Wow again long time no update. Sorry. Andrew has been doing wonderful. He graduated out of feeding therapy and music got cancelled due to budget cuts. We have his review coming up in a few weeks. It is hard to beleive that it has been two years since we started with the regional center. It has been a long wonderful, stressfull two years. I have seen so much improvement in him. We will be having our evaluation with the school distrcit at that time too. They take over Andrews care at the age of three ( which is in 9 weeks). We are going to try and get him into a preschool thru the state. They will continue with his speech and O.T. I wish i can do more updating but it is after midnight and I am tired.

Weighted blankets

So after talking to his OT we decided to try out a weighted blanket. She had a sample one in the office so we let him get used to having it and he did really well with it. He sat longer and focused more. So we have it at home now and we are going to try it out for a week. They run about $130.00 so we want to make sure it works for him before we spend the money. Now if we can just keep him in his crib to use it. The little booger has figured out how to climb out. So I have rearranged the room once again to make it so he has NOTHING near his crib. Just a little more longer. I am not ready for him to be out of it just yet!!

I want to apologize for not updating sooner. Summer came and we have been on the go every day. Trying to keep the kids occupied and not beating each other up. It was a chore. To summarize up our summer all three kids were in gymnastics, Owen and Audrey were in T-ball and Owen made the all-star team. Owen and Audrey have started soccer. Audrey was in pre-school and today Owen started second grade. Also we go to cub scouts once a week. I know i am missing a bunch of things. On top of all that we were still in therapy five time a week with Andrew. Phew I am getting tired thinking about it again! The kids Grandma has moved in with us and has been a big help with keeping Owen and Audrey busy while I was with Andrew.

On to Andrew, the reason for this blog. He had been doing WONDERFUL!! He has been improving SO MUCH over this last month. We are loosing music therapy due to the states budget cuts so we will be down to four a week starting next week. In ID his attention has come so far. We went from not sitting and holding his attention at all to picking one or two toys and sticking with it for the whole hour. He even pulls out his table and chair when she comes. Speech, has come along also. His understanding language is outstanding but his expressive is still lagging. He is at about 18 months for expressive and he is 30 months now. But we see improvements all the time. He is still using alot of his sighs to help us understand him. OT has caught him up with his fine motor skill. Is has reached and exceeded those skills. We are now working on his attention and sensory issues. He loves to be touched and being in the bins of beans or bird seeds calms him. So we are desensitizing him that way. Music, I am sad to be leaving but the budget cuts are making it so. He LOVED music therapy.He gets very happy when she is here. Lastly is feeding. along with speech this is still another big delay. Even tho he is still delayed he has improved tremendously. He is still pocketing some food and just mushing it around but not as much. We are starting to see a true chewing pattern. His gagging and choking are almost all but gone.

I was looking at some pictures of him from this time last year and almost stat crying because of how he looked. (see below)

Now look at him.

Thank you every one for your support over this last year.

Good and Bad news

So we will start with the bad. I am 99% sure his reflux is back. He has been avoiding food, holding it in his mouth and not swallowing and when he does get it down most of the time shortly after he will throw it up. So we are waiting for our referral from Kaiser to see their GI Dr.  We also have a appointment with ENT to get his tonsils and adenoids checked. He is a mouth  breather and a very loud snorer. Also we are getting a second opinion on his tongue tie. Both his feeding therapist and his speech therapist believe it would benefit him to have it clipped now and not later.

So now the good. At speech today he started to put two words together!!!! Yeah!!! His one words have increased to about 35-45 words that mostly I can understand depending on the way he says them. But today he said  "bebe baba" (baby bottle), "bebe ni-ni" (baby night night) and "mama ba" (grandma bath). When he did that his therapist and I both stopped and looked at each other like, did he just do that? So we are making progress. 

Here is a picture of him from the other day. Enjoy.

Wow it has been a while since I last posted a update on Andrew. So Sorry!!! We have been VERY busy with all the kids. Andrew is doing WONDERFUL!! He is improving everyday. His understanding is incredible. I am finding his biggest delay is still in his expressive communication.  His sign language is improving everyday. He had a new genetics appointment with Kaiser last week. I feel it went really well. This new Dr. isn't as sure as the other Dr. that he has Coffin-Lowry. He wouldn't tell me what he thought it was but he was going to do some research. He also had another audiology appointment and so far it was good. He was too upset to finish the test so we rescheduled it. That is is for now I will update more with pictures later.

 

Still Sick

So I took Andrew back to the Dr.'s today. I didn't like the way he was breathing. This new Dr agreed that he was fighting to breath and said to give him the inhaler 2 x's every hour for 4 hours. She also informed me that he has a mild ear infection in his right ear and proceeded to get a prescription for antibiotics. Oh I hope that his tummy is some what better that he can handle them this time. He is sleeping now and I am enjoying the cuddle time with him I just hope he gets better soon.

 

My baby is sick.....

Thanks to beautiful Miss. Audrey, Andrew is now sick. Audrey brought home croup last week and went to the ER because she was having trouble breathing. I got her all better (somewhat) and now Andrew is sick. He has had a fever on and off for three days now with a really runny nose and a cough. I am kind of enjoying it because he want to cuddle with me when he doesn't feel good. On a good day I have to fight him for a hug. I hope he gets better soon......