Holden | 10 Months

So I totally wrote a 9 month post for Holden and then it took me forever to get around to taking a picture to go with it, so I just decided to wait until his 10 month post and now, here we are, already 6 days late! I swear, in some ways it seems like time has just been flying with our little guy and in others, it seems to drag on. With Aurora, I always wanted time to slow down. With Holden, I want it to slow down, but then we're also always counting down the days until his next surgery is out of the way and life gets a tad bit easier. We've definitely been counting down the days until his palate repair in May, so we can get through his recovery and get his g-tube the heck outta here. His feeding team told us that, if all goes well, it could be out as early as August. Whaaaat!? Don't get me wrong, it's definitely not the worst thing in the world, and it's honestly just become routine for us at this point, but life will get quite a bit easier when it's gone.

Regardless. Holden has been doing so great, you guys! He's been traveling at lightning speeds via his walker. Aurora runs all around the house and he just loves chasing after her. He laughs so hard and it's the cutest thing watching his little legs go back and forth. Just watch your ankles! He also loves when you hold his hands so he can walk around and explore. He's been crawling like a mad man and can get to anything he wants faster than we notice he's even moving. His legs are so strong and he can stand on his own for a pretty decent amount of time and he's even taken a few steps here and there between Jose and I. We've already had to start baby-proofing with outlet plugs and cabinet... thingys?... but the gates are next on the list.

He has one little tooth and another one is starting to show through, somehow making his already cute smile even cuter! Little guy loves to eat! He loves oatmeal and pureed fruits, but puffs and yogurt melts are his jam. The yogurt melts are actually my jam too and I'm secretly hoping the Easter Bunny drops some in my basket this year. He's started drinking from a special cup, but he doesn't seem to like it. It could just be trying to get used to it, since he hasn't had a bottle in a while either.

We went down to Riley in February for some appointments and all of his doctors said he is just doing great! I was mostly happy to hear from the genetics doctor that Holden's genetic tests came back fine and he sees no signs of Stickler's Syndrome, which is great because about half of PRS kiddos have it, so that's definitely been on my mind. He'll meet with an ophthalmologist in a few weeks to have his eyes examined, and then he'll have to be checked again in 2-3 years, so we can't officially rule it out until then, but I'm hopeful.

He had another swallow study a few weeks ago that showed improvement from his last one. It still showed penetration, but the one prior to that showed aspiration. Baby steps. I think the difference is basically that aspiration means it goes into his lungs, where penetration means it's hitting the area by his trach, but doesn't go into his lungs. Something to that effect. He can still only drink thickened formula.

Holden has had a few appointments with his speech therapist here locally. He will probably be seeing her fairly regularly, even after palate repair, to make sure he's on track for his speech to develop normally. The good news is that, when we were at Riley last summer they said with a speech therapist, he'll likely have 100% normal speech by kindergarten.

Aside from all that, life is good. God is good and I'm so blown away at the progress Holden has made, which I 100% believe is due to all the prayers. People still tell me they've been praying for him and I just love that so much.

And I can't leave without saying a huge thank you to our family for everything they've done to help us out lately (and always). My mom literally comes over whenever we mention needing time to get things done. My mother-in-law and sis-in-law come over as much as they can outside of their work and school schedules. And my dad and grandma have helped tremendously with taking Aurora back and forth to her rehearsals and class. Sometimes I feel like "thank you" just isn't good enough, so I don't say it. But seriously, it means so much to us! Also, shout out to my Aunt Lori for making all our trips to the doctor way more fun! Love you!