Day at the Park

We had a great day at the park this week with absolutely beautiful weather!!! Little Sis got to try the swings for the first time and Pockets had a blast showing her around all the equipment. 

Little Sis Talking

This video is a special request from Holly my speech path friend.  Not the best but hopefully you can hear her!!!

Pockets Singing during nap

During nap today Pockets was singing his little heart out.  Here is a video of it. It's not a very good picture, but at least the audio is good.  Also, he probably wouldn't be crazy about me showing his face anyways since he is camera shy...

He is singing a song that we sing regularly at church called "I Will Follow" by Chris Tomlin. This morning when we started singing he looked up at us and commented about how he knew this song.

Here is a music video of the song if you want to listen to it before so that you can understand what he is signing. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ODe4sGCKxc

If I say so myself, he is an AMAZING little boy.

More Therapy Updates

Still doing good with therapy.  Every one is so proud including Little Sister herself.

She is looking up more!!!!

She is willing to spend more time on our belly!!!

She is not screaming at just the sight of the excercise ball anymore!!

And she has mastered one of her first goals of reaching for an object by shifting weight to one side, crossing midline to pick up a toy, and then coming back to a seated position!!!!!!! (please ignore the music in the backgroud. It is courtesy of big brother.)

Thanks be to God for all his continued blessings!!!!

Another Snow Day

It honestly must have been the shortest snow day every but last Sunday we got several inches of snow that started after church on Sunday and kept snowing till late in the evening.  As you can ses Ryan and Pockets went for a walk around sunset and there was tons of snow on the ground (probably close to 4 inches).

First thing the next morning Pockets got up and played in the snow.   We used bottles of colored water to draw pictures in the snow and make an obstacle course. 

Within three hours of this picture though every single snowflake was completely melted.  On Monday the temperature got up to 53 degrees by noon.  It made it really hard then to explain to Pocket's that school was closed the whole day becuase of snow not just in the morning when we actually had snow!

Little Sis's Progress Already!!

Little Sis is already making huge progress just in the three weeks of therapy so I wanted to share some of the really cool things we are seeing.

She now sleep on her side instead of her back.  I know that sounds really strange, but this is something to be excited about, beacuse we use to put her to bed/nap (on her back) and come back to get her in three hours or in the morning and she would not have moved one inch.  Now she is waking herself up at night because she is moving around so much that she gets cramped near the edge. 

Little Sis is tolerating belly time much better.  We have to do her nuerological retraining every few hours which used to really bother her, but now she just lays there while we rub her back without complaining at all.  She still doesn't like the joint compression that follows but we are getting there.  During belly time she has gotten where she can stay up like the picture shows for a minute or so before she falls.  She still can't push herself back up again, but she is working on it.

As you can see she is able to look up when she is sitting now!  She has a whole new perspective of the world with seeing more than just the floor.  I never realized what a difference this would be.  Now I often catch her watching the ceiling fans and watching what I am doing just because she is able to lift her head.

Other things we have seen her do recently are rolling her wrists, reaching for toys that she drops, leaning around people or objects to see what is going on, grabbing everything in site, using her arms to push herself back up when she is sitting and falls forward, playing with toys and banging them together constantly both infront of her and above her head, pulling a blanket off her face for peek a boo, and taking your hand off of hers when we try to hold it down during our practice sessions.

We are so thankful for Pat (Case Manager), Whitney (Physical Therapist) and Cathy (Occupational Therapist) for their amazing support.

Pockets is also huge help!

January update

Little Sis turned 9 months old and can start wearing a few small bows without a headband

Little sis is learning to tackle Pockets and wrestle with him.  Pockets is super nice to her and lets her win everytime

We had Family Movie Night a few weeks ago.  Can you tell by the toys which movie Pockets wanted to watch?  That is right Buzz, Woody, and the Army men sat on the couch while we watch Toy Story 3.

Little Sis was dedicated at church this past month.  We weren't able to do it at IBC because she was in the NICU and then we moved, so now that we have settled on a Church home we are very excited to finally get this done.

Pockets has been helping Little Sis alot to learn to use her arm and reach.

Pockets has been wearing Daddy's boots around the house

Pockets and Little Sis are still best friends thankfully!

Pockets and Momma have still been doing a little school here and there.  This activity was melting colored ice cubes to make new colors.  You know that lesson in primary and secondary colors? 

All in all we are doing well and are healthy.  Be looking for an update though soon about Little Sis's progress and more information on her condition.