Redefining MommyhoodJourney of a mom whose son is overcoming hypotonia

Well, it has taken me over two years, but I am finally going through my photos and dating them all so I can put them into albums. No one ever does that anymore with all of the digital pictures floating around on our computers. I like to have something I can hold in my hands and physically look at (other than a laptop!).

I wanted to compile all of the pics from when I was pregnant, my baby showers, and Luke’s life up until this point. I had a huge pile of photos that I had printed through Snapfish, but I never dated any of them or put them into the albums. I just finished dating them and I only printed pics up until October of 2008!!!!! I have another year’s worth of memories to go through and print/organize. Ugh!! I’m hoping to be caught up before Luke goes off to college!

Oh my God, Luke finally pulled to standing tonight!! I’m so happy and proud of him:) I bought one of those toy shelves with the bins today at Target (my fave store!). It came in a pretty big, rectangular box. Daddy turned it on its side and placed a toy on one side and had Luke try to get it. We thought that he would try to crawl over it, but he stood up!!! He even used his left foot first, which is his weaker side. We had him do it a few more times after that and he looked like a pro!

Luke has also been trying to pull up on me, then will pat my tummy and say “up”. I’ve been helping him stand up, but he did that tonight by himself too!! I feel like a small miracle has occurred. We have been waiting for this moment for over a year!! Most parents take these milestones for granted, but it is reason for celebration in our home:)

Well, this week we are back to seeing our EI physical therapist. Our session today was cut short, so we only had one thing for “homework” this week. We saw the other PT on Monday, so I think Luke has put in some good workouts so far this week:)

I’m hoping we see more improvement now that we will be doing therapy twice a week with 2 different therapist. Each one has their strengths and they each have their own methods and “exercises”.

We are still waiting on the orthotic company to figure out when they will fit Luke for his braces. I guess the new PT has decided to get the higher ones to keep his knees from hyper-extending while he stands. I’m all for it if it’s the best thing to do. Now that cooler weather will be here, he can wear pants and no one will even be able to see the braces.

Halloween is rapidly approaching us. Since most of the good costumes sell out quickly, I attempted to buy Luke one at Target the other day. They have a ton of cute girl costumes which would be suitable in this unbearably hot Florida weather, but nothing for toddler boys. They had the usual pirate, power ranger, and whatever other violent characters are popular these days, but the cute costumes were all way too heavy and hot for here. I was looking for Elmo originally, but it of course is made out of thick fur. Same goes for the puppy and bee costumes.

I found a toddler Air Force pilot jumpsuit costume online that I thought would be cute. I have an old jumpsuit from my AF days, so I thought it might be cute for us to both dress up as pilots (even though I’m not really pro-military and that is also semi-violent if you want to get technical). I guess it is kind of a serious costume, as my friend suggested, but I’m running out of ideas. This one at least would be a little cooler for Luke.

Anyone have any ideas? I’m not a crafty person, so making something myself isn’t really an option unless he wants to be a ghost:)

It’s taken me forever just to sit down and try to update my blog. I’ll consolidate the week and weekend events into one post.

Tuesday we had our mommy & me class. Our Early Steps PT stopped by to see us. She wanted to see how Luke was playing and interacting w/ the other kids. He tries really hard to play on the toddler playground equipment and he likes to stand and “dance” to the music at the end of class. She was happy to see him in action:) I was a little confused though because she said this would be a “therapy session”, but she didn’t really do any therapy. She told me she has us back on the calendar for October 14th.

In the meantime, we are still pursuing the additional PT at the outpatient office. We had our first official therapy session on Friday. Our new PT there is pretty good. She showed me some things to do with Luke that were new. I think they will help strengthen his legs. She also put in the order for his ankle braces. We are waiting on the ortho company to call us to set something up. I think they will really make a big difference with the way he stands (see pic above).

Thursday we went to a local farm with the moms club. Luke loved all of the animals and was brave enough to try and feed one of the goats. We had fun, but I just wish he could have walked around with all of the other kids and interacted more with the animals. I will take him back and hopefully soon he can stand and feed the animals.

Our weekend was pretty boring. The only “family outing” we had was today to go to Lowes, then we had breakfast for dinner at Cracker Barrel. Well, Luke didn’t have breakfast, he had chicken and mashed potatoes. Daddy and I pigged out on breakfast yummies:)

We have a busy week ahead of us with mommy & me, therapy, storytime, and maybe a playdate.

What is up with all of the spamming comments lately? Does anyone know how to get rid of these annoying a-holes??
Stop posting your crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Luke, Hubby and I went out for a family dinner last night at Ruby Tuesday’s. I was pleasantly surprised that they had semi-healthy food on the kid’s menu. I decided to order Luke the grilled chicken and broccoli. He had already decided what he wanted though.

Our server came and asked us what we would like to drink. Hubby got his usual Diet Coke and I got a sweet tea. Luke looked at the waiter and said “sweet tea”, which usually comes out like “swee sea”. I didn’t think the server would take him seriously, but sure enough, he brought Luke a small straw cup with sweet tea in it. Not the best thing for a toddler to drink with dinner!

The server then came back a few minutes later to take our dinner orders. I placed orders for Luke and myself, then Daddy did his. Luke looked up at the server and said “french fries”.

I guess it’s good to know that Luke can order his own food now, but he didn’t seem to make the healthiest choices:) Next time he’ll hopefully say “chicken and broccoli”.