Therapy

Emma has been in therapy for 1 year. It is amazing the progress she has made. We went from her not being able to do anything, to her walking in one year, an answer to prayers! There has been times when she has been a pistol, not wanting to do what we wanted her. She is totally a girl who will do things on her own time. We would try anything to get her to roll over, then one day, she just starts rolling. Same thing with crawling and walking. You should see her tear it up now. I would say she is walking 90% of the time and she gets so excited when we cheer her on.

Her therapist brought us some biker shorts that should help strengthen her hips as well. We are so thankful for the progress she has made so far. The therapist says we can go to every other week or once a month now for her sessions because we just really need to work on refining her walking skills, then work on jumping and getting her on her tip toes among a few other things.





God is so good!

Busy,Busy

Once again I really have been slacking in the blogging world. I don't know where the time goes.

My little ones are sharing a room for the first time tonight. We finally decided to try and put them together and see how they do. I can still hear Sam talking away. I think Emma is sleeping, I have not heard her in a while. It is fun just to listen to them go on and on.

We saw Emma's GI doctor yesterday and he gave the word that she could switch over to whole milk. NO MORE STINKY FORMULA!!! We still have to add more calories to her milk by adding whipping cream or we can use the Carnation Instant Breakfast. He also said we could use Pedisure, which is pricy and he said it is very sweet as well. I have also heard that it can mess up kids teeth, especially ones that are just getting their teeth.

Emma also has started to crawl in the last two weeks or so. It is so exciting to see her go. She is getting faster all the time. She is also starting to pull herself up if we are holding her hands and can pull herself up to her knees in her crib or the bathtub. She is also enjoying Cheerios, especially the Fruity ones and her Geber puffs. We are trying to move her along with her foods and textures and that is always an adventure. She stills gags quite often so we have to take baby steps.

Sam is talking more and more. He is repeating us more than anything but at least he is getting the hang of it. He also has taken to wanting us to feed him. He will take a few bites by himself and then he says "All done." So I will try a few tricks to get him to take a few more bites. I know this is because he sees me feeding Emma and wants to be a "baby" but it still is a bit frustrating!

We had an appointment for both of them and they were both diagnosed with
Neurofibromatosis. It appears they will have a very mild case like me and they will just be followed once a year or so as long as there are no other problems.

I found something interesting out about myself as I was talking to the doctor. She would like me to get some extra tests done to see if the Neurofibromatosis is causing some of my high blood pressure problems. I was really surprised that she took the time to talk to me about this when the appointment was for my kids. Another reason why we LOVE Children's Hospital!!!

We were also able to have dinner with some of Emma's nurses while we were down there for her appointments this last month. It is always great to see them and let them love on Emma again.

We had a great day on Saturday with my family. My sister and her family was up from Georgia and my other sisters and their families came down from Stevens Point. We hung out all day. Had some fabulous soup, salad and bread for lunch and some delicious spaghetti with homemade sauce and meatballs with more bread and salad for dinner. Don't forget the cupcakes and chocolate cake(with chocolate frosting of course!) There was an impromptu couples fooseball tournament in which my husband and I lost in the first round so we were out. It brought me back to the Ping-Pong tournament at my sister and brother-in-law's house, though D took second in that!

I think I may call it a night, though I am tempted to do the dishes tonight so I don't have to face them tomorrow.

Also,if you think of it, please pray for my sister. She had an interview to teach at a college so if she gets that job, they will be moving back here, well, at least our state!

Thanks and God Bless!

Jodi

Sitting Pretty

Imagine my surprise when I went to go get Emma up from her nap and I found her like this..

Now, it may not seem like a big deal to see her sitting in her crib, however for Emma, it is a huge milestone.
This is the first time EVER that she has gone from laying down to sitting up, all by herself. It is something we have been working on, but like many other things, I felt like it would never come. She is apparently getting the hang of it because she did it two other times tonight. Go Emma! Mommy is so very proud of you!!

We had a very nice time at the Hotel Ruby Marie. It is a cute bed and breakfast close to the capitol. It used to be a hotel that has been renovated. There is some history to the building and it has beautiful woodwork.





I would have liked to go to the capitol at night to snap some pictures, but I did get these pictures.




We also went to Mad City Church. Our friends who live in Madison go there and we decided it would be a great opportunity to meet up with them and check out the church. It was a great time with awesome praise and worship and a good guest speaker.

Sam continues to be a joy to have around. I am almost convinced that he could probably start speaking in full sentences if he wants to. While I was giving him a bath, Emma was standing up by the tub and trying to get my attention and I said "Can I help you?" and he repeated what I said, not quite as clear, but clear enough so I knew what he had said. What is up with that? I try and try to get him to say stuff and he just looks at me like I am crazy and then when I am not even talking to him, he spits stuff out like that!

We are also working on the alphabet. I had gotten a set of flashcards at Walmart and now he is getting more into the pictures. Some days all of the letters are "A" some days everything is "E" and other days he will say the letters pretty good. And he is getting better at the pictures too. He is at a great age. Thankfully, he has not had any "terrible two" moments. Though someone told me that they thought that 3 was worse that 2, so we will see.

It is supposed to be in the 30's tomorrow, Praise the Lord! Unfortunately, that really won't hang around. They are calling for temps in the single digits again this weekend:( Oh well, spring will come eventually!

God Bless!
Jodi