We were so pleased to celebrate Parker's first birthday party on Saturday the 8th.  It is hard to believe that an entire year has passed since Parker joined our family but it also, in some ways, feels as though it has been an eternity.  

Our close family and friends came to our house and enjoyed a beautiful day with Parker.  He is very much a Mama's boy, and therefore spent much of the day in Angie's arms, he enjoyed getting to see so many of the people that love him. He had the opportunity to try birthday cake(mostly frosting) and we found this was an incredible way to incentivize oral eating.  

Over the past several months, Parker has had a really nice, healthy stretch.  We have been able to focus on growth, skill development, and quality family time instead of simply trying to keep him healthy.  May was the first month of Parker's life that he didn't have a hospitalization to say that we were thankful to break that streak is a wild understatement.  

Parker has added speech therapy to his weekly physical and occupations therapies.  He is focussed on oral eating skills at speech therapy and has made wonderful progress.  In March, Parker might only take a bite or two of fruit/vegetables and cereal.  With practice and home and support at daycare, he now frequently eats up to 20-25 bites at mealtimes with us.  Most of his nutrition still comes through his G-Tube but we are very excited about his progress in this area.  He also recently got his first tooth!

Last Friday Parker had his first appointment at Gillette Children's hospital in St. Paul.  He got a new diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy.  We had been expecting that he would likely get this diagnosis at some point but it was still very, very hard news to hear.  The specific type of CP that Parker has is Quadriplegia, meaning that his involuntary movement and abnormal muscle tone impact all four limbs, the trunk of the body, and potentially the muscles in the neck, mouth, throat.  Parker will be heading back down to Gillette's tomorrow to get his first treatment of Botox.  There is extremely high tone in Parker's inner thighs, thumbs, and left arm.  The botox will relax those muscles so that he will have a chance to engage and manipulate them intentionally.  

Parker has made wonderful progress over the past year and as a family we are starting to think about what Parker will need in the years to come. It will undoubtedly be a long road but we are so thankful for all of our family, friends, and various communities in your support for Parker and our family as a whole.