Stand Up!

We suited her up. First with socks, then the short little orthotics. Then the bigger orthotics over the short ones. Then the fancy new kicks. On a side note, she seems to have had a significant weight gain. ;-)

Then I propped up a mirror, just out of reach. The girl loves looking at herself in a mirror. Just like her daddy.

Then a boost.

And I let go.

Standing. All by herself.

Cute. With a capital Q.

I found some shoes that will fit over Lexi's orthotics. I'm glad I started at Shoe Carnival. I probably saved a good $20 by not ending up at StrideRite. Size 4.5W. They look huge.

Cute, but huge.

Without the braces, she fits in a 2. I hope she doesn't trip over her own feet with kicks this big.

She hasn't been wearing the AFOs much yet (the bigger braces that run up the leg) because we're kinda waiting for the therapists for those. But we wear the smaller ones (SMOs) pretty regularly and they don't seem to faze her a bit.

I'm excited to start working with our new PT in October and see what the little chickie can do!

Orthotics. Day 1.

Lexi's occupational therapist came today. I turn around for one second, look back at Alexis and...she's standing.


Standing! Holy cow. 17 months and I haven't seen this happen without extreme support and effort from a therapist. She can't do it on her own yet, but the assist that the therapist provided was very little compared to previous attempts.

Swelling with pride today...

On the road to walking

Alexis got her 17 month birthday present today:

After a month of waiting, she finally got her leg braces. For a more technical term (and I think I've got this right), she now has SMOs (the smaller brace for around the ankles that she'll wear most of the time) and AFOs (the brace that goes up her calf that she'll wear for therapy, when trying to bear weight, and eventually to help her learn to walk).

The SMOs fit right inside the AFOs. There were all kinds of cute designs to choose from. Thank goodness the boys weren't there a month ago to offer opinions because they would have insisted on Tom and Jerry or Spongebob. I opted for plain pink. And I lucked out that I found perfect little socks for underneath--size 0-6 months.

She wasn't a fan.

Doesn't Blake look like the quintessential rotten big brother? But actually, right after he noticed she was crying he got a bit panicked and told me to take them off of her. I always follow orders from my 5 year old.

She seemed okay with just the smaller braces on. I think they're darn cute.

And of course Alexis can already pull off the velcro strap.

But Alexis decided they weren't so bad, and seemed to forget about them pretty quickly.

And she was back on the move in no time. Now begins the challenge of finding shoes that fit over these things. Hopefully these will make a big difference in her ability to bear weight and eventually walk.

Wait...walk?

Did someone say walk?

Just a reminder that the Buddy Walk is coming up and team Lexi Lou's Whos welcomes anyone to join us on October 23 for the walk in Indianapolis. We would also greatly appreciate any donations which can be made by visiting www.firstgiving.com/lexilou .