First Day at Therapy!

Just a fun picture...love the hat!


All tuckered out!


Alayna with Speech Therapist Sara & PT Kim

Yesterday was Alayna's first day of physical therapy. She did great and I think that her two therapists were impressed with the progress she has made in the last few weeks. Our PT is so glad to see her move as much as she does. She is constantly kicking her legs and moving her arms. Her hamstrings seem to not be as tight and she supports her weight on her legs more. So she is showing signs of realizing that legs are used for support! We were concerned about her favoring her left side and always looking that way. But she has made great strides and is now looking more voluntarily to the right and her neck muscle is less tense. The PT worked on stretching her legs and feet and exercises to strengthen her torso. She showed me exercises using a big ball, so we plan to buy one at Wal-mart (our favorite store, or so it seems) really soon. I think we'll try to make it a fun game and just integrate it into playtime! Oh, and the infamous tummy time is a must. I've really got to try hard to do this more often. I'm just finding it difficult because she is either eating, digesting, or sleeping. Just another activity to add to the list! Alayna also needs to be placed on her side more. This will force her to put her hands together and allow her to find her "midline". She had a good workout for about an hour, messed her pants twice during that time, ate a bottle, and then fell right asleep before we were even to the van! She got tired, but tolerated it well. Mommy was proud of her.

I also had the chance to speak to a mother of the 3-year old little girl I told you about a few days ago that has the same diagnosis as Alayna. They are from Utah. We spoke for an hour and 45 minutes! I really enjoyed it and she gave me some good information and ideas. You want to know the weird thing? Well, she is an identical twin herself! That is unbelievable. We were also talking and she told me she knew by her own instinct that something wasn't right when her daughter was an infant, exactly how I felt. She prayed to God that she knew this but didn't know what to do. Well, her daughter had a seizure and this forced them to the hospital for more testing. She was diagnosed and never has had another seizure again. She said she really thinks it was God's plan to get them to the help they needed. I can relate to this totally! Alayna's UTI led us to Peoria and where we got tests and eventually the diagnosis. It was God's plan for us too. We plan on keeping in touch with this family. And now I know someone who lives in Utah!

One thing that came up during our conversation was grieving. She asked how our family members were dealing with the news. I told her that we all have our good days and bad days. But she was so right when she said that everyone has to grieve about the news in their own way and at their own pace. That is the healthy thing to do that allows us to come to terms with this change in our lives. When change comes our way, sometimes it is difficult to deal with. But knowing how precious Alayna is to our family, it is worth it. This mother says that she gets the comment that her daughter is so cute and that there is something about her that makes her special. We all know what that something is. These girls are special!

Through faith, we can discover treasures hidden in tough circumstances. It requires patience and confidence that God is good no matter what life throws at us.

Here are a few more pictures. I can't believe how much she is growing myself and I'm with her every day! She will be 20 weeks on Monday...wow, time does fly by fast. It's so nice seeing her smile more and make sounds back to you when talking to her. She is doing well!