Benjamin talking...and spitting up

At MeMe's

We have been visiting MeMe this weekend. MeMe's house is always a lot of fun, we took Caleb to the farm so he could see the cows and the new babies. We also did a little fishing, didn't catch anything but we saw a bunch of snakes in the water! Here are a few pictures that we have taken so far.

Caleb and Glenn outside fishing. Caleb stayed outside for hours yesterday, he had so much fun.

Finally mommy makes it to the blog! It occurred to me that there are very few pictures of me on the blog so here is one of me and Caleb.

Daddy taking Caleb across the zip line. Caleb was grinning from ear to ear.

Caleb covering his ears when we went to the farm to see the cows. He had been begging all morning: "let's go feed the cows" and then when we went to feed them Caleb began to rethink the whole thing. The cows are huge and of course they moo rather loudly. Caleb was understandable anxious but I think he had a good time anyway.

I had to include a picture of some of the cows.

All 3 of my boys sitting outside on the porch this morning.

My boys

Benjamin is 5 months old today. It is really going by so fast. He is getting bigger everyday...and more and more rotten! I love this picture of him. That face is just so precious.

We took this video of Caleb tonight on the swing. He was having an absolute ball on that swing. He loved spinning around, he was laughing so hard. We got some encouraging news earlier this week regarding Caleb's mobility. We met with an orthopedic surgeon and some therapists. They wanted to see how Caleb is doing with his braces and walker. They had him walk with both knees unlocked and he did very well so they took his braces off completely to see how he would walk with no braces on at all. He used his walker of course and it was hard for him but he was actually able to take several steps. Glenn and I were absolutely blown away. We had no idea that he could do that, I've never tried to have him walk using his walker without braces. So he got fitted for some AFO's, they go from the calf down to the feet and we are going to start working on Caleb walking with those using his walker. I assumed the next step would be braces that started at the knee but it appears that he is doing so well that those won't be necessary...we get to skip those altogether! We are just so proud of him. We get his new AFO's in a couple of weeks. I'll be sure to post video when we start working on walking with those. I never thought he would have come this far, I am truly blown away. God has given Caleb abilities that I didn't expect. God is good...all the time.

Benjamin's first laugh!

Here are a couple of pictures of Benjamin, plus a video of him laughing for the very first time! How precious it is when babies laugh! He is getting to be so much fun, his personality is really beginning to come through. He is reaching for toys now and really interacting more and more. He smiles all the time, it is so sweet. He loves to stand up and look around, he's not much for just laying on his back. He still loves for us to walk around the house with him so he can check everything out, he gets most upset if we try to sit down with him.

Caleb's new PT

Caleb recently started with a new Physical Therapist, her name is Ms. Vickie and she has been seeing Caleb for about 3 weeks now. She comes to our house twice a week to work with Caleb and it has been absolutely wonderful. I really prefer the therapy in our house versus taking Caleb to a clinic. Caleb really likes her which makes therapy much more fun for him. I love this picture of him standing with Ms. Vickie holding onto his hands. And yes he is standing without his braces and he actually took a couple of steps. Looking at Caleb now it is so hard to believe that there was a time when he couldn't bear any weight at all on his legs. He has come such a long way.

Recent Photos

Picture of Benjamin snoozing in his swing. His life is so rough.

We are trying to enjoy the weather before summer is in full force with 102 degree temps and ozone warnings. It was beautiful outside this evening so we took Caleb out so he could ride his tryke. He had an absolute blast. He loves that tryke.

We went out for burgers this weekend and I just thought Caleb looked so cute with his baseball cap on.

Grandpa Joel and Aunt Morgan came to watch Caleb ride his horse this weekend.

Caleb got to ride a new horse this time, his name was "Shabach".

Caleb Standing and Benjamin Playing

This is a picture of Caleb standing and playing basketball tonight after dinner. He would sit on the phone books and then get to standing so that he could throw the ball in the hoop. He is pretty much standing all by himself, I just had my hands on his hips to balance him and to keep him from falling. I was so impressed with him. I've never seen him stand so straight with so little support. He used to have to lean on the couch and have a lot of help from me. Now he is able to stand with almost no help from me. His legs have gotten so strong. Once again I am blown away by how far he has come. I praise God for every single milestone that Caleb has reached. I suspect that there are many more surprises ahead.

Here is some video taken today of Benjamin on his tummy. He has this huge thing of drool hanging off his chin. Caleb never drooled, not once. It appears that Benjamin is going to be quite a drooler.

Horse Therapy

Here are a couple of pictures of Caleb at horseback riding yesterday. He is really enjoying it. The volunteers are so creative and all the kids have a good time. They teach the kids different commands to say to control their horse and they have them do a variety of stretches while riding. I can definitely see how this could really help strengthen Caleb's trunk. If we can figure out how to work it into the budget we want Caleb to continue to ride this summer. There is a short video clip of Caleb riding Cowboy.