AR developmental update....

A little over 3 weeks ago, Annie Rice started walking! We are so so happy! There are still many things she can’t do, but I know that will come. Annie Rice is currently at a 14 month level motor skill wise. 

It was a very rough, emotional day, the following Monday during PT.  I wasn’t prepared for what I was told...

Basically, Annie Rice has low muscle tone. Once we were told that, it all started making sense, and I can see that now. We even saw glimpses of that when looking back at her previous medical history. But the therapist also noticed that Annie Rice has pronation...She walks on the inside of her feet, which isn’t good at all for the ankles or knees. With any shoes except her little crocs, the shoes rub sores on her feet because she walks on the inside of them. The PT said we would probably have to do foot braces to help correct this, and look at her wearing them for 4 years. Now don’t get me wrong, we would do WHATEVER needed to help Annie Rice, but it caught me completely off guard. Our goal physical wise, has been for her to walk. So once we got there, I thought we were good to go...I knew we would still have things to work on like jumping, running, etc, but walking has been the goal. I wasn’t prepared to hear she might have to wear foot braces for 4 years. I just started thinking about kids picking on her, and it got to me! I struggled that day a lot..I cried every time I thought about it, and Kaz and I just really kept praying over her feet. That following weekend, I was at a wedding and this little girl who looked just like Annie Rice[curly hair and all] was dancing barefoot at the reception. I couldn’t help but tear up...Satan was definitely hitting me hard. I wasn’t struggling with making the right decision, I was struggling with Annie Rice getting picked on or being different from other children. 

That Monday at PT, the therapist actually threw me off guard again! I was prepared to start the process for the braces, but she saw such improvement from the previous week in the way Annie Rice was walking, she suggested shoe inserts. These inserts look just like the braces except they don’t cover the top of the foot and she would only have to wear them about 6 hours a day! We are going to try this for 2 months and see if there’s any improvement...If there is, we may not have to do the braces. If there isn’t, then we will do the brace. Regardless, I know the Lord has a plan. He has already used her delays for His kingdom in so many ways. I know if this is the route He takes us on, it will all be for His glory. 

We are working really hard on strengthening her little muscles! We were told swimming and gymnastics would be 2 of the best things we would do to help her long term. So we start gymnastics next week, and are trying to go the pool as often as we can to get her kicking those little legs;)

These pictures were from memorial day...

 She had to take a couple "cookie" breaks:)

big steps....

I've been a little down lately with Annie Rice's development. Not really because she's been doing anything wrong, just because of the situation. Ever since Annie Rice was really sick, her walking has really progressed backwards. She's had no desire to stand or walk. If we held her hands while she walked, after about 5 steps she would go numb or sit on the ground and pitch a fit! It's been discouraging to say the least! Over the weekend, we bought her a water table outside and gave her a rule that she could only stand or walk. She could not scoot. Now with that, she always had something to hold onto, to help her walk so she was OK with that! Yesterday at therapy, I was telling our therapist about this and she said we needed to make it a rule inside as well. So we worked with her for an hour and in that time frame she took over 150 steps on her own! She understood exactly what we were telling her! Yesterday after her nap, she walked everywhere! Now there were a lot of tears and little fits, but that's expected for awhile! She has come SO SO FAR, and I couldn't be prouder of her hard work. The Lord has blessed us with the sweetest little girl and her delays have been a blessing to our family because we've grown together, and been able to see all of her first! It's incredible what He's doing in her little life!

little tiny steps...

Friday afternoon we had a family birthday party..It had been kind of a long day so I really didn't know what to expect out of Annie Rice. She's been sick and I had to put her down for her nap 2 hours earlier, so her nap was cut in half by about 2 hours! We had a good time at the party, but I have to admit that I was definitely struggling. There were a lot of little kids and they were all playing on the slide and jump castle. All of them were Annie's age or younger. We kept working with Annie on the slide for about 30 minutes, then going back to it with her and she could just never get it right! While I didn't feel judged by anyone, there were definitely looks! Needless to say, I was struggling just a bit! After everyone had left the party, we were standing around talking while Annie Rice was being pulled around in a red wagon. When she got back from the wagon ride, I took her out of the wagon and stood her on the ground beneath me. She REALLY WANTED to ride the wagon again so I was looking down at her while everyone else was talking! It literally felt like time was standing still and I couldn't believe what I was seeing! She took 3 steps by herself to the wagon! So we kept doing it over and over and over! We would ride her, stand her up, and sure enough she would take some steps! 

Later, we went inside and I started washing dishes. Everyone called me in the other room to watch...She took 7 steps...then 9 steps! She just kept walking by herself! 

She hasn't done it a lot since, which is what I expected but she has made HUGE improvements! This is a little video I got before we left the party! She took around 15 steps in this one:)

crawling...really?

This was too good not to share:) Annie Rice has been struggling the last 2 weeks with her development. She's been to the point of basically just crying when the therapist comes! She knows she has to work when she sees her! When we go to the park, she just sits down and cries because again, she has to work! BUT we have continued pushing her and working with her! Crawling has never been a big requirement...The problem with her not crawling has been the upper body strength. Since she's never crawled her upper body strength has been very weak, so we've been working on her using her arms some! Today that sweet little girl just started crawling out of no-where and will start crawling on command! She thinks it's the funniest thing:) It was so sweet to see! 

OH YEA-Ignore her outfit and hair! This was after she first got up and she never matches when at home... BECAUSE we have what we call "scooting pants" because she wears so many holes in them! So she never matches! 

Praise the Lord for these wonderful improvements! 

my little fighter...

You may remember my post last week about struggling with Annie Rice's development. On Wednesday, one of our friends asked if we wanted to go to the park. To be honest, we've never taken Annie Rice to the park...Last year, when she got to be mobile, the seasons changed and it was colder, so we have never taken her until now. I have to say, it was not the easiest thing....I worked with her for a good 30 minutes at trying to help her climb 4 stairs so that she could slide down the slide! She was frustrated, I was frustrated...but she had fun and was completely worn out that afternoon! 

The very next day we had actually planned to meet our Early Interventionist at another park. It was very overwhelming. There was about 50 children there! Annie would get frustrated and moms would crowd around wondering why my 21 month old wasn't walking...There was one particular tube that kids could crawl through. It had a slight incline. My little Annie tried scooting up it...that's what she does first with everything! That didn't work, so we worked with her until we were blue in the face, trying to get her to crawl up it...[She's never crawled, scooting is her way of getting around]. She cried, and cried, and cried because she wanted so badly to get up that tube. I cried and cried because I was sad seeing her frustrated and just wanted her to get it...Finally, my smart little girl decided she could scoot up it backwards! Sure enough, she got it! In her own way! To say that time at the park was hard, is an understatement. 

I was determined to keep pushing her. Thankfully, we have a small park just a few feet away from our house. So that afternoon, I decided to take her. When we first got there, she could not get up the stairs to get to the slide. She worked and worked for about 20 minutes, and when we left this is what my little fighter could do! It was very special! Her legs are covered in bruises, black and blue from all her hard work, but she's getting there! I'm so proud of her and I'm thankful that the Lord is continuing to do big things in and through her precious life!