The Hale Hat-trick

It seems like a lot's happened over the last couple of months. Luke and Henry started back to their Mother's Day Out program on Tuesdays and Thursdays and so far, so good. Every morning one of them will say, "No school today." It kind of sounds matter of fact when they say it and then sometimes I think they're just putting it out there to see if they really do have to go to school or not. When they get to the classroom door and see Mrs. Jen and Mrs. Susan they're all smiles and head right in. This is their first year of giving and receiving Valentines and that's pretty exciting for them. We've been working on making Valentines the last couple of weeks and they've all really enjoyed it. I took them all to their pediatrician last week and Luke weighs 33 pounds. He feels like a cinder block when you pick him up. Henry is still skinny, but he's definitely the strongest of the three. August weighs slightly less than Luke. Luke and Henry are saying some really cute and funny stuff these days. We still use the baby monitors and we often hear Henry saying in his raspy voice, "Luke, you awake?"































































August has had some big things happen over the last few months as well. He had a lingual frenectomy on 12/28 (AKA he had his tongue clipped). We had known it was attached really low for a long time and only recently were recommended to do something about it. Coincidentally or because of this procedure he is now chewing, biting, eating and swallowing cheese puffs. It was an amazing day he bit into a cheese puff and chewed up the whole thing and none of it was spit back out. So, his diet now consists of everything he's been eating, pureed foods with chunky stuff as well as cheese puffs, regular puffs and he's also been recently chewing on raisins. YEAHHHHH!!! This is such a huge deal in our house. To be able to give August a snack that he can put in his mouth and eat by himself gives him and us such independence. August also started a preverbal program through The Callier Center at UT Southwestern. The program is Mon-Thurs from 9-11:30 am and so far it's been wonderful. The parents are able to observe the therapy and it's so cool seeing him sitting in a circle with his peers listening to songs, etc. The program offers a 1:1 ratio of child to clinician. August actually has two clinicians working with him everyday and sometimes more than that. It seems he's really liking or should I say loving all of this attention that he needs and so deserves. We also met with a Physical Rehab MD who specializes in Cerebral Palsy. His official diagnosis is Cerebral Palsy spastic diplegic. I found a pretty easy to understand definition of what this means and here it is: Spastic diplegia cerebral palsy is characterized by muscle stiffness predominantly in the legs and less severely in the arms and face (although the hands may be clumsy).  Tendon reflexes are typically hyperactive and the toes point up. Tightness in certain leg muscles makes the legs move like the arms of a scissor. Children with this kind of cerebral palsy may require a walker or leg braces. Intelligence and language skills are usually normal.

The MD he saw was really great, answered all of our questions and spent a nice amount of time with us. The MD gave us the options of an oral medication August would take three times a day, botox or a more invasive surgery done in St. Louis. We'll be weighing our options on what's going to be the right thing for August to help with his muscle tightness. He's really using his walker well, except when at home. I base his not wanting to use it in the house due to his parents (lazy, lazy people) not making him and the fact that it's a little tight in our house and not so easy to get a walker in all areas.

Overall, everyone is doing great. The days are busy and I am now not only the boys' mother, but also their taxi.

Our friend, Lora Ross Owens, took the above great pictures of the boys before Christmas.