Caleb gets his feet tomorrow!!

These last two weeks Caleb has been growing and changing so much! I don't have an exact answer as to why, if God is healing him, if his muscles are getting stronger as they are supposed to, if switching formulas helped.  Whatever the reason I praise God because it is progress, and we haven't seen much of that for the last 3 or 4 months.  Here's the low down....

Caleb has turned a huge corner in both his eating and throwing up.  He hasn't thrown up hardly at all these last two weeks.  When he did this week it was because he gagged (still a little sensitive with the gagging) but as soon as he was done throwing up, he wanted more to eat.  And he ate a lot! That has never happened.  Then with the eating, um who is this kid?  Caleb used to eat a rotation of about 5-10 things, and that was it! All of a sudden he is eating things that we eat!! And trying new things! I'm so excited!  Eating used to be such a frustration for me with Caleb, I hated giving him the same things over and over, and half the time he would decide he didn't want one of those things on that particular day anyway.  (even though I knew he loved it most every other day)  Last night he ate ribs and corn on the cob! He has decided he likes scrambled eggs, he likes Pickles, which means he likes ketchup, chicken nuggets, and even noodle and meat dishes!! It's been such a crazy change I'm almost giddy. We still don't do too well with anything potato (french fries, tator tots) but I'm ok with that.

Tomorrow is the day we go to pick up Caleb's orthotics from Scottish Rite.  I'm really excited about that too. I'm not expecting major changes right away (although I wouldn't complain if he was walking by the end of the week!! haha) but then the Therapist comes on Wednesday to do the initial assessment and get things going.  I'm so excited she will be here right after we get them to help him transition into them.  Divine timing if you ask me!!

In case you are wondering, they will be very low profile orthotics.  They come up just above his ankles and that is it.  I really don't think most people will even see them unless they know to look for them.  His bone structure is good and they didn't want to mess with his legs or knees.  Who knows, maybe it will be like the eye patch and after a few days we will see HUGE improvements!  Which by the way we patched him faithfully for about a month and then stopped doing it as often and haven't seen his eyes loose control in over a month! (did that make sense?)  Anyway, we are so thankful that God is faithful (which also happens to be the meaning of Caleb, not a coincidence) and he has His hand on our precious little boy. Thank you all for your support as we go through all of this!!

Love,

Caleb Update

 

Just wanted to update everyone on what's going on with Caleb.  Thank you so much to everyone who asks and tells us they are praying for him.  We still don't have many answers but progress is being made.

 This coming Monday (the 22nd) we go back to Scottish Rite to pick up Caleb's orthotics.  Then that Wednesday (24th) ECI, (Early Childhood Intervention) is coming by the house to do their evaluation and set up physical therapy.  They will come to the house to do therapy and they will decide how often he needs it.  I'm very excited that he will have his orthotics and they will help us build Caleb's muscles.  His leg and arm muscles seem to be pretty good but it's his core that is really weak.  I'm so happy they will be coming to the house, with Squirt due in about 4 weeks that will be such a blessing! I'm don't have any expectations as far as how soon Caleb will be able to walk, but I'm hoping it is soon!

 






The last big thing is we have an appointment with the Scottish Rite neurology department.  It will be Tuesday August 30th.  (soon!) I'm very hopeful that they will be able to give us some answers, or if not then be able to tell us for sure that there is no major problem just developmental delays.  The Pediatric gastroenterologist did call back and say the upper GI came back normal.  His next step would be to do things that the Neurologist will do so he wants to wait for those results. (thankful for that!) So I have no idea what the appointment on the 30th will look like and what tests they will be able to run but again, praying for answers and peace.

                    

Jason and Caleb at Scottish Rite                       Caleb waiting for the Barium to reach his colon

On a fun note Caleb's vocabulary has exploded over these past few weeks.  He talks A LOT! While many of the words are only understandable to me and Jason he is communicating so well! He is so expressive and loves connecting with people.  He loves going to the store and flirting with anyone who will look his direction. He is so sweet!!

Again thank you all for your prayers and support.  I know God has a plan and purpose for our little Squirt who will be joining us soon.  Honestly with things with Caleb, we haven't done "lots" of preparing.  (so glad this is the 3rd time around and we sorta have an idea what's coming :] ) So prayers for God's timing and a peaceful transition would be greatly appreciated as well.

Love,



Eating a sucker trying to help the barium move down, he loved it! (his first)

What does clean smell like?

I initially just wanted to write about my "no poo" journey and homemade deodorant, but then that got me thinking, what does clean smell like?  When I first started researching "no poo" I read a few places about your hair smelling like hair.  Hmm, what does hair actually smell like I wondered? My hair has always smelled like whatever shampoo and conditioner I used.  Now my reasons for trying this whole "no poo" thing are more of just trying something different than anything, that and this is cheaper and faster.  But I guess if I'm honest I do like taking little steps toward eliminating chemicals from my family's day to day life.

I think it started back when we decided to cloth diaper Allison. Trying to do our part in not filling the landfills, not putting the chemical filled disposables on her, and knowing that we were planning on more kids the economical side was a big pull too.  After that, I guess we got sucked in! (haha, just kidding) But in using a midwife and starting to talk to people in those circles you have the opportunity to see a whole new world. (are you picturing yourself on a magic carpet ride? I am.  Love that movie) Our Chiropractor was a huge catalyst (shout out!!) in helping us to change our way of thinking and eventually many of our methods.

But back to the point. What does clean smell like? When I started to look at cloth diapers and how to wash them one of the biggest things you read is how you want your detergent to be "free and clear." No dyes, no perfumes, no additives.  I remember washing some diapers and smelling them.  They didn't smell like anything, and I had read that if they don't stink, then that's good.  Weird. I mean clean has to smell like something right? Just watch a Pine Sol commercial right?

So over the last few years I have started to try and be more natural in my cleaning methods, vinegar is starting to become my clean smell, and in our medications.  The way I see it, when God created the earth, at some point, maybe after the fall of Adam and Eve, he created things in the earth to help us.  I mean back in the Bible days I'm pretty sure they didn't have all the drugs and anti biotics we do now.  But I think there were things all over in nature that produced the same if not better results.  And I'm guessing if they worked back then, they probably still work now.  i.e. Baltic Amber (you may have seen Caleb sporting his super cool necklace, there is actually a reason he wears it, you can read more HERE) Colloidal Silver, (see THIS previous post), garlic, and a bazillion other things.

And back to the point again, (geez even my blog is ADD, I guess since I'm writing it that makes sense) What does clean smell like?  I've heard for a long time that deodorants and anti-perspirants have aluminum in them and being that it is applied every day it really is bad for you.  (more reading HERE) So I decided to try a home-made deodorant that I have heard from many works really well.  I tried it today for the first time but I'm really interested in what my husband thinks.  (him being the stinky one and all :]  ) It's hard to find a deodorant now days that doesn't have some sort of scent.  Even the "fresh" scent has a perfume-y smell to it.  You can't hardly find unscented.  Hair products are the same thing, they are all scented.  Now don't get me wrong, not all scents are bad.  There are many essential oils and natural products that have scents that can be pleasant and not harmful.  But let me get to the point (it's about time right?) in today's society we think clean needs to smell like something.  Could it be that clean doesn't have a smell? I'm beginning to believe that just might be the case.  Clean is so refreshing and......not smelling.  After the clean you can always do things to smell pretty, or like I said some smells are fine, but what is producing that smell? Is it a natural ingredient or is it some chemical that is artificially produced to re-create a scent?

I've also started to realize that if you make your own stuff (cleaning products, natural remedies, etc) it really can be much cheaper than the "normal" store products.  I know you can buy natural products at the stores and they tend to be more expensive than the "normal" products.  But if my hair regimen continues I'm approximating I'll spend about $15 on hair products a year.  That's right, a year.  A box of baking soda and apple cider vinegar is all I use and only a tablespoon or so at a time once a week or so. (and that might go down depending on how my hair oils continues to adjust over the next few weeks) I'm currently going on 3 weeks not using traditional shampoo or conditioner and it's going great.  (now to be honest one of the reasons I chose to do this is that I knew I could go back at any point and I already had the ingredients to get started) But it's going great and I don't have any plans at this point to go back.  Want to join me?

oh and if you are curious about making your own deodorant I used THIS recipe.

Caleb's Scottish Rite Initial Visit

Today was the beginning of our Scottish Rite journey and we think it went really well.  We started off in the orthopedic department since that is where the issue initially presented itself.  One Dr. came in and did an initial evaluation talking to us and looking him over.  His initial eval said about what we thought; his bones all seem fine, it looks like the muscles are just weak.
So then the Orthopedic Surgeon came in and we talked with him.  He wanted to do x-rays just to be sure but was pretty confident everything would be normal.  We told him about our other concerns, his eye, the throwing up, the muscle weakness overall, and he agreed that neurology might be able to give us some answers. (last night as I was looking around on the website I found out they had a neurology division, didn't know that!) He kept saying there might be a reason for his overall "loosey goosiness" (his words) But he said he wanted to go ahead and fit him for some orthotics to give him some support.  A therapist came in next to evaluate him.  She agreed about the orthotics and also wanted to get him going with some physical therapy through ECI. (Early Childhood Intervention) She said she thinks if we focus on his core muscles the other stuff might get stronger in the process.  (exactly what our Chiropractor said) They come to the house to work with him, how much is determined by the initial evaluation.

Then we headed off to x-ray.  That went pretty well, although I wasn't allowed in the room since I'm pregnant.  (the guy was funny, there is a sign on the door that says if you are pregnant to tell the tech.  I said, "You can tell I'm pregnant right?" He laughed and said yes but it's always kinda weird getting that out of the way with an obviously pregnant women. funny.) Anyway, after that we headed over to Family Services (like Social Services) to drop off the paperwork to get started with the physical therapy.

Our last stop was back down to Orthotics to get him fitted.  They made little casts of his feet and then cut them off.  He did really well during that but watched everything.  We picked out camo to go on his orthotic, although most of it will be inside a shoe but it's more fun than white.  That Dr. said he won't need "special" shoes, but they might need to be wider than what you normally find.  He said they have shoes if the ones we have don't work.  It will take a few weeks for them to make the braces, so we go back in about 3 weeks to get those.

They passed all our info on to Neurology and they are supposed to call us within a couple of weeks to set up that appointment.  Hopefully that will go quick since Squirt is due to join us in about 6 1/2 weeks.

Caleb has an appointment with a pediatric gastroenterologist on Thursday to see if we can find a reason for his continual vomiting.  We will see what happens with all that.

Overall we are happy with today's outcome, they addressed all our concerns, agreed with what we felt and what we have been told by other Dr.'s.  I told Jason that sometimes I think it would be easier if they did find something "wrong," but of course that is scary too.  So for now we keep on taking steps and the Dr. today said too that there might not be "a reason" for all of his symptoms, but I am hoping that IF there is the next few visits (the GI, the therapist, the Neurologist) will find it.

Thank you for all your prayers!!