February is American Heart Month, and  Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) Awareness Week started yesterday and goes through Valentines Day.  What better time to give a Rosalie update and let everyone know that she continues to do great!  She is now 8 1/2 months old and with the exception of her scar, her biweekly physical therapy, and a medical study she participates in; you would never know the first two months of her life were any different from any normal infant. 

She's doing well at physical therapy.  However, she does seems a little shy to show off her ability to roll over and move so she will continue to go visit the therapist until she convinces them that she is reaching all the age appropriate milestones.  It seems to all of us that she is simply content doing whatever she is doing and therefore just doesn't have any desire to change position or move around to do something else.  Once again, she demonstrates that she definitely has a mind of her own!  Anyway, although there don't appear to be any real concerns about her abilities, it doesn't hurt to have a trained therapist work with her and let her play on the cool mats.  Maybe it will be the beginning of a gymnastics career.  Well that's unless her "Shrimp Dip" class makes her a swimmer instead.  Yes, she's even able to go to swimming class and as you can see, she certainly seems to enjoy that.

Time for a little plug.  All of you who have followed this Caring Bridge know about Rosalie's Beads of Courage and how much they meant to her daddy and mommy during her hospital stay.  They provide a marker for everything she went through and someday mommy and daddy will be able to  share with Rosalie the symbols of her milestones during her treatment.  If you are interested, the story of the beads can be found on this UW Health page:
https://parenting.uwhealth.org/2018/09/beads-of-courage-inspires-many-families/

As noted in that article, the annual fundraiser for the bead program at the Children's Hospital in Madison is coming up on February 16.  So if you're looking for a new place to eat next Saturday, 20% of the restaurant sales at the Varsity Bar and Grill in Sun Prairie will go to the Beads of Courage program at Children's.  They'll also have auctions and other things going on.  There's more info here: Asher's Heart Fundraiser

Every day we still all feel grateful and blessed that Rosalie is doing so well and her day brightening smile always adds joy to our day.  Hopefully, she can brighten your day too with today's pictures.