Firsts

I wanted to share the some of the recent firsts in our family.

Katelyn wore shoes last Sunday. We have looked and looked for shoes that would fit either of them with no luck. Both she and Brandon's feet are not only small, but Katelyn espeically has very narrow feet. Not the typical fat baby feet. So anyway, a lot of effort and thought has gone into trying to find something that would work. On Sunday I put some thick tights on her and then happened to think of some shoes that Wendy gave to us and they were just narrow enough for her to keep on her feet, but after all of that effort - she hated them! She wouldn't even stand up in them. She wouldn't let her feet touch the ground in them. Today we tried again, and she loved them, but they really are just so big she couldn't keep them on. But she liked them a lot more and really liked her dad's shoes too.

Brandon is cruising. Okay, so this doesn't mean that he can stand and cruise independently, but he can side step and mostly support himself at our ottoman. I am just elated that he is doing some reciprocal movement with his legs. It is very encouraging. He is also sitting pretty consistently. He has been on and off for the last couple of months - frustrating! But he seems to like it now.

Blake and Derek are making the adjustment of being in separate kindergarten classes just fine. They like it and they both seem to be thriving in every way. The social aspect is tricky when it comes to playing with friends, etc. Blake has gotten a couple of invites that have been for just him, because they are in his class. Until Friday it has always worked out so that they have both been able to go and play. But on Friday Blake went to go play at his friend Will's house and Derek had his friend Rilee over to our house to play. I know it sounds silly, but it is the first time thier social calendars have parted. And It was a bit weird for me, but not for them. The funny thing is that for all of the planning and discussing that went in to making this a happy thing for everyone (and trust me there was a lot of that!) Blake's friend's mom emailed me Friday morning and said that Derek was welcome to come. That is totally what he would have preferred to do, but I think he still had a fun afternoon.

Katelyn took her first steps this week. She has been standing and wallking with toys for a while, but we've decided she is just too chicken to let go and walk. So I started working with her to get her to let go and come to me and she is doing it! She is so afraid. She loves to push things around thought, here is her recent favorite push toy (this also happens to be Brandon's favorite toy to play with). On her hardwood floors she practically runs with this thing. I got out of breath trying to capture her doing this. (yes, i am THAT out of shape!)

And yes, those are her bloomers on her head. We are looking for a cute hat for her for Christmas. She loves to wear things on her head!

Brandon's lungs seem to be healing and making progress. By summer he was only needing oxygen while he was sleeping. While we continued to use the pulsed oxymeter to monitor his oxygen saturations we started to see an unusual trend by early Fall. Some nights he would need oxygen and some nights he wouldn't. Finally one night Brent said he'd had some trouble with the probe that goes on his foot to measure the oxygen saturation. I changed it later that night and he hasn't needed oxygen since, so it was really just a bad probe I think. So sent the big oxygen tank back and just kept a little one for security through the winter months with respiratory season and all. This is the first time in 13 months we haven't had a big tank on the stairs.

This has left a permanent mark on the carpet on the landing of our stairs- a good reminder of where we have been will help us be grateful for where we are.

And last of all a family first for us. We have Christmas lights on the house and they are all up already. I am so excited! I wish we had more, but maybe next year. For now I am happy that the bottom roof line is lit and maybe next year Brent can figure out getting the top level, but I love Christmas lights and have always wanted to have a fun lit house at Christmas. Maybe I will post pics later.