The Box

I purchased a new carseat for Jack and with it came this wonderful big box. The first few days Brian would put Emi and Jack in it and pull them all over the house and then it became Emi's personal playhouse. She carries it with her all through the house wacking it into everything and banging it into the walls. Every morning when she wakes up she asks for "my precious box" - oh good grief!

Two nights ago she busted one of the sides and I got excited thinking that she would finally let me throw it out but no! She decided that her "precious box" would be ok with one busted side. I have to say as much as I can't stand her dragging that thing all through my house, I absolutely love how she has been playing with it quietly for hours every day. I guess you have to take the good with the bad right?

Snow Days

We have been getting so much snow lately that I'm starting to doubt that we live in the South!

Here are some pics of our most recent snow fall

Just starting to snow

our house after 3 hours of snow

putting out our bowl for snowcream

our bowl is full!

someone's excited

making our snowcream

ready to eat - we added sprinkles and chocolate syrup.

Emi was ping-ponging off the walls after all the sugar. Next time we have to do this in the afternoon and not right before bed!

The Wheelchair

After talking about it for almost a year, Jack finally has his wheelchair. His therapists starting approaching us about it when he turned 2 and I just wasn't ready to go there yet - I mean, he was only 2 for pete's sake!! But eventually we had to face it head on and realize that our precious little boy will probably not walk and will need to have a wheelchair. So here we are many months later with the wheelchair. We are still getting use to it - that sucker weighs a ton which makes getting it in and out of my van a challenge. I am working on ordering ramps for my van so that I don't give myself a hernia every time I need to get the chair out of my car.

I hate this chair. Everyone says it'll be so much easier for you. Well, it's not. It's a pain in my butt to get it in and out of my car and I especially hate the looks we get in public. It's like a huge, flashing neon sign that says - my kid is different than yours. hate it. (and I'm not even a fan of the word "hate") But on the same token I am very grateful for this chair. Jack is too big for a stroller and strollers don't give him the proper support he needs like the chair does plus eventually he can learn to maneuver it himself which will be awesome for him. The chair cost more than my first car did and insurance denied almost half of the cost and a friend of Brian's boss paid what the insurance company wouldn't. He is an angel and that helped make the experience of getting this chair a little more positive for me. It was like God's way of assuring me we were doing to right thing.

This is a story that I haven't told anyone except Brian because I just can't get it out without crying so I'll share it on the blog :)
The chair we bought has two bases, one manual base that I push and a motorized base that he can learn to maneuver with a joystick. His therapist works with him once a week on using the motorized base with the joystick. She takes him into the hallway where there are lots of plastic plants and trees and chairs that he can ram with his chair. I usually don't hang around during his therapy sessions because he won't do anything but look at me and whine but for whatever reason I hung around this day. Everything's going as normal, he's ramming the walls and kept going straight into the trees so we would correct him and he continued to drive straight over to the trees so we finally just let him go to see what he would do and he was wanting to see the trees. He drove over to where they were, stopped perfectly in front of them and touched the leaves and looked at the branches. And I started weeping - he was exploring. In his 2 1/2 years he's never been able to do that - he just sits where ever we park him. So I guess there is another reason that the chair is a good thing. I know in my head that this wheelchair is good for him, I just haven't convinced my heart yet. He does look cute in it though :-)

Emi Joy's 5th Birthday

Emi Joy the day she was born



















Where has the time gone? I can't believe that my baby girl is 5! *tears* She begged me for a birthday party at Target, yes you read that correctly - Target. We clearly spend WAY too much time there!!!! She suggested that they could have slushies and then go play in the toy aisle. Sounds like a great idea however I'm pretty sure the nice Target employees would hate us SO I was able to convince her that a birthday party at the bowling alley would be just as much fun.

cake and ice cream

The birthday girl

Miles - our entertainment :) Miles thought he would enjoy running the lanes instead of bowling them. Poor Candice ran after him the first time and my dad went after him the second time - let's just say there was lots of Advil taking that night - those lanes are slippery! :)

party favors

St. Jude Marathon

In December Brian ran his first marathon. Let me add that he has never even run a half-marathon before but this was something he wanted to do and he did it! He wanted to run it in 4 hours 30 minutes and his official time was 4 hours 35 minutes. We are so proud of him!

Here he is coming into Autozone Park - almost finished!

Crossing the finish line

Family photo after

Good Job Brian!!

Mom Poem

I stole this from my MOPS blog. I just love it!

Hello Again!

I've decided that I am going to start blogging again. I really enjoy reading other people's blogs so I figured I would attempt to revive mine.

There has been way too much to catch up on from 2 years ago - yikes! did I really let this go for 2 years?!?!?! So, we will just start from today..........

Today was a particularly sad day for us. We had to say goodbye to our favorite speech therapist. She has been with Jack for so long and has done so much for him, it was hard to say goodbye. This gave me a little taste of what's coming for us in April when we have to say goodbye to all of our therapists. I have dreaded that day for almost 3 years and it's going to be here before we know it.

Lately I have been feeling extra sensitive - ok, emotional when it comes to Jack and I'm not sure why. We have been seeing lots of changes - a wheelchair and big boy bed to name a few. I have been telling myself since the diagnosis that the older he got the easier things would get but that is proving to be untrue. I am finding that he older he is getting the harder things are becoming - we just haven't found our way yet. I ordered this book - A Special Gift A Devotional for Mothers of Special Needs Children - I am hoping that it helps bring a little peace to our situation.

Enough of the sad stuff. Yesterday Emi Joy had her interview for Westminster Academy. I was a nervous wreck but tried not to let her know that. She bounded in the door, walked up to the teachers, introduced herself and started working a puzzle - I was so proud! As I anxiously waited in the school's library I couldn't help but think of all the things that could come out of that mouth of hers and just prayed that she didn't disclose anything I would be mortified over. The hour came and went and there she was as happy as a clam declaring that she loved her new school and couldn't wait to come back - shew! thank goodness, everything must have gone well. They should let us know in 2 weeks - fingers crossed!!


Hopefully it won't be 2 years before I post anything again...........