Some Family Updates..

I thought that I would just give some updates on our family....

I sent out an email a couple days ago about finding a new home for our dog Gracie to those of you who live in Utah. So if you got the email you already knew about that. We decided after talking to some dog trainers that we weren't the right owners for her. She really needs a yard, and no matter how much training we do, that fact won't change. So we talked to the kids and told them the plan and they were OK with it. We found a wonderful home for her on tuesday and everything worked out very well. She has a new family with older kids... 10-14 age and a big yard. They were in love with her and we were happy to see her find a wonderful family. We will be getting a new puppy in a month (after we get back from vacation) and we have done some research and will be getting a very small indoor dog that doesn't need a yard. Trevor is the reason we got a dog in the first place so we want a dog he can take places with us.

Now a little side note about Scott. He found out today he is being transfered down to the Carl's Jr in Bountiful. He needs to be closer to the Regional Director to begin some new opportunities for him.

Now an update on Josh. About the time we did his swallow study, we also did some new changes in position and such for eating with him. He has done remarkably better with keeping his food down, and not gagging after every bite. His therapist says that even though his swallow study did not go well and was not informative, this backs up what she thought has been his problem. So we are so excited to see some improvement with this. We also have taken him off all thin liquids, except formula. I have this stuff called "Thick-It" that you stir into liquids to make them thicker. So he now has like a nector consistancy for his liquid intake. He has done SO much better! So we basically have come to the conclusion that he cannot tolerate or manage thin liquids because of his poor motor skill development. We still are not sure at this point whether to pursue any further testing to see if he has a reason behind his poor motor skill development. We don't like to put him through more than he has too, plus we still have his reflux problem to have taken care of in October down at Primary Childrens Medical Center. So since that will probably require some testing, we are holding off on any further tests. But we are making progress with his gagging and that is truly exciting. He has a long way to go before we can even begin textures and table food, but every small step forward is so exciting for us.

This is his high chair with the wedge in it to correctly position him for eating.
This is what he looks like in his high chair... very straight back and leaning slightly forward.
He doesn't seem to mind that he is very straight up and can't lean back with his back against the high chair any longer. It sure has been a great thing to not have to fight him over it.

So that is just a little update on the family. We have been really busy this past few days getting some last minute summer fun in before school starts. We are taking our family vacation on Sept 3-6. We will have to pull the kids out of school, but we couldn't make it work any other time. It will be nice to have something fun to look forward to.