One Giant Leap: Brendan

The picture says it all, Brendan is now climbing onto the ottoman. Granted, his brothers have been doing it for months now, but for Brendan this is a testament to his team of therapists, his own resolve in enduring the grueling therapy schedule and the benefit of having his mom at home full-time.

As many of you know, Brendan was diagnosed as having a stroke, most likely in utero. This obviously was devastating news, but Brendan's neurologist assured us that infants have a greater potential of recovery due to the fact that their brains are not yet fully developed.

It has been almost a year now since the initial diagnosis. At the time, I was the one that was at home with the kids. Last summer was filled with a seemingly never ending battery of tests and appointments. Though I was unhappy about being unemployed, I was thankful to be there for Brendan. I've been back to work since October and time seems to have flown right by.

It's almost summer again and after a year, Brendan is regularly sitting up on his own. He is beginning to crawl on hands & knees and climbing to standing positions with the furniture. His progress is truly amazing. Maybe it's the project manager in me, but I tend to get mired in the day-to-day details and sometimes forget to stop and recognize the results. I just wanted to take a moment to celebrate with pride the milestones that Brendan's accomplished over the last year.