Meeting up!

Suzanne was in town this evening and we had a chance to meet up and talk in person. I thought I would share a couple of pics, so you can see Sammy and Reichen together. It is so nice to spend a little time with another family who is have similar experiences.

By the way, I have to say that Suzanne has some of the cutest, best behaved kids I have ever met! It was a great time :)

If you are interested in seeing more pictures of the evening - click here

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY MIA :) Hope today was great!

CP Magazine

Cerebral Palsy Magazine
I found found some great articles from this magazine. Wasn't sure if anybody else got the magazine, so I wanted to post the info needed to get the mag. There are older issues you can download for free. That may help you make your decicion :) Let me know what you decide. I'm also game for paying one year, reading the mag and passing it on. The when renewal comes up the next somebody else pays, gets to read it first and mails it to me :) I'm half asleep... did that even make sense?! I'm heading to bed :)

MRI tomorrow

Austin has his MRI tomorrow. I'm anxious to hear if his brain has had any changes since his CT scan when he was only a few weeks old. But then I'm nervous about the day, sedation is never fun and I know he'll be starving by the time it's over. Plus he has such high doctor anxiety these days, I know tomorrow will be crazy.

Wish us luck.

W Sitting

Hi Gals

I hope that you are all doing well. Sorry about not being around much. The summer has been beautiful and I have not been spending any more time on my computer than needed for work. I am sure I will get back into it once school kicks up in September.

I do think of you all often and enjoy reading what your kiddos are up to!

I am looking for some advice from you Mommy's with older little ones. Reichen is now able to transition to sitting and he often transitions directly into the W sitting.

We are constantly giving him the verbal cues to straighten his leg and then straightening them for him. I have talked to our physiatrist and OT and they recommend that we do not have him sit in this position since it can cause issues with the hips.

Did you see the tendency to W sit? What was the most effective way to stop it? Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!

Since it has been a while -- here is a recent pic of the little dude:

Blog Music

Hey Girls! I added a song to our blog~ Let me know what you think. I think there may have been issues with blog viewing for some of you one a playlist was added. We can 'do away' with it if it's a view problem. Do you have any more you'd like to hear on the playlist? I could only think of 1 good 'appropriate' for our blog song.

fixing a blog link...

Just wanted to fix Dawn's blog link to the right... it's spelled incorrectly and therefore doesn't link you to the blog... it's actually saintprairiedawn.blogspot.com

FYI


Ellen :)

Hello everyone!!!!

Heh Ladies!!!! How are you all doing? Sorry I have not been on here yet. But between home stuff and occasionally getting onto BBC to check and post every so often, I don't seem to have time to go anywhere else. I wanted to come on and say hi though. I do have my own blog if you want to link in, but I am not sure if I have the privacy settings right on it. Can anyone help me with some advice on that? I am REALLY new to the whole blogging thing, LOL. I hope to be able to keep up soon. Hope you all are doing fabulous!!! Take care....

Alais

Blogs

You should notice the 'new' blog list on your right. If you do not want your blog listed, let me know so that I can remove you. If you would like to be added, also let me know.

Joshie is 5!

Hope you are having a great 5th birthday! Share some cake with Mia :)

I *hate* to be a downer but I have to ask.....

Why us?? Why did God choose me & my family to go through this? Why did He choose you all?? In light of Joshie's 5th birthday tomorrow, I am happily bittersweet. I am so proud of my boy & how far he has come, how much he has accomplished....but on the other hand, WHY HIM???? He should be out running through the grass on his birthday, playing in the surf....but my son is (happily) cruising around in his walker....because he has CP. It's NOT FAIR!! I'm angry & I'm sad. Does God *really* think I am strong enough to endure all of this.....not to mention my little boy!!!!???? WHY? WHY? WHY? Just when I think I have wrapped my brain around all of this.....a day like this appears out of nowhere. *SIGH* another joy of having a child with special needs.
I'm sorry to be a downer but it's just "one of those days".......perhaps tomorrow will be better but for today.....I will just wonder..............

Candid Camera

I knew that YOU GIRLS would "get this" more than anyone else. The other day, we were at an indoor market place, and Ellie wanted to stand at the railing. I was actually able to leave her there for 30 seconds, and she stood on her own, holding tightly onto the rails! For those 30 seconds, she looked completely "typical". Like any other three-year-old little girl. I actually thought to myself, "wow, she's taller than I realized", because I never see her standing upright, all by herself.

Anyway, it was kinda nice, and I thought y'all would see these pictures in a special light:

Logen Update

I posted an update on my blog about our St Louis trip. The gist- he was put on 4 meds and his seizures have the potential to be fatal. Crappy news!

http://duncanfamily2004.blogspot.com/2008/07/seizure-update-st-louis-appt.html

Play Time :P

I'm excited :) Hannah's Mommy (Trina) is flying in to hang out with us for the weekend!
Watch out Arkansas, here comes trouble :P

**EARTHQUAKE**!!!!! We're safe & sound.....

This morning at approximately 11:42 am So Cal had an earthquake!! I've lived here all my life so this is nothing new, however, this is the 1st "big one" since I had my kiddos & I was terrified!!! 1st instinct was to grab them both & run to the doorway until the shaking stopped. Of course, it didn't faze either of them & they were actually mad that I took them away from "Barney"!!!
The early reports are reporting that it was a 5.8 & centered in Chino Hills which is about 35 miles away. But the shaking was strong & the rumbles were loud! It always amazes me how you can actually HEAR the earth shake....it starts out like the earth's stomach is growling & just gets louder & louder!!....SCARY!!
Anyways, we're all o.k....just wanted to let you all know :)

Nicholas

I updated my blog the other day with the story about Nicholas's eye appointment. I'm too lazy right now to copy & paste it but the gist of it is Nicholas is going to need surgery to fix his eyes =( Glasses just wont cut it any more and the patch is not an option because of his bouts of severe head pain. They are hoping to have him booked within the next year to have the surgeries started he'll need two, one per eye, and then patching or glasses to fix the vision issue in his one eye.

On the upside Nicholas has been discharge from NICU follow up and is now NICU alumni, so we now get to go to all the alumni picnics and get togethers!

-Liz

We made it!

A brief post... we made it to St Louis. Logen's appt at the hosp is in the morning at 8am. I will update when we get back to our hotel. I'll post pictures on my family blog, but won't duel post those here to. Lazy me. :) Pray for answers!!!!

*Update on Andres' botox surgery

Hi ladies! I'm sorry that I haven't had a chance to give an update, so here it is:

Andres wasn't given anything this time to relax before they put him to sleep, but he didn't even cry when I handed him over. I actually had a harder time than he did! I was called back when it was about time for him to wake up, and he woke up alot better than he did last time. He was casted while he was asleep, so I was warned that he would be really sore. I gave him Motrin all weekend long to subdue any soreness that he might feel. But the best part of this whole thing is that he took to his walker the same afternoon of the surgery! His dad took some time off work to help out after the surgery; he really is a great dad.

Anyways in conclusion, for any of you that are thinking about this for your child; I think it is great. But I think it would vary on what your child is/may be allergic to. I know there is one mom in particular that tried on this board and it didn't go well. (Please forgive me; I can't place your name @ the moment) If you have any questions in regards to my experience with my son's botox injections or serial casting, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm happy that I have all of you ladies to share my joys with and to help me with my strength when I'm feeling weak.

Sorry for making this so long! I hope that all is well with all of you!

<-----(my sons)

Andres (with his walker) & Diego

-Angelica

He's Weird, Whaaaaattttt?

{I'm Duel Posting Here & On My Blog}

I wanted to blog this the day it happened, but I couldn't. I can't let it sink in b/c then it might be real. The truth is, I know it's real, but that doesn't make it suck any less. Here's what happened.

Logen & I walk into preschool, happily. He wonders off to play in the kitchen center. I sign him in and walk over to kiss him good bye.
Little girl, age 4 or 5: He's weird
Me: What did you say?
Girl: I said, he's weird
Me: Why do you say that? (My heart is beginning to sink)
Girl: Because, he walks funny and he dribbles {meaning: he drools, CONSTANTLY}
Me: Well, everybody is different
Girl: Yeah, but why is he so weird?
Me: {Oh, God, please carry me out of here without crying. I can't do this! I can't. She's just 5, she doesn't know it hurts me. She doesn't understand}
Me: Well, Thats the way God made him and it's ok that he's like that, he's special. Just like you are special. Everybody here is special.
Girl: Oh, he gets everything wet
Me: Turn and walk away with tears in my eyes. Stare at teacher, not sure if she heard me. This child is not in his class, so she's not been told the "I'm special" story. It's ok. We can do this. Really, we can. It's going to be fine.

And, I think. He's 4 and a half. He goes to kindergarten in 2009. What do I do. If kids are already starting to notice the difference and point them out now, how do I handle them then? Will they shun him? OH, I just don't think we can do this. And, Logen- Logen can't explain to me how this makes him feel. It hurts me more every time I think about. A 5 year old hurt me this bad. How do I deal?????????

~*~*~*~ Jessica ~*~*~*~

speaking of hippotherapy...

I was inspired by Melissa's pics of Joshie on the horsie to post a pic of Sammy's own brand of hippotherapy with my sister Mary and her horse, Amber. We went to the barn the other day..it was SO hot amd humid, but Amber was a trooper! She's a sweet horse... Luke took a ride, too...he's been riding her since he was 2!! :) They love it!! (Sammy cries when we take him off!)