Obviously, the most popular question for the Castellanos of late is: “Have you heard any news back about Gwendolyn’s sleep study?” Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), we have not. In a way, the delay offers the optimism that nothing was red flagged this go-around (like it was the last time) so there just wasn’t a rush to review it. Still, given all we’ve dealt with, it’s difficult to allow ourselves to revel in that possibility for too long and get our hopes up only because they’ve been dashed so many times before. Instead, we've decided to cautiously wait and pray that things work out for the best. Who knows, maybe the pulmonologist is planning to wait until our regularly scheduled office visit next month to update us on the results.
Gwendolyn has continued to make progress each and every day in the realm of her physical development. She regularly sits up, holds her head erect, turns it from side-to-side, kicks her legs and yesterday delighted us by consistently wiggling the toes on her right foot (which had been the side that seemed to be the more limited of the two). Undoubtedly, the combination of extra physical therapy sessions combined with Mom’s constant attention to her daily exercise routine is paying dividends and strengthening the muscles that she’s got movement in. Gwen even picked this weekend to echo her sister’s first word, “dada.” We were told to pretty much erase the three-month time period that Gwen was hospitalized from her developmental chart. So, it really shouldn’t shock us in the end that Braelyn and Gwendolyn each said their first word just less than three months apart from one another. The real concern is on Mom’s part as she tries to figure out when Dad is “brainwashing” the girls by continuingly saying his name instead of hers. (No truth to that rumor by the way!)
Honestly though, we’re both delighted that Gwendolyn is starting to make consonant sounds and is now putting them together. Again, given her limited oral stimulation, that’s a tremendous sign.
Both Gwendolyn and Braelyn did have a visit from Grandma McKee yesterday (as you can see from the photo at the top of this blog entry). The three sat on the couch and read books together for a while. It was a special treat because Grandma McKee has been traveling quite a bit of late. She visited friends in Idaho and then made a quick trip to Iowa just after that. So, the girls were delighted that they were able to get some TLC with their Grandma once she got back into town.
And finally, for those of you that were just waiting on the edge of your seat for this update, Mom officially drives a minivan now. So far, no depression has set in that she’s had to vacate her throne as the SUV queen!
;)
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