August update

Austin is now 5 months old and is still doing really well. We had some continued good news from the opthamologist that the caracts are not growing (in fact, he called them miniscule!!). We are working with therapists on his vision as he has been labled as "legally blind" due to his inability to focus on anything or process the images he is seeing. We have a lot of faith that he will be able to have some vision with time and work.

More good news is that we were finally approved for a disability waiver through Medicaid. This will provide for in-home nursing care while we are at work and 60 additional hours/month of respite care. Life will be much easier :)

Austin is smiling more than ever. Although he won't eat by mouth, he loves to have his mouth touched with different textures. He even giggles when his tongue touches the texture... too cute!

The first picture above is Austin in his Bumbee. I found a way to support his head so that he can sit it in (although, as you can tell from the picture, he is less than impressed).

The second picture was taken last week (as hard as it is to believe... fleece and sweats in August!!). Austin enjoys his weekend jogs with the family. It took him a little to get used to the wind on his face, but now seems to enjoy it. The silver fellow next to Jered is Shadow, a rescue weimeraner we adopted in July. Apparently we felt we didn't have quite enough chaos in our lives. Shadow is a bit demanding, but Jered and I strongly believe in the power of therapy with animals and we hope that as Austin get older, Shadow will be a good influence (although right now, Shadow's "influence" consists of stealing shoes, stuffed animals and pillows!).

We hope all is well with you and your families and you take every day as a blessing.