My tiny baby is really growing up, I just can't believe it. Eli continues to make good improvements in his development since the last time I posted. He is crawling all around like a champ now. It's funny because before he only wanted to hold our hands and walk around. Now he realizes that crawling is easier and he can do it without help, so he is not as motivated to walk anymore! Funny boy. We have moved on to working on strengthening his right side, which is the side he doesn't tend to use as much. Also, we are working on him pulling himself up on furniture and crawling up stairs.
Feeding is going better as well. I finally found some cups that seem to work for him... take and toss cups! I have had them since Caleb was his age. But I spent tons of money on all these other cups, only to find out the ones I had all along, work the best for him! Silly boy and silly mommy.
Even though Eli's development seems to be coming along, there have been some other health concerns that we are looking into right now. We have been wondering for awhile if he is possibly having seizures sometimes. Not the Grand Mal, type that you automatically think of. Just ones where he spaces out for a few seconds and then comes back into whatever he's doing. So we had a doctors appointment last week, and his pediatrician thought it might be a possibility given my description. So we have an appointment with the Children's Hospital Neurology Seizure clinic tomorrow morning. Then he has an EEG scheduled for next week. So we will see if there is something going on or not. I am not sure what to think, sometimes I think he is fine, other times I wonder so I would rather just rule it out.
Eli has also been having lots of ear infections, and if he doesn't have an ear infection, he still has fluid behind his ear drum. So we also have an appointment at Children's for ENT/Audiology next week as well. This appointment is more concerning to me, because I KNOW he has trouble with his ears, so its more of a what course of action are we going to take to clear this up. It might also just be an area of great sensitivity to me given my profession. But we will see what goes down at that appointment!
Over all, things are going well in our household. We are excited for the summer to hurry up and get here so we can go play outside! We have a few vacations planned for the summer, sticking close to home. So we are excited about that too. We are also planning on replacing our roof this summer so if anyone has any knowledge or expertise with that type of thing and wants to help us out, we would love it!!! Just let us know!
Monday, June 18, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Oh my goodness!
I can't believe how long it's been since I have updated Eli's blog! Sorry about that. Time is slipping away from me.
Eli is doing OK. He had his 15 month appointment last week, and then got really sick afterwards with a double ear infection and cold. Yesterday was the first day he seemed almost back to normal. Just still really tired. I hate it when he is sick because I feel so bad for him. But at the same time I LOVE how cuddly he gets, which is not normal for him. But we got lots of snuggles and hugs last week that's for sure. His appointment went well, the Doctor thought he was doing fine. Despite all of my concerns.
Eli's eyes are doing OK. They have continued to cross a bit. Not as bad as before, but, especially when he is tired, they turn in some. It's been frustrating for me, but I am trying hard to not let it bother me. It doesn't seem to bother him any, which is good. We have a follow up with the eye doctor on June 5th so it will be interesting to see what the next step will be.
We are still working weekly with the occupational therapist. Eli seems to be doing better eating solid foods and surprises me daily with the things he can chew up and swallow without choking or gagging now. I have definitely seen some progress there, which makes me happy. I think having all four molars have helped some. he doesn't have eye teeth or canines, just four front teeth and 4 molars. I guess that's all he needs!! He still has a really hard time with sippy cups. He can't hold them up to his mouth and tilt his head back. And when he does have the cup in a good angle to drink it seems to be too fast for him and he chokes. All in all it is never a good experience for him and he usually just throws the cup away from him and screams when I bring it close to him. I worry that he is not getting enough liquids. I have bought a bunch of different types to see if any work better for him, but there is only one that he seems to like enough to drink out of. I even tried to buy a few more of the same, but the company had changed them a bit and he HATES the new ones! It's so lame.
Eli has also made a bit more progress on crawling. He can crawl about 3 feet and then sits back up and plays with whatever is around him (or just sits there if nothing is around him). If I try to make him keep going he just gets mad at me. But at least we are making slow but sure progress. This last sick week set him back some, but I am hoping to continue making progress from here on out. I feel like two weeks ago the mobility thing finally just clicked for him. One day I was fighting against him so hard to get him in the crawl position and then the next day he just seemed to get it and seemed almost excited to be in a position to move. Then the next day after that he even started moving his legs on his own. It was so exciting I almost started crying!! Eli thought I was crazy, I was cheering so loudly. He still walks around like crazy holding on to our hands. It is really the ONLY thing that makes him happy. We get the biggest smiles and babbles out of him when he is walking. I just wish he would figure out how to MOVE!!!
Also, for those of you who are wondering I did decide to quit my Shoreline job. It was a really really hard decision for me. Probably one of the hardest decisions of my life. But Ryan and I both felt that God was saying that that wasn't the job for me anymore. So finally last week, after months and months of thinking about it, and worrying about it, I finally sent off the e-mail to my boss and the HR person. I had written the letter like 2 weeks before that, and it was just sitting in my drafts box for weeks waiting for me to be brave enough to send it. Finally I was getting a massage and couldn't relax because of it and thought, this is stupid when I get home I am just doing it! So I did!!! It felt really good, but also really really scary too. I feel like I cut my one safety net that I had. But I am trying to focus on God and trust him with everything. He is in control even if it doesn't make any sense to me. So please keep praying with us that everything will work out!!!
Eli is doing OK. He had his 15 month appointment last week, and then got really sick afterwards with a double ear infection and cold. Yesterday was the first day he seemed almost back to normal. Just still really tired. I hate it when he is sick because I feel so bad for him. But at the same time I LOVE how cuddly he gets, which is not normal for him. But we got lots of snuggles and hugs last week that's for sure. His appointment went well, the Doctor thought he was doing fine. Despite all of my concerns.
Eli's eyes are doing OK. They have continued to cross a bit. Not as bad as before, but, especially when he is tired, they turn in some. It's been frustrating for me, but I am trying hard to not let it bother me. It doesn't seem to bother him any, which is good. We have a follow up with the eye doctor on June 5th so it will be interesting to see what the next step will be.
We are still working weekly with the occupational therapist. Eli seems to be doing better eating solid foods and surprises me daily with the things he can chew up and swallow without choking or gagging now. I have definitely seen some progress there, which makes me happy. I think having all four molars have helped some. he doesn't have eye teeth or canines, just four front teeth and 4 molars. I guess that's all he needs!! He still has a really hard time with sippy cups. He can't hold them up to his mouth and tilt his head back. And when he does have the cup in a good angle to drink it seems to be too fast for him and he chokes. All in all it is never a good experience for him and he usually just throws the cup away from him and screams when I bring it close to him. I worry that he is not getting enough liquids. I have bought a bunch of different types to see if any work better for him, but there is only one that he seems to like enough to drink out of. I even tried to buy a few more of the same, but the company had changed them a bit and he HATES the new ones! It's so lame.
Eli has also made a bit more progress on crawling. He can crawl about 3 feet and then sits back up and plays with whatever is around him (or just sits there if nothing is around him). If I try to make him keep going he just gets mad at me. But at least we are making slow but sure progress. This last sick week set him back some, but I am hoping to continue making progress from here on out. I feel like two weeks ago the mobility thing finally just clicked for him. One day I was fighting against him so hard to get him in the crawl position and then the next day he just seemed to get it and seemed almost excited to be in a position to move. Then the next day after that he even started moving his legs on his own. It was so exciting I almost started crying!! Eli thought I was crazy, I was cheering so loudly. He still walks around like crazy holding on to our hands. It is really the ONLY thing that makes him happy. We get the biggest smiles and babbles out of him when he is walking. I just wish he would figure out how to MOVE!!!
Also, for those of you who are wondering I did decide to quit my Shoreline job. It was a really really hard decision for me. Probably one of the hardest decisions of my life. But Ryan and I both felt that God was saying that that wasn't the job for me anymore. So finally last week, after months and months of thinking about it, and worrying about it, I finally sent off the e-mail to my boss and the HR person. I had written the letter like 2 weeks before that, and it was just sitting in my drafts box for weeks waiting for me to be brave enough to send it. Finally I was getting a massage and couldn't relax because of it and thought, this is stupid when I get home I am just doing it! So I did!!! It felt really good, but also really really scary too. I feel like I cut my one safety net that I had. But I am trying to focus on God and trust him with everything. He is in control even if it doesn't make any sense to me. So please keep praying with us that everything will work out!!!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Busy Busy
Well, we have had a busy few weeks since my last post update! Lets hope I can remember everything. I have just been updating Eli's baby book, and realized I hadn't done it since November! I am a bad mommy!!! But good thing I have tried to keep up on the blog, so I just used that for a lot of it.
Well, Eli ended up having his eye surgery on Friday March 9th at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. Everything went very smoothly and we love the nurses there! I was able to go back with Eli while they put him to sleep, for the first time ever, which was nice. Since he is beginning to have a bit of separation anxiety, I knew it would be the best for everyone. Then the surgery lasted about 45 minutes, so Ryan and I ate some lunch (at 9:00 in the morning), and played on our phones for a bit. Then I was able to go back right when he woke up. Eli woke up the first time completely upset. We weren't sure if he was in pain or scared or hungry or what. It was probably a combination of all of the above, with being confused and disoriented thrown in. So he had a little while of some major freaking out. He ate for a little bit, and then freaked out again! It was really abnormal freaking out for Eli (and he can have an opinion about things), so the Anesthesiologist gave him a bit more pain killers, and he was knocked out completely. After another 4 hour nap he woke up completely back to his normal self! He ate the rest of his bottle, ate some apple sauce and graham crackers and was his smiley and laughing self! We were able to go home after that, and he seemed unaffected by his eyes over the next few days. Even though they were crazy and red. He wasn't a fan of the eye drops we had to use though, but that was the only time he acted bothered by his eyes. We had our follow up appointment with the doctor last Thursday, and she said so far everything looks really good. Everything is healing well, even though his right eye is still quite red. And his eyes look like they are tracking together much better. We will have another recheck in April after everything is completely healed. But for now everything looks successful.
Monday of this week both boys had an Audiology appointment. Caleb heard just fine, even though one of his ears looked like there was a bit of fluid in it. So that is good. Eli however, did not have normal ear drums, and it looked like there was quite a bit of fluid in his middle ear and did not appear to be hearing normally (I won't get into the details of the tests because people get mad at me when I do that!! Let me know if you want an explanation of infant hearing testing and I can give you one though!). His ear didn't appear to be infected and both boys have a bit of a cold so at this point we are just waiting and will retest in about a month to see if the fluid/hearing loss has resolved itself. If not, then we may be looking at getting some ear tubes put in...which consists of another surgery! Poor little mini boy! Please be praying that it just resolves itself because I really don't want to have to do more surgery. But am a firm believer in tubes when middle ear fluid is affecting hearing and speech/language development (I have tons of success stories!!!)
Eli has also been having weekly therapy with an Occupational Therapist. Today was our second session. Last week Eli was a bit grumpy and didn't like Katie (his therapist) getting close to him or making him do stuff he didn't want to do. So we didn't do a ton. But this week, Eli was all smiles and giggles for her, and he "performed" beautifully! We are working on helping him get from a sitting position to a crawling position and back again. He did that wonderfully for about 40 minutes then we had some breakfast. We are also working a bit on feeding so we eat breakfast with Katie there. He has, however, been doing amazingly well on feeding. He started eating cut up kidney beans and carrots and doesn't choke on them anymore, and LOVES them. I also gave him some spinach cheese raviolis yesterday and he didn't gag on those either. He seems to really be enjoying food more and more, and is willing to try new foods. And when he likes them he eats a TON! So I am glad that concern is getting less and less for me, and he seems to be making progress. Now we just need to work on getting him to drink out of a sippy cup!
Eli has also been improving in his speech. He babbles all the time and has started saying mama, dada, and baba (we are trying to assign meaning to each of those (mama, daddy and brother) but he mostly just calls me dada. He has also started waving "hi" and "bye" to people when he sees them. He signs "all done", however I do think he is saying "more" when he signs "all done" as he gets mad when I start putting the food away! He also seems to be imitating us more and more with the sounds we make, which is a good step. Yesterday he was giving us all "kisses" by making kissing noises with his mouth after we would do it to him!
Eli has also made some great gains in his sleeping! I know that has been an ongoing prayer request for us. But he is taking a good consistent 20-30 minute nap in the morning and a good few hour nap in the afternoon. That has been so nice! He has also been sleeping through the night beautifully! It was such a lame and dumb fix for us, that it cracks us up every day. So a few weeks ago I had his mattress off his bed to change the sheets on it and we all (Ryan, Caleb and Myself) decided that his mattress was really firm and maybe that's why he didn't like it because our bed and the guest bed have big fluffy feather beds on them, and he sleeps great in those two beds. So that weekend we were at Ikea and bought a more squishy mattress topper for a crib and put it on his bed that night. Well it worked like a charm and he has slept through the night ever since!!! Isn't that crazy?!?! That was the best $12 I have ever spent!!
Last of all, (I know this post is getting really really long, but it feels like so much has happened this month), I could really use some prayer! Some of you may know that I have been on a leave from my job this past school year. Well, sadly that leave is up at the end of this year. I had origionally hoped that I had next year off too. My school district allows for 2 years, and if Eli had been born on his due date (which is Friday by the way) last year wouldn't have counted. But because he was born in February then last year counted for my first year and this year counted as my second year (lame huh?) Well, I am now to a point where I really really really need to decide if I want to go back next year or if I want to give up my position and stay home with the boys. It is a really hard decision for me because I know if I give up my job I won't ever get that one back, and it's a risk if I will ever get another school district job again, since there aren't that many out there. We are also not sure if we can swing me staying home indefinitely financially. One more year would have been tight, but we probably could have done it. On the other hand, I also love being home with my kids full time and wanted to be able to do that when they were little. So please please please be praying for me. Or if you have any advice for me give me a call or send me an e mail! This has been keeping me up at night and I really don't know what to do. Every day I feel differently!
Thanks everyone for all of your continued support and prayers!!!
Well, Eli ended up having his eye surgery on Friday March 9th at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. Everything went very smoothly and we love the nurses there! I was able to go back with Eli while they put him to sleep, for the first time ever, which was nice. Since he is beginning to have a bit of separation anxiety, I knew it would be the best for everyone. Then the surgery lasted about 45 minutes, so Ryan and I ate some lunch (at 9:00 in the morning), and played on our phones for a bit. Then I was able to go back right when he woke up. Eli woke up the first time completely upset. We weren't sure if he was in pain or scared or hungry or what. It was probably a combination of all of the above, with being confused and disoriented thrown in. So he had a little while of some major freaking out. He ate for a little bit, and then freaked out again! It was really abnormal freaking out for Eli (and he can have an opinion about things), so the Anesthesiologist gave him a bit more pain killers, and he was knocked out completely. After another 4 hour nap he woke up completely back to his normal self! He ate the rest of his bottle, ate some apple sauce and graham crackers and was his smiley and laughing self! We were able to go home after that, and he seemed unaffected by his eyes over the next few days. Even though they were crazy and red. He wasn't a fan of the eye drops we had to use though, but that was the only time he acted bothered by his eyes. We had our follow up appointment with the doctor last Thursday, and she said so far everything looks really good. Everything is healing well, even though his right eye is still quite red. And his eyes look like they are tracking together much better. We will have another recheck in April after everything is completely healed. But for now everything looks successful.
Monday of this week both boys had an Audiology appointment. Caleb heard just fine, even though one of his ears looked like there was a bit of fluid in it. So that is good. Eli however, did not have normal ear drums, and it looked like there was quite a bit of fluid in his middle ear and did not appear to be hearing normally (I won't get into the details of the tests because people get mad at me when I do that!! Let me know if you want an explanation of infant hearing testing and I can give you one though!). His ear didn't appear to be infected and both boys have a bit of a cold so at this point we are just waiting and will retest in about a month to see if the fluid/hearing loss has resolved itself. If not, then we may be looking at getting some ear tubes put in...which consists of another surgery! Poor little mini boy! Please be praying that it just resolves itself because I really don't want to have to do more surgery. But am a firm believer in tubes when middle ear fluid is affecting hearing and speech/language development (I have tons of success stories!!!)
Eli has also been having weekly therapy with an Occupational Therapist. Today was our second session. Last week Eli was a bit grumpy and didn't like Katie (his therapist) getting close to him or making him do stuff he didn't want to do. So we didn't do a ton. But this week, Eli was all smiles and giggles for her, and he "performed" beautifully! We are working on helping him get from a sitting position to a crawling position and back again. He did that wonderfully for about 40 minutes then we had some breakfast. We are also working a bit on feeding so we eat breakfast with Katie there. He has, however, been doing amazingly well on feeding. He started eating cut up kidney beans and carrots and doesn't choke on them anymore, and LOVES them. I also gave him some spinach cheese raviolis yesterday and he didn't gag on those either. He seems to really be enjoying food more and more, and is willing to try new foods. And when he likes them he eats a TON! So I am glad that concern is getting less and less for me, and he seems to be making progress. Now we just need to work on getting him to drink out of a sippy cup!
Eli has also been improving in his speech. He babbles all the time and has started saying mama, dada, and baba (we are trying to assign meaning to each of those (mama, daddy and brother) but he mostly just calls me dada. He has also started waving "hi" and "bye" to people when he sees them. He signs "all done", however I do think he is saying "more" when he signs "all done" as he gets mad when I start putting the food away! He also seems to be imitating us more and more with the sounds we make, which is a good step. Yesterday he was giving us all "kisses" by making kissing noises with his mouth after we would do it to him!
Eli has also made some great gains in his sleeping! I know that has been an ongoing prayer request for us. But he is taking a good consistent 20-30 minute nap in the morning and a good few hour nap in the afternoon. That has been so nice! He has also been sleeping through the night beautifully! It was such a lame and dumb fix for us, that it cracks us up every day. So a few weeks ago I had his mattress off his bed to change the sheets on it and we all (Ryan, Caleb and Myself) decided that his mattress was really firm and maybe that's why he didn't like it because our bed and the guest bed have big fluffy feather beds on them, and he sleeps great in those two beds. So that weekend we were at Ikea and bought a more squishy mattress topper for a crib and put it on his bed that night. Well it worked like a charm and he has slept through the night ever since!!! Isn't that crazy?!?! That was the best $12 I have ever spent!!
Last of all, (I know this post is getting really really long, but it feels like so much has happened this month), I could really use some prayer! Some of you may know that I have been on a leave from my job this past school year. Well, sadly that leave is up at the end of this year. I had origionally hoped that I had next year off too. My school district allows for 2 years, and if Eli had been born on his due date (which is Friday by the way) last year wouldn't have counted. But because he was born in February then last year counted for my first year and this year counted as my second year (lame huh?) Well, I am now to a point where I really really really need to decide if I want to go back next year or if I want to give up my position and stay home with the boys. It is a really hard decision for me because I know if I give up my job I won't ever get that one back, and it's a risk if I will ever get another school district job again, since there aren't that many out there. We are also not sure if we can swing me staying home indefinitely financially. One more year would have been tight, but we probably could have done it. On the other hand, I also love being home with my kids full time and wanted to be able to do that when they were little. So please please please be praying for me. Or if you have any advice for me give me a call or send me an e mail! This has been keeping me up at night and I really don't know what to do. Every day I feel differently!
Thanks everyone for all of your continued support and prayers!!!
Monday, February 27, 2012
New Developments
Birthday:
Well, we have had a lot going on in Eli's life lately. We had a birthday shindig with family and some close friends last weekend at my parent's house. That was so fun, and it was exciting to see some out of towners there too! Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us. Eli seemed to have fun, and really enjoyed his cupcake. Which was great fun to watch as it had blue frosting! It was fun to see all of his little baby "friends" too!
Eyes:
Eli has also had a few eye appointments over the past few weeks. His last one, last week, was his pre-op appointment. And we are scheduled for surgery on March 9th. This procedure involves making a tiny incision on the inside corner of each eye. Detaching the muscle (closest to the nose on both eyes) and reattaching it a few millimeters back, giving the eyes more ability to move together. This surgery is pretty low risk, and quick and easy. However, the one main risk is that it may not fix his crossing issue. The Doctor says that it's his only option at this point to potentially be able to use both eyes together, but since the crossing is actually a brain issue, and not an eye issue, it's a gamble as to whether his brain will be able to adjust. The other option is to try to fix it with glasses but Eli doesn't need glasses so that doesn't apply to him. We have been patching his eye regularly and the doctor can tell that he is now focusing on things with both eyes (not together, just at different times he uses either eye) where before he always focused on everything with his right eye. So she feels that the patching we have been doing is going to increase the likely hood of success after the surgery. So if everyone could pray that the surgery is successful! As I mentioned before Eli seems to like being able to see out of one eye and is happier and more mobile with the patch on. So I would really like this to work so he isn't having to work so hard to see everything!
Development:
Today Little Red School House (the birth to three program in our area) came out to our house again and did another assessment on Eli. This time he did qualify for services! He actually qualified in 3 areas based on the testing. So we will meet next week to draw up his IFSP (Individual Family Service Plan) and then will start therapy the week after. I am really excited for this, as it's been frustrating watching him not develop as a typical baby should. I know he's not a typical baby (as I hear many of you saying in my head). But as a mom and as a professional I knew he was just falling more and more behind. So I am glad he will be getting some support for now. The nice thing is he will be in the system until he is 3, even if he gets caught up, and we can do maintenance therapy to make sure he stays up with his peers until preschool age. It is also unlike an IEP in that it is a lot more flexible and we can change goals and amount of service time whenever we feel like we need too. Unlike an IEP where we would have to undergo a whole new evaluation and those only happen every 3 years in order to change anything at all! (it makes working for an early intervention program sound very appealing... if it didn't involve so much travel time!!!!!). For now we will mostly be working on gross motor skills and feeding/swallowing issues. He also qualified for communication too, but as that's not my main concern we won't focus on that right away. In my mind his communication is about where Caleb's was and Caleb is now a TALKER, so I am not hugely worried. But like I said, if I am concerned in 6 months or so, then we can add a goal for that!
Ears:
The other thing that I need to do is get his ears checked out and his hearing tested. (How ironic). I have been wanting to get both boys tested, and now I guess I will just need to go do it sooner rather than later. But the OT told me that ear infections can cause some motor delays so we want to rule out more ear infections. And obviously ear infections can cause hearing loss and in turn language delays.... has I have seen over and over and over again. So I just want to make sure he is hearing the sounds in his environment as he should. Plus I just feel, given his birth history he should be tested... but that's just me. I tested Caleb's hearing a couple of times before he was 1, but I had access to equipment and I don't anymore. (if any of you Audiology folks have an OAE machine and want to practice on Eli let me know, I'll bring him by!) I had an ear check appointment last week and his ear infection seemed improved, but the doctor said his ear drum still seemed pink and a bit retracted, but better than before. Which he said was normal in a healing ear. But I don't want it to come back if all of the bacteria was not completely eliminated from the last bout of antibiotics.
So that's what's going on in the world of Eli again! What a crazy month... aren't they all. Oh yeah and I forgot to mention that we saw the Cardiologist last week, and his heart and everything checked out so we are good to go for another year! So one good piece of news this month! I will keep you all updated as everything develops over the next few weeks!!!
PS: I would add pictures from his birthday party, but I am too tired and lazy to go turn on the other computer. So that might have to be another post!
Well, we have had a lot going on in Eli's life lately. We had a birthday shindig with family and some close friends last weekend at my parent's house. That was so fun, and it was exciting to see some out of towners there too! Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us. Eli seemed to have fun, and really enjoyed his cupcake. Which was great fun to watch as it had blue frosting! It was fun to see all of his little baby "friends" too!
Eyes:
Eli has also had a few eye appointments over the past few weeks. His last one, last week, was his pre-op appointment. And we are scheduled for surgery on March 9th. This procedure involves making a tiny incision on the inside corner of each eye. Detaching the muscle (closest to the nose on both eyes) and reattaching it a few millimeters back, giving the eyes more ability to move together. This surgery is pretty low risk, and quick and easy. However, the one main risk is that it may not fix his crossing issue. The Doctor says that it's his only option at this point to potentially be able to use both eyes together, but since the crossing is actually a brain issue, and not an eye issue, it's a gamble as to whether his brain will be able to adjust. The other option is to try to fix it with glasses but Eli doesn't need glasses so that doesn't apply to him. We have been patching his eye regularly and the doctor can tell that he is now focusing on things with both eyes (not together, just at different times he uses either eye) where before he always focused on everything with his right eye. So she feels that the patching we have been doing is going to increase the likely hood of success after the surgery. So if everyone could pray that the surgery is successful! As I mentioned before Eli seems to like being able to see out of one eye and is happier and more mobile with the patch on. So I would really like this to work so he isn't having to work so hard to see everything!
Development:
Today Little Red School House (the birth to three program in our area) came out to our house again and did another assessment on Eli. This time he did qualify for services! He actually qualified in 3 areas based on the testing. So we will meet next week to draw up his IFSP (Individual Family Service Plan) and then will start therapy the week after. I am really excited for this, as it's been frustrating watching him not develop as a typical baby should. I know he's not a typical baby (as I hear many of you saying in my head). But as a mom and as a professional I knew he was just falling more and more behind. So I am glad he will be getting some support for now. The nice thing is he will be in the system until he is 3, even if he gets caught up, and we can do maintenance therapy to make sure he stays up with his peers until preschool age. It is also unlike an IEP in that it is a lot more flexible and we can change goals and amount of service time whenever we feel like we need too. Unlike an IEP where we would have to undergo a whole new evaluation and those only happen every 3 years in order to change anything at all! (it makes working for an early intervention program sound very appealing... if it didn't involve so much travel time!!!!!). For now we will mostly be working on gross motor skills and feeding/swallowing issues. He also qualified for communication too, but as that's not my main concern we won't focus on that right away. In my mind his communication is about where Caleb's was and Caleb is now a TALKER, so I am not hugely worried. But like I said, if I am concerned in 6 months or so, then we can add a goal for that!
Ears:
The other thing that I need to do is get his ears checked out and his hearing tested. (How ironic). I have been wanting to get both boys tested, and now I guess I will just need to go do it sooner rather than later. But the OT told me that ear infections can cause some motor delays so we want to rule out more ear infections. And obviously ear infections can cause hearing loss and in turn language delays.... has I have seen over and over and over again. So I just want to make sure he is hearing the sounds in his environment as he should. Plus I just feel, given his birth history he should be tested... but that's just me. I tested Caleb's hearing a couple of times before he was 1, but I had access to equipment and I don't anymore. (if any of you Audiology folks have an OAE machine and want to practice on Eli let me know, I'll bring him by!) I had an ear check appointment last week and his ear infection seemed improved, but the doctor said his ear drum still seemed pink and a bit retracted, but better than before. Which he said was normal in a healing ear. But I don't want it to come back if all of the bacteria was not completely eliminated from the last bout of antibiotics.
So that's what's going on in the world of Eli again! What a crazy month... aren't they all. Oh yeah and I forgot to mention that we saw the Cardiologist last week, and his heart and everything checked out so we are good to go for another year! So one good piece of news this month! I will keep you all updated as everything develops over the next few weeks!!!
PS: I would add pictures from his birthday party, but I am too tired and lazy to go turn on the other computer. So that might have to be another post!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Happy Birthday Eli!
This is Eli the day he was born! Little did we know what the next month and year would hold for us then!
What a tiny sweet boy!
This is Eli now, what a year it has been. He is still a tiny sweet boy, and we love him so much!
This year has held many many challenges for us as a family and for Eli as an individual. Starting on the day he was born, which was more than 6 weeks before we wanted him to be born. Then a week later needing to have open heart surgery, and a few weeks recovering in Children's Hospital, only to develop a blood clot in his neck, which required injections twice daily for the next 5 months. Then at six months we found out that Eli had a lazy eye which might require surgery. A few months later we discovered that it would require surgery as well as an eye patch. Which we have been doing daily for the last month, until his surgery is scheduled. He also developed RSV in November/December and an ear infection which he is still being treated for! Wow, there was so much stacked against that little boy from the get go!
But he is a true fighter! He came through it all, and is still working through some of it, and is such a sweet little social boy. We love him so much and even though the year was hard, we know it has made and will continue to make Eli a very special and unique little person in the years to come.
Eli is our little talker boy. Even as a tiny baby he would just vocalize and make all sorts of noises, constantly. People commented on it in the grocery store and all over, how much noise he made! He loves stuffed animals, especially his Angry Bird, and will hold lengthy conversations with them, while eating their faces. Along with Eli being a talker, comes the opinionated Eli. Eli loves to tell us when he is mad, angry, frustrated, happy or when he thinks things are just plain funny. He really holds nothing back. Which just cracks us up sometimes.
Eli also likes to be doing things. When we reads books, he wants to turn the pages or lift the flaps. And if you try to help him do it more gently... oh beware, the screams will follow. He also enjoys feeding himself things like cheerios, puffs, macaroni and cheese, peas and many other finger foods. Again if you try to help him or show him how to hold or lift something... the screams will follow! It is fun to watch him figuring things out though. And he loves to squish and play with his food and experience all of the different textures.
Eli also seems to not be a fan of sleep. He still likes to wake us up in the middle of the night, several times (which might have to do with the ear infection) and can skip a nap here and there, much to the frustration of his parents when we want to get stuff done. I have been transitioning him to one nap and that seems to be working better and he will more often than not take a good afternoon nap, when Caleb does, and then go to bed well at night. This way they are sleeping at the same time and I can actually do things during the day, instead of tag teaming boys all day long! We are still working on the sleep issues, and hopefully this next year will bring more rest in the Howell household.
We are still working out his eye issues, and he wears a patch daily. He hates when we put it on and take it off, but I actually think he likes it when it's on. Since we have started patching him, he has started showing so much more interest in the world around him and actually tries to move around in his environment. More than he ever has before. We have a eye doctor appointment next week so will learn more about surgery and his eyes then.
His moving around brings us to his gross motor skills. He is still not really mobile, however he can roll around now and scoot backwards using his arms. Which both developed in the last 3 weeks since patching him! But he just doesn't seem to get that he has legs to use too. However, he LOVES to hold on to our hands and walk around all over the place. We hiked down to a beach in our area this weekend and I was holding his hands letting him walk on the sand, and he saw the water and took off that way. He got so mad when I wouldn't actually let him walk into the water! But he was so motivated to walk around like the big kids. We just need to work on the steps leading up to walking so he can be more independent. We are currently in the process of getting him reevaluated for services with Little Red School House, for gross motor and possibly feeding/swallowing/oral aversion issues.
So I will keep everyone posted on how those two things go as they come up. He also has his one year cardiology appointment next week as well, and his first dentist appointment (which is really just piggybacked with Caleb's dentist appointment). So a lot is happening in the next few weeks!
Happy Birthday my little Eli, we love you so much and you have come so far this past year! We are so excited to see what this next year holds for you.
We are still working out his eye issues, and he wears a patch daily. He hates when we put it on and take it off, but I actually think he likes it when it's on. Since we have started patching him, he has started showing so much more interest in the world around him and actually tries to move around in his environment. More than he ever has before. We have a eye doctor appointment next week so will learn more about surgery and his eyes then.
His moving around brings us to his gross motor skills. He is still not really mobile, however he can roll around now and scoot backwards using his arms. Which both developed in the last 3 weeks since patching him! But he just doesn't seem to get that he has legs to use too. However, he LOVES to hold on to our hands and walk around all over the place. We hiked down to a beach in our area this weekend and I was holding his hands letting him walk on the sand, and he saw the water and took off that way. He got so mad when I wouldn't actually let him walk into the water! But he was so motivated to walk around like the big kids. We just need to work on the steps leading up to walking so he can be more independent. We are currently in the process of getting him reevaluated for services with Little Red School House, for gross motor and possibly feeding/swallowing/oral aversion issues.
So I will keep everyone posted on how those two things go as they come up. He also has his one year cardiology appointment next week as well, and his first dentist appointment (which is really just piggybacked with Caleb's dentist appointment). So a lot is happening in the next few weeks!
Happy Birthday my little Eli, we love you so much and you have come so far this past year! We are so excited to see what this next year holds for you.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Eyes
We had our eye doctor appointments this morning. It went well, and the clinic was really fun... Caleb didn't want to leave! Caleb's vision was still normal so that was good. They won't have to see him for another 3 years. There was some concern because he failed his vision screen at his four year check up. But it may have been that he wanted every picture on the chart to be a "fridge" don't ask me why, but he was being silly. But today he did a great job and took the test seriously and could see 20/20.
Eli on the other hand "Had some crossing"...obviously! They determined that his vision seemed pretty close to normal with his left eye being a bit worse than his right eye. But not enough to need a prescription. Which I guess is good. But they can correct the crossed eye with glasses if the prescription is strong enough. So the doctor said we are probably looking at eye surgery in the next few months for him. She didn't get into the details too much. But at this point we are supposed to patch Eli's right eye for 2-4 hours a day to strengthen his left eye. She doesn't think that patching alone is going to fix his problem. But she says that strengthening that eye provides a much better outcome for the surgery. So at this point he will need to wear his patch until our next appointment on February 14th. Then at that time we will further discuss what the surgery will entail. She briefly told me that they will lengthen the eye muscles closest to his nose to help his eyes be more focused forward.
She does think that his vision is affected by this, but she couldn't say if it's also been affecting his motor development. She has had patients who have started walking right after the surgery. She does think he sees toys and objects OK, but might have to work harder at it. He tracks with his eyes well, and focuses on things he wants to look at. Which he has always been able to do pretty well, at least from our perspective.
So please keep the little boy in your prayers this next month. I have resigned myself to the surgery, but we all know God can work miracles! It would be great if the patching would be enough. The poor baby has been though so much already. Also pray that he will accept the patch and tolerate it. He keeps rubbing that eye, and the patch today started coming off right away so I had to reinforce it with band-aids. But then after awhile he seemed to ignore it if he was distracted enough! So that might be a good sign. But please keep praying for him.
Thanks everyone!
Monday, January 9, 2012
11 months old!
Well, little Eli has had a rough month, that's for sure. In the beginning of December we noticed his cough (that he had had since the middle of October) was not going away. I squeezed him in at Caleb's 4 year appointment and his pediatrician thought it was either Asthma or RSV. He figured Asthma since Eli did not have a fever and seemed to feel OK in every other way. So he prescribed us an inhaler to use when his wheezing and coughing got bad. We used that for a day or two and couldn't really tell if it was making things better or not, then Eli took a turn for the worse! He got really lethargic and all he wanted to do was sleep. When he was awake he just cried and snuggled (I snuggled with him that week more than he's let me his entire life)!! I vacillated between taking back in (or taking him to urgent care/ER in the night time) and was just waiting to see if he pulled through. Finally, after several calls to the clinics after hours hot line, I decided to take him in on Sunday. Luckily, as I found out, our clinic is open for a few hours on Sundays which saved me tons of money and time! I took him in and we did a nebulizer treatment again. The Doctor also looked in his ear and determined that he had an ear infection, his first one ever. Then we went over to the hospital and had chest X-rays done to rule out pneumonia. Then we went and got his antibiotics. So after a really long hospital day, we still weren't sure what was going on with him. But we started the antibiotics and within a few days he was acting like he felt better. We finally got all of the results back from the doctor and it turns out that he didn't have pneumonia, but did have RSV! So scary times. By that point however he had taken a turn for the better and was acting more like his happy little self. It was interesting how much I missed the smiley chatty boy that he usually is, and now scary it was to have him so lethargic and miserable! Then sadly a few weeks later, he got another illness, right after Christmas. But this time he seems to have pulled through it and has been acting much happier the past few days.
As for development goes, I think the being sick really set us back. He's still about as mobile as he was last month. He is tolerating tummy time a bit more than last month and will hold his head up for longer than before. He also can reach far out for toys and support himself on his arms from sitting. He rocks back and forth when on his hands and knees for a few seconds and then flops back down on his belly. But still no crawling. He also just figured out how to roll from his back to his stomach, but he has to be really really really mad in order to do it. But at least he seems to be trying to do it more and we all know practice makes perfect.
As for feeding goes, no real gains have been made. He pretty much completely stopped eating when he was sick, enough I had to pump a few times to keep my milk supply up. Another concerning thing with being sick!! So I stopped giving him baby food since he either spit it up right away and then refused to eat it or would refuse to eat at all and would just cry and cry. I have started him on more chunky baby food and he is getting used to that. Plus I have been trying to give him lots of soft fruits cut up small, not pureed and now that he is better, he seems to be doing well with that. We haven't had any scary choking incidents lately which is good. I think he has figured out to use his teeth and gums if something is in his mouth with a texture. So hopefully that is some good improvement.
His sleep still could use some prayer. The boy has no schedule, as much as we try to have him on one. Some days he will sleep for 3 good naps during the day, and then other days, like today he won't take a nap at all. Even if we lay with him doesn't fall asleep. Then the night time is worse! He can cry for hours and hours. Nothing soothes him finally the three of us (Ryan, Caleb and I) sleep in our room and let Eli cry until he falls asleep. I have no idea what to do with the boy at night. We have put him up in the guest room a few times, where he naps and that seems to help, and we leave the light on. But we are not sure if that is a long term solution. So please be praying for his sleep patterns to improve. And also for wisdom for us to know how to handle this problem! We really need more sleep around here!
Also tomorrow Eli (and Caleb) have eye doctors appointments. Eli's is for his left eye that crosses. Please be praying that it turns out to be something easy to fix and that he doesn't have to have another surgery. It might just require a patch to strengthen that eye or maybe he'll need glasses. We really aren't sure what's going on. So please pray for that as well.
All in all we had a a good and busy first Christmas with our families and were really glad Eli got better in time to enjoy the celebrations! His favorite gift has been his angry bird (Caleb wanted one and I didn't want Eli to feel left out... good thing too since he loves that thing!). He is also starting to like Lego Duplos, but all he does is bang them together and make lots of noise with them in the box, but it keeps him entertained! He has also gotten better at reading stories with us and we got quite a few new books to read and he has been enjoying them. That's all for Eli for now. I'll try to update about his eye appointment later this week.
As for development goes, I think the being sick really set us back. He's still about as mobile as he was last month. He is tolerating tummy time a bit more than last month and will hold his head up for longer than before. He also can reach far out for toys and support himself on his arms from sitting. He rocks back and forth when on his hands and knees for a few seconds and then flops back down on his belly. But still no crawling. He also just figured out how to roll from his back to his stomach, but he has to be really really really mad in order to do it. But at least he seems to be trying to do it more and we all know practice makes perfect.
As for feeding goes, no real gains have been made. He pretty much completely stopped eating when he was sick, enough I had to pump a few times to keep my milk supply up. Another concerning thing with being sick!! So I stopped giving him baby food since he either spit it up right away and then refused to eat it or would refuse to eat at all and would just cry and cry. I have started him on more chunky baby food and he is getting used to that. Plus I have been trying to give him lots of soft fruits cut up small, not pureed and now that he is better, he seems to be doing well with that. We haven't had any scary choking incidents lately which is good. I think he has figured out to use his teeth and gums if something is in his mouth with a texture. So hopefully that is some good improvement.
His sleep still could use some prayer. The boy has no schedule, as much as we try to have him on one. Some days he will sleep for 3 good naps during the day, and then other days, like today he won't take a nap at all. Even if we lay with him doesn't fall asleep. Then the night time is worse! He can cry for hours and hours. Nothing soothes him finally the three of us (Ryan, Caleb and I) sleep in our room and let Eli cry until he falls asleep. I have no idea what to do with the boy at night. We have put him up in the guest room a few times, where he naps and that seems to help, and we leave the light on. But we are not sure if that is a long term solution. So please be praying for his sleep patterns to improve. And also for wisdom for us to know how to handle this problem! We really need more sleep around here!
Also tomorrow Eli (and Caleb) have eye doctors appointments. Eli's is for his left eye that crosses. Please be praying that it turns out to be something easy to fix and that he doesn't have to have another surgery. It might just require a patch to strengthen that eye or maybe he'll need glasses. We really aren't sure what's going on. So please pray for that as well.
All in all we had a a good and busy first Christmas with our families and were really glad Eli got better in time to enjoy the celebrations! His favorite gift has been his angry bird (Caleb wanted one and I didn't want Eli to feel left out... good thing too since he loves that thing!). He is also starting to like Lego Duplos, but all he does is bang them together and make lots of noise with them in the box, but it keeps him entertained! He has also gotten better at reading stories with us and we got quite a few new books to read and he has been enjoying them. That's all for Eli for now. I'll try to update about his eye appointment later this week.
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