It's Happening.........Mila's Becoming a Walking Girl!

Check out the walking girl and her new big girl hair cut!!! 

I'm probably in even more trouble that we're THIS CLOSE to having all 3 as full time walkers...but I'M SO READY FOR IT! And so is my back! Mila is weighing in at nearly 32 pounds (!!!!), so you can imagine my need for chiropractic care lately! 

And because I cannot get enough of this most adorable big girl hair cut....here are some Mila pictures :) 

I have BIG PLANS you guys.....to make a blogging come back! Life's crazy as usual, but I'm going to try really hard to blog more frequently so I can have my blog books (in place of scrapbooks) to print out yearly! There's SO MUCH I've missed blogging about over the past year (seriously, I have half-started posts sitting in my blogger account from THIS SUMMER!!!....umm it's NOVEMBER PEOPLE!)...here's hoping I can get back in the game! 

Update: Mila

I'm going to blog about each of the girls separately starting with Miss Mila, ONLY because I have the funniest video ever of her from last night and I want to share it! She keeps us laughing and is definitely the class clown in the family! I grabbed my phone real quick while we were eating dinner last night as I watched this unfold......

(I think blogger is having a problem with videos, working on getting them to play!)

Most kids feed the food they don't want to the dog....Mila's learned she's not allowed to do that so I guess she thought she'd try feeding it to Sofia ;) Apparently Mila didn't like her dinner, or maybe she just wanted to share with Sofia! Either way, she knew she was caught in the act, but tried to smooth it over! 

You can see how she tries to get out of trouble by being funny as well! How could I possible not laugh?

She has all of a sudden decided she is ready to walk like her sisters! She is consistently taking 5-6 steps from her chair or from a standing position and is getting closer to starting to take 7-10 steps more consistently! She is able to push to standing from the middle of the floor and take 3-4 steps now and she's learning to put her arms out to catch herself when she falls instead of diving face first!!! We are SO very proud of her. After hearing some specialists say she may never walk without the use of a walker, you can imagine how excited we are as we experience every single step with her! I can just hear her saying, "Oh ya? that's what you think? I'll show YOU!" We're still using her walker for long distances because she tires VERY quickly. Her goal right now is to build up endurance. With such low muscle tone it really takes a lot out of her to even take those 7-10 steps, or to walk in her walker for a few minutes. 

She is starting to "talk" more. We're using a "total communication" approach with her, which means we are teaching signs, spoken words, and using PECS (a separate blog post coming about that). She calls appropriately for mama and dada, says "more," makes dog, duck, cow, and cat noises, says "beep beep" for car, and has a word approximation for "help." She's starting to initiate her own play activities more frequently and calling for us to help her with a toy when needed. She's starting to use more and more signs. Her favorite lately seems to be "go" when we stop during our walks or stop at a red light! I walked into her room and saw her signing all the words to one of her favorite signing time songs (it was playing on CD)...when I asked her to show me she refused! That is how she earned the nickname "Ninjabean" from my friend Jo! She's able to feed herself a small meal with a fork and is doing pretty well with her spoon too (it's just REALLY REALLY messy!!!). 

Her new favorite game for the past few weeks is to pop up in her crib as I'm getting her room ready for bedtime. She pops right up after I lay her down, throws out her binky and just LAUGHS hysterically! I run over and tickle her and she burries her face in the pillow, repeat (as many times as I allow haha). She has the girliest laugh and most high pitch scream I've ever heard, too! I just love her little personality. 

She gives THE BEST hugs and snuggles too, every single time I hold her. It doesn't get any better than a hug from this sweet chunky love! Speaking of chunky.....Mila is nowhere on the down syndrome growth charts, and it toward the top of the typical charts these days! She is 31 pounds and 36 inches (which puts her only 6 pounds and 6 inches under her FIVE year old sister!) Can you believe our tiny 7 pound baby girl is now at the other end of the charts? I love her fat baby legs, but as she's moving more I can already start to see her slimming down and losing some of that baby fat......good news is she has a lot left to go :) 

We were sad to find out her eye surgery was not successful :( They did muscle surgery to try and help her from "posturing" which I posted about before. Basically she tips her head way back to get her nystagmus to stop so she can see clearly. This is her "null point." The surgery attempted to change her null point so that her head posture was in a more natural position. We were informed that about 25% of kids need a second surgery to completely correct the problem but were also told we'd most likely see a ton of improvement after just one surgery. At first we thought we saw some improvement because she wasn't posturing as much to watch TV, then we realized she wasn't doing that because she couldn't see much-she was having some swelling due to an allergic reaction from the ointment :( So she has another appointment in a couple of months to discuss a second surgery :( 

 Waiting for surgery....

These were apparently the smallest socks they had and she HAD to wear them they said, okay then! I guess they double as pants! 

Clowning around! 

 Not so fun! 

Poor dolly babe....this was, to date, her easiest surgery....figures it didn't work LOL! 

And if you notice Mila rockin' some cool purple headphones and mama's old school iPod, it's an attempt to meet her auditory sensory seeking and decrease her whining.....first quiet Target trip with Mila..... :) 

We've been busy with lots of therapies. We're in the final "6 months until she's 3 and ages out of early intervention" stretch and have added and increased some of her therapies to really give her as much as we can during these last 6 months. When she turns 3 the only way she will get services is if we enroll her in preschool. Having a March birthday, we're not sure we'll send her that late in the school year....we always have the option of outpatient therapies through our insurance, as well, but the in home therapies are just so nice! I'm going to be taking her and Sofia to a mommy and me dance class once a week and I think they're going to love it! 

Here's a picture of Mila with Uncle Bub and his AWESOME SHIRT! My friend took this picture of Mila pouting on the playground and Bub had it made into a shirt...so funny! Equally as awesome is Mila picking her nose in this photo. 

And clearly Daddy has been letting them watch WWF...well okay, he was at work when this pictures was taken, and I might have encouraged their craziness by laughing right along with them.....Sofia has no idea what's about to hit her hahaha!

(when you can stand from the middle of the couch, it must be counted as "therapy" and so I couldn't tell her to behave and stop jumping on the couch! P.S. no babies were harmed)

I continually look back on our journey to Mila and on how the Lord filled us in at the very last minute with details about her health and needs and just how sick she was. I know, for a fact, had we known that before meeting her, we'd have run the other way. Oh it breaks my heart thinking of life without her....I'm so thankful the Lord knows our hearts best and that His plans are better than anything we could ever imagine! Having been through all of her surgeries, sleepless nights, health scares, wondering if she'd even LIVE, well all that has bonded us to this beautiful child in ways that most people can't understand, unless they've lived it. I find myself trying to imagine preschool and letting her go a little more as she grows up, and I just can't imagine. Even though she's our middle child, she'll always be my baby....

Up next.....an overdue Sofia update......she IS turning TWO in less than a week, ya know! OH MY! 

10 Steps for Mila!

"The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it." 

-Moliere

MILA WALKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay so seriously, there are no enough exclamation points to convey my excitement about the 3 steps Mila took just moments ago! Mila has worked tirelessly and we've prayed endlessly for the Lord to restore this sweet little girl and He has gone way above and beyond our wildest dreams. Sorry for the shaky video, she had just taken steps unexpectedly and I wasn't prepared so I grabbed my phone camera really fast to try and capture it!

P.S. She JUST had eye surgery YESTERDAY!!!!

After I put the phone down from this video, I burried my face in my hands and bawled like a big baby. Zoya ran to me and hugged me and said, "mama no cry" and I said "mama is crying because I'm so so happy because Mila has worked really hard to learn to walk and she's doing it!" Zoya said, "Mama cry happy!" and gave me the best hug ever. She got it. Next I called Shawn at work who apparently thought I was calling to tell him someone choked again (maybe I sounded hysterical? LOL).

Honestly, I have pictured this moment for so long, and wondered if it would ever happen for Mila. If it didn't that would have been perfectly fine...we would have loved her just the same, but seeing her overcome so many obstacles and take 3 steps today has reminded me about the power of love and the power of God. Those 3 steps symbolized Mila's life of miracles, her determined spirit, and her ability to overcome every obstacle in her path with the help of the Lord!

GO MILA GO! The sky is the limit!

Sofia's Walking!....and Mila's Making Huge Progress!

Our wild one is getting very close to being a full time walker! She can take 12-15 steps at a time and turn corners. She stands herself up from the middle of the floor and takes off toward what she wants! She's still pretty clumsy but catches herself well and pops right back up! I think I should try to sit back and relax for these last few weeks....days? as a non-full-time-walker!

This is the best I've been able to get on video so far...her balance is getting better and better and she loves stopping and starting again! (You see the hip helper shorts on in this video...these ones are a size too big...hip helper shorts are not designed for walking but with our PTs advice we went up a size bigger to use with walking to allow her to have a wide enough stride to walk but also to help support her hips and keep her from splaying them so much when she walks!)

And here is 25 pound Sofia pushing 28 pound Mila in a wagon that is at least 5 pounds!! Crazy girl! I think one day she may be an olympic shotput thrower! LOL. 

Mila's gross motor progress is also continuing to amaze us and all her therapists! Her recent progress can't really be explained and almost doesn't seem believable! Thankfully I'm watching it with my own eyes or I might not have believed it! Mila is a miracle in so many ways and I feel as if God is continuing to work miracles in her life! She has only had her gait trainer a couple months (?) and she is already able to use it without the seat prompt AND now, without the chest prompt! We're working on endurance, but we are OH SO PROUD of her!

Here is Mila walking with a wagon push toy. She struggled for a long time to bear weight through her arms to support herself this way. She often used her chest to support her body when standing and walking in her walker....but now her arms are strong enough to do this! 

And here is Mila walking using only the frame of her gait trainer! I've seen her try to pull herself up on her walker throughout the day and she actually WANTS to walk!!!! Who IS this girl?? :) 

Celebrating Big!!!!!!!!!!!

So, today, Mila did this.............

I started crying after the first time she did it! Big tears....so big that Zoya said, "Mama, no cry! Mama happy!" I reassured her that I was, indeed, so very happy and that's why I was crying. We thought this milestone for Mila would be much further out.....so today when she just started walking with this cart, I couldn't even believe it! I felt as if I was witnessing a miracle right before my eyes! Those of you who have been following our family since we adopted Mila can appreciate how big of a milestone this is for our former tiny frail babe! We have wondered if she will ever walk independently based on her rough start and her diagnosis of cerebellar cortical dysplasia....so seeing her do this gives me so much HOPE....Our Mila Hope is always amazing us! She has been working SO hard doing physical therapy twice a week, treadmill therapy, and daily walking in her gait trainer. We are so thankful for all the ways the Lord continues to work in her life! I couldn't be more proud of my sweet girl! And you better believe when she takes her first unassisted steps you will all hear me shouting with excitement! The joy in watching her achieve such big milestones isn't just in HER accomplishment alone, but in watching God restore her her and mold her into the child she was made to be. Over a year and a half later, we are STILL seeing Mila come alive right before our eyes! It will never get old! 

A Mila Update!

Mila has been making HUGE progress since having her tonsils and adenoids out. It could be a coincidence, or it could be that she's sleeping so much better and has a lot more energy (that's my guess!). She is sleeping in later (now she'll wake up around 6:30 instead of 5:30) most days and she seems a lot more well rested. She doesn't fall asleep in the car nearly as much any more. She only seems to get sleepy right before her nap. Before her surgery she was falling asleep throughout the morning...and she could fall asleep just about anywhere! Let me just say, I'm so thankful to have that one behind us....that recovery was ROUGH! It took her about a month until she was back to herself completely!

Since her surgery she's learned to pull to stand on furniture and cruise along furniture! She's walking in her gait trainer daily and even took a few steps yesterday without the "seat" piece attached! She will walk while holding our hands as well. She's still doing treadmill thearpy, which she has made a lot of progress in as well! She can walk for about 15 minutes, taking up to 25 steps at a time before putting her weight into the harness to take a break! She still has a long way to go to independent walking, but she has blown us out of the water with her HUGE progress in such a short period of time! I feel bad thinking that maybe the sleep apnea was holding her back more than we thought. But I'm so glad it's all taken care of now!

She's also saying "mama" to get my attention (allllll dayyyyy lonnnnnng!). While this is much nicer than whining, she's now perfected the most pathetic whiney "mama" if I don't get to her fast enough, or if I have to leave the house without her.....it is pretty adorable :) She says dada and bubble as well. She's babbling a lot more and her favorite sound is the cutest little "la, la, la, laaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The other HUGE thing she is doing, which TOTALLY surprised me, is going potty ON THE POTTY! She uses the big potty, too! I was going to wait until closer to 3 until I started anything potty related with her, but she has shown me she is ready to start now! It all started because she was in the bath and I knew she had to "go." I put her on the potty and she did her business no problem. So I did that a few more times after her bath and before we knew it she was pooping on the potty every single night before bed with only one poop in her diaper instead of the potty for almost 3 weeks now! She will also pee on the potty when I put her on there, but is not close to telling us when she has to go. If she were walking I'd start full out schedule potty training with her, but I think we'll wait until her gross motor skills improve a bit more. For now we'll just keep doing what we're doing and it's nice to have one of the two little ones not pooping in diapers anymore!! Mila smiles so big when she goes potty on the potty and we all clap for her....it's pretty darn cute!

While we thought we were done with surgeries for the foreseeable future for Mila, she'll be having yet another one in August :( It will be eye muscle surgery. Currently she tilts her head very far back to watch tv, or see things far away, even with her glasses. She does this because she has nystagmus and she has found a "null point" where the nystagmus stops and where she can see clearly. The null point happens to be when she lifts her chin up and tilts her head slightly. As she is getting closer to walking, and because we know she already has balance issues due to a brain difference, tipping her head back while trying to walk will throw her off balance even more and it could prevent her from walking independently. Her prescription also changed a bit, so she got new glasses! She outgrew the pink frames and we got her the next size up in purple :) I think they're adorable!!

Here is a Mila Photo Dump! 

At one point I joked about putting one tonsil or adenoid back in because she was still awake at 10:30 one night!!! And she was not even close to tired, as you can see! 

Her crazy sleeping positions still continue, even after surgery! She slept in this position for 45 minutes of her nap! 

Mila's new glasses !

Mila + glasses + pigtail s= most adorable thing in the world! 

My favorite picture ever of Mila! (I wish it was high quality and not cell phone pic!)

Mila, who was awake again while everyone else was sleeping for the night, was making her scary face! 

She was getting some morning snuggles in with mama since she's usually the first one awake! Check out her cute haircut! 

This is what her "posturing" looks like....she lifts and tilts her head quite extremely so she can see better. She was watching tv in these pictures. This is always how she looks when watching tv or looking far away. 

No exaggeration, she can see better this way...poor girl :( Soon she won't have to hurt her neck to see well. 

And here she is working on some fine motor activities. 

The focus! 

This happened when I didn't get her down for her nap on time! 

She still LOVES swinging! 

 Blurry pic again, but this is her at physical therapy....she loves the platform swing 

We were so lucky to find an awesome family who lent us their old gait trainer until Mila's came in. She finally got her very own PINK gait trainer :) She usually LOVES it and barely gives me enough time to buckle her in before trying to run off in it! 

 Proud Potty Face! 

Standing, only holding on with 1 hand! This is a huge accomplishment for Mila girl! 

Here are a few videos of Mila in action! 

Mila cruising...

Mila in treadmill therapy...

Mila walking in her gait trainer....

 

Here is Mila's whiny "MAMA!!!!" when I was pretending to leave without her ;) 

And this one was too cute not to include....."I've got no strings to hold me down" or "Riverdance" as Shawn says!

I have plans for so many more blog posts including Sofia and Zoya updates, Sofia's first haircut, Sofia's Welcome Home Party, Father's Day, and more!!! If only the day had a few extra hours ;)