NICU reunion

We RSVPd for the NICU reunion picnic at Riley on September 13th. Don't know how many from Riley still check here, but we are excited we will be able to go and look forward to seeing a lot of people who remain special to us there. That's really all I wanted to say, but since I am here, I guess I can update a little. Gabe has completely returned to his normal self, showing no ill-effects from the head-trauma, physically anyway. Psychologically, may be a little different. If he takes any kind of a tumble, he cries - sometimes screams. He can get quite dramatic about it. Hopefully this will improve. We haven't had any other medical appointments in a while, so I don't know if he will have "white coat" syndrome from his stay in the ER and PICU.

We are in the process of getting ready for the big yearly First Steps eval to determine what Gabriel will need in terms of services for the next year. Our OT seems to think that he won't qualify for her services anymore, which is bittersweet. Our weekly sessions are ultimately moving us towards not needing her anymore so it is nice to know we are reaching our goals, but we will miss seeing her every week. Our PT is in the process of trying to get some orthotic foot braces to help Gabe toward walking on his own. He rolls his feet inward when walking and standing, which she says a lot of little ones probably do, they just adjust and grow out of it - and don't necessarily have a PT around to notice a problem. The process is a little slow b/c of paperwork, but hopefully they will be approved. One concern is that we didn't include walking independently as a goal for this 6 month period, since we didn't anticipate needing it as a goal. Standing was one of our goals, so she is hoping that will be good enough to get them through First Steps. If not, we'll buy them. Our Insurance flex acct would probably cover it, but we don't put any money in it. It just seems like an interest-free savings account, so why bother.
Ok - time for bed!