8 Months

Keira at 8 months...15 lbs.

Ronin at 8 months...19 lbs.

Liam at 8 months...19 lbs.

Keira will be 8 months old tomorrow. At 8 months, the boys were sitting up on their own, crawling, pulling up to stand, and eating some baby food. Keira, on a timeline of her own, is continuing to learn how to self regulate. She is making new sounds. She's trying to roll over from her back to her stomach. And she's still (still) working on holding her head up. I grow weary of working on the same skills over and over. However, her therapists are excellent cheerleaders and insist from week to week that they see improvements. And my mom, her best therapist, is infinitely patient and could probably tell you another dozen or so minute  things that Keira has been doing recently.

Keira went with Jeff and me to Sun Valley this past weekend for a conference. It was nice to get away and my mom came, too, to watch the baby. It was a very worthwhile weekend, but when I returned I was wiped. out. I bailed on work Monday and most of Tuesday and slept a lot. Everything felt too hard. Thank goodness I feel better today. Frankly, I'm a little surprised that I feel better today. Unfortunately, every time my body lets down a little, I start to panic, thinking, "Oh no. This must be when I'm really gonna lose it." I'm stronger than I think I am, apparently.

All in all, things are going well with K. Life feels pretty stable in spite of her unpredictability. Unpredictable, for example, in terms of how settled she will be on any given day and how much attention she needs. Unpredictable in terms of how well she can coordinate her mouth and eat efficiently. Today she couldn't stay asleep on her own for more than a few seconds before she would startle herself awake. Not sure what's causing that...Like I said, I grow weary of the fact that we are still working on head and torso control, but little by little...When I'm anxious, I worry about how we are going to carry her around when she's much bigger and still can't maneuver herself. I also get eager for our next ophthalmology appointment. I'm over thinking it's sad for my baby to have glasses and hope that they would have the effect of drawing her out a bit more.

Keira's favorite therapeutic activities lately are 1) dancing with Grandma and 2) having her mouth massaged. We've been told to do all kinds of patting, pinching and rubbing of K's lips and gums in order to wake up the muscles and get them ready for eating (eventually). It seems like the most obnoxious thing, really, but she loves to have someone's fingers in her mouth!

One of my favorite things about Keira is very much the same as her brothers at 8 months. When Daddy comes home, she glows. Daddy consistently gets smiles and laughter out of his girl more than anybody else does. And what does any parent want more than for their kid to be happy?

Keira with her "boxing gloves" discovering her own hand. The gloves help hold her thumbs out in a neutral position. 

I also love that the boys are getting better at comforting Keira when she's upset.  And they love to show her off to the neighborhood kids. Liam proudly wore his Team Keira t-shirt to school the other day. The following day, one of his friends asked me "How's her disease doing?" Apparently, Liam is finding his own way to to tell his sister's story. So proud of him. Ronin makes up little songs like, "Don't whine, Keira, don't whine. God is gonna help you. I don't know how He's gonna help you, but is going to..."

Our weeks at this point are fairly routine. Much of each day is with Grandma Sharyn, but she also has regular visits from Aunt Steph, Grama Joy, and Anna. OT and PT every week. Woo woo every other week. Actually, we're headed to woo woo tomorrow. I'm a believer now. One of the best things she does is work on Keira's sphenoid bone. Never heard of it? Me neither. But it's for real. K's eyes typically coordinate quite a bit better for a few days following this therapy.