Droopy Jud-y

It didn't take long for Judah to "earn" his first nickname from Lydia. I think he had only been home from the hospital a few days when I started hearing "Jud-y" coming from her cute little lips. As much as I initially disliked that nickname (it being awfully girly), it stuck, and we ALL call him Jud-y! Cutie Jud-y, Tooty Jud-y, and now Droopy Jud-y. [Hopefully he won't hold it against us when he gets older.] We saw the ophthalmologist today, and he's concerned because Judah's eyelids have become measurably droopier than they were 5 months ago. Judah does a lot of compensating for that, which shows maturity on his part - a good thing - but the droopiness is something that needs to be dealt with. The dr. said it could be a couple of things; the first being a condition called Myasthenia Gravis Disease. This is easy to test for, and treatable with medication. That's all I know about it so far. He'll be tested next month when he gets his routine endocrinology blood work done. The other possibility is a condition that needs to be tested under supervision at the hospital. Not awesome. If both of those were to come back negative, my understanding is that we would need to talk about surgically correcting his eye lids then. When I look at him now, I realize that his little eyeballs have seemed to gradually get smaller and smaller over the last few months. And when he smiles they both virtually disappear! I'm wondering if those are things I should have noticed sooner. I don't think that would've changed anything. Still. I don't like it when I miss something that concerns him.

Other than that piece of new news... Little Champ is crawling everywhere - albeit completely uncoordinatedly - and it's the cutest, most endearing, most fun thing to watch! He gets so excited and so proud of himself! Sometimes, he's so excited his legs get ahead of his arms and he does a nose dive into whatever surface he's crawling on. Which means he's had a couple of nice shiners on his forehead. Therapy is going really well for him in every area, too. He's standing more easily and for longer periods of time. He's taking supported steps more easily. He's pulling himself up onto his knees all the time, trying to reach a magazine off the coffee table, or a book off the love seat. Basically anything he can't have. He's getting stronger. He's retaining more information. He hasn't learned any new signs yet, but that's going well too, so I know it's just a matter of time. We've added a lot of new words to that list, though, so I guess it'll take awhile. He has a new sound! La! He's eating 1000+ calories a day (over 200 more than his target)!

He's been cleared by his plastic surgeon for surgery, so I anticipate that it will be scheduled at the end of April or beginning of May. That will be coupled with his hernia repair. We see that surgeon next week. Please keep praying about this! I'm still struggling. I'm not sure how to just let it go, and find His peace in this.