It's been a minute

And WOW.  Blogspot's interface looks entirely different.  I guess a lot can change in, err, nine months.

Most people I know are on my facebook and keep up with Asher through that means, so it's easy to just post it all there and not write out anything more lengthy in this little corner of the web.  Then I'll realize it's been ages since I posted anything, feel guilty, and write a new update.  Tada!

Well, since the last post, Asher has undergone major orthopedic surgery on his hip.  Turns out it wasn't just a loose tendon and he was dislocating like a circus performer.  He had surgery to correct his malformed bone structure at Vanderbilt Children's in June, and after a long summer, the cast will come off next week!  Unfortunately, he isn't finished.  His surgeon only operated on one leg after determining that bilateral surgery was just too risky with all of the work Asher needed done, so we still have the other leg to go.  Thankfully, he'll get a little break between the two surgeries and get to enjoy a couple of months of cast-free time before he goes back for operation (and cast) #2.

Therapies continue as usual (though his therapists and time slots have changed around a couple of times), and last week he started his second year of preschool, his last before entering into the big bad world of kindergarten.  He loves his teacher and classmates, and after being stuck in a stationary position and staying mostly at home all summer, I think he's glad for the change of scenery!

My goal is to update this page on a semi-regular basis, so I hope to be back soon.  ;)

Three months later...

Alright, so I lied.  I wasn't right back to blogging.

To be fair, I had other writing projects, but this one has been woefully neglected.

Now those are being neglected and I'm writing here.  Ha!

Anyway, hitting the ground running.  The other day Chad picked Asher up and said that he felt his hips "pop."  This, of course, didn't sound good at all, so I mentioned it in physical therapy today.  Asher's PT (who rocks, by the way; having three awesome physical therapists in a row has just been a huge blessing) checked him out today, and while she doesn't think it's a big issue, she did recommend we schedule an x-ray just to be certain.  It doesn't appear to be dislocating and is more likely a stretched ligament "popping" when he moves a certain way, but better safe than sorry.

Thankfully, another huge blessing we have in our lives is great insurance for Asher, so I'll be calling tomorrow to see about setting up the x-ray.  I honestly don't even know how that works, so I guess I'll just call his PCP and see what she says.

I leave you (hopefully not for another three months this time) with a picture of Asher on Halloween:

Cutest mailman EVER

Things are changing... again.

Yet another long while since I've posted an update.  Too long.  One of these days I'll figure out a system.

Asher is still doing wonderfully in preschool.  He loves it.  He comes home with a good report every day, and he's always in a happy mood.

On the negative front, his physical therapist has left her position here in Clarksville and is going back to work at Vandy.  That pretty much sucks since there is no one else in town to take him to, not to mention that she was wonderful.  For now we will just be working on a home regimen until another PT comes to the area.  I know who I want to come, but even if she does decide to come here it will be a few months before that happens, so "Mom, PT" it is.

(and for the record, I'm not fooling myself into thinking I can actually do a PT's job, but I do think I can do at least some things considering my son is my only client, lol)

So that's that.

If you know of any good books or websites re: working with children who have movement disorders, let me know.  I have this one, but that's it.

this n that

So it seems I haven't updated in ages.  Yikes.

You see, I THOUGHT we would be moving and I would pick the blog back up after we moved, but the contract we had on the house fell through, so that won't be happening.  Might as well give an update then, right?

As far as house stuff goes, our listing expires in March.  If the house sells by then... hooray!  We'll move into a larger place and settle in there.  If it doesn't sell by then... hooray!  We'll be making some fun updates to this house and enjoying our stay for a few more years.  I'm honestly okay with whatever direction the Lord has for us at this juncture.  Each avenue has its pros and cons, and He ultimately knows what is best.  Chad might not have such peace about it right now - and not that I blame him, as he is the handyman when things go wrong in our little 1950s cottage - but he'll come around.

Asher is doing great.  He's been practicing in the walker at PT and is doing quite well.  Still settling in, but definitely taking some legit steps.  The other therapies are kinda at a standstill.  Or maybe I should say the progress isn't as consistent.  He has good days and bad.  He is getting quite a bit better about accepting different textures and flavors in his mouth without gagging, which is huge.  Eating is still a long way off, I think, but getting that gag under control is a big step.  He uses a few signs intentionally - "more," "play/music," and "all done" are some that we've seen.  He also waves bye-bye when he's in the mood (sometimes with prompting, and sometimes without).

He's also slowly learning to use his chair.  One thing that gives him trouble is that when he's sitting on the floor, he uses his core to scoot across the floor, and he tries to use that same technique in the chair vs. using his arms to propel the wheels.  He does the same thing in the walker (using his core instead of his legs).  He'll figure it out.

One thing he's figured out lately is how to sit up on his own!  He's been able to sit for awhile, of course, but if he was lying down he couldn't get into the sitting position.  Now he can roll to his belly, push up on "big arms," and swing his legs around into a sitting position.  Not technically the way he's supposed to sit up, but it works for him.  I'm really proud of him for figuring it out all on his own.

Anyway, there you have it.  If you don't hear from me again before then, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

busy times

The blog is now hosted by Blogger.  Some of the images went missing on posts, but other than that everything is intact.  :)

Asher has been doing all kinds of fun things in therapy: getting covered in pudding, practicing identification, trying out a new walker... he's a busy little man.  As I said a few posts back, we condensed a couple of therapies so that Fridays would be open once again.  The five day a week schedule was grueling with all of this house stuff going on.  It's really nice to have a weekday to just focus on things at home.

The house process is going well.  We're under contract and should be closing in less than 3 weeks!  The only hurdle that's left is the FHA appraisal on the house we're selling, which is a big hurdle in such an old house.  Please pray it would go well and that we can close here and settle into the new place.  Did you know it has a handicap-accessible bathroom?  I KNOW!  Too awesome, and definitely meant to be.

Halloween is coming up this weekend... we have a special costume in mind for Asher.  I hope it comes to fruition and we have time to make it!  You'll love it.

I will try to be a better blogger once we get settled in.  :)

MIA

I've been missing in action for quite awhile.  Sorry about that.  It's just gogogo around here.

Next week we pick up Asher's wheelchair at Vanderbilt.  I'm really excited!  It will be soooo awesome for him to be able to get where he wants to be on his own and explore the house in a totally new way.

Speaking of houses, that is all still on.  Ours is on the market (less than a week in), and we've already put in one offer on another.  It was rejected, but that's quite alright.  God has a plan.  We've looked at several others and just haven't found the right one yet.  There are four more on the list, three of which we haven't been inside of yet.  It's nice to not be in a hurry during this process.

As of next week, we're back down to four days a week of therapy.  The 5-day schedule, with everything else we have going on, was just grueling.  It will be nice to have that day "off" again.

Asher's on the honor roll

For PT, that is!

Okay, so there's not really an Honor Roll.  I made that up.  But, Asher did receive the following progress report the other day:

Progress to date: Asher has made excellent progress with his physical therapy program.  He now sits independently for indefinite periods of time, pivots in sitting, reaches for and obtains a toy and plays with it in upright sitting for indefinite periods.  He can transition to standing from short sitting with hands at an anterior support surface.  He can stand with two hands held.  He will stand in parallel bars and has been observed to take two steps with minimal assistance.  He can transition from floor sitting to supine independently.

Look at all those things our boy can do!  We're very proud of him, and eternally grateful for his two wonderful physical therapists.

One step at a time...

Why not start today?  :)

Check out this tall dude!

Gotta love seeing years of therapy paying off!

If there was ever any doubt that Asher's an Elmo guy

 

It can now be removed.  ;)

(this is his early interventionist, Susie - lots more fun pics of this session to come!)

Upsy Daisy

One of the skills Asher is working on in PT and EI is going from lying down to sitting.  He needs some guidance, but he's really doing a lot of this muscle work on his own.  This was yesterday in PT:

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=12249294&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Let's Practice Sitting Up! from Cayla Wilkerson on Vimeo.

Another great find, and a big day

Man, good stuff is just coming out of the woodwork these days!

You know how I posted the other day about always having to put Asher in a onesie so he doesn't go after his button?  Well, a big concern of mine has always been what the heck we were going to do once he outgrew size 24 months, because that's where onesies stop.

Except they don't!

Someone on the CFC listserv posted this link the other day, and I was thrilled!  I'm so relieved to know that we can now go all the way up to size 5T - and they have both short and long sleeves.  Yay!

In other news, Asher had a BIG day at therapy today - he signed More!  He's sort of signed it here and there, but always with prompting and never with much consistency... but today he signed it several times, and all on his own!  It's a sign we've been working on for a long, long time, and it's so awesome to see the fruits of all that effort.  He made his SLP cry.  Of course, he hasn't done it for me at home yet (stinker), but he will.  :)

His OT recommended we pick up some linking beads for him, so I got these tonight at Wal-Mart (we were there to pick up a Site-to-Store order, thus forsaking our beloved Target).  I'm not sure if they're quite what she's using, but I think they will serve the purpose - getting him to be more purposeful when he has two objects in his hands (he's very good at holding two things, but all he ever wants to do is bang them together... this works on expanding his motor skill set).  I saw similar links at Borders the other night... for $20!  I was sooo not gonna pay $20 for plastic linky things.  I knew I could get a better deal.  I got the Bright Starts ones for $7 - much more my speed.  :)

And finally, the part I've been putting off because I wish it weren't so, and because I was yearning so badly for a different outcome.  Ms. Chrissie went home to be with Jesus this morning.  She fought so valiantly, and her mom has been so strong throughout everything.  I take comfort knowing that she is finally healed and free from pain, but my heart breaks for Lorraine.  Thank you to everyone who has prayed for them - they still very much need those prayers as they face a world forever changed.

the balancing act

Well, it's finally happened.  I knew this day would come, but I held out as long as I could.

Asher is officially in therapy five days a week.  In the long run it's actually a better schedule for us than what we were doing, but it was always nice having that one day "off."

He's bumping up to twice a week feeding appointments (which he really needs), so he'll be seen right after speech on Monday and then again on Friday.  Though I'm losing my day, it really helps me out because Tuesdays had a weird gap in them between feeding and PT, so that makes things easier there.

Then again, our PT time isn't officially "locked in" yet.  We're going week-to-week right now, it just happens that Tuesdays and Thursdays are working out... hopefully we can secure that as a regular time slot soon.  As much as I liked having a free day, it's really easier to manage if I'm not juggling multiple appointments at multiple locations in the same morning.

surfin' USA

Don't you just love it when you've thought to yourself a million times, "It sure would be nice if they made something like that..." and then you find it?

Asher's button is a constant source of frustration in that he really, really likes to grab and scratch at it.  We always have to dress him in either a onesie-type outfit, or use a plain white Gerber onesie as an undershirt if he's wearing a 2-piece outfit.  If we don't, he'll just go to town on his button.

I actually had the thought that doing aquatic therapy would be a heck of a lot easier if he were a girl simply because we could buy a one-piece bathing suit and not have to worry about it.  And I thought, it sure would be nice if they had one-pieces for guys.

Turns out they do!

This outfit from Speedo (called a Polywog, which cracks me up) is SO unbelievably perfect.  It has a built-in flotation device, will keep his skin insulated, and it's ONE PIECE!  When I saw it hanging at the store I first assumed it was two separate pieces being sold together as a set, but nope - the shirt and the shorts are sewn together.  It's the perfect size, too (for ages 1-2, up to 33 lbs).

The best part?  It was only $25 at Target!  Considering that it's basically the ideal swimming outfit, I would have paid twice that.  And if you know me, you know I'm a cheapskate frugal homemaker.  Frankly, giving me peace of mind and my little guy a great water experience?  Priceless.

KidWalk

Asher was able to get in it after all!

We would need to finagle the adjustments on it a bit more if he were to get one, but I liked what I saw today!  He made some walk-like movements and managed to propel himself backwards.  Hopefully we'll get to test it out some more in a couple of weeks (his PT is off next week, but the company that is letting her try it out is supposed to let her keep it through the following week).
Here are a couple of pics:

Playing with Ms. Ellen.

His knees are bent here because he was being pushed forward and he leaned on his tip-toes... it was positioned at an appropriate height.

I was reminded again today that the school system will require Asher to have "three positions" that they can have him in during the day, so this could very well be an option for us in the coming months.

let's accessorize!

Check out my adorable new bag!

My friend Jessica is a consultant for Thirty-One Gifts, so I recently snagged this bag from her.  It was hard to decide which product I wanted, but ultimately I went with this Organizing Shoulder Bag to supplement Asher's full-size diaper bag.

See, he has several medical supplies that I feel like I need to have with me if we drive somewhere; however, I don't necessarily feel like they need to be literally with me at all times - just within walking distance.  So the plan is to have the diaper bag packed and in the car at all times, but then to have this smaller bag to carry around in stores and whatnot.

This bag is the *perfect* solution.

It's small and stylish (you can't really see the design on the bag in this pic - it has printed swirly things on it), but plenty big enough for all the essentials (which, in my case, are three diapers, baby wipes, eczema cream, hand sanitizer, disposable changing pads, a pukey towel and extra outfit, a Tide-to-Go pen, two toys, and my keys.

:D

I'm so excited, because Asher is getting heavy, and I was ready to lighten the load in some way.  Carrying this bag with me and keeping his bigger one in the car is the perfect solution.

If you've been looking for something like this, check out her website - they have tons of stuff.   This particular bag is on pages 18 and 19 of the catalog.

Anyway, Asher had a good day today.  He threw up his morning feeding, which didn't thrill me, but he was happy as a lark after that.  We're seeing some progress on the "More" sign, as well as on saying the word "bubbles" (which, in Asher speak, is "buh buh buh buh buh").  He's not consistent yet, but both therapists think that the above two things were intentional.

Tomorrow we go back for PT, and they were supposed to get a new KidWalk walker in to try out for a few days.  I doubt we'll put Asher in it, but I'd like a chance to eyeball it in person.  The videos of it are pretty darn cool.  It's also the first day he has PT before early intervention, so we'll see how he does (he was kind of fussy on Tuesday with back-to-back feeding and PT... tomorrow has a bit longer break in between, though).

Oh, and an update on the stroller/wheelchair dilemma: we've decided to have our insurance buy a wheelchair and we'll just buy a stroller OOP.  There's even a small chance that a friend of mine will be able to give us her daughter's old one!  She gave it to her PT not too long ago, but if the PT hasn't found someone for it yet then she'll give it to us.  More than likely it's been passed on, but the gesture is awesome nonetheless.  If that doesn't work out, thanks to some friends I'm now aware that Maclaren and others actually have "regular" strollers that have a higher weight limit than what we're using now.  We're working on setting up an appointment with the Wheelchair Clinic at VCH to get Asher sized and see what our options are, which will hopefully happen over the summer (there's a bit of a wait to get in).

busy bees

Today begins our first week of our new grueling schedule.  It looks something like this:

M: Speech 1:00-1:30 (ATS)
T: Feeding 10:00-10:30 (ATS); PT 11:30-12:15 (HPR)
W: OT/Speech 12:30-1:30 (ATS)
T: PT 11:30-12:15 (HPR); EI 2:00-3:00 (HOME)

ATS=Advanced Therapy Solutions and HPR=High Pointe Rehab

I'm a little wary of the Tuesday set up.  The appointments aren't far enough apart where I can go home and feed Asher in between (and give him enough time to digest), but they're not close enough together to just go from one to the next.  I'm still trying to figure out whether I should bother coming home or grab a coffee in between or what.  I guess we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Christina came in during therapy time at ATS today to say hi to Asher.  :)  I'm sure he was happy to see her, as was I.  I should clarify that she (nor any of the therapists at ATS for that matter) have ever made me stay in the waiting room.  He was always being co-treated, so I didn't want to be back there and be a distraction (and let's face it, I like my tea and book time).  Both Christina and Susan were coming out to our house for months when Asher first came home from Vandy, so I felt comfortable and familiar with their approaches.

In other news, we need to start getting more water into Asher.  We had to give him a glycerin supp today because he hadn't gone #2 in several days, and it wasn't pretty.  It's difficult finding the balance between getting the water into him and not causing him to throw it all up because he has too much volume.  We try to give him most of it during naptime, but Asher's now at an age where naptime is not a guaranteed thing.  Fun times.

new places, new faces

Today Asher had his evaluation with his new physical therapist at High Pointe Rehab.  She was great!  It was mostly a Q&A session, but she has a lot of experience and I just get a sense that she's really good at what she does and is really dedicated to her patients' rehabilitation.

As it turns out, I won't have to sit in the waiting room for the entire time - she prefers if parents come back and watch the things they are working on (completely up to me what I want to do, though).  I'll probably spend most of the time back there but will occasionally catch a respite and read a book or something.

All in all, I'm excited about the things to come.  :D

mini pool update

This is where we are right now, on day TWO of filling:

(I haven't even started cleaning the outer side yet, which is why it's still dirty... figured it would be tremendously easier to clean once the pool was filled!)

And this is our starting point for aquatic therapy, in case you were curious: Pediatric Aquatic Therapy and NCPAD

saying goodbye

It sucks.  Boo.  :(
Today was Asher's last day with his PT, Christina.  Of course Asher has been acting like a superstar the last couple of days, just to make sure she misses him as much as possible.  I think she would have anyway, but Asher always has to put his finishing touch on things.  ;)  She actually lives very near us (we can wave to her house from our driveway), so we'll still see her a few more times, probably... but it's not the same.
Then again, I could always turn into one of those stalker parents that shows up on her doorstep out of the blue one day demanding services...
Just kidding.  I wouldn't do that.
*I do hereby take the oath to not be a nutjob at least 98% of the time*
Christina (I've been testing out calling you Chrissy but it's hard to get the hang of... am I allowed to do that now???  lol), you've been so, so, so awesome with Asher for the last year and a half, and we love you for it.  We'll miss you tons!  And our new neighbors better be cool or we're coming after you.  Just sayin.'