tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39269481624850763732024-03-28T02:23:18.239-07:00Bowers Family BlogHeather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-59461005857341526302013-10-17T18:32:00.000-07:002013-10-17T18:32:00.264-07:00Say yes to peanutsWe had our much anticipated peanut challenge on Monday. When I say much anticipated I mean I actually couldn't sleep the night before. I was worried about him having a reaction, I was worried about him not wanting to eat any peanut butter, I was just worried. This from a mom with a 2.5 year old kid with a genetic disease. It takes a LOT to worry me. <br />
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I read up on what to expect, a possible 4 hour long test where they start by touching peanut butter, then bringing it to your lips and then finally eating what is considered a serving. Then they want you to wait between each test to see if you have any sort of reaction. <br />
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We were prepared, we brought crayons and coloring books and our DVD player. The Doctor came in with peanut butter on a spoon and said " His blood work shows him with no peanut allergy so lets just try this" Um okay. So Max ate his spoonful of peanut butter while watching Mickey Mouse Club House and it was all very uneventful. Max wouldn't eat a second spoonful of peanut butter so we had to go and get a recess peanut butter cup. The horror! Max has never had one before, he loved it.<br />
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So basically we can have peanut butter. It's a little scary I have to admit. We have shunned it for so long. But this opens up some things for us. Granola bars for one thing were off limits. Anything that said may contain peanuts we really weren't supposed to eat, although some times we did anyway. The holidays and random events will be easier. We don't have to worry about someone bringing in peanut butter cookies or what is in his trick or treat bag like we did before. <br />
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The next 2 nuts on the list are Cashews and Pistachios. We are going to do a food trail on Cashews first. Even though these are less common nuts, if a product says may contain tree nuts and isn't specific to which nuts we have to assume it could make him sick. <br />
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My favorite bible verse is about worrying. My favorite is the last line.<br />
<span class="text Matt-6-25"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">25 </sup>“Therefore I tell you, do not worry
about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what
you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than
clothes?</span></span> <span class="text Matt-6-26" id="en-NIV-23309"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">26 </sup>Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?</span></span> <span class="text Matt-6-27" id="en-NIV-23310"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum">27 </sup>Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life<sup class="footnote" value="[<a href="#fen-NIV-23310a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6%3A25-34#fen-NIV-23310a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup>?</span></span><br />
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<span class="text Matt-6-27" id="en-NIV-23310"><span class="woj">To bad I didn't think of this the night before the food challenge </span></span>Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com117tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-28894168219266244942013-10-16T17:22:00.001-07:002013-10-16T17:22:32.107-07:00Fire SafetyOur local fire department frequently has a weekend open house. I thought it would be fun this year to attend since Sam is so into anything that is big and has wheels. Of course we decide to go after Sam's nap and he sleeps though almost the whole thing. But the event was over at 3 and it was 2:15 we still had time to go. We loaded up the car and hit the road. I was a little worried about Max and the sirens thing. He really can't handle loud noises like that but I thought if he freaked out we can just go home. <br />
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We got there and Max got to spray a fire hose.<br />
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He loved it!<br />
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Then we went into a little fake house and had a lesson on fire safety. It was really a wonderful idea because fire safety isn't something we have really talked about at home. They talked about the importance of crawling on all fours through smoke and the importance of finding a safe area out side the home for the family to meet in case of fire. They encouraged us to practice this at home. <br />
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Meanwhile Sam and Jeremy were having fun of their own.<br />
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Sam sat in every single fire truck they had available. He had a great time. He got so excited after this one that he ran to the next truck and totally missed that there was a curb.. The good news is there were several paramedics there to help us after he mashed his poor head into the concrete. <br />
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Despite the road rash on Sam's face it was a nice time. Max did not get to up set about any noises and got to spray water from a real fire hose and Sam got to "drive" a fire truck. <br />
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When we got home I decided what we needed to do was practice what Max and I had learned and do a fire drill. Jeremy turned the fire alarm on and we all crawled through our bed rooms, down the stairs and out the front door to the mail box, our meeting spot. Next time we do a drill I think we will try it after dark..Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com246tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-46559501608381904472013-08-15T12:59:00.000-07:002013-08-15T13:03:49.226-07:00Peanuts?As many of you know Max cannot have peanuts. We have known about this since he was about a year old. I had given him a Peanut butter sandwich and he puked. He puked every time he had anything peanut butter related for the next year. We finally met with an allergist that told us to 1.Stop giving him peanuts and 2. He is also allergic to Cashews and Pistachios. He also mentioned that even though we shouldn't give him peanuts, his skin test and his blood test didn't actually show a peanut allergy.<br />
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I don't know why we don't just have normal test results but we just don't okay.<br />
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So we did fine all last year in preschool, gave the teacher an epi pen and told her NO NUTS for Max. It worked great. Probably too good cause they wouldn't let him to a project that had to do with coconuts. Whatever as long as the kid doesn't puke.<br />
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So Basically we have been going about our business and doing well without nuts. That being said I know that we don't always carry Max's epi pen. I try too but sometimes I forget or its in another purse or something. Well about 2 weeks ago a little girl was on a camping trip. It was after dark and someone had made rice crisps with chocolate and peanut butter. Someone fed the girl one of these "treats" and apparently didn't know she couldn't have peanuts. They tried to use an epi pen on her but her heart stopped and she died, from eating a freaking peanut!<br />
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Meanwhile Max was at Vacation Bible school. I had told the cafeteria about his nut allergy and they said they had no nut related snacks. Cool. So Max comes home from bible school on the same day as I read the article about the poor girl that died, with a pine cone and bird seed. I guess they were doing that bird feeder craft where you spread peanut butter on a pine cone and then dip it in bird seed. Thankfully somebody had remembered that Max was nut free and didn't let him do the craft with peanut butter. Still I was freaked out like majorly. I mean what if they hadn't remembered.<br />
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So I totally couldn't sleep that night. I just couldn't stop thinking about that stupid bird feeder craft. I had not even thought about a craft having peanut butter in it, never dawned on me. So I took his little school bag and pinned a note to it about his allergy and his epi pens and finally was able to sleep.<br />
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This also reminded me that we needed to visit the allergist again. They said oh yes it's been a while please come and we can do more testing. CRAP! So we went to our apt and talked to the dr. and decided that we could just do a blood test to confirm that he was still allergic to tree nuts and also to see what was going on with the peanuts. Basically he said that if he doesn't test positive for peanut allergy with this blood test we can do something called a food trail. A food trail is a fun thing they do where they just keep giving your kid more and more of the offending food and see if they have a reaction. Thrilling! I guess this can take up to 4 hours if it goes well. Again Thrilling.<br />
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The thing is, even if he does pass the peanut test, he still will have to stay away from tree nuts. So honestly for us it probably doesn't much matter because if you are a label reader you know that "may contain traces of peanuts or tree nuts " is on pretty much all products that may have any sort of nut in it. They don't distinguish which nut it has, its either a peanut or a tree nut. <br />
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The other problem I foresee is Max being Max and knowing he can't have peanuts. How are we going to convince him he can eat them? I mean if your whole like someone tells you you can't have something... I have a feeling this really isn't going to change our lives either way. But hey maybe someday they will find a cure for tree nut allergies.Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com134tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-44411405895785129672013-06-16T17:35:00.002-07:002013-06-16T17:35:16.859-07:00Welcome to AutismWhen Max was a baby his first Pediatrician was a guy named Dr Kothke. He was okay, seemed well informed, mostly answered all my questions with "he seems okay to me" On Max's 2 year visit I mentioned that Max layed on the floor on his chest with his legs crossed for like a considerable amount of time. The Doctors response was that maybe he was bored. Bored really? Thats your answer? <br />
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We didn't really need to go back to the doctor between that visit and having Sam. We had Sam and took him to a different Pediatrician and liked her fairly well, even after she told us Sam has a genetic disease we still liked her. I decided to switch Max to her as well.<br />
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So at this point Max is 3 years old, his speech is a little behind but not too bad but he is still doing his leg crossing. I make a special Apt with our Ped and ask her what is up. She talks to Max, makes sure he makes eye contact, knows his colors and says he is fine. Okay<br />
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At this point I am so busy shuttling Sam around creation to his appointments i'm not sure I would have noticed if Max grew a second head. Well the leg crossing continues off and on and at some point Max add rocking to this repitore of things he does.<br />
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Max starts preschool, in October his teachers want to know what on earth my kid is doing on the floor. I tell them he is leg crossing "floor humping" and I don't know why he does it but the pediatrician isn't very concerned. Max starts to rock in his chair also and the teachers keep grilling me on what is going on with him. <br />
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After a 20 min phone call to the Pediatrician I am assured Max is fine he since his academics are very good the strange movements are steroetipic behaviors and he should out grow them. Okay.<br />
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His preschool teachers are still concerned so I video tape his episodes and show them to Sam's occupational therapist, 2 therapists actually. One didn't really know what he was doing and the other thought he was just centering himself.<br />
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At this point no one knows what is going on and I am tired of asking. Jeremy and I even tried taking him off of wheat in case he had an allergy or something and still he floor humped and rocked.<br />
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A couple of monthes ago one of Sam's teachers from early on came over to the house for a home visit. Max starts doing his leg crossing and she says "what is he doing" I tell her no one knows but more and more I feel like we should be more concerned about Max then Sam I just can't get anyone to listen to me. She says we should talk to an occupational therepist becuase he seems to have some sort of sensory issues.<br />
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So I call the pediatrician again. I tell her again about Max's behaviors and she again falls back on how good he is in school. I tell her I just want a script for OT and she wants to know what for. Sensory stuff I guess I say. She thinks if we are really still concerned we should see some one named Dr.Bowers. Fine lets do that.<br />
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So our appointment was last Monday. Before we get there we had to fill out like an 8 page form about our kid. There were all sorts of questions about how his delivery was to how old he was when he first held a spoon to when he was potty trained. The more I filled out the more I wondered if maybe we did have a problem. I mean know that you ask, yes max majorly freaks out when a train goes by. He hates to have his hair cut, he prefers is waffles to be frozen, he hasn't shown a hand preference and he was a late talker. Or maybe we are over reacting and he is just weird. <br />
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I show up with video of said behaviors in hand. I meet a very nice man named Dr.Bowers who talks about all his strange behaviors and some other things and basically tells us he is on the spectrum. The Autism spectrum.<br />
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He tells me that as we are sitting here talking Max pretty much ignores us and that the toys he chooses are all linear based toys. Trains are a very linear toy no imagination involved. So my kid doesn't have an imagination, super. He goes on to say that his teachers probably loved him because he is a cute little kid that doesn't make to much noise and can say the alphabet. <br />
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So from here we have OT and Speech therepy to begin soon. We will also have some therepy when he is in school. He isn't supposed to ride the bus since that is a time when he rocks the most and I am to make sure he is engaged and not off in la la land, or going down the rabbit hole, as Dr. Bowers put it. We are also going to try something called the play project, which I hope will help him with the imagination portion of the problem.<br />
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So the next couple days I was pissed off. I was pissed that it took this long to get a diagnosis and I was pissed that I know have 2 special needs kids. I mean really 2 kids with IEP's really? I am fairly certain I don't have the patience for this. How do we dicipline him know if he rocks when he is im time out? How do we deal with his melt downs know that we know he has a problem?<br />
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There is a quote I love that goes "failure to plan on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on my part" I feel like I am living this right now. I feel like I have all this stuff I have to do before he goes to school that we could have been doing years ago had anyone listened to me in the beginning. Its summer we are supposed to be playing not doing behavoiral check lists. <br />
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I stopped whining yesterday though. Yeah I am still frustrated as heck. I so wish we had found out sooner but I cant change that. I find my self dealing with this much as I delt with Sam's diagnosis. I had to have CHARGE free days. Today I had an Autism free day. That means I didn't read anything about it, talk about it, or do any related paper work. Well except for this post. <br />
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I hope we get some info next week, this we know he has autism but are waiting on therapy is kind of weird. Oh well.<br />
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<br />Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com69tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-22090603288928844232013-05-28T18:03:00.000-07:002013-05-28T18:03:49.429-07:00Mile StonesSo everyone who have kids knows what a developmental mile stone is. Whether it be walking, eating solid foods or talking. Each child is expected to reach these goals in some acceptable time frame. Now I don't know how we decided which milestones were worthy of note but we all know we looked at our kids and that calender and made sure they were meeting their goals. And if our kid was a little slower than the kid down the street at say talking, maybe we brought it up to the doctor at our next visit. <br />
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All of these above miles stones and several others are things we all take or took for granted. Sure my kid will be able to roll over, sure he will walk, sure she will crawl. Well the truth is all these milestones don't have to happen. There is no law or rule that says your kid is going to do all of these things at any given time or perhaps ever. Its okay even. <br />
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When your child is born we all bring it to breast or give it a bottle within the first hour of life. What if I was to tell you that some kids fail this mile stone. As it turns out Sam failed it we just didn't know it at the time. It turns out the ability to swallow is a major deal and not every one can do it. There are cool tests called swallow studies and they have the kid drink barium to see if they can keep it out of their lungs. Sam couldn't keep it out of his lungs so he had HAD being the important part, an unsafe swallow.<br />
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So everything he drank had to be thickened with xanthum gum so that is was heavier and he could control it better and swallow safely. We have a huge tub of the stuff in our fridge and tons of little travel packets in ever pocket and purse so we can thicken his drinks. <br />
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Not only did we have to worry about drinking but when he was smaller we had to thicken his Tylenol and really get on his brother if he splashed in the bathtub to much cause he would aspirate that too. W e had a swallow study not to long ago that he sort of passed but not really. They said be careful and have him drink slowly. And we were. We started letting him drink out of a straw with less or no thickener becuase the flow is more controlled with a straw. We started using less Xanthum gum in his drinks so it would be thinner for him.<br />
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Well for the last couple of days I have not been using any Xanthum gum at all and his lungs sound great! My kid can finally swallow thin liquids :) Its just one more amazing bodily feat that I didn't know to be thankful for.Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com110tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-3601090703042295782013-05-27T18:17:00.000-07:002013-05-27T18:17:31.834-07:00Happy Memorial Day Last night my dad called me on the phone to ask if we wanted to go swimming at his brothers pool. I asked the kids and I got a YES! This morning we were all excited to go to the pool. I went to the store early so we could be ready to go on time. As I was on my way to the store I noticed they were setting up for the Memorial Day Parade, which I had forgotten about. Oh well I thought, we are going swimming this afternoon so it's all good.<br />
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A few miles further from the parade and the phone rings. Its my dad saying there is a change in plans and long story short we aren't going to the pool today. This will teach me to tell my kids something fun is going to happen later. I just felt so bad, like I had ruined the day which of course I hadn't but anyway. I noticed that its only like 10am so maybe I can swing home and fetch the kids and still make the parade since we can't go swimming. So I call Jeremy and tell him to take Max to the bathroom and grab some jackets cause we are going to the parade. I pull up to the house, fetch the kids and away we go. We arrive in down town at about 10:15 just to see people getting up and leaving the parade. CRAP!<br />
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So I turn the car around I drive home. On the way we see a garage sale. We are a big garage sale family so I new this would perk the kids up since we missed the parade, I had yet to mention we aren't going swimming either. So we are looking around at the garage sale and all of the sudden I hear Max say "i'm peeing". I say why? and he says I don't know. Then I get the giggles, really bad. Did all that stuff really just happen and now my kid is peeing in some random persons garage? Really? Jeremy got in trouble for this one really since I said "make sure he pees before the parade" <br />
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So we go home and get new pants for Max and head for the grocery store to shop as a family. You give the kids a free chocolate cookie, a banana and check out the fish dept and they forget the rest of the day even happened I guess.<br />
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We got home had lunch and realized both creatures needed naps so we got that out of the way and then had the task of figuring out what to do for the rest of the day. The weather is crappy so nothing outside, no indoor play places were open either. We decided on bowling. First I had to have the "can Sammy do this thought" but I couldn't think of a reason why he couldn't at least try to bowl so we went ahead with our plans. <br />
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As you can see they have this ramp that you aim where you want to ball to go therefore letting younger kids try bowling. Max has done this a handful of times and really likes it. This was Sam's first attempt at bowling and as you can see he beat his brother by a pin.<br />
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We came home had dinner and made banana bread. They loved it. <br />
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<br />Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com160tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-4133157371446766982013-05-09T18:02:00.000-07:002013-05-09T18:02:13.182-07:00A Day Out With Thomas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We were awesome parents this last weekend at took the kids to A Day Out With Thomas. Its an event were the kids get to do various Thomas related activities and actually ride on Thomas. It was at Greenfield Village this year which is only about a 45 min drive from our house. </div>
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We decided to take a picnic lunch since I was starting The South Beach Diet and I didn't want to cheat. I was worried the kids wouldn't want to sit and eat right after we got there but we all sat in the shade and had a good lunch before the fun began.</div>
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This is the front on Thomas. He is huge.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKeDqyQ-4RDu9THdIc6V13Ujo1KdEpdImws0hPBGJDTalZfPuXqCAHKI4L9e1b-9OBpR3YLRmp5-dlcxFcms53xOnGdUVK_vPW2N-fIetQGqb6bDp2vfxNaNwUGdpFgSRoiTKXgUfJHs/s1600/100_0111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKeDqyQ-4RDu9THdIc6V13Ujo1KdEpdImws0hPBGJDTalZfPuXqCAHKI4L9e1b-9OBpR3YLRmp5-dlcxFcms53xOnGdUVK_vPW2N-fIetQGqb6bDp2vfxNaNwUGdpFgSRoiTKXgUfJHs/s320/100_0111.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Whats a Thomas event with out lots of train tables.</td></tr>
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We had some sharing issues here, but it was a cool set up</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lego Thomas</td></tr>
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They had a gift shop obviously and I was happy to buy the boys some sort of suvineer. They had these great big Mylar Thomas balloons that the boys were very excited about. Only problem was they were $10 each for a balloon. I know they were cool and all but $20 for 2 balloons not gonna happen kids. We settled on some cool Thomas shades.<br />
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A nice lady took our picture while we rode the train.</div>
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You could go to the train after your ride and get your picture taken. Sam couldn't take his eyes off Thomas, it was very cute.<br />
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The hundred year old carousel</div>
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And Sir Topem Hat</div>
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We had a really good time. The boys were on their good behavior and it went very well.</div>
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Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com163tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-15552635119890994742013-04-26T17:10:00.001-07:002013-04-26T17:10:34.551-07:00CannoliSometimes I think I am a pretty cool mom. Not often, but sometimes. Today was a cool mom day. There is a show on PBS called Curious George. We watch it A LOT. There is an episode where Curious George wants Canoli and cannot get it for various reasons that involve a cat and a chef and a scientist. <br />
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Well the other day Max asks if we can have cannoli. I asked why he would want some and he responded with "It's on Curious George and its yummy" I told him I had never had a cannoli either but maybe one day we would try one.<br />
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So fast forward to today, I got to the local butcher/bakery and I see they sell cannoli and they are like a buck a piece. Ohhh cool mom moment, and of course I have to tell the baker why I want them, probably thought I was nuts but who cares.<br />
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So I come home with a box of Cannoli and tell Max I have a big surprise. I open the box and he eagerly eats a cannoli and then asks me what the surprise is.<br />
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<br />Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com72tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-31626835652604063392013-04-22T18:08:00.001-07:002013-04-22T18:08:29.703-07:00TalkingThat is actually a post from another blog I read<br />
<a href="http://niederfamily.blogspot.com/2011/11/we-are-more-thankful-than-you-are.html">http://niederfamily.blogspot.com/2011/11/we-are-more-thankful-than-you-are.html</a><br />
if you want to check it out.<br />
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Once again today I am reminded of how thankful we are. Today I am thankful that Max is finally finally learning to express himself though language. He has always been a late talker, had early intervention services and the like to get him to use his words. The problem is he just barley passes something called an articulation screener so he no longer qualifies for any language services.<br />
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Who knew talking wasn't a given thing? Who knew we needed to be thankful for the ability to fluently communicate.<br />
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To give you an idea on Max's lack of communication, his two year old brother has better pronunciation
of certain words then Max does. Sam can say his L's correctly and Max
still says L's as if its a Y. <br />
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Today we are on our way home from Preschool and I ask Max if they played out side for recess, "Yes mom." Then I ask what they had for snack "Apple sauce and graham crackers" he says. Now this is already more than I usually get out of him. Every day up till now when I ask what he had for snack he would say "I don't know." So I am already pretty happy about the conversation and then he goes on to say "Also I was the snack helper" Wow did my son just volunteer information, holy cow I was very excited and thankful that he his FINALLY talking. <br />
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I was driving home from the hospital with Sam the other day and I was doing 80 in the passing lane and some person decided that was way to slow and swerved around us and gave us the bird in the process. A younger me would have been pissed off but now I kind of feel sorry for that kind of person. They don't realize they should be happy to be alive and able to drive. Its a strange thought to think, gosh I'm kinda glad some things have happened to us, I'd hate not to appreciate what we do have. Cause what I was doing on right near the Barton Drive exit was praying for the Mama's that have babies at Mott's that day and being grateful that we only had an appointment not an over night stay. <br />
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<br />Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-23191202925820660262013-04-15T11:30:00.001-07:002013-04-15T11:30:23.146-07:00Skiing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Isn't this just the cutest picture of my little boy before we go skiing?<br />
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And doesn't Sam look cute too?<br />
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It turns out not so much. <br />
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Let me start at the beginning. Their is a group in Mt Pleasant Mi called the Deaf Blind society. Since Sam is legally Deaf Blind, although not really deaf or blind just duel sensory loss, he qualifies for services. So every year they have a free ski weekend at Challenge mountain which is an adaptive ski resort. I was so looking forward to this since I had never been skiing before.<br />
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So we loaded up the mini van and headed north. It was a four hour trip for us and the kids were pretty good but ready to get out of the car for sure. Once we got there we were supposed to have a welcome buffet. Well the kids were so done sitting still they ran around the tables like little wild monkeys. <br />
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We took them up to our hotel room and got ready to go swimming. That part went okay but the water was cold so we didn't stay too long.<br />
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The next day we were all ready to go the second the ski resort opened. Max and I got our skis and thats when it started to hit the fan. You see in order to ski you have to wear a helmet. Sam didn't want to. Also you have to wear goggles. Sam really didn't want to do that. <br />
So Sam is super pissed off from the get go and they put him in this seat that is behind a snowmobile and they take him up the hill and then a guy skis behind him on the way down. It looked cool and fun, Sam hated it.<br />
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Now while all of that was going on Max and I were trying to ski down the bunny hill. I got to go down twice and it was fun and I like it. Max however didn't understand/didn't want to follow direction such as what to do with your feet so he had two volunteers help him down the bunny hill and then he was done. Bummer<br />
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So we went to find Jeremy and Sam and they were sitting inside and I start telling Jeremy about skiing and didn't realize that Sam was asleep I woke him up he was crying it was a mess. <br />
So its like 10:30am now, and the kids are done with what we had driven 4 hours and stayed in a hotel for. So we load up the kids, grab some Wendy's and head back to the hotel. Sam takes a nap after lunch and Max and I go back to the pool again. <br />
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We decided that 1. the kids were to young for this and 2. While it was a bad trip it was not in fact grounds for divorce.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I almost forgot, Sam pushed the emergency help button on the elevator. Also exciting.</td></tr>
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Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com53tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-44930328605871504452013-04-13T15:05:00.000-07:002013-04-13T15:05:29.945-07:00SwimmingThe other day Sam's pre school had a field trip to a local pool so I took both the boys. While we had a good time I was reminded how upset Max gets if he can't touch the ground in the pool. When they tell you a panicked person in the water can drowned you they arn't kidding. Max nearly scales my body in an attempt to sit on my head the second the water gets over waist height. So I decided we needed some lessons.<br />
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So we signed up both boys for swim lessons and they started today. I was a little concerned by the fact that they started in the deep end since he hates not touching the ground.<br />
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Here he is crying in the corner<br />
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Thankfully he isn't the only kid terrified. I thought it was really interesting their were 3 groups of kids. The confident water lovers, the we don't love this but we will do it group, and the get me out of here group. He did do the kicking like they wanted but only from the side.<br />
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They bribed him back in the water with a pool noodle.<br />
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And then their was Sam. He loved his swim lesson. He loved every min of it.<br />
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They tied a pool noodle to the kids and let them paddle around.<br />
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<br />Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-34807147959401469282013-04-10T13:39:00.001-07:002013-04-10T13:39:29.806-07:00Happy Birthday SamWe celebrated Sam's Birthday a couple weekends ago. We had it where Max goes to pre school. Community Ed had purchased 3 bounce houses and for a fee you can rent them along with the gym for a couple hours. <br />
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We had several people cancel at the last min and I was considering cancelling since we were only going to have 6 kids and 3 bounce houses but then I thought Sam will have fun no matter who comes so lets do it any way. In the end we all a great time. <br />
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Every party we have has few people but its so much easier to host the small ones. By the time the kids are 10 we may just do cake at home :)<br />
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Hey this place has Cheetos<br />
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Food Table<br />
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Mom spends too much time on Pintrest<br />
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Notice the Mickey sippy cup? I wanted the kids to have something to drink so I got juice boxes with out thinking that Mr.Sam can't have them due to his unsafe swallow. Opps sorry buddy. He loves his Mickey cup though.<br />
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I chose this picture because think this really shows what stairs look like to Sam. Especially on the left side of the picture it really does look like a flat surface.<br />
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More Cheetos please<br />
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Grandpa Bruce!<br />
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Sam's friend Briedish. Sam loves her they hold hands now its cute<br />
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Aunt Rachel helping down the stairs<br />
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Carolyn and Norah, my friend Cathy's kids. <br />
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Cool baseball air thing<br />
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I had this momentary feeling when we first got to the bounce house. That OMG what was I thinking bringing Sam here, what if he can't enjoy himself and its his party. His balance is bad, he can't see that well and has low muscle tone. Then he ran around for 2 hours and had a great time. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes we invited Max too</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alicia came and helped also</td></tr>
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Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-53454274122869420032013-04-06T17:58:00.001-07:002013-04-06T17:58:44.757-07:00Vet a visitOne of my friends from high school reminded me that today was something called vet a visit at MSU. Basically its and animal oriented free family fun day complete with a teddy bear fix it shop. I was excited, this sounded like something the kids would enjoy so this morning we were all ready to go. <br />
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Then is started to snow a little bit. Sam gets super cold super fast and I remembered this being an out door event so I thought Maybe Sam and Jerf should stay home and Max and I could go. So we hop in the car and drive out to MSU and find that we are so not the only people that are there. Oh well, we get in line to have Max's Mickey Mouse stitched up.<br />
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Then we walked around and Max is getting bored and annoyed with how much waiting in line there is and just kinda wants to split so we walk to the Dairy store and the boy is happy again. We walk back to the car and I am trying to figure out how to salvage the day. We drove all the way out here we need to do something more cool that pet a guinea pig. <br />
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I decide Preuss Animal House might be a good idea. It was. I got to see some co-workers from many many years ago and they recognized me right away. Crazy how some people never change. I had forgotten how cool of a store it was. It had a stream with fish you could feed right in the store. Max loved it.<br />
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I got home and I was telling Jeremy about our day and I was thinking, this really wasn't like what I remembered from this event. There were no ducks, or chickens. The I realized I was thinking it was Small Animals Day, not Vet a Visit. Silly Heather. Wonder how many animal events MSU has? It ain't called cow college for nothing.<br />
Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-42215325743536532822013-04-05T12:41:00.002-07:002013-04-05T12:41:46.296-07:00$30Brace your selves for 2 posts in 2 days. Can you believe it?<br />
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So Mr.Sammy turned 2 years old on the 25th and we had a little party. During this party he got $30 in cash. Now I like it when the kids get money for their Birthday because it means we get to go shopping. Doesn't matter if we are shopping for me or not I like to do it. <br />
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So we decided that today is the day we are going to go to Target and spend Sam's $30. We get to the toy asile and Max is already asking if he is going to get something too. I told him maybe something little becuase I feel like getting Sam a nice toy and Max nothing is kinda mean. So the first thing we see is a Lightning McQueen truck, Mack I think is his name. He has a little McQueen inside and Mack says like 50 things and the trailer opens up. <br />
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They both want it. I'm thinking this is so not worth $30 lets keep going. So we wander around and we see ball bats and balls. Sam wants a plastic baseball bat and ball, cool. Max says they have pink, get a pink one. Now Sam wants a pink bat. Great, I really wouldn't care except that I HATE the color pink, hate it. One of the things I was worried about before I had the boys was what I would dress my girl in should I have one cause I mean it ain't gonna be anything pink colored for sure.<br />
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So we put a pink bat and balls in the cart. Then we find some non spill bubble container, looks like a good idea. Then we find some sand shovels. So we have about spend his wad when Max mentions the Lightning McQueen truck again. I had to explain we can't get it all, its either the baseball and bubble stuff or the truck. <br />
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They want the truck. Fine lets get it and get the heck out of here boys.<br />
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Lets hope they play with it for more than 5 mins.<br /><br />
<br />Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com65tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-55721195553656714782013-04-04T18:12:00.001-07:002013-04-04T18:12:28.240-07:00Strange adaptationsIt has been brought to my attention that I have not posted here since like December. Sorry bout that, I'll try and do better blah blah blah :) The truth is I have thought of things to post, I think of posting them on Facebook, then I think they are too long for Facebook and I should post it to my blog. Then it gets to be bed time and I don't care any more.<br />
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One thing I have been thinking about lately is Special needs adaptations we do at home on our own. Either because of expense, or out of necessity. So here is my top 5 list of home made special needs things made or done on our own<br />
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#5 Using a bungie cord to strap him into his brothers tricycle so he wont fall out because a real adaptive one would be like $1000<br />
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#4 Make sure he eats on plates that are a different color than his food is so he can see it better. Example, corn and mac n cheese on a blue plate.<br />
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#3 Yelling step every time Sam gets anywhere near a curb or stair or really anything he can fall down or trip over. He has no depth perception at all and is fear less, its a tough combo.<br />
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#2 Taping socks to the sharp points of anything that has a sharp corner for him to fall on. We don't want stitches again buddy.<br />
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#1 Making our own Xanthum gum. When we found out he has an unsafe swallow we bought pre mixed xanthum gum from the store at $34 a container. We went through it in a week. We researched on line and found we could buy the powder on line and mix it our selves at home for $12 ever couple months.<br />
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<br />Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-84097518329047158602012-12-19T16:52:00.000-08:002012-12-19T16:52:33.516-08:00What I want for Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So a little while ago I came across a blog that talked about 4 catergories of gifts for their children. The catergories were: something to wear, something to read, some thing they want and something they need. I thought this was a great idea and something I wanted to try this year. So I got the boys each a present from each catergorie. </div>
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Then a little while later I was in Home depot and I started thinking about how it would be nice for the boys to start getting some tools so when they leave the house they have good set. So I decided I would get them both a tool box this year and then each birthday/Christmas get them a tool for the box. I was going to get them only the box this year but it turns out if you bought the box and an accessory you got it wrapped for free. Bonus.</div>
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So at this point I have all the kids presents labeled and wrapped and ready for under the tree. Then we go see Santa today. Max sits on his lap and begins to clap his hands in excitement. I want a big Thomas because I lost mine he said, and my brother wants Curious George. 2 thoughts cross my mind here, first is when did you ever lose a Thomas toy and second, crap now I'm not done Christmas shopping. </div>
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I don't know what big Thomas he was talking about but I found him some cool Thomas the Train bed sheets and blanket set, don't worry he likes that stuff, and a cool Thomas flash light that talks. If he mentions something about a big Thomas I'm going to have to tell him sorry Santa didn't have room in the bag.</div>
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Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com73tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-19209577410604357942012-11-19T07:50:00.001-08:002012-11-19T07:50:34.164-08:00Okay so I've fallen behind10. I am thankful for our van. I feel like I waited quite a while before deciding our Subaru was too small and we got our Mini Van and we love it.<br />
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11. I am thankful Max loves school.<br />
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12. I am thankful we have enough to eat.<br />
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13. I am thankful for our church.<br />
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14. I am thankful for our dog<br />
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15. I am thankful for the Facebook/Pintrest because some days that's all the socializing I get.<br />
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16. I am thankful that Sam has a good team of Doctors that if they don't know the answer will refer us to some one who does. <br />
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17. I am thankful for all my friends. Sometimes my family doesn't know what to say or how to say it in reference too all that has gone on with Sam. But my friends, my good old ones, seems to handle all this in stride and for that I am thankful. <br />
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18. I am thankful for Jeremy's parents<br />
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19. I am thankful we live in America where we are free to worship who and how we choose, we can vote and do all sorts of other things you can't do in other countries.<br />
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<br />Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-1231352090704362622012-11-09T17:26:00.000-08:002012-11-09T17:26:29.753-08:00Thankful 6-9Second installment of things I am thankful for but first:<br />
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Every one has funny ways of saying things, or little expression they use every day. We don't even know that we do it until we have kids. I say things like, the tv is acting funny, or the computer is acting funny as a way to say it isn't working I guess. I didn't realize this until Max started saying it, only he says it differently. He says "My socks are being funny" I'm thinking so are they telling jokes now or what? Turns out he just put them on upside down. <br />
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6. I am thankful for Grandpa Bruce my dad. He was always a good dad but he goes above and beyond for his grandchildren. He loves them and sees them at least once a week, comes to soccer games, has been very supportive of our special Sammy, and is just a very important part of our lives.<br />
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7. I am thankful that even though Obama won the election I can take comfort in the fact the God is the one in control and even though I am honestly fearful of what Obama will do to our country I have to believe that this is God's plan. <br />
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8. Sam's health: Sam has a rare genetic disease, it kills 20% of the children that have his mutation. When we learned what Sam had we saw all these very serious complications online that are very common with this, heart defects, stomach not attached to your esophagus, needing a trach to breath to name a few. Some how by the grace of God Sam missed out on the major scary stuff and for that I am thankful.<br />
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9. I am thankful that the cop I blew by today on my way home was looking down when I drove by doing 45 in a 25.Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-84651059028688684562012-11-06T10:42:00.000-08:002012-11-06T10:42:33.478-08:00Things I am thankful forSeveral of my Facebook friends are posting one thing a day that they are thankful for in leui on Thanksgiving. I think this is cool, kind of a open prayer also. I also wish to participate but I feel like this is a more appropriate place for me to put the things I am thankful for. Sometimes I am a bit un comfortable talking about things that are going on in our lives that are good if the same thing is not going well in your life. My blog to me is somehow more private even though anyone can read it. It's weird I know but I feel like if you are here than you want to be, with Facebook you read everyone's news feed weather you cared to or not. So with out further delay in no particular order<br />
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1. The Jerf - Jerf gets up with the kids when I can't, loves on the kids, plays with the kids, does stuff around the house goes to work and is generally a good egg. Yes he will probably read this :)<br />
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2. Mr.Max - Our first born son is a very cool little boy who enjoys preschool and driving his brother crazy. <br />
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3.Sir Sam - My second child also very cool, also loves to drive his brother crazy. I enjoy his goofy little personality and his nibble your ears off cuteness every day.<br />
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4.Our House - We have a nice house that fits us all well, in a nice neighborhood, warm in the winter cool in the summer.<br />
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5. Jerf's job - My husband has a good job, lets us stay in above mentioned house.<br />
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6. The right to vote - Women haven't always had this privilege, we should excersice it on election day!<br />
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Traditionally you post one a day but I started late.Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-28709158574904892032012-11-04T16:42:00.001-08:002012-11-04T16:42:50.033-08:00What is that mother thinking?I have been having some clothing issues with Max lately. He wants to wear sandals and its November or he doesn't think pants are necessary. In his defense it was warm here just recently but its not any more. Any way Max puts up a huge fight about wearing sandals and I realize this kid has got to learn to trust me when I say its cold out, so I did what any tired parent would do. Let him wear his sandals to school,lets see how he likes having cold feet. So we get in the car to drive to preschool and I begin to think, what are his teachers going to think when he shows up with sandals on today? Probably that his mother is a class A moron for letting her kid go to school with sandals on when we had a frost this morning. So we pulled into the school parking lot and I happen to have an extra pair of shoes in the car, slip them on his feet and away to school he goes. <br />
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This gets me to thinking though....I had no idea how much random kid stuff I am responsible for. If its yellow day at school, I am responsible for 1. knowing that its yellow day and 2. finding Max a yellow something to take to school. Its not his fault, he can't yet read a calender so I can't even blame him for not knowing that it's yellow day. I'm responsible for knowing how warm/cold its going to be and making sure he has the right jacket/shoes/mittens/hat/winter coat. Not that its a big deal I just didn't realize all that was involved in having a kid in preschool. Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-26677994691161543362012-10-23T13:15:00.001-07:002012-10-23T13:15:39.933-07:00Hearing Aids the Naked TruthSo my son Sammy has bi-lateral hearing loss. Mild to moderate in his right and mild in his left. This means that he needs to wear hearing aids as much as he and I can tolerate. So when Sam was 8 months old he was fitted for hearing aids. They take an impression of your ears and cast a mold from that and sent it to you in the mail. The cool part is you get to choose what color your mold will be so we went with red and green for Christmas. <br />
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As you can imagine getting an 8 month old to wear a hearing aid is about impossible. He tore those things out and threw them all most the second they hit his ears. If he didn't throw them right away he would suck on them, and then they would short out and die. So our first hearing aid only lasted a month. <br />
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We got our second set of hearing aids in March when he was about a year old. After learning he is deaf blind and the duel sensory lose is a major thing and he needs all the input possible so we got the left and right ear aided this time. We went with red white and blue molds. <br />
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He also had a fancy test called an ABR which is a sedated hearing test that measures how well the brain is getting sound. This is important because a 1 year old isn't always great at telling you what he can and cannot hear.<br />
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That set of hearing aids was by far my favorite. They fit his ears
really well, and we wore them all the time, then he out grew them. We
went for Green and White that time and ironically lost one of them on
the campus of MSU. We lost the other aid 2 days later. Rather
impressive since we had never lost an aid till then. The good news is
his aids are covered for 1 year and we had them from just under one year
so we got new ones in the mail. <br />
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About this time an organization called Hands and Voices contacted us. To this day I'm not sure what their purpose is but they came to the house and chatted with us for a bit and gave me a binder on hearing loss. Funny thing is for us, hearing loss is just a stepping stone if you will. For many parents hearing loss is the worst diagnosis they will have to deal with and I feel like they didn't know what to do with us since its only a small portion of our issue. <br />
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So now we have Yellow, Red and Black aids for Mickey Mouse. The right ear doesn't fit into his ear canal very well and he gags when I try and get it in and for some reason he doesn't like to only wear one aid. So we are waiting for tomorrow, he has another hearing test and hopefully he either does so well we can pitch the aids or Lori can help me fit the new aid into his funky ear canal or make us a new mold. Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-27299672017346902902012-07-20T17:41:00.001-07:002012-07-20T17:41:29.663-07:00Don't ask unless you really want to knowSo their is this Thai restaurant here in town. Jeremy and I both really like it. We have been there so many times we know the people that work there. They are always very nice when we go in, ask how my kids are and I ask about hers.<br />
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Well the other day I decided we should have Thai for dinner since we hadn't been in a while. I go in and Kim was sitting there with her nephew and she says "wow you look great, whats you secret to lossing the baby weight are you on a diet or is it stress?" I stood there for a sec and thought about my answer. What do I tell her? Do I lie and say nothing special. Do I say breastfeeding which is at least partailly true? Or do I tell the truth and say my son was born with a rare genetic disease that you have never heard of before and every time we can home from a specialist with a new list of what was "wrong" with him I didn't feel like eating for the next day or so. <br />
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Its kind of like when you are late to something and someone says something like "did you get into a car wreck or what" Well sometimes the answer to that question is yes. So in the end I told her that I breast feed for a while and that Sam was a little sick as a newborn so some of my weight loss was due to stress but now he is doing better. She said, "oh so you breastfed", a little uncomfortably, and then changed the subject.<br />
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I felt kinda of bad about the conversation. She wasn't in any way trying to be mean or rude, and I didn't want to lie to her but I did kinda feel like the whole story was way to much information. I guess the lesson here is don't ask unless you really want to know.Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-51510045831823850072012-07-18T17:25:00.000-07:002012-07-18T17:25:14.001-07:00Sense of DirectionI have a really bad sense of direction. Even on routes I have taken many times before I can get lost. I have trouble with North, South, East, and West. Don't even get me started on Left vs Right. I don't know why this is really. A friend of mine asked my dad if I came into the world backwards and my dad said "well actually she was breach." Well at least I get it honestly. <br />
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I bring this up because my son Max has an excellent sense of direction. He knows the second I take a different way home, he yells from the back seat "going the wrong way!" Then I have to explain to him why I went the way I went. <br />
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We were at St Joe's a while back for some apt and we left the hospital a little differently than we had entered. I was looking around the parking lot for our car and Max pipes up and says "the car is over in there mom" Oh yeah, so it is.<br />
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My favorite happened just recently. The family had gone to the Hands On Museum and Jeremy lead us around the block the wrong way to get inside. On the way out he said we should go the other way, and we did and i looked at jeremy and we both quietly said I wonder if Max will notice. Sure enough "your going the wrong way mom and dad" He so did not get that from me.<br />
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<br />Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-63283911807935318892012-06-28T03:19:00.000-07:002012-06-28T03:19:07.989-07:00Who knew?Max will be 4 years old in July. I am excited about preparing his party. Even more excited about him starting preschool. But what I want to know is why no one ever told me, or why I never really knew about 4 year olds. <br />
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Did you know for instance that 4 year olds have really bad attitudes? I didn't, I never would have imagined that Max would look at me with disdain and say No like a teenager. <br />
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Did you know they ask 400 questions a day. Not just why, more elaborate than that. Why are we going this way? Why did you do that? Where did the dog, cat, you, me, plants, and every toy I have ever gotten come from? <br />
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Did you know that 4 year old girls tattle tale like crazy over ever little stupid thing possible? Stupid stuff like "Hey mom the cat is eating" "Hey mom, Max is sitting in a chair". <br />
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Did you know that 4 is when they learn to lie? They aren't very good at it yet but they will lie to you.<br />
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I can't believe I didn't know about any of this. I know my son isn't the only one because when someone says they have a 4ish year old I say "oh dear" and I always get a knowing smile. <br />
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Know by no means is 4 all bad. They say and do really cool, and funny things. For example the other day I said "I have and idea". Max asked where and I said, um in my head. Max replied, "I want one too." Later he hurt himself and I asked him if he stubbed his toe, he said "no I hurt my feelings" So now he is crying and I am trying not to laugh.<br />
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<br />Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3926948162485076373.post-7595564153572621412012-06-21T18:13:00.003-07:002012-06-21T18:13:58.240-07:00Blood Everywhere!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Tuesday I was doing laundry. The plan was for me to put away laundry, get Sam a nap in and then go to the park. Sam was in his brothers corvette bed. I had my back turned and I heard a thud. A forhead on metal thud. I turned around and scooped up Sam knowing that had to hurt. Then I looked at his face. I couldn't tell where all this blood was comming from but their was a LOT OF IT! I thought at first maybe it was his nose, then I saw his forhead. It had a 1/2 long cut right in the center. I ran downstairs to my phone and called my poor husband and said there is blood everywhere come home now! He arrived to find out I was not exaggerating. By then Sam and I were covered in blood. I looked like I had committed a crime. I knew he needed stitches so I took a 3 min shower and we drove him to Mott's . We decided to take Max with us, he looked terrified and I need Jeremy to help me keep Sam's hands of his face in the car.<br />
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One burrito wrapped baby later we had 3 stitches. I feel like maybe he needed 4 since on side is a little open but he seems no worse for wear. <br />
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My little Frankenstein. Too bad it isn't Halloween.<br /><br />Heather Bowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929567101817614887noreply@blogger.com8