Winter Blues for the Castellano Girls

Unfortunately, we wanted to post an update that Braelyn isn't quite as much done with her cold as we initially thought. Or maybe more precisely, she seems to have contracted a virus just as her cold was subsiding. So, Mom got to take an unexpected half-day yesterday to bring her to the pediatrician. Luckily, it doesn't sound like it's serious. (Save for the doc's comment that Braelyn had a "curtain of mucus" lodged in her throat... Now that can't be too comfortable). We’re just going to keep monitoring her for now and they didn’t feel medication was necessary.

Needless to say, when Braelyn doesn't feel well, she's sure to let you know. That's why we love the above picture of her. Remember how we mentioned earlier that one of her favorite pastimes now is reading books? Well, it's actually just reading period... Not necessarily books but apparently holiday greeting cards as well. We can't think of a better photographic representation of the term "oxymoron" than Braelyn in the middle of a virus-induced meltdown holding a greeting card ablaze with the word "Joy" on it.

Gwen's suffering from some frustration at the moment herself. That’s because she’s advancing to the next level of learning how to eat and not horde her food. This morning was an interesting exercise in patience for Mom and Dad. We only cut her breakfast toast into long strips to so she had to take bites of it as she ate it. Well, first Gwen tried stuffing the whole thing in her mouth as usual (which made Dad chuckle because he remembered that when the O.T. suggested this method, she specifically stated that "It isn't like she'll just try to put it all in her mouth at once."). Then, after a few times of Mom fishing the large toast strips out of her mouth, Gwen got the biting part down. However, she still couldn't quite grasp that in addition to biting on the toast, she needed to also pull it away so it broke off in her mouth. So, baby steps there but Gwendolyn's getting better and better in that avenue.

That’s it for now… here comes the weekend!!!