New Tricks

Noah has learned a few new things... we've been working on them for awhile (months and months actually) so I'm SO excited that he's finally strong enough and figured it out! Noah now knows how to go from lying down into a sitting position! Oh my gosh, I can't even begin to remember HOW long I've been working with him on this... our hard work and persistance paid off! The other day I layed him down for a nap and he was crying... then it got quiet so I peek in on him and low-and-behold, he's sitting up! He's done it several times since them so I think he's getting the hang of it. Also, he is now trying to pull up on everything, he still needs some assistance getting completely on his feet but the big thing is that he WANTS to be standing up. The other morning, I was getting ready and he was sitting on the floor playing and I glanced over and he had grabbed on to the door frame and had pulled himself into a tall kneel. YAY NOAH!!! He is also cruising with assistance (only a tiny bit of assistance, though). He's constantly reaching for things that he can grab onto and pull up on. He wants to be walking and moving and standing... which we are SO SO SO thrilled about! And he's SO close to crawling... these new milestones are beyond HUGE for Noah!

We had another appointment at Children's Hospital on Tuesday, with Dr. Davis, Noah's Orthopedic Rehabilitation Doctor and their Physical Therapist. A little over a year ago, we discussed me and Noah living in Bham for awhile and letting him get intense physical therapy for about 3 months, 3 days a week but at that time, they were concerned that Noah wasn't able to tolerate that much therapy. We all revisited the issue again at this appointment and they now believe Noah can handle it. So Dr. Davis and Andrea (the PT) are going to get Noah in for an evaluation at Children's Ped. Therapy clinic and looks like Noah and I may be in B'ham for awhile. They call it a "burst" of therapy b/c it's really intense, 2 - 3 hours a day/ 3 days a week for a period of time (a month to 3 months). I'm so excited to be able to do this for Noah and feel like the benefits he will reap will be HUGE! Children's has all of the latest in physical therapy techniques so I'm really eager for Noah to experience it. Plus, like I told them, I don't work so that we can provide Noah with whatever he needs and if that means us living in Bham for awhile, so be it. The good thing is my aunt (my mom's twin sister) lives in Vestavia and has 2 spare bedrooms, so we would just stay with her. So please pray that they can get us in for the eval fairly quickly (it can take months to get in with them!) and that we can roll forward with this new plan of action!

Noah after he pulled himself into a tall kneeling position (how do you like my PT terms? :)

Mission Accomplished!

Thank goodness today's surgery is now behind us and Noah did GREAT! We had to be at Children's at 7am and they immediately took us back to a room to begin the pre-op stuff. They told us they thought the procedure would begin around 9:30... ummm not quite. We waited and waited... it was slightly frustrating b/c Noah hadn't not eaten since the night before and he could have juice only until 6am so he was going with basically nothing in his belly... poor guy. But he was in really good spirits and didn't fuss at all. Finally at around 10:45 they brought him a liquid sedative and took him back at 11am to get the anesthesia going. I had been so worried about him crying when we gave him to the nurse but he was so woozy that he didn't even look back at us as the nurse took off with him! Kind of hurt my feelings... :) not really, I'm glad he was out of it b/c it made it much easier than if he would have been crying! Anyways, the surgery took around 30 min. and they were finished at noon. He stayed in recovery for an hour, then they brought him back to us. He was really groggy but they wanted him to take some pedialyte to make sure he could stomach it without any problems, plus they wanted to keep a watch on his vitals. He did fine so they left us leave around 2pm. They gave him a shot that numbed his leg and said it would wear off after 5 hours so I've been giving Tylenol since this afternoon. He hasn't fussed or cried a bit today... and his leg doesn't really seem to be bothering him, despite the fact that they told us it would be really sore for a week. He's tough... I guess once you've had your head cut open, you can handle a little incision in your leg! :) Anyways, we made it home and since he wouldn't eat, I bought him a vanilla milkshake and he gobbled that right up. Hopefully, the incision won't bother him too bad and he'll recover quickly! I do want to thank you all so much for your prayers, texts, and phone calls. We sure have felt loved and supported. Now, we just have to wait out the next month for the results of the test. Luckily, we're going to the beach in 2 weeks so that will get our minds off things! Here's a few pics from the day.



Waiting for them to come get him for surgery



After surgery



He would not put that pedialyte down!

Watching Daddy Leave

Noah Got Braces!

Not the kind you're thinking, he got braces for his ankles. They are called Ankle-Foot-Orthotics (AFO's) and are not nearly as bad as I had envisioned when Noah's Physical Therapist recommended them several months ago. Of course, people stare at him in public (what is the big deal with a 2 year old in braces?) but if they help in strengthening my little boys ankles and knees then its ALL worth it! Personally, I think he looks cute in them... I fold his sock over them so it looks like he's wearing tall socks, which is something we all did when I was in high school. The purpose of the AFO's is to put Noah's foot/ankle in a position where he can't lock his knees and he's doing really well in them and it's only been a week. Here's a picture of them!

Also, here's an "update" on the cod liver oil... believe it or not, I've seen a HUGE improvement in Noah! He's soooo much more verbal and jibber jabbers constantly. He did say 'ball' last week in the nursery at church (which is a first) and I'm hearing more consonants. He has lots more energy and has some days where he only takes 1 nap. I've been mixing it into his oatmeal with applesauce, which has worked well. So I plan to continue giving it and definitely recommend it to all parents!

Lastly, Noah's muscle biopsy is scheduled in a week, on June 4. Obviously, this is much more minor than the surgery Noah had at 5 months old but it takes Jamie and I back to that and just how scared we were. I have always hoped and prayed that Noah would never have to have another surgery and here we are ... one week from one. The anesthiology dept. called me this morning to discuss the details of the surgery and the sequence of events that day (which are same as before). Once they are ready to begin the surgery, Jamie and I are able to walk Noah back to the hallway outside the operating room but we have to hand him over right before they take him into the OR. Last time, he was so young, that he was oblivious as to who had him or that we were leaving him... but I know this time will be so much harder, and I know that Noah will cry for us when we hand him over to the nurse. I'm dreading that moment so much. It's hard to leave your baby with a nurse, knowing that he's about to be put to sleep and cut open. Please pray for Noah's procedure to go well without any complications, for his doctor performing it (Dr. Muenstere), and for NORMAL RESULTS! I'm just so ready to have this behind us.

Before & After Pics of our Home Renovations

We are finally finished with our house! And it only took from November to May (no sarcasm intended). Jamie's been spending quite a bit of time working in the yard to get it looking good. But for the most part, the inside is complete. I've posted a few pics as we've progressed but here is the final product ... I didn't take too many pics of the downstairs b/c one room has workout equipment in it and the bedroom is completely empty. Here are the before and after pictures... this is for you Sonia! :)

FOYER

DEN

BREAKFAST ROOM

NOAH'S BEDROOM

(you can see where this was a den that connected to the kitchen; we added a wall, a closet, and sheet-rocked over the fireplace, to make it a bedroom for Noah)

NOAH'S BATHROOM

(LOTS o' changes...)

MASTER BEDROOM

(we enlarged the closet to create his/her's)


MASTER BATHROOM

(new countertops, etc)


GUEST BEDROOM

JAMIE'S FOOTBALL ROOM DOWNSTAIRS

DECK THAT WE ADDED

JAMIE'S FAVORITE "RENOVATION"