Looks like all that therapy work is paying off.  This weekend, we noticed her starting to pull herself up all by herself!  She was using her scooter, which is on wheels, so it’s sometimes hard if it starts to roll away from her.  Regardless, I walked into the room the other day and there she was, kneeling in front of it.  I was so shocked I had to grab the camera and get her to repeat!

 

Logan had fun hunting for easter eggs and goodies this morning.  We also managed to eek out a couple of decent photos (out of many, many more bad ones) in Ottawa while visiting the family today.

Logan enjoys the bouncy-whatever-you-call-them

Wow, just realized that I haven’t posted on here in 4 months.  Bad, Mommy!  I know it’s been WAY too long since I’ve sent out an update on Lauren, and I’m sorry for that.  To keep a long story short, things are going rather well.  Her neurology issues seem to be at bay.  We recently saw the same neurologist who saw Lauren while hospitalized last year at Children’s.  She seems to think that Lauren is going to be fine, just delayed.  We continue to see the cardiologist on a regular basis.  Lauren is officially diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.  At this point, she will remain on her beta-blocker medication and they will continue to monitor the size of her heart.  As she gets older, she will also be restricted from some physical activities in school.

She is receiving physical therapy once a week.  In the 6 months since therapy started, she’s made great progress.  When she started, she was an immobile little pile of mush, who just laid around wherever we put her.  She now sits by herself, army crawls all over, and has recently started taking steps when in her walker or standing at the ottomans.

Here is a video of her in the walker about 10 days ago.  This was just a week or so after I purchased the walker.

Here is a video I took last night.  She definitely owns that thing now!  It is an awesome sight that we have been waiting for for months.  Once she gets her balance, the sky’s the limit!

Here’s one more video of her on her rocking horse.  This was taken a little over a month ago.  She’s gotten much better at rocking, but I thought I’d share more of what I get to witness everyday.

She’s also receiving developmental therapy to help her play and interact with the world/people around her.  That is going quite well too.  She’s learning to do lots of things, including mimicking and imitating us.

It’s crazy that this whirlwind just began for us not even a year ago.  However, in that time, we have seen some amazing things from that wonderful little girl.  I can’t wait to witness and share the next several months’ progress.  I was skeptical due to some plateaus in her progress, but with the latest improvement with walking, I am now quite hopeful that she will be walking and running around by her birthday (if not before).  Logan continues to be an amazing big brother, helping her out during therapy and beyond.  She’s very lucky to have him looking out for her!

It was an unseasonably warm day today, so we headed to Brookfield Zoo. This might be the first time that Logan actually wanted to look at specific animals and actually watch them for a while. We had a nice little picnic lunch and then he played on the playground before heading home. What a great day!

Logan’s preschool is participating in Pennies for Pies, a fundraiser to donate pies to a local pantry for the holidays.  Last Thursday, the local TV station was there to film the kids putting their pennies into the bucket.  Logan made the cut and was on the Naperville news.  Here is the clip.  Don’t blink or you will miss him.  His debut begins at the 12 second mark.

On the eve of her 9-month birthday, our little girl finally rolled belly to back!  I know you’re not supposed to compare your children, but this is coming almost 6 months later than Logan did it, so this is quite the anticipated milestone.  She’s also starting to sit on her own and roll back to belly.  I’m sure it won’t be long now until we have a mobile little girl…uh-oh!

A while back, I posted a video of Logan wielding a “real” lightsaber.  Since then, he has become very enamored of playing lightsabers and wants to fight Mommy, Daddy, or whoever will indulge him.  So when cousin Aidan brought a couple along to Easter this year, Logan was thrilled.

I didn’t end up doing the lengthy effects to make the lightsabers glow, but I did put in some sound effects, which takes much less time and is more fun.

You canalso  go directly to the YouTube page and watch in HD.

Lauren is a bit behind on her gross motor skills, but this week has been a productive one.

The other day, she rolled from back to belly!  It’s funny because that’s the “harder” way to roll, yet she’s not rolling belly to back yet.  She’s been getting significantly more tummy time, so hopefully the belly to back comes soon.  We don’t have video of the rolling yet, but we’ll get one soon.

Tonight, we hit another major milestone!  Lauren sat by herself!!!  This is so huge, in my eyes.  It sometimes bums me out that I have to lay her down or put her in the bouncy seat or swing.  It will be nice to have her sit up to play.  She might actually grow some hair in the back of her head now.

And, prior to tonight’s big achievement, Lauren sat with Logan in the wagon the other day on our way to the park!  Yay, Lauren!