1 Year Old!

Eli has had another few eventful weeks... Never a dull day with this superhero! On March 17, 2017 we hit a very big milestone... Eli is 1!!! To celebrate this amazing day, we had lots of family in town and a big sail-ebration in his honor on the 18th. Eli did NOT enjoy having lots of people in his house for his birthday party, so he was quite the opposite of his normal self- cranky, serious, and silent! However, it was still a wonderful party where he was spoiled with love, snuggles, and gifts. The grandparents of course  went overboard with a new personalized wagon, swing/ slide set, and lots of adorable clothes!

Eli had his 1 year appointment at his pediatrician on 3/20 and he finally has made it on to the charts! Eli's weight is now on the 3rd percentile! Still working on that length... he is definitely a Helwig. 

Of course his birthday celebrations couldn't stop after the weekend... our small group threw Eli a surprise birthday party at group on 3/21! Somehow he appropriately matched his ADORABLE cake :)

On 3/22 Eli had some more Early Intervention evaluations- Developmental Vision therapist and Nutritionist. This 90 minutes could have only been orchestrated by God because the end result was just amazing! Eli qualified for vision and nutrition therapy... The nutritionist who evaluated him is wonderful and completely understands him, his needs, and his story. She felt that no one else would really be able to work with him the way she wants him to be worked with, so she is taking him on her caseload WEEKLY even though she doesn't have the time, is above her caseload limit, and lives in the city. (Weekly nutritionist visits is unheard of in Early Intervention, but God knows that this has been such a frustration for me because Eli is an easy puker, we are hearing 10 different amounts of ounces we should be giving him, and he's trying more food now!) Eli will also now receive vision therapy every other week... After our past Early Intervention evaluation (on 12/1/16), it took about 2-3 months for therapists to actually start working with Eli once he qualified for a therapy. Not going to be the case for the vision therapy... because the wonderful woman who evaluated him had a client drop from her caseload that day and is picking him up! She starts on Monday! She also told us some good news... she is noticing that he is making very short vision connections. So the vision is there, we just need to strengthen the connections and keep practicing with him. God. Is. SO. Good! It was a wonderful Wednesday :) Eli now has 6 Early Intervention therapists, 5 of which are weekly visits to our house and 1 that is biweekly. Team Eli is growing and is stronger than ever!

A few weeks ago I had my 20 week appointment for Eli's little sister. Happy to report that all is going well with her development and I no longer have to go to specialists for this pregnancy!

This past week was my spring break from school. We drove down to Eric's hometown to spend some time with family, and Eli got some extra special time with MiMi since she has offered to watch him while Eric and I got away for a few days :)

Coming up soon, Eli is going to have a 24 hour EEG. Since we weaned him off of one of his seizure medications, we have noticed some tremors in his legs mostly. We can stop them and they don't last too long, but we aren't sure what's causing them- reaction to no more phenobarbital? Part of his MD? Not sure. Prayers for no more seizure activity found on the EEG appreciated!

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

‭‭John ‭16:33‬ ‭ESV‬‬