Is it spring yet?

We are so happy to experience warmer weather this past week or so! Spring weather and fresh air is exactly what we need right now. We have had a rough time with winter illness in this family! Matthew had a cold and then double ear infection. Bennett had "hand, foot, and mouth", then caught Matthew's cold which turned into bronchiolitis. Bennett is still dealing with that cold and possibly acid reflux. Andrew and I have also caught Matthew's cold. And this has all occurred in the last three weeks!

On a happier note, the kids are still having fun! Bennett is rolling much more and his arms are getting stronger. He is babbling all the time now and loves to take his brothers toys now! Matthew is still enjoying school and his latest craze is "Blue's Clues". I took both boys to the circus with my brother and sister last weekend, and Matthew really had fun! We also recently went to a puppet show and both kids' eyes were glued to the stage! It was fun to see how they enjoyed it!

Busy, Growing Boys

It's been a while since my last update, but no news is good news! We've had a busy holiday season. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's have flown by. Lots of celebrations, so many gifts, and plenty of sickness to go around! We planned to visit the Neal's in St. Louis mid-December, but had to delay the trip when Bennett and I got sick. We both had strep throat, and Bennett had a double ear infection. Luckily, we were under control by Christmas. We spent Christmas eve with my extended family, had a perfect Christmas morning at home, Christmas day with my immediate family, and then the day after Christmas travelled to St. Louis to spend time with Andrew's family. We were glad to see all the family for Christmas, but we were worn out after all of that!

The fun is not over because Matthew's third birthday party is tomorrow! We are just having a small family pizza party, and Matthew is most excited about his Cars 2 ice cream cake! He's also taking a treat to school Monday, which is his actual birthday. Matthew is growing up so quickly, learning new things every day. He is always coming up with new clever ways to get into trouble, but he is getting better about cleaning up after himself! He's also doing very well with potty training and wearing underwear full-time during the day now. We just use an overnight while he sleeps. Matthew still loves to take care of his baby brother! Whenever Bennett cries, Matthew calls for me and says "Mama, Bennett's crying. He needs you to take care for him". He also hugs him and holds him to try to make him feel better any time he cries. Bennett turned 7 months old today! He is sitting independently, smiles and coos all the time, imitates the words "hi" and "boo", eats solids once or twice a day, and he got his first tooth Christmas day! Both boys are happy and doing great!

Bennett turns 5 months old

We had a big month: Halloween, Bennett's Baptism, and lots of fall fun! We also had an appointment with the neurosurgeon.

Halloween was fun with our little bear and baby bear! Bennett wore Matthew's first Halloween costume, a polar bear outfit. Matthew wanted to be a bear like his brother, so we ended up with two bears! Bennett enjoyed watching all the kids. He was so alert and happy the whole evening! Matthew loved going house-to-house and handing out candy at home. He did have trouble understanding that some houses give things other than candy. He received a pencil at one house and did not know what to do, so he threw it on the ground and started running to the next house looking for candy. It's hard to be a two-year-old! We all had a fun time!

Bennett was Baptized Sunday, November 6th. It went really well, especially compared to our experience with Matthew's screamfest Baptism. Bennett slept right through the whole ceremony! We had a good time celebrating at our house afterward and seeing the whole family.

We had a check-up with the neurosurgeon November 9th. She said that Bennett has healed up nicely, and looks good! She didn't even recognize him because he has grown so much in the past couple of months! She thought his movement looked good, the only trouble being his ankles pulling upward more than down. She still thinks he will be fine walking. His head has grown a little bit above his curve, so she ordered a CT scan to check the fluid and shunt. It came back fine, just a little extra fluid around the outside of his brain. She just wants to keep an eye on it and see him again in February. Overall, he's doing great!

4 Month Pictures

Bennett is now four months old! He continues to amaze us every day!
Just wanted to add some pictures:










We had a lot of fun at the pumpkin patch today!

First Clinic

We attended Bennett's first Myelomenigocele (his form of spina bifida) clinic at Riley on September 27th. It was a long day, but we were happy with how the appointments and testing went. We arrived at 11:00am for a renal ultrasound and pelvic x-ray. Clinic started at 1:00pm, but we were not called in until about 1:45pm. Bennett weighed in at 16 pounds and measured 25.5 inches, our big boy! (He will be 4 months old on October 7th.) We were seen by someone from the neuro team, not our actual neurosurgeon. She checked Bennett's head and thought his soft spot felt okay, and his shunt seems to be functioning well! We will see our neurosurgeon for a checkup again next month. Next, we met the Developmental Pediatrician, Dr. Brei, who happens to have spina bifida himself. He thought Bennett's leg movement was amazing! He even said that we did not need to meet with Orthopedics because there was nothing he would need at this point for his legs! We will meet them at his six month appointment, and hopefully we won't really need them then either. Dr. Brei spent a lot of time with us answering all of our questions and making sure we felt comfortable. It was great to meet him, and very informative! We left with a prescription for a new diaper rash antibiotic cream. Hopefully we will finally be able to get this under control! He's been battling a diaper rash since birth. After our meeting, we were sent to the Urologist for Bennett's bladder/kidney test called VCUG. Bennett started getting worn out at this point and cried for a few minutes. This was his only breakdown of the day. He was such a trooper! The testing went well, and the urologist said that there is still no reflux into the kidneys and we do not need to do anything at this point! We will repeat the VCUG in a couple months, but this is great news for now! We are so thankful that our little Bennett is getting good news and we pray it continues!

3 Months Old!

Baby Bennett is 3 months old! He's doing great! He's reaching for toys and starting to grab them. He loves his paci and little blanket. And he loves his big brother! Matthew loves to take care of Bennett. The pictures below are from yesterday. Bennett's hat would slide over his eyes and Matthew would make sure that he fixed it each time so Bennett could see. He makes sure that Bennett is included when we talk about going anywhere. He always wants Bennett around! He also makes sure to hug and kiss him every night before bed!

Bennett has his first clinic coming up later in September where he will see the Riley specialists. We have not had many appointments in the past month, and it has been great! The only things that we have had are his 2 month vaccines at the pediatrician and First Steps physical therapy once per week. It's really been helping him strengthen and also loosen up where his muscles have been tight. He's getting better at lifting his head for tummy time and control while in a sitting position. He's hitting his milestones and growing like he should! So it's all good news this month!

Two Months Old and Good News!

Bennett turned two months old this weekend! We can't believe he's already two months, but we also feel like he's been in our lives for a long time. He's smiling now, cooing, and is sleeping well at night. He goes to sleep around 8pm and wakes up at about 2am to eat, and gets up at around 6am. Matthew is still taking great care of his baby brother, and now loves to give baby a paci and always says "I'm going to check on Bennett....Bennett's doing okay!".

Last week was our big week for doctor appointments, and we had all good news! The sleep study went well. Bennett easily slept for the three hours because he was all swaddled up and was able to sleep the whole time in a crib (the first time was half crib, half car seat). The pulmonologist gave us good news that this sleep study went better than his first! He still had some obstructive breathing, but he improved from last month. We will see the pulmonologist again in six weeks to follow up.

The other appointment we were worried about was with the neurosurgeon. We worried because Bennett's soft spot had changed and was more sunken in than it had been. She was very happy with Bennett's shunt. She said the shunt was draining as it should, and his soft spot is very soft which is good because it is not full of fluid. She also said his healing on his head, back, and stomach were looking great! We do not have to use bandages on his back anymore, and he is now able to have a real bath! The neurosurgeon said that Bennett was her best news of the day, and she doesn't need to see him back for six weeks! We were seeing her every two weeks, so this means he must be doing well! All in all, the week went well and we happily celebrated Bennett's two month birthday!