bowling and weekend mishaps

It seems that I don't have anything better to do at 4:30 in the morning other than blog. That and scrub the burnt milk off the top of my stove. It seems as though when you add cold milk to hot chicken broth the broth will explode. I found out the hard way when it exploded all over me (fortunately I was wearing my glasses).


On Saturday, we all went bowling because it's something that Andrew enjoys doing. It's so nice to be able to go out do something as a family. And you will note by the scoreboard below that we didn't do half bad.





Andrew uses a ramp to bowl. He loves watching the pins fall down, when he's not distracted by the bowlers in the other lane. Especially the two year old little girl with all her giggles.





Please note that I came within 2 points of beating Loren. Please also note that we all scored over 100 pts. It's just our secret that we used bumpers. LOL We are way out of practice.







We also challenged Cynthia to a game of RISK. I of course didn't want to play because I knew I would win. After all, I am ruler of the world!!! And I was right, red once again dominated (it must be the color). We did not however finish the game. We stopped so that we could have a discussion regarding strategy with Aaron. I won't tell you my secret, although I did tell Aaron. This was Cynthia's first time and she caught on as soon as all the armies were placed what the strategy is.


I must add that the weekend had it's mishaps as well. We were all bored silly on Saturday because all they talked about was the ice that was coming. So we sat and watched it rain, really wishing we were doing something more product (thus RISK). We then decided that we wanted pizza. Cynthia did the ordering and we sent Loren for the pick up.


Well, this just goes to show that even 4-wheel drive pick-ups can go in the ditch during and ice storm. We spent Sunday afternoon getting it towed. And no, we didn't get our pizza.






And the post just wouldn't be complete without a picture of Toby the wonder dog. He looks very bored for Christmas morning.

Christmas

So much to write about, I don't know how to do it other than to start on Wednesday since that's when it seems all the activity started. Wednesday was of course Christmas Eve day. I have promised myself every year that I'm going to have everything done well before the evening so that "I" can relax and enjoy our family traditions. Well, it seems as though the tradition of wrapping gifts until 2am has continued.

Our new neighbors brought over this beautiful plate of cookies in the afternoon. I was very secretly pleased because it meant I wouldn't have to bake that last batch of cookies that I had said I would do for church. I thought it would be a wonderful way of sharing the gift with others and also reducing my stress level a little bit.

Well, it wasn't to be. After rushing around and getting ready for church we arrived at 6:50 only to realize that services had started at 6pm. So, feeling like a total idiot I turned around and took the husband, kids and the cookies back home. I was also praying that they wouldn't miss the two plates of cookies that I had said I would bring.


My sister Cynthia arrived at about 11:30pm after a very long drive from Conneticut. We're so happy she made it safely.

We woke up Christmas morning and the boys got first dibs on gifts. Andrew was tickled with his car "Chick" from the movie Cars. He actually enjoyed racing it across his tray. Aaron was quite happy with his Transformer as well. At that point we decided we didn't have time for any more gifts as we were rushed to get to Loren's mom's by 11am.

I'm at a loss after that. Andrew started crying as soon as we pulled into the driveway. He was happy through dinner and then started screaming. I couldn't get him settled no matter what I tried so I finally took him into Grandma's bedroom and laid him on the bed. I stayed with him a little bit and then Cynthia and I took turns checking on him. And then at some point he fell out of the bed and still screaming. He's ok, but I just felt so discouraged.

Anyway, we made it home and opened the rest of our gifts. I've put a few pictures below of Andrew's happier moments.

It's really easy during the hustle and bustle to forget that there are some sick kiddos out there who will be spending their Christmas in the hospital. Even if you don't get a chance to check out Isaac and Riley's carepages to the left, please keep them in your prayers.

Waiting....

So the question of the day: What do you do when there is a no school day because of the weather? What I do is stress, or try not to. So I'm sitting here with a bowl of Banana Nut oatmeal, praying that the last person on my list of 7 will call me back and say she can come watch Andrew tomorrow.

It doesn't help that Andrew only slept about 3 hours last night. I'm not sure what's up other than his g-tube site has been looking really wet and sore the last few days. I switched out the Mic-key last night in the hopes that would help. Anyway, I laid him down for a nap at about 11:30 and then left to go shopping at about 2:00. Loren called me at 5:30 wondering if he should wake him up. YES, please! So I'm sure he'll be up for a while yet. *sigh


Aaron had his piano recital on Friday. He played a very short version of "Away In a Manger" and did a very good job. Here's a picture of him with his piano teacher, Ms Alice. We love her, she is so great with him and he's excited to play the piano. I asked him on Friday what instument he'd choose for band next year and he thought he'd just stick with the piano. Please notice that he is smiling in this photo. It's the only one I got of him actually smiling. He's been looking so serious lately, which is not what he is like at all. In fact the kid has a temendous sense of humor as shown in the next picture.




Aaron spent about 45 minutes yesterday shoveling the sidewalk in front of our house. We've agreed that we'd pay him $3.00 each time he shovels the walk. It's somewhat of an incentive for him and a break for me. Anyway, at about 5:30 I opened the door and told him to take a look. This is reaction when he realized he entire sidewalk and front porch had drifted in. He is such a goof ball.

headaches, glasses and diapers

First off, the headache is gone. Yeah! I did take the day off work today and slept until I went back to the chiroprator this afternoon. Still groggy but I think I'll live. I've don't think I've had one this bad since before Andrew was born. I'm hoping the pattern isn't starting again.

We did manage to go pick up the boys' glasses this evening. Yes, I said boys. Aaron now has a brand new pair of first time glasses. As excited as he seemed to be the first thing he asked when we got home was if he could take them off. He says everything looks smaller. It was a chore to get him to put them back on so I could take a picture just for you guys. He's recently started really disliking getting his picture taken.

I was able to get him to lay next to Andrew for a little bit so we could compare. Andrew's are nothing special to look at. We had to go with a toddler size because his head is smaller due to the microcephaly. They are also much sturdier in the hopes that he won't destroy them. Andrew is extremely hard on glasses and he's also figured out how to get them off. There have been many times when trucking through the store that a passer by has rescued his glasses as he's about to drop them on the floor. That one finger makes an excellent hook.

The old ones also slid down his nose so it looked like he was trying to eat them for a snack. Very annoying.

Ahh, the posed pic. Now we're trying to be Annakin Skywalker from Star Wars. I occasionally need to remind Aaron that Annakin was the bad guy. lol









The Christmas tree is up and I love my fireplace. I've also got the picture I want over it ordered. It's Loren's gift to me. The camara doesn't do it justice.







And finally I had to share my diapers with you. Yes, I said diapers. I called to order more diapers for Andrew last Monday. Usually I get about 300 for the month. Well apparently, Medicaid (in all it's wisdom) has decided that Andrew needs at least 360 diapers to last 30 days (that's 12 diapers per day). But, they also want to ship more, so they are now shipping 3 months worth of diapers at a time. That's 9 cases or 1080 diapers. I'm glad we moved because they never would have fit at the other house. Here they are stacked in our elevator waiting to go down. By the way, Andrew generally uses about 6-8 diapers per day. I never understand what they are thinking.

Have an awesome day!!

Kloie

They finally figured out that Kloie has C-diff. She's still in Milwaukee but hopefully will be back on her normal diet tomorrow so can get discharged on Friday. So now the other concern is the weather.



I'm so disappointed tonight. I was looking forward to going the women's group at church and listening to Jeanie, and I didn't get to go. I've been fighting a major bad headache for two days and it got the best of me. I made it through work until 2pm when I said I had to leave, made it in to see Kari (chiro) then came home and crashed. Kathy (aide) was here with Andrew and she just let me sleep, I didn't get up until 7:30. I'm bummed. And, I still have the headache though my neck and back are much better. The pain is tolerable with the lights out and silence. All I've got are the tree lights going. Am just waiting for Loren and Aaron to get home so I can suffer that stimulation.

a moment

I just didn't want to wake him.

I'm Ruler of the World!!!

And I kick butt at Risk.

(Insert evil laugh here.... ya ha ha!!)



We finally had a family night at home. We need to expand our game collection. LOL I seriously hate checkers which Aaron enjoys. So we pulled out my old Risk game which Loren and I haven't played since before we got married 12 years ago. We used to play it all the time with my old roommate and various friends.

Anyway, it was time to teach Aaron, and since he loves to "battle" it seemed perfect. And after coaching him through the whole game and almost letting him win because I so badly wanted it to end, I saw my chance. Aaron took all but 4 of Loren's territories, I moved in for the kill and removed Loren from the board receiving all of his cards and 45 armies. The rest is history.

And no, I don't have any pictures because my camara is in the van from when I was "supposed to" take pictures of Aaron's first eye appointment on Saturday. Of course I didn't. And then I was just too lazy to go get it. Now I've thought about staging some pictures, of what the board looks like covered in red armies and Aaron's pleading face when he realized he wasn't going to get another turn.... because I am too good. But no, I won't do that. You'll just have to use your imagination.

Have an awesome day in the Lord (and pray that I can get at least another 1 1/2 hours of sleep because I am seriously sleep deprived and it is much to late to take a little "help me" pill because then I would be tired and cranky all day at work and I might fall asleep on the road while driving there (whew). I must also be the queen of run on sentences.

Laura

Prayer Request

Cheryl's Kloie hasn't been doing well the past couple of weeks. They have not been able to figure out what's going on. She won't sleep and she's seizing alot. They finally admitted her to St Lukes on Friday and then later Friday evening flew her to Milwaukee so she could be closer to her Neuroligist. They still haven't figured out what's going on, Cheryl is hoping she will "act sick" tomorrow when the specialist comes in.

Cheryl really wants to come home. She's been looking forward to coming to church with me on Weds night.

Specific prayer requests:

• That the dr's figure out what's going on
• That Cheryl and Bill can figure out transportation issues once Kloie is discharged
• That Cheryl can make it home in time to come on Weds night
• That Cheryl can get some much needed rest (Kloie doesn't sleep, Cheryl doesn't sleep)

This is Andrew and Kloie at Halloween.

Decorating at Flesners'

Our Faith Family got together at Flesner's Tuesday night so we could get their Christmas tree up and decorated. Between Julie's struggle with her cancer treatments and John throwing his back out, they just hadn't got to it yet. So Jim and Loren went and got a tree at Lowe's which John right away said was "too skinny". We all ate Chillie and Chicken Noodle soup and then decorated the tree.

Aren't they cute?

Have I mentioned that I love my new stove? Well I do, if I haven't. Aaron and I spent the day baking cookies since there was no school. I have truly fallen in love with my kitchen. After having that old, awful stove and oven, this is a treat.

I went in on Saturday morning and found Andrew like this. It just demonstates how much we needed this new bed. Now I don't have to worry about him falling out and he has room to move too. By the way, he started on his tummy with his head at the other end of the bed.

I wish....

Paul had a very good sermon today. What really struck me was the part about making excuses for why we don't do things. If there is one thing I am good at it is the pity parties. I had a very good friend once tell me to only allow myself a 10 minute "party" and then move on. So here is my 10 minute "party"

I wish that I could just pick up and go anytime I feel like it.

I wish that it wouldn't be so much work to go anywhere all the time.

I wish that I didn't have to change the diapers on my 8 year old.

I wish my back didn't hurt.

I wish I could tell Andrew to "just go play".

I wish I didn't have to hook up a feeding tube to feed my child.

I wish I didn't have to change the sheets on his bed every day because they get soaked with drool.

I wish when he cried I knew why he was crying.

I wish Andrew could say "I love you"

I wish I understood Andrew's cognitive abilities and whether he understands that Jesus loves him.

I wish I could make a commitment to do something without worrying about respite cancelling or Andrew being fussy (aka. screaming).

Ok, I think I'm done now. I always feel better after a good cry and this has been it.

Don't get me wrong, I love Andrew with all my heart. He could have just as easily died at 3 weeks when they told us he would. That's my miracle,

That Andrew didn't die when the dr's told us that his brain would shut down and he'd just stop breathing.

That he developed a suck and was able to nurse for 10 months after the dr's said he would never suck. That my milk came back in 4 days when I had given up and stopped pumping after 2 weeks.

That Dana Johnson came into our lives and introduced us to Grace.

That Andrew smiles, laughs and knows his mom. And he's smart too.

That Andrew can see and hear very well.

That Andrew is relatively healthy and we've avoided a stay in the hospital for 18 months.

That I have Andrew to hold when some mom's have lost their "babies".

That Andrew has a brother who loves him very much and takes such good care of him.

Thanks Travis for the music as I type this.

Pie

Well, Aaron and Andrew both sold enough popcorn to earn a pie in the face for their choice of Scout leaders. Guess they thought mom and dad desired it.



Andrew tasting some whipped cream. I don't think he was expecting it.

Andrew getting mom with the help of Trudy. I wish you could have seen the look on his face when he realized what he was doing. It was so priceless. I think I'll see if Stacie has a better picture. Trudy put "I got whipped cream all over mom and it was funny" on his switch. He played it over and over on the way home and laughed and giggled. I did the same thing this morning for school, he was squealing while getting on the bus, he was so happy.

First snow, a new bed and a gait trainer

My plans tonight were to finish getting the Christmas tree decorated, but with all the best made plans that too is not happening. Why? Because posting on my blog today is more important.

Aaron took a tumble off the retaining wall at Mark's on Thursday. Apparently the boys were thowing dirt clods at each other and Aaron was standing on the wall when he tried to dodge a clod. He fell backwards off a 4 foot wall and landed on his face. Fortunately they have been landscaping so he only ended up with a mouth full of mud. We are extremely grateful that the ground was soft and it wasn't concrete, or it could have been really bad. I did run him to the chiropracter this evening because he's been complaining that his jaw and ear hurt when he chews. I got the impression, though Dr. Mark didn't say so, that he thought we should have called and brought him in sooner. I hate to call a dr over the holidays though. Anyway, he jammed his jaw on the right side so is being treated for that.

Here are some scenes from this week.

This is the view of our first snowfall from our bedroom deck. This is actually one of my favorite places in the house. I spend more time here than I imagined I would (when it's warm). I stand and lean against the rail just listening to all the sounds in the quiet.

Who enjoys the snow more? Toby or Aaron?

I came home on Monday evening to find THIS waiting in Andrew's bedroom.

Andrew's bed is here. And I tell you what, I have not ever been so excited to see a piece of furniture in my life. Andrew was intially leary of it, but slept like a dream the first night. It's my height so no more bending over guard rails. The head and feet recline like a hospital bed which is awesome for his GERD. It's enclosed on all four sides so I don't have to worry about him falling out at all. And the guard rails are off so it's actually a twin size bed, not a twin reduced to a toddler because of the rails. It's just awesome (can you tell I like it?).

Andrew was able to bring his gait trainer home from school for the Thanksgiving weekend. We wanted to try it out at home on our new wood floors before we just went out and got one. It works pretty well and Andrew had fun (I wish he would take actual steps instead of pushing with his toes). I think though we're going to check into insurance and see if they can help. It's just staggering how expensive medical equipment is. For Andrew to stand upright and propel himself through the house... well, it's just expensive.

Conferences

We had parent/teacher conferences for both boys on Wednesday. I went to Andrew's conference earlier in the afternoon. Loren wasn't able to go because of combining corn, and I messed up scheduling it at 3:30. That was not smart on my part and Loren was disappointed. We met with Kris and Mrs. Schaffer. Kris is Andrew's Special Ed teacher and Mrs. Schaffer is his 1st grade teacher. Both are great and just so excited when it comes to working with Andrew.

The big thing is that Andrew is working on his sight words. Steve (his para) works on them at school and I do them at home. Anyway, Andrew has been testing at about 83%, which I consider awesome. Especially since we just started them a few weeks ago. We are using "picture me" words which you can learn about at "Picture me Reading". The words he is working on now are: play, big, red, me, we, see, and, I, can, a. Andrew is also working on his counting and his reading. He counts by using his "step by step" and then hits the switch for each number (eg. 1, 2, 3, 4...). The big thing has been getting him to stop counting, which he has showed progress on. For reading he is doing very basic books with as many sight words as possible. He has different switches available and then he hits the right one for the right work. They've only been doing it for a week but he's doing well.

Aaron's conference with Mrs. Bruhn was later in the evening so Loren was able to attend it. We left Andrew home with his respite worker so Aaron could have our full attention. Andrew tends to "fuss" when he's not the center of attention.

Aaron is doing well in everything. There's not much else to say as far as academics go. He enjoys school, he just has a tendency to try and rush through things instead of taking his time, thinking about it and then double checking his work.

The one thing that I am becoming more concerned about is his anxiety. I've spoken to Mrs Bruhn about it before and she brought it up again. This whole anxiety thing was really brought home to us when Aaron had a complete and total meltdown a few weeks ago because he left his agenda at school. I started getting worried when he was still crying and upset after two hours. Normally I would have just let him work through it but he had 3 tests the next day and I was concerned that he'd blow them. So I agreed to take him to school and then I chatted with Mrs Bruhn.

So anyway, Aaron has recognised this as being an issue and has recently started praying that God would increase his confidence. Interestingly, he thought of that on his own, it wasn't at my suggestion.

After conferences we went to celebrate at Perkins. Once there I realised that we had left the debit card at home and that between Loren and I we had $16.00 in cash with which to eat at Perkins. Anybody who has been to Perkins lately knows that usually we need a little more money than that. So we all drank water, they guys each got a plate of pancakes and I got the soup (which wasn't very good). As Loren said, it least we discovered it before we ordered. LOL

Love ya

Salvation Army

Tonight we went out ringing for the Salvation Army. It was actually a Scout project for Aaron and Andrew, but Loren said he'd be happy to do it again. It was kind of fun, but cold. We had Andrew ringing as well. He got tired of it after about 10 minutes so I took him in to get some basic groceries. We then came back outside for another 10 minutes singing Jingle Bells, before our half hour was done. It was kind of nice wishing people a Merry Christmas 10 days before Thanksgiving.

The lift is in

After searching what seemed like everywhere I finally found the cord for the camera so I could download my pictures. Believe it or not it was right in front of my face the whole time. I still can't find my cereal bowls after the move though. I remember mom packing them but I can't locate them to save my life.

We got the ceiling lift system installed and working last week. I think it's going to work well for us. I do need to remember to put Andrew in his wheelchair though to move through the house. It's so easy to pick him up and carry him and then I realize how heavy he is getting. Insurance has also approved his new bed so hopefully that will be coming in a few of weeks.

Aaron gets first try at the sling.

The sling under Andrew in his chair.

Up, up and away. That's Kathy, one of Andrew's aides.

I'm back (again... lol)

Ok, everybody has been asking about the house. Yes, we've moved as of October 11th. Here are a few pictures of the building process. I'll post the finished product later.

I have alot to catch up on. I was looking at my pictures from the past year and wondered how in the world could I get by without sharing them. So hang with me as I update the blog with old and new. Hopefully you'll enjoy the ride. And now I need to figure out how all of this works again.

Aaron's soon to be bedroom.

Aaron's favorte part was crawling on the gravel.

The back of the house.

Back, bottom patio.

Too much rain

The pictures were taken at Leigh and David's wedding in January.

It's raining, and it can stop any time now. the news says it only rained an inch, we think it was more like 3 inches or better here. Lots of water in the basement so spent the evening trying to pump it out. Loren is taking his motorcycle safety course so it was just me.

Busy week. Andrew had another tooth pulled on Weds. Then he decided to get sick on Thursday so I had to pick him up from school. Scout meetings on Tues and Weds, soccer on Mon and Weds, AWANA on Weds and there was something last night but I can't remember what. Cancelled piano today because of water in the basement. Also cancelled KAB for tomorrow with Scouts. I never know if that's a good idea or not. Some times I think it should be rain or shine. Guess I can't please everybody.

The house is going well. They've got the footings in and alot of the dirt work done. The next step is bathroom fixtures.