CASTING UPDATE

The time had come to return to the orthopedic doctor last night to restart Bree's casting process. This has to be done in order to stretch her skin in preparation for her surgery. I must say I have been dreading this day for a while as Bree has been making such wonderful progress in all other aspects of life. But, all in all, it went very well. She of course cried (more like screamed when he manipulated the casts) but when it was over she went back to her normal fun self. These casts do not go above the knees so that is a blessing. This enabled her to be much more comfortable with sleeping and actually slept through the night -Amen! We will return in a week to put on another set.
Bree's english is coming right along. She is about the level of an 18+ month old with 25+ words unsolicited and a couple two to three word sentences-her favorite: mama, sit down! (something I probably do not do enough of to begin with!) The girls read to her and now when she sits with a book she opens it and turns the pages and jabbers in jargon as she turns the pages-it is so awesome and adorable to watch. She u nderstands everything we say to her which still amazes us. She also mastered crawling up the stairs (with her big sisters help) and they are teaching her to come down the stairs on her tummy at lightening speed just as they did at that age.
One last note-as you can see my blog has a "new look" thanks again to my dear friend Rina who ought to go into blog designing business in her free time! Thank you my dear-I love it!!
Blessings

MONTHLY UPDATE

Well, it has been back to the grind for the Hoffman household for the last three weeks now. Bree has really gone with the flow. Some days she wakes up to me, some days to Doug and every once in awhile to her Mema. We made the transition into her own bedroom, which has gone well. Originally, she was going to share with Brooke, but since we have the space and it was crowding Brooke, we decided to change the original plans. We gave both Brynn and Brooke the option of moving to the spare bedroom (which has its own full bath as opposed to the jack and jill bath they share) but both opted to stay in their current rooms. We have a feeling Brynn may regret this decision when she becomes a teenager! Since doing this Bree now sleeps 12-14 hours! which we are enjoying as we know this will come to a crashing halt post-surgery.

We marvel every day at Bree's awesome personality. She really is a smart little girl and is picking up on her English very well. She repeats just about everything you say and has about 25-30 words unsolicited. We are setting up OT for her hands, which she uses very well, but still holds them in a flexed position. PT won't begin until after surgery and casting.

I think what we love the most though is that it already seems like Bree has been a part of our family since her birth...and its a feeling we pray she has as well.