Meeting the Holt Family

About 2 years ago I "met" Carrie in an on-line group for parents that have a child with Spina Bifida. Carrie has a 2 1/2 year old boy, Toby, that has SB as well as 2 older boys (Conor and Garrett). Carrie and I have been talking and keeping in touch over the last couple of years and she has truly been a dear friend to me. I know she prays for Caleb as I pray for Toby and she was so supportive when I had my pregnancy loses in 2007. Although we had never met I felt like I knew her. She actually lives in Ohio, so the chance of us getting to meet seemed slim but God had other plans. It just so happens that her husband has a family reunion 20 minutes from our house this weekend so they are in town for a few days. I had the pleasure of having her wonderful family over this evening. Carrie and Bruce have 3 wonderful boys and Caleb had a blast playing with them (trying to get a picture with all 4 boys looking at the camera was impossible). It was such a blessing to meet her and her family. I have been following Toby's progress over the last couple of years and that boy has such a special place in my heart so to see him in person was absolutely wonderful. What a precious blessing Toby is, his smile truly lights up a room. He loved having his picture taken and as soon as I would take a picture he wanted to see it on the camera. It was so cute.

Riding Oreo

Here are a couple of pictures of Caleb at horseback riding yesterday. He has been riding "Oreo" the past few weeks. He really enjoys riding and I have definitely seen some benefits. Yesterday "Oreo" did a total body shake while Caleb was on his back, nearly gave me a heart attack, but Caleb was fine. They call it a "milkshake" when a horse does that so Caleb talked about how Oreo gave him a "milkshake" the rest of the day. Thank you to Grandpa Al and Gammy for paying for the summer semester, Caleb is having a blast.

Father's Day

For Father's Day we went to Granny and Paw Paw's house for a family get together. Caleb was so excited that his cousins were going to be there and he had an absolute ball playing with all of them. Glenn took all the kids for a ride on Paw Paw's golf cart, which is a favorite activity for the kiddos. Caleb and Benjamin are so blessed to have such a wonderful daddy. Glenn is absolutely wonderful and he loves our boys to pieces. Glenn didn't want much for Father's Day, he had mentioned wanting a new toothbrush that our dentist recommended. So last week I went shopping with the boys and I bought the toothbrush for Glenn. The next night at dinner Caleb says out of the blue: "Daddy, mommy bought you a new toothbrush at the store." Caleb sorta let the cat out of the bag on that one. Oh well, it gave us both a good laugh. On another note, Benjamin had his 6 month check up today and he weighs an even 14 pounds. He is in the 3rd percentile for weight so he is still small compared to other babies his age but that is to be expected since he was 8 weeks early. All-in-all he is lookin' good.

Back to patching

We took Caleb to the ophthalmologist yesterday to see if his glasses are helping his eyes and it looks like the glasses aren't doing enough on their own. His left eye just isn't as strong as the right. The vision in his right eye is good but he is farsighted in his left eye so basically his brain is favoring the input from the right eye instead of taking in information from both eyes. So we are patching the right eye for 90 minutes everyday so that the brain is forced to pay attention to the left eye. We've actually done patching before with Caleb when he was much younger so this isn't anything new to us. We go back to the doctor in 4 months to see how things have improved.

Pics of Benjamin

Here are a couple of recent pictures of Benjamin. The first picture was taken right before his bath and the other one was taken while we were waiting for Caleb to finish horseback riding. It looks like we have a thumb sucker!

The week in review

Here are a few random pictures from this past week.

I bought Caleb some watercolors recently and he loves them. He will sit at the kitchen table for the longest time and just paint. I was making dinner the other night and Caleb kept asking me to paint with him so I eventually stopped what I was doing and sat down with him at the table. After painting for a couple of minutes he said "You are my best friend in the whole world." My heart just melted. Moments like that remind me that household chores can wait and it's ok if dinner is a little late.

Ok, this picture requires some explaining. Those of you that have a child with Spina Bifida know that our kiddos have bladder issues. Caleb has to sleep in a special catheter at night so that his bladder has some time to rest, it has really helped him with UTI's and kidney infections. Anyway I put an incontinence pad in his diaper at night so that he doesn't leak. He likes to open the pad packaging for me and the other night he stuck the sticky part of the pad on his head. We managed to get it off but a few blonde hairs perished in the effort.

Just Benjamin lookin' cute. I can't believe he is almost 6 months old. He has finally started to outgrow some of his 3 month outfits. He is still in size 1 diapers!! Getting him to sleep through the night is still a stuggle. We have finally gotten him to sleep in the bassinet instead of with me so that is a huge improvement. He still wakes up at least once to nurse, sometimes twice. I miss sleep, I hope to sleep again someday.

We went to the mall yesterday to look for Glenn some new shoes and we let Caleb ride on one of the little rides. 75 cents for about 35 seconds of fun! Our trip to the mall reminded Glenn and I how nothing is as easy as it used to be...before kids. It takes us forever to get out of the house to go anywhere and we are always late. Benjamin had a huge BM on the way to the mall and by the time we got there and found a bathroom there was poop all up his back, all over his clothes and in his car seat. That was the first of 2 huge BM's that Benjamin had yesterday. And trying to find a discreet place to nurse in a busy mall is next to impossible! There is never a dull moment with kids, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Turning Point Extravaganza

We took Caleb to the lake yesterday for the Turning Point Extravaganza. Turning Point is an organization that sponsors a variety of sports and outdoor activities for people with physical disabilities. Every year they have a huge gathering with a dozens of different activities. Caleb got to drive remote control trucks, fish (he caught 2 catfish), ride a horse, and go for a ride on a pontoon boat. He had so much fun!

Caleb walking with new AFO's

Caleb got his new AFO's earlier this week. This is a video of him trying them out for the very first time. He did amazingly well. He was supporting all of his weight, I just held onto a belt loop in case he fell. It is hard work for him and he moves slow right now but I'm just amazed. Hopefully with practice he will get stronger and faster. It is just so wonderful that there is another avenue for mobility for him. I just want him to have as many options as possible. I will continue to post videos as Caleb improves. Thank you to all of you that pray for him and take the time to visit this blog. I know that there are many of you that I have never met and will likely never meet but you care about Caleb because you also have a child with Spina Bifida. You rejoice in Caleb's progress just as I rejoice in your child's progress.

More Benjamin in Bumbo

Here are a couple more pictures of Benjamin in his bumbo seat.

Splash Day

Today was Splash Day for Caleb's class at school. The teachers set up several water slides and pools for the kids to play in. Caleb had a good time but it really wore him out, he took a 3 hour nap today! I got a picture of Caleb with his buddy Jacob, we are going to get these 2 together for some playdates over the summer. They will be in the same class again next year. I can't believe Caleb's first year of school will be over this week, it has gone by so fast. He has done outstanding this year. He has grown more this year than I have ever seen, it has really been a good year for him. I am looking forward to having him home for the summer, I'll have to be creative and find lots of ways to keep us all busy.

Ben in Bumbo

We bought Benjamin a Bumbo seat yesterday and here is a picture of him sitting in it for the first time. He loves sitting up so we thought this seat would be a good way for him to sit up supported since he can't sit on his own yet. He seems to really like it.