birthday boy

Eleven years ago today, the most beautiful little boy came into our lives and is bringing us complete joy and laughter, along with the biggest, sweetest hugs ever!

Because he still enjoys Toy Story, we went with TS for his birthday theme: plates, napkins, games to play and goodies for the kids. 

I even went so far as to make little alien cupcakes....which turned out laughably pathetic (not surprising since I have a 50% success rate on homemade birthday treats).  Not exactly what I was going for, but at least the kids seemed to like them.  Except Michael.  He liked the Buzz & Woody plates better.  :)  

My homemade alien cupcakes vs. disney family.go alien cupcakes...can you tell which is which??  hahaha!!

At his school party, we played Toy Story bingo and Michael won (legitimately too)!

Then Michael hung out with his dear friend Rebekah ("hey Michael's mom, take my picture").  At the end of the day, she helped him get his coat on, hood on and zipped up.  She even made sure he was buckled in his chair.  These two are so cute together....lots of hugging and we even caught them trying to kiss (Michael kisses with his forehead, so we figure it's all good, right?).

This was his last birthday party at school.  He is scheduled to move on to intermediate school (5th/6th grade school) next year.  I'm thinking they don't have a lot of moms and dads doing the school birthday thing at that age.  As if.  {insert preteen eye roll here}

swimming

Evidently, Michael's little aliens from Toy Story wanted to go swimming this morning.

So glad I cleaned the pool before it opened up for the season.

phases 1 and 2 are complete...

We are working hard on our kitchen and I am loving how it is turning out so far.  Phase 1 was installing the backsplash.  Phases 2, 3, 4 and 5 involves painting the 4 different colors of paint we bought.   I'm just making these phases up to sound super organized....but it's really a disaster zone here.  However, here's a section that IS completed...and clean. lol!  In real life, the yellow paint isn't that yellow...more of a dirty mustard color called Cork from Behr.

So much better than the super bright white wall above the cabinets and lemon yellow paint where the backsplash is....oh, and the new stove (to replace the 16 year old one) is pretty slick too!

Eeeek, I am so excited and I cannot wait until the transformation is complete!!

"Transform....transform...."  A Bug's Life quote that is now stuck in my head.  Michael watches a lot of Disney and Dreamworks movies that we can almost quote by heart.

shoot the moon

I love stargazing and watching rare astrological events.  Very often, you'll find me sitting outside at night waiting for meteor showers or comets or just enjoying the night sky.  I may or may not have a little adult beverage at my side too, especially during those warm summer nights after the boy is in bed.  Before Michael was born, I even talked Gary into going for a drive out into the country to get away from the suburban street lights so we could see the action in the sky even better.

This weekend was a rare "perigee moon" aka Super Moon, so I got out my tripod and remote control in an attempt to "shoot the moon".

Not bad, I guess.  Was definitely wishing for a super zoom lens so I wouldn't have to crop it a ton and end up with lots of grain, but we can't have everything.  Still an enjoyable evening, not too cold out and I had fun playing with my camera.

Whew....what we've been up to this winter

My poor, poor neglected little blog.  {sigh}  I don't mean to ignore you blog or my wonderful family and friends that read about our little life here.  I've just been busy.  Non-stop busy.  Like my head is going to explode with so much going on that it makes-me-want-to-shut-down kind of busy.  It also makes me want to throw away all the clutter, toys, filing/papers, excess clothes...everything, and start fresh. Spring kind of does that to me (you too?)....I always feel so restless and full of cabin fever when winter is almost over (or SHOULD be over!).


I'll do some more bullets to catch the blog up through winter:

• Skiing:  Michael + snow + speed + outside = LOVE.

(if you want, you can turn off the music at the very bottom)

• Painting:  in-laws basement (done).
• Painting:  our kitchen, living room, stairs/hall, and family room (starting in a week or two).
• Tiling: our new kitchen backsplash (working on it at this moment).
• Photography business:  blog, website, portfolio building, lots of schtuff going on in this area (on-going).
• Conductive Education:  special Hungarian therapy for Michael (on-going...except on hold now because of a knee injury).
• Playing:  Michael playing and enjoying his company.

• School:  Michael not doing well in school, plus lots of disappointing things in this area.
• Laundry:  my never-ending nemesis.
• Birthday:  planning a little Toy Story birthday party for Michael (in about 3 weeks).
• Doctors:  see below.  In addition, we're also taking Michael to a specialist at Cincinnati Children's for a 2nd opinion about his knee (it dislocates when his leg is straight) and spine (tethered spinal cord) and scoliosis and possible bone deformities throughout (also in 3 weeks).

Other news and goings on around here.
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Just after Valentine's Day, Michael had a seizure at 9pm while eating yogurt and it aspirated into his lungs. We called 911 and got him to the ER.  He was released from the hospital at midnight, only for Michael to have a 2nd seizure and stop breathing for 20-30 seconds around 3am (as you can imagine - it was THE scariest thing EVER and we've had some scary stuff here!). Called 911 again and the squad took us back to hospital, then Children's Hospital picked him up from Memorial Hospital and transported Michael to Children's in Columbus (Memorial Hosp is about 45 mins away from Children's). Children's admitted him while he fought aspiration pneumonia. He received antibiotics by IV and stayed in the hospital for 5 days.


He's finished with antibiotics and we did a follow up xray 2 weeks ago to make sure the aspiration pneumonia is gone (all CLEAR!). He's acting fine and we're starting to get back into our "normal" routine (whatever the heck that is!!).


He's definitely more resilient than us...that's for sure!  :)


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So 3 days after Michael is home from the hospital, I'm changing a poopy diaper and notice that part of his poop looked weird, so I took a closer look (eewww completely gross, I know).  But what the heck?  Is that... a worm?  OMG!  It's not a worm...it's....it's....a BABY WIPE!  Are you kidding me?!?  He pooped out a 5" long piece of baby wipe!  The previous night I had changed his diaper and he grabbed a wipe from the container.  Not a big deal....he's a "shredder", he likes to shred wipes, tissues, paper, whatever.  But lately, he has been chewing on his shirt collar and the corners of pillows.  He never, never, ever puts smaller things in his mouth...like food or toys.  So I totally didn't think about the baby wipe thing.  This so could've turned out awful:  like choking on it or having a bowel obstruction.  Guess he's in a chewy pre-toddler stage now.  We have been warned!


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Okay, I don't mean to carry on and on about poop, but 2 days after he turned into a wipe dispenser, I was on the phone with someone, maybe my dad, and I smell Michael "making me a present".  I tell my dad I have to hang up, that I have to change Michael's diaper.  I go downstairs to find that I don't have to change his diaper after all.  That's because Michael pulled down his pants AND his diaper before doing his business on the family room floor.    NOOooooo!!!!  Oh yes. he. did.


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Merry Christmas...

...and Happy New Year!!

My family and I, wish you and yours a very merry holiday season!

xoxox

bullets

What we've been doing lately, aside from slacking on this poor little 'ole blog, in bullet form:

I am in love with Michael's new kicks!

• Doctor's appointments for the boy - MRIs, x-rays, neurologists, orthotics, physical medicine, pediatrician, neurosurgeon, dentist....you name it, we've probably seen a doctor for it in the last 2 months.  And there's 4-5 more appointments to go before Thanksgiving.
• Insurance...and all the paperwork and headaches that go with them not paying what they should and trying to come up with the money for what they don't cover.
• School and all that goes with it.

We heard Michael sneak out of his room after bedtime and we found him reading a comic book (The Simpson) at the top of the stairs with his partner in crime.

• Conductive Education, a unique therapy-like program from Hungary that Michael has been participating in during the summer and after school.  We're thinking of signing him up for their 5-week/4 hours a day program starting in January...but have to figure out how to get him out of school without penalizing him.  We're also applying for a grant to help fund his therapy.  It's $1,200-$1,700 per session depending on the session type and the hours in that session...and our insurance company doesn't cover this program (nor does any other insurance company in the US).
• Continuing to have Michael self-feed...he's getting better at it, but we have to keep an eye on him because sometimes he'll feed the top of his head or the dog.
• I'm starting a photography business...so I'm testing the waters with my tippy toes by doing some portfolio building.  Getting my business plan and marketing and websites/social media up and running.
• I was able to attend one of my nephew's football games, finally (usually Gary goes to the games and I stay home with Michael, but the last game of the season was free and we thought we'd try it as a family).  Michael would have liked it more without the announcer (not sure what it is about the loudspeaker voices, but they really upset him).  He did great otherwise and loved to cheer and clap.  

That's our nephew with the fumble-recovering-game-winning play, in OT no less!!  Go Dillon!!

• Attempting to keep the house clean...or at least making sure we have food and clean underwear. 
• Michael's name/number came up for our state/county's waiver program that will help with medical bills, so we've started the application process...it takes about 3 months to complete and become officially approved.  We're just starting the 2nd month - hoping for a January start date.
• Volunteer work with the Care Train (an organization that raises money and provides toys and food vouchers for needy local families at Christmas).  I'm on the auction team, so I solicit businesses for donations of goods and services and money.  This year was a record breaker:  we raised over $150,000 for our community....we love our hometown (except for the cold weather!)
• Volunteer work with Brighter Beginnings, where Michael receives Conductive Education.  I helped redesign their website and they've asked me to join their Board of Directors.  It is my hope to help make a difference for Michael and all the kids.
• Halloween was a success for Michael.  He stayed out and watched the kids trick-or-treat for almost an hour - his longest yet.  He cheered for the Buzzes, Woodys, and princesses.  :)  He was dressed as an astronaut.

• Working on cleaning closets, going through clothes & toys, trying to get rid of stuff before we're trapped inside with tons of crap all winter long....and suffocating.
• In between all the craziness, we went to Florida for vacation.  It was nice and we had great weather.  Lots of time for Michael to play in the sand and the water.  It was relaxing, but it took a TON of work to make it happen, if that makes any sense.  You know I'll blog more about this later, with lots of pictures.

Yes, he buried himself in the sand...

...and he had a GREAT time doing it!

Hopefully, I'll be back sooner rather than later to share more stories.