good news!!

We have had a really great week this week! Taylor is continuing to make lots of progress and we're so thankful!

I thought I would add a few photos of the big kids skiing because they're so super cute. They don't get to go this week-end because David is out of town on a golf week-end and I'm not crazy enough to take them and their gear, plus Taylor, skiing. So, this week-end is all about fun with Mom! I'm holding out for a trip to Build-A-Bear (cool shop where you can build your own stuffed animal) tomorrow for good behavior!

Taylor has had a wonderful week. We have hit a breakthrough with her therapy and we're so thrilled! I really think it's a miraculous gift that her tone/tight muscles have almost completely disappeared - seemingly while we were in Missouri (even though she was too sick to do any work). Before, her first 15-20 minutes of therapy were spent stretching her muscles and now we don't have to do any. Now that she is stretched out - she stretches on her own with normal activity - such as reaching for a toy or laying on her side while sleeping. This means therapy is now - almost fun! We've extended her sessions to 2 hours a day, 3 days a week, with a shorter session on Wednesday, when she also has school. She's working a lot on rolling (she can go both directions now), using her hands, and transitions (moving from a laying position to sitting and back down again, etc). She still loves to practice standing and will stand as long as you let her. She continues to be an amazingly hard worker. We're so hopeful that now that we're really focusing on functional skills the entire time that we'll begin to see breakthroughs and Taylor will have more skills to play and enjoy life. She's ready to dive in and we're so ready to help her!

I am so thankful that we've put in the hard work the last many months to get her muscles loosened. She looks like a normal kid now (no more clenched fists and curled up arms) and will have much more functional use of her arms and hands. I am grateful and believe that God has guided us to get Taylor the help she needs. We still have a long way to go, but all of us involved in her therapy are really thrilled and amazed this week!

We also had a big week with Lauren - she was the class Superstar this week - a much better version of the old Student of the Month from my youth (which I never was because I talked too much). We had the class stuffed animal for the week (a sad, dingy elephant, but Lauren and Jacob were thrilled) and the whole family got to join Lauren for a special lunch at her school on Wednesday. She loved it and seems so big to us now. Tonight, as I was putting her to bed (in Jacob's room for a special week-end sleepover), she told me she wants to be a teacher when she grows up - and even better - for 1 year-old kids. She wants to help them learn to walk and have fun. How precious is that? Just when I worry that Taylor's schedule is a bit much for the big kids they amaze me with their aptitude for love and innocence. That, too, is a gift.