Happy 2nd Birthday GiGi!!

GiGi was SO excited to see her cake and presents at MiMi and Granddaddy's house!! 

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!  We love you so much!!!

"Happy Birthday Baby Girl"

 - Jamie Stidwell

Covered in cake and icing,

Your smile stretched ear to ear.

Two candles celebrate

The joy of your second year.

We sing Happy Birthday,

You play midst wrap and bows.

We marvel at how you touched our lives,

Just two years ago.

I remember the first time I held you,

whispered your sweet precious name.

You've changed our lives forever,

Our hearts will never be the same.

As a child you'll love this day,

For all the sweets and presents too.

As parents we'll love your day,

For the gift we got was you.

Each year we'll add another candle,

So proud to see you grow.

But always with the memory,

Of your first day long ago.

On your birthday, special one,

I wish that all your dreams come true.

May your day be filled with joy,

Wonderful gifts and goodies, too.

On your day I wish for you

Favorite people to embrace,

Loving smiles and caring looks

That earthly gifts cannot replace.

I wish you fine and simple pleasures.

I wish you many years of laughter.

I wish you all of life’s best treasures.

I wish you happily ever after!

Neonatal Nurses Day

I couldn't let September 15th pass without recognizing National Neonatal Nurses Day.  Our weeks spent in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit with Gianna seem like a blur now, but one thing I remember distinctly was the helpfulness, kindness and expertise of the nurses there.  Anyone who has spent time in a NICU knows it is like stepping into another world, and the "interpreters" of the machines, monitors, routines, medications, tests and treatments are the nurses.  24 hours a day, 7 days a week monitoring and watching over countless babies, even when their parents can't be there for them. 

Here's GiGi in her "Make Your Dreams Come True" shirt from her Aunt Adria.  Thanks to the UK NICU nurses who helped keep our dreams for Gianna alive and well!!

Water

Have I mentioned lately how much I love GiGi's school?  Her teacher Leah is working on her degree in early childhood special education (how perfect is that?!) and is working on a research study on early childhood communication (again, how perfect?!).  Every morning when I drop G off for school, the first thing she does is go to the little sink to wash her hands.  Yesterday morning, Leah helped her put on the soap and then asked GiGi, "what do you need now?".  GiGi hesitated for a minute (she knew I was watching her...) and then pointed to the faucet and said "Wa Wa!".  I've never ever heard her even say the "W" sound, let alone say water!  Leah has been working with her on this as a part of her research study and I can't believe how quickly she was successful!  I know this seems like such a minor achievement, but what seems like a small thing is usually a huge accomplishment for Gianna.  Of course it immediately reminded me of the story of Helen Keller and how learning the word "water" was a breakthrough for her.  GiGi has been diagnosed with something called apraxia of speech.  Children with apraxia of speech "have great difficulty planning and producing the precise, highly refined and specific series of movements of the tongue, lips, jaw and palate that are necessary for intelligible speech".   I've read guidelines that children with apraxia should have one-on-one speech therapy 3-5 times per week.  That's not possible for us right now, but she does get speech therapy once per week and her other therapists and teachers are very supportive of carrying through on her speech goals.  Gianna is LOVING learning sign language, but verbalizing sounds and words is much much more difficult for her.  So hearing her try to say "water" made my week!!
Here's a little video of Gianna that I love.  We got her this "rollercoaster" as an early birthday present.  It was listed as a toy that would be helpful to kids who are working on increasing their balance.  And, probably more importantly, she thinks it's a blast!  Also, it shows her using 3 of her favorite signs: "more", "yes" and "please". 

August Update

When Gianna gets sick it's always an extra worry in the back of my mind that the problem could be something related to her shunt.  Whenever she has a fever, throws up, etc. I find myself Googling again for the signs of shunt failure.  To help me stop driving myself crazy as well as to give some info to her daycare providers, I came up with this one-page educational sheet this week.  I thought this idea might be helpful to other parents who want to inform caregivers, babysitters, etc. of important info about their kiddo's medical condition.

So as you can see from the picture above, GiGi has new glasses!  She graduated from her first pink glasses this summer, and we updated with new purple ones.  I think they make her look older!  The good news is that she likes them and keeps them on better than she did at first.  The bad news is that her vision is getting worse for some reason (more far sighted).  She goes back to the opthalmologist in another month, so hopefully everything will be stable at that time with no more decline.  I can't believe she's almost 2!!

Sweet Celebration

 

I got to take the day off and celebrate my big Four-Oh (yikes..) birthday today with the family!  I haven't had a GiGi's cupcake since the baby shower my friends held before Gianna's birth, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to introduce the kids to this treat!  Gianna is also showing off her new favorite activity with her brothers in this video - the dump truck rolls so easily that she can push them all around the house. They get a huge kick out of being pushed around by their baby sister!!

Bug's Life

I know it's way early, but I couldn't resist picking up this Halloween costume for Gianna today.  Of course we had to try it on and she LOVES it.  And I mean loves it so much that she doesn't want me to take it off her!!  She's walking around the house looking at herself in the mirror and smiling and showing it to her brothers.  I bet she'll out grow it by Halloween, but it looks like she's going to have some fun being a little ladybug the mean time! 

Resiliance

There is a Japanese proverb about resiliance that translates in English to, "Fall down seven times, stand up eight."  I think of this all the time with Gianna as she learns to walk.  She is taking steps all around the house now.  She is so incredibly determined - she takes a just a few wobbly steps, falls, and just gets right back up and tries again, and again, and again.  She will actually get upset now at times when I try to carry her places, because she'd rather try to walk while I hold her hand.  I admire her determination so much!  I was away on a work trip last week and Matt sent me this video - I couldn't believe it!!  So proud of this little girl's resiliance (and the boys for cheering her on!)