Good Hare Day

We've been bunny-sitting our niece Haley's cute rabbit Penny this week, so she made the perfect "prop" for some Easter pictures!  Gianna's been interested in Penny but always gets nervous when we take her out of her cage.  She warmed up to her though playing outside today and enjoyed petting her by the end.    

Kentucky Girl

 

March Madness may be over but it's still Big Blue Madness basketball time in KY with the Wildcats in the final game for the first time since 1998.  Our little cheerleader has been rooting for Kentucky, but with a 9:23 pm game time tonight, I'm hoping she'll bring us luck even while asleep!

Sure Steps

GiGi has hypotonia (low muscle tone), which prevents her from being able to stand up for long without her feet turning in and falling down.  Her PT recommended that we have her fitted for foot orthotics which would help give her a lot more stability. We took her to Kenny Orthopedics to get her feet measured and order her little foot braces (called Sure Steps).  Of course I picked the ones covered with flowers and butterflies to make them "girly"! We got to pick them up in about a week and they fit perfectly.







The hardest thing was finding shoes to fit over them! 
None of the velcro shoes fit over the braces. 







We finally found the perfect pair of white tie-up shoes.
Here she is standing up and playing at Physical Therapy







Here's G on her first day with her new braces and shoes.
I think she looks so confident!



I'm so happy for her!  I can tell she's thrilled with being able to stand up, play and explore more.  The boys are now determined to teach her to walk.  D was so proud of helping her take these steps!!



Happy Valentine's Day!

Cheers to a New Year

Here's some pictures from New Years Eve - partying Gianna-style (hats, glasses and wigs = a good kid party!).   I always love the new year - like opening a book with blank pages to fill.  I look forward to filling those pages with good times with our family and friends and watching our little ones grow.  Health and Happiness in 2012!! 

15 Month Update

Gianna had her 15 month pediatrician appointment today.  Other than the usual tears from the vaccinations, all went well.  I remember that the kids' appointments that included shots used to be upsetting to me to see them cry and be hurt.  After everything that G's been through, it now seems like such a minor thing!  Here's an update on her development and therapies. 

• The ophthalmologist was pleased with the results of her eye surgery.  Her right eye still drifts in somewhat, but is much improved from before.  She still needs to wear her glasses, both because she's far sighted and to help support the eye muscles that were corrected with the surgery.  It may be coincidental, but it seems like her development has really blossomed since having the surgery - I'm so glad we made the decision to do it!!
• Both the neurologist and neurosurgeon seemed surprised and happy with her progress.  The main things from their perspectives that we have to be aware of are the potential for seizures and problems with her shunt.  So far so good, but these are issues that remain possibilities throughout her life. 
• G has physical therapy every week.  This is an area where we've seen tremendous growth over the past couple of months.  I remember when we set her therapy goal to be able to crawl 10 feet, and it seemed like an enormous task that she may really never realistically achieve with her low muscle tone and balance problems.  Here she is crawling all over the place on Christmas Eve (unfortunately, to the usual kid-magnet - the electrical outlet...).  So incredibly proud of her in achieving this goal!!! 

• Her PT told me today that she will need to wear splints on her feet to be able to stand correctly and hopefully learn to walk. She curls her feet in really tightly all the time which apparently helps her to feel like her joints are getting the compressions that a baby would normally get when standing/walking. The problem is that she curls them in so tight that it is impeding her ability to stand correctly and she rolls her ankles in. (I'm probably not explaining all that the right way, but that's my interpretation!)
• GiGi has speech/feeding therapy every 2 weeks.  I gave an update on her feeding recently, but she is working on speech sounds and recognizing words also.  She says "Da Da" and points to everything  and says (in her own baby-talk way) "What's that!?", and (my absolute favorite) she calls her brothers "This!" and "That!".  She waves hi and bye and does the signs for "more" and "all done" (which is really useful when feeding her!).  I've gotten the boys and her cousins to watch the baby sign language videos with me so that they can help teach them to her.  G's developmental interventionist showed me some iTunes Apps that teach baby signs, and she loves to watch them and touch the screen, but isn't repeating yet. 
• In addition to the physical, speech and feeding therapy, G has a Developmental Interventionist that works with her weekly (she's been with her since she was only 8 weeks old!), a weekly appointment with an Occupational Therapist (to work on fine motor skills, strengthening muscles, and adaptive skills), and receives visually impaired preschool services several times throughout the year.  She is so blessed to be surrounded by an absolutely amazing array of women who are experts in their therapeutic disciplines.  Not to mention that they are an incredible support for me and Matt also!  They are so encouraging and motivating to all of us. 
  

  

  I think G looks so big sitting in her rocking chair!
  

  
  
  
  

  

  And here in the big rocking chair squishing her brothers ("This" and "That")!

G LOVES to watch her brothers in the bath.  As soon as she hears them she crawls in super-speed to get to them and stand up holding onto the edge. 

Here's Angelo as a baby doing the same thing!  I'm not sure how old he was here, but it's neat to see her following in her brother's footsteps!



P.S. Can you tell I've had some time off from work??  More time to write than usual!

Oh What Fun!

Christmas morning - taking it all in and loving every minute

Gianna's favorite spot....with Daddy

Look at me pulling up and standing!!

GiGi's Christmas Tree

We celebrated a joyful Christmas 2011 with family and friends.  Gianna absolutely loved the excitement of watching her brothers open gifts (and helping her open hers).  She seemed to just take it all in smiling and enjoying watching everyone.  Her favorite gift was...of course...playing with the wrapping paper!