Good Things Come: Our Growing Family

Yes, our family is definitely growing...and not just my belly :) However, after another loud storm last Tuesday night, we awoke to a downed oak tree and a stray dog. He just hung out in our yard all day while Brian and some guys worked to break down the tree. He slept in our garage that night and once again spent the next day in our yard. Even though we were 99% sure he was dumped, we posted pictures on the lost & found pets in our area, but no one responded. He was covered with pretty deep scars and cowered in fear when we tried to play with him. This made us worry that finding his previous owners was not going to be best for this little guy. Once the weekend arrived, he was still at our house. Brian took him to our vet to get checked out, get shots, and run tests. Next up was Petsmart for a collar and tags, and then back home for a good bath. He is such a sweet and loving dog, and he is absolutely amazing with the kids! Even though we were definitely not looking for another pet, it looks like one has found a new home with our family...his name is Riot.

We have been enjoying as much sunshine as possible! Drake and Kennedy both love to be outside, and I believe that sunshine is good for their overall health. Drake has been hard at work with his daily exercises and therapies. Today we met his new occupational therapist when she came out to do his evaluation. She seems wonderful and we are excited to get started! When she began working with him, she immediately saw his potential! This I love!!!

Thursday morning we will be traveling to Dallas to see Drake's eye doctor. He will be evaluating him to see if he qualifies for vision therapy services. We know that his eyes are fully developed, and that he can see. However, we don't know what he see or if he sees all of the time or only periodically. Cortical Visual Impairment, which he will be evaluated for, is a pathway issue in the brain rather than an eye development issue. We do believe that some days he has better vision days than others. These are the days where his head control, strength and exercises are at his best. We rely on our vision for so many things with our daily lives. It is no wonder his best movement days correlate with his best vision days.

Kennedy has been busy playing, exploring and attending swim class. On Thursday Brian and I will be able to watch "show-offs" as this set of lessons comes to an end. Next week she is excited to be starting gymnastics! She is hilarious and never ceases to surprise us with her vocabulary and antics. She was beyond excited to have Aunt Jamie and baby Chase come for a visit last week! He's growing so fast! I can't wait for their next visit...and I can't believe I didn't get a picture while they were here. Next time I will not forget!

Over the weekend, Uncle Matt and Papa moved into our neighborhood. They still have a little work to do driving back and forth before they are completely finished moving, but they are excited to be here. Both said their stress level here immediately dropped. They also volunteered to babysit on Monday night so that Brian and I could enjoy a nice dinner out for our 13th wedding anniversary. I have to say this was a nice an unexpected perk to having family in the neighborhood!

On Friday we had our 20 week sonogram to check out everything with our growing little boy. It was discovered that his umbilical cord is a two vessel rather than a three vessel. Apparently this is extremely rare and only happens in a small percentage of pregnancies. The main concern is the heart and kidneys because they develop at the same time as the umbilical cord. Thankfully, everything looked really good with his heart and kidneys for now. The other major concern is that this could stunt the growth of the baby...doesn't seem to be an issue as of now because he is measuring a little larger than he should be. They warned us not to google, and of course we didn't listen to and both did exactly that upon exciting the clinic. We will continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy and healthy "full term" baby boy to join our family this fall.

This smile is priceless!!!