Sleep Study Results/ Bed

To my disappointment, Carter's second sleep study showed that he still has moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea.  This means he still needs oxygen when he sleeps because he is holding his breath or stops breathing many times per hour.  The oxygen concentrator in his room heats up his room a lot while it runs overnight, which I guess will come in handy during the winter. 

Carter's therapy has been fun- his vision specialist from Pip School of the Deaf and Blind brought moon sand one day for him to play with.  It took several tries but he finally loved it and even put some in his mouth.  It was fun to see him play with it especially since it came off easily.  I found the recipe online for moms that want to try it for some sensory play:
Ingredients:
9 cups Flour
1 1/4 cup baby oil
Variation: To make colored Moon Sand
We added 1/8 of a cup of Powdered Tempera Paint to the above recipe split into three so per 3 cups flour add 1/8 cup powdered tempera mix well and then add baby oil.
Variation 2: Make it Smelly
Add 1/8 of a cup of cocoa powder to make it smell chocolatey! Or add some Food flavoring extracts like banana, raspberry, strawberry etc. What ever you have! Or you can add koolaid! I add 2 to 3 packs per 1/3 of this recipe so you can create three different colors/ scents with one batch just split into thirds.
Directions:Mix and enjoy!
Below is another recipe for Moonsand although it will have a different consistency then the store bought. It is a lot of fun let me know if you give it a try
4 cups sand
2 cups cornstarch
1 cup of water
Mix and Enjoy

We are waiting on insurance to approve Carter for more aide services as well as a bed.  He has been in a twin bed with side rails for a few months now but still manages to get out or tries to.  We have two side rails and cushions at the foot of the bed to protect him.  I thought of just putting the mattress on the floor but I think he likes being up higher.  And a crib won't work he is just too long now.  We are ordering the Sleep Safe II Bed in cherry wood, here is a picture of it.  I'm kind of excited to get it.  Carter has been fortunate in insurance that we have been able to get a stander of our own (even though it's kind of scary), a wheelchair, bath chair, oxygen supplies, feeding supplies and food delivered monthly.  Soon he will have diapers covered too when he turns 3.  I feel blessed that we have been able to get what we need for him.  I also just bought some Gerber onesie extenders since his 3T onesies were getting too tight to button.  You can also get onesies 4T-6T at essentialwhites.com for about $10-11 apiece.

Therapy/ Photoshoot/ Zoo

Carter's new vision and physical therapist came and I felt like I already learned a lot from them.  Unfortunately, they will only be with him a few months until he starts preschool.  We kind of moved at a bad time it seems, because his yearly IFSP is coming up plus they have to do transition paperwork just when they are getting to know him.  He did pass the hearing and vision screening with the school district, we are just waiting on the rest of his testing now.  His vision specialist said she thinks he can see pretty good, but still has some delays especially with looking up.  She did think a lot of it had to do with his delayed motor skills.  She is trying to get us to teach him the sign more with things he likes doing to see if he'll communicate to us that he wants more.  We put him in a big blanket and swung him back and forth and kept asking him if he wanted more and tried putting his hands together.  He would either kick his legs or laugh, and at one point he laid down and laughed as if saying 'yes, swing more please!'  I will have to pay attention to his signals because it looks like he is already substituting signs for his own.  His physical therapist wants us to put him up on all fours whenever he is on his tummy so he learns to not just roll out of his stomach position but that he can get up too.  Currently he gets on his knees, almost all fours, and rocks back and forth a lot.  It looks like he'll be crawling here soon.

We went to Gardner Village a week or so ago and took some cute pictures of the kids.  Here are a few I liked.

We also went to the zoo and Carter just loves being in his wheelchair.  He rocks back and forth as if to push it to go faster.  We took the train and got some cute pictures. 
On another note, Carter has been waking up at 5 a.m. and it's been really hard.  He still goes to bed at 8 p.m. but like a little clock he is up by 5 or 6 at the latest.  I am so not a morning person so it's really hard to be positive in the morning.  I sure hope he starts going back to sleep for longer.