Welcome friends and family!



We created this blog so that everyone near and dear to our hearts will be able to connect with us from around the globe, hear all about Quentin and the journey that we like to call "parenthood"!



Monday, April 19, 2010

Progress

So I could go into a whole long story about what a journey this has been for us (feeding, that is). We have been to a very low, low with Quentin in which we were basically giving him his food (milk, formula) through syringes, orally. But, with a lot of perserverence from our son and ourselves we have finally arrived at a point that seems to be working in everyone's favor.

Long story short, Quentin LOVES food! He loves to eat and we are able to explore so many different foods with him now. Our nutrionist was concerned with his weight, but since we have been working with her Quentin has gained a little over 2 lbs. in one month. This is a huge success for Quentin and for us. We enjoy watching him try new foods and are very surprised many times to find that he likes things that we didn't think he would. He is chewing very well, so we are able to try many more foods that were once things that would have been impossible (try getting bread into a syringe and back out)!

The other great news that I wanted to share is that today at feeding clinic, Quentin drank from a cup and actually used his lips to seal the rim of the cup (he has done it before but never really sealed the cup with his lip like today). For some of you, it may seem like a simple task but for Quentin this is really difficult and he did it like a pro today. I was so proud of him and it makes me cry just sitting here thinking about it. These little insignificant things that many children do with ease are very big accomplishments for our little guy and it reminds me that there are so many things that I have to be thankful for in life. We take all the small steps and cherish them.

It was a great day today for our family and when times are tough I'll remember days like this!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Yeah...our first post!

I'm sure that you all can tell that the site is not complete yet, but I thought that I'd go ahead and get started anyway! It is very exciting to have a place to share our ever so eventful lives with all of our family and friends, especially for those that we don't get to see often enough. As most of you already now, we are back in Tucson, AZ again working at the apartment complex that my in-laws own. It is a big job and it keeps us on our toes. Tucson is a growing city in Arizona, but it is very, very different than living in California. There are lots of things to do outdoors and I'm sure we will eventually get around to trying them, but it's going to take a bit of convincing to get Segis out there with me...he's more of an indoors kinda fella (and the 110 degree summer heat doesn't help much)!

Anywho, let's talk about everyone's favorite guy...Quentin! He is currently enrolled in the pre-school program in the A+ rated Flowing Wells School District. His teachers are very nice, but we really do miss his old school and teachers. He has a great Speech Therapist at the school, she's very sweet and very good with all of the kiddos. They do yoga first thing when the kids get to school and they also do aromatherapy foot massages (yes, I'm extremely jealous)!!!

Quentin has his insurance through the state of Arizona, and so far we haven't had a problem with getting anything we need, so we will continue to cross our fingers that things stay that way with the budget cuts and all. We have a hard time getting him to see specialists quickly here, but luckily we really don't need him to be seen but for the regular routine checkups. He will be going to the Opthamologist this month and then we will FINALLY get to see the Neurologist at the end of next month. We will also be going to wheelchair clinic soon and are excited to get a new chair, because his is just about falling apart and he has almost outgrown it anyway. He goes to feeding clinic, which we aren't really sold on just yet, and sees the nutritionist because they want him to gain weight (of course). He gained 1 lb in the last two weeks which is a huge success, and we are hoping that he continues on the same course so that they can stop pestering us about him having a feeding tube. It's actually very frustrating that they keep suggesting it seeing as he has been making such great progress and he loves food. They want us to use it for liquids (water mainly) and his meds, but it just seems so unnecessary. We are extremely proud of how far he has come...his palate has expanded big time and we want him to continue to learn to enjoy eating and drinking on his own.

This year marks a major milestone for us and that is Quentin's 5th birthday! We are so excited to celebrate his big day and although mommy is nervous, we can't wait for him to become a kindergartener. The schools are trying to decide on half day or full day for the little guys (again budget cuts rear their ugly heads), but at least he'll be in school for five days instead of the three day, three hour school days he has right now. This will give Segis a chance for some free time...it's a rough life being a stay-at-home-dad...I remember the job very well!!!