Posted on by Kari

9/12/19 Life Update

It’s been a while since I’ve made an update. Here’s the lowdown on
TheBradshawCrew and our prayer requests. (Written a few days ago)…

Gideon… This little nugget here will be 20 months old on the 14th of this month. He is doing fantastic! We have at least 2 therapy appointments per week with occupational / physical / speech therapists and he is a very hard worker and all his therapists just love him. We actually learned some new things about his neck/back today in therapy as they have been trying to figure out why he is still unable to crawl. He has a pretty significant right sided deficit which I believe is due to his plagiocephaly (flat head) he was diagnosed with at birth. It was the left side of his head that was flat so he was laid on his right side for 4 months being swaddled and he has never caught up from that developmental delay it caused. We learned today, with some testing, that he is lacking strength in the muscles in his neck and back. His tummy and hips are getting nice and strong but his neck and back aren’t so he still can’t crawl or hold his head up well enough to look up without using only his eyes or hold the weight of his head up very well. We have new therapy goals as of today geared toward that. We see the cardiologist in 2 weeks for his 6 month echo checkup and I’m expecting excellent results from that. I have been in a bit of a battle with Seattle Childrens about this ‘broken belly button’ issue he’s had off and on since birth. General surgery declined him as a patient but Urology took him on, they can’t see him until the end of October for a consult then they will order the additional scans they need at that appointment to get done at a later time. Frustrating. But it is what it is and he certainly isn’t an urgent case as he is asymptomatic for now. I’m really hoping that it will be a ‘watch and see’ recommendation when we do get to see urology anyways and it will heal up on it’s own. He is being followed by Endocrinology because his Thyroid #’s are out of whack but that’s common for T21 kiddos so he’s just being watched and they have significantly improved since I’ve changed his diet and added a new supplement for him. He will be getting a large panel of labs done in a couple of months to check that again as well as check for celiac as many of these guys have that as well. I try to feed him mostly gluten free but we certainly are not 100% with it. He is also mostly dairy free just because it causes so much constipation and inflammation, we were able to get him off his constipation medication once I took out dairy and added pre/probiotics to his diet and now he poops at least 4x per day. Good boy. Lol. We follow up with ENT/Audiology in a month or so and Opthalomology next year. Gideon is generally very happy, he signs about a dozen signs, he says “da-da” and “wa-wa” (mama), he loves to dance and stand (with support), he loves playing ball and flying. He is the best snuggler when he is tired as well.

Solomon… oh boy, this little fella! He keeps me on my toes the most! He actually keeps me on my face the most praying to God for help on what to do with his spunky little personality. He is 4 1/2 and quite a firecracker of personality. He is the sweetest little Pete ever there was and also ………… the spunkiest little Pete there was which can be something that needs to be fostered into positivity. I just don’t know how to do that very well. He is a healthy little guy, he eats like the rest of them, as if he was a garbage disposal that can never be filled. His health is well, we have no concerns for him right now. We are just trying to figure out the best way to draw out the positive in him and call out his greatness rather than stifle him with discipline and punishment but I have yet to figure out what his currency is. I’m just not quite sure the best way to parent this little fella to direct his heart toward Jesus and call out the greatness that is Solomon, because there is so much greatness packed in this little body. He loves most things, especially riding his bike, playing at the park and swinging.
Moses…. Oh sweet Moses. He just turned 6. This guy is my energetic, most mannered, spunky little guy. I’m not sure if his glasses help him at all yet or not, he goes back to Opthalomogy again in November to see how he’s doing but he sure is cute with those glasses on. I wish he could see better with them. Other than his cataracts, he has nothing medical we are concerned about, thank goodness. He is hysterical, just full of spunk and joy, his favorite thing to do is play video games. Which is quite a challenge for me since I am almost completely against video games. I do like the exercise and sports games they have accessbile on the kinect for rainy days, but other than that, I would prefer to just avoid video games all together and it’s what he talks about most. He loves to ride his bike, play soccer, throw the frisbee, run around like a buffoon and have dance parties and just be a goof ball. He is so fun. He has big feelings too.
Elijah. my doodlebug. He is going to turn 8 soon. I have NO IDEA how that’s possible since I just had him. He is always tired because he has FOMO and doesn’t want to ever sleep. Him and Gideon share a room and he does really well ignoring Gideon if he’s fussing or awake and will sleep right through it but his internal clock is set to wake up pretty early so that he can make sure he is awake before his brothers and he doesn’t miss out on anything. He is the only one in the crew who doesn’t nap anymore even though it would be so good for him. Medically, we have no concerns for him either, he is growing, developing and learning very well. He has taken the brunt of our marriage struggles since he is the most aware of what’s going on around him which is very hard to see. It certainly has affected him no matter how much we try to shield him from it, we don’t do that perfectly and he can feel the tension in the house moreso than I believe his brothers are aware. He recently got to stay a few nights over at my parents house and have some individual time with them having lots of attention and love which was just what his little heart needed. He can read but says that he can’t so he hasn’t taken off with books yet but I hope he will soon, there is so much fun to be found in books, I look forward to the stories the kids will read and tell me about. I need to do better about reading aloud to them more, we read their bible everynight and some other short stories but some days, that’s all the reading we may do and I would like to do more. Elijah is such a help, he has a very special bond with Gideon and just loves him to pieces which blesses my heart to watch.

As for the rest of life, Bo and I are still working through our marriage difficulties. We are getting to our marriage counselor as often as we can get childcare set up to see her and try to alternate those nights with date nights now so we have positive stuff to focus on and look forward to in between. We’ve been on 2 dates now and had a ton of fun at both, they really were a great time. We start our 3rd year of homeschooling this next Monday and attend 2 different co-op’s to help out with that. I do desire to homeschool the kids and love the opportunity but sometimes, it does feel like too much and not enough time apart from each other. We need to find a better balance of homeschool, life and mama having some time to breathe as well. I’m starting to re-organize the kids rooms and plan to put some toys in their rooms so they can play independently upstairs and we can have some time apart from each other sometimes, we’ve never done that before. We spend 100% of our awake time downstairs cleaning, eating, schooling, playing, reading, doing any and everything and mama is trying to figure out how to get some breathing time worked in the day for me between 7am and 9pm when I’m with the kids. I look forward to re-doing their bedrooms and making some play space upstairs now that Bo has completed adding an office into our loft so he can work from home in peace on the days he has that opportunity.

Prayer requests:
Marriage – we still have a lot of work to get it stable & enjoyable.
Elijah – his heart from the tension in the house this past year
Moses – complete healing from his cataracts
Solomon – shepherding his heart toward Jesus and working on behavioral issues
Gideon – a healthy heart, improved thyroid function, healing for the broken belly button, improved hearing, greater strength in his right side, stronger back & neck muscles. I think that’s enough for now.
Of course Bo and I could also use prayer for our own stuff as well.

Thanks for checking in on us and continuing to pray for us! We appreciate it so much!

4 Replies to “9/12/19 Life Update”

  1. Thank you for your tender and true update. I am a prayer warrior for you and Bo and your whole family. We need to keep all marriages before the eyes of God because, well, marriage is challenging! But with God’s grace and the sacrifice made by Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit to comfort and counsel us, we can make it through each day!

    I will pray for the health and hearts of your boys. For God to strengthen your faith and for Bo to grow close to God the Father.
    Trust and surrender in Jesus, He will take care of it all. Love you, Jane

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