Its offical Brayden is short!

Brayden had his one year check up today. I was informed by the doctor that Brayden is very healthy for his age just short! 29 1/4 inches and 19lbs 4oz. So he is getting big but he is only in the 10 percentile so he is actually small... I guess when we compare him to his 22lb brother he just seems big to us. He is doing so well. He gets up in the middle of the room and stands. He can even take a few steps I'm guessing by the end of the month he will be running (I say running cuz this kid has so much energy he's going to skip walking and go straight to running). He is getting more and more determined everyday. He has his best friend a stuffed monkey that mommy doesn't let him take out of his bed usually but being the smart boy he is he tosses it out of his crib when I come get him and as soon as I put him down he climbs all the way up the stairs to go rescue his friend and bring him downstairs with him.

We also got the good news today that Landen has been accepted into Arizona Long Term Care (ALTCS)! Meaning we can get help financially through the state for Landen's medical needs. I got a personal phone call from the lady who was unfortunate enough to be the one to inform us in the past that Landen had been denied because of non diagnosis... she remembered doing his application a year ago and was so happy that they accepted him this time. Although we are insured we still have co-pays and deductibles and some things are just not covered like his hearing aids. This is getting to be a concern since in the last few months I've noticed Landen is getting less responsive to noise. He doesn't respond to his name or even clapping like he use too. I mentioned this to a friend from the School for the Deaf and Blind this week she specializes in hearing. She watched him and was concerned as I am that his hearing may be getting worse and we were afraid that we couldn't afford to get a new ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response) done which will help us determine if this is the case.

ALTCS will also allow us to keep Landen in outpatient therapy in Kingman after he turns three in August. Landen's DDD (department of developmental disabilities) worker was shocked when I told him that even when he starts receiving in home service through the school district I still want to take him to outpatient. Apparently most Bullhead moms hate going to all the way to Kingman every week and prefer to just have in home services. Not me I love taking Landen to the pediatric gym in Kingman! they can do so much more there then they can do in home. He can have OT sitting in a tire swing filled with balls!! Or climb ramps and stairs and all sorts of things that they just can't do in home. So to me the 45min drive is worth it... its only once a week. Its silly maybe its just cuz I grew up out in the middle of nowhere where we had to travel long distances just to get groceries but a 45 minute drive just doesn't seem like that much of a inconvenience to me.

Also on the good news last Friday was Landen's first speech therapy appointment! It went really well. We meet with the therapist and talked about Landen and what she plans on doing with him. Scott came with me to Kingman last week and it turns out that he and the speech therapist worked together when he was doing part time at Valley View Hospital... She use to work there but since they don't take pediatrics patients there and she has a pediatric specially she switched hospitals.

Other then that Landen has just been getting use to his new braces... well kind of... he loves the braces wears them all waking hours with no complaint its the shoes he has to wear over them that he hates. I blame myself... I never wear shoes and I never put shoes on my kids (well almost never) we live in Arizona the most they ever need is socks to keep their toes warm. Neither of them were walking so I just didn't bother with shoes... So now both my kids are anti-shoe! But I've been making him wear his shoes one hour more each day... today he wore them for 5 hours. Not too bad. So we are getting use to shoes!


But in all Landen is doing really well. He is just as snugly and happy as ever. The other day he gave me a moment I will treasure forever... I always climb into bed and lay next to him and read him stories before bed. I didn't know how much he really loved that part of the day until last week. I put him into bed and had to go look for his story book. He had a meltdown climbed off the bed tears and screams then as soon as he saw me coming back with his book he climbed back into bed and gave me the cutest little smile. I laid down next to him and he snuggled close and patted my arm while I read him his story. When we were done he went right to sleep with no complaints. I LOVE MY LITTLE LANDEN!

We are planing to take both Brayden and Landen on a camping trip tomorrow and that should be fun! I love letting the boys be boys and play and crawl in the dirt! They will get all sorts of dirty and have tons of fun and when its all done they are 100% machine washable... okay maybe not machine (I don't want them to shrink in the dryer ;) their already short enough) But they are washable and they love baths. I figure the more dirty they get the more baths they get and we are all happy!