TWO!

I woke up the morning of Hattie’s 2nd birthday, and had a pregnant lady meltdown. I could not contain my tears! We have been through SO MUCH with Hattie over the past 2 years, and she has grown up to be this little toddler right before our eyes. Saying that I’m proud of her is a huge understatement.

Our road these past two years has looked very different compared to your average family’s. Instead of going to mommy and me classes, play dates at the park, or letting Hattie run and play outside… we have been working our booty off during therapy - vision 2 times a week, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy -  dealing with seizures and sickness, and attending doctor’s appointments with over 13 different specialists. It has been hard juggling all of the medical things while still trying to be her Mommy and let her be a normal toddler. I’ve learned over the past 2 years that I am not just Hattie’s mommy, but also her caretaker, her advocate, her therapy partner, and even her own personal secretary to fill out the mounds of paperwork that come along with being a special needs parent. All in all, I couldn’t be happier with where we are at with Hattie. I get to watch her grow slowly, and enjoy every tiny accomplishment.

I’m so thankful for all of the people we’ve met throughout our journey so far, and I know there will be many more special relationships to come.

At Hattie’s birthday party we fed her some chocolate ice cream. I was expecting her to turn away and freak out like she usually does when we feed her solids. But no… this girl LOVED her some chocolate ice cream. She was opening her mouth for more and even touching the bowl of ice cream showing us that she wanted more!! David and I were jumping for joy and so excited that she was showing interest in food other than her bottle.

Hattie has also started giving people “high fives”. I practiced with her one day, and she finally caught on and I about peed my pants. David was mowing the lawn, and I ran outside and flagged him down to come inside. We sat on our living room floor repeating “high five” “high five”, and even FaceTimed both of our parents. THAT’S HOW PUMPED WE GET FOR THE LITTLE THINGS IN THE HEASLEY HOUSEHOLD! It’s so awesome watching that little lightbulb go off in Hattie’s head when she finally understands something. One of our biggest goals for Hattie with her therapists was for her to be able to start making decisions on what she wants. We want her to choose between two toys, or a toy and her bottle, etc. We are only five months into the year and she is already beginning to make those decisions! We will hold her bottle and her iPad up (her favorite) and if she’s hungry, she will slowly but surely reach for the bottle (same goes if she really wants to play with her iPad). It has been truly incredible.

There are days where we will see another two year-old (maybe they’re even only 15 months) and they’re running around, chatting away, playing with toys, making a mess, etc. and it is briefly discouraging. But when we see how far Hattie has come and the potential she has to grow even more, we can’t help but get excited. We can’t wait to see what Hattie accomplishes in just another two years and just from what we’ve seen these past few months, we know she is going to blow us away.

So here’s to two more years of growth, becoming a big sister, and surprising all of us one little reach at a time!

-Abby and David