Life Happens... :)

I realize I have NOT blogged in the past week or so...but life happens and we have been a busy little family! Neil has been working many, many, many hours these past few weeks (and back on 24 hour shifts) so we go days without seeing eachother! On the days he is home we like to spend time together as a family.

First off - Logan is back to making unexplainable progress the last two weeks in therapy. His muscles have been coordinating and working harder. His therapists are extremely happy! I don't really care "how" or "why" his muscles are working more...I am just glad that they are and pray that the progress will continue. We have also resumed aquatic therapy with him. :) Logan and I have also been doing LOTS of letter recognition, number recognition, and arts and crafts. I will have to post some pics soon!!! He is going to be SO ready for Kindergarten next year...I have no doubt!

Hailey is now receiving therapy twice a week at Turnstone along with Logan. She is doing really well. :) Her ankle has been healed for about 2 weeks, but she is still in the "boot" and taking it a lot slower than we have before. I think this next week she will be graduating into an "air cast."

I have been venturing out more with the kiddos by myself (while Neil is working)...We spent Friday night shopping at the mall, having dinner, and getting dessert. The kids were fabulous! I think they were so much better for me because they had 100% of my attention!

We are all hanging in there and doing well! Today I am working on catching up on laundry - I have slacked a bit in that department. Oh well - I just have mountains of folded clothes covering the entire living room that I need to get put away! That is my next task today!

Hope each of you have a great week!

Summer Fun

The MOST important thing this week is that my BABY BOY is going to be 5 years old on FRIDAY! Where has the time gone?!?!

Since school has been out, we have been out and about! Trying to make the most of our Summer with the kiddos and enjoy time outdoors! :D Logan has been really well behaved! He loves to explore new things! Here is what we have done so far:

*A TinCaps Game -- He loved it, but it got rained out not even half way through the game!

*Emily's baseball games -- He doesn't really pay too much attention to the game. He prefers to take snacks and a different tote of toys each time we go! In his defense...it has been HOT.

*Waterpark -- It's not really a "waterpark" but more a splash park! He loves going to hang out there.

*Pool -- We haven't been too often, but he is definitely a waterbug!

*Visited the Sunken Gardens in Huntington -- Him and his sister got to feed the fish, play at the park, and explore all of the different types of plants that grow there. Daddy caught two GIANT crawdads (not sure if that is how you spell it, but they looked like mini-lobsters!).

*Hiked some difficult trails -- This was on Father's Day. I think it was the first time Logan has ever really gone hiking. As we were wayyyy back in the woods almost to the end of one trail and getting ready to turn on another -- a HUGE tree fell right over the trail where we were not even a minute earlier! It was LOUD and rumbled the ground. We all ducked! Logan FREAKED...and he was DONE. The rest of the way he was panting and trying to get out of those woods as quickly as his little feet could carry him. (It was a little scary!)

*Biked the trails -- We have been doing this pretty frequently. We live very close to the river greenway. We hop on the trails and bike by the golf course. Logan is SLOWLY building up strenghth and going a little further each time. I think with his asthma, this is REALLY difficult for him! He does A LOT of crying and whining. His therapist says it is good for him to ride a mile or two.

*Buckner Park -- We met up with my sis, her husband, and their son Madden. Had a mini picnic, played, and snapped some pics.

*Fort Wayne Children's Zoo -- Thank GOD for Zoo passes! :) This is an all summer long activity in our household. Logan LOVES the zoo and could go every.single.day if we would take him! :D Yesterday, we took my niece, and she loved it!!! :) Logan loved showing her the penguins, birds, and the fountain that you can play in!

We are going to be headed to Evansville in about a week and a half to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday! :) While we are there, we are going to take Emily and Logan to Holiday World. My husband and kids have NEVER been! I am excited to show them where we used to visit during the summer! :) I am sure it will be A LOT different to them than Cedar Point! :D

Hope each of you have a great week! <3

Autumn

Therapy Pics!

"Can we play in your office... NOT in the pool?"

She didn't give in...and he got into the pool.

This time he was MUCH happier!

Spring Has Sprung...Finally!!!

Spring seems to finally be here! Hooray! This past weekend we took Logan outside to run off some of his energy. He blew bubbles, played play-doh on the patio table, and got to help take the dogs on a walk by the river. Just being outdoors in the sunshine and fresh air has put a smile on all of our faces!

We managed to cook a few new recipes this week that were corn-free:

1.) Chicken Fried Rice (YUM!)
2.) Homemade Apple Pie (it was "divine"...Logan's word that he used to describe it!)

3.) Homemade Saltine Crackers (because it seems like EVERY.SINGLE.CRACKER contains corn!)

His PT was a little rocky. Miss Deb had him in the pool again and this week he was NOT feeling it. She is working with him to push off from the edge with his feet, turn, and make "mitten" hands and "rainbows" for the stroke that he is doing. When we went into the therapy pool area he started clinging to my legs... and by the time he got into the pool he was crying "Mommy, please get me out...I'm tired! I'm scared! I don't like this!" It really broke my heart, but I was cheering him on and clapping (although I would have rather scooped him up and cuddled him!!! I know it will only get better with time!).

This week at OT Miss Krista worked with him on getting messy (for his sensory defensiveness). She has a big mirror that was used to spread shaving cream all over and write his name in it. He put both of his hands fully onto the shaving cream this time and didn't ask to be cleaned up right away...this is HUGE progress!!! She also had a carpet square that she let him write on with sidewalk chalk. It was awesome! He would brush his hand over it and the chalk would disappear. I am going to get a rug for the house so that he can do this on "rainy" days! Fun times!

His eyes are starting to look dark and his breathing is heavier. I don't know if it is because we have moved and the dust that was stirred up in the process or if there is something else going on. I am going to watch it for another week and then decide whether or not to call our allergist!

Thanks for taking the time to read! If you are interested in one of the recipes feel free to message me!

Hope all of you are having a fantastic start to the new week!

Autumn

Prayer Request and Logan's Results

First of all please say a quick prayer for my friend Beth and her family. Keegan has an MRI to check and see how things are doing. He is a brain cancer survivor and one of the cutest little boys ever! To view his story click here: karingforkeegan.blogspot.com

This morning I took Logan for his actual physical therapy evaluation. This was supposed to have been done 3 weeks ago, but we had a bad week with LOTS of snow, the next week he had a high fever, and then this past week we had EVEN MORE SNOW! So with all of that said, we finally got in there today and got things rolling!

We met with Miss Deb, Logan's new PT, and she was so sweet. Logan responded really well with her and she seemed to be extremely in tune to what is causing Logan some of the physical troubles. The two of them just clicked and I think this is another step in the right direction!!!

We did find out that Logan has significant low muscle tone on his left and right side (the right side is more severe than the left). She measured different things and Logan's feet (when you are sitting and bring your toes toward your chest) are only going to a 65 degree angle with Miss Deb's assistance and an average child has at least a 90 degree angle without assistance. He was also unable to manipulate his feet from side-to-side toward objects. The movement he has is so limited. She put him on a large excercise ball and pointed out that when she would roll him from side to side he doesn't have the instinct to catch himself by putting his foot out...instead he would take his foot and grab/hold onto the ball with his foot (which is what infants do when they cling on)...so he is also immature there. She was extremely informative the entire time she was evaluating. All I could think though is WHY have I never really noticed these things??? I feel like a terrible mom! As soon as she pointed out what she was observing, I could see it! I can now see it A LOT. I guess I never knew what to look for. She did ask a few times if he had ever recieved any type of PT...I think she was shocked that it has gone without notice. I just feel really bad! I know he walks on his toes, I know he is clumsy, but I just didn't think it was as big of a deal as what it is. I thought it was just LOGAN.

Our game plan now is to do PT once a week. She wants to observe and work with him a little while and see how he does. If his improvement is not substantial, we have to see the neurologist. There is a possibility that he also has a processing/coordination issue. The neurologist may be able to further investigate. :( I thought we were done with the scary things and that all of that kind of "stuff" had been ruled out. Another possibility is having braces put on his feet. The thought of that just makes me sad! One fun thing that they do have at Turnstone is a swim team for children his age... She highly recommended it. I definitely think we will let him participate in that and give him the social interaction!

On a positive note, his speech therapy is FINALLY being moved from Parkview to Turnstone!!! This is a GREAT thing! I was NOT impressed with Parkview's SLP's. They were nice ladies, but I just wasn't "feeling" it. I feel that Logan gets so much more out of Turnstone when he is there! And for the cherry on top...all 3 therapies are in ONE place! No more running here, there, and everywhere! :) Yay!!!

I will leave you with a cute pics of Logan from this weekend. We were tired of being cooped up and snowed in, so we got a hotel room and let the kiddos swim! We had a great time.

Love,
Autumn