Sunday, October 16, 2011

Almost 1, and changing every day!

I know I've said it before, but I'm going to say it again: Time is going by so quickly. Sami's 1st birthday party is in three weeks from today!! I can't believe in just a few short weeks, my beautiful little girl will be 1 year old.

I've posted a little video today at the bottom of this post, of Sami having a good time in a swing in our local park.

I haven't been writing about it here, but Sami has been going to two physical therapists since August, after being diagnosed with plagiocephally and torticollis. Torticollis is having weak neck muscles and plagiocephally is when a child develops a flat area on his or her head. Usually the plagio is caused by the torticollis because a baby with a weak neck tends to lean on one side of the head a lot more often than the other side, which causes a flat area to form. For those of you that have seen babies with helmets around town, that's usually the reason. The helmets fix the head shape, making a perfectly round head. We were lucky that Sami's case was not severe enough to warrant a helmet, so she has been going having two types of physical therapy: one to work on her neck muscles and one that does cranial-sacral therapy to help even out the shape of her head. Sami's case was one that nobody noticed, and I didn't even notice until it was pointed out to me by our pediatrician. (We have since switched pediatricians due to the poor care she was given, but I'll write about that another time.)

Anyway, last week the neck therapist, who Sami was seeing weekly, said that she is doing so well that he wants to see her one more time in a month just to make sure she still doing great, and if she is, he is going to discharge her from therapy. The doctor who is doing cranialsacral therapy on Sami is also not seeing her again for a few weeks, and is expecting to discharge her at that time, too!! I've been doing stretches and exercises with Sami several times a day that the therapist suggested, and it seems to really have done the trick! I couldn't be happier!!

Lately, Sami has really been keeping me on my toes! She is crawling so quickly that sometimes you have to jog a bit to catch up to her! And she is furniture walking, also called cruising, now. She's tried to let go a few times, but when she does that she usually falls, and sadly has a couple of bruises from our tile floor to prove it.

Meanwhile, I am getting excited for her 1st birthday party, and at last count am expecting close to 50 people (adults and kids combined). We rented a pavilion at a park that has a great playground and a very large open field area, so it should be a good time, as long as the weather is good that day.

I still think about Elizabeth, and wonder where she went. I haven't spoken to her since January. I hope where ever she is, she is doing well. I feel forever connected to her, and despite her not making the best choices throughout her life, I will always be beyond grateful to her. In fact, "grateful," feels like such a weak word to describe it. I have this beautiful little girl who makes me happy every day. I feel as though I have a new purpose in my life I never knew existed. Things that seemed so important to me before, seem trivial now. The most important thing now is to make sure that Sami is happy and healthy every day.