All this is a lead up to say that I'm late, again. I missed the five year anniversary of Miss Sunshine's cleft repair. It seems so crazy to me that it has already been five years - but it has. Miss Sunshine is doing remarkably well these days. We have a few minor speech issues, that may be cleft related, but are more likely age typical mispronunciations and errors. S's are still a bit unclear, and R's still come out as W's more often than not, but overall she has no need for speech therapy. I have to schedule a follow up hearing test for her after our Shriner's visit, where she tested significant loss in her right ear. They said it could be due to the plane ride, though, so we are crossing our fingers that is the case. She is still toe walking 95% of the time, and even though we try to get her to do stretches and walk heels to the floor, she is losing flexibility almost daily it seems like. We do meet with the orthopedics team at Shriner's at our next cleft team visit (I can't sing the praises of this organization enough, seriously. The things they have done for our family alone, much less the thousands of others they help daily...), and I'm anxious to see what they have to say. I'm praying it's something that will be correctable with therapy or braces or something along those lines, and not require surgery. Only time will tell, I suppose.
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| Waiting in the airport before our last Shriner's trip |
We went to the eye doctor this week. Miss Sunshine has perfect vision. Monster Boy really, REALLY tried to fail his vision test because he wants glasses! He did come up slightly far sighted, so he now has reading glasses. He is beyond excited about them and really tries to find any excuse to wear them as much as possible. It's rather amusing. He looks absolutely adorable in them, though.
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| So handsome in his new glasses - that he picked out all on his own |
I finally graduated! I have taken the NCLEX (my licensing exam), and passed. I am officially an RN! I have a license number, and a JOB. I am so excited about the job! I have officially accepted a position in the labor and delivery/postpartum unit at one of our local hospitals. It is a very exciting opportunity and I am thrilled - it's my dream job and I couldn't be more excited to start. I feel very hopeful that the past six years of struggles and worries are moving behind us, and the future is looking very bright for us all. I am hoping that now that school is done, I may find more time to update and bring more cleft awareness here. I make no promises on that front, mind you. But I can dream!
