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Last August, Rheyn got super sick and we had to pull him out of his therapy clinic. He’d been going since January and was sick with small colds about every week. We thought it would get better after a while, after his immune system ran through all of the new bugs and germs from the other kids but it just never happened. In June, the day I went into labor with Paizley, Rheyn started to get sick again. This time with high fevers that refused to leave, a cough, no appetite, a chapped Rudolf nose, and overall miserableness. Luckily, Rheyn has awesome grandparents who came and stayed with him while Daniel and I welcomed Paizley at the hospital. Once we got back home, we had a newborn baby who was a great breastfeeder but could never get enough to eat, which made her cranky and sleepless, along with a little man who, on top of being sick with what we finally found out was bronchitis had this new, attention-stealing, screaming person hanging around.

Needless to say, it was a stressful time for all of us! Daniel ended up having to apply for an awesome grant for families in crisis that his then-workplace offered (which we received) and take 7 weeks off of work in order to help take care of Rheyn. Once Rheyn started to get better, we worked out a schedule with the therapy clinic so that Daniel could take him in just for therapies (and stay with him), rather than dropping him off for a regular full day of therapy/preschool. This worked out for a couple of weeks and then Rheyn caught another bug. We decided to call it quits. It was a crappy choice – either get him the professional therapy he needed or keep him alive. But I think anyone else in the same position would go the route we did.

His pediatrician and previous therapists helped us search for local in-home options but there were none. So instead, we’ve worked with him as much as we can/know how and planned to get him back into the clinic the summer after he turned two, hoping that the things we’ve read online were true – that WHS kids over two have an easier time fighting off respiratory infections.

We recently made a move to a town an hour away from our previous home so we weren’t able to get him back into the same clinic but thankfully, there is another branch of the same group nearby here. Tuesday we have Rheyn’s evaluation appointment and start on paperwork to get him enrolled! There are other therapists around here that offer appointments each day, just for therapy that we’ll try if Rheyn starts to get sick again but we (little man included) love the staff and the way things are run at his old clinic so we’re hoping this branch is just as productive and pleasant. This way, Rheyn will be able to spend time with other kids his age who have their own special needs, do crafts, gain more independence, and of course get all the therapy he needs in one day without being shuffled back and forth in the car all day from appointment to appointment.

I’m going to miss him not being home with Paizley and me all day but I’ve seen how much therapy helps him grow, in all aspects, and he deserves that! Daniel and I do what we can but we most certainly are not professional therapists. Not to mention (although I’m mentioning it…) therapists usually have much more patience for a wild man who doesn’t want to listen to his mama – than his mama does.

So today, since Rheyn has grown out of most of his clothes (woohoo!) we went on a search for some new things that fit. He got some of the cutest skinny jeans from Gap Kids! Apparently The Children’s Place (where we used to get his pants) doesn’t have any styles of 18 month pants with adjustable waistbands, only ones with elastic-in-the-back. Those seem great for an 18 month old but are no good to our sweet, skinny 2-and-a-half year old with long legs and no hips. Gymboree, JCpenney, TJMaxx – all the same. Gap Kids saved us a trip to another city, which I was thrilled about since their clothes are insanely cute. We’ve discovered that the 12-18 month skinny jeans are just the right length and cinch up enough for Rheyn, hooray! Also, don’t tell anyone – but the tighter-fitting girls’ skinny jeans in the same size (as long as they have no evidence of being girly) work really well for him, too. 🙂