End of a Chapter

o this week has been quite the week...and it's only Wednesday! (just pretend I posted this on Wednesday!)

This week started the last week in the first chapter of Grant's life. That first chapter of Early Intervention through the First Steps program. What does that mean? That means my little bitty baby boy who was born 4 weeks early and weighed 5lbs 13oz is now going to be a big 3 year old and go to school. He will no longer be getting the therapies he has been receiving through First Steps. All the tears I've cried this week have been mixed tears. Tears of sorrow that we will no longer get those weekly visits from the amazing women in Grant's life but at the same time they are tears of joy. Joy that my Grant Man is going to be going to school! He has come so far in 3 years and he deserves to take this next step...mom just isn't ready! :)


Monday we said goodbye...no wait not goodbye...SEE YOU LATER to Grant's magnificent speech therapist. She has spent two years loving my little boy as if he were her own. You talk about her and his face lights up! She has gone above and beyond the duty of a therapists by helping endlessly to get Grant a communication device that insurance denied him. She even went as far as filling out an application for a grant to get the device and continuing to follow up. She has been coming into our home everything other week for the past two years and we will miss her terribly!

Then Wednesday we had a very emotional day. We started our morning visiting Grant's school, dropping off enrollment papers and meeting his new para that will be with him the entire time he's at school. I am truly so excited for him to start school because all the ladies he will be working with are so excited for him to start. They all seem so great! But it was very emotional walking in knowing that in less than a week I will be dropping my baby boy off and leaving!

Then after that we saw his amazing physical therapist for the last time. Again I say the last time but maybe I should say the last time for therapy :) She has been seeing Grant since he was two months old! It seems like forever ago but yet it seems like just yesterday we were meeting her for the first time. She has been so so incredibly great with Grant! She makes him very happy (unless she's making him stretch) :) And she too has loved Grant as if he were her own. She has been patient during his crying fits and she knew just how far she could push him (in a good way). She worked with First Steps in making sure he got all the equipment he needed and we are so thankful for everything! Three years went by too fast and we will miss her weekly visits!

Then immediately following that was the last visit with Grant's inKredible occupational therapist! Grant was about 7 months old when she started seeing him. I can't even tell you the look on Grant's face when we talk about her. She has been not only a therapist to Grant but a therapist to me as well :) She has helped me with idea after idea on how to help Grant this way or that way or how to adapt this so that it's better for him. She has also loved Grant as if he were her own. She has done things for Grant that not most therapists would do. She has seen Grant at his best and seen him at his worst and still continues to love him. She helped comfort me when decisions were hard and always helped me see the up side. We will miss her something fierce!

After the last therapist walked out the door on Wednesday I sat in the bathroom and cried. I cried for a number of reasons. I cried because my baby boy is graduating from First Steps which means he's getting older, I cried because I am going to miss those ladies. For the first time in this journey I felt all alone. I felt like I had no one. It was the craziest feeling. But I know that in the next chapter awaits things that will far exceed the first chapter. There will be good and yes there will be things that aren't so good but with it all comes the next chapter in the book of Grant!