One Year Older

All I want is for you to be HAPPY..... and not just because its your birthday.

Thanks for taking care of our family and for being patient with me, for listening to me ramble on and on about nothing and pretending that my feelings are valid.

You are far more skilled and knowledgeable in all aspects of life. I'm so glad the kids got their brains from you:)

You are blessed with a "hands on" ability to create, build, fix, and restore almost anything. Oh, don't get too excited about the hands on compliment. LOL.

If it wasn't for you I would have never enjoyed or learned the art of cooking, grilling or dutch ovening:)

You've shared your green thumb and inspired me to develop similar talents and a love of gardening. 'Cept I still want to fill the garden in with concrete. Tee he:)

I'll never forget this day. I'll never forget cooking Yakisoba and Wontons for 20 people. I'll never forget your dear sisters and mother slaving for hours on end and your support for my pathetic attempt at celebrating this day.

Thanks for pretending that my cooking skills are adequate.

Happy 34th.... I'll always be older than you:)

Peer Pressure

Finding motivation for Crew has always been a chore. There is only so much icecream and yogurt to go around, darn it. In the house, Crew uses crawling as his primary form of mobility. I've had a hard time using the walker with him in the house because I have to stay with him. I get discouraged thinking it is pointless because I end up doing the bulk of the work. But walking is good. Walking builds strength and the more practice the better but this little three year old has a mind of his own. The past few months he has decided he doesn't want to use the walker and so I've had a hard time motivating him.

However, today I was watching my nephew and we had a couple extra kids here as well. Crew was throwing one of his fits and I was trying to talk to my sister. I grabbed the walker and put him in it and he took off. He wanted to be with the other kiddos.... I can't blame him, old people are boring;) Of course I had to follow him and he was so motivated. He was walking just to walk, you know what I mean... he really had nowhere in particular to go:) I realized just how motivating his peers are.

I guess I should set up some playdates. Uggh!

KEEP BLOOMING!

It's always sad to say goodbye to summer. It's not that I don't love fall or winter but the autumn weather is short lived and the winters way to loooong!

It's hard to believe the flowers still look so great considering everything nearly froze last night. Luckily, "nearly froze" isn't the same as FROZEN. Maybe we can enjoy these creations for another week or two.

Like I've said before the Shasta Daisy is a favorite of mine. The yellow flower is called coreopsis or "tickseed". I love it too because it spreads like crazy and the blooming season here ranges from June until first frost.

It's inevitable that the flowers will fade and die out in the near future and we will look to spring for another display of beautiful blooms. Luckily we have the long winter months to continue to watch our little Crew grow and develop. I know in my heart that we will see him progress. Each day is an improvement and we continue to see his personality develop, grow and BLOOM. Happy Autumn to you all and for those bloggy friends on the other side of the globe... think of us during your sunnier days:)

Timpanogos Cave

It's been over 10 years since I've hiked to the cave and the first time with children of course. It's 3 1/2 miles round trip. The big boys did great! Crew was a good sport about being packed around in the backpack.

The weather was perfect and the leaves a brilliant display of reds and shades of orange. When we made the reservation we knew there was a chance of rain and contemplated cancelling. Luckily we made it to the cave without getting wet. After the 1/4 mile tour through the cave we exited and found a few random raindrops.




Hiking down was fun. We hustled back to the van as the rain picked up into refreshing sprinkles.






We just couldn't pass up the pic of Crew asleep in the backpack:)

Straight to the H-E-A-R-T

A blog post by Billie about her little chatterbox, Eden, has been playing through my mind today. Eden recieved her cochlear implant almost two years ago. Eden is an adorable little girl who has overcome many obstacles including the ability to communicate with her family. Today, Billie posted a sweet video of Eden speaking in her cute little voice saying, "I love you".

"I love you" is an expression we all need to hear. As the mother of a non-verbal child I'm not quite sure when or if I came to accept the fact that I may never hear those words. Because Crew does have some hearing, he is not a candidate for a cochlear implant. Crew shows his love in a million different ways.... with a smile, his hugs and quick forgiveness. Have I ever doubted his love for me? Of course not!

However, the hope and possibility that I may hear those precious words escape his mouth one day has been on my mind today. As I put Crew to bed tonight I looked at him and said, "I love you". We gazed at each other, I repeated the words, "I love you" six or seven times and just as I was about to turn away he distinctly crossed both hands over his heart and I knew without a doubt what he was saying, "I love you too"!

We have worked and worked on teaching him sign but I can honestly say that this "I love you" sign he learned from watching his Signing Time video. My heart is smiling now!

Managing Spasticity

We saw Dr. Rehab again this week for our four-month Botox followup. It's been frustrating because I didn't see any improvements with the Botox but did see some weakness following the injections. I've been saying again and again that Crew had a growth spurt over the summer so maybe the Botox combined with a huge growth spurt kind of just evened things out. At the Rehab clinic Crew was measured and weighed and much to my surprise he grew 4 inches!!!

The Dr. said that his bones are growing faster than we can stretch the muscles which is why he has been so tight.

Remember the criticism I recieved about family intervention... Well, duh, maybe his therapist should consider physical issues instead of immediately pointing the finger at his family and assuming we don't do anything.

Dr. Rehab wanted to do the Botox again but then we got talking about a possible Baclofen pump. Monday we will find out how long the wait is to get into the CP Clinic to do a "Baclofen Pump Trial". If they aren't booked out too far, we will wait on the Botox until we know if he is a candidate for a Baclofen Pump. The Baclofen pump is surgically placed in the childs abdomen where the pump sends baclofen (the drug used to lessen spasticity) into the area around the spinal cord. If he isn't a candidate we will do another series of Botox with serial casting.

Today we got our van out of the shop after a two-week wait. I've been sick since paying the bill ($2000.00) YIPES!

On a good note: I got my hair cut and colored today!

I Love My Little Peanuts!

What is it about Autumn that brings back fond memories of the Peanuts gang?




Back To School...

Football...

(yep, Number 7 belongs to me:)

Anticipation of "The Great Pumpkin"...

COMPOSITIONS...
(My little Shroeder:)

AUTUMN ISN'T SO BAD!!!

Freakin' Idiot

It's been over two months since I requested that Crew's Preschool therapists provide a summary of their therapy sessions with him over ESY (Extended School Year). His teacher asked me at Back To School Night if I still wanted it and I said, "Yes", she apologized that it was taking so long. I was okay with that. However, I did want the summaries eventually as I am keeping a log.

Today when Crew arrived home I checked his backpack and found the summaries from two of his three therapists.

Here is what the OT wrote: "The staff are excellent with positioning and stretches but we find that Tuesdays, Crew needed far more intervention than by the end of the three day period. I am not sure if this is indicative of family needing training in approach/frequency of home program. No family attended the sessions I had scheduled this summer."

What the hell is that!

Does she really think I am sitting at home eating Bon Bons!!!

So Far This Week...

We took the boys hiking yesterday. Crew still fits in the backpack but he's getting to be quite the haul so we figured we may as well do it while we still can.

It was nice to get out and get physical while enjoying these last days of summer.

Crew loved the backpack and S and H seemed to have fun exploring. We will probably try to squeeze in a couple more hikes before the weather turns cold.






















Crew had his first day (again) of Preschool. I love him in his new school clothes (doesn't he look tough). The bus comes right to the house which is so nice. I can honestly say that I am so ready to start up again. Crew is at a stage where he needs tons of stimulation and activity. I really do try but there is only so much I can do and a lot of the learning atmosphere cannot be duplicated at home.

He came home happy and I could tell that he had a good day because he was mad after I brought him in the house.

10 Things I Like About Myself

I’ve hit my 200th post and I wanted to write something centered around myself because after all it is my blog:) I toyed around with 200 Things I Believe, or 200 More Things About Me but the task seemed much too daunting. I try to keep this blog positive and while I’ve been quite disappointed in myself lately I decided it was time to dig up some of the better parts of myself. Originally, I started listing the Top 20 Things I Like About Myself but it was harder than I thought... maybe on a better day. So, for today here are:

10 THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MYSELF

1. I feel grounded in my faith. There is great comfort in knowing I can trust in God’s will, trust in His way of doing things, trust that His timetable works for me.


2. Motherhood isn’t at all what I expected but even with all the ups and downs, I can honestly say that it is the most fulfilling and rewarding aspect of my life.



3. If any of you have read "Color Code" by Dr. Taylor Hartman you are familiar with the color code personality test. Testing as primarily a blue individual it’s true that once I’ve made a friend... they are my friend for life.









4. Family is a top priority. I love getting together as a family, not only with my husband and boys but extended family as well.... siblings, parents, and in-laws.


5. I love hard work, the feeling of a job well done and something accomplished.


6. Generally, I’m quite productive in the morning. I feel best about myself when I wake up early and jump right into the day.


7. I find running invigorating... the post-run actually:)



8. My feet.


9. I’ve always been scared-to-death of speaking in front of people but the last couple of years I’ve become a little more confident.... and I like that!


10. I have a sense of stick-to-it-ness or of not giving up easily. This has helped me a great deal along life’s path.... with college, serving in my church, relationships etc.

JUST FOR FUN!