Day +132....what a funny little kid!

Ok, I am probably a tiny bit biased, but isn't he the CUTEST?!! He is full of so much personality!! Must take after his momma! HA!! This was one little photo session where he was proud to show off for the camera! We are doing good here at home and having new adventures everyday! He now has the spitting down pat, and is now working on puckering his lips....it is so funny! I think he like the sound it makes and of course the reaction that he gets from his admirers. I never know if he is going to do a fishy kiss or spit something at me....what fun!! As you can see in the pictures, he is growing A LOT of blond hair, and he is getting some chub on his legs to match his chubby cheeks!! His little arms are now little sausages too! I LOVE IT!! He is finally getting some fat on him that is real fat and not just him being bloated from too many fluids. His cheeks have started to dwindle due to his steroids being cut down, but as of our last Tucson visit on Tuesday, the steroids have been increased to help counteract his throwing up.....and so far it is working!! So I guess we will not be saying farewell to the huge cheeks anytime soon :) He has been doing really well apart from the throwing up. He is happy, playful, and such a good baby!! People always say that if your first baby is a good baby, then your second may be a handful or visa versa. Well....I was having a talk with God and asked if He could classify Dylan in the "handful" category, even though he is REALLY good....so we will see! Ha!! He has not been sleeping as well as before at night, and I think that was due, in part, to his throwing up and dwindled eating. Now that his steroids have been increased, he has been eating more,keeping it down, and sleeping almost through the night! The past two nights he has only woken up once, around 2am, to eat.....opposed to the 8+ times he has been up during the night the past week! I am VERY thankful for that!!

Please pray for me as I am always on edge about every little thing. I got scared a couple of times last week, because a few days he started to act different, he was throwing up a lot, and his stools looked strange.......all of these things freaked me out, and I assumed the worst! When we got to the clinic on Tuesday, I anxiously waited for his blood results.........and they were PERFECT. The Dr and Susan (our nurse) told me to stop worrying and that he was fine.......but I get scared. I am constantly looking for any little thing out of the ordinary that may show signs of my worst nightmare. I have to trust that God is in control and that my worrying will not do anything to help anyone. I need to focus on what is real and true at this moment, and not to focus on what could happen....this is a very difficult thing for me, so I would appreciate any prayers for this issue. There is a commercial on TV, I think it's for an insurance company, and it shows a little boy getting out of his minivan and he is going to soccer practice....his mom has him dressed in head to toe gear for protection.......it's a funny commercial, but that's how I feel with Dylan and I do not want to live in fear like that. Does this ever get any easier? :(

Last week Dylan had an evaluation done by the state to see if he qualified for physical therapy and developmental therapy. According to the specialists who "played" with him, he is more than 50% delayed developmentally and physically. This did not come as a surprise to us. I am not too worried about it, because if they would have evaluated him even a month ago, his delays would have been even more severe. He is catching up on his own time and enjoying feeling good in the meantime. Because of these delays, he qualifies for a program called DDD that will provide therapists once a week whether our insurance pays for it or not. Also, because he is qualified for DDD, this may also qualify him for government insurance. He has to get one more evaluation in the next couple of weeks, and then we will know for sure. But according to what we know so far, he is qualified! Praise GOD!! This is a huge praise and answer to prayer....because insurance is a HUGE expense. Please pray that everything goes well and that he will be able to be covered under the government insurance. That way, Erik and I can get our own insurance and not have to worry about having all of Dylan's expenses covered.

We were hoping to be in San Diego today, but God decided that we needed some rain instead :) So our trip is going to be postponed a few days. We are hoping to leave on Saturday and enjoy at least 2 sunny days in San Diego. It is a long overdue vacation and we are looking forward to just getting away for a short trip! Please pray that the roads are safe on our trip and that we do not run into any crazy weather!!

Loving life and thankful for every minute,

The Praskins Family