Our boys

We took these pictures of the boys this morning after breakfast. Benjamin looked too cute on the floor so I just had to get a picture. I made Caleb take off his shirt so that I could get a shot of the two of them together. So cute.

Benjamin sitting

Benjamin is doing great with his sitting. He is still a little wobbly but he has gotten really good at catching himself before he falls over. Sitting up has opened up a whole new world of toys for him. He loves all the new things he can play with, he gets so excited.

Worn out

Going back to school has really worn Caleb out! I had to wake him up from his nap yesterday because he was sleeping so long, of course I had to get a picture first. I don't know if you can see it but he has sleep lines all over his cheek. Preschool must be exhausting!

Back to School

Today was the first day of school. Caleb did really well despite saying "I don't want to go back to school" as soon as he woke up this morning. He was a little shy going into the classroom but he didn't cry at all. He is in the same classroom as last year, with the same wonderful teachers. Jacob is still in his class so that gives Caleb a familiar friend plus there are 2 new girls. What do you think of the new backpack and lunch box for this year? I thought they were pretty cute and it's a guarantee that no other kid will have the same ones (last year almost every boy had the same "Lightning McQueen" backpack as Caleb). I was so proud of how well he did today, my boy is growing up!

In memory of Ally

I had to put our cat, Ally, to sleep today. She had been sick for a few months now and we were giving her meds for hyperthyroidism. She seemed to be getting worse the past couple of weeks, she wasn't eating at all and I could tell that she had lost a good bit of weight (3 pounds in 2 months). I took her to the vet today so that they could check her thyroid levels and I was telling the vet that I thought something else was wrong with her. He felt around her tummy and found a tumor the size of an orange, and an x-ray confirmed that she did indeed have a very large tumor. The prognosis was not good and the only thing to do was to put her to sleep. She was very sick and didn't have much time left. I had no idea that I would be putting my cat to sleep today and my heart is just broken. Ally was a rescue kitten and I got her 8 1/2 years ago. Ally was very much my cat, she slept with me in the bed and she would sit in my lap in the mornings while I read my bible. She would run to the door when she heard the garage door open and greet us as we walked in. She used our couch as a scratching post and she was constantly taking drinks from my glasses of water (there is no telling how many times I drank from a cup that she had also taking a sip from). She loved to drink from the faucets and was constantly begging for me to turn the water on. She was a part of our family and she will be greatly missed.

8 Months Old

Benjamin is 8 months old today. Here are a few recent pictures of him. He is doing great, getting so big. He is doing much better eating cereal so I think I'll try pureeing some new things soon, maybe try the sweet potatoes again. I have to feed him with 2 spoons, one for him to hold and one for me to feed him with. He loves to hold the spoon, you can see him clenching the spoon in the picture! He is sitting up better and better each day and he has started rolling to get to things that he wants.

On a different note, Caleb seems to be ok. He hasn't complained about his head. He did run a fever the following day so maybe the two are connected. I'm not sure what the fever was about but he seems fine now.

Peek-A-Boo

Here is a video of Caleb making Benjamin laugh. No one gets Benjamin to laugh like Caleb does! Benjamin loves his big brother.

Benjamin has his first cold, he is sneezing a lot and has a runny nose. I feel terrible for him because there isn't much I can do. Fortunately he doesn't act like he feels bad. He is having some trouble sleeping, probably because his nose is so plugged up.

Caleb has got us a little worried. He woke up from his nap today complaining of a headache and I could tell that it was really bothering him because he was almost to the point of crying. Those of you that have kiddos with shunts know that when your child says they have a headache you pay attention. I gave him some tylenol and that seemed to help for a couple of hours but his head was still hurting tonight. I called the doctor and she didn't seem terribly concerned at this point because he isn't showing any other signs of shunt failure. It could simply be a sinus headache or the start of a cold or something or it could be something related to the shunt. So we are going to be keeping a very close eye on him. It sure would be nice if these shunts had some kind of alarm on them that would go off if the shunt stops working!

Having kids sure is stressful sometimes! There is never a dull moment these days. I took the boys with me to Target yesterday to get a few things. Benjamin was in his car seat in the front of the grocery cart and I put Caleb in the main part of the cart. I put a container of blueberries in the cart and I looked at Caleb and said: "Don't open those blueberries." Not 15 seconds later I look down and there are blueberries all over the floor in the produce section! And of course the grocery cart ran over several of them so there is blueberry carnage everywhere! I was so embarrassed. Later when I was driving out of the parking lot this car comes racing up next to me, honking his horn...I had left my purse on the back bumper of the car! Thankfully it hadn't fallen off.

Boys and their trains

Caleb goes through phases where he only wants to play with one particular toy, right now he is all about his trains. He brings the track out into the living room and will play forever. I can't believe summer is almost over, Caleb goes back to school next Monday. It's gone by so fast. It's been fun having him home but I know he will have fun at school.

Yesterday Benjamin had a ball watching Thomas go around and around the track. He would get so excited as Thomas would come close to him and then he would reach out and grab Thomas. It was so cute. Benjamin just loves Caleb, it is so fun watching them interact with each other.

Benjamin has two bottom teeth now, which makes nursing lots of fun! He is doing somewhat better with eating solids. Some of you mentioned trying oatmeal cereal and he does seem to like that better. He just doesn't seem terribly interested in eating food yet. The little stinker is still not consistently sleeping through the night. The past few nights he has woken up twice wanting to nurse. I try to let him cry it out but I'm not very good at that. I can only listen to him cry for a few minutes and then I have to go get him. He'll sleep through the night eventually...right?

Aquarium

We had a great time at the aquarium yesterday. None of us had been so it was quite a treat. Caleb got to see all kinds of fish, turtles, birds, sharks, and penguins. The best part was the tunnels that we could walk through, they were surrounded by water so you could watch sharks swim over your head. We got to watch the penguins being fed, Caleb really enjoyed that. All-in-all it was a good time.

My baby is 4 years old!

Well, it's official, Caleb is 4 years old. We let him open his presents from us before he even got out of bed this morning (notice the bed-head). He had a very good day. He got to see Grandpa-Al, Gammy, and Aunt Rachel, they came over after church. He got 2 new Thomas DVD's from them. He also got to see Grandma, Aunt Whitney, Bill, and baby cousin Andrew. Grandma got him a really neat fire station toy. Plus Caleb got to enjoy birthday brownies with m&m's on top (that was what he wanted). We decided to skip the big birthday party this year, instead Glenn is taking tomorrow off from work and we are taking Caleb to the aquarium. We are really excited about spending the day together doing something we don't normally get to do. I can't believe he is already 4 years old. In some ways the time has gone by so fast but at the same time it is hard to remember life without him. He has been such a wonderful blessing and the world is a better place because of him. I'm just so proud of that little booger! Oh and the news finally aired the story on the 10 o'clock news tonight. It was well put together, Nathan and Caleb got plenty of air time. I'm so glad that Caleb got to be a part of that. If the news channel puts the video on their website, I'll post the link to the blog so that you can see it.

Benjamin sitting up

Benjamin has recently started to sit up a little on his own. He can't hold the position for very long yet but I imagine it will be no time at all before he is sitting like a pro. Don't you just love that little bald head? Don't you just want to kiss all over it? Absolutely precious.

Newspaper article

Front page news!! Here is a link to the article. The article drew attention from a local news channel as well. Amy and I were interviewed yesterday and they also took video of our boys. The story was supposed to air on the 10 o'clock news last night but they never showed it. Maybe they will show the story tonight. Who knew that going to a local park board meeting would get so much attention. I'm expecting a call from Matt Lauer saying that we need to fly out to be on the Today show!

Making a difference

Last May Amy (Nathan's mom) and I went to our local Park Board meeting to ask the board to consider putting in an all-accessible playground. We have wonderful parks in our town but they are simply not wheelchair friendly. We presented our case to the Park Board not knowing if they would listen and if they did, would it be years before an all-accessible playground was built? Well a couple of months ago the board asked Amy and I to joy a Park-planning committee for a brand new all-accessible playground! They presented plans for the playground to Amy and I and asked our opinion and they wanted to know what we wanted to see in a playground for our kids. Our local paper is doing a story on the new upcoming playground and wanted to talk to us and take pictures of our boys. So yesterday we took Caleb and Nathan to the playground that is going to be replaced with the all-accessible playground and the boys got a chance to review the plans and have their picture taken. The article is going to be in this Friday's paper, I'll try to post it so that you can read it. We are so excited! The new playground is going to be amazing! It has ramps that go all the way to the top of the equipment with lots of activities along the way. They are getting rid of the wood chips and putting in a wheelchair friendly surface. It is going to be absolutely perfect for kiddos with wheelchairs or walkers. The new park should be ready by the fall and we can't wait!!

More videos of Caleb walking

I wanted to show the difference between Caleb's old HKAFO's (Hip-Knee-Ankle-Foot-Orthosis) and his AFO's (Ankle-Foot-Orthosis). I know some of you know what braces look like but there are many of you who don't so I thought I would post a picture. I mostly wanted to show how far Caleb has come, he used to use the HKAFO's (on the right) to walk. He now uses the AFO's (left) to walk. That's a big difference! He has gotten so strong in his hips and knees that all he needs is some support in the ankles. That is tremendous progress and something I honestly didn't expect. His endurance gets better every single day. Here are a couple of videos I took of Caleb walking in his AFO's today.