Rachel and Haley's 6 year old pictures and update

Rachel and Haley turned 6 on August 4th!  I'm so behind in doing this update, but here is the update and their pictures none the less.

Rachel:
Rachel is growing well.  She is 50%ile BMI and average size for a 6 year old.  Rachel is still fed 100% via her g-button.  Rachel is interested in foods.  We give her food to taste and chew, but she just chews it and spits it out.  She is doing much better at swallowing water so we are hopefully heading in the right direction, but the process of her learning to swallow foods is going to be very long.  We just don't know when she will start swallowing food.
She is still learning to use the potty.  She is wearing pull ups and we have her help pull them up and down.
Rachel is doing well with her cochlear implant.  She wears it well and seems to like it.  We know she is hearing, but she is still not talking though she has made some progress in speech therapy.  She tries to say "I".  She is slowly learning sign language though she mostly uses the sign language she has already learned.
Rachel loves to use the iPad and watch TV.  She loves going out and about (shopping, car rides, etc.).  Rachel is a very curious girl and likes to explore new things.  She is not shy and will go up to almost anybody.  She loves going to church because she gets to do fun things.  She has some great teachers at church.  We are blessed with the love and support our church members provide to us. Rachel is a daddy's girl and loves to snuggle and cuddle with him.  

Rachel.  She wasn't wanting to smile for me.

Haley:
Haley is still a petite girl.  She is below the 5%ile for weight and height, but she is 50%ile BMI.  This girl loves to eat so I'm not sure where she puts it all.  Haley is a picky eater too so its a challenge, but when we give her something she really likes she eats it well.
Haley is also working on potty training and is wearing pull ups too.  Its such a long process with these girls, but still very hopeful that they will both be able to get potty trained.
Haley is not talking yet either but she sure does make a lot of noises and sounds.  Haley knows three signs and uses them frequently.  She really likes to wear her hearing aids and gets really upset if we take them out before the usual time they are taken out.
Haley loves to play with her toys especially toys that play music or make noise.  She loves to listen to music.  Haley is fearless and loves to be tossed (safely, of course) in the air.  She also likes dogs, but we are not ready to get one yet.  Haley is also liking TV more.  She doesn't have the attention span to watch it for very long at all, but she gets happy and excited when we turn it on.  Haley is also not shy.  She goes up to people all the time and loves to be held and give/get hugs.  She is a snuggle bunny.

Haley.  Love when she smiles!

Both Rachel and Haley are still behind developmentally and they will always be behind, but that doesn't change our love for them and doesn't change the fact that they are precious, miracle girls.  We do hope that they will make more progress and get past some of the challenges they have.  Only time will tell and we just have to keep going and moving forward the best we can.  These girls are ours forever and we love them.

     

Rachel

Haley