb a mountain. While I am half kidding, I'm serious about getting out, seeing how Leo likes outside, evaluating him in the carrier and eating outside. 

3) Leo and I got to do an egg hunt with some other special kids and we had a blast. He loved talking to the people there and the sensory parts of the egg hunt. (This is the middle of a smile, btw ;)

4) A dear friend turned 50 recently! We got to go to a birthday brunch. Leo had fun at the brunch and also looked sweet as could be taking a nap in the corner

Smiles and Snuggles