Updates and an excuse to share lots of Pictures!

I laughed the other day when I opened my email and had 2 requests for updates about how Casey and Connor are doing in school! Thank you for reminding me that I DO have a blog and I should do a better job of writing!

Casey and Connor are doing amazing in school! They love it- all of it- getting in the van to go to school, getting out and walking into school, their lockers, their backpacks, the girls (!) and the entire experience! Their teachers and therapists are all wonderful. I honestly wonder what I was worried about. Most days I have to stop them at their classroom door and ask for a goodbye kiss. It's great.

In just 2 weeks there has been this huge blossoming in both boys. Connor is really becoming aware that things and people have names. This is a huge step. Every night he walks through the living room, touching things and looking at me and Matt and saying "ha?", like "What's this called?" We answer and he moves to something else. The other day we played for about 20 minutes and he just rotated between daddy, mommy, Casey, Reagan, ball, chair, box, desk, Bailey (our dog) and dinosaur. He would touch himself, too, and we would say "Connor" and he would smile. It's so cool!

Both boys are learning the sign for help now, too. Who knew that one small sign could make such a big difference!? Connor signs help when feeding himself and he just can't get something on the spoon or when he wants to be up on the bench at the dining room table. It's a GREAT sign!

On the health front, Connor had eye surgery on January 21st, on both eyes. He had a bilateral medial rectus recession and nasolacrimal duct probe done. Huh?? In simpler terms- Connor was going cross-eyed and the bilateral medial rectus recession simply moves a muscle in each eye back about 1/18th of an inch. The nasolacrimal duct probing was to help with his watery, runny eyes. The doctor took a very small probe and used it to gently open the tear ducts and place a teeny tiny silicon tube in his ducts to keep them open. In a few weeks that tube will be removed during an office visit and Connor's runny eye issue should be a thing of the past! As far as the muscle surgery- we won't know for a few weeks the level of success. It can take 6-8 weeks for the eyes to settle in to place and for the doctor to evaluate their position. 1 in 3 kids needs a repeat of the surgery. Please let Connor be in the 2 and not the 1! I HATED giving him to the nurse to take back to surgery.

Pre-Surgery

Casey was hospitalized with dehydration from a really nasty stomach virus that hit the whole household- minus daddy- but hit Casey the hardest. He is getting crankier by the minute so I think he is beginning to feel better. AMEN!

Other news:
Reagan continues to amaze me. At 7 months old she is crawling, pulling to stand, starting to furniture walk, can climb the first few stairs, use a straw, clap, and we think she is beginning to sign milk. She will eat anything and seems to prefer whatever we are eating over baby food though we still make her diet center around formula and fruits, veggies and cereal. Unlike her brothers, she will be a wonderful eater!

A while ago, I wrote about a photographer who contacted me about taking photos of the boys in order to raise awareness about Down syndrome. I'm certain you are well aware from your own lives, things just happen and time gets away from you and no matter how badly you may want your schedule to work, it sometimes just doesn't happen. I figured it was something that was just not meant to be but Lindsey Scholz of Lindsey Scholz Photography surprised me in the hospital after Reagan was born and did an amazing shoot right in my hospital room of both my sweet little princess and her amazing big brothers! OH MY GOSH! She is an ARTIST! If you are in the Columbus, Ohio, area and have kids or are having a new baby and want a birth or newbie session- Lindsey is absolutely amazing. You can look for her work on her FaceBook page at www.facebook.com/LindseyScholzPhotography Her newborn photos are breathtaking and I'm certain you will agree when you look at the following pictures that she captures the true child and not the one that is all poses and fake smiles. Truly, she is blessed with some fantastic talent!

That's all for now. I will definitely try to get back and post more soon!

Thanks for all the emails, comments, and new followers on Casey and Connor's FaceBook page! If you haven't "liked" their page yet you can find it at www.facebook.com/caseyandconnor and emails to me are ALWAYS welcome at meghan_wilkinson10808@yahoo.com

God bless,
Meg