Blessed Week

We have had a week full of blessings since I lasted posted. On Wednesday we attended a honor ceremony for Steve graduating with the highest GPA in his field of study. We are so proud of him!Graduation coming up later this month- hooray!

A partial shot of Rachel and I. It is hard to get a picture of with Rachel when she is trying to grab my phone.

While I wasn't able to buy The Escape baby carrier by Phil&Ted as I had hoped, I was able to purchase Meadow by Kelty Kids from a friend from high school. Thank you Robyn! We love it! It was nice to drive up to Oostburg to pick it up. Rachel and I were able to drive past the area where I grew up and we stopped at Harrington Beach State Park to try out the baby carrier.

Miss Rachel in the baby carrier. This picture doesn't show that there is a bar at the bottom of the baby carrier just below my hips. The blessing about this bar is that Rachel plants her little feet on it and stands while we are walking together.

Walking along the shoreline and seeing where other people were there before me reminded me of the Footsteps in the Sand poem. I often recommend this poem to other families when they first find out the diagnosis of spina bifida or other birth defects.That's when it becomes Footprints in the Sand time.

We found a few signs that spring may actually be coming to Wisconsin as we hiked part way around the quarry.

My power lifter. Imagine being able to lift your body weight like that? She power lifts herself up until she can easily swing a leg up.

Rachel's physical therapist brought with a pediatric walker on Tuesday. We have been having Minnie Mouse walk with it to get Rachel interested in using it. On the first day with it she walked about 20 feet with lots of whining and the therapist holding her up by her waist. Last night she did great! Alicia stayed in front of Rachel and blew bubbles for her catch. Rachel loved this and did not seem to notice she was working hard. She would stop and bounce up and down on her legs, laughed, would balance herself standing still and went about 25 feet. I still had to hold her up by her waist but it was just a huge improvement from the day before. We are working with her ortho doc to get a script for a gait trainer. I have heard it can take several weeks to get one. I will try to get pictures of Rachel using the walker when I have an extra set of arms helping- I think it will take 3 of us.