Summer Lovin'

Wow! This summer has been so crazy busy here at the Perez household. I can't believe I let so much time go between blogging. Here is an update as to what has been going on.

Betsy is fabulous. I'm sure every parent will tell you that it's such a delight and such an amazing thing to watch their child grow up, but for us it's totally a different sense of emotions. I am in constant awe of her. I look at her now and it seems so hard to imagine her being a little 1 lb 9 oz baby. It's hard to remember her so teeny tiny, laying on my chest and literally my hands covering her entire body. It's hard to remember her laying in her "incubator" for sooo many months of her life when now she just seems so big. Words cannot express the miracle I have and the challenges she endured to become such a beautiful little blessing. As a matter of fact, she is doing so well that our Sooner Start worker had to say "good-bye" to Betsy. This is actually a WONDERFUL thing, when Sooner Start no longer has to work with your child it means they don't NEED them anymore! Betsy will continue to see the speech pathologist since that is the ONLY issue she still has, is being slightly speech delayed. Amazing isn't it?!? The ONLY issue this baby has is her speech. When she was born we were so prepared to deal with her handicaps. We were told she could be blind, most certainly deaf, have cerebal palsy, or even brain damage. Not this fighter. She is alive and so very well and such a true miracle. She is now 23 months old...crazy!! She weighs 22.13 pounds and is 34 inches long. She is almost in the 10th percentile for weight but in the 90th percentile for height. She now knows 26 signs.

Tony, Betsy and I were asked to speak at another March of Dimes event. This one was for Farmer's Insurance, the national sponsor for March of Dimes. They have a "Be A Hero for a Baby" Day and they challenge their employees to raise over $2 million! We were interviewed about our story and why we are so committed to the March of Dimes. Our interview was broadcast NATIONWIDE throughout different Farmer's Insurances. We also got to meet and have our picture taken with Gerald McCoy. And let me see if I can remember who that is...#3 overall NFL draft pick?? Used to play for the OU Sooners?? Heck, I don't know. All I know is that he is a really big deal and will be playing in the NFL. Tony was star-struck but I was like.."and you are??" It was a great time and the March of Dimes people know how to make us feel so awesome. What a great bunch of people.

Tony and I have really been enjoying our summer. It's been ridiculously HOT here in Oklahoma with temperatures reaching 104 degrees with a heat index of about 114. Seriously, we haven't been outside AT ALL. It's been so crazy hot. We have been taking Betsy to the mall to play in their play area and last week we took her to Dynamo Gymnastics to play at their play center for the first time. She had an amazing time and that is something we will look forward to again.

Hope my next post comes sooner than later...sorry about that blog readers!