Our Visit Back to Rochester

No, I didn't forget to let you know how our visit to Rochester was last weekend, I was just waiting on some pictures to share.
We had a lot of fun with our 1st visit back to the city. We had great weather to drive down in, which is always nice. We stayed at Sheila and Fred's. "Grammy" got to see Mattie's new facial expressions, which we all got a kick out of. It seemed as though Mattie knew we were laughing at her, so she kept on doing it. Sheila was in tears she was laughing so hard.
On Friday, we went down to Grandma and Grandpa Steinbachers to see them and Aunt Mo. They couldn't get over all the hair she had grown in 3 weeks. It really is starting to sprout up. After, Mattie and I headed to the mall to get her V-day pictures done. Mattie was quite serious in all of her pictures, so we all know what that means! She is SO OVER having her picture taken every 5 minutes. We also got to have lunch with Marcey, Katherine and Mattie's little buddy Alex. Its nice to have some time to catch up with them. Marcey is starting her new job today, so our next visit she will have to catch me up on that. After the mall we had a nice dinner with the Grandparents and Great Grandparents, and then just hung around the house. It was a busy day, and we all were pooped.
Sunday we had a nice breakfast, then packed up to head to Grandpa Mike's for a visit. He loves Mattie right up as soon as we get in the door. Everyone is really surprised on how big she has gotten already. We are too!
We did a little shopping before we went home, to get Mattie a new Jump-up, which she loves more than anything, then stopped in Watertown at Aunt Bonnie's for a little rest. Good thing we did, because from Watertown home the weather was terrible. You couldn't go past 40 mph, and that is if you were lucky to get up to that speed. It took us almost 2 hours to do a 1 hour trip from Watertown.
So needless to say, we were worn right out from our whirlwind trip. Its hard to do it all and see everyone in 1.5 days. We will get the hang of it, we have no choice! Enjoy the attached pictures.

Mattie's last evaluation from Early Intervention

Yesterday Mattie had her last evaluation from Early Intervention. The Occupational Therapist came and did some exercises with her to get a view of what is going on. One thing I have noticed throughout this process is how laid back Mattie is. She isn't fearful of strangers or of them asking her to do silly little things. She smiles at them and attempts to do almost everything that they need. Its hard for me as a mom to just sit back and not help her reach up for the block, or to help her when she is wobbly sitting up. Yet I knew they needed to see her doing things they way she would do them if mommy wasn't right there to do everything for her.
Yvonne was the OT and she was just as pleasant as all of the other great people with Early Intervention (EI). Mattie took to her because she knew she had toys! Yvonne came to the conclusion at the end of her observation that Mattie indeed had a delay with her visual motor skills. She doesn't think that there is anything wrong neurologically with her, yet she couldn't rule that out. She and Yolana both said it might be something that both PT and OT could work on her with, and it might work itself out, but they still want her to be seen by a Orthopedic specialist. Dr. Katy is the one that they recommend, and so doesn't her pediatrician. The tricky part with Dr. Katy is that his practice is in Syracuse, and he only comes up here once a month. I don't mind the drive down to Syracuse, but they said they would contact his office to get the ball rolling, hoping that they can get us into an open slot during his next visit. They did warn me that it may get costly, because a lot of insurance have a high deductible for Specialists, and that even the Co-Pays alone are going to start adding up. So I really have to find a job ASAP, but its hard trying to schedule all of these appointments and such, and trying to find a job that will accommodate those. Cross your fingers that something will work out. I know that Scott thinks its an easy job staying home with Mattie all day, but its not. I am not one of those moms that just plops her in front of the TV and am hands-off. I like to do her arm exercises, be interactive with her, get down on the floor with her to play and I love love love to read to her because she gets so into the words in front of her eyes. Being a stay-at-home mom is a lot of work, if done correctly, and I don't think that people realize that unless they have done it themselves. But we are going to need 2 incomes unless we hit the jackpot anytime soon.

Let the good times roll!

Last night I got to be a sub on my mom's bowling team. When you live in an area where we do now...bowling is a big sport. :) Since this was the first time I bowled in over a year, I was pretty rusty. I still managed to get a decent score by the time I was done though. I got a 77, yes, a 77 on my first game. Then a 108 the second, and a 116 the third. So I guess with a little more practice I should be ok. So my new job will be as a professional bowler, and I will travel the world knocking down pins everywhere I go. I can see my name in lights now, but I have to have a great bowling name. What about Rollin' Renee? Hmmmmmmm...yup, that looks better in lights.

It's my bathtime

I just wanted to share with you all the funny new faces that Mattie can make, and her new bath that she got. She has been in it 3 times in 2 days. She kicks her feet up, lays her head back and just chills. Its her own personal hottub. Nothing else to do on a ten degrees below zero day then to hang out in the tub with her toys and some bubbles. She is turning into quite the girly girl.