Laughter

Stella laughed for the first time today - three deep hearty chuckles while I was changing her. For weeks she has smiled when something brushes her cheeks. Today that turned into laughter as I pulled clothes over her head. How darling. There are few sounds better than a baby's laughter.

Four Months Old

Stella is still a very easy and happy baby. She is addicted to her pacifier and usually falls asleep while sucking on it. She smiles a lot, babbles, and reaches for and grabs objects. We usually put things on her tummy and she finds them and brings them to her mouth. She loves to have her cheeks stroked and smiles from the touch.

On October 20th, she met with Marla, her TVI (teacher of the visually impaired), for the first time. She was very impressed with how strong Stella was. The main thing we need to work on at this point is tummy time, which will strengthen Stella's muscles in preparation for rolling and crawling, just like any other baby. Getting blind babies moving is especially important though, because we don't want them to learn to become content staying in one place - she needs to explore her environment. So far though, Stella seems to be very curious and eager to interact with her environment.

Pretty Eyes

Stella got new conformers today - not quite painted prosthetic eyes, but a much better step in that direction! They are white conformers with a circle of color in the middle of them - a quick and easy version of painted eyes. I love them. Who would have thought I would ever be so happy about fake eyes, LOL. She has one blue and one brown, but I'll take it! Much, much better than the conformers she had before. 

Stella does open her eye lids all the way when she is wide awake and alert, but it was hard to get a good picture. This is the best I could do. The conformers move around sometimes, like Stella actually has eyes that move. It's odd, but it's nice too, because she is much easier to look at now, and there is a decent illusion that she is looking back. It's nice to know that her lids and muscles work well at least.

Happy Halloween!

Check out Stella! She was such a sweet, cuddly black kitty. We took her to a party, where she slept through just about everything and was happy being passed from person to person.

Conformers

Stella wears conformers which get changed every 1-2 weeks at this point. The purpose is to stretch the soft tissue and stimulate her sockets to grow. She was born with very small fissures (basically the eye lid opening) and we are hoping they will stretch to look more normal eventually.

Stella's conformers are pretty small right now, so they have a part that sticks out so that the ocularist (June Nichols) can more easily put them in and take them out. Unfortunately, they are not very pretty to look at and we do get odd looks from strangers sometimes. The hardest thing for me is the questions from kids though. I try to answer as openly and honestly as possible, I just don't want to scare the poor kids! Sebastian's friends are all 3-4 years old and I can tell they just don't get it. Sebastian still occasionally asks if Stella will be able to see when she is older. The good news about the conformers is that they are working really well and her sockets are growing quickly, so hopefully soon she will be able to wear something a little more attractive.

Three Months Old

Well, at least I'm getting the milestone month recaps in. One of these days maybe I'll post more often...

Stella is doing very well. She is much more active now and sleeping less. She loves being held, but other than that is happiest on her back or in the swing. She smiles and coos and loves to suck on her hands. We try to work on tummy time, but she gets tired of it pretty quickly. She does grab objects and hold onto them and likes to play with her soft doll and stuffed animals.

The first week of October we went to Indianapolis to celebrate her Grandparents 40th anniversary and she got to meet the rest of her family. She obliged by sleeping right through the anniversary dinner.

Two Months Old

Stella is eating better now, but still sleeping a lot. By 6 weeks old she was almost 10 pounds. Also around 6 weeks she got her 1st set of conformers, and putting them in didn't seem to bother her at all. Conformers are plastic prosthetics that are put into Stella's sockets to help them grow. Eventually she will wear prosthetics painted to look like real eyes. You can read more about conformers on the MAPS website. 

When Stella was 5 weeks old we took her on her first vacation - a trip to Cape Cod for a family reunion. She did great on the airplane and during the whole trip. She was happy in anyone's arms and everyone just loved her!