What an exciting past few weeks for everyone! After lots of paperwork and planning, Olivia was approved for respite at a skilled nursing facility (New England Pediatric Care) so that Becky and Max could go on their first vacation since October 2022! Olivia was brought to NEPC in Billerica and had a wonderful time.
She was visited by friends, family, and her home nurses multiple times a day. The staff at NEPC took great care of her, and played with her whenever they had a moment to spare.
Of course, while Mommy and Daddy were out of the country, Olivia decided to show everyone how she could crawl!
(Video won’t play? Watch it here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/akrbeMAGgBdWVWNw7 )
Since she came home, she’s been crawling nonstop everywhere! It gets tricky trying to keep her from pulling on her wires and tubes while still allowing for her to move around. It’s extra tough in her crib, when she rolls around and ends up wrapped in up to four tubes or wires at a time. She loves to crawl over to someone on the floor, and then use that person to pull herself up into a standing position. It won’t be long before she’s walking, if we had to guess. We had to lower her crib since she can pull herself up!
Olivia now weighs just under 21lbs, at 16 months old today. She was seen by a developmental specialist this week, who was very pleased with her play and social skills. We were told to continue using sign language with her, but to expand our vocabulary because she will be able to understand. Time for Mom and Dad to learn some new skills! We already had been using a few signs with Olivia, like “more”, “sleep”, “food”, “music”, and “all done”. She uses a few back at us, especially “more” and “daddy”. Those seem to be her favorite…
Feeding therapy has been somewhat stagnant the past month, but we are glad that Olivia still leans in towards whatever puree we put on her spoon, even if she doesn’t actually taste it. NEPC was very good about continuing to do feeding therapy with her while we were away. Unfortunately, we have yet to find a puree (or frosting, or ice cream, or yogurt, or whipped cream) that makes her want to actually try food.
Olivia has been wearing her speaking valve upwards of 4 hours a day, and we all love hearing her little voice. She mostly says “buh buh buh buh” but we pretend that she’s saying “bubbles” since she loves them so much.
We’re allowing family and friends to visit Olivia without masks, as long as they feel well. We hope the cold and flu season is officially behind us. The weather has been nice enough that we’ve been able to take Olivia on several walks outside, which is so much fun!
BCH Walk For Kids!
Speaking of walks, Olivia’s Omegas are back baby! We will once again be raising money and walking to support the Eversource Walk for Kids this summer. Our team fundraising page link can be found here, if you are able to support!
