We are closing in on two months together and yes it's all sunshine, unicorns and rainbows! Haha!! Ok, I have carefully chosen pictures that don't show the messes around the house. Matthew is sleeping through the night - well not always, but at least in his own room. Thankfully there is a twin bed in there when he needs me to be there. He is such a sweet sweet boy but he is 2 and trying to find his way in being part of a family and I am trying to find my way being a mom to a toddler again. We make a pretty funny combination at times and it sometimes its hard to tell who has less patience - him or me :) At the end of most days we are exhausted, but we are in love with this little funny naughty monkey.
We just celebrated his second birthday and he has grown 1 inch and gained almost 3 pounds in the past two months. Matthew is saying around a dozen identifiable words and starting to sign some words, too. His favorite signs are "more please". Funny enough he can whine at a very loud intensity, but he still says most words in a whisper. His favorite foods are yogurt, fruit and chinese dumplings and he has never been known to turn down a cookie.
He has had many medical appointments and evaluations with some more to come. Matthew's eczema has been flaring up for the past few weeks, especially on his normal cheek. I can't figure out for the life of me why it doesn't affect his other cheek??? Family doctor was able to give us some new meds to clear it up and we pulled out the "puppet shirt" to help with the night time scratching.
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| No this isn't a straight jacket, but a specially made eczema shirt passed down from Robbie when he was little and had eczema. It helps him safely scratch the itchy spots at night without breaking the skin. Surprisingly he doesn't mind wearing it. |
The developmental specialist feels he is only slightly behind his peers and expects him to catch up quickly. She was really impressed with his receptive language skills but she wants us to work on going up and down the steps and encouraging him using his voice. We met with the surgeon and Matthew's sedated MRI is scheduled for mid April. Most likely he will have at least one surgery this year to remove a large portion of the malformation. He gave us the range of possible scenarios - best case that the malformation is close to the surface and in one piece (i.e. only a procedure or two) or worst the malformation is in several pieces and entangled in the bone, muscles and nerves (long term multiple difficult surgeries) The malformation has been present since the womb and if it is not completely removed it will continue to grow with him his entire life. Since we really have no idea at this point, we just pray its the easier route. He is otherwise a very happy healthy little boy, we just wish he didn't have to go through so much.
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| Shelby's best buddy when she has something good to eat |
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| Did I mention what a good brother Matthew has? |
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| The best part of the day - when daddy comes home!! |
