One Whole Year!

I'm a little late with this post... between Jim travelling and me playing double duty, then me travelling (and Jim playing double duty), I haven't had much of a chance.  My plan was to try and catch up while I was in China, but, alas, Blogger seems to be on the Chinese governement danger list (along with Youtube, Facebook, and some other sites) - you don't want your citizens to be too connected to the outside world!  What an interesting place - totally immersed in doing capitalist business with international companies, but yet they go all weird-communist with social networking websites.  Anyway, that's a whole other topic.

Morty turned the big O-N-E a couple weeks ago.  I've had lots of strange feelings in the last few months.  I keep thinking, "this time last year...", and I've been ending the sentances with
-I had the emergency surgery
-I went on modified bedrest
-I went on strict bedrest
-I was watching from the couch as other people cleaned my house for me
-We had Thanksgiving at our house
-We went to the hospital and delivered Morten
and then, of course, this time last year we were in the midst of our NICU experience - driving to Newton-Wellesley twice a day.

It's been a long year.  And when Jim and I talk about where we are now, with all the craziness and life-changing experiences, somehow it's just become what it is.  I don't know if that makes any sense.  We certainly still have plenty of questions about what the future will bring for Morty, and we certainly still have some times when we can't help but cry a little bit from the fear of the unknown and from seeing the frustration and struggles of his limitations.  But most of the time, we're just moving forward and living.  And fortunately, or unfortunately (I'm not sure which it is sometimes), it's still a whirlwind around our house, so there's not a lot of time to dwell or get bogged down, and it just is.

With Morty's birthday right around Thanksgiving (2 days after this year), we just had a little party at Grandma & Grandpa Gove's house the day we celebrated Thanksgiving, which happened to be on a Friday this year due to Jim's travel schedule.  Grandma Gove made a nice spice cake for Morty,

(It's almost like you can tell from Morty's eyes how much he wants to eat that piece of cake!  He definitely has a sweet tooth)

and he got several new toys and presents, including a hot pair of Nike's from Andrea, Terry, & Cooper.

And here he is enjoying the card from Grandma and Grandpa Lund:

It's also been an exciting time for Morty because he started getting his teeth - we were wondering if they would ever come - but right around his birthday, both his bottom two teeth started poking through.  It's hard to see them in this picture, but believe me, they're there - along with the top two that have started poking through too!

Morty's daycare sends out an infant evaluation twice a year, and Morty just got the latest one.  I thought it might be good to document what his evaluation says in here (sorry for the lengthiness!):

   Morten is such a joy to have here in the infant room.  He has come so far since he started here last spring, and we know he is going to keep on improving.  Morten is such a happy boy with a great personality.  He always has a smile ready and loves to laugh and giggle!
   When Morten is greeted by a teacher or a parent, he always smiles and turns his head towards the area where the noise is coming from.  He loves to play games like peek-a-boo and patty cake with his teachers.  He also enjoys banging on toys that make noise and shaking rattles, which he can hold in his hands.  He especially loves it when we play music and dance with him.  Spinning around in circles and helping him stand on his own are his two favorite activities to do during music time!
   Morten has been practicing his sitting up, both in his chair and on his own.   He has made such an improvement in being able to sit up straight and keep his head up.  Before, he would usually keep his head down with his chin touching his chest, but now he is able to tilt his head back and use his neck to control which way his head is going.  He also loves sitting up on someone's lap and rocking on his stomach.  If hi is on an elevated surface, such as his exercise ball or the infant gym, he loves to pick his head up to look around and move his arms and legs in different directions.
   When Morten eats durin gthe day, he now sits in his own chair, instead of being held in a lap.  He does so well in his chair and loves to eat with all the other children in the room.  He does great with solid food and is practicing feeding small pieces to himself.  He gets some help with directing his hand to his mouth, but can usually do it alone after one of us moves his arm up half way.  He does great drinking his bottles without help.
    Morten is trying to be very independent and loves it when he can be.  He would rather hold his bottle than have someone feed it to him and likes it when he can put the food in his mouth with his own hand.  He also enjoys being able to reach his hand into a bucket of toys and find one that makes noise.  Morten loves to smile for everyone and laughs when he hears certain noises, particularly sneeze or cough sounds.  He also likes to make noises himself, which shows us that he really wants to talk!  He is a pleasure to have in our classroom and we cannot wait to see what he will be like as he grows.