5.21.12 - Aimee Appleseed

Sunday morning Aimee laughed from 4am til after 6am. Then Aimee laughed during church. Today Aimee laughed when we pulled up to Children's and laughed again when her brother cried to be fed. I love how my Dad described her on Sunday as being like Johnny Appleseed spreading joy seeds every where she goes. It is one of her gifts. She is definitely not limited in planting joy in each person that she meets.

We took Caleb down to Bellevue to have a BAER hearing exam on the 10th. The audiology department was hoping to determine if Aimee's hearing loss is a separate genetic condition or if it is completely related to her unknown syndrome. Of course, we felt that if Caleb did have any hearing loss, we would like to know as soon as we could. So, we decided to take him in before he hit the 6 month mark, because at that point they put the baby under anesthesia for the long test (it is typically around 2 hours). However, this 5 month old baby was not about to naturally sleep through a test that includes electrodes all over his head and tiny probes into his ear. It seemed like a useless endeavor from the start, but looking back at it, I'm not sure why I even tried. Since that failed, I am going to hold off until he is old enough for a behavioral screening in about 4 months.

Caleb and I took Aimee to Seattle for her check in with Orthopedics today. The doctor said her feet look really great and he is totally pleased that we decided to discontinue the use of the shoes and bar a year early. HOORAY! However, he did feel like the curve in her spine has become worse over the past 6 months. He is referring us to have a spinal x-ray and meet with a specialist. At this point they most likely won't be doing any treatment, as braces are typically ineffectual in children with such low tone. We'll pretty much be taking her in to discuss the future options and to have baseline measurements/x-rays taken.