Good News and Bad News

Remember when I told you to take note of the sweet little white Keds sneakers Lois was wearing at Maddy's birthday party a few weeks ago?

Lois had slowly grown out of her first pair of lace up Stride Rites (which I mainly used in order to keep her socks on her feet.) When we had her measured for the first time at 14 months old, she was a size 1 1/2. They don't even make Stride Rites that small. They begrudgingly sold me a size 2 reminding me the entire time that she could trip. (Weren't they listening when I mentioned that the kid couldn't crawl yet, much less walk?) 4 months later she had outgrown her size 2 lace ups and I decided what she needed for the summer were white Keds. So the Yaya bought her 2 pairs of white Keds and pair of pink Stride Rite Mary Janes. The Yaya is very thorough, in case you hadn't noticed.

Two weeks later, Lois's PT mentioned she was pronating pretty badly and could probably benefit from a pair of Sure Step orthotics to help her with stability and to correct the pronation. Being the dutiful mother that I am, I had Lois's little fanny at the recommended orthotics purveyor's that very week where her feet were measured in every possible different way you can imagine - and probably a few you never thought of. We were presented with a set of design cards and asked to choose what "embellishment" we'd like on Lois's new orthotics. I asked for plain white - as the flowers and bumblebees were making me nauseous in all their girlygirl splendor. Jay balked at white - suggested solid pink - and I caved.

The next week, we returned to pick up Lois's custom made, pink orthotics. They really are pink. Baby pink. *sigh I had expressed my concerns to Miss Christina - the orthotic guru - that Lois had just gotten three new pairs of summer shoes that I was concerned would not work with her new apparatus. I brought all three to the pick up appointment - and what do you know? Not a single pair will work with her orthotics. Major bummer.

Miss Christina sent us to a Richmond shoe store in search of a particular brand of Nike shoe - guaranteed to work with these bulky pink monstrosities. Of course, they didn't have the recommended shoe in the correct size, but we managed to find another shoe that did work and isn't too horrible offensive on the eyes. So for the rest of the summer, here's what Lois will be sporting on her tooties with all of those beautiful dresses the Yaya has bought her:


In the grand scheme of things, I think I can handle bulky, ugly shoes. Small potatoes compared to some of the issues our friends have been dealing with lately. And they don't look THAT bad, do they?


These pictures were taken at the park with Daddy - we've had some incredible weather here in Richmond lately.



Hey! Who invited Gene Simmons to the park?

The orthotics drove home to me what a lucky little girl our little butter bean is - and how thankful I am that we qualified for the EDCD waiver and Lois now has medicaid coverage to supplement our private insurance. Lois's orthotics cost over $1,000. We owed nothing. They will need to be replaced in 6 months - and probably every 6 months thereafter. We will owe nothing. Many private insurance companies will only pay for 1 set of orthotics every two years. Would we have been able to afford this for Lois without the waiver? I cringe when I think of families who might have to make difficult decisions like this - and how heartbreaking it would be to know there was something out there that would really benefit your child and you don't have the financial means to make it happen. I am SO thankful for this waiver program and the benefits it has already provided our family - and especially our special little bean.

The best news? Since Lois has been wearing her orthotics, she's made some pretty impressive gains in her gross motor skills. Remember the blog post about Lois NOT learning to crawl? And how I knew that one day she would wake up and decide today is the day? That is exactly what happened - about three days after I wrote that post. March 5, in fact. Lois crawled across the office carpet to get my nasty, dirty slipper. (Auntie Gina calls them the MRSA shoes.) And she's been on the move ever since. But thanks to these pink wonders, the bean is now cruising along the couch, climbing up stairs and other obstacles, and kneeling at the fireplace to get a toy of her choice. It's a whole new world at the Hogans - a world where Lois knows exactly where the dog food bowls are and just how red Momma's face gets when she has to fish a piece of kibble out of her mouth.

We've got the video camera charged up so we can catch Lois's latest antics on video for you, but we have yet to make that happen. In the meantime, please visit my friend Kelly's blog - The Carpenter Chronicles (link on the left)- to see a video of her son, Landon making his first efforts at crawling. Landon is about 4 months younger than Lois and he's already doing what his Mom calls an "exaggerated" army crawl. You have to see it to believe it. AMAZING! Nothing is going to hold this kid back!

A few more juicy tidbits from the world of Lois: The butter bean now weighs a whopping 21 pounds which means....

She graduated to a big girl seat in the car - just in time to let her brother use the infant seat. Very considerate of her to time her weight gain so appropriately. My girl who had to eat through a tube for the first few months of her life is now an eating machine. In fact, I'm not sure we've come across any food that she won't eat. Her favorite food? Whatever I'm eating - whenever I'm eating it. Regardless if she just ate her entire dinner, she seems to think it only fair that she's allowed some of mine as well. I like how this girl thinks.

And eating has become easier for Lois since she got her first two teeth! I'd love to post a photo for you, but alas - the first two teeth Lois got are two of her upper molars. That's right. Count on MY kid to sprout two inordinately large molars to start. Have you ever heard of such a thing? We knew that children with DS can have teeth that arrive in a different order. But all of our buddies got their front two and bottom two first. Not my girl. Oh no. She's an original, for sure.

The worst news we've had in the past few weeks - besides the fact that I never plucked up the nerve to ditch Dr. Witchy Poo and am still dealing with her satanic like doctoring style - is that my beloved Dr. Kraft is leaving Richmond. And to top it off, guess where she's going? Roanoke!! My loss is Roanoke's gain - that's for sure. She'll be working at the hospital and training new pediatricians in working effectively with special needs kids and their families. They couldn't have chosen a better person for the job. I've already made sure that our buddy Dr. Meck knows she's coming. I think the two of them would really enjoy each other's company. I hope they can sit down together one day and have a cup of coffee - just wish I could be there to join in.

Mac's delivery is scheduled, my friends. If all goes according to plan, he'll be born on Friday, May 29. I'll be 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant and, I'm sure, completely miserable. Although I am so eager to regain control over my own body, to be able to climb the stairs without stopping halfway to suck wind, and to finally meet my son - I'm pretty sure that 4 days after he's out, I'll be wishing I could pop him back in there. Life is about to get really interesting.....