So much has happened

I've missed out on posting these last 3 months, so obviously a lot has happened.  Here's a quick summary :)

• Joshua started 1st grade and he absolutely loves it!  He has a great teacher for special ed, a sweet 1st grade regular classroom teacher and the most awesome Aide that we could ask for.  He is doing good at learning to read & trying really hard.  The list of sight words that he knows continues to grow and he is having more fun with the books he brings home.  His Aide is a retired 1st grade teacher & is his own tutor alongside him throughout the day.  
• Allison goes to preschool two times a week and she loves it.  Her teachers are great & have really worked on teaching her manners and waiting her turn for things.  When given a snack, she actually said to me today - "I'll be happy with whatever you give me, Mommy."  She is working on writing her letters, reading some words & spelling.  She loves doing "homework" along with Joshua each night. 
• Each month from August - October we visited a different amusement park in the area courtesy of our "Make-A-Wish" trip last spring.  We took advantage of the free passes to use and visited Holiday World, Six Flags and Worlds of Fun.  Allison is much more adventurous than her brother, but we were able to force him on a couple of rides (that he did end up enjoying).  The old time cars that he can steer were his favorite.  It was fun to spend the day with them at these parks and we may even try to go again next year on our own dime.  
• Allison started ballet last month and is really enjoying her time there.  She is so cute in her leotard & skirt.  She is still wanting to go back to swim lessons when she is done & then back to gymnastics, so we'll see what is next on her schedule.  There are way too many options out there for preschoolers!
• Joshua is doing gymnastics once a week with a special needs class and he loves it.  The teacher is a lady who used to be a speech therapist for him and he is happy to still see her every week.  There are two other boys in his class and they all do well together. 
• We had a fun Halloween with some dear friends.  The kids dressed up as Woody & Jesse from Toy Story and they had a great time trick-or-treating.  Allison definitely "got it" this year - going house to house in search of yummy candy.  Fortunately, they still were willing to share their loot with us, so we snacked on our favorites & left the smarties and tootsie rolls for Allison.  She didn't even complain :)

Okay...I think that is the majority of the happenings in our household. I need to update more often on here the fun things they say throughout the day. 

Joshua is growing up so much and I love seeing him become more independent.  He loves doing things with "just the boys" when it comes to something for him & Dad.  He doesn't really come in and snuggle much anymore - he'd rather get up early & get a head start on playing with his toys.  He is an early riser, usually awake by 6:00 am.  It makes for an easier job of getting him off to school, but on Saturdays - I would love to still have the house quiet for a bit longer. 

Allison is getting so good at helping Joshua and Mommy.  She loves helping with dinner, baking, and cleaning up.  We hope to get a chore list up soon & see how quickly she figures out that doing her chores produces good results.  Now she can start paying for her own cherry slushes at Sonic.  Today she was asking about babies...how many she would have, what their names would be and such.  Then she asked "How do I get a baby".  "Uhhh...", says Mommy.  Joshua quickly answered, "You buy one".  I had to hold back all my laughter and still answer her, since I didn't want her thinking parents just went out and bought a baby.  So, I told her that God would give her a baby when He wanted her to have one.  Whew...those questions are going to get tougher, aren't they? 

That's the latest here.  If I think of more - I will try to add them, as well as add a few pictures from the parks.  Hopefully updates will come more often.  It would be great if my facebook statuses could just mesh together for one big blog. Ha!

Joshua's Flat Belly

By flat belly, I don't mean that Joshua has been doing crunches!  I mean that Joshua has nothing on his belly sticking out, no bandage, nothing!  Two weeks ago we went in to have Joshua's g-button hole closed up, since it wasn't closing on it's own.  We had the bandage on for two weeks and yesterday went back to the surgeon for follow up.  He removed the bandage and we were so excited to see about a 1 1/2 inch scar there.  That is all that is there!  No extra button that looks like a second belly-button.  Nothing!   It is amazing to look at his stomach and see nothing sticking out!  He has had something coming out of his stomach or chest since he was about 1 year old and finally 6 years later they are all gone!

Here is Joshua and Allison hanging out in his room

We had a good hospital stay and enjoyed a visit from some of the St Louis Blues Hockey players.  They were visiting patients there and handing out Zhu-Zhu pets.  He even made the local newscast that night showing "Christmas in July" at Cardinal Glennon.

Two of the St Louis Blues players visiting Joshua.

Birthday Weekend & back to Cast Camp

We had a great weekend celebrating J's 7th Birthday.  Grammy & Papa arrived on Friday night and J was thrilled to have them here when he woke up on Saturday morning.  We had a pretty relaxing morning planned - donuts for breakfast & playing here at the house.  J enjoyed showing off some of the things he can do with his right hand, since we had him keep the cast on all weekend.  He is trying hard and we are seeing him more aware of what he can do.

After lunch, we opened gifts & ate some delicious cupcakes.  J got some great gifts and was blessed by all of our family.  We had hoped that J would want some of the cupcakes, but no luck - he preferred to keep playing with some of his toys.  Maybe he'll try some next week during the kids party with his friends.  We then went to go see "Despicable Me", which both kids really enjoyed.  It was funny enough for us adults, too :).   After the movie, we enjoyed dinner at Chili's and J did well eating with his right hand.

Enjoying fries & using "righty"!

We were back at Cast Camp on Monday & the week really flew by.  Fortunately, the weekend away from camp didn't seem to set the kids back - they were all ready to go on Monday.  J has been getting better with eating and playing with toys using his right hand.  He still gets frustrated if he can't pick up a toy that he wants or if the piece of food falls apart in his hands, but when we help him a little - he is back at it. 

A and I had a nice day on Tuesday at the movies while J was at Cast Camp.  There really is a lot to do out in Chesterfield, so filling a 3 hour block of time hasn't been too difficult.  On Wednesday, Doug took off work to come with us and see Cast Camp.  We enjoyed some time observing camp from the side room, which was quite a site - seeing 4 kids with their casts trying to do challenging tasks.  They all really tried hard & the therapists that work with them have a lot of patience!   We got to see J trying to crawl on all 4's, which is something he's never really done before.  He gave it his best effort & slowly moved along. 

Today was J's last day at camp, however they want us to keep the cast on for another week while at home.  J seems okay with it, but we had already told him he wouldn't have to wear his cast during his Birthday party tomorrow.  So, we'll work with him for one more week & see how he continues to improve.  We do have an appointment next week with an OT here in Belleville to hopefully start some therapy on a regular basis.  The director of the camp told us that he does have a good amount of strength in his right arm, we just need to keep encouraging him to use it.  When he wasn't being watched as closely - she said he would be more willing to try things (opening a door, picking up m&m's, carrying toys, etc).  He definitely likes to do things on his own. 

This weekend we will have a few of J's friends over to celebrate his 7th Birthday.  This was the first year that he specifically requested no girls at his party.  So funny!   We don't have much else planned for the weekend, which will be a nice change after some busy days. 

On Tuesday, J will have surgery to close up the g-button hole.  We have to be there bright & early in the morning, so A will spend the night at the Mace's on Monday night.  Please, pray with us that everything goes smoothly & the stay isn't too hard on all of us.  J won't be able to eat Tuesday night while there in the hospital, which may frustrate him a little bit.  We should be released Wednesday morning & hopefully everything will heal up quickly.  

Thanks for checking in on us - more to come later! 

More about Cast Camp Week 1

Since this is the Brown Family Praises, I will start by listing the things that I am praising God for this week

• Smooth rides over to Chesterfield every day!  The drive is about 45 miles & so far I have avoided traffic jams and made it in just under an hour. 
• The YMCA in Chesterfield agreed to give me a 2 week membership, so while over there I can get a work out in.  I may try to take Allison to the childcare there tomorrow & then run some errands with her.
• Our neighbor, Hazel, has taken A these last two days and A has loved her time there.  She really did not like the long drive on Tuesday and is not happy about having to drive that far again tomorrow.  
• J is doing great with keeping his cast on all day.  He still struggles with keeping his toys in his right hand and eating bites of sandwich is a challenge.  He's getting used to it and A no longer rushes over to help him immediately after dropping a toy.  She is letting him try and then telling him that he is doing a good job with "righty". 
• We may have the name of a good Pediatric OT here in Belleville that J can start seeing.  He does need a lot of work on his right hand, so some weekly OT sessions would definitely help him.

We are almost half way through Cast Camp and it has really gone well.  Thanks to many prayers that have been offered up as we prepared for this.

Wednesday & Thursday were days that A went to Hazel's, so I have enjoyed a little time to myself.  On Wednesday I went on a run outside & realized quickly that it was way too hot for that every day.  Which is what led to me calling the YMCA and getting the membership.  After my workouts, it has been nice to get a little bit of shopping done as well as some quiet reading time, before picking J up.  All the kids are in great moods after camp and they all seem to get along great.

This weekend we will be celebrating J's 7th Birthday with Grammy and Papa visiting.  Next week, after Cast Camp, we will have some of his friends over for a Wii Game Birthday Party.  We love celebrating his birthdays & seeing how far he has come!  

The end of the month, July 27th, J will have to have surgery to close up his feeding tube button.  It hasn't completely closed since removing the button 2 months ago.  I think the details are all getting worked out with what we are going to do with A while there as well as Doug's work schedule.  J is asking more about this surgery than he ever has about previous surgeries.  We are explaining to him what will be done, how long we'll be there, etc.  He will have to stay in one night at the hospital and hopefully will go home early in the morning the day after the surgery.  As he gets older, we'll have a lot more explaining to do when he's at the hospital.

Thank you for all your prayers and for checking in on us.

Cast Camp!

This week J started his 2 week Cast Camp.  Technically it is a constraint induced therapy camp, but cast camp sounds so much more fun.  He has been so excited to go and we have been doing our best to explain to him all that it would involve.  They put a cast on his left arm (which is his stronger arm) in order for him to use his right hand and arm more.

When we got there yesterday morning, he was so excited to meet his new friends.  There are 3 other kids all about the same age in his camp.  He asked them their names and headed right back to the camp room without a concern in the world.  I left to run a few errands and about 30 minutes after dropping him off - I got a phone call from the camp director letting me know that J would not put the cast on.  She told me she had never had a kid refuse to put the cast on.  Never had a kid like our J:)  I headed back and prayed the whole way for wisdom with the right words to say to J to get him to put the cast on.  He had been crying the whole time & was so sad.  He did not want to put the cast on and wanted to go home.  I sat down by him and after hugging him and telling him he was going to be okay - we agreed to try the cast on again.  He did & after promising to let him take it off before going to bed at night - he put it on.  He still wasn't thrilled with it, but he did it.  Here is a picture I took before I left and as you can see, he's doing okay with it.

Fortunately, I had no other calls & he seemed to do well once I was gone.  I had also promised him McDonald's french fries if he kept his cast on, so after leaving camp at noon we went to McDonald's for a treat.  Everything seemed to be fine, but on the way home he was complaining about it hurting and after a few minutes - he had figured out how to pry the cast off his arm (it's a hard cast, but cut & attached together with velcro).  So, I pulled over and after we talked for a few minutes, he let me put the cast back on.  We'll make sure we keep the straps on a little tighter from now on.

The afternoon went okay.  He begged for a break in the afternoon & I was willing to give it to him.  Good thing Dad was home to override that decision & have him keep the cast on.  We've agreed that he can take it off after brushing his teeth before he goes to bed.  Our sneaky guy then started asking to get his teeth brushed around 5:00 and asking to go to bed soon after that.  We kept him up and going throughout the evening and he did great!

Today went much better.  We put the cast on soon after he got up and he has kept it on all day.  Camp went well - they said he did great and he seemed happy.  He struggles with eating little bites, but is able to get a small piece of food into his mouth by himself.  I tried the fork with him this evening, but that is definitely more challenging, so I helped him quite a bit at dinner with his bites.  We'll focus more on finger foods for a while.  We are thankful that he mastered drinking out of a straw from his juice box before camp, so he is okay with drinking on his own.

A went with us today and while J was at camp, she and I had a fun time at Faust Park in St Louis visiting the St Louis Carousel and the Butterfly House.  Here are a couple of pictures from our day.

Getting ready to ride the Carousel

A really wanted a butterfly to land on her, but no luck

We'll be back at camp tomorrow & look forward to seeing how things go for J! 

Toy Story 3

If you've spent any time with our kids these last few months, you will know that they love anything to do with Toy Story!  It helped that on our Disney World trip, J & A had the chance to meet Woody, Jessie & Buzz.  Last month when my Dad & Cathy were visiting we had the chance to take J & A to see Toy Story 3.  They had such a great time.  Here are some pics of them at the movie.

 J wanted to bring Woody with him to the movie

A just as the movie was coming on.  

They both did great during the movie.  Neither of them ever moved from their seats or asked when it was time to go home.  We may try going again later this month, since J says next time he wants to bring Buzz Lightyear with him.  

 

10 year Anniversary

Doug & I celebrated our 10 year anniversary this week.  We enjoyed dinner at Maggiano's and then went to see "Wicked" at the Fox in St Louis.  It was a great night & the kids were thrilled to have Ms Tammie from our church over to watch them. 

 Getting ready for our date

Sometimes it is hard to believe it has been 10 years - time definitely flies when you are having fun!   

Our summer so far

Wow!  Is it really July?  I can't believe the summer has gone so fast here.  We have enjoyed our time this summer & I'm glad to finally have a few minutes to update our blog.  Hopefully I can be as good as some of my friends at updating this.

I'll quickly go through some of the summer events I've already missed.  In June we celebrated A's 4th Birthday!   We had a great time at The Sportsplex enjoying a gymnastics playtime party.  About 10 of A's friends joined us and they all had fun exploring all the equipment.  A has taken gymnastics there & it's one of her favorite playgroup places, too.  The lady coordinating the party that day had been her teacher, so A was thrilled to see Miss Kim there.  After they played for a while, Miss Kim had them go through a fun obstacle course then they danced & played with the parachute for a while.  We had pizza for dinner & then enjoyed yummy cupcakes.  The cupcakes had different colored polka dots on each and A was good at going to each friend & asking what color they wanted and if they wanted white or chocolate cake.  She was quite the hostess at her own birthday party.  After cake & a little more play time, A enjoyed opening all of her fun gifts.  It was neat to see her enjoying the time with her friends & making sure she played with each of them for a little bit.  She had helped me put together goody bags for the kids during the week and she knew which one she wanted to give to each guest.  It took a while to get them all handed out, but she knew what she wanted to do with them.  She did tell me today that for her party next year she wanted all the same friends to come to her party.

Allison & her guests

We've taken a couple of road trips in Illinois over the last few weeks.  We were down by Carbondale at the Blue Sky Winery for an awesome event raising money for the Cure Tay Sachs Foundation.  It was a pretty hot day, so we didn't stay outside too much, but we enjoyed our time with the kids.  The family that puts this together, the Rochman's, have a little girl with Tay-Sachs & they are such an amazing couple.

We also spent some time in Danville for the wedding of my step-mom's niece (my step-cousin).  It was a lot of fun and the kids both enjoyed their time on the dance floor at the reception.  A enjoyed time in the pool at the hotel swimming with dad & Papa.  We were glad we had the chance to go & see Ali get married, as well as see a lot of family that we haven't seen for a while.

This past weekend we enjoyed celebrating the 4th of July!  It was nice to not have a road trip to take after being so busy in June.  Saturday was a day to run some errands & relax a little bit.  Sunday we had a great time at church & then we spent the evening with the Mace's.  A loved the pool there with the kids & J loved his time on the swing set.  J & A love knocking Mike over while swinging on the swings and Mike is a great sport to play along with them.  We barbecued, enjoyed some yummy homemade icecream & cake, and then had some fun with fireworks.  Doug bought some for him to put off, which brought cheers of "More!" from the kids.  We then watched a great fireworks show put on by some of their neighbors.  It was a late night & the kids finally got to bed at about 10:30.  A helped us out the next morning by sleeping in, but J was still bright eyed & ready for breakfast by 6:30 am .

Monday was an extra day for us to enjoy as a family, so we got a lot done around the house as well as a few more errands done.  Lunch at Wendy's was a fun treat for the kids, especially since we actually got to stay there and eat (most of the time the drive through is our best friend!)  They really enjoyed the long weekend with Daddy being home & I loved our time all together as a family! 

We have a busy month ahead.  Doug's sister, Ashley, will be here for the weekend with her husband, Dusty & we all can't wait to see them.  We are also getting ready for 2 weeks of J's Cast Camp (technically, it is "Constraint Induced Therapy", but we like the sound of Cast Camp better).  I hope to keep this blog updated & will let you know how that goes.  J will be wearing a cast for 2 weeks as we try to get him to use his weaker arm and hand more.  We will need some prayers - if you are willing to be praying for us.  :)

I gotta get some more things done, so I'll close this post for now.   Hopefully more will be coming soon....

Introduction

In the middle of all the chaos in my home this afternoon, today is the day to start our family page.  It is something I've had on my list of things to do for a while and after reading two other blog updates today - today is the day! 

J had his Valentines Party today at school & it was fun to see all the kids in his class.  Unfortunately, he isn't feeling too good today, so he didn't really want to participate in all the games.  He did enjoy going through his bag of Valentines and it is sweet to see the kids all going around and saying, "Thank You" to their friends.  This class is such a blessing to him and I love how sweet they are.

A has missed out on Valentines parties this past week.  First, MOPS was canceled on Tuesday, so no Valentines party there.  Then, she has been sick the rest of the week - so no preschool either.  MOPS will still do their party in a couple of weeks, so that will be fun for her. She loved putting her cards together & knew which card she wanted to give to which friend.  I wish I were more creative with the cards, but store-bought cards had to do this year.  Maybe next year I'll be better.

Doug & I will enjoy celebrating Valentines tomorrow night.  After 10+ years together, I still get excited for a date with my husband!  We are looking forward to a fun night at dinner with friends.

Bear with me as I get used to this blogging thing. My hope is that family & friends will be able to stay more current on all that is going on in our world.