Great weekend!

Cutest messiest face in the whole world!

We had a great time visiting family in Galliapolis over the weekend. Olivia is quite the little card player! And after we got home Sunday, we carved our pumpkin and baked the seeds, fun! Olivia was fitted for her new left shoe insert today and was back at daycare after a day with Aunt Angie yesterday!

doctors' appts

Last week we saw dr kerkering, a pediatric neurodevelopmental doctor and she said we are right on track with her therapies right now and she tested Liv in different area, coming to the conclusion that she's at a 30 month old level...which is exactly how old she is! So that is great. We do not need to see this doctor again unless we feel it necessary.
Then we saw dr brown again on friday-went well, too. we're to keep her right sfo on her foot and they are prescribing a foot insert for her left, too, to keep her foot in line. We're going to try a few different things on her arm and leg to reduce tone/relax muscle so we can have more effective OT and restraint therapy. She's doing very well, we just want her to have all the opportunities to help her to use that right hand. We're so proud of her!
Update on potty training: she went potty three times for dada and me yesterday and twice for aunt angie today! good girl!
Martinsville was great today-little hot at times, but traffic wasn't too bad and we had a day at the track, like the good ol days! of course we missed olivia every minute! :)

Pumpkin patch

We went back to Layman's farm to get a pumpkin this year...great fun for all!

Time for Autumn

The leaves are changing and the days are getting a little shorter...yes, Fall is here! :( makes me sad. But makes for great photos outdoors!!! We went to Peaks of Otter on the parkway last Sunday and it was gorgeous up there. The pic below is what we saw most of the time spent outside there! :)

Last week, I met Coreen, Liv's new PT and she is great. Seems to really know her stuff and Olivia acts comfortable around her, so that's good. We are trying kineseo tape on her foot/calf now instead of the new SFO (brace) for two weeks to see if that will correct her middle stance, if you will. They saw that she is putting all her weight on the inner part of her feet instead of the outer. The brace still looks to be uncomfortable to some extent, because Olivia is overcompensating and turning in that right foot with the brace on (to clear the floor when her toes drag so she won't trip), although it's not rubbing or too tight or anything like that. I'd rather her not wear it, if it makes her walk with difficulty, but the va prosthetics guy says that it fits good and IS doing what it's meant to do for her. We'll see what Dr Brown and Dr Kerkering say next week, too. We met with speech therapist Linda today at our home and she was impressed with how much Olivia is saying now, over 60 words I wrote down! She'll see her twice/month until she turns 3 in April. Monday the 6th was the 2 year anniversary of Liv's AVM bleed...the details of that day are not something I like to think about necessarily, but they are embedded in us now. I think of how far she's come and how blessed we are to have her here and share her life and love of life! Thank God for her and her "story" that we will share with others forever how God did a miracle that day and has a plan for her life. Please pray with us that He will continue to heal her every day. There are still a couple of gaps in that bone flap since her last surgery, we are waiting out right now to see if it'll grow back like it should as she gets older.

Anywho, Bri goes back to the doctor tomorrow and hopefully won't be wearing any more funny foot contraptions!!! I think he's gotten pretty lazy this summer b/c he didn't walk on that foot as much as usual, by no means and now he gets tired quickly :) LOL (love ya honey) 'Til next post...

Well, Olivia and i both are feeling better this week. She hasn't woke up in the middle of the night for over a week. No 2yr molars yet either, though. The other day Brian caught her with one leg on her crib rail, trying to climb out! He said if she was standing on her pillow to do that, she probably could have swung her leg further and fell out (ahhhhh!) So we'll be transforming her bed to the toddler bed probably this weekend after our yard sale! We want to move her bed into the spare bedroom since it's bigger and her toys can fit in there with her bed, instead of being out in the living room.

I'm going to meet her new physical therapist, Coreen, tomorrow at daycare. Then next week, we'll have Speech therapy at home Wednesday afternoon with Linda, who used to do it before the summer...she's great. Oct 14th is Dr. Kerkering appointment-pediatric neurodevelopmental doc. and Oct. 17th is Dr. Brown again. Tristen has ordered a new wrist splint and we are still taping Olivia's arm with Kenesio tape. She's adjusted a little more to her new foot brace, too. Her foot doesn't seem to be turning in quite as much, although her balance still needs some work with it on. I'll be interested to see what Dr Brown says about it.

Thanks Nana G and Grandma Call for the big girl pottie box of goodies last week! Olivia liked it all, but really took to those Crayola brushes!

Brian

Bri went back to the doctor today about his foot...and the cast is off! YAY! He goes back in two weeks and until then is wearing a "rocker shoe" that puts the pressure on his heel when he walks. But just the cast being off is a huge PLUS for us all!!!

Miss Olivia got sick Tuesday night and so Nana H kept her Wednesday at home. Then she went back to daycare today and I stayed home! I had a fever from about 7pm last night until 9am this morning. Just felt weak today and my throat hurts, my nose is stuffy and I'm sneezing some. Yuck.

Can't wait for the weekend-although it will be raining and i wanted to have a yard sale saturday :(

fall is here

Olivia has been doing great lately, sleeping better at night, although her nose is starting to run again... but she is continuing to go potty for us a couple times a day and talks our ear off most of the morning and evening :) She is starting to put words together, like "ow, that hurt mommy" or "no, decter (dexter), no". We took her back to va prosthetics last week and they say her new foot brace fits good and is doing what it is supposed to as far as making her walk a certain way. She just needs to get used to wearing it. It's just funny cause her therapists don't think the brace should make her gate pattern look worse or turn her foot in MORE than it looks like she does WITHOUT the brace! But we have dr. brown's appointment next friday so we'll see what he says about it, too. He's who ordered it. I am meeting Coreen, Liv's new physical therapist, at her daycare Thursday morning for her session, too. She'll be seeing Liv once a month, like Heather did. And we see Dr. Kerkering, a pediatric neurodevelopmental doctor, on Oct 14 th I believe, to get her take on any delays Olivia may have. I'm seriously thinking about making an appointment with a new pediatric orthopedic doctor, per the suggestion of a couple of her therapists.

Update on Bri's foot--he goes Thursday to get his 2nd cast taken off. It should be healed completely this time. (GOD WILLING!!!) He will be sooooo glad to get this cast off for good! And I dared him to touch his callous again :) LOL