Love

Tonight after I got home from work the boys and I did tickle time, chasing, pinching butts (don't ask), dancing crazily around the living room while listening to worship music, playing Candy Land and on and on.. It was wonderful. I am so grateful for my awesome boys!

I don't know that I have mentioned some recent appointments Elijah has had. He got new ankle braces a few weeks ago. His PT thought they were necessary, as his ankles are turning inward more these days. He is adjusting to them well. We also decided it would be beneficial to have Elijah start seeing a psychologist after dealing with some behavioral issues at school. After talking to this new doctor, I had the idea to create Emotion Cards at home. Whenever he feels a negative emotion, we encourage him to seek out the appropriate card and flip it over. On the other side, there are multiple suggestions about how to handle the emotion (most of which E helped me come up with). Take a deep breath! Say silly words! Count to 10! Take a rest or time-out! So far it is going well.

We had E's parent-teacher conference this week. It went as expected. Elijah is doing great academically. His teacher struggles with his behavior, mostly in the afternoons (when he becomes tired). Honestly, it's tough hearing her view on him. Not many positive things are expressed. Dan and I know how challenging his behavior can be, but we have perspective and therefore grace. We know where he's been. His IEP meeting is on Friday morning, so please pray that it goes well. And that I don't cry! I have been preparing myself and I'm bringing tissues.

We ran into one of Elijah's kindergarten teachers after his conference the other night. It was so nice to see her! She knows our boy so well and we will never EVER forget the effort she put into shaping him into a great student and person during his kindergarten year. I asked her if we could please just take her along as his teacher every year. :)

On Thursday E will see a sleep specialist who will hopefully give us insight regarding his sleep issues. I am feeling hopeful that this will take care of a lot of other things!

Our sweet Sammy is doing great. He certainly has a sassy and independent side, but he is such a sweet and caring little boy. I love being his mom! I literally yearn for him during the day while I am at work. When I get home, I practically attack him with hugs and kisses. He is precious and adorable and I love him to pieces!

Thanks for checking in. Here's hoping you all have a wonderful week!

Catching up

The little boys and I got home from our trip up north on Monday. We enjoyed spending time with family. Look! Elijah has perfected his swinging, pumping ALL BY HIMSELF. We have been working on this for a couple years now. I'm a proud mama!

As I mentioned in my last post, Elijah is in rare form these days. The summer action has caught up with him and he is one sleep-deprived little dude. We have literally been putting him to bed at 6:30 every night since we have been home. He falls promptly asleep and sleeps solidly until at least 6:00 the next morning. We will continue to do this for as long as his body needs it.

Behavior has been bad enough in the past few days/weeks that Dan and I have decided to make another change for Elijah. We have decided to eliminate food additives/preservatives from his diet for a while, as well as limiting his sugar intake. I have read so much about food dyes/additives contributing to challenging behavior in children, and just want to give it a try for a few weeks to see if there is a change. I'm feeling a little bit desperate and honestly just want a happy boy and family again. I will do anything, even if it means finding a second (third?) job to help finance the ridiculously expensive food.

Sammy and I were able to spend today together, which was needed and very special. Dan and Elijah were away for most of the day since Elijah had three different doctor's appointments. We like cramming them all in on the same day!

Appointment #1 involved getting fitted/molded for AFOs (ankle-foot orthotics) that will hopefully help with his ankles that turn inward, causing his feet to turn outward when he walks. He had AFOs back when he first started walking, but hasn't had them since he grew out of them. His PT thinks they will benefit him at this point, so we are on board!

Appointment #2 was an ear surgery follow-up with ENT. He took another hearing test, which showed no changes. E's next ear surgery to have a prosthetic device placed and hopefully improve the hearing in his left ear is scheduled for October 22nd.

Appointment #3 was a routine check-up with pulmonology regarding croup. The past year showed improvement in this realm (yay!), and we are praying for continued progress. Last year Elijah only had TWO croup episodes, so this year we are praying for NONE!

I am off to catch up on a little work and chill with my hubby! Have a good week and thanks for checking in.

Friday yay

Wow, what happened to the week? No complaints here. I welcome the weekend with very open arms! Some fun things happened this week. First of all, look at the cute monkeys my sister sent to Elijah. I love them!


A monkey man bag.


Jasper, Pogo and Gabby.

The nice weather coupled with the realization that Elijah is completely and utterly IN LOVE with the outdoors AND with speed (the act of moving quickly, not the drug) compelled us to buy a jogger/bike trailer this week. We found a good deal at a garage sale, so we jumped on it. Elijah loved being pushed in it last night, and he appeared to love the quick bike ride tonight.


This is what Elijah does when we open the front door. He sits at the edge, gazing longingly out into the wide open outdoors.

Elijah got his AFOs this week! They are much much smaller than I imagined them to be. You can just barely see them sticking up out of his shoes. So far he is tolerating them well. I'm so happy that his little ankles have a little more support now.

We decided at the very last minute to participate in this year's Heart Walk, which is tomorrow morning. Last year we got snowed out (yes, at the end of April), and this year isn't looking much better. I guess if it is raining too hard we may not be able to make it, so we're praying for the rain to hold off. I really want to walk in honor of our little boy!

The Cough denied our letter, that jerk. We still have him as a house guest. At least I wasn't forced to sleep in the closet this morning. Progress!

Dan is out celebrating a friend's birthday with a lot of the people he went to college with. Elijah is asleep and I am headed into the living room to read Harry Potter Book 5 and then watch a girly movie. :) Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for checking in.

Molds made

The orthotist took molds of Elijah's feet and legs this week. It looks like the AFOs he will be getting will not go all the way up his calf. They will stop just above the ankle. They should be ready next week already! Dan picked out the design to go on them. He picked the 101 Dalmations design. ??? He said it tugged at his heart strings. While I'm sure they will be adorable, 101 Dalmations doesn't exactly scream ELIJAH to me, but whatever you think, Hubby! :)

I have girl time planned for this evening, yay! I'm kicking Dan out of the house so we can watch Twilight and pretend like we are 15-year-old girls. I even made an all vegetarian spread (since the Cullens are vegetarian vampires), with blood-red punch to wash it all down. I need help. Does anyone know of any Twilight rehabilitation services? (Paula, I can hear your voice in my head right now saying, "Ohh Megan.")

It is supposed to be warm this weekend, so I'm giddy in anticipation! Have a great Easter weekend, everyone!

p.s. Coughing still driving us all loopy.

Command V (or control V for windows users)

Last night was a really really good night. I'd like to copy and paste it onto every night for the entire month of April. Elijah did extremely well at PT/speech therapy. There were no tears for the first time in a very long time, he didn't protest anything, he used the walker willingly, he imitated sounds. I couldn't believe it! His therapists asked me where I put the real Elijah. We got home and the three of us had dinner together. There was no screaming and there were no timeouts. After dinner we played, watching a little Veggie Tales, read books, and Elijah went to bed like an angel (nothing new there). It was a good night.

At dinner I gave Elijah a bowl of sliced bananas after he gobbled down his spaghettios, veggies and oranges. I saw him moving his fingers around each other and then pointing at the bananas. He did it a few times before I realized what he was doing. He was doing the sign for BANANA! This is one of the more difficult signs we have taught him, and we haven't actually done the sign in ages, so again, the kid is messing with us big time.

Next Thursday Elijah will get molds taken of his legs and feet for his orthotics. I'm excited to get them made and on his little legs to see how it helps with his walking. He is making such great strides lately. I can practically taste having a child who can walk independently.

We don't have any plans set in stone for our weekend, which is a welcome change of pace for us. Have a great weekend and thanks for checking in on our monkey!

Ankle support and genes

At Elijah's PT session on Thursday, his therapist took off his shoes and socks and rolled up his pants and watched his legs, feet and ankles really closely as he walked around pushing a little grocery cart. After watching him for a while, she told me she thought it would be best for Elijah to get braces. His little ankles turn inward and his feet turn out and he doesn't bend his knees when he walks. He just isn't getting the support he needs in order to walk properly. She said we could wait a few months to see if it gets better, but really, why wait. She feels that giving him more stability with some AFOs (ankle foot orthotics) NOW could really help him learn to walk more quickly. And it is time. He needs to start walking here, soon.

Sometime in the next couple weeks we will see an orthotist, who will take custom molds of Elijah's feet and legs (should be a fun experience). Most likely the braces will need to go up his entire calf, but the orthotist will be the one to determine that. We are hoping that this will be a step toward getting our little man stable on his feet and walking. I think I just heard my back shouting for joy!

-------------

Elijah has an appointment with his genetics doctor on Monday. We haven't seen her since Elijah was in the NICU two years ago. Since our (perfect) little boy was born with a handful of anomalies, and since he is still delayed in speech and gross motor, there is a possibility that he could have a genetic condition to explain everything. They ran all of the basic tests when he was a few days old, and the results from those were normal, but those tests don't rule everything out.

A lot of our little heart friends have genetic conditions, so please don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way. I am in no way dissing on genetic conditions and your awesome little babies.. I am a bit nervous about the appointment. I know that's silly because even if Elijah has a hundred genetic conditions and sprouts nineteen extra toes, I will love him just the same. Maybe even more, because I'd have to give extra love to all of those toes. It's just, I don't want another label to put on my little boy. We have gone two years believing that Elijah has this, this and this "wrong" with him. At this point, it would feel weird to put another major thing on the list.

Here's the thing that calms me, though. If God made Elijah with a genetic condition, then that is a part of who he is and we will embrace it fully. Elijah is PERFECT. No matter what.