Week 1 of Physical Therapy

Declan had his first weekly PT session today and there is good news to report! He is already making progress! That's our boy! He has not been loving the exercises that we have to do with him. One, it doesn't feel that great and two, it just annoys him. We met our PT, Kim, and she will be his therapist weekly. I loved her and of course she fell in love with Declan immediately! Anyway, she said the stretches we have been doing are working! She can tell that he is able to turn his head further and the muscles are stretching! Great news for D baby! She did give us a few new exercises to do at home, so we will start the new ones tomorrow. I have to thank my sister again, because she is pretty much doing all of the stretches with him. I do them once before bed and she does the others throughout the day. I know it is hard on her to do them, but he would not be progressing if it wasn't for her. So, thank you Aunt Staci!!!

Declan is finally getting his first tooth on top of everything else so it has been kind of a rough week. They will watch him closely as he hits these milestones to make sure that he does not regress. He will try to lean an tilt more when he is in pain or if there is a change because that is comforting to him.

I took some pictures of him today. You are not "supposed" to, but I had to snap a few. I am so proud of our little boy!

4-27-10

Jason and I celebrated 2 years of marriage yesterday! I have thought about our amazing wedding that we had a lot this week. What great memories with our family and friends. That was probably one of the best times of our life. Those of you that know us, know that we have been through a lot the past 2 years, but it has only made us stronger. If we can make it through some of the things we have...we can make it through anything! Jason is an amazing husband and father. I could not be any luckier. I love being married to my best friend and soul mate. He makes me laugh and smile everyday and I am so in love with him. Don't get me wrong...we have our moments just like any other couple...but we work through everything. We have learned to communicate about everything and never stay mad each other. We celebrated yesterday with a 5:30 dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant with Declan. Times have changed, but it was perfect. Happy Anniversary, Jason! I look forward to many more years of happiness with you and our family! I love you with all of my heart!!!

Paw Paw Turns 70!

We had the best visit with the Wood family today! Jason's grandfather turned 70 years old today and we were lucky enough to celebrate with everyone! What a wonderful family! So much fun! Declan loved meeting and playing with everyone! It was such a fun Sunday! Declan woke up from his nap at 1:00 and partied until 7:00 without a nap and was PERFECT! He loved his Great Uncle Keith (also known as the baby whisperer) and was pretty fond of his Great Aunt Margie too! Margie brought him a lollipop...she definitely knows the way to his heart. He also had a crush on his cousin Samantha...I had to explain how that was not appropriate :-) Happy 70th Big Ed!

Gavin and Owen turn 6!!!

Gavin playing with Pop!

Declan loves Won Ton soup just like his cousins!

The family!

Owen William Cullinan: Smart, mischevious, kindhearted, playful, tests the boundaries and pushes the limits, loves sports, video game master, caring, lovable, soccer player, too cute for words

Gavin Scott Cullinan: Smart, perfectionist, people watcher, curious and inquisitive, artistic, gymnast, strong, extremely lovable

The MOST adorable twins turned 6 years old yesterday! I started their big day off by bringing them donuts for breakfast :-) They were allowed to pick anywhere to eat for their bday and they chose Chinese food...how cute is that?! I cannot believe how big theses boys that were once preemies are now. I remember when my sister and Peter found out that they were having TWO boys (Staci was 20 weeks). I could not believe how lucky we were that God blessed our family with two! I also remember after they were born and them having to stay in the NICU for weeks. I lived near Northside Hospital at that time and would visit them every night and "tuck" them in and love on each one until they were strong enough to come home. I have loved learning from these precious boys and watching them grow. Just because they are twins does not mean they are "alike." These boys are individuals and each have so many different but wonderful qualities and traits. They are both so unique in their own ways. Being an aunt is absolutely amazing! Happy bday to my favorite twins! Cha Chi loves you more than you will ever know!!!

What a Trooper

We started doing stretches today with Declan. Jason and I both took Declan to the Cullinan's today with the list of stretches to do and demonstrated how to do them. Declan does not love the stretches, but he is a trooper. My sister and brother-in-law did all of the stretches with him many times today. I know how hard it is because he does cry, but it will only help him. I appreciate my family so much and their help with all of this! We could not do it without them! My 3 year old niece now knows her left from right and stays on Declan's left side so he will stretch those muscles to look at her since he is mildly obsessed with her. Almost brought tears to my eyes. So sweet. I did hear back from the pediatrician today and he has referred us to a pediatric optometrist, so I will make that call tomorrow and schedule an appointment. In the mean time...My sister and I and the kids found another way to stretch his eye muscles. Hey...if you don't have a sense of humor...you have nothing. Enjoy the pictures. Definitely made us all laugh this afternoon. Absolutely LOVE my funny little boy. What a trooper!!!

Physical Therapy Evaluation

Anxiously waiting for therapy! He is always smiling...

Jason and I took Declan to Scottish Rite in Atlanta today for his physical therapy evaluation. We were right...mild to moderate torticollis was the diagnosis. We spent almost 2 hours with a physical therapist answering questions as she began physical therapy on Declan, followed by training us on how to do his stretches. Declan was an absolute angel and LOVED therapy. The stretches hurt him a bit, but he loved the attention and thought he was big stuff getting to "play" with all of the toys.

The physical therapist could not come out and say it, but it was evident that she was concerned that the doctor did not diagnose Declan earlier. Most children with toricollis are diagnosed between 2 and 3 months of age. A little frustrating for us, but I will have to make the decision on rather to switch pediatricians later. Our main focus now is Declan and "stretching" the nerves and muscles in his neck and getting him "better." We will have to take him to physical therapy once a week for an hour and do exercises with him 3-4 times daily (which means my sister will have to help too). It was also recommended that we take Declan to see a pediatric optometrist He is having difficulty tracking with his left eye and that is also why it is drooping. I will be contacting them this week and hopefully they will be able to get him in to see someone soon.

The good news is...ALL of this is treatable and fixable with physical therapy... not so sure with the eye...maybe a patch for our little pirate? :-) We will see! No pun intended :-) We have no idea how long he will have to have therapy either. That will be based on the progress he is making.

When leaving our appointment today, we passed a beautiful little girl (who obviously has been going through chemo) walking out of the hospital deli on crutches with her mom. All Jason and I could do was hug each other and Declan, count our blessings, and thank God for our perfectly healthy little boy. A little PT is nothing compared to what so many other parents have to deal with and go through with their children. God only gives you what you can handle and He knows we can handle this.

Thank you for all of your kind words, thoughts, prayers and support. We are lucky to have such a wonderful family and friends.

The Millane Family

Love the England hat and adorable clothes!!!

Many people ask where we got the name Declan (Deck Lan). Jason and I went to Cancun when we first started dating. While we were there we met an adorable family from England...the Millanes. David and Gillian and their 3 children...Michael, Declan, and Grace. They were such a fun family and some of the nicest people we have ever met. We hung out with them for the better part of our vacation. I fell in love with the name Declan and told Jason if we ever got married and had children that we should name him Declan. The rest is history. We have not seen the Millanes since our trip 7 years ago, but I do keep in touch with the boys through Facebook and I email with David or Gillian on occasion. FedEx visited us on Friday with the most thoughtful package for Declan. I though that was just the nicest gesture. I hope Declan carries the name well and we will remain forever long distance friends with the Millanes!

Fun at the Cullinan's

I found these pictures on my camera. My sister must of snapped them while they were playing outside. He is just so cute!!! You can really see his head leaning in these pictures too. I am very anxious about his physical therapy appointment on Tuesday.

Weekend

Loves to swing!

Uncle Chris and Declan

Sam teaching him how to crawl:-)

Playing with Uncle Chris!

The boys!

Jason and Rylan

Too cute!

Lounging

Muah! So excited to see each other!

Precious smile!

We went to the Nau's on Saturday! Declan and Rylan had a chance to play together and even had their first dinner date with solids. Ha ha! Too cute! Rylan is crawling! Declan was actually trying to crawl after watching Rylan. She is such a good role model and is the cutest little girl with the best personality. I LOVE her! It was so nice to catch up with Kendra and Bryan too. Thanks for dinner!!!

We went to Jason's grandmother's house to celebrate April birthdays in the family. Declan loved seeing everyone :-) Al was so sweet and snuck away from the table while we were eating lunch and put up a swing for Declan outside! He loved swinging with his great grandparents! So cute! I actually took a couple of pictures this time.

9 month Check-Up???

So...we had Declan's 9 month check up today with Dr. Elliott. Why you might be asking...isn't he 8 months? Yes he is, but I have been noticing something about Declan and decided we needed to go ahead and go. If you look at pictures or have been around Declan a lot you probably have noticed that his head leans to the left (his left) a lot. I started noticing this when he started sitting. Just sort of seems off balance and that he can't hold it up...well I was right. He has Torticollis. Basically his nerve muscles are different sizes and weak and needs to strengthened is the gist of it. There is a lot more online if you research it. It could have gotten worse if we did not catch it, but it is nothing too major. He was however prescribed physical therapy by the doctor today. I spoke with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and they put him on the "priority" list. He has his first evaluation at Scottish Rite on Tuesday. I guess we will get more answers then and see what the next steps are. Being in the school system and working with physical therapists, I feel like I have great resources and can remain a step ahead. I have already emailed one that I have worked with who is amazing and have gotten advice and exercises to do in the meantime. Other than that he is one healthy little boy! He weighs 20lbs. and was 28 inches long. I think he said something about the 60th and 70th percentile, but that wasn't my priority on this visit. They also test for anemia at this visit and that was perfect too. All in all it was a great visit. I thank God for this healthy baby boy EVERYDAY!!! I will update after his first physical therapy appointment. Wish us luck!

Reflecting

Declan is 8 months old and changing everyday, so I thought it would be fun to compare some pictures as we watch him grow (thank you, Mary Scott yet another idea).