There are so many awesome things happening lately!

I am SO excited about this!!  Meghan was signed up with a group called I Run for Michael.  This group matches runners with special needs children or adults.  Each special needs child or adult is matched with a runner and they both keep up to date with each other on what is going on and often times, the runner dedicates their races, workouts etc. to the child/adult they are matched with.  Meghan was recently matched and we are so excited to get to know Meghan's match and cheer her on and shower her with our support!  Her name is Jennifer and she is absolutely amazing!  She did her first run for Meghan already!  I highly recommend any runners to join this group - or - any families with a special needs child or  adult.  This is the most inspirational group I have ever been involved with and we are so honored to have Jennifer be a part of our life!!  Here is a picture from Jennifer after her first run for Meghan :)  Jennifer is the BEST!

Another exciting thing is that both Meghan and Lucas have pen pals.  You know, the old fashioned pen pal system where people send and receive letters via the postal service :)  Luke especially looks forward to checking the mail box for letters and he loves writing to his pen pal!

Meghans PT/OT therapists have been working her hard!  Our next therapy goal that Meghan is working on is taking steps downstairs on her own.  Meghan has been working very hard at this for a while.  She still needs someone to hold on to her hand while she takes steps down stairs, but she is getting stronger and stronger each time she goes down the steps.  Going down the stairs is much easier on her than going up.  Going up will take time to master.  Meghan has decided that since her running buddy is running for her that she wants to dedicate her next goal (stairs) to Jennifer!  This goal is all for you Jenn :)  Speech is going well, too!  She was given about 20 more signs to learn...whew!  She picks up on new signs very quickly but we will introduce a new sign every few days or so.  Within the last week, she's learned apple and sticker.  Her therapist had to search in high places for the sign for sticker.  Meghan is a HUGE sticker lover!  We are working with her on putting together 2-3 signs at a time.

Meghan had her 6 month orthopedic check-up bright and early this morning.  We left the house when it was still dark out...ish!  That is way too early for this momma!  Meg had x-rays of her lower extremeties.  For the x-ray, she stood on a 1 cm lift with her left foot (shorter leg).  The ortho said she has excellent hip alignment while standing on the lift so it's definitely a good thing she wears a lift in her shoe as it will benefit her hip and spine (to prevent scoliosis).  We compared today's x-ray to the x-ray she had 6 months ago without the lift and you could clearly see her hip was uneven without her standing on the lift.  We looked at her bones on her right foot - which is the foot where her 2nd and 3rd toes are fused together.  She does have bones in all 5 toes, so if she would ever chose to have her toes separated (which I hope she chooses not to) it could be done since all bones are present, but it would require skin grafting.  We are just so in love with her little fused toes.  We have decided we will leave the decision to Meghan on whether to leave her toes fused or to release the toes (when she is old enough to make that big of a decision) but I have a feeling she will love her toes just the way they are, too!  We no longer need to see the ortho every 6 months and we have graduated to yearly visits.  The ortho said that at our next appointment, we will meet with an Orthopedic surgeon.  Not to discuss surgery at this point, but to just talk to us about the procedure if needed down the road.  This would be to stop her longer leg from growing so her shorter leg can catch up.  This surgery is not done until the leg length difference is atleast 2cm...right now Meghan is between 1/2 and 1 cm difference.  She also pointed out to us while looking at the x-ray that Meghan's shunt tubing in her stomach was on the left side of her stomach last time and today it is on the right side.  This is absolutely no big deal, but was just kind of neat to see how the tubing floats around.  Unfortunately, Meghan did lose a little weight and is at 20.4 pounds :(  Yes, I will count every little ounce because she needs every little ounce she has - especially with the harsh winter months quickly approaching.  We're just hoping for an easier winter for her this year!