Category: Doctor Appointments

Moving

Posted on by Lauren

This is all about Ezra moving. For just being able to move his arms and upper body this kid can get around. Seriously try to army crawl without the use of your legs but still having to bring them along. It’s hard.  Crawling is great for him to make him stronger and we have seen such an improvement in his strength.

Here he is crawling around when we stayed in Grand Rapids overnight. He had so much fun and was getting around all over our room.

 

 

 

He also has been getting better at using his bumbo wheelchair that Dave built him. At least he does well on hard surfaces like in the kitchen. Here he is at 21 months

 

 

And we went to Grand Rapids to get Ezra fitted for his wheel chair. We were able to see some and once he was in a chair he took right off. Now we are in the long process of waiting for the chair to be approved  by the insurance company. And I have heard good, and mostly bad things about the process.  It will take about 6 months for him to get his chair. And I can’t wait. This kid needs to get around.

Pink or Blue?

Posted on by Lauren

Today we had the much anticipated Ultrasound. With my first two the ultrasound meant finding out if they were a boy or girl. Now they are about finding out if the baby is healthy. Crazy how views change in a couple years. The tech first scanned in on the brain and from what I could see it looked perfect. Kids with Spina Bifida have a “lemon” or “banana” shaped brain. So this was a great sign of a healthy baby.

After a few more scans and a little twisting and turning trying to get the baby to move around. We saw a healthy brain and a healthy spine! What a blessing!

And of course we got the “money shot”

In November we will be having our first baby girl! Now to get to sewing the cutest little clothes for her.

And I thought this picture was just too cute. She was resting her little arm on her leg.

Glasses

Posted on by Lauren

 

Ok now Ezra just became the cutest kid ever! We went to the eye doctor last week to get Ezra’s lazy eye checked out and apparently he is really farsighted. So Ezra got glasses.

Seriously I go and say glasses and babies is so adorable, and my kid needs glasses. Crazy how things work out that way.

Of course when we were trying on glasses for Ezra, Atreyu had to try a pair on too.

Trying them on with Mommy.

And Grandma helping out.

 

Now if only we could get him to keep them on…any advice?

 

 

Birthday Party and Stats

Posted on by Lauren

We had Ezra’s birthday party. I love celebrating my boys birthdays.
And I finally got a full video of Ezra rolling over.

 

The boys had their annual check-up.

Atreyu is 37 inches tall. (95%) Sarah, I guess he is tall! He weighs 27 pounds. He is becoming my little bean stock.

Ezra is doing well too. He is 27 inches tall (grew 2 inches from 9 months) and weighs 15 lbs 2 ounces.
We still want to put a little more weight on him and keep working on his fine motor skills. But he is still pretty awesome. I mean just hang out with this kid, he is so happy and has such a contagious smile.

I took some pictures of him. He was just starring at the camera, then I told him to smile and he wouldn’t stop.

 

This is how I roll

Posted on by Lauren

Ezra did it. He rolled over. And he has done it five times. I know it is the start of some awesome things. He completely surprised me, as I am learning both kids often. I am looking forward to all the other exciting new things Ezra will continue to show us.

He is getting so strong now since he has the extra weight on him. I feel like I have a whole new kid. Every once and a while I see a little twitch in his hip. Most the time I just stare and watch him, thinking in my head whether or not I am seeing his leg move a little, or maybe it is the way he is breathing. I still have no idea, but I do know as he gets stronger he is able to do so much more.

 

We had 2 doctor appointments in Grand Rapids on Atreyu’s birthday. I was looking forward to seeing the Spinal Surgeon because he has the best idea of what to do with Ezra’s back. Ezra has a Kyphosis on his lower back. Basically his spine curves out like a bump where his opening was. The doctor told us it will be a wait and see thing (like almost everything with Spina Bifida). He said once it starts giving him problems then we will see what we need to do to fix it. Which is great, I thought we would have to have surgery in the next year or two. Glad we get to hold off on it.

Here is Ezra’s back from about 3 months old. You can see the kyphosis.

We met with his developmental pediatrician. We continued to talk about his weight and his development. She was happy with the weight he has gained but would like him to weigh about 16 or 17 lbs. We have a chart for his height to weight ratio, which currently his is about the 15% for that. Our goal is the 50%. Which still doesn’t put him on the charts for his age, but that’s alright. He is becoming so healthy. Once he gains a few more pounds (probably in another month) we will be able to get him off that crap pediasure. 

Sometimes I get nervous when we see new doctors, or follow up with one when things were bad. But these appointments turned out great, even better than expected.
Since all I see is Ezra, somethings seem way worse than they really are. Like his back, imagine having some bone sticking out of your lower back. It sounds painful, but his doctor was so impressed with Ezra’s back. He was surprised at how good it looked (thank you plastic surgery). There are many other things that Ezra has going for him. We thank God for that everyday.

In summery: Ezra is awesome!