Guess Who Came to Our House?

Yep, the Toof Fairy!

I was so ill prepared for it. Didn't even think about it when we were at the dentist a couple of weeks ago and she said "Oh he has 4 loose teeth, they are just a little wiggly" - It'll be a while right, I mean he's only 4 1/2 yrs old.

So a couple nights ago while getting him ready for bed, brushing the teeth and all I noticed he kept sticking his tongue out and then all of a sudden there was blood.

First though was, crap his bit his cheek (he's got chubby fat cheeks on the inside!)
But upon further search I realized that the tongue pushing out he was moving his bottom tooth back and forth. The tooth was just hanging there. Granted he was probably a little freaked out about it (and it probably didn't help that I did a little yelp). I was afraid he was going to swallow it. See he doesn't have the ability to reach in there and pull it out.

So I call Victoria in to show her Daniel's loose tooth to try to get him use to it. She holds him on her lap and says "ooooh let me see your loose tooth" then she reaches in there and just YANKS it out! That was it. No tears, no nothing....his tooth was out. I just looked at Tori like, I can't believe you just yoinked his tooth out! She just shrugged her shoulders like...there we go!
I secretly think she got a little pleasure out of it...ya know like any sibling she likes to inflict pain on her little brother! :)

I briefly explained the procedure to Daniel. We now get to take his tooth and put it under his pillow and then the Tooth Fairy comes while hes sleeping and leaves him something in exchange for his tooth. Needless to say he was up until 2:30 a.m. playing in bed. I think he was waiting for her! He was very excited to find an envelope with some coin in it!

Now I'm in search of a good book for him to explain the fairy! Got any suggestions?

TuTu for Tori

Tori has been asking for a tutu forever. Why? I'm not sure but she told me she'd wear it all the time. So last night I made her one, and she danced around the house! LOL
Horrible picture as it was with my phone but you get the idea.

Who Wears Short Shorts

Well the weather is getting warmer, so I dug out shorts (size 3T) from last year for Daniel.

Washed them, put them on Daniel and proceeded to get the laugh of the day.

Victoria's first common when we came out of the bedroom in the morning.
"You're not serious are you? OMG Mom you can't send him to school in (gasp) those! He's "stuff" is gonna fall out of those!"

I really wasn't going to but just wanted to see a reaction from her, which sent me into another fit of laughter.
Apparently my 3 yr old son has gone and grown up on me. The shorts that I got last year at the end of the season which were suppose to fit him...DO NOT. They were suppose to be shorts that came to right above his knee. Not the short shorts from 1980!

In an early-summer attempt to solve our shorts problems, I went in search of little boy shorts that still looked like they were for little boys and not the ones that hang off the butt.
After much searching, I think I found some "acceptable" shorts. Ones that are not too short, too long, too tight in the waist, and ones that don't have elastic around the waist like a "baby". So my 3 year old is in a 5T!! Big boy!

March Madness

Are you here because you thought you'd find something about college basketball?

Looking for updates for your brackets? Or did you come here because you heard me scream in frustration?

If you're here about basketball, I know nothing. (And Lonnie was so excited to see the title of this post...he is so disappointed right now!)

But, I am here to please. So, if your DID come here for basketball, Lonnie made the image above link to the NCAA bracket update page. Enjoy!

If you're here checking in to see how we're doing in the month of March? Well, I'll tell you its complete madness. Up until lately I would tell you that I followed these instruction to clearing out Daniel's nose. But right now.....I'm doing whatever works. Battery Operated Nasal Aspirator. Fingernail. Wadded up Tissues. Funnel. WHATEVER to help him breathe.

We are on day 22 of March and this is what its been up until now.

March 1- 9 Daniel out of school and therapy completely from being sick
March 10-16 Daniel still out of school & return part time to therapies
March 17-19 Daniel back to school and therapy full time.
March 20-22 Daniel sicker than a dog yet again.

What the heck? For the life of me I cannot get my kid healthy this year. For 2 1/2 yrs I could proudly say, that Daniel was hardly ever "sick". Yeah he had some medical issues, but truly sick....he was not. Now it seems like his body is playing catch up. Only problem is, he is missing all the things he could be learning in school. His body just isn't as strong as it was, he doesn't have the endurance that he use to have. He's just plain tired, worn out.

Its like I get him healthy, and then send him back to his normal schedule and within days we're sick again. I wonder if they sell giant plastic bubbles at Target??

It is so bad, I don't know who is more miserable. Daniel who is the one sick or me the one tired of calling into school sick and canceling therapy appointments. 3 days in school so far this month, and I don't think we've completed even a third of the therapy sessions.

Life - Back to Normal

After being out of school, missing some therapies, rescheduling life for over a week, I am proud to say we are back to our normal life!
Daniel no longer is shooting boogers across the room. We have no more watery, boogery eyeballs. We have a happy camper, who is ready to go back to school and hopefully stay healthy and not get re-infected with any germs!!Photos from:

Client Scholastic Press
Art Director Joan Michaels
Illustrator Bill Mayer
Illustration © bill Mayer 2007

A So Non-Eventful Weekend

Talk about a lazy do nothing weekend. I know most people love this type of weekend, I on the other hand dislike them. I always think "OK, lets just relax this weekend", then the guilt sets in.
I and everyone around me must be doing something at all points in time. This is ONE of my many flaws (according to people close to me!)

We did pick up bottles from our mini bottle drive that we had for the 3 day breast cancer walk.
The date for the walk is quickly approaching (September 27 - 29) and I still haven't been able to raise the $2200.00 that I need to raise to actually be able to walk. I am still hoping that I am able to raise the money so I can walk with my sisters in honor of my mom who passed away this past November from fighting breast cancer for 20+ years. She was one hell of a fighter....and I know where Daniel got his drive from. Neither of them go down without a fight. She fought long and hard, and unfortunately lost in the end. But not until she was really ready did she say OK...enough is enough, and she let go to join my dad again. Anyways-- I am hoping to be able to join my sisters, walk, raise money for a wonderful cause, and bond with my sisters (or argue...one or the other!)
If you'd like to donate, or know someone you think might - please follow this link and select my name (or someone else on my team if you so desire!:? )
http://08.the3day.org/goto/bettys

Now here is the part that I tend to always feel guilty for - we watched a movie. My sister has been trying to get to me to watch her favorite movie and I have put it off for months! So we finally watched it. Mr. Hollands Opus Good movie! I cried a little but was able to hide it! :) So glad my sister continued to ask me if I'd watched it yet!

The same sister above also recruited me this weekend into helping her make "crowns". Yes you heard me, we have been cutting and sewing by hand 10 little felt crowns. My nephew (her son) is a teacher our of state, and he requested that she make them for each of his students. He teaches at a Waldorf school, and his class is small...each student will wear a crown during writing time to make them sit up tall and help them with correct posture. He's very creative with ideas eh?!?! When we get all done I'll post a photo on here, they are actually very cute. Daniel loves walking around in his pony walker with one on!! They would be awesome for so many different things...party hats, special day crowns, dress up, Halloween....Oh I could go on and on!

How its Sunday night, and I am sitting here thinking of all the things I SHOULD have done this weekend and didn't do. Like get all of Daniel's clothes set out for the week for preschool (UUUGH PRESCHOOL!) cook dinners for the week. Clean the house more, including doing laundry. Should have weeded also! Heck the list is so long....I could type it up and I wouldn't be done for another hour!

Oh yeah, and I cleaned out the refrigerator!~ How's that for a fun weekend!
NOT!

Better Late Than Never!

OK, so I'm a bad mom for not posting photos sooner of Daniel and Caitlin's birthday party from last week. Daniel turned a whopping 3 and Caitlin turned an "over the hill" age of 23!

As much as I didn't want to do the SpongeBob cake, we did because Daniel specifically picked it out all on his own. I tried with all my might to get him to pick ANYTHING else. I don't know about you people but I am so sick of SpongeBob! Anyways, I baked the cake and this year.............DADDY did the decorating! Kudos to Lonnie. Job well done! He is a man of many talents!
Caitlin on the only hand loves cupcakes, so Tori made Caitlin's cake this year. All I had to do was mix the colored frosting for both cakes and get the tubes ready, they did the rest! I Love it!
Daniel received some pretty cool gifts this year. As you already know he got the Childrite Seat! YEA!!! It is just the right height to put a breakfast tray (the kind when you have breakfast in bed...HINT HINT!) in front of him and he instantly has a little desk! I LOVE IT! Thank you Aunt Karrie, Uncle Vince, Dillon and Rocco. He also got a CD from Aunt Ann that has his name in all the songs....over 80 times! How sweet is that?!? And below you can see, Daniel got cars from Emmie, and also a race track! Don't know who was having more fun with it Daniel or Daddy?!!?

THEN......prepare yourselves. Daniel LOVES the Wonder Pets show, so Victoria decided to get Daniel a Guinea pig. This is like nothing you have ever seen before. This thing is HUGE. It is the ugliest thing I have ever seen (I'm not really fond of large rodents) but it has the best personality! It cracks me up. Meet.........Cacapoohie (they names it!) Scary isn't it?!
They say that owners generally start looking like their dogs, or that they pick dogs that resemble themselves. I think the same goes for Daniel and his pet...Look at the two photos below. See how the hair is similar?!!?! (Daniel's hair after a nap)
I had to take a picture of the Guinea pig to get an better view from above. Have you ever seen anything like it before?? The front end looks like your typical Guinea pig, the butt of it looks like someone stapled a wig to its butt! Eeewwwww!

We Represent...

As I stated in a previous post, this year I am very excited for the summer and Daniel. He has so much more mobility, he's more alert, he's just more. The past few days have been slightly chilly so we haven't really been able to play outside too much but that gave me time to dig up my favorite picture from last summer. And I think I might already have the favorite from this summer, but I'll have to wait on that one.

I'll give you a little intro.......

We represent the Lollipop Guild

The Lollipop Guild,

the Lollipop Guild

And in the name of the Lollipop Guild

We wish to welcome you to Munchkin Land

Drum roll please................

Summer of 2007 Best picture goes to....

Remarkable resemblance don't you agree??

This was Daniel's first experience running through the sprinkler with big sister Victoria last year and the face he made when the water hit him. The minute I downloaded this I knew he reminded me of someone........then it clicked!! I still love this one and he'll never live it down either, this is one of those pictures you pull out years later and show girlfriends that come over!! And YES I will do that too!

It has indeed been a busy week for us, besides the standard 7 therapies, plus Early Intervention, we also got fitted for our next pair of DAFO's. Got to bring our power wheelchair home because Daniel now has his driving permit.

Warning: If you come to my home wear your steel toe shoes!! Daniel is still a little new at this whole driving thing and when he gets excited..its every man for himself! (What do you expect he's only 2 1/2 yrs old~) Below we were playing catch.

Today we also got to go pick up our new bike!! Before anyone gets too excited Daddy took this picture BEFORE Daniel had his helmet on or his shoes!! I cannot wait to get him going on this, such wonderful exercise too. Also helps with getting Daniel to go potty. Kids with CP tend to have a more difficult time because they aren't as active as the typical child. So this gets the legs moving which in turn helps get other things moving too! (If you're reading this and you belong to CP Mom's support group YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!)

Look more tomorrow for pictures of Daniel on his bike outside! Its suppose to be very very nice!! This is the bike I was telling you all about here. His bike is from Freedom Concepts Inc. and I must say....IT ROCKS!! This is Daniel's model Thank you Hal (from Freedom Concepts) and the people at Bike Day!!

We had some much fun today that Daniel was in bed before 8 p.m. and he fell asleep in the middle of playing with Dad. Just like that - mid squealing on daddy's shoulder he fell fast asleep. HE NEVER DOES THIS. It took us a good 10 minutes to wake him up to give him his nightly medicine and was back to sleep in record time.

John 9: 1-3

I have gone through many different "stages" of accepting and changing what our life is. Some times I blame myself that Daniel has these disabilities because of something I did wrong during my pregnancy, or because I must have sinned really bad and this is how I have to repent. I have gone the route that its just a mix of Lonnie and I and it just didn't come out "right". I have gone the other route that its just a fluke. And sometimes I come back to its my fault he has to fight these horrible things. I blame myself.

But most of the time, if someone came up to me and said "I can make Daniel "normal" but he won't be like the Daniel you know now." I would tell them to forget it. I accept Daniel. I accept that he is different, and I love him for that. There is no way in any way shape or form that I would change, go back in time, fix, redo.....anything with Daniel. I love him beyond the ends of earth, I love him more that I can imagine loving anyone. And I want him to know how proud I am of him, and how wonderful he is and that I would NEVER trade him for anything.

Now, ask me if I accept how society treats people with disabilities.....and we're into a whole other blog! A blog that will allow me to use colorful language that I can't use here! Do I accept how things are difficult for Daniel?....NO. Will I fight to make sure that he has everything and anything that he needs to succeed? Well, sure I will or I wouldn't' be a good parent. Regardless if he had a disability or not, I would do it.

I want people to treat Daniel as if he is a typical child and not give him special treatment because he is different. I do not want people to pity Daniel or his family. I want them to learn from his struggles (and hopefully this blog is helping).

I believe Daniel is here to bless my life. Yes I have other children and I have learned a tremendous amount from them and I still am. But God gave me a child with special needs because he knew that I needed someone to need me...I needed to learn something...I needed to understand. And I have been blessed........with Daniel.

John 9:1-3
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples ask him, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."

I guess a little bit of my religous parents rubbed off on me. I knew I loved them for a reason! :)

Baa Baa Little Sheep....

Baa baa baa baa.....

What do you think about this?

Or this?

Or perhaps this??!!

Or by chance, this sound? http://www.sheep.com/sheep_sounds.cfm

We've even tried to play this game...http://www.adoptafarm.com/games/sheepjumpers.cfm

Let's ask Daniel what he thinks!

Don't ask me why, but my child is deathly afraid of ANY type of sheep, a sheep shaped toy, a sheep book, a sheep sound, a game with a sheep in it, singing Old McDonald had a sheep. He has never even seen a real sheep. He sees one on television and forget it, the shows over. You read him a book with one on the page and he will flip out. You sing the song or make the noise of a sheep...........STAND BACK! God forbid when he goes to bed to I say anything about "counting sheep!" he'll have nightmares!








In Daniel's mind............Sheep Suck!





Hopefully we never have a field trip and go to a petting farm!

Amazed...

We have had a website for Daniel since the beginning of our "Journey" with Infantile Spasms, through BPP, and onto Spastic Quad Cerebral Palsy. It has either been with Baby Jellybeans, or through Blogger.....but it has been 2 years almost.

2 YEARS of ups and downs
2 YEARS of some really scary things that we learned on the internet
2 YEARS of some really supportive "web friends"
2 YEARS of gathering information and doing hours and hours of research
2 YEARS of intensive therapy on an almost daily basis
2 YEARS of a lot of tears, and
2 Wonderful years of seeing my son thrive beyond what others imagined.

Some people look at us and say "wow, its got to be so difficult".
Yes on some days it is.....but other days its no different than what any other parent does.
So we have to carry Daniel because he can't walk
So we have to feed Daniel because he can't feed himself
But I can almost guarantee you, that if you were able to experience Daniel for just one day, you wouldn't want to give him back either!

I am amazed at how great he is doing, and we have a lot of people to thank for him doing so well.
Therapy.........sheesh, I can't even begin to express how much these people have helped us. Countless hours, therapists that leave their jobs and go home and actually think about things to do with him to help him. They actual go home and research what piece of equipment would be better for him. They have all been godsends to us.

Then, you wouldn't believe where people come from to read Daniel's blog and offer comments and support through the blog and by direct email. Here is just a brief little list of where some of our visitors that keep returning come from:

Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Guelp, Ontario
Austin, Texas
Kelty, Fife, United Kingdom
Haderslev, Sonderjylland, Denmark
Munich, Bayern, Germany
London, United Kingdom
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Bangalore, Karanataka, India
Ljubljana, Bohinj, Slovenia
Mangaroa, New Zealand
and of course, if you take a little glance at our map at the lower bottom of the page, you'll see we get people from all over the United States.
The support has been awesome......and I just wanted to let you know we appreciate it all.....

xoxo-

Us.

The New....The Improved!

Over the next week or so we will be changing Daniel's website around. So if you come and things look all messed up, that is us trying to improve the way the blog looks.

If you have a link on our site to yours...please check the link to make sure it goes to your homepage or the page you would prefer new visitors to visit first. If its wrong or if it doesn't work, send me an email and I'll fix it right away.

If you have a link on your site to Daniel's site, can you please double check that your link works because Daniel's address (www....) is going to be changing soon and I want to make sure that we can keep every ones site working correctly. So again, please do me a favor and check your site to make sure Daniel's link works, we like your traffic and visitors!!! :)

If there is anyone out there that knows how to make a really cool graphic or taking a picture of Daniel and putting it on the header let me know. I love the one that Moo has on his website.....check it out at Terrible Palsy. Its different than most and very original (I think!) I also like the coloring and picture (although it doesn't fit Daniel) on Dura Mater also.

I want NEW and IMPROVED!!!!