Two Year Update

Hello friends!

It's hard to believe but it has been 6 months since my last update!  In truth, that's a good thing, because life has been great for us lately.  Around this time last year, Ryan and I made the decision to buy a few lots right outside of the city and build our dream home.  We were looking for little more outdoor space (and maybe some extra closet space, too) and most importantly wanted the perfect home to raise Sawyer and that needed to be on a little less busy of a street.  After quickly selling our home in March, we moved to my family's lake house for 8 months while we worked closely with a good friend to build our new home and now we are in it!  Not only did we have some moving changes, but Sawyer also started a new school and we are IN LOVE with it!  But let's start with the best part, an update on our girl!

Sawyer is now TWO years old!!! This big personality comes in the petite little 19 pound body and we just love every ounce of her.  She runs, she jumps, she tumbles, she climbs, she's a busy body.  She loves to sing---'twinkle twinkle', 'itsy-bitsy spider', and 'if you're happy and you know it' are the current favorites, complete with hand motions.  Sawyer still adores being outside and now we have a nice big yard for her to play in with her dog, Nelly.  She loves stuffed animals of all sizes and insists on sleeping with at least 4 of them each night.  She is saying so much and my favorite phrase is "where are you?" with a head tilt and palms up gesture.  Her favorite tv show is Daniel Tiger and also has a new found love for Little Bear.

Food-wise, she will almost always eat yogurt and applesauce without fail. Everything else, it depends on the day.  One meal, she'll love chicken and mac n cheese and broccoli, then won't touch it the next day.  That's toddler-hood though right?

And now, a little bit about her new school.  Last May after my 18 month post, I had multiple individuals contact me about The Rise School in just one week.  After reading about it online, Ryan and I decided to take a tour with Sawyer and immediately fell in love.  The Rise School is an inclusive preschool  that enrolls children ages 18 months-6 years of age and roughly 50% of the students are typically developing and 50% of the students have some sort of developmental delay/syndrome.  The teacher to student ratio is 3:1 and there is a speech therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, and music therapist on staff to evaluate and work with all children.  Every room in the school, including the classrooms, playgrounds, and library, is developmentally appropriate for the children, but the most AMAZING part of the school is the staff.  Each one of them is passionate about what they do and LOVE the kids.  I've been so impressed with how much she has learned just since starting in August and how much she enjoys going.  It's so cute to talk about all of her little friends and see their pictures each week.  Sawyer didn't necessarily have any delays requiring therapy, but what we liked about this school was their emphasis on inclusion and embracing differences.  Their motto is "where special kids shine."  Not only have we found a community where there are other families with children with differences, but other families who want and support their children being there.  It's a happy and safe place for us all.

This past week we went back down to Houston to visit with Sawyer's hand surgeon to discuss and schedule her next surgery.  First off, the appointment went SO well.  These appointments are always difficult because he only sees patients in his office starting around 4 after his surgeries, which usually means he doesn't walk through the door until closer to 5.  Commuting to downtown Houston isn't exactly fun during that time of day and waiting in a small waiting room for over an hour with a two year old isn't exactly fun either.  But once we got to see him, I couldn't believe how well Sawyer did. After her last surgery in July, Sawyer developed a fear of 1) elevators 2) doctor's offices 3) older men.  We've slowly but surely outgrown the elevators and office fear, but she still has some timidness with men.  Happy to say though that she smiled at him, let him touch her hands, let him take an x-ray, and even gave him a high-five at the end!  Definitely put my heart at ease.

Now for the details, we scheduled the surgery for January 25 and this will only be on her right hand this time.  Here's a picture of the x-ray of her right hand (yes, I was able to take a picture because he still prints out x-rays old school wise and puts them on a light board).

He will be closing the cleft and straightening the 2nd digit which basically involves reconstructing ligaments, slight reduction of 2nd metacarpal, and removal of extra skin where it's clefted.  Similar to last time, she will have a long metal pin placed through her 2nd digit for stabilization as everything heals during the casting process which will be a month.  Thankfully this time, she won't have to have any skin grafts taken from her groin area.  The surgeon did say that there is a possibility that he will have to take part of a ligament from her wrist to reconstruct the finger ligaments, but he won't know until he sees them.  Right now, her finger has been curved and stretched to the left side for so long, that the ligament that runs on the inner side of that finger, may have too much stretch to it and when he straightens it, still be too loose----that's where taking the ligament from her wrist will play in.  Hoping that's not the case though!

While we are not looking forward to another surgery and have once again grown to love and be accustomed to her hand being this way now, we know in the long run it's for the best.  At least this time it's not both arms and she's actually very good with using just her left hand.  She'll also have school which will be a great distraction for her and after her cast comes off, I'm so glad she'll have therapists who are able to work with her, if needed.

I'll stop back in after her surgery and keep you updated.  But in the meantime, we're just going to be soaking up all the holiday fun with our sweet and happy girl.  Thank you for being such an amazing Team and Merry Christmas!

love,
Team Sawyer