It's about time...

...these two started earning their keep.

I mean, they ARE 16 months old.

They are getting bigger and stronger every day. So much so, in fact, that Early Intervention has discontinued services for Jack because they feel that he is progressing very well (Ben was discharged a few months ago). How nice to have someone tell us that we have two 'typically developing' healthy children. This is new for us, so it's exciting news! We will be sad for Jack's final appointment with Ashley, his PT, tomorrow, but it's for a happy reason!

We do have many sad goodbyes in next week, however. Mairead's third birthday means that she is no longer eligible for Early Intervention services. We had our last session with Molly, her speech therapist, this week and that was hard. Mairead loves Molly- she has even been sitting on Molly's lap for her sessions lately. Molly always brings fun toys, the most beloved of which were these tiny little animals. Mairead LOVED them and would cry when Molly had to pack them up to leave every week. So, sweet as she is, Molly bought some new animals to give Mairead as a gift so that she could keep them for her own. She has not let them out of her sight since she received them!

Tomorrow will be Mairead's last day at school through EI. This will be really hard for us because she just loves it there and she has done so well. She has little friends there and her teacher, Mary, is very special to her. Mairead doesn't realize what is going on, so she will not be sad, but I will! The staff has been amazing and we are forever grateful to them for their help with our little girl.

Monday will be Mary's last home visit and Tuesday will be Ashley's final session. Wednesday is the last hippotherapy session, which is really sad because Mairead loves it so much and is getting so much out of it. The farm is trying to work something out with our insurance, but we are not too optimistic about that. at $80 for a 30 minute session, it's just not something we can continue without coverage. Wish us luck with that!

It is unbelievable to me that in just 8 days, Maired will be three. Of course, I have regular mom emotions about my baby getting older, but 3 is such a scary thing for a child who gets so much through EI. I am going to have such a hard time saying goodbye to her therapists and facing the fact that we are pretty much alone in this fight now since the schools have been less than helpful and working with the neurologist is a long and slow road. She is so young that it is difficult for him to make a lot of medical progress, if that makes sense. Also, I know how M loves these people and her 'school,' and I can't even explain to her that we won't see them anymore- she wouldn't get it.

I also have to talk to the schools about her IEP, talk to insurance about a neuropsychologist, get her preschool paperwork in, and I just got a call from Children's saying that the order for her bloodwork is in, so I can bring her in to the lab anytime. That means a trip to Boston for a blood draw-- and we all know she is going to feel about that!

I also get very emotional on August 1 because that is the day she had the stroke and we almost lost her. Luckily, we will be enjoying a family vacation that day and it will be easy to look around and see how much we have to be thankful for, and how much she has overcome since that terrifying day three years ago.

We have received a lot of emails, phone calls, and facebook messages of support from all of you, and it truly means so much. It is very humbling to look at the counter on this blog and see that people have visited over 20,000 times just to read about our kids and to share their lives. We can't thank you enough for all of that!