End of a chapter....

This morning Brenden had his very last therapy session with WV Birth to Three. Shannon, his OT, baked cookies with him, and if you know Brenden, that's pretty much his favorite thing to do. We had an emotional good bye, and after she left I was standing in the kitchen getting lunch for the kids, tears running down my face, both kids staring at me like I was crazy.

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When Brenden was 5 days old he was released from the NICU and transferred to Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center to work on his feeding issues. Chaotic doesn't even begin to describe that day, which is another story in itself. A few hours upon arrival, a woman named Carol came in to our room. She handed me a packet of papers and told me to read them and then sign...she said it was permission for her to get us a referral for our state early intervention program, which is where therapists would come into our home to work with Brenden. And then she left. I remember saying to my mom, "Why in the world would I want therapists coming into my house?" For 2 weeks, Carol came in everyday, sometimes twice a day, to see if I had signed the papers yet. Um, no, I hadn't, I had bigger things to worry about, like taking care of MY BABY! I guess this woman had kinda become a joke....she seriously was annoying and we cringed every time we saw her approaching our room. One morning she came in and of course I still hadn't looked at the papers, so she said she would come back that afternoon to see if I had any questions. When she left, my mom said, "Why don't you just sign the papers so she won't come in anymore?" So I did.

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We came home from the hospital when Brenden was 25 days old. Just 3 days later I received a phone call from someone from WV Birth to Three to come out and start getting everything set up for therapy. At 6 weeks old, we met Nicole for the first time. She was friends with someone I had known for years, so I had chosen her as Brenden's PT. I still remember that day....I remember what Brenden was wearing, I remember where she sat, how our furniture was arranged (we rearrange a lot), I remember what we talked about. Little did I know how much we would come to love and appreciate her and everything she did for Brenden. Nicole has been so much more than a physical therapist and words could never express how thankful I am to have had her over the past 3 years.

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Marianne was Brenden's service coordinator, so she made sure everything was going well with therapy services, but also provided me with information and resources. She has been an amazing support system as we have prepared for this transition to preschool, which has been a huge help for me. She has been through this process as a mom so she understands and validates my worries and fears. She has done everything possible to help me prepare emotionally for this step of letting go.

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Paige has been Brenden's developmental specialist since his 1st birthday. She was the one to come play with him and make sure he was on track, and she always made sure Brenden had a snack :) Even when we realized Brenden probably didn't need a developmental specialist, we couldn't bear the thought of letting her go, so we kept her on our team just because. She has become a great friend.

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Lacy joined us right before Brenden's 2nd birthday as his speech therapist. This was one of Brenden's most frustrating areas for a while, but she always had patience with him, made things fun, and always encouraged him. While she was only with us for a short time in comparison to the others, I am so thankful to have had her.

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And last, but not least, Shannon, our OT. This was also a frustrating area for Brenden, as he tends to give up easily. Shannon always brought fun activities and was usually able to get Brenden to do the work to finish a task. She never lost patience, even though she witnessed some of his tantrums.

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Had I known that day in the hospital just what "these therapists that would come into our house" would truly mean, I never would have questioned signing those papers. God has blessed us immensly with an amazing group of people to have been part of our lives. Each one, in a different way, has helped Brenden reach his potential. They were able to see the small, and to some, seemingly unimportant, milestones. They helped me realize that those small acheivements were just as important as the bigger ones. They keep reminding me that this isn't goodbye forever, but I will truly miss each one of them. And I know Brenden will....literally every morning, within 5 minutes of waking up, Brenden asks, "Who's coming today?" He has grown so accustomed to someone coming for therapy.

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With that said, I will leave you with a few pictures from Brenden's birthday party....more on that to come....

Full of sugar....thanks to Uncle Josh....

Licking some of the icing from decorating cookies...