Naked Stairs!

These are the stairs naked!! Eric also found that there had been previous carpet on the stairs and not all of the staples had been taken up. That meant he had double the staples to take up :( I am glad we found the broken stairs before somebody got hurt on them. Gabby and Molly are both enjoying the large roll of carpet in the front room! Something new to lay on.

PT Update

First off, I would like to wish everyone a 'Happy Fall' Fall has officially hit here in the STL, nice cool temps and cool rain.

Alex had a bit of trouble this week with PT. Last week, he pulled a small muscle in his neck and it started bothering him Thursday night/Friday. Peggy worked with him an hour yesterday and couldn't get his body to "give in" and let her work well. She said he is one of the worst cases she has seen of this problem. Depending on how this week goes, he might be going twice a week starting next week. The more this goes on, the more irritated I get with the hospital where I delivered. As of now, I am not going back there to have subsequent children. I had the choice between there and St. Johns and I think I will go to St. Johns next time.

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On a more productive note, we have started some minor remodeling on our house. We took the carpet off of the hallway stairs because I cannot keep it clean/fur free and I have almost fallen down them twice with Alex. When taking up the carpet, we found two flat razor blades and 3 broken stairs. Not 100% sure what we will put on the stairs. I had found a stone laminent that I liked, but Eric doesn't like it. We need to decide soon!! The whole house, sans kitchen and bathrooms, is done in the same nasty dark grey carpet (the rest is done in nasty grey tile!). It was three years old when Eric bought the house, so that makes it 7 years old now. I want most of it gone. We decided that over Christmas break we will replace the dining room carpet and office carpet with snap-together laminent. I really want hard wood, but it is double the price!! This will suffice for now. As soon as I download the pics from the camera, I will post some of the stair ripping!

Four Months and First Cereal

Alex turned 4 months on Tuesday and had his check-up yesterday!! He is just over the 50th percentile on height and 75 for weight. Not bad, he his gaining weight less rapidly, which is good. Developmentally, he at where he should be and ahead in a few areas, especially language (imagine that, my child ahead in language!!). He is starting to roll himself half-way over. At the suggestion of the pediatrician, we started cereal today!! That essentailly sent me out scouring the globe for a Bumbo seat, per Dr. Kranbuhl recomendation. I was hoping to get one used, but they are a hot commidity!! I was discussing it on the phone with Eric and I could hear his co-worker going on and on about them in the background. I ended up with a blue one, as you can see in the pic. I think Alex got two bites of cereal down. He did not get upset or fuss much, so I was glad to see that. Maybe tomorrow we can get three bites down!!

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PT Monday

Alex had PT later then usual on Monday, due to a new OT joining the facility. This allowed Eric to go with us! Alex is making lots of progress. He is much looser in shoulders, neck, and back. He can turn his head from side to side, but still has a bit of a hangup on the one side. We keep working with him and try to make sure he is using his muscles.

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Sunday we went home to see my folks and go to the St. Agnes Chicken Dinner. Mom surprised us and switched with a gal at the hospital, so she didn't have to work. Afterward, we went down and watched some golf with Grandpa. It was nice just to spend a bit of "unstructured" time with the family.

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Thursday is Alex's four month check-up. I am anxious to see how many inches he has grown since his two month. He is becoming more "torso-y"

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Last bit, ( I know, I should have posted Sunday night! :') ) We ask for prayers for a little girl we know. Willamina Clayton, who just turned a year old, had a liver transplant on the 20th. So far she is doing well. They have moved her out of ICU and is now on the Immune Suppressed Floor of Children's Hospital. Please pray for her continued recovery and for her parents Will and Katie.

Round Two

Today was round two of physical therapy. Alex started crying the moment he saw the therapist and didn't stop crying until he was in his carseat ready to go home! He was much looser this week, then previously, but still really tight in his shoulders/neck area. He has two more scheduled PT visits, but I have a feeling they will spill over into October.

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It has been a "trying" few days here for me. A dear nun friend/professor/choir director died on Saturday of pancreatic cancer at the age of 57. She had not been sick too long and last I had heard was responding well to the chemo. The husband of my father's cousin Dorothy also passed away over the weekend. (such a close family, I had to read it in the newspaper and call my Dad because nobody told him!). AND to top it off, a priest with whom I know well and his family are friends of my folks had a quite public arrest for cocaine possesion and has bought himself a subsequent rehab stint for a cocaine addiction.
To be a bit cliche, when it rains it DOES pour!

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Wednesday I have an Ideal Image appointment and am meeting Colleen for a "night off" and to do a bit of shopping at the Galleria in Richmond Heights. Other then that, it is a fairly open week!

Ike!

Boy, it did a number on us! It poured rain from 3:30am until 11am. The rain gauge in my front yard says we received 4 in. of rain. There has been widespread flooding here in STL County and in St. Charles County. The scary part of us is the neighbor's tree decided to uproot and land on our lawn. It missed the garage by 3.5 feet!! Definatly divine providence.

Surviving PT

Alex survived his first day of PT. The gal did his eval and determined it wasn't just his neck that was the trouble. It was his back, hips, shoulders, and jaw that are all out of line. I was glad to see he has muscle range of motion in his neck, so nothing in physically wrong with the muscles. He basically is "out of whack" and needs to be realigned. Poor guy wailed the whole time while the gal worked on his muscles. She basically did a lot of massage and relaxing techniques all over his body. We have bought ourselves at least a month in PT, maybe longer. I'm just relieved there is not an injury to his neck muscles. This is all reversible.

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Tomorrow I am off to lunch and the Galleria with some friends!!

PT

Not a whole lot has been going on this week. Alex will start physical therapy on his neck on Monday. He can only turn his head one way and there was concern that his neck muscles are not working properly. Consequently, he also has a flat spot on his head. He tried to come out sideways, so I'm not surprised there was stress on the muscles. We are going through Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, they have an out patient PT center in Hazelwood, about 15 minutes from our house.

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Eric has been working crazy overtime last week and will continue this week. He was approved for 80 additional hours in two weeks, on top of his regular 80. He most likely won't get in 80 additional hours, (that would mean 16 hour days!!), but he will get some extra time in. In fact, he has worked a good chunk of today, Saturday, and I'm sure he'll put in some hours tomorrow.