August 2012

Preston: In June we took Preston in to get tubes in his ears. Within two weeks of having the tubes he has started babbling more and is started to move around a lot more. It is now August and Preston is doing an army crawl and rolling to get where he wants to go. His therapist has suggested that we get him tested for Cerebral Palsy (CP). The therapist wants to rule out all the possible reasons why he is delayed in pulling himself up, sitting up, and crawling. He also has a hard time bearing weight in his legs and keeping his legs straight. Due to his issues with bearing weight in his legs he now has a "stander". I will post pictures of Preston in his stander in the next post. We have an appointment for him to get test for CP on October 26th. We get to see a CMV specialist on August 22nd. We have to travel to the Levine's Specialty Center in CLT. Preston seems to be on track with his mental development. He is picking things up to feed himself, playing with toys, looking for toys that he drops, and he moves toward things that he wants. He doesn't talk as much as he should but I feel that is because he couldn't hear clearly for 6 months. Now that he has the tubes he is doing much better. Lily: Lily is a non-stop talking machine. She is very expressive and animated in her story telling. She loves to sing, dance, read, practice her writing, play doctor, and entertain her brother. I have never seen a child love their younger sibling as much as Lily loves Preston. She dances for him, sings to him, reads to him, kisses him, and always says, "it's okay, boogers". She is possibly about to start back to preschool in September. Lily loves to learn and she misses going to school and being with other kids her age. I try so hard to keep her socialized. We go to the library, park, science center and have many play dates. I will miss her during her hours at school but I know that this is something that she needs. This summer we have spent a lot of time with kids her age and older. The older kids have allowed her to learn more and I love that! We did science experiments and went to the pool a TON this summer. Lily is growing up so fast and it is hard for me to believe that she will be in school in two years. Liz (Me): I have had a very hard time deciding what to do with my future. I have been unemployed for a year and two months. I have never been unemployed for this long. I have worked since I was 15 years old. I find pride in the work that I do. Over the past year I have been trying to start Wise Owl Family Care. I have had many part-time and drop-in clients but now that kids are going back in school I am left to make a hard decision. I want to stay home to be with Preston and Lily. I feel that I will never get these young years back. Also, Preston's therapist said that it would be best for Preston if I stayed home to help him. I am started to run out of savings and I do not know what to do. I know that I will figure it out, I always do. I have to make the decisions that are best for my children and myself.