All Sorts of Transitions...

Change can be good right? Well, we've had quite a bit of change around here and I'm afraid it's not quite over yet. First of all our beloved Tracy who has been doing daycare for the girls for a little over 2 years had to leave us. So finding a new daycare situation that we liked as much was extremely difficult. I know most people don't like change, but I REALLY do not like change. And I was REALLY worried that my girls were not going to like change either. We did end up eventually finding something that has so far worked great. It is the same place that the girls' cousin Lindsay goes and it's still an in-home daycare, but there are a lot more kids there to play with. Which is great especially for Braelyn. That was the hardest part of this transition I think was the fact that we had to take Braelyn out of her preschool. She really like it there and we really liked it for her. She loved her teacher and her new friends so it was very hard to explain to a 3 year old that she couldn't go back. But we kept telling her that she would be going to Lindsay's school and she seemed ok with that for the time being. The new daycare also offers a preschool program three days a week so she is still getting some preschool. And Gwendolyn is still going to her school which she also loves! The biggest change for her now is that she has started riding the bus to school! She wasn't too thrilled about this the first day as you can see:

But, practice makes perfect and she has gotten a lot better at holding it together while getting on the bus in the morning. The bus then takes her after school to the new daycare where she spends her afternoons. She has transitioned pretty ok as well. The only problem thus far is that she hasn't started feeling comfortable enough to nap there yet. That can pose a problem come 5:00 at night when that sweet little girl can turn into quite the little grumpy pants!! But all in all, we are making it through this transition. One week in and we are still smiling and happy!
Here's the girls at their new daycare with their cousin:

The other big thing Gwendolyn had to go through this week was her bi-annual SB clinic visit. I really wasn't too nervous for this one as we've done this every six months since she was born and really nothing huge has ever come from it. Well, this time ended up being just a little bit different. Still nothing huge I guess, but there will be something new that Gwendolyn will have to get used to again. First off we are going to try even harder to see what she can do potty training wise. It's always a wait and see with SB kids, but she's shown some promise in the area so we are just going to try harder. I think we need to give her more credit than we have been on what she is able to do. She's surprised us in so many ways already. She even asked her teacher at school to go potty and actually went (both) when she was taken.

But the biggest change Gwendolyn will have to endure will begin next month. For over two years now we have been told that her right side is really tight. She can't fully straighten out her knee, and her right ankle/foot will not go to a complete neutral (90 degree) position. She tends to walk up on her toes a lot. This can cause problems down the line with bracing and mobility. In fact we have already seen some issues with keeping her right shoe and brace on and we are pretty sure this is the cause.

At this clinic we were very fortunate to have an excellent PT and the actual director of the SB clinic visit us. They spent a very long time talking to us and each other, and really looking at her walk and the positions her feet would hold. They ended up suggesting that we do a set of serial castings for her over the next 4 weeks or so. This was a bit surprising but at the same time reassuring to me. So far we have always been told to just keep stretching her every day and if that didn't work they would need to do surgery to loosen her. Which we have also been told by others to avoid at all cost for as long as possible. Needless to say we have had mixed messages about this situation. So I was relieved to hear there was something non-surgical that could be done for her now and not just "wait" to see if the stretching helped her.

So what will happen is that we will take her the first week in November to get her first set of casts. We are still unsure if she will get casts on just her right leg, or also on her left leg. They are supposed to be walking casts so hopefully she will be able to still walk when she has the casts. (Not sure how she will tolerate that yet.)  Then every week, for about four weeks after that she will be taken back for a new cast and the hope is that with this "24 hour" stretching she will be able to have some outpatient PT at the hospital to kind of teach her how to walk correctly again and we won't have to have the need for surgery. We would welcome any prayers for our girl during this process. I know she's not going to like it and my fear is she will become discouraged and not have the drive to walk like she has now. The whole thing is a risk but we are hoping we are making the right decision. Anything to avoid surgery. Because that could end up causing even more damage.

Here is a picture of Gwendolyn at clinic. She was an absolute trooper during this looooong day of doctor visits and poking and prodding.

We have had some fun the past few weeks as well! We've had birthday parties to go to and lots of sisterly love. Just today the girls were giving each other hugs while sitting on the floor and Gwendolyn said, "I love you sissy." And I heard Braelyn respond, "You are my bestest friend." Life is good.

Gwendolyn doing her homework. 

Braelyn is still wishing it was summer.

Her favorite part of birthday parties....the cupcakes. :)

Do I have something on my lip?

Daddy had a day off last week and decided to take them on a little field trip to meet the Jayhawk.  I think  by the look of this picture Gwendolyn will end up being our Hawkeye. :)

Another field trip with Daddy. This one to Panera to enjoy pumpkin cookies. This picture cracks me up. 

Oh, one more thing. Ever since their birthday and Nana bought the girls a Veggie Tales movie, the girls love EVERYTHING Veggie Tales. We have since acquired 2 more more movies and 3 music cds which I have listened to each one atleast 5 times in the car. This short little video just shows a snipit of their excitement of all things Veggie Tales.