Romy and I are doing great! I think a change of pace and scenery has been great for both of us. I wasn't thrilled to be moving back here, but I'm really glad I did. It's been nice to see old friends and family, many of whom have never met Romy. I think we're just happier in general here although I miss Hawaii like mad, especially my sister and her family. I'm also really missing her therapists and teachers, they truly loved Romy and I loved them for doing so. Tears were definitely shed.
Romy has adapted well to the move, it took a week or so to get her used to the 6 hour time difference, but other than that she's done extremely well. She actually started school today and guess what? No tears! Not a single one! She gave me a very pitiful sad face when I said bye, but she went right back to working on her puzzle the second I stepped out of the room.
As far as her development, she's chugging along. Her speech has improved and I'd say she's added on a few dozen words and is more consistent with stringing them together. She asks for things a lot more than she used to which is a huge change from just whining until I could figure out what it was she wanted. She's gotten stronger, especially her arms. She's been getting in the 4 point crawling position and rocking back and forth and even bunny hopping a little. I think she's trying very hard to crawl, but she still relies on scooting back and forth on her bum to get around.
Also..........drumroll........Romy got her iPad! The amazing (really they are SO amazing) folks over at Mission iPossible granted Romy and several other kids an iPad after the whole scam fiasco. This group of parents have worked their butts off to raise the money for families that they've never even met and it truly warms my heart to know that there are people who care just for the sake of caring. We've had it for about a month now and Romy is seriously a pro at working it. She absolutely loves it and literally asks for it withing 30 seconds of waking up in the morning. We've downloaded quite a few apps and we're looking into which app would be the best as far as augmenting her speech, (those things are pricey!) and I can tell how useful it will be to her as she gets older. It's all around wonderful for her fine motor skills and speech.
We have yet to meet all of Romy's doctor's, but the referrals are slowly trickling in. I don't know how much she weighs, but it doesn't seems as if she's gained an awful lot. She's so tiny you guys. Like REALLY small. I didn't fully understand until I held my friends son who's 15 months or so and he's not much shorter and definitely heavier. Also, when compared to her younger classmates, she's easily 4 inches shorter and at least 10 or 15 pounds lighter. I never expected her to be very big, but her size is starting to really worry me, especially because she's g-tube fed over 1000 calories a day on top of whatever she eats by mouth. Before we left Hawaii her doctor bumped her up to higher calorie formula and she seemed to gain a bit but is leveling out the same way she did on the regular formula. He seems to think her insanely fast metabolism just regulates itself quickly. We'll see what the folks at Chapel Hill think.
Well that's all I can really think of. I'll go ahead and post a ton of pictures for Romy's grandma's to enjoy.
This was taken right before we left Hawaii. One last shrimp truck stop! They like for customers to write on the tables and on the actual truck.
Lisa and sweet Chris giving his mama some love.
Love that laugh!
My cousin and his girlfriend came to visit before we left. Romy loved them!
Romy and her beloved iPad.
Auntie Niecey and Uncle Kris came to NC for a quick visit before they head off to Korea.
Combing her luscious locks, lol.
First day of school! I blurred out the name of her school for all you crazies on the internet.
This is the face she gives when I tell her to smile.
