Rachel and Haley 5 year old update and stats

My miracle little girls are 5 years old!!!  Can't believe how the time has flown by.  I still remember the day they were born.  That day was bittersweet and full of uncertainty, but the Lord blessed us and allowed us to raise Rachel and Haley.  Yes my girls have disabilities due to their extreme prematurity, but they lived and they are meant to be here with us today.  They are making progress, but their progress is slow.  For as early as they were born (22 weeks, 6 days), they are doing well.  These little girls are special and melt the hearts of everyone they meet.

Rachel and Haley

Rachel and Haley

Haley and Rachel

Rachel

Stats: 38 lbs (38% ile)
          3 ft, 7.5 inches (72%)
          BMI: 14.12 kg/m2 (17%)

Rachel is tall and thin.  She is growing so fast!  She is right on target for the size of a 5 year old.  She is just how I was when I was a kid - tall and skinny.  Rachel is doing well with her cochlear implant.  She likes wearing it and will even go get it when its not on telling me to help her put it on.  That tells me that she is hearing and that she likes the sounds she is hearing.  She is still not talking and we still don't know when she will.  Rachel continues to get speech therapy as well as occupational therapy and physical therapy.  Rachel is still learning sign language and is doing well at using signs to tell us what she wants.  Her speech therapist is impressed at how she communicates and how much progress she has made since getting the cochlear implant.  Rachel likes routine and schedules.  She was doing so well at school with doing her everyday schedule and routine.  She knew exactly what to do and what was expected of her at school.  I hated to see school end since Rachel loved it so much!  Rachel is still not eating by mouth or better yet she is still not swallowing much.  She likes putting food (especially bread) in her mouth and chewing it, but she will just spit it out instead of swallowing it.  We think she is afraid to swallow because sometimes when she does swallow she gags and I think that scares her.  Sometimes she will swallow some water or  liquids, but overall not much at all.  Rachel gets her nutrition through her g-button.  I wish there was a good feeding program here in Houston, but unfortunately there is not.  Rachel is still not using the potty.  We have her sit on the potty, but she just doesn't understand how to use it.  She does sign to us sometimes when she has a dirty diaper.  That is progress and I will take it!  I know it will take Rachel more time than typical kids to get the hang of it, but I'm sure she will get it one day.  Rachel used to be our good sleeper, but recently she has been getting up in the middle of the night and not wanting to stay in her bed and go back to sleep.  We have tried several things to help her, but so far they are not working.  I hope this is just a phase and she will out grow it soon!  We are exhausted!  Rachel is a very active kid and just doesn't stop.  She still likes to get into things a lot and still seems to be like a 2 year old developmentally sometimes.  She loves playing on the iPad and likes watching cartoons on Disney Junior.  Rachel loves attention and she needs lots of one on one.  Rachel is a beautiful little girl and she is our challenge.  She is helping me to learn the things I have yet to master.  

Rachel

Rachel

Haley

Stats: 29 lbs (0%)

          3 ft, 0.5 inches (0%)

          BMI: 15.31 kg/m2 (55%)

Haley is short and skinny.  She is the size of a 3 year old, but she is proportional.  She has grown, but again its slow and she will always be small.  Haley is doing as well as can be with her vision.  She saw her retinal specialist a month ago and all looks the same.  Her doctor thinks its remarkable how she has any vision when he looks into her right eye.  She has lots of scar tissue and not much retina in her right eye, but Haley does have some vision and she gets around fairly well.  What a miracle and a blessing!  We are grateful.  Haley is still not talking yet either.  She does seem to understand what we are saying and when I ask her to do certain things, she will do them so we know she is hearing and understanding some.  She just doesn't know how to get words out.  I do hope that she will be able to talk one day as well.  She is getting speech, occupational and physical therapy as well.  Haley also loved school and I know she is looking forward to getting back to school the end of August.  She loves to be with people and stay busy doing something.  Haley was also doing well at school with her routine and schedule.  She had learned what was next and had a preference for what she liked to do and not liked to do.  Haley is a sweet girl, but when she doesn't want to do something she will let you know.  Haley loves to give hugs and be held.  She still goes up to just about anybody and will raise her arms to indicate she wants to be picked up and held.  Its hard for anyone to resist not picking her up.  Haley likes eating and is doing good with it, but she is very picky and prefers only junk foods (crackers, chips, cookies, sweets, cereals, etc).  Her diet is limited to a small number of items that she will eat.  Her occupational therapist brings new things for her to try and sometimes she will eat it and sometimes not.  This is typical behavior of some kids, but is also typical of kids who are blind/very low vision.  Haley will smell her food very well before she will try it.  She is just uncertain about foods since she can't see them very well.  Haley is our good sleeper and we are so grateful for that.  She will sleep a good 11 hours at night with no problems.  Haley has not learned to use the potty either and I anticipate it taking her a long time to learn to use the potty.  Haley is our noise maker.  She likes to bang toys to hear them.  She has her favorite toys she likes to bang and she searches for them in the toy bins.  She always finds them!  Haley is our sweet, sensitive little girl.  She has a special spirit about her. 

Haley

Haley

Here's a little information about school coming up.  They will start school on August 25th.  They will be in the same class at a new school.  They will go to school from 8 am to 1:50 pm.  They will be in a special education / life skills Kindergarten class.  I know they will like it! 

Rachel and Haley