Monday, May 30, 2011

Ladybugs & Fancy Nancy

Kaylee has had a lot of exciting things happening in kindergarten this month. The first was the school-wide Celebration of Learning. Each class displayed different projects they have been working on. The kindergarten classes have been studying bugs, with each class assigned a different bug to learn about in more depth. Kaylee was thrilled that her class got to learn about ladybugs. Here she is the with the ladybug diorama we made as a family (the ladybugs turned out a little more spider-like than I wanted, but, luckily, grading isn't too technical at this point).


Here she is outside her classroom with the paper she wrote about ladybugs.


Another fun day was Book Day. Each child was permitted to bring a favorite book to school and dress up like one of the characters. After I rejected several of her ideas (I found out about dressing up the day before, and she wanted me to go out and buy some sort of costume), we finally settled on "Fancy Nancy". She looked darling and had fun dressing up fancy for school.

Just a few more weeks, and she'll leave kindergarten behind and be ready for the big world of FIRST GRADE!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Graduation Photo Shoot and One Size Fits All

Ashlyn is our official family funny girl (and drama queen). Last week she graduated from Little Monkeys preschool (mommy-run preschool with four other little friends). Here are the results of her photo shoot:




I recently pulled out a few more clothes for Brenna from my storage boxes. Ashlyn discovered a purple jumper (size 18 months) and decided it should be hers. I didn't think she would be able to get it on, but I was mistaken. I made her wear it with pants underneath, since it wasn't much longer than a shirt on her. (P.S. Yes, I know it's not especially safe to let my 3-year-old sit on the kitchen counter to defrost her own bagel.)



Saturday, May 28, 2011

Brenna Update

Baby Brenna (who has been magically transforming from a baby to a little girl) is 16 months old today! A little recap of her story, for those who may not be familiar with the particulars:

At 38 weeks of pregnancy a dilated ventricle on the right side of her brain, likely caused by a minor stroke, was discovered during an ultrasound. As a result, she was delivered via C-section. The affected ventricle is responsible for left-side body movement. The consequences of her condition could not be fully known at birth, but she has been monitored by a neurologist since day 1.

When she was about 5 months old we observed a general lack of use of her left hand, arm, and leg. Her muscles and bones are all fine, but the path a signal would normally travel from her brain to her left limbs is obstructed. Luckily, the human brain is AMAZING, and it's completely possible to re-route a signal. At 7 months old Brenna began in-home therapy sessions twice a week (once each for occupational and physical therapy).

She has made major progress since that time, and particularly since January, when she began tolerating the therapy sessions much better. So, although she still can't walk or crawl (she does get around just fine by scooting on her little bum), we have every hope that she will be able to at some point. She currently wears braces on her legs to support her ankles and make sure her form is good. She also wears a soft splint on her left hand to stretch out her thumb joint - she uses that hand often, but the thumb usually stays tucked in.

Every specialist and therapist we have seen has been completely optimistic about Brenna's prospects for fully and normally functioning limbs. It continues to be clear that the extent of her disabilities is purely physical. Her advanced verbal skills are a comforting evidence of this fact. At this age my other girls could probably say 4 or 5 simple words (hi, dada, mama, uh-oh, etc.). Here is an (incomplete) list of words Brenna uses independently (it feels like she's adding a few every day, so it's hard to keep an accurate list):

Mama
Daddy
Ashy (Ashlyn)
Kay-ee (Kaylee)
Out
Baby
Milk
No (paired with a hand waving vigorously back and forth in front of her face)
Snack
Thank You
Hi
Bye
Backpack
Hair
Bus
Cracker
Bath
Book
Ball
Apple (she thinks all round fruits are apples)
Done
Again
Bright (with a hand over her eyes, her way of asking for a light to be turned on)
Hat
Pen
Uh-Oh
Hand
Down
Vacuum (she LOVES the vacuum)

We are VERY thankful to have this darling girl in our family!


Friday, May 27, 2011

Our History

Since we live far from all our family members, this blog was created mostly for their benefit. But just in case someone else decides to take a peek, I'll begin with a brief synopsis of who we are and how we got to this point.

2003
Jun Russ & Anne meet at BYU in Provo, UT
Dec Russ & Anne get engaged

2004
Apr Russ & Anne wed at the Mt. Timpanogos
Temple in American Fork, UT
Aug Anne graduates with a degree in
Accounting

2005
Apr move to Boise, ID for Russ' summer
internship at Micron
Jun Kaylee born
Aug return to Provo

2006
Apr Russ graduates with a degree in Chemical
Engineering
Aug move to Newark, DE for Russ' PhD
program at the University of Delaware

2007
Jun Ashlyn born

2010
Jan Brenna born

Present Day
Russ is in his final year of grad school, Anne gets to stay home with the girls, Kaylee is about to finish kindergarten, Ashlyn is super excited to turn 4 next month, and Brenna is our darling 16-month-old.