Monday, March 24, 2014

Braces, Moving Day, Big Brother!

In the fall we decided it was a good time to think about expanding our family. We both wanted to have a brother or sister for Rowan so why not just knock it out while the baby phase hadn't worn off yet. In November Steph showed me a stick with a plus sign on it, well that didn't take long. So, come August 3rd we will be expecting a new member to our family. It is certainly exciting and brings back memories from when we found out about Rowan which wasn't really all that long ago. With a growing family comes needs for more space so we decided to list our house and well that didn't take long either, two days to be exact. 

We are currently writing this message from our temporary apartment while we build a new house in our neighborhood. We are actually only moving about a mile from where our old house was, just a little ways west in the same neighborhood. Realizing that Rowan has some specific needs we felt that building would offer us the best option for providing him independence and space. Rowan will have his room on the main floor with an accessible bathroom and a ramp to the garage in the back. We are roughly doubling our lot size so there will be a nice sized back yard for the kids to play in (kids! crazy) and a nice park just two blocks away. We hope to be in the new house by September.

Rowan has been amazing us lately with how much he has grown. He seems so tall when he is standing. For such a long time he wouldn't stand up so I think it is just the appearance now when we see him upright that throws us off. He still isn't able to stand unassisted but is growing stronger every day. A few weeks ago Rowan received his first set of AFO braces which really help to stabilize his ankles and help him stand. We work on standing every day and he is making progress.

In January we had spina bifida clinic where we found out that his hip dysplasia had drastically improved. He is still wearing the brace at night just to be safe but his last x-ray looked perfectly normal. He continues to work with PT and has a walker that he thinks is more of a fun toy than a tool to help him move around. His kidneys didn't show any reflux and he hasn't had an urinary tract infections so he was able to drop his antibiotic and so far so good there. He will be checked again at 18 months and for the next few years will just go every 6 months. Overall his health is great, we just keep working on physical strength. As he gets bigger and as Steph's belly gets bigger its becoming a little more challenging to work on his standing.

Please pray for Rowan to continue to develop strength and to be motivated to work on exercises. Pray for our new Baby T and Steph as she adjusts to pregnancy with a toddler. We had our 20 week ultrasound last week and the baby looks very healthy.

God Bless,
Kyle, Stephanie, Rowan & Baby T #2

First sledding day, Loved it!

Another Thomas is on its way

I'm pretty excited to be a big brother!

Hey Check out my new braces!