The Hite Family

Lots of Updates

2012-01-26T20:37:00.008-06:00

As always, lots of fun is happening in the Hite house. We have enjoyed some beautiful weather the last few days. Yesterday we spent as much time as we could playing in the backyard. Nathan and Owen love swinging and Logan loves playing everywhere. He also really enjoys pushing them on the swings.Logan is really enjoying playing Upward Basketball at Dawson. His games are Saturday mornings at 8:00 and even though he is a late sleeper, he is always excited to get up and head to his games. Logan is learning a lot and improving his basketball skills. His coaches are great and work very well with the kids on the team. Nathan and Owen are enjoying going to the games and watching all the action.

The other day we had no appointments. Yes, let me repeat that we had no appointments! So, to celebrate our day Nathan and Owen spent the day in their pjs.

Nathan and Owen got a very cute hand me down toy. They absolutely love it and with its multiple functions it is great for both speech and occupational therapy.Logan began taking my friend Amy's art class Tuesday nights at Dawson. He LOVES to paint and we are having the best time together. Here are a few pics of his last two paintings.The boys are now sporting their new gait trainer decorations.Logan absolutely loves taking piano lessons from Mrs. Molly. She is wonderful with him. He seems to have a lot of natural talent.
Medical Update:
-Owen is doing really well sleeping with his oxygen. I think it has made a big improvement in his ability to rest. He will have his MRI at Children's Hospital on the 2nd to rule out any other possibilities for his sleep apnea.
-Nathan and Owen had their first trip to the Dentist last week. Owen did not mind the dentist at all. His teeth look great and are very healthy. Nathan was not as fond of the dentist, mainly because his teeth are not healthy and are missing some enamel. They had to do some scraping on his teeth. Lots of premature babies have baby teeth that are not very healthy, so Nathan fits the mold. It is amazing how missing the 3rd trimester effects so many areas of their lives.
- Nathan had his legs botoxed yesterday. His leg muscles have become very tight and he is not able to straighten them all the way. The botox will allow those muscles to relax and others to strengthen allowing his legs to straighten. In order to capitalize on the botox he is now sleeping with leg braces and splints. He will also begin additional intense physical therapy for about 6 weeks. We are excited to see one of our PTs Katie again.

Mercedes Marathon Weekend
The Mercedes Marathon is approaching soon, February 11-12. It is one of the biggest fundraisers for The Bell Center (one of the places Nathan and Owen receive therapy). The weekend is full of fun activities. On Saturday morning their will be a 50 ft run for Bell Center students. Nathan and Owen will participate in the run and Logan will participate in some of the sibling runs. That evening we will have a special dinner at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame; Carbs for a Cause (all proceeds go to the Bell Center). If you want a good spaghetti dinner and support a great cause let me know because I have some tickets for sale. I will also be running the 1/2 Marathon on Sunday morning in support of Nathan and Owen.

Preston's upcoming trip to Liberia

2012-01-16T23:20:00.003-06:00

Dear family and friends,

I’m writing to tell you about a chance that I have to use my architecture background on the mission field to help in reaching the poor in Liberia, western Africa.

Several years ago, before Janelle and I moved to China, I learned about an organization called Engineering Ministries International (EMI — www.emiusa.org). EMI organizes volunteer architects and engineers into teams that help mission organizations around the world with the design and construction of facilities. Though my first contact with EMI did not lead to an immediate opportunity, they contacted me in November about the possibility of joining the team for this project in Liberia. I was humbled and excited, because Janelle and I have been desiring to get back into the mission field, and I have been praying for many years that God would use my design background in a way such as this. So, I see this opportunity as an answered prayer.

The needs in Liberia are eye-opening, as the country is still recovering from two successive civil wars between 1989 and 2003, which left widespread destruction and poverty. (In 2010, Liberia had the third lowest per capita GDP in the world.) The project we will design is a new hospital for ELWA Ministries ("Eternal Love Winning Africa" — www.elwaministries.org), operated in partnership with Serving In Mission (SIM — www.sim.org) and Samaritan's Purse (www.samaritanspurse.org). The project is located in Paynesville, just east of the capital city of Monrovia. ELWA is led by local Liberian Christians, and has been operating since the early 1950s, with the hospital dating to 1965 (though temporarily closed and completely looted in 1996 during the civil war). The new hospital will better enable ELWA to reach its objectives of providing quality, affordable healthcare for its target communities, ministering the Word of God to the reached and the unreached, and training local ELWA staff members in technical excellence.

While our team is in Liberia, we will be meeting with the ministry partners to fully document and understand their needs, learning about local construction materials and methods, and providing master planning and conceptual design for the first phase of the hospital. After we return to the US, we will be spending 40–80 hours to complete the design for the phase one project, which will begin construction in May.

I will be in Liberia February 11–19.

I am seeking to recruit a core team to pray for the trip, for the work of the whole team, and for Janelle, Logan, Nathan and Owen during my absence. I will provide specific prayer requests for this core group to lift up for each day of the trip, and I will give updates on the requests after I return. If you would like to be in this core prayer team, please let me know.

As you have probably also guessed, one of the reasons I am writing is to let you know that I am raising support to help cover my cost for the trip — approximately $3,000. That said, I want to make very clear that I know it is God who provides, and I look to Him without worrying whether He chooses to provide through my friends and family. If He does burden your heart to help support my going on this trip, please see your support not as a gift to me but as an act of worship to God, that the glory and goodness of His name might be proclaimed powerfully in Liberia.

If you do choose to offer financial support, please go to http://emiworld.org/donate_staff.php, and follow the instructions for donating to a project trip volunteer. You will, of course, be provided a receipt for your tax-deductible donation.

I am thankful for each of you, for your time reading this, and for the prayer and financial support that you will provide in this wonderful opportunity.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

— Romans 15:13

Sincerely,

Preston

A few recent pictures

2012-01-16T16:09:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago we went to Aldridge Gardens with The Cooks. Sarah took some great pictures of us, so I thought I would put a few up here.

Fun at the Park

2012-01-08T16:11:00.002-06:00

It was so beautiful outside yesterday we decided to go to Wald Park for a few hours. All three kids really enjoyed themselves. Nathan was particularly excited about the metal slide they have specifically so kids with Cochlear Implants can slide (kids with CI can't do plastic slides because of the static build-up). The tiny boys loved swinging while Logan loved the tire swing....well, Logan loved everything. It was a great time for all of us to be together outside.

Logan is also enjoying building castles with all his new wooden blocks. A future architect in the making.

God has something better!!!

2012-01-06T20:57:00.004-06:00

There are many times in my life I have wanted to know the next step God has for us. I some times get impatient wanting to know: will we move, find the right house, get the right job, etc. I think all of us at times want to know the exact details of our future. Over the past two years God has really shown me that it is in my best interest to not know what He has planned for me until I am ready to receive it. His blessings and directions in my life are not going to change, but I am going to change as he prepares me for them.

I am also learning a lot in my prayer life. When Preston and I lived in Atlanta and were attending FBA, I remember Dr. Stanley would say God would answer yes, wait, or I have something better. The other day God did not answer my original prayer the way I thought He would, but He had something better. While running in the mornings I spend a lot of time in prayer and listening to praise music. I always pray for my family and my specific prayer for Nathan and Owen usually has something to do with their development. I decided to pray for them to sit up on Christmas Day. Well, even though we are getting close Christmas Day came and went and they are still not sitting on their own. On the 29th of December Nathan and Owen both had audiology tests to check their hearing. Nathan is now hearing in the Normal range with his implant. Praise God!! He is doing better than expected! Owen is also hearing in the Normal range and is now hearing aid free. Yes, let me say it again...Owen is hearing aid free!!!

Let's take a step back and review Owen's hearing. First he failed his first several hearing tests. He then had an ABR, which tracks neurological stimulus of sound to the brain. Owen showed that he could first hear sounds around 60 dB which is usually corrected by 10 dB, so he was at 50dB. He then had a hearing test confirming he did need hearing aids. Once he had his hearing aids he began speech therapy. Over the past 1 1/2 years he has had several hearing tests showing his need for the hearing aids. In May Owen received tubes in his ears which started cleaning out all the fluid. I believe as God was using the tubes to clear out the fluid in Owen's ear, He was doing something more in healing Owen's ear.

So, my prayer for sitting up was answered by something better, my two little guys can both now hear in Normal range!!!!

Here is a chart to help you understand the measurement of hearing. Nathan has gone from a 75 to a 15. On Nathan's high pitches he just had a complete drop off so he could not hear sounds in that frequency on any level. Owen has gone from a 50 to about a 10. At the beginning neither of them could hear all the sounds to hear speech and now both of them can!!!!

More fun over the break

2012-01-04T15:44:00.006-06:00

On Friday, Dec 30th we went with the Cooks to the Chattanooga Aquarium. It was a great day trip, but a long car ride for the kids. Logan actually asked if I was not going to the aquarium and just driving us all the way around the world. All of the kids, and actually the two adults, loved seeing all the fish, turtles, etc. The aquarium is incredible. One highlight for Logan was seeing the penguins. We were on the last chapter of Mr. Popper's Penguins, so his love for penguins was definitely at an all time high for the trip. On our way out I bought him a penguin stuffed animal which he named Captain Cook, after the first penguin Mr Popper received.Logan the shark with a shark swimming over his head.

Sleep Study

2012-01-04T15:44:00.003-06:00

Tuesday morning we had a follow-up visit with our pulmonologist, Dr Lozano. Owen has been doing very well with his breathing and his doctor was pleased. Owen has not been sleeping well lately and since his doctor also does sleep issues I decided to mention Owen's problems. Not to my surprise we ended up with a sleep study. It just so happened there was an opening for a sleep study last night (Tuesday). So, Owen and I were off to Children's Hospital for the evening. I have never experienced a sleep study, so it was a totally new experience for both of us. Owen was hooked up to 32 electrodes, a saturation monitor, a waist belt, a chest belt and a snore mic. Needless to say, he was not a happy camper.

This morning I talked with his doctor before we were discharged. He confirmed that Owen is sleeping horribly....or really not resting at all. They noticed his sleeping was greatly improved with the oxygen they put on him during the study. Owen has really bad sleep apnea. Every kid has pauses in their breathing while they are sleeping but apparently Owen has tons of them. Dr Lozano thinks that it is related to his prematurity and Owen will probably grow out of it. Just to make sure there is not something else we are missing, Owen will have an MRI in the next few weeks of his brain stem.

This evening all our new oxygen equipment was delivered. We were able to use the same company as the first time around, so it was nice to see a familiar face in our supplier, Ken. Hopefully Owen will have a good night sleep tonight!!

Medical Update

2012-01-02T21:36:00.002-06:00

December 22nd the boys had their 2 year appointment with their pediatrician. They both grew 6 inches in the last 6 months. They are both at 15% for a 2 yr old in height!!! Owen is 15% in weight. Nathan is not on the chart so he will be going back in another 3 months for a weight check. Nathan is so active he may just be burning tons of calories, but we need to follow his weight gain closely. Owen was taken off his acid reflux medicine and is doing very well. If you remember he had horrible reflux, grade 4 (really bad) and had several test early spring. We realized he was lactose intolerant and have him on a lactose free diet. He has done very well since he was taken off the meds about 2 weeks ago.

The boys recently had their 1 year OT evaluation. Nathan's OT skills are at 15 months with Owen at 15+ months. We were so pleased to hear how well they are doing. Considering corrected age, etc. 15 months is great!!!

On December 29th both boys had hearing test. This was Nathan's first hearing test since receiving his cochlear implant. Normal hearing is 0 dB to 30 dB. Nathan's number for speech hearing is at 15dB. This is incredible!! He is hearing at completely normal levels now. Owen has become very sensitive to sound. He had testing without his hearing aids on. We wanted to see exactly how well he is hearing. (There is a banana shaped threshold in hearing where all sounds above are audible. It is known as the speech banana). Owen is usually around the speech banana, a little above or a little below, giving him mild to moderate hearing loss. At his test last week he scored well above the speech banana in every section except very low tones. Just to confirm the results Owen will have another test this coming Thursday. We will begin the test with the low tones to see if he in fact can not hear these tones as well or if he was just tired at the last hearing test (because the low tones were tested last). For this week Owen was told to go without hearing aids. If all his scores are better on Thursday he will be hearing aid free. If his low tones are still not as good he will wear hearing aids with only the low tones boosted. God is obviously working in Owen's ears and we ask that you would pray for complete healing. I will update again on his hearing after his next test.

Lots of fun times over Christmas Break

2012-01-01T05:26:00.006-06:00

We enjoyed lots of fun times together over Christmas break. One morning I took all three boys up to the gym at Dawson. Nathan was all over the place!! Owen enjoyed his time walking but was more conservative with where he went. Logan and I practiced basketball and then he drove the car game for a little while.
Nathan is working hard on standing. He is really getting a lot stronger.The day after Christmas we went over to my parents house to spend some time with my sister and her family before they went back to Enterprise. Nathan, Owen and Cooper had a great time playing together.Logan and his friend Caroline spent a morning and lunch together at Chuck E Cheese. Everyone had a great time. Nathan and Owen enjoyed looking at all the lights and kids playing. Sadly, I had never taken Logan to Chuck E Cheese, but we will be fixing that!! The one near us was so clean and had tons of fun things. Both Logan and Caroline seemed to have a great time.We also enjoyed an afternoon at the zoo with The Cooks. We have had some wonderful weather over the break allowing the kid some days to be outside. The zoo still had up all their Christmas decorations. Logan is pretending to be a flamingo.

Watch out for that fierce lion.

Still to come...pictures from our trip to the Chattanooga Aquarium.

Christmas Evening

2011-12-31T08:30:00.003-06:00

Christmas evening my family came over and we had a wonderful time visiting, opening presents and enjoying a great dinner together.

Christmas Weekend

2011-12-26T08:08:00.009-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas weekend. Preston was off work on Friday, so we spent the morning taking in some of God's beauty at Ruffner Mountain. Though I have been in Birmingham since 1993 I had never gone. Ruffner Mountain is a large mountain very near downtown Birmingham filled with miles of hiking trails, including one that overlooks downtown Birmingham. All of us had a great time on our hike. Logan especially loved it, wanting us to take pictures of him in front of lots of different trees, reading the map, finding the old query, and singing songs with Preston. Nathan and Owen love being outdoors too and enjoyed their ride on us. One thing we are going to get them before our next trip out is carriers that go on our backs. The bjorns are just too small for those big boys.Overlooking Birmingham at the outlook.On Christmas Eve we had the pleasure of spending lots of time with DiDi and Big House. Big House had double knee replacement surgery and was recovering / receiving therapy at Lakeshore. In the late afternoon the kids and I came back home while Preston went out to get his Grandmommy and Mr E and brought them to Lakeshore to see Big House. I met them back up there later in the evening so Grandmommy and Mr E could visit with our kids. Once we got home Logan made cookies for Santa and headed off to bed.Santa at most of the milk and cookies we set out for him.
Christmas morning CiCi and PawPaw Bill came over to enjoy a big pancake breakfast and to watch the boys open their gifts.

After all the gifts were opened we went to church. Nathan and Owen enjoyed sitting in their new stroller during the service.

After the service was complete we headed to Changed Lives Christian Center and ate Christmas lunch with the homeless men living there. This is always a highlight of our Christmas day!! We are always glad CiCi and PawPaw Bill join us for this special time.

Three Wise Boys

2011-12-18T06:45:00.002-06:00

My children are always teaching me so much. In the past few days I have learned a lesson from all of them.

Logan: excited to be a cow. His Christmas pageant at school is Monday. At first he was a Shepherd. I thought that was a pretty good role, somewhere in the middle of who he could be. Not a Joseph or Wise Man but better than an animal. So on Thursday Logan came home from school very excited that he was now going to be a Cow. A Cow, great I thought. He must have done something bad in class and is now demoted to a Cow. On Friday I chaperoned his field trip to a retirement facility where they performed their play. I found out that another little boy was having a very difficult day and really did not want to be a cow, so Logan graciously traded with him. Wow, that changed my attitude about the cow. Here I was wanting Logan to have a good part and Logan was more interested in helping a friend than if he had a good "part" in the play. It made me realize God wants us to be cows: helping others in need is more important than our own status.

Nathan: only received the memo of Joy. Yesterday we had our family Christmas with Preston's Mom, Steop-Dad, Brother, his Wife and Son. We all had a wonderful time eating lots of yummy food and playing dirty Santa. When Nathan woke up from his nap he played and played in the tissue paper. He had the best time. Photos will come soon. I mentioned this little boy only received the memo from God to have joy. When I made that comment it really struck me that Nathan does only have joy in the midst of what so many people would feel is hard times. He teaches me every day how to find joy in a situations. God pours out His joy a little on us each day through this tough precious boy.

Owen: never give up. Owen is such a hard worker. He just keeps going and going. For a while it did not look like he was making much progress but over the last several weeks, WOW!! He is now walking well in his gait trainer, sitting up (for about 10 seconds) unassisted, eating crackers and giving the most precious smiles. He is where he is because he works very hard. He has taught me that we can never give up when we aren't seeing many results. We must just keep working hard and over time we will achieve.

Mia: God has taught me so much about Himself, His Peace that surpasses all understanding and so many other things. I am a much better person, in Him, because of her amazing life. I will blog more on that later.

Thank you God for my wonderful three children and the ways you use them to teach me more about you. I am truly blessed by all four of my babies.

Medical Update

2011-12-17T05:42:00.002-06:00

From time to time I post a medical update on the boys. I will have another update after their 2 yr old check-up this Thursday. Yes, they turned 2 back in November but I had to keep rescheduling because of therapy appointments. It is sad when you have to change one medical appointment for another over and over.

The boys had their yearly Occupational Therapy review. They scored at 15 months. This is great considering their corrected age is only 18 months and at this time they were not even out of the hospital because they could not survive on their own. They are making great progress!!! God is so faithful working in them.

Nathan is working on pulling himself up. He loves it and will do it over and over again. Right now he still needs some assistance to stand but did stand for a few seconds on his own with his therapist, Kristi, on Tuesday. His hamstrings are pretty tight right now. We will be botoxing them in February which should make standing much easier for him. Right now the hamstrings are really pulling hard against his legs. Nathan was scheduled for another eye surgery before he received his cochlear implants. Because the implant surgery was able to move ahead so quickly we rescheduled the eye surgery. We went to the eye doctor Thursday for him to remeasure his eyes for the surgery. After a very thorough examination the eye doctor decided his eyes are actually looking better on their own. He canceled the surgery and does not need to see us back for 6 months!!! Nathan is doing even better than expected with his cochlear implant. The mapping process has gone extremely well and he has reached his final setting.

Owen is getting very close to sitting up. He can hold it for several seconds but will loose his balance a lot. He is jabbering all the time. Lots and lots of new sounds. He is starting to say ball and bee (though there is only a little difference). He is so proud that he can say Owen (and so are we). He continues to walk more and more in his gait trainer. I don't have any medical updates for Owen like I do Nathan because Owen is not working on as much stuff right now.

All three of my boys are such a joy. I love them!!

Coming Soon: Lessons from Logan: Be excited to be a cow.

Our Gingerbread House

2011-12-08T14:52:00.002-06:00

Tuesday afternoon Logan decorated our Gingerbread house. We had lots of fun. He loves cooking and decorating.

Holiday Gait Trainers

2011-12-08T14:46:00.003-06:00

I decided to decorate Nathan and Owen's gait trainers for Christmas. Owen especially likes the feeling of his felt.
The boys are doing really well. They had their annual OT assessment on Tuesday and scored at 15 months. We are very excited considering their adjusted age is 19 months and they weren't even thriving enough to get out of the hospital at their due date.

Nathan is starting to become very aware of his environment. He is doing better than expected both in speech therapy and during the mapping process for his implant. Nathan is also holding his straw cup completely on his own. He loves to ride in the car holding his cup and taking a drink whenever he wants.

Owen is starting to walk all over the house in his gait trainer. We love seeing him so excited to move.

Visit with Santa

2011-12-06T14:59:00.001-06:00

Logan decided weeks ago that he needed to go talk to Santa on December 1st. So, when the day arrived we met Preston at Brookwood Mall for the boys to meet with Santa. The boys did a good job. Last year Owen was terrified of Santa but this year he could stand him. Both Logan and Nathan love Santa and thankfully Nathan did not pull hard on his beard this year.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-06T06:40:00.008-06:00

For Thanksgiving we wanted to take our Chinese guests, Chen and Juncheng to see some more of the US. We rented a house near Bryson City, NC.

We enjoyed lots of outdoor time. This beautiful gorge is in North Georgia. Lots of stairs but totally worth it.
I tried to take a picture of all of us. Unfortunately Chen stayed up all night playing video games, so he wanted to stay in the car to sleep instead of taking on this beautiful view.
Nathan and Owen loved being out in nature.

Juncheng at the bottom of the Gorge.

Logan on the footbridge across the Gorge.
Logan and Chen hiking at Deep Creek.
Owen having fun.
Deep Creek had several water falls. This one is 80 feet tall.
Logan the Tree Hugger.
Deep Creek.
We made s'mores one evening. Everyone enjoyed them.
We wore the boys out!!! We were gone all day. Good thing the car provided a good place to nap.
At Clingman's Dome. Elevation 6,400 ft. Beautiful day with 100 + feel of visibility.

This is a pretty waterfall we found on the side of the road.

Thanksgiving dinner. Preston, Logan and I made the entire spread. It was yummy and Chen and Juncheng enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving feast. Logan made our hats at home before leaving for our trip.

Logan made our pineapple casserole.
The view from our front porch.
The house we rented.
Another view.
On our way home we stopped at Brenau just for fun. We snapped this picture and thought it was a great shot of the family.

basketball

2011-12-06T06:02:00.004-06:00

Logan started Upward Basketball at Dawson. He loves playing basketball there because he has watched many of Daddy's games. This is his first time playing and he is doing pretty well. Games start this Saturday at 8:00 if anyone wants to join us. Practices started a few weeks ago. He is very good at dribbling (they worked on it a lot in his Samord SMART class) and has made a basket every practice!!

Logan's first basket!!
Running drills
Dribbling

Celebrating Mia

2011-11-17T16:48:00.003-06:00

Every year the Sunday afternoon following the boys birthday party we have a brunch celebrating Mia's life. It is a small group, just the people who were at her funeral. We all enjoy a nice meal together at Village Tavern. The kids all love being able to eat together.Logan and James posed for an extra picture.Preston, Logan, Nathan, Owen and I headed to the cemetery. Logan said a nice prayer for Mia and then we all sang Happy Birthday.

Logan and Preston always enjoy walking on the big hill near our graves.

Operation Christmas Child

2011-11-17T16:37:00.005-06:00

Two weeks ago we took a family trip to Dollar Tree and bought tons of little presents to fill our shoe boxes. The shoe boxes are for Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child. Samaritan's Purse collects shoe boxes full of gifts and distributes them around the world. This will be the only gifts these children receive at Christmas. We filled our shoe boxes with fun things like balls, crayons, notepads, stickers, sun glasses, stuffed animals, kazoos, and some other practical things like wash clothes, tooth brush, tooth paste, soap and hand sanitizer. We let each of our children pick the items for their shoe box (though Nathan and Owen got a lot of help this year and Preston and I always pick out stuff for the girl box).

Sunday morning Logan asked if he could go to big church with us. He enjoyed taking his shoe box to the front.

He did a great job sitting in big church. To be just like Preston he asked for my iphone to take notes. He listened very intently to the sermon and typed "God" 17 times. He was trying to write it down every time Dr. Fenton said the word.

Trip to the Governer's Mansion

2011-11-17T16:23:00.003-06:00

Tuesday morning we started our caravan to Montgomery around 8:15. Logan and I really enjoyed riding with Esther Marie and her mom, Sarah. Sarah and I have actually known each other for quite some time. Preston and her husband, Jasper, worked together about 10 years ago. Logan's kindergarten class along with the other kindergarten class were invited to the Pardoning of the Turkey at the Governor's Mansion.

This is an official ceremony where the Governor pardons a turkey from being killed and eaten.
Logan's school was the only one out of the entire state to be invited to this ceremony. After the Pardoning of the Turkey Logan class sang 5 turkey songs to the Governor. When the performance finished the children enjoyed chocolate chip cookies, met Clyde the Turkey and a tour of the mansion.

Nathan is ON

2011-11-17T14:25:00.003-06:00

Nathan's cochlear implant was turned on yesterday. They started the mapping process, a process that will take about 1 1/2 months and he will need to be remapped annually. Mapping = programming all the electrical points in his implanted cochlear devise to the correct volume. The volume on his implant is very low right now. The remote for his implant has 4 different level programs in there right now. In the next few days we will turn him up to level 2 and so on. When he is hearing at full capacity he will be at level 10 (I think). His brain needs time to learn his new way of hearing and over stimulating him would be very negative for him. We are not getting huge reactions out of him yet but this is good and normal. I will post our "turn-on" video soon. It is on Preston's phone so I need to download it when he gets home.

After mapping we had an hour long meeting teaching us about his devise and all its accessories. Wow, there is a lot of stuff. It is going to take some time to get used to everything. He also received a few fun things from the company. My favorite is the elephant with cochlear implants.
We are so excited for Nathan to have this opportunity.

On Tuesday Nathan had his post surgery follow-up with his doctor. Since everything went so smoothly his doctor said he would allow Nathan to have his second implant at any time. Preston and I talked about when we would want to do the second implant and right now concluded that we would let Nathan make the choice. (Of course we are open to things changing and making the decision on our own if it is clearly better for him). We have given Nathan the ability to really learn to listen and speak. There are pros and cons to one or two implants. With an additional implant he would have better sound localization and a little better overall hearing, however if he takes out both his implants then he is pretty much completely deaf (swimming, sleeping, etc). If he does not get an additional implant he would keep the little hearing he has in his left ear allowing him to hear VERY LOAD (ambulance, fire truck, tea kettle whistling, smoke detector, etc) without his implants. So, that is where we are on implant 2 right now.

I promise to post some pictures and video soon.

Happy Birthday!!

2011-11-12T22:10:00.018-06:00

NOTE: I will post more pictures later. Our internet is running really slow right now because both our exchange students are video skyping to China, chatting with other friends, and playing games all on line.

Today was Nathan's and Owen's 2nd birthday party. They had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends. The theme of this year's party was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It is a very cute children's book. In addition to just the party I am planning to decorate their room in Very Hungry Caterpillar so all the party guests assisted in the art work for their room. Preston, the incredible artist that he is, painted a large picture of The Very Hungry Caterpillar for their room. On four smaller canvases, guests painted their own versions of the Caterpillar. The big caterpillar on the small canvas was done by Logan for his brothers. Tomorrow all the paintings will be hung in their room. (I will post a picture.)

Their delicious cake was made by Laura Perry, my sister's sister-in-law and long time family friend. She does such a wonderful job making cakes and I was so excited she was able to make the boys cake. She lives at Lake Martin and met my sister in Prattville to deliver the cake. Thanks to my awesome sister who drove very carefully all the way to Birmingham with my cake!!

Along with the cake we had ice cream, pizza, munchies and gumballs. Watching people eat the gumballs became quite hilarious. Everyone expected for them to be peanut M&Ms. They would all grab a handful, start chewing, continue chewing, make a funny face, put back the rest of their handful and then say, "Oh, I thought those were M&Ms." So, not to disappoint anyone I got out the rest of the Halloween M&Ms and at one point I looked in the living room and just about everyone had a little fun size bag of M&Ms.

Nathan and Owen loved having so many people here.

They were all smiles, until it was time to sing and cut the cake. Neither one of them enjoyed everyone singing Happy Birthday to them. They also did not want any part of the cake. After cake, it was nap time.

All the guests left while the boys were napping. When they woke up we did their presents. They loved pulling the tissue paper out of the bags and ripping off wrapping paper. Logan enjoyed helping them too and was so good at patiently holding the gifts so the boys could pull the paper.

These two, along with big brother Logan, are such a joy. I am truly blessed to be their Mom.

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After all the presents were opened, I headed to Publix to get a few food items and some flowers for Mia. I was excited to find some beautiful star gazer lilies and a dozen white roses....my two favorite flowers. I was enjoying my trip to the grocery store, quickly going through my list...and with great ease since I did not have three kids in tow. I was thinking of all the fun we had during the morning. As I was checking out the friendly clerk asks me, "if these flowers were for a special occasion". Immediately I thought, "well, they are to put on my daughter's grave"...but I generally don't like to mention things like that knowing the people are asking to be loving and kind and I don't want to ruin their day (because usually they feel awkward, guilty for asking, etc). So after a second I said a birthday. Well, driving home it hit me.... for Nathan and Owen I had the best time creating a fun birthday party (invitations, decorations, personalized labels on their caterpillar craft, getting canvas and paint, etc) and for Mia I got to buy flowers, but not to share with her and see her enjoy their beauty and smell...but to put on her grave. So tonight after everyone went to sleep I got out my flowers and created an arrangement to lay on her grave tomorrow afternoon.

Each year the days surrounding November 14th always bring such a strong roller coaster of emotions: excited the boys have reached another birthday because let's be honest their was a time we weren't sure they would reach 1, the joy in putting on another fun birthday party, the pride I feel for the great accomplishments they are making every day, the melting of my heart when they smile at me and the pain that another year has gone by and another birthday celebrated without my precious baby girl. I will say, I am eternally grateful that she is in Heaven spending eternity with God and I can't wait to spend eternity with Him and her.

As I was running the other morning I was listening to Steven Curtis Chapman. He wrote an album after his 5 year old daughter died. The song, Our God Is In Control, really spoke to me and I wanted to share a part of it with you.

"This is not where we planned to be, when we started this journey.
But this is where we are.
Our God is in control.
Though this first taste is bitter.
There will be sweetness forever when we finally taste and see our God is in control."

The past 4 days

2011-11-02T10:28:00.005-05:00

Nathan is recovering very well. He is enjoying most of his normal activities. He is smiling a lot again. He is still taking his antibiotic and some pain medication, but less and less of it. He will continue to recover over the next several days and then should be totally back to his old self. He has his post-op appointment with Dr Woolley on November 15th and will have his implant turned on November 16th. We will take video of the turning on session. (I know most people have watched video on line of the cochlear implant turn on. Not all children have a big reaction so don't be disappointed if Nathan does not. No reaction does not mean it was not successful.) Nathan will have mapping (where they set all of the electrodes of his devise) about once a week until the end of December. Friday was just the beginning of a long and exciting journey for him.

Saturday we were able to take it easy around here. Owen was with my parents and Logan was with Preston's Mom and Mr B. They both enjoyed their individual time with their grandparents. We were also able to cheer the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to a huge victory against #5 Clemson.

Sunday our house was filled with talking, laughing, eating and playing. It was a wonderful day. (Don't worry Nathan still had plenty of rest time). One of our exchange students, Chen, asked to have some friends over to cook lunch for everyone. We had eleven people and the best Chinese food, ever!!! It was great to have yummy food, fun time meeting new people, eating....and not having to clean up!
Later in the evening, Preston, Chen, Junchen and I carved our pumpkins. I also baked some of the pumpkin seeds for the boys to enjoy.

Halloween.....
Logan had a cute parade at his school Monday morning. All the kids dressed up in their costumes. Nathan, Owen and I watched the parade. Nathan especially loved seeing all the costumes. Logan then went to a nursing home where they sang songs and trick or treated with the residents. Though we had the opportunity to go, I thought it was best for Nathan to come home and get some rest. Logan had a great time and Nathan and Owen had a great time sleeping. My friend, Misty, came over Monday afternoon to give Nathan some home relaxation time while Owen and I picked up Logan from school and took him to piano lessons. Owen thinks it is pretty cool to leave the house with Mommy all to himself.

Monday night we went trick-or-treating. Logan had the best time and was so excited. The people in our neighborhood loved seeing all three boys.

Recovery

2011-11-01T22:44:00.002-05:00

Nathan's recovery is going well. His surgery area looks great. He is enjoying more and more of his favorite toys, walking around in his gait trainer and spending some time outside. He still has some moments of pain and fussiness but they are getting fewer and further between. I will post some picture of him tomorrow.

October 28 - surgery day

2011-10-29T04:47:00.008-05:00

(It was Nathan's first time to ride facing forward. At first he looked really scared and held on tight to the car seat. After a little bit he seemed to enjoy it)

Friday morning we arrived at Children's Hospital of Alabama at 9:00 am. It was nice to not be here at 6:00 am, as we usually are with Nathan's surgeries. After waiting at registration for a little over an hour we were placed in our room for One Day Surgery.(Nathan gets a little tired while waiting)

Once in the room with met with our doctor, a nurse, the anesthesia doctor and nurse and a chaplain (he was very nice and brought Nathan some books, a stuffed animal and prayed with us).

To pass the time we played some tickle games with Nathan. Nathan loves to be tickled.

Next they came in and marked his ear.
At noon Nathan was carried back for surgery. Around 1:00pm the anesthesia nurse called and said that Nathan was now asleep and they would begin the procedure. Around 3:00pm Nathan's doctor came in to tell us the surgery was a good success and he was able to get the devise probe in all the way. He then came back about 15 minutes later and told us he wanted to move the processor back on his head a little more. He felt it was a little too close to the ear and may bother Nathan. We are very glad that he was working to make everything perfect now and not just wait until a later date to see if it bothered Nathan. (From what I saw on the board he had 11 surgeries Friday). He was very easily able to make the adjustment. Nathan was still under anesthesia so he did not know any different. About 4:00pm he came back and let us know all went well. Nathan's processor will stick out of his head, under the skin, a little....but will soon be covered by hair. His skull is only 6mm thick. They recessed it about 2mm but did not want to get any closer making a weak point in the skull and doing anything to harm the brain. Again thankful for a very careful doctor.

At 5:30 One Day Surgery closed and we were moved out of our room to the regular surgery waiting area (this is for people who have rooms in the hospital). We did have a room in the hospital, that was ready, but we were not going up there until Nathan was ready. We got a call on the surgery waiting room phone around 5:45 that Nathan was doing well, just still very sleepy. Around 7:00 Nathan was ready to go to his room. His nurses got us from the waiting room and we all headed to the new room.
Nathan was on 1ml of oxygen for a while but they were able to completely take him off by the time he went to sleep. So far, he has not wanted anything to drink, but is getting nutrition through an IV. He has rested pretty comfortably. He got some pain medication last night and has slept pretty well through the night.We will be discharged around 9:00 this morning and then Nathan will need to recover at home for the next two weeks. Thanks to everyone for their prayers for the surgery and we ask you continue to pray for his recovery. Also thanks to Oma for taking good care of Owen and CiCi for taking good care of Logan and Jason & Sarah for bringing us dinner and some movies last night.

The Big Day

2011-10-28T07:45:00.002-05:00

We are headed to the hospital in about 45 minutes. Nathan's surgery will probably actually start around 10:30 and it will take a couple of hours. We will spend the night in the hospital. He will have about a 2 week recovery time. I will post more as things progress. Thank you for praying for the surgery this morning.

Visiting the Watts

2011-10-24T20:30:00.003-05:00

Friday afternoon we headed down to Enterprise to visit Ranae, Philip and Cooper. We all had a wonderful time together.

Saturday morning Cooper got his haircut.While Nathan and Owen were napping late Saturday morning, Cooper, Logan, Ranae and I had some fun on Cooper's new swing set.
After lunch we headed down to the square for the Fall Festival. Preston enjoyed a funnel cake.Logan enjoyed all the inflatables, getting a new pet turtle and playing in the hamster ball.Cooper enjoyed watching Logan in his hamster ball.
Logan and Cooper had fun playing together in Cooper's ball tent Saturday night.

Lots of stuff

2011-10-24T19:10:00.003-05:00

Last week Nathan and Owen's friend Mason came over for a play date. Nathan and Owen just love playing with him. Mason is their first friend, back from the days in the NICU.

Owen has a new chair. He enjoys sitting in it to read books and sing songs.
Last Sunday we participated in a walk to raise money for a Down Sydrome Clinic in Birmingham. The Clinic is in full swing and is helping so many people. We walked with our friend Grace's team.
Last Saturday we headed to Atlanta to spend some time with our friends, Jennifer and Michael. While Michael and Preston were out doing "man work" fixing the lawn mower, Logan was busy painting their closet.

Everyone needed a haircut; JunCheng, Logan and Chen.

God Granted a Miracle

2011-10-13T21:37:00.002-05:00

Nathan's cochlear implant surgery is scheduled for October 28th!!!! Once again God is providing in a wonderful way for Nathan!!

What we were up against: Our Medicaid runs out at the end of October. The surgery is $50,000 out of pocket. We just finished our 1 year process at the HEAR Center for Nathan to be approved for implants. Medicaid takes a minimum of 45 days for approval and only approves people who have a 90dB or great hearing loss (Nathan's loss is 72dB). Our Blue Cross does not cover the procedure.

Now: Praying, Praying, Praying is what we were doing. The only way to overcome all of these obstacles is for God to intervene to make it happen.

This past Monday, Preston called the doctor's office to follow-up on their submission of Nathan's case to Medicaid. On Wednesday (yesterday), they called and left us a message telling us they were submitting a letter to Medicaid. Today, Preston called Medicaid and talked with his contact. They were planning to deny Nathan because his hearing is better than their 90dB requirement. Our contact agreed to talk to the Medical Director to review Nathan's case again keeping in mind he only has one hand and can not learn sign language. Preston, myself and several friends were praying for this review. This afternoon Preston called me and Nathan was approved!!! I talked with the nurse at the doctor's office and scheduled the surgery date!!! We praise God for the wonderful, amazing way He worked in this process.

This is very exciting for Nathan because this allows him to receive his implants 3 months earlier, which is a huge amount of time for speech and hearing development.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-09T20:53:00.004-05:00

On Saturday afternoon we loaded our van and headed to Heflin. Bennett Farms has a wonderful Pumpkin Patch that we really enjoyed last year. So, we decided to make the hour plus drive out again this year. Everyone in the family had an absolutely wonderful time. Logan's favorite part was playing in the Corn Crib. Nathan loved running through the Hay Maze. Owen seemed to enjoy everything. Chen and JunCheng also came along and really enjoyed the scenery and environment out in the country.

Magic City Mile....preparing for Mercedes

2011-10-03T11:21:00.007-05:00

Last year I ran the Mercedes 1/2 Marathon. It was my first 1/2 Marathon and I ran it with my friend Sarah. We had lots of fun training for and running the race together. This year I will once again run the Mercedes 1/2 Marathon but this year running the race is about so much more than just having fun...though I intend to!!

This past summer the boys started at The Bell Center. A center providing physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and special education for children with developmental delays. The boys absolutely love going and seeing their therapist and friends twice a week. The Bell Center is a special place for them to enjoy themselves while receiving additional therapy.

Though we pay tuition to attend The Bell Center, family cost only makes up 10% of their annual budget. The additional 90% is made up through fund raising. One of their biggest fund raising events is the Mercedes Marathon. Anyone participating in the Marathon is offered the opportunity to become a Bell Runner. A Bell Runner is someone who agrees to run in honor of a child at the Bell Center in order to raise money for the programs of the Bell Center. This year Nathan and Owen will have two Bell Runners running in their honor, myself and my friend, Elizabeth!! Thanks Elizabeth!!
To start off the training and fund raising season the Bell Center held the first annual Magic City Mile. This mile run offered a great way for Bell Runners and Bell Center families to meet along with a nice family outing for anyone in town. Our family and some of our family friends ran the race with us!!

We had some supporters to cheer us on. The Joynt's just happened to be passing by, so we were able to talk to them for a minute. CiCi and PawPaw Bill came and were able to see Logan cross the finish line.
If you are interested in donating to my fund raising page in honor of Nathan and Owen please click here

Halloween Shirts

2011-10-02T06:22:00.003-05:00

On Thursday our friends Sarah, Gracie and James came over to play. For something fun we had the kids make their own Halloween t-shirts. They really enjoyed creating their designs and decorating their shirts.
They came up with some really cute ideas. I'll get a pic up soon of the kids wearing their finished products.

Little Chef

2011-10-01T20:45:00.004-05:00

While at school on Wednesday Logan's class made apple roll-ups. He brought home the recipe and asked if we could make them at home. While he was at school on Thursday I went to the store and bought the ingredients (biscuit dough, apples, cinnamon and sugar). When he got home from school on Thursday we made the yummy snack. Logan, the little chef, did all of the cooking and taught me how to make it as he went. He had the best time cooking and teaching. He is so proud of himself. The apple roll-ups were delicious.

The recipe:
Cut refrigerator biscuits in half and press down with fingersSprinkle cinnamon and sugar on biscuit halves
Place a peeled apple slice in the middle of each biscuit half
Wrap the biscuit half around the apple
Bake at 350 until brown about 12 minutes

Straw Cups

2011-09-27T20:15:00.003-05:00

Both boys are drinking exclusively from their straw cups!!! This is HUGE. Nathan started drinking independently several months ago. We really just started to pursue this with Owen on Thursday. It took a while to get all his eating and drinking issues under control. He did so well with it that by Saturday he had it down!!
Medical Update:
From time to time I put up a medical update knowing that so many people pray for the boys progress.

Owen: Owen is doing really well right now. In August he received Botox in his hamstrings to help loosen his lets. They were so tight it was limiting his ability to move. He is also seeing an additional physical therapist, Katie, to help him learn to move. His GI issues continue to remain under control with the lactaid and prilosect. He is making progress in speech therapy and is saying a few words. He did well in his last hearing test, but still remains in the moderate hearing loss spectrum.

Nathan: Nathan loves running all around our house in his gait trainer. He is doing so well moving. He is such a hard worker. Today we saw our eye doctor. Nathan will have another surgery to fix his eyes. The eye muscle are weak and the eyes are drifting apart. He will have this one last surgery to help them lock together. Children with CP often have these issues with their eyes. This surgery will be scheduled soon. We also saw Nathan's ENT today who will be doing his cochlear implant. Nathan will receive one implant at this time. He will receive the second implant in 6 months +. For children with CP, or any other delay, they like to do one at a time to make sure the first one took well. Nathan has severe hearing loss but if for some reason the first one did not take well, he would still have some hearing in his other ear. Once this surgery is performed it destroys the cochlea and their would be nothing...if it did not work. Everything is done on our end and we are just waiting for insurance / medicaid at this time. The cost of the surgery is $50,000 per ear. Our Blue Cross does not cover the surgery. The boys medicaid runs out at the end of October and they usual have a 45 day pre-approval process and only pay for implants of kids who have a 90 dB loss or greater. Well, we are under our 45 days and Nathan's loss is 72 dB. We did not wait this long to get it done...running out of time. This is just how long the very meticulous process takes (as in we started the process in May 2010). However, the doctor is going to try and expedite Medicaid and try to file it under decreased functionality. Since Nathan only has one hand he can not learn sign language, thus the implant is his only hope of communication. So, there is a possibility he could have his implant in October....but their is a very real possibility that medicaid will not come through and if that is the case he will have them implant in January. That is just how far out the surgery is getting booked right now.

Both boys are having a great time with all their therapist. We greatly appreciate all the hard work them do for them.

Logan is doing well. He had soccer class today and had the best time. He is working hard at the piano and loves playing with his teacher, Miss Molly.

Children's Theater

2011-09-26T12:22:00.003-05:00

Last Wednesday Logan's class went to the Children's Theater. I was able to chaperon the trip. It was spectacular. We saw Cinderella and the production quality was first class. Logan and his classmates had a wonderful time.

New Shoes

2011-09-26T12:15:00.003-05:00

The other day we headed to the Galleria after picking Logan up from school. Logan, Owen and I enjoyed some ice cream (Nathan did not like it), rode the elevators several times and then headed to Stride Rite. All three boys needed new shoes. Nathan and Owen have matching shoes. Logan saw his shoes when he first walked in the store. He first saw them in baby size and then found them in his size.... a 12 1/2. Yes, I could not believe it! He love his new shoes and I am glad he has some new ones that fit him well.

Georgia Tech Game

2011-09-25T20:43:00.002-05:00

Saturday morning we loaded our crew and headed to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech vs North Carolina game. To add some fun to our trip we parked a little west of town and road MARTA. It was Logan's favorite part of the day. (Logan had the class pet "frogger" for the weekend so he appears in several of our pictures).We then headed to The Varsity for lunch. We needed to give Chen and Juncheng the entire Georgia Tech football experience....including bad, greasy food.After lunch we headed to the game. It was tons of fun....a little hot but not as bad as the game we went to last year.

Child Literacy Day

2011-09-17T20:54:00.014-05:00

This morning the Child Literacy Council sponsored a wonderful morning of activities at Railroad Park. The weather was beautiful and we ran in to one of Nathan's and Owen's NICU nurses!! When we arrived Logan received a passport that needed to be stamped at the exhibit tents. The tents were sponsored by Children's Hospital (pretend doctor items), Books-A-Million (book signing by the illustrator and drawing your own dreams), YMCA (dance area), Zoo (mouse, hedgehog, and owl), McWane Center (making snow and weather cycle bracelets), Museum of Art (stamps and face painting), healthier Alabama (planting cucumber seeds and guessing veggies), etc. When Logan's passport was full we took it to the book station and he received 7 great books!! After those activities we went to the play area where Logan had the best time on the "spider web dome". It was a wonderful family morning.
Thanks Jane for telling me about this wonderful event.

Soccer Shots

2011-09-17T20:23:00.003-05:00

Logan decided he wanted to start playing soccer. About the same time we got a slip from his school advertising Soccer Shots. Soccer Shots is soccer lessons with games at the end of each lesson. Logan had the best time and asks every day if it is a soccer day.

Not so little

2011-09-16T08:31:00.000-05:00

My little guys are growing up. Owen looks so old.

Finger Painting

2011-09-15T20:44:00.006-05:00

This evening we spent some time finger painting. Both boys really enjoyed it. Owen loved the feeling of the paint between his fingers. He worked very intently on his painting. Nathan painted as fast as he could with the goal of getting his painting on the floor and the paint all over himself.

Museum of Art

2011-09-10T20:58:00.001-05:00

On Saturday morning we went to the Museum of Art to enjoy their free family day. There were tons of activities for families. Logan was able to decorate a paper guitar while Nathan and Owen enjoyed holding the pipe cleaners. We spent some time out in the sculpture garden enjoying the bubble machine and popcorn. By this time Owen had enough of all the bubbles. The Red Mountain Theater youth performing ensembles gave a beautiful concert. We also spent some time just looking at the art in the museum. It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

Zhong Qiu Jie

2011-09-10T20:53:00.007-05:00

Today we celebrated Zhong Qiu Jie (Mid-Autumn Festival). This is a special holiday on the Chinese calendar and we thought it would be fun to celebrate it with the other Chinese exchange students at Samford and their host families. About 45 people gathered at our house. We visited, ate moon cakes (the traditional treat), played games, and ate dinner together. Both the students and host families had a great time celebrating and getting to know each other a little better.

Most of the group.
Moon Cakes
The group visiting together.

Yummy food.JunchengChen
The boys love all their attention from so many students.

Another group of updates

2011-09-08T21:58:00.004-05:00

Again, sorry for taking so long to put up anything. Things around here are busy. We also had a few days without power, so I could not update.

At the end of August we welcomed two guests in to our home, Chen and Juncheng. They are exchange students at Samford University from China. They are staying with us until January when they will move on to campus. We are really enjoying having them in our home and being a part of our family. They love to play with Logan and he really loves to play with them. In an attempt to expose them to different aspects of American culture we came up with a list of fun activities. Last Saturday we took them to the Samford game. We also plan to go to the Auburn vs Samford game in Auburn and of course a Georgia Tech game too. Some other fun events we plan to do in the future: trip to the Smoky Mountains, trip to New Orleans, trip to the beach, trip to the Space and Rocket Center...and anything else fun that comes to mind.

Sunday afternoon we took a trip to Pinson to visit Preston's grandparents. Everyone enjoyed seeing one another. Granny Dot was able to hold both boys. Big House and DiDi were also over there so it was a nice surprise to see them too. Hopefully we will be able to get back out there soon.

Catching Up

2011-08-27T21:58:00.005-05:00

So, since I have not blogged in a while I will write just one big post incorporating all our family happenings from the last few weeks.

The biggest news is Logan starting kindergarten. We decided to send him to RDS for kindergarten. Their program is just top notch and thought it would be the best place for him. This will be Logan's third year at their school. He is absolutely loving school and learning so many new things. Just the other day he was telling Preston and I all the even and odd numbers. He can spell all the words in his word bank and even has made a book about his favorite things. This and many more...all in the first week.
A very kind person donated all these bottles of pediasure to one of the groups that provides therapy for Nathan and Owen. Since Nathan only drinks pediasure they called and asked if we would be interested. YES!!! We got 179 free bottles of pediasure, saving us about $300. Thank you!!!
Today we went to Sloss Furnace to the Bell Center Tailgate Challenge. The event is a fundraiser for the Bell Center, one of the places Nathan and Owen receive therapy. The event was a ton of fun and the weather was great (probably because it was semi indoors). Thanks to all our friends and family who join us at the event or bought tickets in support of the Bell Center. We really appreciate your support: Jennifer, Michael, Sarah, Big House, DiDi, Oma, PaPa, Russ, Aunt Brenda and Michele. There were lots of team tents with yummy tailgate food. Logan loved the big inflatable, ice cream and the big furnace area. Preston has already promised to have a Georgia Tech tent at next years event.

Owen

2011-08-11T21:37:00.005-05:00

Owen loved seeing himself on my phone. So, I took the opportunity to snap some cute photos of him.

Logan's birthday party

2011-08-07T15:27:00.016-05:00

On Saturday Logan celebrated his 5th birthday with a big party at our house. About 50 of his family and friends came to celebrate his day. He loved playing with everyone....and everyone seemed to have a great time playing here too. Each child at the party received a conductor hat, train whistle and bag of candy. It was so cute to see most of his friends where their conductor hats. Our farthest away guests came from Bulgaria (my sister-in-law's parents) and his closest were his brothers, from right down the hall. :)

At one point we counted 15 kids playing on the swing set.

Those who weren't outside enjoyed playing in the play room.Or sitting in the living room.Cooper was stretching to see how tall he could reach.
Getting ready to sing happy birthday.And now eating the cake.Owen enjoyed the balloons.

Logan's 5th Birthday

2011-08-05T23:47:00.006-05:00

Thursday was Logan's 5th birthday. It is hard to believe he is already five. He is such a wonderful blessing to our family. We are so proud of the big boy he is becoming. He loves God, his parents and his brothers very much. He is a wonderful big brother and very helpful around the house. Preston made pancakes, per Logan's request, for his birthday breakfast. He then opened his presents from us (Tom and Jerry DVDs, lots of art supplies and a door bell for his playhouse in the back yard). Later in the morning we headed to Children's Hospital for Owen to see his physiatrist. Owen then received botox shots in his hamstrings. Logan and Nathan did a great job being patient while we were there....it was about 2 hours. Also, a big thanks to Kristi, one of the boys PTs, for coming to the appointment with us, not only for her expertise but also her helpfulness with the boys. After the hospital we headed to Edgewood Creamery where Logan got a cone of superman ice cream. We then walked over to Dreamcakes and bought some yummy looking chocolate cupcakes for Preston and Logan to enjoy after dinner. For dinner Logan chose Zoes and my parents joined us.

Medical Update

2011-08-02T05:43:00.004-05:00

At the beginning of every month I will put up a medical update on the boys.

Nathan:
I have not heard from the doctor regarding Nathan's MRI yet, so I don't know any of the particulars, but his speech therapist told us that she received an e-mail that said everything looked good. So, that is good news and one step closer in the process.

Owen:
-still doing very well on his lactaid!!
-has an appointment on Thursday to talk to the doctor about botoxing his hamstrings and some other overall tightness issues. This should help with his ability to sit.
-will be getting another tube in his left ear on August 16th. The tube that was placed in his ear in May already fell out.

My next Half Marathon

2011-07-31T21:39:00.004-05:00

Today I registered for my next Half Marathon. I am running the Life Without Limits Half this October in Florence, AL. This race is very similar to the Race Without Limits that takes place in the spring and benefits Nathan's and Owen's UCP group. This race benefits UCP of North Alabama. I am excited to be running for such a great cause. And now the training begins!

The Bell Center Tailgate Challenge

2011-07-30T22:45:00.002-05:00

Nathan and Owen started at the Bell Center 4 weeks ago. They absolutely love it. They are just so excited to be in circle time with their friends. During circle time they sing songs, read books and get to pull a picture with their face on it off the board. After circle time the boys are seen by a therapist that works individually with them. Right now they are only going once a week but will be up to twice a week when they start fall session in September.

On Saturday, August 27th the Bell Center will be holding their annual Tailgate Challenge Fundraiser at Sloss Furnace. (Only 10% of their operating cost is through tuition, leaving 90% to fundraising.) This event is a fun way to celebrate and anticipate the upcoming college football season. Everyone will enjoy tastes of tailgating food at various team tents as well as BBQ provided by Jim N’ Nicks. It will be an afternoon of music, kid friendly events and team rivalry.

We would love for you to join us for the fun, exciting day. You can get your tickets to the event directly from us. They are $15 per person and $5 for children under 10.

Fire Pole Park

2011-07-30T22:06:00.004-05:00

Logan has always loved playing at Overton Park, or has he calls it Fire Pole Park. This morning we met Jonathan and his son Andrew for a play date. Jonathan is a professor at Samford with Preston. Logan and Andrew had a fun time together. While they were playing Nathan and Owen took time to swing. They loved it. Later Logan joined with them. Nathan especially loved it when his big brother was pushing him. Logan spent a lot of time in the creek and came home soaking yet.
It was a great morning with the family.

Welcome SmeeSmoff and Swish Swish

2011-07-30T21:30:00.003-05:00

On Friday Logan, Nathan, Owen and I headed to the pet store to find some fish. Owen loves watching the fish so much on the Baby Einstein video that I thought it would be good to have some real fish at our house. Logan was also very excited about the idea of getting his own pet. Finding fish turned out to be quite an adventure. The first pet store we went to only had a ferret, snakes, chinchilla, and hamsters. The second one we went to...well there were no pets because it is now closed. At the third pet store we found a plethora of fish to choose. The boys looked over all the fish and we ended up with two beta. Since these fish seem to be pretty hardy I thought they might work well in our home. (Let's just say we don't always have the best luck with fish. While in China neither Dorothy 1 nor Dorothy 2 lasted more than 8 hours). Logan picked out the tanks for he and his brothers too. On our drive home Logan decided he would name his fish SmeeSmoff and I decided we would name Nathan's and Owen's Swish Swish because that is the sound the fish makes in speech therapy. SmeeSmoff is living in Logan's room and Swish Swish is living in our play room. Last night Nathan was very excited to see Swish Swish and almost pulled his tank right off the fire place mantle. So far, we have had our fish 29 hours and they seem to be doing really well.

cochlear implants: MRI and CT Scan

2011-07-28T05:18:00.004-05:00

On Wednesday morning Preston, Nathan and I were up at Children's Hospital at 6:00 am for Nathan to have his MRI and CT Scan. Since Nathan is still young he had to do his testing with the use of general anesthesia and IV. Our journey started at Same Day Surgery but this time it was only for a couple of minutes. Once they had everything ready we moved down to the CT Scan room where we met the anesthesiologist and the rest of the nursing team. After they took him in they showed us to the MRI waiting room, told us it would be about 1 1/2 hours, and suggested we head to the cafeteria for some breakfast. It was nice to be able to eat breakfast in the cafeteria because every other time we are there in Same Day Surgery we have a hospital room and at least one of us have to be in there at all times. We have eaten lots of breakfast at Children's and were looking forward to our favorites: yogurt, fruit and granola parfait for me and biscuits and gravy for Preston. About 1 1/2 hours after we said goodbye to Nathan for his testing the anesthesiologist came and told us everything went well. About 10 minutes later we were able to go to MRI recovery to see him. He was not in the best mood but did like it when I was able to hold him. Just a few minutes later we were able to take him home. All in all this was a short trip to Children's, only lasting about 3 1/2 hours. The MRI and CT Scans will be read in the next few days. When we hear what was found during the reading, I will post it.

Special thanks to my parents for keeping Owen for us and Preston's Mom and Mr. B for keeping Logan.

Nathan preparing for testing.Nathan on his ride home.

Look, I can do it myself!

2011-07-25T10:44:00.003-05:00

Nathan and Owen work very hard in therapy every day and are making great progress. One of Nathan's newest accomplishments is to be able to kneel and play with this toy all by himself. He is very proud of himself and we are very proud of him. This weekend I was looking at toys specifically for kids with CP. Every time we play we are actually doing therapy, they just don't know it. I like to take advantage of every moment I can in helping to improve their progress. I was very excited when I came across the website specialneedstoys.com. I was like a kid in a candy store looking at all the wonderful things I could buy for them. But, I am going to have to pace myself...not only for my wallet but also so they don't become overwhelmed.

cochlear implants: beginning the journey

2011-07-25T05:33:00.004-05:00

After a year of audiology testing and speech therapy, we have been advised and agree that Nathan will need cochlear implants. We are now starting our cochlear candidacy process, a process that will take several months. Our desire is that Nathan would be implanted in mid to late November but there are so many things to be done, that may not be likely. Please pray that he would be able to go through the process quickly so we could meet our desired time. The sooner Nathan can have his procedure, the better for him. He is classified as having severe loss, which FDA requires a child to be two before they can be implanted with severe loss. His high pitches and low pitches are in the profound loss area of hearing but it just happens the area the FDA looks at are Nathan's best areas. A very positive thing for Nathan is that his auditory nerve is being stimulated right now with the sounds he can hear. This is not always the case with children with such a great hearing loss. On Wednesday, Nathan will go to Children's Hospital for an MRI and CT Scan of his inner ear. His doctors will need to determine if his anatomy is correct in his inner ear for the implant. Since Nathan is so young, he will be put under general anesthesia and have an iv, just like with a normal surgery. Please pray for him on Wednesday. I will continue to keep an update as we go through the steps of the process. We are also beginning to look at our options for which brand implant we would like for Nathan. One of our concerns early on is that he would not be able to appreciate music, something that is so important to Preston and I. With the advancements in technology we discovered through our reading that the implant companies are working hard to make music enjoyment a priority for their implants. One of the ones we looked at even has a music setting and provide lots of activities to do with your child for music listening therapy. These implants are also designed to be upgraded, so Nathan will be able to gain the benefit of all the new technologies that become available.

Space and Rocket Center

2011-07-24T21:22:00.004-05:00

Friday morning we headed to Huntsville to the Space and Rocket Center. My nephew Evan was able to join us and then come back to Birmingham and spend the weekend with us. Logan has loved being with Evan. The Cooks also joined us for the trip, as well as my brother. Logan was so excited to go he woke up at 5:45 and asked if it was time to go.Owen and Nathan loved seeing everything while playing with their trays full of toys.Nathan held his own sippy cup!The kids loved this ride and went on it over and over and over.

U-pick

2011-07-16T22:06:00.004-05:00

As we headed home from Cooper's birthday party we decided to get some fresh fruit. At first we thought of going to a road side stand, but then I remembered there are tons of U-picks in Chilton County. We went to a farm about 15 miles off the interstate that had peaches, figs, nectarines, and blackberries (though sadly the blackberries were all gone by this time). We spent some time picking figs and peaches. All three of the boys loved it. They also really enjoyed seeing some of the animals on the farm (chickens, horses, pigs, alpaca and quails).

Cooper's 1st birthday party

2011-07-16T21:27:00.003-05:00

Today we were in Enterprise for Cooper's first birthday party. His party was barnyard animal themed. Because of the rain the party was moved from the park to Ranae and Philip's house. Everyone had a wonderful time. Cooper enjoyed eating his birthday cake.Logan enjoyed pretending his was a duck. He also loved eating a cow off the main birthday cake.Nathan the horse is playing in his exersaucer.
Owen enjoyed spending some time on Oma's lap.
Owen the duck had fun riding around on Daddy's shoulders for a while.

Swimming Lessons

2011-07-16T21:11:00.004-05:00

Logan really enjoyed swimming lessons this past week with Miss Em. This was his second year to take from her. He is not swimming on his own yet, but he has made a lot of improvements.

Playing together

2011-07-16T20:44:00.004-05:00

On Friday morning the boys played together so nicely. It was a little glimpse of the future. They pretended Logan was the train conductor and he drove the three of them in Thomas. They went through a bumpy area and Nathan and Owen thought it was great. It was so fun to see them enjoying their pretend time together.

After they were done playing in Thomas they sat up their chairs to pretend they were riding in the Little Einsteins rocket.

Swimming

2011-07-14T17:02:00.002-05:00

We had the best time swimming this morning. All four of us loved it and felt like we were having a normal summer. I have not gone to the Homewood pool because I don't think I can safely watch three non-swimming children. This morning Sarah invited us over to Bill and Suzanne's to go swimming. Sarah helped me get everyone in the pool. Since it was a small group in a backyard pool I did not have to worry about not being able to reach all of my children at one time. Logan had a good time playing, jumping in and doing a little swimming with my assistance. Nathan and Owen absolutely loved the water and stayed in the pool for about an hour and a half.

I have been wanting to get Nathan and Owen in the pool to see how they liked the water. I figured if they liked the water it would be a good to get them into Lakeshore to do some water therapy/ swimming. After swimming and before swimming lessons for Logan we went to Panera, or France as Logan calls it for lunch. Logan got a special treat!!