Daily Dose: Monday, January 25

Hope: up close and personal

Sleeping Hope

Hope in the mirror

Hope hasn't had too many doctors visits so far this year, but she has a big one coming up tomorrow. Tomorrow Hope (along with Mommy & Daddy and Grandma & Grandpa Robinson) will all load into the car and, bringing along ALLLLLL of Hope's equipment, will have a day trip. They will be traveling down to Ann Arbor to meet with with Hope's doctors there regarding cochlear implants. It should be quite the elaborate procedure throughout the day with all of Hope's equipment. When Hope is at home she breathes humidified air, but when she is in the car, she doesn't get that humidified air and tends to dry out a lot, which can cause her trach to need more changing or get clogged up, and we don't want that!! Since it will be a pretty long drive, along with the appointment, AND the drive back, Hope gets to take all of her home equipment, but that also means that Hope needed a bigger vehicle to make room for all of her equipment and her "escorts". So tomorrow morning everyone will load into a large SUV that the family rented just for Hope's trip.

In other news, Hope is getting back into the swing of things. Over the holidays she had a break from her physical and occupational therapists. Therapy has started back up again, and even though Hope wasn't overly thrilled at the beginning, she is starting to get back into the swing of things. She is getting so much better at holding her head up which is great!!

Hope is asking for lots of extra prayers tomorrow while the family is on the roads.

Daily Dose, Monday June 8

Hope shared one of daddy's favorite past times with him today - celebrating her support of her (daddy's) favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox. Hope was so happy when her friend Ann sent her this hat so she can now share a hobby with daddy. Hope and daddy cuddled and talked all about the Red Sox today.

Hope also spent some time playing with Jason her physical therapist and Marla, her occupational therapist. Everyone was very happy with awake and alert Hope was and how well she did with her therapies. Jason talked to mommy and daddy about bringing in some play mats so that Hope can get down on the floor and play with everyone like a regular baby. Hope, mommy and daddy all thought this was a fantastic idea and are all very excited about the idea of getting to play together like that.

Hope took another tub bath today. Although she's still getting used to the sensation of slipping into a tub of warm water she's getting more and more used to the spa treatments. After the warm soak, Hope got a manicure (her fingernails trimmed) and a facial (some aquaphor lotion rubbed on the dry spot on her forehead). Hope thinks she could get very used to this pampering kind of stuff!!