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!

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.