Look at me! Count me in!

Look at this kid.  In the last two weeks she has undergone a transformation.  She has grown up!  She is no longer content to be in bed or in her room or to be a baby.  She is almost two and she is determined to prove it.  She will tell me and her nurses “No!” by shaking her head back and forth with great enthusiasm – but she strangely doesn’t understand that same “no” when we tell her not to pull hair.  :)  Ornery kid! 

We went down to the beach for my sister’s birthday – and we brought Bella.  She did really well.  She needed some oxygen during her nap which she hasn’t needed in a while and she has a slight temp this AM – but she went.  She saw.  She lived!                      Can’t you just hear her thinking what is this stuff in the second picture?  She was only out in the sun for a little while.  That skin is not used to the sun, especially the Gulf Coast sun!

   

Playing with her cousin and getting ready for an IPV treatment – didn’t know that one was being taken.  :)

This is so exciting!  She is growing up and becoming a person, not just a sweet little baby that I have to fight to keep alive.  I am actually having a hard time wrapping my head around discipline for Bella and planning for the future.  As one of her therapists said, “You haven’t allowed yourself to go there, have you?”  Um…no.  I still find myself liking a song on the radio and thinking, “That would be perfect for Bella’s funeral.”  I think Bella wants to stick around.  I don’t think I’ve given her enough credit.  She is here to stay, she says, and I had just better get used to it!  :)