Vacation Part 2, Meet a cutie

In my last post I only made it up to day 3 in our vacation ---- there is soooo much more!!!
On day 4 we went to the grand land its self--- Magic Kingdom. By this time Carson just absolutely was so in love with everything Mickey Mouse. It was sooo cute and so great to see his excitement. Every Mickey he saw came with squeals and glee. :) until we saw the actual Mickey or any life-size characters and that was just not cool.

Waiting to ride the boat over. 

My cutie nephew

Me and Charity :)

This was probably mommy's favorite part. 

Everything is bigger at Disney

including smiles

Donald Duck tried so hard to make Carson smile. 

Even blew us kisses. It was really neat there were about 100 people in our area and D.D. Keyed in on us.
I was wearing my Redefining Spina Bifida shirt. He pointed at it and gave me a thumbs up. :) 

Still watching the parade with alot of questions. Why is Goofy holding me? 

Just too cute!!!

We had a blast!!! The best part was of course being together and spending some family time.  We are so
blessed and so thankful for our boys.

My brother Cody is in the middle. :) 

Carson's favorite part of all of Disney might have been this balloon. He would not let it go and played with it all through our vacation. 

 On Saturday- Day 5    We stuck around in Orlando for a few more hours and hit the Hollywood Studios Park

Meeting my heroes. 

Pizza Planet

We watched a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse puppet show. 

Then we hit the road and headed to Tampa. And there is lots more to come.

Sidenote!!!!!!!! 

 October is National Spina Bifida awareness month. Although I am catching up on our vacation..... I intend to include in this months posts some pretty amazing things to talk a little more about Spina Bifida. I want you to see what it means for us and for the others that we know living with Spina Bifida. When Carson was first diagnosed I thought he would miss out on so many opprtunities. Often times Drs. give you a very negative outlook on the quality of life that these children will have. They are so wrong!!!!!! 

A life with Spina Bifida is joyous and full of fun. We just went to Disneyworld. 

So Here's my first little cutie..... eating ice cream! 

 Arwen- She is 1 year old.

Yum Yum Yum

Silly me

I made a mistake, and I do publicly apologize... My last post which is the part 1 of our Florida vacation was lacking.

Very lacking....

For those of you who are not aware. I am a little sister. I do have a older brother. An older brother who might I add is the closest thing to a best friend that a sibling can be. He and I are soooo very close. He and I  used to frequently be mistaken for twins. And we really could finish each others sentences and feel each other pain. Like the time he fell out of a tree in our grandparents backyard.... I felt that pain too. Of course he grabbed me and pulled me down with him. :) We used to be able to argue with each other without saying a word. If you've ever seen Berenstein Bears brother and sister bear are fashioned after us. Yep, they ought to be paying us copyright. :) Really he's an amazing big brother and I have been tremendously blessed to be his sister and his friend.

 In my previous post I left out that awesome brother of mine.

So without further ado...

To Cody!

Here's Cody feeding the birds cheetos.

Here's Cody sitting somewhere

Here's Cody pushing Micah in the stroller. He's Micah daddy. :)

Here's Cody holding Micah

Here's Cody being wishing he had twins

Here's Cody on the safari

here's Cody talking with Bob

Here's Cody playing piano with carson

Here's Cody at cracker barrell

Here's Cody :)

And I know I'm sure by my orneriness you can tell that I am indeed a little sister. :) I love you Big Bro!!!!!

I'm so proud of you too. You're doing great, and I loved being with you and your family!!!

Our vacation (Part 1)

Ok so we just took an awesome, amazing, wonderful, fantastic, much-needed family vacation this month. We were able to spend 2 whole weeks in Florida with our families. I have soooo many pictures!!!!!

Elevator

Me Ma and Pa Pa drove us to the airport. It took quite a crew to get us and all our stuff inside. :)

1 wheelchair with a almost 2 year old in it
1 stroller/carseat with a 4 month old on board
1 very large and over-packed diaper bag
2 large suitcases
1 backpack filled with goodies and a portable dvd player
1 extra little suitcase, cause hard as I tried I couldn't fit everything into the 2 very large ones. :)

The crankiest person and the least behaved was myself. The boys were soooo good!!!! We had a 1 hr. flight to phoenix. Then our plane was broken and we had to spend an extra 2 hrs at the airport. We did apparently see a star. But i've forgotten his name. He was a basketball player. :) I was so impressed (cant you tell) Then the flight to Orlando was supposed to be 4 hrs. It took 5 1/2 because of bad weather, and honestly I am the only one who complained..... Sorry... Shame on me! when we got off the plane about 10 people complimented the boys on their good behaviour. :) Big smiles and proud parents!!!!

It's my first plane flight!!!!!

Carson taxiing Silas around the airport. It was too funny.. he really pushed him in his chair.

 We made it to Orlando late that evening meeting my brother and sister and law. AND my Nephew Micah!!!!

 He is just 12 days older than Silas. It was so great that Charity and I were pregnant together, and we had a blast sharing the the experience but the bummer with that was I was too pregnant to get to be there for Micah's birth. So finally after waiting way too long, I got to meet the little man... He is a cutie and I am the most proud aunt ever!!!!

We spent our first day relaxing and re-cooping, then we headed off for none other the humongous Disney World and it really is a world all its own. Its massive!!!!!! We spent day 1 at Epcott.

Hey Dude! I like your ride!

Thank you again Mom for the tickets. :)

Each ride is themed from a particular country. Our first ride was Mexico. Carson wasnt so sure about Donald Duck in Mexican attire.

Embarrassing photo to show them when they're older

Having too much fun!!!

Break time!!! :)

 To be Continued......

 

Its a update!!

Look out everyone!!!! Its a update to our blog!!!!

Its been quite a while and I do apologize but here we go!

Our last entry told you that Carson got his body cast removed....We were shouting with glee---  No more cast!!!! Well just a few shorts days after that post Carson's legs were broken again. This time however instead of a big huge body cast the ortho. left him in splints. This was a huge blessing, but this of course made us question why only splints. When Carson broke his left femur he was placed in a body cast.... Now he broke his right femur, and his left fibula, and tibia, and splints were ok. Well that's one of those times when you just let it go, and go. Splints are way better than casts, so we left his office before he changed his mind. And we also have learned that arguing with our Ortho. is absolutely pointless. He's a crazy man sometimes, but has proven he's right on multiple occasions.

Like I mentioned before when I told you about the body cast, we again figured things out. With braces he could still fir in his carseat, and use his wheelchair.We still had a no water order..... SHHHH... Don't tell.
We decked him in Target bags ( I'm thinking about pitching the idea to them to place on the bag as a use since they have other catchy ideas) and a trash bag... Ya, its a Glad (can't you tell by his smile)

And after just 4 short weeks the splints were removed to reveal some very hairy, white legs. I'm talking about his, not mine.... :)

Carson has been doing soooo great in his wheelchair, and we have been using it in public alot. This is something like I thought it would be... I kinda dreaded it; but honestly its kinda fun. I love seeing Carson getting around. Tonight we went out to dinner (fast food) and the restaurant was fairly empty so he and I played a little hide and seek. He chased me around and we just laughed and laughed. Then we hit Kohls for some shoes and he wheeled in and out of the aisles having a blast getting away from me. Really my heart just melts with pride and joy. Yes, he's in a wheelchair. No I would have never wanted that. But I'm loving it! I love him, and were not wallowing one bit.

We have had so many people comment while we are out about how well he gets around. They usually ask how old he is, and when we reply that he's close to 2 they are shocked. They generally always mention how cute he is and we get the opportunity to talk about Spina Bifida. It's amazing how many people encourage us, and say something along the lines of "Well, God has a plan for him." We know this to be true and we are so excited to continually see God working and blessing our family. 

The next step for Cars is too get him fitted for braces and then weight- bear!!!! (standing)  Both of these will take place tomorrow so please pray for those appointments.

And in other news- Silas has grown faster than I could have ever imagined. My little 6 pound tiny baby boy is now at least a 15 pound, almost 4 month old, chunky monkey. He has started eating rice cereal, and can just about roll-over. He laughs, He talks :) He likes pajamas, and eating. He's grasping for toys, and loves to have his diaper changed. His first laugh happened while I was changing him.  He sleeps 11-12 hours at night. He's just wonderful. He's full of smiles and sweetness.

Such a man, showing off his belly. 

Showing off his cute little grin. 

I thank the Lord daily that he brought us Silas, and I'm so thankful for the timing as well. I, of course, thought in my own thinking that it was way too soon to have our second. But no, like always, God's timing is best!!! Silas has been such a gift of sweetness, and calm. Yes, a baby has brought calm. There is nothing like holding a baby to help you count you blessings and calm your spirit.

Carson adores his baby brother, and loves to help take care of him. He is learning sharing, and patience too... learning is the key word there. :)  I am sure that the two of them will be the best of friends, and the most dangerous little rascals. :)We are blessed. I've recently been asked about having our third. And after I almost shot soda out my nose... I replied In God's time. All in God's time.

Seriously Silas was smiling at this.

Giving "kisses"

Thank you for your continued prayers and your sweet comments of encouragement. 

Love from our family to yours!!!!!

No more cast!

“Nobody says you must laugh, but a sense of humor can help you overlook the unattractive, tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected and smile through the day” - Ann Landers

Having your  first child put in a body cast two days before the arrival of your second child is definitely one of those times when the word unexpected comes to mind. Unattractive, Unpleasant are also very true. But you know what.. I shed some tears, I screamed in a pillow (not kidding), and then we, together is the key here, moved on. And you know what---- we totally laughed at that cast. We conquered!!!!

“If people are truly, madly, deeply in love with each other, they will find a way.”- Unknown

As we headed down to see the ortho. on Tuesday both Bob and I agreed that it really wasn't all that bad and we were very much used to it. If it didnt come off no big deal. Like everything else along our journey... when that new kink or twist pops you panic... but give it time and it just fades into normal. The cast was no exception. We figured out that a bean bag chair (Thank you to our sweet neighbor) totally allowed "sitting", A wagon with a pillow base made walks possible, and pillow made a car trip possible, and restaurants well he balanced on Dads leg or sat sade saddle on Mom's lap. When the top portion was removed it was so much easier and this made even quad riding possible. :)




Well it did come off on Tuesday!!!! What a blessing to leave and sit Cars in the stroller. What a blessing to put pants on him.... anyone who knows me well, knows how much it bothered me for him to not have pants on. :) What a blessing to let him have a bath. He loved it!!! He stayed in for about a hour, splashing and playing, laughing. Then we set him in the wheelchair. And, he totally took off!!!! 


We headed outside and he wheeled around the neighborhood. 

Its so exciting to see Carson getting around in his chair. So exciting! This is a huge step for us. Speaking of steps... :) We got the green light from his orthopedic to work on weight bearing!!!! This is wonderful. The x-ray showed that his hip is in the socket where it belongs.  See, the cast may just have been a blessing in disguise for that hip. Our next step is to find the right bracing and then progress from there. Carson has always not had what would be considered muscle tone in his legs, but there was "some" there. Due to the cast it is gone... very gone, and even the muscles in his waist have greatly atrophied. BUMMER. So we have a long long road to tread but were gonna do it, and now we get to start walking that "walking" road. YAY!!! Please pray for this. We are now totally ok with Carson not walking... time has changed our perspective. But we do want to give him every available possibility that he can have. Please pray with us for the right tools, methods, attitudes, and help. 

Oh ps. Here's some cute baby pictures. :)

Here we are again.

 What have we been been up to???

I know this question keeps you up at night.... you wonder and wonder about us... don't ya???
Well look  no further... here's the scoop.

We've been busy... If I have learned anything since the arrival of Silas it is the fact that having children is much different from having a child. It's a whole new level of insanity that ranks right there among a straight jacket and a bubble room. That's another post another time... it's fun. :)

We had the privilege of attending the spina bifida conference this year. It was in Anaheim at the Disneyland hotel. It was so wonderful to be amongst people who "know". You know people you know that "know" you and yet you have no "know" of each other, other than the "know" that you now have from "knowing" each other through the "know" of spina bifida. ---- Told you I've gone crazy. These are my friends, some of my closest friends. Some of these friends I had never physically met until the conference. Yet, a gray Redefining Spina Bifida shirt warranted a huge bear hug. These are my fellow mommas and daddas, and each one of them has a special place in my heart. It was so wonderful to be together and have this golden opportunity to get together. We needed more time.... so much more time.

I volunteered for the conference (this was a blessing/curse) They kept me busy... and I did not have the opportunity to pick my sessions. I did end up in some fantastic sessions, both informative and encouraging.
The conference kinda leaves you in a mental state of overload and paranoia at the same time.. so that is all something I am still processing. If there is one thing that I could point out as having learned it is this...

Do not ever let the fact that Carson has spina bifida dictate or direct his life, our life. If he wants to dance.. make it happen. Ha ha... Dancing was her demonstration and I promised that I would let him dance if he wanted to... It was a hypothetical situation... Ok, I take it back... I will not let Carson tap dance... but this has nothing to do with spina bifida so I'm deeming it ok to not keep that promise. I will keep the promise to not hold him back. Never let spina bifida define him or hinder him. Parents play a huge role in the independence and the attitude of the child. This is something that has been heavy on my heart. It is my prayer that I direct both my children towards success in life, both physical and spiritual. I pray that my boys grow to be godly men who love and serve their families and the Lord. Happy, sweet, strong, stable, hardworking,  loving, and thankful are among a few of the qualities I wish in them... None of these rely on the fact of Carson walking, none. None. Spina Bifida does not and cannot be allowed to hinder these. The session encouraged me to look past walking, for some reason this is so important to us, but why???? God does have a plan, and Carson's heart is most valuable.

It was a good time, a crazy time... I cannot believe we did it. Carson is still in his cast and Silas is only 2 months old.... But we did it. Were crazy kids thats what we are. We did have some family fun. We held up 3 suckers to Carson (small, medium, large) here he is pointing to the one he wanted.  Seriously.... the boy knew...

These two are just too adorable. My boys. :)


 It was a blast...
But there's no place like home.

 And homemade ice cream.... Ya Silas got to try ice cream. Now before you call the Child services on me or cast "bad" mom status. It was Fourth of July and it was 104 degrees outside.... and how could you resist that grin.

 I meant the grin of Silas... but this next grin was irresistable too and I shared with him as well

 Ya, It was amazing!!! And Silas was very grateful. :) We used it as a lesson in thankfulness. See.. good mom points.

 Off to the family BBQ.... Did I mention it was 104 degrees??? Carson couldn't resist playing in the fountain, and yes we let him. Holding him in... being very cautious to keep his cast dry... Until we started a splash fight. :) He lost and got drenched... thankfully the cast stayed dry (mostly).

We hope that you all had a very happy Fourth of July. What a blessing it is to be in America and be free.