This sure has been an eventful spring break! We have accomplished a lot of spring cleaning, which makes me so happy! When the house is cluttered, my mind is cluttered. I was so excited to have this time to go through everything and restore order to the house! Our house has a storage problem, and by that I mean we have zero storage! There is honestly no where for anything to go... so, my motto this week was if we haven't used it in a year or two- chuck it! While this was easy to say, I knew it would be challenging for Joe. Sorry to call you out Joe, but you are somewhat of a hoarder. He forms attachments to items and it makes it hard for him to part with them. And believe me, I do understand that... and I would never make him get rid of something that honestly meant something to him. But lets get real... keeping around a bag full of old college acceptance letters, is a bit of a hoarding situation, ha! Luckily, I think Joe was pretty fed up with our current living condition (piles everywhere) and was ready to part with things he knew he didn't care about deep down. It was actually fun going through some old stuff together and taking a trip down memory lane. I am proud of the work that he did! He did an amazing job cleaning out the garage and "man cave". I can now breathe when I walk into those rooms and not be overwhelmed with anxiety. Spring cleaning- check!
We also checked off a few doctors appointments this week... for Anthony and for me! I am still having problems with my neck/arm from my car accident last year and had to go get a nerve study done. I usually don't have a problem with needles, but I will admit... I cringed when he stuck me a dozen times and had to wiggle it around in my muscle to get the "good read". I was pretty happy when that appointment was over.
Anthony had two appointments this week. His first one was an OT Evaluation at Easter Seals. He currently receives physical therapy once a week, and speech therapy once a week. Since he is getting older and is starting to use his fine motor skills more, we decided it was a good time to throw some OT into the mix as well. He did a good job during the evaluation, we're always so proud of him. But, just like we thought, he qualifies for OT once a week. He struggles a little using his fine motors to pick up things like small blocks, or grabbing toys in the correct place. If you watch the video below (click the link) then you can see some parts of the OT Evaluation that I recorded. We know that he will do amazing things once he has a little practice! I can't wait to see what he will accomplish next, my little superstar!
Anthony's second appointment was his swallow study follow-up. If you remember, back in December Anthony had his first swallow study done because he was sounding liquidy in his lungs when eating. It turned out that he was aspirating every time he drank from the bottle, and we had to completely change up how we fed him. It was scary, and we were so nervous each time we fed him when it first happened. But, everything turned out okay and as the months went on, he kept sounding better and better. Lately we haven't heard anything at all in his lungs when eating- silence, what a beautiful sound! We were actually excited for this swallow study because we wanted to see if the situation had improved at all. And... drum roll.... it did!! Have I mentioned that Anthony is a rock star? Because he is! While he isn't completely free from aspiration, he is in a much better position. He is now allowed to drink milk that isn't as thick as he has been. Before he was drinking milk at a "honey" consistency, and now he graduated to a "nectar" with an allowance of straight milk with no thickening once a day to practice. A small step, but we'll take it! Things can only get better from here!
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| Our sweet boy in his gown waiting to go in the X-Ray chair for the swallow study |
Okay, now on to the fun stuff. Anthony has the funniest little personality, and he constantly is cracking us up with the crazy things he does. Lately, he has been making such funny noises with his mouth. It's fun to watch him explore what his mouth and voice can do. He also has been forming little obsessions with different things in each room.... like the fake tree in the family room, and his heater and humidifier in his nursery. This kid will stop whatever he is doing to try and get to these specific things in the room. Watch the video below of him crying every time Joe takes him away from the fake tree, the little man already knows how to get exactly what he wants!
We also have been enjoying this amazing weather! We went to the park today, and Anthony went in the swing for the very first time. I can't believe he is big enough to fit in there! He cracked a few smiles but overall was more concerned with people-watching.
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