Monday, September 12, 2011

Someone's Growing

Well, it's here.

Our Pennie has hit the 6 month mark!

Actually, she's really almost 7 months old.....

I marvel, sometimes with tears of nostalgia, at how swiftly time passed since we welcomed her into our world. 

Sometimes, my heart can't help but ask, "what if?"  What if Olivia was here? What if Pennie and Olivia were still together? What if I had both of them to fill up my arms? Truthfully, I do have many such moments, still, but I've learned that it's okay to ask those questions, and when my heart is most wrenched and when anguish and tears come seeking me out, I just take a *very deep* breath and call out to the Lord.  That's how I've been able to walk this path and stay on it!

What is Pennie up to these days? She has some nicknames, like Butt Nutt, Moomer, Doodle.....and we have a dear friend who calls her Pretzel!

She is now sitting up by herself! She can also get herself down from a sitting position, but I think so far it's an accidental thing.
She can roll from her back to her tummy now, but not from her tummy to her back yet.
She is getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth.
She is nursing about every 2.5 hours.  We tried solids in hopes that she would sleep longer at night, but that was DISASTROUS!!! So, we will try again in a month or so.
She sleeps, on a good night, about 6 hours.  Yay for good nights!!
She has two tiny teeth on the bottom gums.
She is still wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes, but some 6-9 month clothes
We have lots of girl clothes, but they are all the wrong sizes for the wrong seasons! Gymboree, here I come!!
She is wearing size 3 Huggies Snug n Dry.  They are still very big on her but the size 2's were too short and we were having leaks because of that.
She weighs 16 lbs.  She is very small for her age.
Mama is her favorite person!

I was advised when I was pregnant with The Babies, and after Olivia died, that Pennie may have some problems.  Mainly, they were concerned about Cerebral Palsy, as a result of the large placenta and my body not knowing that it needed to cut off some of the blood supply going to The Babies in light of Olivia's death.  My specialist told me that we wouldn't know if Cerebral Palsy was an issue till later in her life.  I do believe that she is having some issues with her fine motor skills.  She cannot grasp objects very well and seems to have trouble bending her fingers to grasp.  She has trouble holding on to an object for any length of time, but I think that she is behind by about two or three months in what she "should be doing" for her age and compared to my other babies.  I do believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with her cognitive mind.  She also startles very easily still.....but you know what? We don't care! We feel sooooo blessed that God let her live and grace us with her presence! We simply want to know what is what so we can help her here in our home.

She is still sleeping in our room in a crib, mainly because we have absolutely NO room in this house for her to be in with the girls.  But we hope that may change soon....

I do wish I could share pics of her with you all, but I just can't figure out how to load pics from a digital camera on this dumb PC!

So, that about wraps it up.  Time to finish up dinner!

5 comments:

Rebeca said...

She sounds delightful! My little Pearl is also very small, only about 17 pounds at a year, and has been way "behind" on a lot of the milestones. She's 16 months and not walking, just started pulling herself up to stand. She also has never crawled, but scoots around. All that to say, babies just develop at different times. She also is finally starting to sleep through the night! She's been my worst sleeper by far, but I'm just savoring her.
Blessings!

Susan said...

wow. Time does fly. Sounds like she is doing great. I too am glad that the Lord has blessed you with her. Amother child to be raised by God fearing parents. It doesn't get any better than that. can't wait to see some pictures.

Southern Queen of the Crazies said...

Where have you been?!

Renata said...

Oh wow Leanne ~ 6 months already!!! What a precious little girl she is.
Sorry I haven't answered your email ~ I've been meaning to for ages ~ I always think of it at the wrong time.

My boys had a large risk of CP as well ~ when they were born we had no idea if one or both would survive birth & then if they would have CP & how severe it would be. Praise the Lord that they were spared from it ~ they were cleared at 2 years old finally. They were very late with all their milestones ~ at least 6 months behind ~ they didn't walk until they were 22 months old. I have often heard of identicals who are delayed. Well now they are very busy 5 year olds, although we did decide to hold them back from starting schoolwork until next year due to them not being nearly ready. They were also terrible sleepers ~ not sleeping through until they were over 6 months old.
I wish I could give Pennie a big hug & you as well~ love you dear friend
Renata:)

Gottjoy! said...

I am so glad to hear all about her! What a marvelous gift she is to your family. I cannot believe it will be almost 7 months!
I hope you figure out your camera soon, so we can see pictures=)!