Standing Tall

Devin stands with Dad supporting his knees and hips.

Although Devin does get into the standing position very successfully, he does not stay in it for very long. This is the reason for the stander that you see in these pictures. Standing helps strengthen his bones. The PT informed us that the goal is 2 hours of standing a day. He tolerates about 25-45 minutes of standing right now (depending on his mood) and we can do this a couple times a day. The hope is that he will tolerate it for longer periods over time.

Devin follows Dad to the door as he leaves for work

(you can see our van in the distant street)!

Enjoying the season!

Devin's PT came to visit last week and we began the process of standing. I will try to post a picture of this process soon. Essentially, we set him on a stool next to the chair and help him to stand. The first time we did this he was not sure about it, but he does seem to enjoy it the more we do it. It also seems to have encouraged him to do more "tall kneeling". When the PT comes next week, she is planning to bring a "stander" for him. This device will encourage him to stand and support him in the area we currently do with our hands. Little by little he will become stronger so that he does not need the support.


Although you can mostly see yellow and green in this picture, many of the maples have already turned a vibrant red and dropped their leaves and the sumac (which my mother always looked to for the changing of seasons) are a beautiful red.

Don't Blink!

Fall colors in Winona are changing quickly. This picture was taken a couple of days ago and already the scene has changed!

Another ball lover!

Double fisting it, while asleep!

Taco Johns NU

Filzen Entry in the German American Parade

Here are pictures from the Oktober Fest Parade in New Ulm - Families that originated in Germany march in the parade with the year they immigrated to New Ulm. You can see the Filzen family came in 1871. I felt pretty bad that I was taking pictures and not on the float - Tim Nelson gave me a strand of beads they were handing out with a tag saying "Filzen Family 1871" on them. The two pictures with the horses is Scott Filzen, this was the homecoming parade last night - it was a cheerleading float, and his daughter Abbey is a cheerleader.

New Railing!

Here are pictures of the new railing that was added to our steps. There was something missing, and the railing was it!

No were to go but up!

Devin had an eye doctor's appointment and an appointment with the Orthopedic doctor that included x-rays of his hips.

Often kids with Hydrocephalus have some issues with eyes because of the water pressure present in their head, but today Devin was given a good report on his eyes. The eye doctor is also able to detect early problems with a shunt by looking at the optic nerve and this too looked good and indicated no problems (lets keep praying for this).

The Orthopedic doctor was very pleased with Devin's hips once again. She said "Considering how his hips started out, I am very pleased with how they look". Before this appointment we were considering cutting back on the visits from the physical therapist because Devin was doing everything any other child could do without standing and the doctors orders were "No Standing". The orders given today were wear the brace ONLY AT NIGHT (previously off only 4 hours a day), begin standing (using a piece of equipment called a stander) and working towards walking. Pretty much a green light.

I was not expecting this because last time she had indicated we could continue with the brace and no standing up until 18 months without concern, but Devin has been a very busy boy. 2 months ago when the Orthopedic saw him last, he was doing very little crawling, but he has increased that to crawling all over the house to the point that we had to start putting gates up. In the pictures he is "tall kneeling". Although he has been doing a little of this with and without the brace, after having the brace off all day he did it next to the play table many times (10+) within 15 minutes.












Finally after 14 months we can tap into that large wardrobe Cooper had at this age! We are so excited to see what he can do next!

GO HAWKS! Go Matt!

Winhawks are on their way to a winning season. Must be because of their awesome fans!

Vikings Training Camp

Just thought I would put a post about the Vikings Training Camp as several people had asked us about it (you can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger). We actually did not spend a lot of time just sitting and watching the team practice as Cooper and Allie were not too interested in that. Allie spent quite a bit of time in the Craft tent (coloring, making bead bracelets & necklaces, blowing bubbles & making things with foam stickers). Cooper did the Youth Football Clinic with the MSU football players (the amount of children present did not allow Cooper to participate in all the skills) and was fortunate enough to get a ticket that allowed him to get Jared Allen's autograph on an over priced miniture helmet.

I Like to Move it, Move it!

Devin makes progress every day! His Ilfeld Splint has broken once and is almost broken to the point that he will not be able to wear it so we plan to try and get it fix tomorrow. The video is without the Splint (part of his 4 hours of freedom a day). The AFO's (ankle, foot orthotics) have not really slowed him down at all. He goes in, in about a month to get more x-rays of his hips and see the Ortho doctor. If he is doing this with 4 hours of freedom, who knows what he could do with more non-splint time!