Karwoski Life

Uncle Matt, Chad, & Matthew  

Aunt Emmy, Hope, & Matthew 

Chad, Hope, & Baby Matthew 

Blessings; MATTHEW JAMES KEPLER!!!! My sister and her husband welcomed their second child, the first BOY in our family in a LONG time, on Monday night. I was present for the whole shebang! YIKES! It was a beautiful and very amazing experience. I was honored to be there for Hope and Chad. We spent most of the evening tossing around names, as they hadn’t officially decided on one yet. (Hope was a little over 3 weeks early, and they thought they’d have more time.) After he was born, and they had some time alone to discuss it, they asked me if it was ok to name him Matthew. They didn’t want to take the name if Matt and I should want to use it someday…or if we thought it would be weird. On the contrary, we were both very touched that they wanted to name their little boy Matthew. He was born at 9:34 PM, and weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz and was 21 inches long. Everyone is doing fine. Yesterday, Matt and I went up to visit them. Matt got to hold his namesake…it was very special for us all. M...

Another party pic - This one cracks me up...Dwain and Erica have no idea that Blake and Matt are hamming it up in the background!  

Here is another view of the car. We have the decals now, just have to get them put on one of these days.  

Here is a group shot from my surprise 30th birthday party! 

Here is Matt with our friends Jay (left) and Larry (right)...two instrumental guys in getting the Trans Am painted.  

Well we’ve just been a flurry of activity these past few days, let me tell you! I keep thinking/hoping things are going to settle down into a more ‘normal’ routine…but stuff keeps popping up! Mostly, doctor appointments. We did see the Neurologist and she thought Matt was doing great. She walked in and said she was excited to see him, to see his progress. She had him do a few things to demonstrate his abilities, and she seemed pretty pleased. She looked at his eyes long and hard, and asked one of her fellow doctors to come and look at them too. She thought maybe he should be referred to a Neuro- Ophthalmologist to see if there was anything that could be done to help improve the ways his eyes move. She, herself, only has vision in one eye and also had surgery performed to make her eyes look as if they are working together normally…so she thought it would be worth a shot to see if something could be done to help Matt. She sent a referral that day, and we have an appointment in Iowa City ...

Well, back to how MATT is doing, huh!? He is doing great….really great. He keeps improving in every way, slowly, but surely. One of his occupational therapist retested his grip and pinch strength, as well as how quickly he can put small pegs in and out of a special board. Well, he improved in every way since they last tested him, 4 weeks earlier. The strength, accuracy, and mobility have increased the most in his right hand, which made him very happy! It is good for him to see measurable improvement. It’s sometimes hard for him to really see the progress he’s making, but when something is measured like this, it’s hard to argue with it! His speech therapist has also suggested we tape certain places on Matt’s face to help with his speech and facial muscles. So, we’ve been putting tape on his right cheek, pulling his upper lip up slightly and tape over his jaw muscles on the left side. Apparently, this combination is supposed to help keep his jaw and lip from pulling too much to ...