Tuesday, October 13, 2009

15 Months


We moved to Indianapolis mid-August and are starting to feel pretty settled. We are renting a house in South Broad Ripple and love the location. We can walk to a ton of stuff, including a fruit stand, many good restaurants, and a gourmet grocery store, and the Monon trail & a playground are 3 houses down. The more we explore of the city, the more we like it here. Sebastian is at a great Montessori school 3 blocks from our house, and we are only 10 minutes from the blind school that Stella will attend once she turns 3.

Stella is finally all set up with her new doctors and therapists. I am quite happy with her new OT and PT, and she has already made good progress since starting with them 3 weeks ago. I also like her new ocularist, Kathy Hetzler, even though she is a bit more aggressive than I might like and keeps suggesting surgery to help expand Stella's sockets. I may meet with the surgeon to get more information, but I doubt I will agree to surgery any time soon.


Stella is so much fun these days. She is very active, no longer wanting to snuggle and be held unless she is tired. She loves to jump, get on her hands and knees and rock, and stand up (with help). She is starting to transition from one position to another and is scooting backwards on her hands and knees. It's nice to finally see some progress with her gross motor skills. She has also become much more verbal - mostly still babbling, but she does say "hi" and "dada" pretty regularly.

Still a peanut, Stella just weighed in at 18lbs 6oz and measured 26.5 inches. We are currently doing some testing to find out why she's not growing very quickly. She sure looks chubby and healthy though. Stella eats all sorts of foods - she loves to feed herself - and can even feed herself her bottle. She is almost totally weaned now. Every once in a while I nurse her during the day, but usually it's limited to during the night a couple of times a week.

I joined the YMCA here and Stella goes to the child care there while I work out. This was a big step for both of us, and Stella is doing great there. The women who work there just love her. They tell me she sometimes interacts with other babies and laughs when they "talk" to her. It is so nice to have someone I trust to watch her.

We are busy with life and enjoying our children! Sebastian is a great big brother and is having more fun with Stella now that she is more interactive. The cutest thing is when they take baths together and he gently helps clean her, then they splash together.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The kids are so beautiful! You are so blessed! I miss you guys already.
Can't wait to keep up with all your
happenings via facebook and your blog.
See you on the 31st!
Love, Carol and Michael

Anonymous said...

Hello!
My name is Molly Jacob and I also have a daughter with bilateral anophthalmia. Adele is now almost seven months old and doing great! It's so encouraging to see your little one adapting so well to the sighted world! Also, apparently we share the same ocularist! Although we live in Ohio, we travel to see Kathy about every six weeks for a new set of conformers. I was born without my right eye, (lucky to have a well working left!) and have been through the expansion process, and surgeries myself. Although there is an ocularist here in Toledo, I have been seeing Kathy since I was five and have complete faith in her - Stella is in good hands! It would be great to talk to you! If you can, I'm on FB and always have an email! (our daughters site is www.adeleseyes.org - although I haven't blogged in months :) Hope to hear from you soon!!