Annie is Standing Again!

At Annie's last orthopedist appointment we got the green light for Annie to start standing again.  It has been a little over a year since she has been in her stander. Late last winter just over a year ago, Annie out-grew her AFOs (which she MUST wear in order to stand).  She was getting bad pressure sores because of her tight ankle, so she stopped standing.  Then we moved, and the first time we saw the new orthopedist it was confirmed that Annie DID desperately need her heel cord lengthened.  So we waited to have her healed from that surgery (which was only in December 2009 due to other surgeries and complications).  She also had knee surgery, so we've also had to wait for her knee to heal before she could start standing again.  But now she's back in it!

I obviously had to do lots of adjusting since she had grown so much taller in the last year--she's now 53".  I expected her to scream and yell and cry immediately, but she actually tolerated it extremely well!  I put her in, made all the adjustments and she was still doing fine after 15 minutes, so I grabbed the camera since I was so impressed!  I guess those last couple minutes it took me to snap the pictures was a little too long--she's not looking too happy in the pictures--but I'm so proud of her for being such a trooper in her stander today!  Annie has also been starting to stand every day at school and is already doing 25-30 minutes pretty consistently!  She's never done so well in her stander!  Maybe all the surgeries have helped somehow!  Way to go, Annie! 

You might be wondering why Annie needs to stand in a stander, especially when she will never be capable of walking or standing on her own.... Well, let me give you some reasons why non-ambulatory children can benefit from a standing program. 

• Strengthens trunk and lower extremities
• Allows for stretching and prevention of contractures
• Improves circulation
• Improves respiratory function--decreases risk of upper respiratory infections and pneumonia
• Improves bowel and bladder function
• Facilitates skeletal development--helps to keep joints strong
• Improves bone density--decreases risk for fractures
• Helps increase the depth of the acetabulum for hip joint development
• Normalizes postural tone
• Decreases risk of skin breakdown--allows for a different positional change
• Provides a new visual perspective of the environment
• Allows non-ambulatory children to interact with their peers on a more even level

Sunday Morning Photo Shoot

I grabbed my camera quick this morning for some portraits of the kids before their hair got all messed up.  I'm generally pleased with how these turned out, but I know they could be better.  I was a little disappointed with some blown out areas on Molly's and Lexie's horizontal shots, a little on Annie's too, but I'm still practicing.   I really need to start shooting in RAW in order to get my images to really pop, but my current photo editor isn't compatible with RAW images.  So I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and learn Photoshop. 

I am learning SO much about photography every day, mostly from a child/family photography forum I joined.  One thing they have really stressed to newbies like me is how important it is to put a watermark on your images, even if you're not even close to being professional, to just protect other people from stealing your images for other use.  (Most women in the forum are like me--just moms who want to be able to take great pictures, but a few actually do have their own businesses.)  So, I made a cute little watermark you'll see on the pictures.  I know... it seems a little silly right now when I can't imagine anyone wanting to steal my pictures for anything, but better safe than sorry.  (Grandmas... I do have copies without the watermark that I'll send you if you want copies of anything.)

So, hopefully you can start seeing an improvement in my photo quality as I progress and learn more.  (Maybe I should make a separate photography blog.)  So, in addition to still working on exposure and lighting, the next challenge is shooting in RAW and learning Photoshop!

I LOVE My New Camera!!

I've had my new SLR camera for a week now, and my portrait lens for just a day, so I still have a LOT to learn, but here are some of my favorite shots over the last week.  I still need to learn to get my images a little crisper, especially with moving kids at a large aperture, but I thought these were somewhat decent.  I love being able to set my own camera settings and not have to use a flash anymore! 

My kids have been pretty good to pose for me a lot this last week, but as of yesterday, they are DONE!  I think they are sick of having their picture taken unless I can get them pretty distracted--like the pictures below that I took outside today.  So, if anyone wants to lend me their kids, I could always use more practice!

Basement Construction Zone

Just a few weeks before our home warranty expired we noticed that there was a large lump in the floor of our basement.  Our builder figured out that the concrete underneath had moved and buckled, so we got that all fixed this past week.  It was quite the project, but fortunately it was all still covered under our warranty.  It actually only took 3 days--one day they cut the carpet and pulled it all back, the next day they cut the concrete and jackhammered up that cut portion, then poured new concrete, and the third day they re-laid the carpet.  They all did such a great job that you'd never be able to tell that we had our basement ripped up a few days ago.

Some Pictures from March

Molly turned 5 this month!

  Her "birthday wish came true".... a bike!

And it's finally warm enough to go for walks!  (Lexie fell asleep in the backpack!)

Lexie is looking so cute in her summer clothes and ponytail!

And Justin loves making cookies with the kids. 

(Lexie's friend Spencer was on loan to us for a few hours--Justin needs some time with a boy around the house.)