Well, hello there

Shall I begin another post by discussing how busy we are? How about I just post a typical schedule...

Sundays - Projects, yard work, lesson planning, groceries, etc.
Mondays - School, E's voice lesson (she's trading babysitting for voice), sometimes medical appointments. But mostly lots of school.
Tuesdays - Q has PT, Speech and OT in the morning. G has OT at the same time; when needed, ortho appointments follow therapies. The girls are usually doing workbooks, watching videos, or cleaning their room while the boys are busy. G reads copious amounts of History while waiting for Q. After lunch we head out to violin/art. Usually there's time for Latin and/or etc. after.
Wednesdays - K has just one more early morning PT session (wahoo). Piano in the morning for the older four (schoolwork for whomever isn't actually in a lesson), during which Q heads to preschool for an hour of either OT or PT, alternating weeks. Afternoon = school.
Thursdays - Q goes to preschool in the morning because there are fewer children in the classroom on Thursdays which means less germs. He has 20 minutes of Speech while at preschool. Schoolschoolschool for the rest of us.
Fridays - morning involves some organizational time for the household before Q has PT (usually in the pool, he's hilarious). Afternoon = library, school, more readying for the full day to follow.
Saturdays - Busy. We've had a play, choir, orchestra, platform duties, potluck involvement, Improv classes, and now rocket building, as well as game nights and more. This means packing along three meals for Q and usually one plus a snack or two for the rest of us as well. Changes of clothes, coloring books, stuff to read en route, and more, bagged up and ready to haul. We love our church. And we are always glad to hit the sack by bedtime. The summer will be a nice break from the crazy-busy Sabbaths - we're planning to do a little hiking (pack adjustments should let me carry Q one more season).

So that's how we spend our time during the weeks around here. We usually have about an hour, sometimes ninety minutes on violin every day, plus roughly half an hour per kid on piano (though K often puts in an hour a day), plus PEGS (chore chart) and schoolwork. We get most of the actual schoolwork done with long days on most Mondays and Thursdays, with the rest spread out between obligations on the remaining two and a half-ish days. So far, they're pretty voracious readers, so taking them into the library is a must (and sometimes feels like inviting locusts into a wheat field).

Q gets at least half an hour, often up to two, in his stander in the morning, and in his walker (with leg splints) in the afternoon, if we're at home. If we're out (museum, etc.), he can be held upright with a hand towel around his chest, under his arms, and supported well enough to be mildly ambulatory, depending on how driven he is to get to the next thing. The goal is to have plenty of time in a standing weight-bearing position to deepen his hip sockets as well as to help him to have early experiences in trying to be mobile.

Lately, (since last fall) we've been attempting to get out and walk/run a few times a week. Three times in a week is good. Five is pretty miraculous, but does occur sometimes. Six would be thrilling, for me anyway. Q seems to benefit from the head bobbing motions when the chair shimmies, though it seems uncomfortable to me when I'm watching/pushing.

The bumps on walks/runs seem to have more or less the same effect as the e-stim Q receives in PT. I've contemplated asking insurance for an e-stim unit to use at home, but I'm having trouble imagining folding one more thing into a day around here. Even a small thing. I know the muscle groups well enough to target them and put the leads on correctly and quickly and I'd feel confident about that. It would be great for him to have that concurrently to his time upright. And the research is spotty/contradictory, even though his PT feels like we're seeing some changes in Q, and I think they're lasting as long as 48 hours after treatment. Chasing my tail here, as with some other things for him.

We're about to add potty training into the mix. Perhaps as early as this coming week. The pharmacy just needs to deliver the system and we'll be busy with that. Wheee!!!

One day they will all be grown up. It seems hard to believe and yet so close. I'm hoping that we're making some good memories, working hard (we should talk sometime about the correlation between neuroplasticity and effort) and playing well. I'm hoping that with all we've invested in, they're growing in faith and stature, character and ability. Parenting is such a marathon, no?

Hope you're looking forward to a peaceful and restorative weekend. May you rest well and arise blessed. XO.