Growing Up!!

Here in the Marshall Family, we've been pretty busy. We've had a terrible virus that had to run it's course and we just finished up VBS at church and Matthew done GREAT!!! He loves playing with all of the kids, especially the bigger ones. He was a little shy around them at first but then he was right in the middle.

He's grown up so much in these past few weeks, it's amazing to watch. He tried painting for the first time at VBS and loved making a mess. There was paint on his face, his hands and me!!

We had an orthopedic appt. this week (we of course changed doctors) and Dr. Suzi was so good with him that Matthew didn't cry AT ALL while she fitted him for his braces. We learned that there are 26 bones in each of your feet and you don't develop all of them until about 3yrs of age. Who Knew!!! Anyway, Matthew is being fitted for a different type of brace, one that will be open in the front and back and will allow him to move his ankle. Now he walks so stiff legged because he can't do the heel to toe walking that he needs too. Since he's double jointed at the ankles and flat footed, Matthew tends to walk on his heels and then his ankles give and he ends up walking on the inside part of his foot without the rest of the foot hitting the floor.

Matthew got to pick out his own design for his braces, "outerspace". I'll take a picture of them once he gets them. These new braces will allow him to work his calve muscles where as the ones he has now don't. Hopefully after the age of 3 Matthew won't need any bracing, if anything, maybe inserts in his shoes.

Since my last post Matthew has learned to bake, of course he prefers the cake mix. He's so adorable with chocolate.

Here lately Matthew would rather feed us or our dog, Sadie than himself. I've decided that I'm done buying sippy cups. Matthew will hardly drink out one now, he wants our cups. So I just gave him his own cup and he does pretty good with it, he spills it a couple times but he loves hearing his voice echo inside the cup. He's so funny.

Matthew is starting to put two words together, so far he's saying "bye papa", "dare dog", "over there". His pronunciation is still off but we understand what he says. He also will sign a word and then say the next word. He's so smart!!

This summer Matthew has found a new hobby, he's learning to drive the tractor, with Papa's help of course. Matthew's a natural, he now has tractor fever.

Matthew loves playing on his swing set. We have to wait til almost dark to take him due to it being so HOT!!!

We've been working a little on the potty training too, we're not pushing Matthew to do this but last week Matthew was sitting on the potty while playing with his bubbles and he peed in the potty. We were so excited and so was he, so he now knows that it's ok for him to do this. I think it was pure luck but he did it.

Swimming Lessons at the Y are getting better, yesterday he didn't cry as much and he actually tried to kick some.

Time to go!!! Bradley and I get a DATE NIGHT!!!! tonight. Our friends Frank & Annette are coming over to babysit for us so Bradley and I can celebrate our 10 yr. wedding anniversary. Yoohoo!!!

P.S. Sorry if you don't like the black and white picts. I just wanted to try something new.:)

Ready For Summer

The Marshall's are ready for summer!! I love summer, it's my favorite time of year. As you can see above our fish love it too.

Bradley finally finished Matthew's swing set and today he put his pool up. Matthew loves to slide he now doesn't want us to hold him while he comes down he wants to do it all by himself with us waiting at the bottom.

Matthew started his swimming lessons again at the Y Saturday. It didn't go well at all, he cried through the whole lesson. (30mins) I felt so bad for him, I'm not sure if it's where the water was cold or if this is the start of a sensory issue. (I hope not) Maybe next Saturday will be better.Matthew is getting alot better at walking, especially this week. He can just about walk everywhere. We've been practicing more outside and he is getting better at walking in the grass. This afternoon after church we decided to have a lazy day to where we just had fun being together. We played alot and ate some watermelon.

And finally, I have a good video of Matthew walking and saying bye. He loves the camera. Hope you enjoy!!

Memorial 9-1-1

We started off our day with PT this morning at Holly's. He done good walking up the stairs and walking through the kitchen by himself to go home. Holly said that Matthew has all the basics down now so all he needs to do is PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Then we headed to the grocery store, one of Matthew's favorite places, we had to get some goodies for our Memorial Day cookout.

Bradley done the grilling while some of the others done the fishing.

9-1-1 What's you're emergency?

Matthew loves to play with phones, especially the ones that
actually work. He was playing around with Pa's phone and accidentally called 911
and hung up. After the little excitement we ate our food and done a little more fishing.

Hope you've enjoyed our Memorial Day picts. Don't forget to Thank our Armed Forces for all that they do.

Good Night and God Bless

Zoo Pics

We took Matthew to the zoo last weekend, I have just now got some of those pictures together. Hope you enjoy!!

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New Direction

Sorry it has been a while since I've posted, Bradley and I have been through ALOT in the past few weeks. In my last blog I had asked for your prayers for Matthew's upcoming scans. I have to say Thank you, Thank you!!! God does answer prayer faithfully. Matthew's scans were perfectly normal and healthy.

Why scans you might ask? Matthew has been diagnosed with Joubert Syndrome not Dandy-Walker. They are both closely related with similar symptoms with severity being mild to severe. With Joubert syndrome some people have a risk of developing kidney and liver disease, therefore we had to have an abdominal scan done along with a urine check and the dreaded blood work done at Baptist. All is PERFECT!!! These scans have to be done yearly.

We had been t0 see the genetics doctor at Baptist a couple weeks ago for what we thought to be a routine visit when it was unbearable. We did have genetic testing done on Matthew which we won't have the results until after his 2nd birthday. The doctor said she was very optimistic with Matthew compared to some of the other kids that have JS. Some of these kids don't walk or talk til the age of 5 yrs. old. Matthew can do both-he struggles some but HE DOES IT!!

Where we are now? We have qualified for a clinical trial for those with JS at the National Institute of Health in Maryland this August to see what risk Matthew may have at developing kidney and liver disease. Please continue to pray for him and that this is a very, very mild case with a very low risk of developing any problems.

Matthew's walking is getting better everyday, he pretty much walks independently indoors on a level surface when he wants to, we now have to work on walking outside on the grass.

His talking is getting better too. He can say bye bye, mama, dog, pop, dada, papa and signs alot. He can now feed himself with a spoon without spilling much at all, although he still wants to play in his food.

He is truly an angel and our little MIRACLE. We love him sooooo much.

Good Night and God Bless

P.S.

Thank you Terri at Dandy-Walker Alliance for keeping our blog on your website to still help give parents hope whether it be Dandy-Walker or Joubert Syndrome.

Just Practicing

Below is a video of Matthew standing up on his own and walking a few steps independently. He usually does this a little better than in the video. He now wants to start to walk too fast and loses his balance, trying to get him to slow down and take his time is almost impossible.

Please say a special prayer for Matthew in the upcoming weeks. We have some very important tests and scans to do. I'll explain later, please just pray, pray, pray. Thank YOU!!!!

Until next time, good night and God Bless!

Little Who?

I feel like I'm blogging all the time, at least every week, but there is always something new and exciting that happens in our family and with Matthew.

This past weekend we took Matthew to the "Little Folks Festival" it was so neat. The kids have fun with the sirens on the fire trucks, they meet alot of our local and state emergency officials, they get free books, face painting, food and ice cream,etc. Matthew done so good, he walked around some with me just holding onto one hand, he drunk his first juice box with the more stout straws and he got to meet Smokey the Bear, which of course didn't go well at all.

The picture above is my cousin, Jonathan and Matthew posing for such a handsome picture.

And our BIG news of the week!

Matthew is now at that stage where he thinks he's a "big boy" and not little anymore. I went downstairs to the basement yesterday morning before leaving for work while Matthew was watching his cartoons when I came back into the basement I heard this most terrifying bump in my life and I looked up the steps and saw Matthew on his tummy on the fourth top step.

Apparently, Matthew has now learned to open up doors ( the door was shut completely, I double checked it when I had went down) and he tried to walk down them when he of course fell. I was so worried about his head, due to his soft spot not completely being closed and the Dandy-Walker. I took him to the doctor for a check up and it seems that his only injuries was the scratch on his eye lid and under his eye.

Needless to say, Bradley and I baby proofed our doors. Matthew is everywhere now, he can stand up on his own without holding onto anything and he does more walking with one finger on something than he does crawling. Once he gets the hang of walking independently, he's going to give me a workout for sure.

My grandma says that Matthew's body hasn't caught up with his brain yet, it is so, so true. Matthew has also learned to say I love you and sign it, except it sounds like I wuw wu. He has learned also to wash his hands in the bath tub and to brush his own teeth with help. He's so funny.

Well, I gotta go, have to do our church bulletins for Sunday.

Til next time, Good Night and God Bless!