much needed update

Wowza! I can't believe this much time has passed since I blogged! Life has just been busy. Karsen got bumped up on speech therapy so we get to see the lovely Amy twice a week.  That extra day that been added we just do before hydrotherapy. It seemed not too long ago that Karsen seemed stuck, he seemed to be at his usual plateau. Just as always, with some extra time and lots of hard work things lately have been really falling into place for him. He's starting to try to say m words. They all sound about the same but he's actually trying. The best part? He said Mama on mothers day. Best mothers day gift ever. He now says "uh" for up, every now and then we'll hear him say go, he'll say more and is really trying to say car which sounds more like "ar". Amazing right?
Hydrotherapy has also just taken off. Karsen is now swiming with a puddle jumper on. I was completely caught off gaurd and did not expect him to be able to do that. He's really doing amazing. He's starting to grow so fast now. I'm realizing more and more that my baby is no longer a baby and it's so great to see.
We have Karsen's first IEP (individual education plan) coming up. We have been really busy touring a bunch of different preschools to see which one would be the best fit. That has been really hard. My gut really wants to put him at the same school Karter goes to but I made a promise to myself that I would always look at all options first before I decide. By law they have to offer us a school, and since Karter's school is a private school they can't offer us that one (we'd have to go about it solo, which is totally find if needed). So they are offering us our top pick school (if we had to pick one besides Karter's school) and requesting an aide. I still have no clue if we'll end up going with that school since it's a 45 min drive there but at least we'll have the ball rolling if we need to fight for an aide, which sounds like we'll have to fight. I just want what's best for Karsen and it's so hard to find a school for a typical kid let alone a special needs kid.
Friday we are meeting with an epilepsy specialist to talk about Karsen's previous EEG and see if we need to do a longer one. I'm anxious to hear what the doctor will say and hoping they are good listeners like our neuro has been.
Summer is almost here and I am so excited to get lots of pool time in with the boys. Finally a summer that is going to be a blast for Karsen and not a struggle. Both Karter and Karsen are going to a  two week summer camp at Karter's preschool. I'm so excited to have them both there and to see what they both will learn.
We've been certainly blessed to have so many supportive amazing people in our lives. It's been a crazy road but we're doing alright, actually we are doing way more than alright. Life is good.

A new specialist to add to the list

Kuper and I have always been concern about Karsen and the risk of seizure activity, I don't know if that feeling will ever go away. A couple of weeks ago Karsen and I were snuggling and his left arm (affected arm) did a quick jerk. It was enough for me to be worried and enough for me to call the neurologist. After emails back and forth, Karsen neurologist thought it was best that we see a epilepsy specialist. It's a lot of things bundled into one that lead us to this decision. With the type of seizures he had before, pushing to get an answer sooner is manditory. It's scary just to think that we may be going down this path again. Thankfully the paperwork got pushed through fast, it only took two days to get a phone call to make the appointment. We'll be heading down May 16th. After we meet with them we'll figure out if (most likely when) we'll get an EEG done and how long. It will most likely end up being an in patient 48 hour EEG. I'm not thrilled we have to wait a little over a month to meet with the specialist but it's better than two months. 

Karsen is LOVING this beautiful California weather we are having. The kid LOVES water. He's already asking to turn on the sprinkler. I'm really looking forward to the summer this year. Finally there is so much he can do and enjoy. 

We are checking out two preschools on Friday for Karsen. I'm kind of hoping a kid will have a melt down so I can see how they handle it. So pray for some kid to lose it. lol. I'm nervous and excited for Karsen to go to school. He's growing so fast!

Not much going on

Wow, I've taken quite a break from blogging. Life has been busy. 

Karsen has been plugging along with his usual therapy appointments. He's currently going to physical therapy once a week, occupational therapy once a week, speech therapy once a week, group therapy once a week, hydrotherapy every other week. Phew! Crazy looking at that all written down, it may seem like a lot but it's quite routine for us now. We are gearing up for his transition out of early intervention to the school district. That will officially happen when Karsen turns 3 in July, which is quite perfect since school starts in August. We are touring two schools in El Dorado Hills that are both schools that have combines classes, typical kids and special needs kids. We'll know more next week which school he will go to, we have three different options. It's a lot to take in, a pretty big decision for me.  

No real changes happening. Speech has been a slow slow progress but we are seeing some progress. Karsen is actually able to huff out air to move a bubble, something he was barly able to do with assistance. He's starting to make more variations of sound too. No real changes in his vision, we will see his eye doc in July. Still seizure free! His drool seems a bit better. He's still getting rashes but they are more contained to his chin than his chest or stomach, so that's good. His oral motor skills are getting better which is helping him to control the drool a bit. I'm not sure if we'd do Botox again since we didn't ever see any true results that were worth the pain and time.

Hopefully life will calm down a bit for us at the start of summer. We'll have a break from Karter's preschool, and I'll be done traing. I'm hoping to be able to do lots of fun family trips this summer.