Cruising!

Grayden started cruising along the furniture yesterday! He is obviously brand new at this so still a little wobbly and slow, but I wanted to share!

Sorry the video is so long.  Austin is out of town and I forgot how to edit it!

Shuntiversary

One year!  To say that I have not thought about the shunt in the last year would be a HUGE lie.  In fact I have thought about it a TON in the last year.  It is probably one of the biggest things that I have beaten myself up about.  Throughout the last year, I thought about that darn thing so often. I wished that we would have taken Grayden to Boston to have a different procedure performed (ETV), which has a decreased chance of failing at some time in the future.  It has been very hard for me to get over the fact that I did not push harder and explore further and ask more questions. As a mom over the past year I have had feelings as though I somehow failed Grayden, and that I didn't do enough.  I trusted what I was told by our "small" town Grand Rapids neurosurgeon. 

But you know what, with the help of my good friends in my mommy group who I have vented to over and over again (thanks ladies) I have come to realize many things recently.  I did what I thought was best at the time based on the information I was given. That little tube saved my little guys life.  I think that I can finally say, after a year that I have finally come to terms with it.  I am not going to focus my attention on it anymore.  Who knows, maybe Grayden will be one of the lucky ones and have few issues with it.  You just never know.  And what I can say is that I am thankful that the shunt was placed without incidence and that it was an available option for treatment of Grayden's hydrocephalus.  50 years ago we would not have had that option.  My great Aunt did not have that option when her child was born with Spina Bifida. So I will forever be appreciative that there are medical options available and that the medical community is ever evolving.

Today we celebrated!  We celebrated because with the help of the shunt, Grayden is doing amazingly well and for that we will forever be thankfull!!!

Last year, day after surgery

Today as we celebrated with cupcakes!!

Hydrocele Repair

A year ago today we were being sent home from the hospital after preparing for shunt surgery because Grayden had a fever.  Today we were back at the hospital for Grayden's third surgery; a hydrocele repair. We had originally noticed that he had a hydrocele in October and were scheduled for surgery then; however Austin and I decided to cancel that surgery because he had been symptom free since we initially had taken him in.  Starting in December his symptoms began to reappear and we knew that the surgery would need to be done.  I took him in to see his urologist in early January and we scheduled surgery for March 12th, but were placed on the cancellation list.  Last Monday, his symptoms seemed to be getting worse so I called to see if there had been any cancellations and to basically beg for them to bump us up, and just our luck there happened to be a cancellation for today. 

Grayden tolerated the surgery well and everything went as planned.  He was very tired all day today, but very tolerant of all the poking and prodding.  He is now home sleeping soundly in his bed!  I enjoyed all the cuddle time I got to have today, however I'm hoping this is not an annual occasion for us!!

Crawling

So Grayden has officially been crawling on his hands and knees since December 10th, 2011!!  I guess I am a little late on blogging it, but I figured I would share some of the details.  Better late than never. 

As you may know Grayden has been receiving his intervention from a PT who practices the Anat Baniel Method.  During a therapy session on December 10th, Renae, Grayden's therapist had Grayden in a semi-hands/knee position and she was "rocking" his hips (pelvis) from side to side (simplistic explanation).  She then took her hands away and Grayden briefly paused and then it became really clear to me at that moment that Grayden's "learning switch" was on.  He got really still and his eyes started looking back and forth and then he started "playing" with the movement that Renae had just introduced.  I know this may not make sense to those of you who may not be familiar with this work, but I just wanted to share.  In that moment I could tell that Grayden was making connections.  I actually almost started crying because it was such a neat experience to witness.  To see his little wheels spinning and to see him connecting his movement with his brain.  This work is amazing, incredible, etc, etc.... I cannot describe to you in words how grateful that I am that we were lead to this work!  Anyways, that night when we got home, he briefly crawled forward.  From then on he has been unstoppable!!

So now that I have rambled and probably made no sense at all I will leave you with some footage of the "new moves". So TAKE THAT spina bifida!!!!!

PS-don't mind the onesie, we were in the process of getting Jammies on:)

MRI

Grayden had his MRI last week to make up for the one that we missed while we were in Philly. We met with the neurosurgeon here in Grand Rapids to go over the results and all is well. He said that there is no evidence of a syrinx and that all looked good from his standpoint. There was evidence of tethered cord,but this is the case with all kids who have Spina Bifida and it is a wait and see as to whether it will become symptomatic or not. He also said that his brain looks good. The shunt is functioning as it should and there is no evidence of obstruction.

Zander is addicted!

We spent this past weekend  at Crystal Mountain with my dad and Karen for our Christmas with them. They rented a mountain top condo and we had one giant sleepover party with Robyn, Dave, Chase, Teagan, my Uncle Kevin, Aunt Terri, Elizabeth, and Jon. We had such a great time and are begging to make this an annual tradition. I love watching the four kids get to play and hang out as well as getting a chance to hang out with their older cousins who we dont see very often. The kids had so much fun and of course were so spoiled that I never thought I was going to be able to convince them to leave.

Zander and Teagan pushing Zander's new stroller

Zander and Teagan taking a break to watch "Mouse"

Zander getting ready to ski.

Grayden meets Santa

Zander sleeping on the couch with his snow pants on because he was afraid if he took them off he would miss his chance to ski again.

Christmas crafts with Aunt Robyn

One of the most exciting things about this weekend was that Zander got a chance to down hill ski for the very first time. From the moment we arrived at the condo he started asking "I go skiing?" I thought for sure that he would go down the hill one time and get his fill, but not this kid! He loved it. He went skiing three days in a row thanks to his cousins Chase andTeagan who so kindly shared their gear and thanks to Grandma Karen and Papa Jack who sacrificed their quads to take him on numerous trips up and down the mountain. He was a master at the chair lift and he absolutely loved the magic carpet on the bunny hill. By the end of our third day he was going down the bunny hill holding onto a hoola hoop with my dad's support. I was so impressed!

Zander meets Santa

Zander with Papa Jack, Grandma Karen, and Teagan skiing the bunny hill.

Little Artists

Christmas tree lighting and meeting Santa

I feel so very greatful that my kids are able to have so many amazing experiences. They will have priceless memories for a lifetime to come.

Standing

Althouth we are not totally encouraging this yet because we are still working on crawling on hands and knees and some quality differences, I wanted to share Grayden's determination. He is pulling to his knees everywhere and trying to stand more often.