Grady's Snow Day

BASKETBALL SEASON IS COMING

GO HEELS!!!!!!!!

New Pictures

My Boy!!!

Us

Halloween Golfer

Grady does not care about the cows, pigs, or horses all he wants is the MUSIC!!!

Growing Growing and more Growing

Grady is getting over a cold but he has been a trooper through the stuffy nose and cough. We have been pumping him full of baby vitamins to keep him cleared out and we are happy to say that it seems to have worked it course (for the most part). After 10 days of this cold we decided to take him to the pediatrician, not for medication but to just make sure that the cold had not gotten to his chest or ears. Thankfully it had not. While we were there we asked for the nurse to chart his height and weight for us.... Well Grady at almost 9 months weighs 23.9 lbs and is 29 1/2 inches long which is 90-95% on each category. I knew that he was flying through his clothes but I had not idea he was this big. And at 9 months is is now wearing 12-18months clothes. Although he is definitely slimming down, due to his over abundance of movement, he still has his baby fat!

Here lately we have had many people tell us that they are faithful viewers of our blog. Today we had a very nice man tell me that he had gotten our web address from his mom (whom I work with) and he blessed us so much by telling us how he has been praying for our little Grady. Thank you so much for all the prayers. God is so good and He has a way of bringing people together who might have never met, but joins them together by His blood.

Thanks to the prayer, Grady will probably be out of his helmet in 2 weeks. At that point he will only be wearing it at night. We thank you so much for the prayers for our family.

This afternoon we went to my brother's house Grady was able to have some time with this cousins Will, Tyler, and Caleb. Grady is a bit smaller but he is right in there with them. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family on both sides!

Will (9), Tyler(6), Caleb(3), and Grady(9months)

A few weekends ago Grady's friend Elijah came over to visit but Grady was not the best host and was already asleep for the night before Elijah even got here. But, we had fun spending time with him anyway.

Your buddy Elijah

Psalms 116:5 "The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. "

LOOK AT THE DIFFERENCE

Ok so I decided that although Grady is not out of his helmet yet I would take a picture of his beautiful head so show the difference that we have already seen.


Before




Almost After

As we near the end of this journey I can say that I am shocked on how quick the process has been. I am thankful for all of your prayers from the fitting of the helmet to the many adjustments and now as we are getting to the end. I am sure that we will have many new things to talk about and new pictures to show and I will continue to post updates on what is going on in our house.

Great and Mighty

Grady had check up today with John at Hanger to see how the band is working. Garth and I have seen a lot of improvement but were afraid to get our hopes up about his progress. When we took his band off for John to start measurements even he was surprised by how quickly he has improved! We were shocked to hear that since Grady is doing so well that there is a possibility that he will be out of his helmet as early as next month!!!!
Here is the thing that is AWESOME, I have not told anyone but I have been praying that he would be out of the band by Christmas. Well, guess what John said today, "Looks like Grady will be out of this thing in time for CHRISTMAS PICTURES!!" What a Mighty God We Serve! Such a small request, what a small desire, what a small thing but my BIG God answered my prayer! Thanks you Jesus!
Grady is in the bed right now but I will be sure to take pictures of his head now to compare so check back soon.

2 weeks of school down

I must admit that I was a little apprehensive about going back to school. I love all of my kids, co-workers, and my job but I just keep thinking about Grady and how much I want to be with him. As I dropped him off the first morning with Ms Tracey as soon as he heard her voice he turned and looked at her and started smiling! Could her really remember her after 10 weeks? I am not sure but it made me feel a little more comfortable.
As I walked into the school building I looked around and everything was just as I left it and everything just seemed normal. But the thing that was ironic is that as I was first seeing my kids for the first time as song was in my head and it was so fitting,
"I am a Promise"

I am a promise
I am a possibility
I am a promise with a capital "P"
I am a great big bundle of potentiality
And I am learnin' to hear God's voice
And I am tryin' to make the right choice
I am a promise to be anything God wants me to be.

Somedays the kids will try our patience but all in all they are a Promise! How often to I "try" my heavenly Father's patience but He still loves me and is quick to forgive.

The kids are so wonderful and every time I thought of how my arms were empty, another hug would come my way. I truly have an amazing job.

Here are some fun pictures that I just thought I would share!
Is it? Maybe?


YES IT IS! TOUCHDOWN HOKIES!!!!


Grady's helmet was rubbing his head so I cut a T-shirt to make it a little softer until Hanger could get some Shear Ban to put inside of it. He has already seen some improvement. Next appt is Sept 5th

So Many Milestones So Fast.

I cannot believe that our little baby boy who just a few short months ago was so quiet, still, and peaceful. Well, those days are over and the new Grady is here! Grady is now 7 1/2 months old and he is growing up ever so quickly. He is waving bye-bye, eating with is own little fingers and 2 teeth, laughing, and grabbing everything in sight. Just this past week He has start CRAWLING to get to anything that he wants. He is melting my heart by saying Mama over and over.

The summer has quicly come and gone and I will have to go back to school tomorrow. The halls will be bare, the gym will be quiet, and my little boy will not be in my arms. The past 10 weeks have gone by so fast. I consider myself so lucky because in Grady's 7 1/2 months with us I have been with him for 5 1/2 of them. I get a little teary eyed when I think about all the things that I am going to miss out on during the days ahead, but I know that he is in a home with someone who loves him so much, but I will be so happy to see the clock strike 4. Tomorrow morning has felt so far away, until now.

As I walk in to the school tomorrow I realize more than ever how important my job really is because I will be caring for and loving other parent's "Gradys"

Under Construction!

As we were getting closer and closer to getting Grady's helmet I kept trying to think of what to put on it for different seasons and of course we have VT football, and UNC Basketball, but then one hit me... Under Construction! I starting thinking back to my days in Elementary School and Sunday School when we always sang the song

"He's Still Working on ME"
He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be.
It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars,
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars.
How loving and patient He must be, He's still working on me.

1. There really ought to be a sign upon the heart,
Don't judge her yet, there's an unfinished part.
But I'll be perfect just according to His plan
Fashioned by the Master's loving hands.

How true is this that as a Christian He is still working on me everyday!

I Corinthians 13 :10
"But when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears."

Grady's New Accessory


Well, Grady has a new accessory and he seemed to be doing well with it. This afternoon I noticed that his cheeks were a little red and still had the lines from the helmet so I called the Ortho and they told me to leave him out of it and come in first thing in the morning. We were very surprised that he did not fuss about any of the process today, Grady is such a trooper.
I have blogged many of the bumps in our journey thus far, but I have left a few steps out. After we went for the last set of scans I finally contacted the managers at Hanger and I told him what we were going through, with dates being pushed back over and over and having little to no communication with our Ortho. Garth made a personal appearance at the office to speak to our Ortho(professionally) about how we were upset with the communication that we had been receiving.
I received a phone call from the manager that afternoon saying that they would be bringing in a specialist from about 5 hours away to personally see over and care of Grady.
Grady's new Ortho is John and I must say so far he has been so helpful and we really appreciate everything that they have done for us. :)

Grady being scanned for his Helmet

The scan worked!

So we went back to Hanger today and they did another scan to try and a perfect mold of Grady's head and finally after 4 scans we got it right. Lets face it we have an active 7 month old boy! He kept wanting to see the red light and figure out what it was. I took his Bumbo seat so that he would be a little more still and I fed him sweet potatoes while they did the scan so that I could redirect his head with the spoon. IT WORKED!!! We should get the helmet in on Tuesday and start the breaking in process. I ordered some Virginia Tech stickers today to decorate it (getting ready for football season)
Grady gets to go to his first kids birthday party tomorrow. My youngest nephew just turned 3. We have a great family!

Irritated!!!

Well, we were told that they helmet would be in this week sometime but I had not heard anything as of yesterday afternoon so I emailed our Orthotist. I received an email this morning saying that the first scan did not work so we will have to go back in sometime after 10 to do another scan. They will send the scan in while we are in the office and make sure that everything goes through properly.
I wish that we have know earlier that it did not work but now we cannot get in until tomorrow at 2:15. They said that once it is in we should have the helmet in 2 days. I just want to get this process started because he is now almost 7 months old. I am a bit discouraged.

New Pictures!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Appointment

Today was the day of the evaluation with Hanger Prosthetics and everything went well. They were able to get a fitting for Grady's helmet with a 3D image so there was no casting involved (thankfully.) They did have to do the scan more than one time because of the degree of flatness on the back of his head and because lets face it he is an active little boy. We got him still by holding a bottle in his mouth and letting them scan.

Our insurance has already been denied so now we are going to be paying out of pocket. But, the total price of the helmet, 3D scan and follow up fittings have come to a total of $1700 plus whatever we have to pay at the specialist office for the few check ups he will have there.

The helmet has been ordered and it should be in next week and we will break him into wearing it as follows:

Day 1: 1 hour on 1 hour off

Day 2: 2 hours on 1 hour off

Day 3: 4 hours on 1 hour off

Day 4: 6 hours on 1 hour off

Day 5: 6-8 hours on 1 hour off

Day 6: 8 hours of the day and all night

Day7: Begin wearing 23 hours of the day

After getting the helmet we will have to watch for sores to come up on his head and if any appear we will can the Dr. Office. We will go back after 1 week and then 2 weeks later then we will start going 1 time a month.

Grady handled today appointment very well and was showing off for the people in the office. He is truly a flirt and was showing everyone how fun he can be. I just hope that he will be comfortable during this process. I will post some pictures of the back of his head now so that we can all see the improvements.

Just a Few Fun Pictures

Opps I got caught!

I love kisses from my daddy

Everybody say Cheese!

The Beginning

When our son was born we were immediatly blessed. After the long labor process only to end up in a C-Section we were finally able to hold our little boy whom we had prayed for, dreamed about, and talked to for months. I remember holding him in my arms and crying in the hospital as I prayed for God to put his MIGHTY hands around him. I held him so close and knew that God was holding our family just as close. We have cherished every step that we have been through from the first smile, laugh, real food, roll over, tooth, sitting up, and all the hugs and kisses. Each time we see him meet a milestone and pass it ever so quickly we wonder where has the time gone.

When Grady was born we had noticed that the back of his head was not rounding out like my 3 nephews has done. It seemed at little "Flat". We had asked his doctor about it and we were just told that it would round out with time so we tried to brush it off as being over protective first time parents. Let me tell you that there is not such thing! Garth and I decided that we should try a different pediatrician for our son because I felt like we were not being heard. Garth was continuing to mention that Grady's head was still "flat" but we kept telling ourselves that we were just being over protective.

At Grady's 6 month check up with his new doctor, whom I love, all was fine except that she mentioned that his head was "Flat"(hmmm I wonder where we heard that before.) This is called "Positional Plagiocephaly" or "Flat Head Syndrome." She decided to send us to a specialist.
When we got home from the appointment we went straight to our computer and started researching everything we could find so that we could have as much documentation as possible when the day came for our appointment with the specialist. I found info about positioning which we had already started and we took pictures. I found some other information but I wanted more and more and more. I really wanted to find a blog to see who else was going through this. But, I did not find much. I did however find that Grady would probably have to wear and helmet (yes a helmet.) I know I should not worry about what other people think but lets face it everyone does! My first thought was that I will keep him in the house for as long as he has it on his head. I am a little better now.

Well today was our appoinment with the Neurosurgeon (yikes.) The doctor was wonderful and so was everyone that we met there. We soon found out that we were all correct he does have Plagio. He will be in a helmet but we do not know how long. We were told over and over that insurance will probably not cover the expences because it is considered "cosmetic" but we want to proceed anyway. I called the Orthopedic's office as soon as we got home to find out how much money we were talking because I had heard it could be anywhere from $3000-$5000, but I was told that it is $1700 at this particular place. Still a lot of money but totally worth it. So we have our next appoinment for another evaluation on Thursday. I will post again when we have more information.

Here we are

Those who know us know that we are a crazy couple who love to make jokes. Basically that is the way that we live our lives. God has given us the abilty to laugh and we choose to use it every chance we get. We have been married now for 4 1/2 years and we are both resonably successful.
My Husband is the man of my dreams and I try to show him everyday that he is the most wonderful man in the world. We have a beautiful little boy who is 6 months old and is such a wonderful gift. Whenever I look at him I cannot believe how much I love him. It makes me realize how much my Savior must love me.
In this first blog I just wanted to tell a little about us, but in my future blogs I will tell more about what is going on in our lives.
Erin and Garth