These Magic Moments

A few of my favorite moments of the last week or so:

- Sammie B has been calling out to me (e.g., to summon me to her room when she wakes up in the morning or after a nap) as "Sammie B's mama!" I dig it. There's no one's mama I'd rather be.

- Sammie B has an Obama shirt that she wears, and whenever we put it on her, she says "OBAMA!" (And my republican father's heart broke when she said THAT WORD before she'd said "Papa!") The other night, B told her he was going to watch TV because "Obama is going to be on TV," and she said, "OH MY GOD!" in the most excited voice. She wanted to watch it with him, and was so excited. About 5 minutes into it though, she looked at B and said, "No, Elmo" (indicating she wanted to watch Sesame Street instead). She stuck it out though, watching with her dada and clapping when the crowd did!



- Sammie B's new love for hugging her sister. And doing things to make her sister smile. Like making monkey noises. Can't get enough of my big girl trying to make my little smile.



- B had a meeting the other night so I was home with both girls. I decided we'd try doing story time and having Sammie B sitting on her potty (she peed . . . we are so not really "training" at this time, but just exposing her and trying to gauge her ability to know when she has to go and whether she gets that 'got to go' feeling and how much control she has, all concerns that come from low muscle tone). Anyway, I put Mia in a little bumbo-type seat next to Sammie B and they just kept staring at each other. Then, I started reading a book and they both just lit up and looked at me. I had one of those take-your-breath-away-how-did-I-get-here-are-they-really-mine-I'm-so-lucky moments!



We started a new vitamin supplement for Sammie B recently (CoQ10 and L-Carnitine, which has long been part of the "cocktail" of vitamins for people with mitochondrial disorders, but has recently been shown to help some people with hypotonia/low-tone more generally; our pediatrician said there was no reason NOT to give it a shot so we have). In the last week, FOUR of Sam's therapists have commented that her body just FEELS stronger. I'd felt it too, but it is a little harder to recognize for me because I'm with her every day and I knew she was on this new supplement, and like any mother, I am hoping for an effect. I purposely didn't tell any of her therapists about the new supplement, hoping that their opinion (if they noticed a change) would be a more accurate assessment than mine, which admittedly could be a placebo effect kind of thing. So, anyway, her adaptive PE teacher commented, then one of her PTs who had not seen her in a few weeks, then the PT who does her hippotherapy who had also not seen her in two weeks, then her swim teacher. Coincidence? Maybe, but we'll TAKE IT!

On the heels of that . . . check this out . . .

Standing, supporting/balancing herself with JUST ONE HAND while doing something with the other (I should note that we have the stroller wedged up against something so that it couldn't roll) but no one is helping her do this and she looks AWESOME! She did the same thing the next day at school on one of the play structures. Right now, it is just for a matter of seconds but amazing progress nonetheless.



She makes me so, so proud.

And, not to be left out, there are these kind of magic moments . . . the snuggly ones with my tiniest bug. I honestly think sleeping with my girls (either of them) is like the best.thing.ever. I love nothing more than cuddling up with either of them and catching a few zzzzs myself.



Magic moments.

** The countdown to the end of maternity leave is ON. I go back March 1. As it approaches, I am excited, anxious, nervous, scared, and a whole lot of everything. Excited to have my career back. Excited to head back into my office. Excited to forge ahead in the career that I feel like has been on pause for over 8 months because of bed rest, maternity leave etc. Sad thinking about the amount of time I'll be away from my little family and my two girls. Nervous about how we'll make it all work. I asked B the other night, "how will we do it?" and he said, "we just will. Like we always do. We figure things out as we go. And we do them." So, here's to that!

***A few posts in the works . . . (1) another equipment post AND (2) a post about our decisions on childcare for Mia once I'm back at work, and how that's going to fit into our "figuring it out as we go" m/o. Stay tuned!