are what I cried today after R's doctor visit at Children's Hospital. R had a visit with a specialist. An appointment we made in January and couldn't get in to see until now! I was told she was excellent by a therapist and a fellow physician of hers at Childrens and I will say I think they were right! For the first time in eight months we were given a positive outcome to R's cerebral palsy diagnosis. She agreed with R's pediatrician that she has a very mild form(unlike the other specialist we saw in February who told us we should put her in 24hr a day leg braces, plan for upcoming surgeries and that she would never play sports like other kids her age). I asked a lot of questions...
Does she need full time leg braces or even daytime braces? No-she is no where near severe enough to need them
Does she need botox injections or serial casting? No-again, not severe enough for that either
Do you see a need for shoe inserts? Nope
Does she need physical therapy? No-continue with swimming and gymnastics. Those are more fun for her and will give the same results
We also had her nighttime stretching brace modified so it is more effective since the original placing of the brace has done all it can do(this is a good thing)!
Some of you may be questioning my reasons for sharing so much on a public forum like this. I am because I think of this as a journal for me to write for our kids to look at in the future and see all the great days we had. Today, was a GREAT day!!! When R was two weeks old a neonatologist told us her brain bleeds had spread to the ventricles of her brain. His exact words to us were, "she can have anywhere from a minor learning disability to severe mental retardation and cerebral palsy"(his words, not mine). Today the doctor told us that the outcome from those bleeds is extremely normal. She said, "when she is 20 years old and in college knowone will ever know she wore a foot brace" and that "kids now a days don't write, they type everything so don't worry so much if handwriting is not her strong point. Teach her typing skills at a young age".
Also, I really am not sure who all reads this. I know some family and friends do and most of them are aware of R's diagnosis already. For others, I am hoping that sharing some of her story makes people more aware of the broad spectrum of such a diagnosis and that there really are positive and great outcomes since negative stories are shared more often. Some in our family like to say that from the moment R was born she had an angel on her shoulder. Well I think that angel is still there...
After our long doctor visit we went to the mall. I gave R the lunch choices expecting her to choose a place that sold cheeseburgers and fries. Much to my suprise she chose pizza. Had to take a picture to show dh, he will be sad he missed such a refreshing change!
We also made a trip to get a new stuffed animal. R's bunny had an issue a few months ago(his entire back ripped open and the stuffing was all taken out thanks to her siblings). I told her I would have him repaired thinking she would forget about him and move on to loving another prized animal(she has plenty). No such luck. Yesterday she asked Grandma if the repair shop had called yet to tell us her bunny was fixed. She was so, so good at the doctor and mall that we made a stop to get a new bunny, sadly he isn't there anymore. She was okay with getting a puppy instead and a princess outfit for him to wear, of course!
Thank you Grandma H for coming out to spend the day with Kb and Kg so R and I could have this wonderful day! We really had a lot of fun having a one on one bonding day together! I hope you had just as much fun with the little ones!
Kb loves to splash!
We can't find R's water wings(they are in the lost Florida box) so Kg let R wear hers today and she stuck close to an adult or the steps...thank you Kg!
R had so much fun swimming around the 'deep side'!
Papa didn't want to swim today...had to snap a picture of him relaxing!
He had a great party at a local park and we had so much fun! The kids just played and played, it was like they forgot we were there to celebrate with C. I did see him open two presents and we did have some yummy cake:)
R got a tatoo...
We went on LOTS of rides...
They were sitting so nice snacking I had to take a picture(for some reason at Grandma and Papa's house they don't seem to sit still for long:)
It didn't take long for R and Kb to rope Papa in to giving them a Sarasota ride...
R with her certificate! She looked adorable and she let me curl her hair for the big day!
R and Mommy!
After the ceremony we had McDonalds(what else would a preschooler want to celebrate:)
Kg let me curl her hair for the big day too! She loved wearing her apple dress, she said "I look so pretty" and did a twirl 
