Where Did Gwen Go?

Those are 4 little words that we have really never had to say before. But all that has changed! You see, Mom follows a few SB sites and forums online. (In part, kind of how we got the idea to do this blog.) Well there is one site in particular on facebook that is a great one because it is full of lots of moms of children with SB and also adults living with SB.

I, (yes believe it or not Heather is writing this blog entry), asked a question to the very knowledgeable ladies about any ideas for equipment or something besides a wheelchair for toddlers like Gwen to get around in. This idea came to me when the weather started to get nice again and I would have the girls outside playing and Braelyn would be running all over having a great time. I would look over at Gwen and she was just sitting there in the grass watching her sister. Now I will say that it is possible that it bothered me more than Gwen because she is NOT one to complain. ;) But it really did get me thinking that there just had to be something out there that would help her be more independent.

A few of the ladies on the site mentioned the "Star Car." I did a bit of research on it and found out that the manufacturer is no longer making them but some handy folks had started to hand make them for their children. Well, anyone that knows Chuck or I also knows that neither one of us is all that handy. BUT I do have some extremely talented family members. (Not sure how that particular gene just happened to skip me, but that's a story for another day.) ;) The first name that popped into my mind when I saw that this project was going to be way over our heads was my uncle Verdel. This guy is amazing with things like this! So I emailed him the few links I had of examples of this home made "Star Car" and I have to say the finished product is WAY more than I could have ever imagined in a million years.

You wanna see it don't you? ;) Well here it is my friends. **Insert drum roll here**

This picture was taken right after Gwen got her car:

This picture is when we got the car home and Gwen is enjoying her new freedom:

I just had to include this picture as well. This was taken Saturday morning. While Gwen was still asleep, Braelyn was taking full advantage. She decided to watch her morning cartoons in her sister's new chair:

Pretty awesome huh? This turned out to be quite the family affair. Uncle Verdel obviously built the car and took every consideration possible to make it not only functional but safe at the same time. He also gave her some room in the front so she will continue to be able to use it as she grows. (It's also a great little extra space for big sister Braelyn to hitch a ride on) There is also a sweet handle that can attach to the back just in case Gwen needs a little boost from one of us every once and awhile. We actually used this on Sunday evening when we took Gwen and her car to Music in the Park. It was great!

Did you see that adorable cushion on that seat? That was made by my aunt Carol. It's made of indoor/outdoor fabric so that I can just throw it in the wash when necessary. And it keeps Gwenner's little cushion from getting sore too! ;) And I'm sure you noticed Gwen's beautiful name painted on the front. That was put there by my cousin Dana. There is also some bling strategically placed on the side because no pink car is complete without some bling right??

So enough about how darn cute this car is. You should see our girl use this thing! It's amazing. She took to it immediately. She has had a little bit of practice maneuvering something with wheels like this because she uses a mobile stander also. But we were so proud to put her in her new pink wheels and watch her go all over the house in it. Like I said earlier, we rea lly have had to ask each other every once and awhile, "Where did Gwen go?". For parents that complain about having to chase after their children all the time, you have no idea the complete elation we get from having to go and find our daughter who has wandered off somewhere in the house. This is something we don't take for granted. In fact today I was helping Braelyn get her shoes on in the living room and I had to go looking for Gwen. You know where I found her? In the laundry room! It dawned on me right then that she has never BEEN in the laundry room. Sounds silly I know but that is just not a room I needed to take her into. I guess she knew this was uncharted territory for her because she was loving it in there! (Now if only I could teach her to do a few loads while she's exploring) :)

Here are a few You Tube videos of our baby girl in action. She really gets going pretty good. Sometimes she'll even get in the middle of the room and spin around in circles just for fun.

• Gwendolyn's Car Video 1



• Gwendolyn's Car Video 2



• Gwendolyn's Car Video 3
  

On another note.....Gwen has been making extreme progress lately in making herself mobile too! She is beginning to take some steps with assistance!!! Her new braces have been amazing and she has learned to kick out her feet and take steps. We started by having to hold her elbows and help her shift her weight. But now she is able to kick her feet out even without our shifting her weight back and forth. She still tires quickly but she has come SO far. Also, if you see the picture below you will see that Gwen is also beginning to take a few steps toward crawling on hands and knees. She's pretty good at working herself backwards, but going forwards has been a tricky thing for her to grasp. The picture is from PT and it's not the best but we thought you would want to see!

There's a phrase that goes around the SB community and I think it's Gwen's turn to say it...

"Take THAT Spina Bifida!!"

Lovin' Us Some Badgers

Braelyn and Gwendolyn got a special treat late this week. Uncle Verdel and Aunt Carol came for a visit all the way from Wisconsin. Better yet, they brought some special surprises along with them.

The grandest of all the special gifts actually requires a blog entry all its own because Mom and Dad still get a little misty when they see Gwen with it (nope, for once Dad isn't talking about one of his favorite Badger State delicacies, cheese curds!)

Obviously Braelyn and Gwendolyn are having a really good visit with their Great Aunt and Uncle. And before the holiday weekend is up, we're going to try and do justice to the amazing gift bestowed on Ms. Gwendolyn by her Uncle Verdel and Aunt Carol.

Problem Solved

It seems that Braelyn has really embraced sharing the girls' new car. Unfortunately, her form or "sharing" is apparently a tad bit convoluted.

You see, instead of taking turns playing with the car, Braelyn decided to take it a step further and just combine the turns altogether by squeezing her little body into the one-seater along with Gwendolyn.

That's our oldest. It's amazing how different your point of view is when you get a two-minute head start on life over your sister.

;)

Have a great weekend!!!

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear

Sorry for the delay in posting this entry... To say that things at work have kept Daddy on the hop of late would be an understatement.

Still, we came across this photo of the girls from the weekend and wanted to share it with you.

Fortunately, the girls absolutely LOVE their new car.


Unfortunately, it's a one-seater.


What a great way to introduce Braelyn and Gwendolyn to the phrase "share and share alike." (As you can see, it was Braelyn's turn to share when this photo was taken and her gasp of displeasure shows that she's still learning about this sharing thing!)

;)

Friday's Photo Day

Only our girls are cute enough to be a blog entry in and of themselves (or so Mom & Dad thinks) so enjoy:

Now here's a typical sight around our house... Braelyn always seems to be in constant motion with a smile plastered across her face.

Speaking of smiles, lately Gwendolyn's been showing hers off an awful lot too. We're sure it has nothing to do with the fact it's meal time!

Crisis Averted

Good news, our hot water heater only needed a minor repair. So, in addition to enjoying a hot shower this morning, Mom and Dad also were happy to report that their wasn't a huge chunk of their checking account that had suddenly gone missing.

BTW, we have a couple of cute shots to share. Gwen's "pen pal" Jo-Jo sent her and her sister a special pair of gifts for Easter. Braelyn (above), appropriately enough, got a new car for her ever growing collection. Gwendolyn (below) got a cuddly bunny that you can see she simply adores!

It dawns upon us that we only posted one entry last week so we'll try to make it up with another late-week post this go around.

Until then!

Left Out In the Cold (Water That Is)

As is typically the case, just when you reach a comfort level that life's roadblocks can't possibly get any worse... Well, it always can. Hopefully this time, it's more of a pothole than a detour. You see, on Saturday morning as we readied a bath for the girls, it became abundantly clear that we didn't have any hot water.

After a little look-see, Dad came to the realization that the pilot light in the hot water heater was extinguished. "Oh, now that's a quick fix," Dad naively thought to himself. However, after trying in vain to get it to stay lit and then even cleaning some of the corrosion off the relay around the pilot himself without any luck, it became abundantly clear that this job was going to be above his pay grade.

So, we had to wait though the weekend until a plumber could come out and give us the damage. On the flip side, that did mean that the girls got some extra time at Grandma McKee's house so they could actually bathe and practice the proper hygiene.

After dispensing with the bath, Grandma took the time to read with Braelyn. Luckily, both the girls still are enamored with books and, while their attention span still isn't very elongated, there are few treats they enjoy more than sitting on Grandma's lap and listening to a good book.

While Braelyn was learning all about the misadventures of Dora and Boots, Dad took the opportunity to corrupt his youngest (We know... What a shock!). Yep, it was time to teach Gwendolyn what to do if she eats something that she doesn't particularly care for... After all, everything comes back to food, doesn't it?

Ah, Mom will surely seek revenge for that little exploit we are sure... Dad can hardly wait for the payback.

=P

Well, we suppose that's all for now... Fingers crossed that we don't have to take out a second mortgage to pay for a new hot water heater today when the technician comes on the service call.

Playing House on Mother's Day

How was your Mother's Day?

Ours went rather well. Braelyn and Gwendolyn had a nice day in store for their Mommy. They started it off by giving Mom a new necklace. Then, the girls went to church with Mom and Grandma McKee before taking them both out to a lunch outside on the patio of one of our favorite restaurants.

Since we went with a Mexican cuisine, Gwendolyn discovered bean burritos for the first time during that lunch... We're not quite sure WHAT we were thinking when we ordered it for her but she sure seemed to enjoy it! (As did every piece of clothing that she was wearing.) In typical fashion, Braelyn just picked at hers and played games with her corn chips.

The girls then spent the remainder of the day playing with yet another magnificent garage sale find by Mom... a toy house complete with an entourage of play people and accessories. The twins have taken to it rather nicely. One of the best parts is that they can each play on different halves of the house simultaneously.

So, maybe their REAL Mother's Day present that afternoon was the gift of some quite play time so Mom could relax!

;)

Turning a Corner of Sorts?

We've touched on Braelyn's finicky eating before in the blog. Basically, if it's a veggie then no worries, its a goner. If it's meat, you've got no chance - outside of maybe hiding it inside some bread - that it'll be consumed... And speaking of carbs like bread and pasta, well those are hit-or-miss for Ms. Braelyn.

However, it seems as though maybe, just maybe, Braelyn's seen the light. Apparently all it took was reinforcing that she needs to use a fork when she eats. For some reason, Braelyn's always been pretty sensitive to texture. You might remember that when she turned one, she started flipping out because she didn't like the way her cake's icing felt on her fingers one bit. Well, it seems as though the same goes for proteins (minus eggs of course, which have always been a favorite of hers). No matter if we are taking beans, chicken, beef, pork or some other meaty concoction, she would hardly EVER pick up those morsels and place them in her mouth voluntarily. But recently, we've been more proactive with her using a fork while she eats. We were astonished when she began voluntarily stabbing pieces of meatballs and eating them without fuss. So the next night we tried chicken tenders... Same thing. So far, so good.

So, as you can see, Braelyn has gone from a cautionary tale to a near culinary wizard... Okay, maybe we shouldn't go too overboard!

As for Gwendolyn, she too seems to be turning a corner when it comes to food. As we mentioned before, her eating habits typically resembled something you'd see around a farm trough. Basically, once you put a meal on her highchair tray, you'd better not attempt to move it before she's finished consuming it. Well, Gwendolyn might finally be beginning to learn what the term "moderation" means. Lately, she's begun to tell us when she's full through sign language. So, now the only time she typically throws a fit in her highchair is in the mornings when Mom's putting her hair in her pigtails... Who knows, perhaps this too shall pass.

Yep, the Castellano girls are progressing along nicely when it comes to meal time. Now if Dad too could only find the meaning of the term "moderation." We'd REALLY be onto something then!!!

=P

Summer Must Be Getting Close 'Cause Mom’s Garage Saling Again

There are few rites of passage in the Castellano Household quite like garage saling. For all the pampering that we give the girls, Mom and Dad have a hard time paying top dollar for a toy that will be obsolete in months. So, Mom tends to hit a garage sale or two (make that two hundred) when the weather starts warming up.

The search for the latest, greatest series of toys began in earnest last weekend. To her credit, Mom hit pay dirt on several purchases... None more so than the activity table below - which she even talked the seller down on thanks to her skills of persuasion. (For those taking notes at home, Mom suggests you wait to purchase your toys until the Mother of the home has inexplicably left the garage to tend to something inside... That leaves the Dad of the house flying without a safety net and they tend to be all too happy to cut off a few dollars to get rid of toys that were outgrown by their kids years ago!)

The theory behind purchasing this activity table was obviously simple… Gwendolyn would enjoy it as it helped to occupy her attention during her standing exercises. An added benefit is that Braelyn seems just as fond of it as well (In fact, you can just see Braelyn's affection for it oozing out during Gwen's "standing time" as she uses her plastic hammer to pound the top of the activity table time after time, over and over again). =P

And how is it May already… Well, at least it means that there’s more time for garage sales we guess!!!