Milestones

Where have I been? Pumping, driving, working, sleeping! It's been so hard to work in sometime to update, but here we are.... 12:30 am.... While it has been a long time since I've updated, you can consider that a good thing. Vanessa is making progress daily, and since I've last updated, we've had several milestones!

Firstly, Vanessa is starting to have alert periods in the day where she is wide awake! It is so wonderful to see her beautiful eyes looking around at the room. Vanessa's primary nurse, Lisa (who is our angel, by the way) had told me that we needed to get her a mobile so that she had something to look at. So I went online and tried to find the cutest/developmentally friendly mobile, and I think I succeeded! The nurses love Vanessa's mobile! It's the talk of the unit!

Secondly, my dear sweet son finally was able to touch Vanessa. It was probably one of the most precious moments of my life. Travis had absolutely no reservations or fears, he walked right up to her and started touching her hair. Since he seemed borderline obsessed with her hair, I had him grab her brush and he brushed her hair. My heart was soaring!

Now, we have been having quite a bit of fun with Vanessa now that she is in her big girl crib, because we've been having to play dress up. Somehow, we ended up with quite a bit of preemie clothes, so we've been changing her clothes left and right to make sure that we are using everything.

I also got to help give Vanessa a bath last week. She was so well behaved! We did a swaddle bath where you wrap the baby in a blanket and put her in the tub, and wash one part of her body at a time, all the while keeping her nice and cozy. It was an amazing experience! She was happy, I was happy, life was good!

We've been working on her room as well, so that it is ready for her when the princess makes her grand entrance! I was having second thoughts about the bedding I had bought (which I guess I shouldn't be surprised with myself, considering that I did the same thing with Travis) but either way, I still had my reciept and time to return her bedding. I have been saving some Discover gift card that I was awarded at work, and last Friday I got another $75, so it was time. I drove my butt all the way out to Scottsdale and walked into Pottery Barn Kids and bought Vanessa the sweetest little bedding I had ever seen. It's perfect, and what's most important is that it's her. We still have a lot of work to do on her room, but here is a little sneak peak!

The last month has felt so different than the beginning. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is shining bright! Vanessa is still needing oxygen support, but nowhere near where she has been, and that's what we are so grateful for. She may have to come home on oxygen, which gives me so much anxiety, but it would be minimal, and the key to that is that she would be HOME! It's easy to lose sight of that, because ultimately I don't think any parent wants to accept that their child would go home anything less than perfect, but if that is what she needs to grow and thrive, then that's what she needs.

Can you believe this sweet little girl is mine?

She is off in dream land...

Music seems to be very therapeutic for me lately, and I feel like every song is telling me a story. The song that has been standing out in my mind lately is a new Rihanna song, and I kinda feel like it's Vanessa's anthem.

I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive
I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise
to fly, to fly

♥ Cassea