Hope:10 months!

Hope had a big day today--she's 10 months old, it's Valentine's Day, she saw the neurosurgeon, and she got glasses!

Now she and Rose match.

Fortunately, Carver has a dress code at school so he doesn't dress like this all the time--

But Hope sure thinks he's entertaining.


The report from the neurosurgeon was very good. After a bad appointment in December, when Hope's head circumference was really large and the doctor pretty much assured me we'd be doing shunt surgery in the spring, today was welcome relief. Her head circumference is back down to the 90-95th percentile range, and she is still showing none of the signs of hydropcephalus. In fact, when the eye doctor examined her last week, he said that her optic nerve is showing absolutely no sign of increased pressure in her head. But he did put her in the glasses for farsightedness. The plan right now is to do an MRI in about two months and see what that shows as far as her ventricle size is concerned.

Physically, she continues to progress at a steady rate. While she still hates being on her tummy, she is learning to move around from a sitting position, and I'm still hopeful that she'll crawl in a few more months. She is very interactive--she laughs now, and plays games (like drop-the-toy-off-the-highchair-to-see-Rose-laugh) and babbles up a storm. We feel like she's even trying to imitate the sounds that we make, which is really amazing. Up next in the physical therapy queue is starting some baby sign language with her. We have been doing the PT for almost 6 months now, which means that next week she'll have an official review by the physcial therapist to evaluate where she is developmentally. It will be interesting to see what that says. While I continue to be somewhat frustrated with some of the doctors we have, the physical therapists have been wonderful, and their visits every week are fun and encouraging.

Hope is such a sweet blessing to us. It is a joy to care for her and watch her grow. She is evidence of the goodness of God in our lives, and we love her dearly.

House Tour: Master Bedroom

The master bedroom has been a work-in-progress since we moved in. The bed has come together slowly. I needed tables that would fit in the small spaces beside our large bed, and these Wal-mart folding tables fit the bill nicely. I've got some spraypaint in the basement that I'm going to use to paint them in the next week or two. The picture above the bed is Manhattan in the 30s, an Ikea find that David and I both loved. And it's the perfect size for the bed. Since our bedside tables are too small for lamps, going with the hanging lights was almost a necessity, especially since the large fan/light combo in the ceiling has never worked. The tufted velvet headboard was a craig's list find last fall, as was the bench at the end of the bed.

These two doors are his- and hers- closets. In this old house, it's almost the only room that actually has closets, and we're loving it. 'Course, mine is currently the baby nursery, but I have high hopes that when Hope moves out, I'll have my own closet :) In between is my little vanity. The drawers hold all sorts of junk, though, from computer cables to jewelery to kids' hair things. I had thought that a little bench would be cute there, but there just isn't enough room--I can sit on the side of my bed and see into the mirror just fine. The ship picture was a garage sale find by David last year just before we moved (I hope the garage sales on the east coast are as good as what I got used to in Bloomington!).

Opposite the bed, the have the wall-o-books. The old owners had a TV here, but this is clearly a much better use of space :) We're actually outgrowing the shelves, but I've got a plan to put a few more downstairs. To the right is our little reading nook, complete with a leather chair (that doesn't recline-a plus for little fingers!) that I found on....craig's list! For a while, we had a long Ikea desk and two chairs here, but it really didn't fit with my style, even though it was great for computer stuff, printers, etc. So now the printers lives on one of the bottom shelves of the bookcases, and the office supplies are hidden in the dresser. I like it much better this way. My husband teases me that the chair isn't actually for sitting--just to look at with the pillow and throw taking up all the seating space. The three gold pictures on the wall are a set of antique maps that I found at a garage sale right before we moved.


Hiding behind the door as you walk into the room is my bookcase of random stuff. It holds some of my books, crafting supplies, fabric, games, and a few boxes of important office stuff that I need to get to pretty easily--Hope's medical records and things like that.


And here's Hope, who was happy to drool on my phone while I took pictures:

She's still got a little bit of work to do on sitting up straight. Her little muscles get tired pretty quickly, but the forward progress she has made thus far are truly a miracle! When I look at her, I'm pretty much convinced she's the cutest and sweetest baby ever. Ever.