Evie 9 Months!

At 9 months Evie weighs 22 lbs 5 oz and is 29 inches long! She is in the 90th percentile for weight and off the charts in height. She hasn't gained weight since she was 5 months old but our doctor isn't concerned because at this point she is just getting back on the curve instead of being off of it :)

Evie is still eating 6oz bottles and food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We have graduated to puffs finally and she is tolerating them well! She even had a french fry the other night and was able to eat that without choking!!

We had a bit of a scare starting on February 9th when Evie seemed to have had a small virus but it has really knocked her on her tail and we are still watching to see if there could maybe be something else going on. Since Feb. 9th Evie has progressively refused to sit up, crying out when we force her to, has a bobble head that she can't seem to get control of and has just been overall regressing in physical therapy. After a trip to the ER that included CT scan and head x-rays we determined her shunt was working great, huge relief! Then the next week we got an x-ray of her tummy which showed she was backed up (common for SB babies). We got her cleared out but she was still having some lingering effects. At a physical therapy session our therapist was really worried about the regression and Evie's apparent pain from stretches so she called our SB specialists at Cardinal Glennon and we had an appointment with Orthopedic Surgery. That appointment was less than successful and they told us she was fine. We are still seeing some issues with Evie but over the past week she has been starting to get back to where she was. We still aren't there yet, so essentially we have lost about a month in progress with physical therapy which makes me sad but just as long as she's getting better, that's all that matters.

Evie got fitted with her very first pair of AFOs (ankle foot orthotics)! With the AFOs Evie is able to bear all of her weight and even stand in her stander for 30 minutes at a time! She loves to be upright and stand next to a shelf and play!

Evie getting molded for her braces!

It took us 4 stores but we finally found a tennis shoe that was light weight and laced all the way down but was small enough for her feet! Aren't they cute?

And of course a princess needs her orthotics blinged out! White was so boring!

Check her out!!

BIG GIRL!!!

Today Evie has her swallow study to see if we can figure out what is going on once she swallows the food. There is a possibility that she is still refluxing which could be a cause of her constant illness. I am hoping this gives us a better insight as to what could be the root of some of the issues we are dealing with. Sometimes being a mom to a child with Spina Bifida is hard! You have to decipher what is spina bifida related and what is just her being a normal baby...we are still trying to navigate that and figure her out.

Evie loves to babble all day long. She can say "ma-ma" "da-da" "ba-ba" and has recently started blowing raspberries which is so cute! She loves to laugh at her brother and has recently started getting on his nerves :) She likes to have whatever he has and let's just say we are learning some wonderful lessons in sharing at the Morgan house :)

Evie can scoot backwards and sit up nice and tall and play with toys! She is trying so hard to figure out  how to crawl forward and brings her legs up but then can't figure it out. She is so darn cute and determined! Evie trying to crawl HERE

She wears 12 month size clothes and size 4 diapers. She loves her jewelry and diamonds are her favorite. We are so blessed to be her parents and look forward to all she will accomplish. 

Valentine's Day 2014

Obviously I am a little behind with publishing my posts - it's hard keeping up with 2 kiddos and all of Evie's appointments!

Valentine's Day this year was so much fun with the kids. We stayed pretty low key and they each got a card and a few little gifts. Gavin loved his cookie from grandma and grandpa Morgan and has stickers all over our house (he calls them "dougie stickers" because they are dog stickers and one of them is a pug like my parent's pug, Doug) from grandma Jenna and grandpa Wayne. 

They both looked adorable in their outfits and Gavin had so much fun decorating his first ever Valentine's Day box at school. 

Here are a few pics from the day. 

Man of your dreams

Sweet kisses for 'sis'

Here is Gavin's very first box. He's pretty good at this decorating thing. His shirt says "Sorry ladies, mom says I can't date yet"

Gavin loved his Valentines for his friends. He walked around all day saying "I dig you!"

Dinner at Taco Bell with my loves - it was Gavin's choice and he wanted tacos :)

Evie Grace at 8 months

At 8 months Evie weighs 22 lb 7.5 oz and is about 28 inches long. Most of her habits are the same - still sleeping great and eats about the same. She really likes food and the new flavors but we started noticing her gagging and sometimes even puking when we would give her a puff. We talked it over with our PT and had a meeting with our First Steps coordinator and it was decided that Evie would be evaluated by an Occupational Therapist. 

We had our first meeting with our OT about 2 weeks ago and some of Evie's tendencies threw up red flags for her. The constant tongue out of the mouth, the laryngomalacia, the reflux...all of that is actually related and a sign that Evie probably still has some reflux going on even though she isn't puking on us anymore. We are working on new exercises before feedings and are going to try to get Evie scheduled for a swallow study to rule out the possibility of aspiration (this because Evie has been constantly sick for almost her entire life). 

Physical therapy continues to be wonderful. Evie is a strong and determined little thing and we love seeing her progress. Our PT is so excited with all the great improvements Evie is making with bearing weight and keeping her feet straight. The possibility of a stander is becoming more slim as Evie continues to progress in the right direction.  Next week we get Evie fitted for AFOs. I am so excited about this! Once her AFOs are molded and come in we will be able to see just how much intervention is needed. It is possible that the AFOs will fix a few minor problems we are having like keeping the hips in (they are kind of loosy goosy right now) and bearing weight. It will be a good indicator of how she responds to intervention and be our first insight as to how she reacts with a little extra help! I know I say it in just about every post but we are sooo grateful for a therapist that loves her so much and is such a great advocate for Evie. She is one step ahead and thinks of anything and everything that will help Evie have the most mobility possible with the least amount of intervention.

OH! And SHE HAS A TOOTH!! On the morning of January 6th Evie popped her very first tooth!! 

Other than being plagued with a constant sickness, be it a UTI, ear infection, cold or pneumonia, Evie is doing great overall. She continues to be the light of our life. She thinks Gavin is just the funniest thing ever and laughs at even the smallest thing he does. This does cause us a few hair-pulling nights because Gavin will continually act out because he knows his sister will laugh at his antics. 

Flu? Shunt? Cold? Teething?

I was so excited for last Wednesday! Evie had been having a few "off" days but nothing was too too alarming until Wednesday morning.  She had been sleeping a little more at school and not eating her bottles very well. It was worse Tuesday than Monday and Wednesday was far worse than Tuesday.

The morning started with our meeting with First Steps.  Susan (PT) got to our house a little early to work with Evie and see her progress then we met with her and Kathi (the coordinator/director lady) to talk about whether Evie had met the goals we set for her 6 months ago and what goals we wanted to set for the next 6 months and what equipment would be needed for her to meet those goals.  Evie had met all but 1 of her goals but we are in the progress of meeting that one...sitting unassisted for at least 10 minutes with both hands playing with toys. She can do this for about 5 minutes so now we are just working on endurance. 

We talked about getting AFOs ordered for her. We went ahead and put in an order for a stander to get her to bare all of her weight for longer periods of time. She bares weight for a couple minutes now but then needs a break so the stander should help with that. We also went ahead and put in the paperwork to get a walker when she is ready.  As soon as she can stand (even with her AFOs) for long(er) periods of time we will order the walker. If that is next month or in 5 months, whenever she can do that we will move forward.

During the meeting Evie wasn't very interested in Susan which is very abnormal for her. Evie loves Susan and usually interacts, smiles and laughs at just about everything Susan does....BFFs already :) Susan laid her down on the floor on her tummy to see if Evie would be interested in toys and instead she passed out, right there in the middle of the floor. If you know my child, you know that is not her norm. She is a busy body and likes to move and play and interact.  She slept for almost the entire meeting (about an hour). Before Susan left we were talking about how weird it was and that she had been getting more and more not like herself the past 2 days. Took Evie's temperature and it was only 98.4 (she usually runs 97.9). Susan agreed that when we got to clinic to make sure we saw neurology to rule out any shunt issues since she had gradually been getting worse and there was no fever we weren't really sure what was going on. 

We got to Cardinal Glennon and went right in for our renal ultrasound. We had a bit of time so we went and visited our friends at Fetal Care Institute (where I received my care during my pregnancy) and one of the finest NICU nurses you will ever meet, Holly, and then headed down to our clinic appointments.  All the nurses were excited to see Evie and see which bow she had on...she has a reputation in that place for cute bows so I try not to disappoint ;) Got to our room and I told the nurses she just wasn't acting right and we would like to add Dr. Elbabaa to our schedule. At that time the PT and orthotics lady had come in as well as our Urology nurse. They were all stunned at how unresponsive Evie was so we took her temperature...102! Just a few hours prior it was fine. We stripped her down and Dr. Elbabaa recommended we get to the ER ASAP after finishing up our other specialties really quick. With everything else going on the past few days and now the high fever he wanted to be sure to get a full assessment to see what was going on.

This is how she was acting at Clinic and in the ER!

Was it the flu? Shunt malfunction? Shunt infection? A common cold? Teething? These are all things that run through our heads. It could be anything a "normal" baby goes through or it could be something much larger having to do with her brain that would require immediate brain surgery.

We got done, headed over to the ER and got a room. They were incredibly busy. Dr. Elbabaa left clinic to come over and check to see how Evie was doing. I can honestly say I will never forget that encounter with him. He walked in, smiled at me and looked at the 2 nurse practitioners that were in our room. He said "I don't mean to intrude on your territory but this is my girl and I love her and I want to make sure she is going to be ok." Our doctors are seriously incredible! He explained to the nurses that he needed them to do a full work up to find the source of the fever (means infection somewhere) and that if all of those came back negative they needed to call him and move forward with a CT scan of her brain. He left us in incredibly able hands.

First up was a few nose swabs and a chest x-ray. Then they needed to get blood and urine for cultures. I explained to the nurse that Evie has incredibly picky veins that usually require the talents of the transport team (the team that goes out and brings the babies to CG after they are born - highly experienced). After the nurse looked at all of Evie's veins she agreed that the transport team would be needed. We got Gerald in from transport and he was able to get a vein in her wrist on the first try. Got her blood drawn and the IV started. They put her on fluids because she was dehydrated and began administering antibiotics in case this was a bacterial infection.

Gerald getting Evie's IV started

While all of this seems like it went by fast I think we were at about 8pm by this point. We had been in the ER since 2pm and at Cardinal Glennon since 10am! 

The nurse and doctors came back in and said Evie's chest x-ray showed pneumonia. After discussing her symptoms and high fever it was decided to go ahead and admit her and watch her over night. We got up to our room very late and I went home to sleep and be with Gavin (my parents had him) and Joe would stay with Evie at the hospital. She looked to be miserable and in pain but we managed to get a few giggles out of her and she was babbling as I was leaving. 

The next morning I got Gavin to school and headed up to the hospital. Evie was doing much better and more like herself in spurts.  She got a huge stocking full of toys and goodies delivered to her room and got another bag of fluids. The doctors decided she could be discharged and we were out of there shortly after noon.  The doctors said she should not spike a fever again and should act normal in spurts throughout the day and be tired/drowsy other times and she is finishing getting over her illness but that if she got any worse she needed to be seen again. We finished out our Thursday at home and got ready for work and school the next day.

The stocking was bigger than her!

Friday morning I got up and got the kids ready like normal. I noticed Evie had a rash on her back and tummy and some on her face. It was raised but not too red although it wasn't normal skin tone either. I took them to school like normal but before I could leave I noticed Evie wasn't acting herself again. She wasn't happy and smiling like she was just the night before. I decided to change her diaper and saw that the rash had gotten much worse and was now all over her arms, legs, back, tummy, face, neck...everywhere. And it was bright red. It wasn't little dots like they explained from the viral infection it was like big welts all of her body. I called Joe and we decided we would take her in the ER as she was not acting like they said she should. 

This is what her tummy looked like she she woke up. You can see the rash is raised!

And then at daycare it turned bright red and it was raised. Huge welts from in her hair all the way to her toes!

We got her to the ER around 9am.  At that same time we saw a bunch of commotion going on in the entry way. We got back to our room and got the charge nurse of the ER who was incredibly friendly. She said that Andy Benes (A former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher) was visiting and had toys to give out. She got us checked in and checked Evie out and since she was stable we got to go meet Andy and get Evie a nice toy. It was fun and Andy even asked if he could hold Evie. They took lots of pictures of her...what can I say, she's a cutie :)

Evie and Andy Benes

We went back to the ER and at that time the nurse practitioner followed us back to our room. She said she reviewed Evie's chart from Wednesday and Thursday and said that because of the type of antibiotic that was given to her in the ER and the fact that her infection was viral and not baterial her body was reacting badly to the antibiotic when it wasn't needed. That with the type of infection resulted in these awful welts all over her body. The nurse said Evie was most likely completely unaware she even had a rash and since she had no fever she was ok to go to daycare. Joe and I took her back to school and they promised to give her lots of extra love which I am sure they did! I went back to work and Joe went home to get some sleep (night shift guys...not fun!) 


Evie has been acting pretty normal most of the time since then although she does still have this rash all over her body which seems to get bright red if she gets hot but overall she is doing much better. I hope this rash is gone quick because I wanted to get Santa pictures over the weekend but didn't want to have that pesky rash in the pictures! Hoping to get them done tonight if the kids are in decent moods. 

Thanks for all of the prayers! They sure are appreciated and our girl really needed them! 

We are now on the donation "clock" for an amazing clothing company out of Illinois that donates 50% of their profits to families that experience large unexpected medical bills.  Evie was lucky enough to be chosen for a donation period and right now is that time. The company is called Fight the Fight and they have a pretty cool logo! You can get anything from bracelets to purses to sweatshirts and t-shirts from their website. We would be so grateful if you wanted to get some cool gear and support our girl! Their website is www.fightthefightclothing.com or you can just click here. 

With all our love,
Heather

Evie is 7 months old!

I am a little late since Evie was 7 months on the 7th (does that make it a golden birthday??? lol!) We have been so busy with preparing for Christmas, moving that dang elf, Dash, which I forget to do all the time, wrapping presents and keeping up with family that I just forgot to post Evie's update for the past month.

She is doing so great! She weighs 22 pounds 5 ounces. She has lost a few ounces but that is ok since we know what is causing it. Evie is no longer spitting up like she was so we were able to stop the cereal in her bottles (pure carbs) so she is losing a tiny bit of weight. We are having trouble with her being able to eat now, though. She was so used to the thickened milk she no gags on it even with a level 2 nipple. We have to add 1/2 tsp of cereal to her bottles so the flow is slow enough for her not to gag. To most parents that doesn't sound like a big deal but that sends red flags all up for us....that dag gone Chiari II makes me nervous! A symptom of Chiari Malformation II is gagging. Evie should be able to keep up with the flow of a level 2 nipple. We have taken the cereal out almost a full month ago and we still can't get it completely out. We did start solids and she is able to take food from a spoon without gagging so our neuro team isn't worried. We will be doing fast paced MRI in March to check her ventricles and Chiari II. 

Evie is doing great with her motor skills! Our physical therapist is so wonderful at teaching us what to do with her and why we are doing it. Evie can now sit up, all the way, for long periods of time! She loves to sit and play with her brother and he loves to play with her on the floor and gets right up in her face and says "Hi Evie" or "boo boo Evie!" - they just adore each other...let's hope it stays that way. Ok, you're right, I'm not holding my breath ;) 

She is capable of rolling both front to back and back to front but mostly chooses to either sit up or lay on her side. She is so stubborn, I have NO clue where she gets that from. 

She can bare all of her weight now on both legs and push up. While it is only in spurts and not for too long we are over the moon that she figured out she could do that! We think alot of her weakness is in her hips and that is causing her the issues. When she was little she was checked for hip dysplasia because her hips were "loose" but an ultrasound and check by the orthopedic doctor proved she didn't have it. So her hips are loose but not loose enough to have hip dysplasia.

Evie now says "Da Da" and it's not just a sound. She deliberately says it and reaches for her daddy. 

She has been battling a constant UTI for a few weeks now. We have her on a really strong antibiotic to kick it in the rear and then she will stay on a small dose of antibiotic for a while every day.

Our every day routine consists of size 4 diapers, 9-12 month clothes, about 20 ounces of formula a day (she's not too big of a bottle eater but her weight and everything is still healthy), fruit in the morning and veggies at dinner. She is a pretty happy baby and is proving to have some diva qualities about her. She has to have someone in her line of sight all day long or she will throw a fit. If one of her teachers walks away she will cry and as soon as they go over to her she is so happy and smiley...such a stinker!

On Wednesday we meet with our First Steps coordinator and physical therapist to go over Evie's goals for the next 6 months. At that time AFOs will be ordered for her as well as a walker/gait trainer. (At some point we are hoping Evie will get strong enough to where she can go to SMO bracing!) We also have our end of the year tests with urology and other clinic appointments on Wednesday. Please keep her in your prayers that everything goes according to plan :)

These are AFOs - they provide more support which will help with Evie's hip weakness right now. AFO stands for Ankle-Foot-Orthotic

This is an SMO - it is barely even visible above a tennis shoe line. SMO stands for Supra Malleolar Orthosis - they provide less support to the foot compared to an AFO.

6 Months!!

I can't believe my baby girl is already 6 months old! I know I say that every month, but seriously, 6 months?! That's half a year!  Maybe it's because we lost a little time in NICU or maybe it's because she is a tad behind on a few things, but I just don't feel like she should be 6 months old yet!

At 6 months Evie weighs a WHOPPING 22 lbs 7oz and is 27 inches long! That is off the charts in both height and weight. Her head is in the 89th percentile which means she is doing good! 

She eats 7-8 ounces every 3-4 hours. We started on baby food and she eats a veggie after her 5pm bottle. We will start food with breakfast next week so she will get a fruit then! Evie's "school" has been so wonderful with our ever changing feeding regimen. It is such a guessing game with her getting everything figured out. We started weaning her off of the cereal in her bottles because she isn't spitting up anymore. In order to get her off the prescription medicine we first have to make sure she is ok with just plain milk. We have her all the way down to just 1/2 teaspoon in each bottle and that is just so she doesn't choke on the flow of the bottle. We have her on a size 2 nipple but it's still a little fast and a level 1 is too slow....oh the drama. So this is our compromise.

We are still having a few bowel issues. We can't quite get her figured out. Too much Miralax, not enough, she needs it now she doesn't. Good grief! We now give Evie 1/4 tsp once a day in her morning bottle. We will see how long that lasts for. Hoping she can figure out her poo and not need the Miralax.

Evie is still sleeping great. From about 7pm - 6am. Can't complain there. She has always been a great sleeper and for that I am thankful!

She got fitted with her foot brace on her left foot to correct her Metatarsil Adductus - see this post about that! She doesn't love her brace so much but tough luck sister, we need to correct your foot early on! She developed a pretty big pressure sore early on so she couldn't wear it for a few days. We had it adjusted and another strap added and now we are in business :)

Susan, Evie's amazing physical therapist, is impressed with her progress so far! She can sit up unassisted for about 6 minutes and then she has to put her hands on her knees to balance. She can push all the way up on her hands and lock her arms and starts to pull her legs up. Hoping she figures out that is how she can gain mobility here soon :) (I know remind me in a few months and I will wish she didn't follow me everywhere!) She is physically capable of rolling over both ways but due to her weight, we think, she chooses to stay put most of the time. She isn't quite able to bear all of her weight yet. She has a few spurts where she will bear some weight on her legs. I am not really sure why or what this is. Maybe she just isn't strong enough yet? We see PT again on Saturday and I will ask about it then...maybe it's just delayed? Not sure...hoping we can strengthen her up to start bearing more weight on those fat little legs of hers ;)

Gavin continues to be obsessed with his baby sister. He loves talking to her, says "Good morning Evie" every single morning, plays with her and likes to "help" her play with her toys. He is a huge help and loves to run little errands around the house for us to get things. We are so thankful he loves her so much and we have avoided the jealousy issues so far! 

We continue working with her daily so that she continues to meet her age milestones. We are incredibly blessed with caregivers that do wonderful work with her during the day and a physical therapist that is out of this world amazing.  At this rate, Spina Bifida doesn't stand a chance. 

We go to SB clinic on December 18th but that is to just check in with the Urologist, PT and Orthotic people. Her next Neuro appointment isn't until March (I think) and we will see the Orthopaedic doctor at that time too to see what he thinks about mobility in the future and any possible interventions that she would need. 

God is good, all of the time. We are so blessed and don't take any of these blessings for granted. To Him be the glory!

Happy Halloween!

Gavin was a cowboy and Evie was an Indian. I don't know what I am going to do when they don't want to be in coordinating costumes, my heart might break! They are so cute together!

Gavin's outfit was complete with a toy gun, horse, cowboy hat and of course, his boots! I made Evie's costume - it's hard to see all I did but it was complete with 2 rows of fringe and a feather headband!

This year was so much fun! Gavin is old enough to trick-or-treat now and we had big plans for a fun evening! My parents made chili and we had wood and our fire pit ready to go complete with marshmallows for roasting...and then the rain wouldn't stop. So much for that, so on to plan b!

Plan b included getting drenched in the rain because it was so windy the umbrellas didn't provide much dry-ness.  We attempted to take the double stoller with Evie but since the wind was so intense the rain was getting her soaked. So to avoid a sick baby she stayed at the house with grandma and grandpa handing out candy while mommy and daddy took our cowboy trick-or-treating.

Gavin had so much fun! He is usually super shy but he walked right up to the houses and said "trick or treat" and then "thank you" when they put candy in his bag.  Usually he got another handful of candy for being so sweet and having good manners- just what he needed. 

Right as we were about to be done walking the neighborhood it quit raining so we stopped at a few more houses. It was only 7pm when we got home so we decided to do the traditional dump your candy on the living room floor routine. Mommy checked it to make sure it was all safe (made me feel really grown up! haha) all of it was good except 1 piece - not too shabby! My mom always ditched all the rules on holidays and let us eat whatever we wanted when we wanted so I thought I would keep the tradition. I am usually very strict on sweets but Gavin ate his little heart out. Double fisting it most of the night and past his bed time but it was worth it to spend the time with him and see that smile!

Gavin got to sleep around 8 and insisted (for the second night in a row) to sleep with his boots. He is obsessed with them. I figure it can't hurt anything to let the kid sleep with his boots so I obliged with his request. This morning he woke up with no PJ shirt on, just the pants and his boots on. 

This year was a success even if it did rain on our plans. Hopefully we get to do the firepit and mallows next year.

My mommy heart is full and happy! Love my babies to the moon and back! Hope everyone had a fun Halloween with the kiddos!!

Evie at 5 months!!

My baby girl is 5 months old!! She is getting so stinkin big! Evie is about 21 pounds and right around 26.5 inches long.  Chunker I tell ya :)

Evie is still on breast milk only. We have to thicken it up with rice cereal because of her reflux but she is still doing great with that. She eats 6oz every 4 hours and let's just say she never misses a meal!

We just started her on prune juice (to keep things going).  She gets a 1/2 ounce twice a day and we hide her ditropan in it.  We are hoping this keeps her more regular without having to add yet another medication to her daily routine. Pray with us that we can get her systems working properly without further intervention!

We finally transitioned her into her crib.  I was ready to stop tripping over the bassinet in our room but I was not ready to have her so far away from me (it's a whopping few feet across the hall, but still!) We got a video monitor in her room all set up so this worrying mommy can rest a little easier knowing I can peek open my sleepy, dry eyes in the middle of the night and make sure she is breathing! I can zoom in the camera and it gets really close to her tummy so I make sure it is still going up and down. (I really do that! ha!!)

During the day Evie isn't on any type of nap routine but I think this is something we are going to have to get her on.  She sleeps through the night just fine but doesn't take distinct naps during the day. That's hard for this OCD, over-scheduled mommy, I prefer set nap and bed times around the house!

Gavin loves helping out with sissy. He likes to "help" feed her and burp her and likes to tell me she is "poopy" every chance he gets. It is so much fun watching him interact with her. His most recent obsession are her cheeks - he goes right up to her and touches them ever so lightly, as if to pinch them and says "Evie Evie Evie Evie Evie" over and over AND OVER again! He also likes to tell everyone "Evie pretty". He loves to point out her bows and thinks she is extra pretty when she has one on.  When mommy forgets to add a bow to an outfit he will say "Evie bow go?", so mommy obliges and puts a bow on her head :)

Evie is doing great at physical therapy.  We know for sure she has function at L5 and we are pretty confident she has S1 but only time will tell.  We practice making her bear weight on her legs.  She can roll over both ways but usually chooses not to, probably because she has all that extra weight! We are working on sitting up which she can do for about 15 minutes with a little help from a bobby pillow. She loves looking around but that head of hers starts to get heavy and her posture starts to slouch. It is fun watching her progress over the weeks and see her PT get excited when she makes a new accomplishment. Have a mentioned how much we LOVE our PT?!?! She is the best!! The absolute BEST!

At the last SB clinic appointment we had the ortho doctor decided we needed to start bracing Evie's left foot.  She has metatarsus adductus and it seems to be getting worse.  This is completely correctable with the correct intervention.  We had her sized for a brace that can be adjusted to gradually stretch out that muscle under your foot so that her toes quit pointing in.

Hopefully the brace gets here soon.  We got approval through First Steps of Missouri (an awesome program for certain children with disabilities that is state funded) and we are now just waiting on final approval and for the brace to get here. Hoping it doesn't cause her too much pain to have her foot stretched but I know this is what is best and our PT has been recommending a brace for almost 2 months now - just had to convince our ortho!

We have a couple exciting weeks coming up. The first annual St. Louis Walk N Roll for Spina Bifida is this Saturday and we are so excited to participate.  We are so excited to share this time with our friends and family. We have people from our daycare coming, co-workers, friends and of course the whole family! We will be sporting our shirts and will have a fully decorated stroller and signs for Evie. Then Halloween - Gavin is going as a cowboy and Evie as an Indian. Wish me luck as I make Evie's costume this year!

God is so good! We have a beautiful and perfect daughter and the most handsome and perfect son. Blessed beyond words!