Already 1 Year Old!!

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since Audrey was born! This year has been a whirlwind, filled with tons of blessings! In the first few days after Audrey was born, we heard all of the worst case scenarios. Audrey has shown us time and again that she is a strong, determined, purely lovable little person that will mow her way past all of those doctor's 'worst case scenarios!'

Health-wise, Audrey's heart still has a hole, but her cardiologist says he is pleased by how she is doing and will just keep an eye on things in the future. As far as her vision, we are very pleased with Audrey's progress and functionality! She uses all of her senses to discover the world. And her vision is better in many ways than we had hoped. She loves to study faces and toys when they are in close proximity. She especially loves lights and her light toys. Anchor School has been a wonderful resourse and support to Audrey. We love going twice a week. Eating has proved to be the biggest challenge for Audrey. When she got her g-tube put in, she quickly lost interest in eating by mouth. We are slowly teaching her the joy of eating.... after all, Mom and Dad enjoy it so much! It's a slow process, but we're going to a great feeding therapist and Audrey is improving all the time. She takes a few mouth-fulls of food at every meal, which is good practice.

We are planning on staying at home for a little while, having traveled a lot this year! We just got back from Indiana, where we had a great time seeing Aunty Jennifer's family, the Strasser grandparents, and a super Notre Dame game. Audrey loved it all, especially Aunt Jen and her horses and dogs!

At one year, it is so much fun seeing Audrey's personality come out more every day. She has a great sense of humor, laughing at squeeky toys, tearing hats off our heads, getting kisses, and most of all, the 'tickle monster!' Audrey loves being at home and is great at being on the go, too. She's starting to crawl and scoot all around when she can. Pretty soon, we'll have to really keep an eye on her! We had a special moment on the couch yesterday when Mom's tummy was sticking out (it's seriously getting big!) and Audrey leaned over to pat it and give it kisses. Too cute! She's going to be a great big sister! She has until March 30th to learn to be gentle and not pull hair!

Thank you for all of your continued prayers and loving support!