Mar 29

We have a praise for this week. Hope has begun to feed herself regularly. I try to give her something at each meal and at snacks that she can pick up. This is major! We are so excited to see her progressing. Also, she will hold her cup more. It will not be long before she walks on her own. I am just amazed at how much she is growing. She is now 32 inches long. That is 2 inches of growth since we have been home. She is hanging around 20.5 lbs, but that is half a pound up from last month. Her 12 month pants are too short, but the 18 month pants are too big in the waist. She will be 17 months old tomorrow - hard to believe.

Happy Birthday Steph!

Our friends, Stephanie and Caleb came to have lunch with Hope and me on Tuesday. Hope loves Caleb and he plays so well with her. Hope's favorite thing is for Caleb to kiss her hand and he is such a good sport because she wants him to do it over and over and over. We had a fun time and here are some great pictures.

Hearing Evaluation

We went for Hope's hearing test today and thankfully her left ear has normal hearing. The right ear is the one that did not form all the way, but there was also a question about her left ear. This was good news. The right ear did not give a clear reading due to her ear canal being so narrow. We will have to continue annual testing until we can get a clear reading from the right ear. We are thankful for the good news about her left ear.

Resurrection Day

Our first Easter with Hope was a special day. We were able to all go to church together and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Many people responded to the invitation and made life changing decisions. Being a parent and loving Hope so much has opened my eyes to the way God sees me as His child. I am so thankful for His unconditional love. We are also blessed to have sweet friends. The pictures are from church this morning.

Easter pictures

My friend Robin and I took Hope and Robin's girls, Baylee and Carly to have pictures taken for Easter. Hope was a little stinker and did not want to sit still or smile much. Here are a few of the shots. We chose the one with Hope crawling away - that was her mission for the day.

Daddy's little helper

Tonight Scott was putting together a walker that Hope was given by some friends at church. She loves to help, so here they are working together.

Hope's hair cut

Here are sweet pictures of my friend Bettina trimming Hope's hair. Bettina and I sat on the floor while Hope "admired" herself as she stood in front of the mirror. The girl loves a mirror!

Race Day

Saturday, March 15 Scott ran in a 5k at Carolina Beach. He came in 68 out of 678 runners. Our friend, Andy ran in the 10k. Hope and I went, along with Andy's family to cheer our guys on. The race ended on the beach and this was Hope's first time seeing the ocean. She loves water, so we can't wait until it gets warmer to take her out and play in it.

Off to the park

Hope and I went to the park today with our friends Meredith and Sophie. Sophie and Hope play well together and Sophie helps Hope want to do more. She saw Sophie climbing on the slides and wanted to do the same. Of course I was nervous with her crawling around, but it is good for her. Sophie is so sweet to Hope and loves on her. Sophie is a good friend. You may notice in the photos that Hope has on an eye patch. She is having to alternate eyes each day and wear the patch 3 to 4 hours per day. Her eye tends to turn out, so this will help train her muscles and brain to have it go in the right direction. Please pray that this will be successful. We go back to the eye doctor in 6 weeks.

Monkey Joes

Hope went to her first birthday party on Monday. Monkey Joes is a place with inflatables. She had fun with her "sisters" Shelby, Baylee and Carly. Here are a few pictures.

I can hold my cup!

Hope figured out that she can hold her cup herself. She would drink from it and of course Scott and I cheered. The only problem is that she throws the cup in the floor when she is done. Now if we can just get her to feed herself...

First Piggy Bank

Maw Maw Norma and Paw Paw Bill gave Hope her first piggy bank, so here are some pictures of her "putting money in". She actually takes it out of my hand and puts it back in the box! We finally did get all the coins Paw Paw gave her in the pig. She likes to hear the coins in the bank. I also added some pictures of Hope looking out our back door at the rain. She loves water and so when it rained hard this morning she went straight to the door to check it out. She is such a cutie.

Big Day!

Today Hope fed herself some cantaloupe with her fork. We clapped and cheered for her so she did it again. Scott got the camera so here are some pictures of her eating!! Also, she spent some time in the one year old Sunday School class. She sat at the table like a big girl and rolled the ball with one of the teachers. I am so proud of her development. Today she also said a new sound, "la, la, la". All of these are big steps for us, so please pray for her continued progress.