Blake Update

I am amazed that two children born only one minute apart can be so completely and totally different. Beckett is an easy baby. He greets each day with a smile and ends it with a coo. He is a great eater and gains weight easily, if not a little too quickly. He entertains himself, yet loves to be stimulated. When he smiles, his whole face lights up. Blake is the exact opposite. He cries from the moment he opens his eyes. While he loves to eat, he spits up the majority of his meals. He gains weight very very slowly. He has no idea what entertaining himself means. All he knows is the minute his tiny little bum touches anything other than somebody's arms, he will holler. He gets overstimulated and he can't self soothe. So all this adds up to a very busy day and a very busy momma. Oh....and some tears.

Clearly I know that I shouldn't compare my children. Yet, I find myself doing it all the time. Especially because they are twins. What one does, shouldn't the other? As Blake has gotten older I have noticed that Beckett seems to be passing him by in motor skills. Blake doesn't have very good head control. He keeps his little hands in fists. And he doesn't bring himself into midline. So after spending 1 1/2 hours with the physical therapist from Neonatal Follow Up, Blake is now enrolled in 1st Steps. This is a program subsidized by the state that enables babies to reach and achieve their milestones. Once a week, both a physical and occupational therapist will come to my house and work with Blake for an hour. And as she was telling me all this, I began to feel a little overwhelmed. Nobody wants to hear that their child needs to go into therapy. She reassured me that there is nothing neurologically wrong, that he is simply developmentally behind what a normal 3 1/2 month old baby ( that is his corrected age) would be doing. She asked me if I had any questions. And while the questions were spinning within my head, I felt as if I were on sensory overload, I was not able to get any questions out.

Here is what I do know though. I don't care if we have to go to therapy everyday, and I don't care if we have to go for the next ten years. I will do everything in my power to ensure that Blake succeeds. Not because I am some heroine, but simply because I am a momma.