YUM, ravioli ! 

Behla and Drake with Valentines :-)

Drake and Mindy

Update from us!! His appointment with the Orthopedic doctor went well. The problem with his feet is only low muscle tone. His feet roll inward when he walks or stands. He has pronation of the foot. We were referred to an orthotist and had casts made so he can get braces. His braces will only go up to his ankle and he will wear them in his shoes to stabilize him when he walks. This is a relief to us, since we weren't exactly sure what was causing his feet to roll inward like that and I wasn't sure if he had a deformity or what!? But, good news, no surgery or anything evasive needed! It will take a few weeks to get his braces made since they are custom. 

The Orthotist put a cast on his foot just like when you break your foot. Then he let it harden for a few minutes and then removed it. The piping is used so he can cut the cast off using a blade instead of an electric saw. It was a fun process to watch but Drake didn't like it at all!! 

Aside from this we also met with the physical therapist from First Steps. She did her evaluation and we will have another meeting the beginning of March to setup his services. We expect his report will show he is right around 1 year old in all areas. So we have a lot of catching up to do since he will turn 3 in April.

Two more days and he will be with us for a month. We have his nighttime sleep established and are working on a schedule for his nap. He eats very well and we introduce him to new things almost daily. He is eating table food that we have blended or mashed. His chewing is good but its tough for him to eat a lot of food that isn't blended so we are gradually working on that. He still hates baths or showers, not sure how long it will take to get him to take one without screaming. Barney is by far his favorite show but he will watch several others. He has started paying more attention to books when we read to him. Baby steps :-)

Drake had fun last week meeting some of his grandparents!! 

Drake & Grandma Becky

Drake and Grandma Gerry

Drake and Grandpa Kenny

Drake has a couple appointments this week. He's seeing the foot doctor today to see what's going on with his foot. He's got an appointment tomorrow with the First Steps physical therapist for his evaluation. He'll start with First Steps and join Early Childhood when the school year starts over in August. 

He is doing very good with eating. Much better then I expected. He is able to chew properly and eats plenty of food and drink. 

We can't wait for it to get warmer so we can take him to the park. We have freezing rain today and school was called off. They had so many snow days already that they had them attending today even though it was a holiday and then they got called off anyway. Oh well! One more day home for the girls to spend with baby brother!

I went to church today and was good enough to get a cheese puff snack when I got home. :-)

He finally stood on his own for us. I know they were working on this at the orphanage and he finally did it tonight.

I'm running a little behind on blog updates! oops, guess I've been too busy with baby!

Here is his first snow from last week.

Me and my sisters! Bel (left), Drake(middle), Mindy(right)

Pick me up sissy, I dont know what this white stuff is!

Kisses from Sis, now fix my hat I cant see!!!!

Drake's first snow in America!

Sissy was teaching Drake twinkle twinkle little star!

Update ! 

We went to the doctor yesterday. He did very well and even wanted her to hold him. I was really grateful for that!! He weighed in at 25.4 lbs and 2ft 9 inches tall. So he's 5th percentile and lower on the charts but who's counting he's priceless! He got 3 shots that he didnt get in Europe (Hep A, Flu and Chicken pox) and screamed ! OUCH baby! We have to get his blood work done this week as soon as the roads are clear. It snowed, no clue how much but it's a lot. School let out at early yesterday and is off today. We got several referrals for him and I'll need to get that all setup. Orthopedic for his feet, ENT for tongue(some weird bump on it) and his nose, eye doctor for his crossed eyes, neuro to check his head out, and she's going to have First Steps call us. For being a special needs kid he sure is normal! He watched the entire Barney show this morning at 3 am and didn't budge (LOL). He was holding his "C" alphabet card the whole time. I told him that his Gramma has real cows! 

I'll update with some pictures soon! 

Mom gave me a haircut, finally!

Sis took my pic from her phone and the flash made me squint! 

We made it home!! 

The girls have been watching Drake while James and I sleep.... 

back to bed!