How Is Abby Doing?

“How is Abby?”  If I had a nickel for all the times I hear this question.  Well, I’d have a whole lot of nickels.  And it makes my heart smile a big-toothed grin every time.  I've realized that it's been 6 months since I've properly updated the incredible people in our lives who think of and pray for our girl.  Time flies :).

My short answer…Abby is doing great!  She is amazing.

My not-so-short answer…Abby is doing great!  She is amazing.  And if I were one of those people who could see a person’s aura, I would be blinded by her halo on a daily basis.  Her joy is busting at the seams.  And so is her will to move.  She has made such strides, learned so many things in the past 6 months, working so hard with such a sweet determination and motivation.  And when she masters something new, the celebration is oh so big.  Like, move mountains big.   

Abby sat up from lying down all on her own for the first time in May.  It was by far one of the most exciting moments of my life.  I had seen her get so close and want it so badly for so many months, yet it still felt like it came out of nowhere.  As soon as she was up, our eyes were locked and she was laughing, clapping, full of celebration.  Like "did you just see that, mom?  I did it! I DID IT!"  That look of accomplishment and pride on her face was breathtaking.  Happy tears are streaming down my face just remembering it.  She was gleaming.  It was beautiful.

I'd be a liar if I said I didn't wish things could come a little easier for her.  That she didn't have to have PT, OT and speech therapy every week to try to help replace limitations with freedom.  That it's not stressful that she's 21 months old and still only eating purees.  But...and this is an enormous, all caps, 100 underlines 'but'...the challenges make the good things, the learning to sit up on her own moments, so exciting and INCREDIBLY AWE-INSPIRING.  The smile she flashes when she learns something new or when what she asks for with a sign is understood and answered...it melts your heart into the biggest puddle.  And it's such an amazing gift to live beside her and partake in her parade of celebrations.  But I digress...I could write about that roller coaster ride for a while.

Abby is a bottom scooting machine and there are times when one of her favorite songs comes on or when I just walk into the room (she is in a fierce mama phase), and she starts bouncing with such energy that I swear she may catapult herself from sitting in frog position straight through the ceiling.

She started bearing weight on her legs in February (woohoooo!).  And now has enough strength and balance to stand at a table (with someone close or diving distance away).  And just these past few days she's been moving her feet more.  We'll be holding her up and there goes a foot flopping in front of the other one.

She says mama and hi and signs baby, eat, more, all done, drink, open, please, thank you, up, dance, slide and airplane.  And she understands it all. Ask her to honk the horn in her push car and she slams that horn.  Leave a brush on the floor and she’ll pick it up and pretend she’s taming her do.  Ask her to pet Hank more gently, and the slapping turns to soft strokes.  She gets it.  She absorbs it all.  She even got mad at Lucy the other day for not sharing her baby, and then handed everyone in the room a wooden piece of cake.  Everyone but Lucy.  Don't cross this lady.  

She still isn't eating any finger foods so Bottle and Purees continue to fuel her fire.  She has started putting the spoon to her own mouth, has a spoon trick that makes Lucy laugh without fail, and even plays a little spoon-in-the-bib hide ‘n seek for a praiseful laugh from us.
  

And she hasn’t had a seizure for over 9 months!  Can I get an Amen?!  Thank you, God.  Her last EEG a few weeks ago came back abnormal.  Cutting through all the medical terminology, she has an ongoing high risk of seizure activity.  So they won’t consider weaning her off of her meds for another year.  The news knocked the breath out of me for a couple days. After an uncommon (according to her neurologist) 'normal' result from her December EEG, I was banking on another 'normal' and didn’t leave much room in my mind or heart for anything else.

Sweet smiles after some not-so-sweet fits

This shouldn't have been a huge shocker.  I mean, our sweet girl has epilepsy and significant developmental delays due to a genetic disorder, right?  So, it's pretty unlikely for normal EEG's to come her way.  And it's not like we received new, unsettling or sad news.  And even though abnormal EEG's don't guarantee that your child will have seizures and even though it has nothing to do with illustrating cognitive delays or intelligence, it was enough to spur the fear, doubt, anger and heartbreak that I haven't felt in a while.  So, I let myself be sad.  I let my mind go to all the worry places about her future that are usually trumped by my pure love of everything she is and isn't, and the beautiful gifts that God has already poured onto us through her.  And after two days I felt a slap out of nowhere.  Hey!  She still isn’t having seizures, which is beyond amazing!  She is learning some big stuff and getting stronger every day. She and Lucy laugh together and have a strong sister love and they always will.  God has her in the palm of His hands. She is upbeat and irresistable.  She is healthy and happy.  And I'm ever so grateful for those blessings.

And how is Lucy?

Lucy is a little girl of extremes.  Extremely sassy and challenging, extremely hilarious and extremely tender and warm.  She loves Abby like mad.  She also has creative placement of her baby doll when she's teaching her to fly...into Abby's face.  I asked her yesterday what her favorite part of being a big sister was, and she said "Abby".  Profoundly simple.

She starts preschool at the end of the month, and she's pretty proud of the fact that she's big enough for school.  She went to the school's summer camp for a few weeks to get her feet wet and she was in hog heaven.  Seriously, how does it go by so fast?