HardyHacienda.com

Roller Coaster

Holly — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 03:42:16 +0000

Brinley’s life (and thus our lives) is very much a roller coaster. She might have a few days where she does all of her physical therapy very well, eats without pinching her lips and gagging, and is at the top of the roller coaster. Then there’s a few days where the roller coaster drops…this is when she refuses to pick up her head, gags every time she tries to eat, and just seems too fatigued to do anything. The last week or more we have spent at the bottom of the roller coaster. It ’s made for some very frustrating times. So when today I saw her start her day with a laugh so big she was snorting, I knew we were back to the top of our roller coaster…oh sweet joy!

This is what caused the snort. She thought my stomping was really funny.

Standing Up and More Pictures

Holly — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:01:20 +0000

Brinley’s physical therapist brought over a stander this week so Brinley had her first experience with standing. At first she was a little scared, but really who wouldn’t be? They strap you onto this board and crank you up. Pretty intimidating. However, the scariest part for Brinley seemed to be putting shoes on. She cried more putting them on than when we were strapping her onto the stander. I was so surprised at how excited she was once she was standing. She would look at me and laugh and then look around at everything. It is still a little scary for her but once she’s up there she seems to like it. Check out the photos Brinley Standing. Here’s a sneak peek…

There are also new photos under: Brinley January 2010, and February 2010.

Here’s a video Aaron took one Sunday morning when he was home with Brinley. She LOVES being on the counter and apparently she loves Pam just as much.

And part 2…

Valentine’s Day

Holly — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:16:40 +0000

For Valentine’s Day Aaron and I usually just go out to eat and spend time together. Aaron is always the best at completely surprising me though and on Saturday night he told me he had to run by the church to finish up some work. Instead he showed up with these cute flowers,a fruit tray, and some donuts (not in the picture, I had to eat those). He looked for the fruit bouquets but there weren’t any in our area so he improvised. I like it though because I get fruit AND flowers! We still went out for dinner to Texas Roadhouse on Monday night. Thanks to Tracy and Kevin for babysitting!!

Sunday night I also painted Brinley’s fingernails and toenails for the first time. It was so funny! She laughed and scrunched up her toes so I had a hard time with the painting. In this picture I finished painting her fingers and I’m blowing on them to dry them off. She thought that was pretty funny too. She still balls her hands up so I had to hold them open as long as she would let me.

Look Alike Contest

Holly — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:11:17 +0000

Brinley got her new glasses today!! After such a long fight with Standard Optical we finally got our money back. However, it took a dispute from American Express to get a refund. Her new glasses fit much better and don’t allow her to look over them quite so easily. I think she can make anything look cute but these glasses are pretty dang nerdy! Aaron and I have been trying to figure out who she looks like and here’s a few ideas…

First Brinners

Harry?

George?

This kid

Any other ideas?

Spio Suit

Holly — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:56:59 +0000

A few months back Brinley’s physical therapist at Primary Children’s Hospital mentioned that she should try a compression vest to help with some of her sensory issues. It took a while to figure out what would be best for her but her early intervention p.t. hooked us up with a Spio suit for her. You can read a little about it but basically it adds compression and helps to stabilize her body. The hope for Brinley is that it will give her some stability in her body so that she can have more success in her physical therapy…such as getting that big noggin’ up. We’re also hoping it will have a calming effect on her. But no matter what she looks so dang cute in it!

What Soft Ears You Have

Holly — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:59:05 +0000

One of Brinley’s birthday gifts was a pink doggie neck pillow. It’s really cute and helps hold her head up but the best part is to watch Brinley become so mesmerized with the ears of the dog. Earlier this week I was cooking dinner and for a good half hour Brinley just watched me and rubbed this dog’s ears over and over again. It was so funny!

She also got this sweet rolling/singing ball that must taste as good as it sounds. She loves the way it spins around and doesn’t even get mad if it spins into her face.

One Year Older and Wiser Too…

Holly — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:54:52 +0000

As you saw from the last post Brinley celebrated her very first birthday Sunday!! We had a party for her and Tracy at our house. Tracy’s birthday is the 8th so now she gets to share with Brinley. What a great Aunt! Brinley didn’t like all of the people and noise so she cried most of the time but she did enjoy the frosting on her cake. We had fun though! Check out the photos (First Birthday and also Brinley Jan 2010). Also here’s a lengthy video of us trying to force her into tasting her cake.

1 Year Old

Holly — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:38:17 +0000

My baby is turning one year old. What an eventful year it has been! Brinley’s got her own special little things she’s learned to do (like blowing spit bubbles) but for the most part she’s moving at her own pace. More than anything we’re just so glad we still have her with us. There have been many moments where I wasn’t sure she would make it to this birthday. We even had a 6 month birthday party for her at the hospital because we weren’t sure if she had months left in her. But she has been our little miracle and is doing so well. Here are a few photos of Brinley throughout the year…

Just after she was born, already bonding.

Brinley’s blessing

Sleep study at 4 months old.

Meeting the original Brinley from my class.

Eye surgery 5 1/2 months. So straight!

Trip to Laguna Beach

Staying at Primary Children’s Hospital 6 months old.

First Halloween

Brinley meets Santa.

First Christmas!

And just for fun here’s one of her glasses and one of those big smiles that we love so much!

Happy birthday Brinley!! (Birthday photos to come)

Brinley’s Christmas Gift

Holly — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:49:32 +0000

During Brinley’s physical therapy appointment at Primary Children’s Hospital earlier this month the doctor told us that she appears to have a sensory integration disorder. This was after Brinley screamed when she touched her (although if doctors were always poking and messing with me I would scream every time one came near too). One of the recommendations was a weighted blanket. Apparently the weight has a calming effect. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make my first blanket. So with A LOT of help from my mom we made a weighted blanket.

I must add in here my sewing history. In high school I made every attempt to get an A in Home Ec. without actually using the sewing machine. Somehow I did it, but it doesn’t feel like much of an achievement now. My mom is an amazing cross stitcher, quilter, and maker of lots of crafty stuff. She has tried her hardest to help me learn to do these motherly things but I still have yet to even learn to sew a button on, and I’ve had many lessons. And I’m going to make a blanket???

It was really difficult and I’ve decided I never want to make anything again. We used this plan, which meant sewing vertical columns 4 inches apart. Then, dividing out the beads so they were distributed evenly. That was more difficult than I ever thought. After weighing out the beads and separating them into 44 bags (I only did half the blanket) we measured the horizontal rows. The first row went terrible. I broke my mom’s needle on her sewing machine because the beads kept wandering in the path of the needle. Unfortunately the best plan to remedy this problem was to sew individual bean bags and then sew those into the columns on the blanket. My mom and I got as far as that first row and then I somehow managed to make the bean bags and finish the rest of the blanket (with some touchups from my gracious Mom). I did finish on Christmas Eve so that Brinley could get it just in time for Christmas. The good part of this long and meticulous process was that Brinley loves the blanket. In the end it was worth it but next year Santa’s going to have to do more delivering and Mom’s taking a break.

Yeah I know the lines are really crooked…it was a heavy blanket and after hours and hours of work I really could care less.

Christmas and New Years 2009

Holly — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:03:49 +0000

This year the most exciting part of our Christmas was having Aaron home for a week and a half from Christmas through New Years weekend. It has been so nice! I put a few pictures up from our festivities. My family met Christmas Eve later in the evening so Brinley was really tired and mad most of the time (as you can see in the pictures). Once everyone came to our house we actually had Brinley open her presents then I put her to bed before we had dinner and opened the rest of the presents. She’s just not a late night girl. We met Christmas day with Aaron’s fam and did an exciting white elephant exchange. We spent the rest of the week basically just relaxing and eating out as much as possible. Check out all of the Christmas fun click Christmas 2009.