Hi!  Remember me?  If not, let me reintroduce myself.

My name's Corinne.  Corinne Faith Testaverdes.  I live in Coral Gables, Florida, with my family.  (I have a big brother, Chuck, who is fifteen, and two little sisters, Amy Beth, who is six and a half, and Kaitlyn  Ashley, who is just  a baby; I'll tell you more about her in a little bit.)  I am ten years old and am in the fourth grade.  I love school!

I also have cerebral palsy. 

This is why I'm in a wheelchair.  I can't talk, so I have my wordboard that has symbols on it; when I "talk", I point to a symbol to make my needs known.  I am very smart; I know lots of symbols, and I can communicate by using my eyes and face.

I had surgery back in December.  I had to have my muscles cut because they got too tight, and they were causing me a lot of pain.  It was not fun, especially since I had to be in the hospital around Christmas.  It's not fun being in the hospital anyway, but it's worse being in there on holidays or on your birthday!

I did get to have Christmas upon coming home from the hospital, though.  I got a lot of nice things:  clothes, toys, books, CD's, movies, and even a new wheelchair.  (My old wheelchair was getting ratty.)  It was wonderful!

Now it's spring, and soon school will be out.  I can't wait because then I can play all summer with no teachers giving me dirty looks or having to do homework!  Homework's the pits!  I HATE it!!

I have a new baby sister:  Kaitlyn Ashley.  She's sooo cute; she was born in February, so she's still really tiny.  I love her, especially when she makes her little squeaky noises upon awakening, and when she cries, I love to hold her or kiss her.  The only thing I don't like is when she messes in her diapers; I know she can't help it, but that's soo gross!

Mama is busy with us kids; the baby especially takes up a lot of her time.  Sometimes we can't help it, but we feel jealous of Kaitlyn.  We love her, but I think babies are too much work!  This is when I'm glad I have cerebral palsy because I get out of doing the really yucky stuff, like changing her diapers!  That's nasty!!

Well, I know this is short, but I'm at school.  I'm supposed to be working on my math, not writing in my journal.  I will go now before I get into trouble for not doing my math.  Take care and may God bless you!  I will write in here again soon!  I promise!

~Love, your friend in Florida, Corinne Faith Testaverdes.  :)

P.S.:  We also have a cat, a Norwegian Forest cat we named "Bubba".  He's sooo cute, but I don't think he likes our new baby.  Every time he sees her, he hisses, then goes off and hides, then we don't see him until she's in bed for the night.