Physical Therapy

I know it has been a long time since we last updated you. Trinity has been a busy little girl with doing her PT twice a week. She has been such a trooper and doing a great job! They are mostly working on her upper body strength and getting her to build those muscles so she can roll and sit. She tends to cry the whole time (which is an hour), but I am trying really hard to allow her to cry and be strong for the both of us. I never knew it would be so hard to push your child, but it is and I don't think it will ever get any easier. Today they really pushed Trinity and did a number of different things with her. They have a variety of things that help her, like a wedge, corner chair, tube, and some other things that I am struggling to come up with a name for them. Last week I sat her in the corner chair (that has a tray so she can play with toys) and put her next to Aubree while she was playing with her barbies. Aubree put some of her barbies on Trinity's tray and they played together for about an hour. It was the cutest thing and made my day!! I wish I could take pictures for you, but we need to go buy a new camera, so hopefully I will have some pics up for you soon.

Yesterday was also a milestone for Trinity. We bought her a big girl car seat! I know some of you are thinking what is the big deal, but trust me this is a BIG deal. We have been struggling on what we were going to do when Trinity grew out of the infant car seat, but yesterday during our trip to Target I decided to put Trinity in the shopping cart sitting up and then strapping her in. I wish I would have had a video camera with me so you all could have seen the expression on her face. She loved it!! I took a picture with my phone camera and I am trying to figure out how to get it on my computer so when I do I will make sure to post it, but it was the cutest thing! I also found at Target a shopping cart cover so Trinity can sit in that and then there are straps that will go over her shoulders and around her tummy, I haven't tried it yet, but I am praying that it will work. It was a great day for me because it means that Trinity is getting stronger and that we are moving in the right direction (for once). We haven't got to try the car seat yet, but when we make our 4 1/2hr trip back to Iowa tomorrow she will get plenty of time in it. Aubree is really looking forward to it, she thinks that they will be able to play with eachother.

We don't have a lot coming up. Trinity has an appointment at Shriners on April 10th and then an MRI on the 22nd. She will continue her PT twice a week when we get back from Iowa. I ask that you would continue to keep Trinity in your prayers. Everyday is a struggle for her and for us as a family. Your prayers help us be lifted up everyday!

When is Spring?

I ask the question "When is Spring?" because once again Trinity has a really bad cold. It started last week Tuesday and Shannon and I thought that we would let her try to fight it off, but unfortunately it only got worst. On Monday I took her into the Pediatrician to find that she has a slight case of pneumonia. Basically when Trinity gets a cold it is going to be very hard for her to fight it off because she has such a severe case of scoliosis. With scoliosis it is hard for them to get enough air into their lungs to fight off the infections. When they did the x-ray on her lungs they found some spots on them so they are putting her on an antibiotic and we are doing some breathing treatments. So I guess until Trinity gets the scoliosis repaired she will always have a hard time with colds. We are doing some checking to see if Shriners can provide us with a nebulizer otherwise we will probably have to purchase one, since Trinity will always struggle with colds.

I know I haven't updated in a while about Trinity so I am going to backup a couple weeks. Trinity was accepted into the Minnetonka school district for Early Childhood Intervention. They will be doing her PT and OT. The great thing about this is that they come to our house to work with her and they also work with Aubree so she can learn how to interact with Trinity. Today was her first official therapy with OT and it went great. They watched her eat some baby food and a bottle. They also brought what is called a corner chair that has a tray so Trinity can play with toys sitting up and they are at a level that she can reach them. She did a great job in this, especially since she is sick. They were very impressed with how Trinity was doing and they have so many different ideas. It really makes me excited! Hopefully soon we can have her sitting up on her own so she can have some independence! The Physical Therapist comes on Thursday morning and that will be our first time meeting him. It is so nice to know that there are programs out there to help kids with special needs so they can do the things that other kids can. It helps reduce the stress on the parents.

Trinity also had her one year checkup a couple of weeks ago and they had some concerns. She lost some weight after the last surgery and has not been gaining any back. They are going to recheck her in a couple weeks and if she don't gain any then they are going to do a swallow study to see if she has any reflux problems. This cold is not helping any because Trinity is not that interested in eating, but hopefully she will start feeling better and start eating more.

If you think of Trinity please pray that she would start feeling better and that her lungs would clear up. Even though she feels crummy she still has such a big smile on her face!