~The last week of October~

It is hard to imagine that we are to the last week of October already! This year is flying by. One year ago we were getting ready to go to China to bring JM into our family. He has changed so much in the last year. He is becoming such a little man! He has a long way to go to catch up, but we are blessed to have him in our lives. He teaches us so much.

He is melting the hearts of the OT and SP therapists already! We are blessed to have found them. I see so many children receiving the care they need. It is really an amazing place. In the last year I have come to realize how much we took our children's development for granted. The kids used developmental toys, but they just went step by step without really thinking about it. With JM it has been amazing to watch how he has struggled and how he has learned. On the eating front. JM has found Nutrigrain cereal bars! Not exactly crunchy...but something that I can stick in my purse and have for those times a spoon isn't handy! He is eating larger pieces of bananas and helping to feed himself more and more. For that I am thankful!

He had a difficult first 14 1/2 months of life. He has been affected by it, but in spite of this, brings such joy to our lives.

OK enough of that. The kids are getting excited about Halloween. They enjoy dressing up and going around the neighborhood. We have one family that really goes all out and decorates in a fun way. Lots of pumpkins and scarecrows etc. None of the negative side of Halloween. So we have fun and keep it simple.

Things have been a bit slower this past week. It is still an all out sprint at times, but not quite so crazy!

All for now!

 

~OCTOBER VISIT~

~G&G P. visit!!!~ SO MUCH FUN~

 

So a quick note to catch you up again. Thankfully Alick's bowel obstruction resolved with just medical management...no surgery and he went home last Wednesday! He went to the casino with friends and was in Church on Sunday, so things seem to be back to normal!

SF's parents came in town on Thursday. The kids so look forward to having visits! Friday they went to Grand avenue to check out a few of their favorite shops! (I.e. Cooks, Smith and Hawkins and the Red Balloon bookshop.) SF and the 3 oldest went along. JM and I had an appointment to keep!

JM started his therapy on Friday. He met with a new speech therapist as well as an occupational therapist. It went well. They are looking forward to working with him and we are looking forward to their input! Will keep you posted.

Then we got a new loft bed for the girls room. MR has been patiently waiting for new loft bed. She left hers in the other bedroom, so EM got that one. So Grandpa P. and I put that together on Saturday. The girls are excited to have more room!

I was the only causulty of the build. When I bent down to pick something up I hit my tooth on the bar and you guessed it! I chipped my front tooth! OUCH!

Yesterday we went to church and then after lunch the grandparents left for OHIO. We will see them again in a month if all works out. We hope to head that way for Thanksgiving. Have not done that before, but will this year if the weather cooperates. Then we will stay home over Christmas. Need to establish some of our own traditions for the holidays and traveling to Ohio can not always be done!

All for now

More photos later

 

~GINGER ANYONE??~

Thought I would try and catch you up on our week. Things seemed to be going rather smoothly. I had worked Friday night and then we had potluck at church Saturday evening. The kids all enjoy that. Time to play with their friends after church and food to boot! I had called Alick to see if he wanted to go. Usually he is there...but he had been feeling a bit rough. Friday his stomach wasn't quite right. Well Saturday he felt good so he went. Seemed fine. Well Sunday morning about 8:30 I get a call from Alick that he needed to go to the Hospital. To make a long story short, he thought he had a "bowel obstruction". Since I had 2 kids in the tub, we decided if he felt that bad he should push his "alert" button and the ambulance would need to take him. I would meet here there as soon as I could.

    Fast forward "kids dressed and ready for church". We go out to the garage and the tire is flat!! I mean pancake flat! We just got new tires in June, so we must have picked up a nail or something. Thankfully my brother bought us a tire pump! Automatic wonderful. That got us on the road in about 15 minutes. SF took the kids to church and I went to the hospital to meet Alick. Spent from 10:30 till 3:30 with him. Yes a CT scan showed it was a  SBO and he needed a NG and hopitalization. He didn't like that idea, but it did feel better!

    So home I went to get dinner. Sandwiches sounded good. The kids like grilled ham and cheese with horseradish sauce. I thought I grabbed the horseradish when SF asked me what are you making! Well, oops I had the bottle of ginger instead of horseradish. Let me tell you they are not interchangeable. I thought "well, they are made I will see if the kids notice." SF took a bit and gave me a look, You have not made a great culinary discovery. Ginger on ham and cheese, "NOT SO GOOD". But he didn't say anything. EM took a bit and said "WHAT IS ON THIS SANDWICH???" Needless to say they were not impressed. We scraped them a bit and made it OK to eat! I guess I was a bit distracted!

    Thankfully Alick is doing well. Looks like the Obstruction will resolve without surgery. He has history of Colon CA, 19 years ago and ends up with adhesions. Thankfully they have always resolved with Bowel rest!

    Not how we planned on spending our weekend, but thankful that things are turning around.

    SF's parents will be here on Thursday. The kids and SF don't have school Thursday, Friday or the weekend, so they are looking forward to getting spoiled!

    OK all for now!

Just remember Ginger = Horseradish is not a true statement!

~Being silly with DADDY~

JM had a great time playing before bed last night. I love the shot of him with his dad. What wonderful smiles they both have! Enjoy!

~93 AND COUNTING~~

Our good friend from Church turns 93 today. We had him over for dinner last night, as today just wasn't going to work. We had a good meal and played cards! He enjoyed it. This is our friend that had open heart surgery in June. We saw his MD's last month and they think he is ready to make a shot at the century mark now!! I'm just glad he is doing well and able to enjoy life!

~APPLE ORCHARD 2008~

I took the older 3 to an Apple orchard on Sunday with a group from church. They had a great time! Hopefully by next year JM will be able to go too...but church and then no nap a trip to the orchard and another outing yet that evening didn't seem like a good idea!