Hello. Here is a photo of my purr..fect little man all dressed up for a fancy dress party! He looked so cute!

Just another small update and a chance to post some bonfire night photos! They are not great I am afraid. We just had a few fireworks at home and Corwin loved them! He was mesmerised for over half an hour! He looked so cute with his wellies and fleece duffel coat over his PJs!
It is not long now until Corwin starts Preschool - January! He will have one to one support to help him with his mobility and his language mainly. In a couple of weeks I am meeting with his Preschool leader, his support assistant and his Special needs inclusion teacher at his preschool setting. He has become very clingy of late so I worry that the transition to preschool may not be easy! He will only go two mornings a week with view to increasing that after the summer - then he will have just one year before he starts school!
He is doing so well lately with his language, he repeats the initial sounds of some words really well, like 'd' for dog and says 'pee' for please!
Rowan is doing well also and is nearly 7 months! He is showing no signs of crawling as he has no interest in looking at the world from his tummy - he just rolls straight off and happily kicks on his back. He is just about sitting!
I will update again soon,
Abi x

Brotherly love!

Just wanted to share these photos. Corwin is very good with Rowan and Rowan smiles and laughs at Corwin lots! It is lovely seeing them start to interact.

Corwin's Clinic Appointment

Corwin had a cardiac clinic appointment today and it went very well. He had the usual Sats check ( Oxygen levels in blood), blood pressure, weight check...then ECG and the Heart Echo. He cried like crazy for each and every one of these as he was taken from one room to the next. The final room was to speak with a registrar and even though the room had cosy table and chairs only he screamed through the entire consultation. I was hoping after 6 months since the last appointment he would be fine , but he was worse than ever before. He did enjoy walking around the waiting and play area with his frame though and he got lots of attention from the staff! He is such a show off! The registrar spoke to our consultant and gave us feed back from all his tests ( we usually speak with the consultant but were happy he had seen the echo and results). The registrar said Corwin was stable and that there was no plan to do anything at the moment.His SATs were 80%. We will see them in 9 months (a record length of time) and maybe a cardiac catheter will be considered then to go in and take a good look at his heart. For those who don't know , a catheter is procedure where a fine tube is threaded into the heart , for children under a General Anesthetic. It is a bit like the key hole of cardiac surgery. For Corwin it will be diagnostic only but sometimes catheters are used to close small holes, open holes , stent arteries etc. Normally they would enter the catheter through the top of the leg , but this time I am guessing they will enter Corwin through his neck. It is a straight forward procedure.

Anyway, things are stable, so we can relax for 9 months!

Well done Corwin!

abi x

Just had to share these photos of Corwin tucking in to a chocolate lolly! A colleague of Tom's visited Corwen in Wales! He had no problem finishing it all off!

Corwin also went to his cousin's fancy dress birthday party as Postman Pat and so we 'dressed' his walking frame as the van!

abi x

Corwin had an appointment with his general paediatrician yesterday to check on his general health and development - just one of the four clinics Corwin is under! The Doctor basically oversees all of Corwin's treatment for everything. His cardiologist only really looks at his heart whereas his paediatrician looks at 'Corwin'. He seemed pleased that Corwin is making steady progress in all areas and listed all the 'help' Corwin is having - Physio Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy and a Special Needs Teacher from the Early Years team who spends over an hour a week with Corwin at home. It would be so difficult for me to go to back to work with all the appointments we have! Corwin is still not walking , now 2 years 4 months (see chart at the bottom of this page!) but is using his walking frame with ease. He is not saying any words but plenty of sounds and is definitely communicating but in his own little language with a lovely little sense of humour! We like to look at what he can do rather than cant. He weighs about 28lb / 13kg and is 82 cm tall.
His little brother Rowan is growing fast and Corwin showers him with kisses and gives toys to him - he is a very caring, affectionate big brother.

I just love the photo of them above. They both look so cute ready for bed. Corwin looks young for his age so it is hard to believe there is two years between them from this photo!

abi x