lots to update

Oh so much time has passed, so much to catch up on. These days I feel like were always rushing, always going, always non stop. Lots of changes have and will be going on here. Lets get down and dig into this already.....

Boys both had parties at chuck e cheese, hard to believe Mikey is 9 and chance is 6! Gosh they are growing so much! Mikey is now 4 ft 3 inches, 61lbs, chance is 4ft 1.5in and 56lbs, so as you see pretty much the same size. :) they are enjoying summer with lots of pool time, we are still doing school time, not daily but atleast 2 times a week. Chance is now reading stage 2 books, both boys are excelling in multiplication and making me very proud.

In addition to occupational therapy 1 time a week, Mikey and chance are both in speech therapy weekly. Luckily they share the same day with zach for speech therapy, so we only drive there 1 time a week.both boys see the psychologist monthly and the developmentalist every 3 months.

zach is doing well, he has his ocupational therapy 2x week, physical therapy 2xweek, speech 1x week,monthly to the psychologist, and every 3 months to the developmentalist. in some areas he seems to be making huge strides and in others we seem to be at the same spot we have been for months. zachy now weighs in at a hefty 37lbs, he is doing well with tolerating his bolus feeds and ive been adding at least 1-2 meals daily of a "blended" diet with juices, babyfood, yogarts, etc. i think this has also been a helping hand for him. zach has developed some new sounds, still non verbal for the most part, but he makes lots of vocal sounds, some days for speech therapy he does really well at imitating sounds and some days she isnt able to get zach to focus even on her. zach at least 30-40% of the time is in his own world, he is happy and content doing as he pleases (walking from room to room, looking for water to play in, banging on furniture, and licking baby wipe containers) he has a few toys, the ones that play music and light up that he enjoys and thats really all he likes. unless he is sick or sleepy he doesnt want to be cuddled, or held, he wants to go go go. he LOVES the water, that boy is such a water baby, he just loves it so much, even water on tv makes him smile and laugh. its adorable! we have gone back to houston for zachs scoliosis and are waiting until our next echo in july to see what and when they want to do, its looking more and more like titanium rib surgery, at texas childrens in houston. im still waiting on a report from the pulmonary doc there, and waiting for him to talk to the spine doc and surgeon there to figure out what the best option is.

our nursing changed, we are in HEAVEN with the nurse who is doing our primary hours, she works 40-60 hours a week and is such a sweetheart. close to our age, fun to be with, really works with zach, and so kind. we are so lucky!!

recently my brother in law decided to move to killeen, so as you guessed this is a big change and a big curve ball, he actually has a job lined up and will start july 11th, not much i can do about it, still not ready to just smile and go with it though. really just hoping we arent bogged down with them, their kids, or drama, we have enough going on here that i can barely think straight most days as it is.

Harold is ETSing from the army, in just days, gulp thats a huge change, he has been in for 11 years and now its over. im excited, im nervous, im anxious, im all over the place. the company he was trying to get hired on with is having a hiring freeze at the moment and thats another curve ball. however he is looking into other options and about to attend a 2 day job fair thing in houston with a bunch of fortune 500 companies that are looking for ex military to fill slots, it was a big opprotunity for him to be given and so we got him a suit and such clothes that he needs to have to go. time to dress the part and go out on a whim. we want to stay here, stay where our care is all set up, but we will have to see.

yea im sure there is more to update but my brain is mush....night all

tis the season

the flu and virus season that is...bleh! i was becoming nervous with the boys in school and have even slightly considered taking them out of school so that not only would they be healthier but Zach as well. i have debated for years with doing a bit of homeschooling but never went further with the idea, about 4 years ago i met a neighbor (funny how God places you with people you need) who was a mom of a adhd son who homeschooled him, at the time mikey wasnt even of age for pre-k so it wasnt really even thought about. this year the neighbor i have that i mentioned in the last post, who has the boys with the similar issues as mikey and chance, also has started homeschooling this year. sometimes i wonder if im not being given signs? so anyway last week i was really becoming anxious at the thought of the boys getting something and bringing it home, and on Friday morning at 2am i was awoken by chance who was gasping for air, making seal barking noises (croup) and freaking out, he was flailing on the floor, i tried to give a breathing treatment to him and saw that it wasnt helping any, his lips were turning blue and i called 911 for help. he was transported to the hospital at 220am and given another breathing treatment, poor guy had thrown up on himself and was so out of it. he was given a IV with steriod medication and monitored for 4 hours, this episode was much worse than the others ive seen in the past, and he was nearly admitted to the hospital:(. so again i wonder...was this a sign? i dont want to jump the gun, and i dont want to ignore God if he IS trying to talk to me. just not sure.

Chance is much better now a lil hoarse sounding but doing well. ive been cleaning up the germs, mixtures of vinegar, tea tree oil, lavendar oil and rubbing alcohol

Zach seems to be doing well, he is happy of course as always and cheerful. he is such a strong lil guy. i ran into a resident who was at the PICU where zach was for training while we were at the ER, he actually works at the ER, we were loading in the van and he rememberd us, said he and others still talk about zach, its always such a nice thing to hear, that he has left an impression on people.

rough day

man this was not the day i had hoped for....im not sorry to say its ending either. i woke up to my momma dog dead in her cage...and one of her two surviving pups dead with her..no idea what happend...was she sick? did she have a pup she didnt deliver? i dont know. the pups were really small this time and still the first 3 died before we could intervene as they suffocated:( so i tried to nurse the pup, kept the last one in a warm box in a warm room fed it, every two hours, rubbed it as she would with her tounge....and still it died tonight. all 5 pups dead. chance was heartbroken....were all upset.

at 930 i left the house today for an appointment for chance with the behavior therapist, ended up getting both boys seen at the same time. adderall wasnt working for mikey, so he is on ritalin 2x day now and since the blood pressure medication wasnt working to help him sleep they put him on a antidepressant....(gave it to him at 7pm its now 10pm and he is STILL AWAKE!)
chance has been throwing major tantrums for awhile and being violent...of course he showed up today and the doc saw...the doc said i was MUCH more patient than he would have been with him...chance was nuts, kicking mikey, screamin his head off, crying, kicking the couch, pinching me, i just kept redirecting him...nothing helps when he gets like this...just time. and sure enough about 5 minutes into it, he came to me and told me he loved me and he was sorry and hugged me. then he was laughing and playing again....ugh! so the doc said he definatly has some anger issues, but hasnt labled him yet...gave him ritalin 2 x day also for that and to help calm him as he is quite busy too. he also gave him the same antideppresant for sleeping...luckily it worked on him, he is out cold. we have those "fits" of his many times a day, no matter where we are, its embarrasing as i know people are wondering why i cant make him mind...i hope we get some relief with the meds. im tired.
we spent 2 hours in appointment and an 1.5 hours in pharmacy! needless to say i was happy to leave!
tomorrow we head up to temple again to get results from zachs head ct....wish us luck. im ready for a GOOD day!