Giggles and Grins

***don't worry, we're ok. I had a full relapse of our nasty respiratory bug over the weekend and Everett has had yet another growth spurt which kept me on the couch -hand occupied - for much of the past few days. I have lots of updates to offer - but with limited time at the moment, will put up a quick teaser:



Everett is officially smiling AND giggling in response to us!!! My big boy has us absolutely wrapped around his little fingers and is just doing amazingly well!

More to come as Mary Louise and David started swimming lessons this week!!! I had a follow up appointment with my OB...

AND...

David is going to be discharged from private speech therapy this Friday!!!!! (Umm - can I get a serious happy dance for that please?!) His therapists' words were, "Well Heather, I can't really justify keeping a child that routinely says 7 word sentences in therapy." They consider him appropriately articulate for his age (marked by understanding about 75% of what he says with more words emerging each week) and they feel his vocabulary is actually very advanced for his age. His thought process and problem solving abilities are also considered appropriate or advanced (depending on area discussed).

We are so very proud of his hard work and incredibly thankful for his therapists' efforts.

As for the school system sessions, we didn't have a very good experience with the assigned speech therapist. She was great...when she would show up - which was twice in 5 weeks. We will make a decision to continue (or not) with those services once we see who is assigned to David next year. I'm just not sure he needs it - and goodness knows one of my serious pet peeves is people wasting my time. No call / no show is not only unprofessional, but downright unacceptable to me. I phoned our ST's supervisor and have followed appropriate chain of command to file a complaint, but have not received any response at all.

Again, David is really doing so very well and I'm just thrilled with his ever growing love of reading, describing his environment, and friendliness toward total strangers (he marched right into his first swim class and not only listened beautifully to the teachers, but also really interacted with the 3 "new" children there.)

It brings tears to my eyes to think about how far we've come. For months, we discussed whether our precious babies would breathe independently, walk, talk, function. Now we are excited about swimming classes, "graduating" from therapies, 7 word sentences?!

Our goal has always remained the same: to offer our children the resources they need to grow into the very best individuals they can be - to utilize their great potential, and to know that no matter what, we are here to support and love them to pieces.

Happy happy 8 weeks Everett!! (and thank you for making the past 2 months a little less exciting than your grand entrance!)

xo,
Heather