Monday, September 24, 2012

Dance, Football, Therapy...REPEAT

We are working our way in to a new normal which is filled with dance lessons, football games & therapy sessions.  Throw in a couple of 5k runs, harvest season and searching for a new church home to that list and we are figuring out what works for us. 
 
About three weeks ago, Claire started taking Dance Classes at J's Dance Studio in Heyworth.  It's about ten miles away and so far we've been on time both nights!  Tomorrow Trever is taking Claire and she is going to "teach him how it works" to go to Dance Lessons. 
 
 
 
I think this is our 6th season of having football tickets and our group continues to grow.  What started out as 4 couples, we have turned in to 4 families with 6 kids!  Kelson took in his first game on September 15th and was a pretty good little guy considering all of the comotion!
 
This past weekend we had a night game.  That means not having to get up early and having time to relax and get some things done around the house.  This also meant there was time for a special daddy daughter outing.  I'm pretty sure the highlight of Claire's trip was the tootsie roll she bought from the Knights of Columbus when they were driving through town.  But, she is now the proud owner of a Barbie fishing pole and is ready for it to warm up so she can catch something. 
 
Trying out new churches means that Kelson gets to try out some of his fancy new clothes.  Thanks to the Angus boys, we will never have to buy clothes for this kid!  And, he will never wear the same outfit twice.  he's the best dressed little guy in the county (even though his facial expression doesn't show it). 
We have also started speech and physical therapy in the past week.  Both therapists come to our house which is an awesome time saver.  Due to Kelson's diagnosis of Auditory Neuropathy, he will most likely have difficulty with his speech since he really isn't processing the words and sounds that we use to communicate.  We have lots of decisions to make regarding the path we want to take with this, but in the meantime we are working to determine what he does or doesn't hear and helping him to recognize voices.  We are slowly working on some signs out of a baby sign language book and will continue to find what is best for Kelson.  The therapist that is working with Kelson has worked with other kids with AN and will come to use every Wednesday morning. 
 
This morning was our first physical therapy appointment.  Since Kelson was premature he is a little bit behind with his muscle development.  We are specifically working with his neck and shoulder muscles and his grasp.  He seems to be doing fairly well, but we are trying to give him every advantage that we can.  She gave us some exercises to do with him that you can see in the following pictures. 
 

We have also been church shopping which is a bigger challenge than I expected.  Soybean harvest has started so I am on call 24/7 these days and pray that I beat all of the combines to the fields I have to inspect.  Claire took a combine ride with Uncle Kenneth and then hung out with grandma for a while tonight.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

great post, I am needing a Kuipers fix!!!! Hope to see you guys really soon!!!

Ria

Anonymous said...

You may not remember me specifically, but I will never forget any of you! After receiving your note and pictures of Kelson, I hung it up on my fridge at home and finally am getting around to looking at your blog. I love seeing the updated pictures of Kelson and seeing pictures of Claire too, who I never got to meet. Kelson is a special little boy and I'm sure his sister is just as special in ways that are all her own.

I'll use the blog to stay updated on Kelson's progress from time to time. I look forward to seeing you all at next year's NICU reunion and hope that you will be there! You may not remember me, there are so many nurses to keep straight, but that's ok. I didn't get to take care of Kelson very often, but I did make sure I always checked on him and visited him. You do that with the special ones. :)

As I said, I will not forget you and I feel blessed to have helped care for Kelson. And I'm grateful to have my own pictures to add to the other special pictures on my fridge - thank you!

God bless your family -
Gwen, NICU RN

Anonymous said...

I have followed your post since Kelson was born and feel like I know your family. Thank you for sharing your steps. I was so happy to finally meet you all at LeRoy Christian Chruch a few weeks ago. I knew who you were right off the bat! What a beautiful family! Good luck on search for a new church. Just like we knew LeRoy Christian Church was the place for us you will know to when you get there.

Anonymous said...

This is distant cousin L. June Zoerner, checking in with some comments and advice concerning your totally adorable older child:

Grace, 14 yr. old daughter of my youngest son Tom, started ballet lessons 10 years ago. This year I will be attending my 10th consecutive performance of the
"Nutcracker," performed by ALL of the students in the dance school: ages four to sixteen. Extra scenes are added to accommodate all students. It is considered bad form to leave a performance once your child has performed.

Be prepared.

Curiously speaking, Krista, do you remember me at all? I sent you a U of I umbrella once when Carol was visiting.