We've been busy...

black mail

i anticipate breaking these pictures out

on parker's first date he bring home to meet us.

i actually think it's a great toy.

working on those fine motor skills.

he was drooling he was concentrating so hard!

he spent a good 10 min dumping them out

and putting them back in the box.

enough time to let me brush my teeth and look presentable.

i took a pic on my phone and texted it to d at work.

his response, "Gross!"

really, babe?! 

they're not used, silly.

but i guess all boys automatically think they are disgusting

except for parker.

carpe diem

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parker and i got super bored

waiting for the FS evaluation monday

so we decided to make our first official living room tent!

he was so confused and kept trying to pull the sheet down

as i was draping it from the couches.

 he thought it was pretty cool

when we both were under there.

he just kept crawling out and then back under

and then back out.

 but of course football catch wins over

tent playing...

danny and i have officially diagnosed him as right handed.

over the weekend they were playing catch

and d would put the ball in park's left hand,

he then switched it every time to his right hand before he'd throw it back.

so no lefty pitcher here!

i guess he'll have to stick to being a horse jockey like aunt erica thinks.

carpe diem

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PT and FS

it's been a couple days.

nothing too exciting has been happening on the home front.

after parker's first PT apt 

the therapist decided to cancel his next apt we had already made

and told us to work on a few things

for 2 weeks

and come back to see how things progressed.

speaking of our PT visit, i haven't even updated since then 

to say how it went.

i'd pretty much describe it as uneventful.

i wasn't sure what to expect,

and i wasn't too impressed i suppose.

his PT didn't seem overly great with little kids.

park was ok with him at first 

when he was playing with some toys and crawling around,

while the PT observed him

but totally lost it when he tried to touch and feel his legs and hips.

then there was no calming him down.

he just screamed and reached for the door saying, 'bye bye'

so for the last, oh, 15 min

i just had to talk to the PT loudly over the wailing baby.

good times!

he basically just confirmed what his pediatrician and i already know

that he has weak core muscles.

most of the time parker does what's called 'W sits'

when the kids sit opposite of indian style with is feet going out.

and he explained he does that so he has a wider base for balancing.

so we went home and in a day we had trained parker into flipping his feet around forward

and when we tell him to 'sit right' he does this super cute spin move

and turns his legs right.

so we go back this coming friday.

no clue how parker will act

and whether it's worth continuing therapy.

yesterday afternoon was his evaluation with first steps.

a super super sweet occupational therapist came to our house and asked 

d and i a ton of questions as to what he does and doesn't do.

she watched him play.

and only because we have the hook up

(a childhood bff also works for FS and talked to amy about us)

it's all about who ya know :) 

so at the end the OT told of sort of off the record that she doesn't think he'll qualify.

he's too 'normal' in all other areas

to be functioning less that 50% of his age.

which i think is good and bad.

part of me really wanted him to qualify because i think he could really benefit from it,

but it's also reassuring to hear someone tell you

your child is excelling too much to need help.

especially because i feel like parker's whole life we've always talked about

what he doesn't do.

he couldn't sit at 6 months

or crawl at 9 months

or walk at 12 months

and never all the things he DOES do.

she was totally amazed at how well he understands things

and actually checked off a bunch of skills at the 24 month level.

(ok i'm done bragging)

so since she didn't think he'd qualify she was kind enough

to mess with him alittle bit and feel around and give us her opinion on things.

she agrees he has weak stomach/core muscles

but also some leg weakness.

nothing extreme but just needs some strengthening.

so she gave us some things such as a big work out ball

to set him on and only hold his waist

rolling him side to side making him use those muscles to keep his balance.

she also noticed when he walks that his feel turn out

which we are supposed to turn his legs inward when he's standing.

 and she agreed to continue to have him 'sit right'

so he doesn't develop any hip issues later on.

she said once he starts getting stronger

we'll be seeing a lot less W sitting on his own.

so we already bought an exercise ball last night after the apt

and we couldn't keep parker off of it.

he thinks it's his personal new toy

and LOVES when we sit in on top

he just says, 'bouncey bouncey bouncey'

it was an over all good experience and i'm glad we atleast had him tested.

it's helps ease my mind,

a little.

and here's a peak of the little man himself

from tomorrows post.

carpe diem

SEP

Happy Valentine's Day

From,
my boys

on being a mom

i got this quote off another BLOG that i was reading.

and i couldn't help but share.

it was written by the blogger's mother 

on a day she was feeling a little down about parenting...

"It does get easier. After lots and lots of time. And time is something I can’t give to you. Which I guess, is the point of your blog. We, as Mom’s, want to give everything to our children that we think they need. We hurt when we can’t. But we try. Every day. And that is why we are the Mom’s. Cuz we don’t give up and we won’t dwell for long on what we can’t do. Or what someone else did not do. It may make us sad… But we get up, move on, and carry on. God did not make us wusses.  He made us awesome. Just like you are every day. And that is why you are the Mom."

carpe diem

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sweet treat

last night pj actually ate a pretty decent dinner.

and by decent i mean

2 bites of a string cheese,

a couple broccoli cheese noodles,

maybe 5 peas

and 1 bite of banana.

that is after refusing to eat,

yogurt

applesauce

chewing and spitting out every piece of strawberry

and green beans.

 

so....as a reward

he got to experience a mini twix bar!

i may or may not have passed on my love for these

little pieces of heaven.

i'll let you decide.

carpe diem

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picasso

parker might just be the new pablo.

 lefty?

 righty?

 he was way more interested

in putting the crayons back in the box 

than actually drawing.

whatev!

p.s. today is p's 16 month bday.

he's going to get a treat for dinner to celebrate....

Happy Tuesday

So I didn't want to leave y'all hangin, but nothing too exciting to report. A woman from First Steps came to our home yesterday for me to basically sign my life away :) Just lots of info and consent forms. We also went over a questionnaire about what Parker is and isn't doing. She takes all that info and someone will be contacting me with 3-4 days to actually come evaluate him which will then determine if he qualifies for the program.

He is going to his first PT apt. on Friday morning. Wish us luck! He's not a fan of strangers, to say the least. (probably the only drawback of not going to day care) So, of course, I envision lots of clinging and crying. Should be fun!

I'll leave you with some iPhone pics.

bloodwork

update.

as i mentioned,

parker got blood work done last monday.

he had a CPK and a CBC drawn.

tuesday as i was driving home from work D calls

to tell me he just got off the phone with park's doctor.

WHAT?! at 6:30pm.

he called with the blood results because he knew i was concerned.

he explained as much as he could to D

who relayed as much as he could to me and

we were to discuss it overnight and i was supposed to call him

the next day to talk.

a CPK test determines whether or not a person has 

muscular dystrophy.

we are thanking our lucky stars that parker does not have MD.

and will never.

but that doesn't mean his blood work was perfect.

the normal level of a toddlers CPK is 70iu/l

and the level of a toddler with MD is in the 10,000-20,000iu/l range.

parker's was 280.

slightly elevated...a bit of a gray area.

(of course nothing is just cut and dry)

so reasons for this could be:

1.because it tests the serum in his muscles

and parker had just gotten 3 intra-muscular shots

in his thighs that morning.

2. there's a small chance he could have a rare, mild muscular disorder.

so after googling for hours

and discussing things over with his doc,

we are going to give pj alittle time.

see if the PT helps

and evaluate the situation at 18 months.

he gave us the option to be referred to a neurologist,

but said that with that slight of an elevation

a neurologist would probably just 'shrug us off'.

and the chance of him having some kind of rare muscular issue

would be very hard to diagnose at this young age

i don't want to put him through 

lots of unnecessary testing.

IF at 18 months he still isn't walking/progressing

he will probably refer us to a neurologist at that point

because of lack of progress, 

opposed to just the elevated CPK level.

so there ya have it!

fun stuff.

i knew if i didn't write it down i would forget.

and i'm hoping in a few years i can look back at this

and remember stressing over nothing :)

sorry for the lack of pics in my posts.

i have been taking pics, 

just gotta get them on here.

oh ya, his CBC (complete blood count) was totally normal.

carpe diem

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15 months

actually parker turns 16 months next week

but since he went to the doc yesterday

 for his 15mon well baby visit

i'll talk about him like a 15mon old...mkay?

STATS: 19lbs 8oz (below 5th perc. even father below than at 12mon)

                        29inches long (which means he grew HALF an inch in 3 months.

pretty sure his nurses suck at measuring 

because some of his clothes are actually getting smaller)

we finally put away his 9 month onsies.

still wearing all 12month clothes.

and i forget how big his head was,

but it was around the 30th percentile.

new things he does that we think are cute:

pants like a puppy

says BAA for a sheep

grunts like a pig

plays in the toilet (not so cute)

will dance and sing if you tell him to

blows kisses

body parts he can point out:

hair

belly button

feet

hands

tongue

and sometimes mixes up his eyes and nose.

new words:

papa

pizza

bubble

ball

whoa!

he says the uh part in uh-oh

bye bye

and LOTS of babbling nonsense that i think is cussing me out.

and now onto business.

of course my first concern to his doc is,

he's still not walking!

and since i whined and complained enough

and told him how much it bothers me

he agreed to look into it.

first, we had to get bloodwork done

this tests to see

if parker has any kind of muscular disorder.

can we say traumatic?!

i thought i was going to pop his elbow backwards

i was holding it so tight.

and after he already got THREE shots in his legs that morning!

talk about a no good very bad day.

he also refered us to a PT/OT

so pj will see a pediatric physical therapist next friday.

i'm not sure what to expect there 

so i'm going to just go in with an open mind and see what advice,

exercises or tips they have.

from the pediatrician's experience,

sometimes physical therapy helps

and sometimes it doesn't

and the child probably would have learned to do it on their own.

but no matter what, it isn't going to hurt anything.

and i am all for doing anything and everything

that will help my little peanut succeed.

and lastly we're getting him evaluated with first steps.

that evaluation will take place next monday.

i'm excited and nervous at the same time.

someone will come to our house

and watch parker 'perform'

and decide whether or not he qualifies.

in order to qualify he has to have the gross motor skills 

of a baby at or below half of his age,

meaning an 8 month old.

i never thought i'd be going through this with my kid

but that's how parenting goes!

 we are rolling with the punches over here at the pracht house.

and enjoying our days with a non-walking toddler

while i'm still faster than him!

p.s. i failed and forgot to take a pic of him

at the apt.

the fact that he howled literally the entire time

reaching with all his might for the door to leave

may or may not have been the cause of this.

carpe diem

SEP