Sisemore Family Update Summer 2012

I can't believe how long it has been since I have updated this blog!  I remember when I couldn't wait to come and share on the blog!  Facebook is nice but there are times I really miss blogging and especially reading those I love blogs!  Anyway , I thought I would share a bit about where we are with life at this point and of course for those faithful friends some pictures!! :)

Well after the rough year from Bobby loosing his job at the Police troop we have had many ups and downs. Much more downs but who is counting.  God has totally blessed us in this year and kept us afloat and blessed our hearts by using some good people!  Anyway this past June 25th Bobby began his new career with the railroad!!!  He is excited and blessed to be offered this position and is a few weeks in the training at this point.  The training last about 4 or 5 months and involves classwork as well at on the job training.  Alot he has to pass so we need major prayer during this time that he does well and they like him and all and he will continue in his job!  After he has been there 6 months they will reimburse him 80 percent to go to college and get his degree that then opens up promotion and such with the company! :)  That is so the plan!

Celeste and the babies are doing quite well!  Growing and changing before my very eyes!  I cant express how all 3 of my kids bless my heart on a daily basis!  All I EVER wanted was to be a wife and mother!  I thank the Lord daily for allowing my dreams to come true!  YES we still feel we are not done yet with building our family, and NO we are not announcing another adoption YET!  It will happen, but now is not the time.  So much on my heart for years to come so you will just have to stay tuned to us for several years to see what will come next on the horizon with that! :)

Celeste is working still as a Phlebotomist at a Medical Office building at the hospital and loving her newest assignment and schedule!  She is still dating her sweet boyfriend Dallas and active as ever in the Church and ministering wherever the Lord can use her.  I am so blessed to look upon her life as a young adult and see her living for the Lord!  I am BLESSED and LUCKY and I know it.  She is a tremendous big sister to these babies and will fight to the death for them I do believe if the need arose!  In addition to all of the above she is also in full time online college working diligently towards her Bachelors Degree for Youth Ministry!  I am ever amazed by this young woman of God that is my baby girl! :)

Noah is loving life and summer!  He is so into the $1 movie's we have been blessed to attend this summer and I see such growth in him from last summer in this area!  He is a sensitive little guy and there are alot of things that other 5 year olds might be able to go and see that just really upset Noah.  I am getting to a point where I can watch the trailer and know if it is going to work for me to take him.  He also loves the water this year!  He and his puddle jumper do great! Sadly we have not been able to go near as often as we would like but I am hoping to go quite a bit the rest of the summer at a local state park that has a pool and the entry is very affordable.  Noah is also very into "fwends"!  He adores play dates and running into friends at the movie or park or wherever we end up!  He loves everyone it seems!  Today I saw him stop and hug a random mom!  sigh!  Luckily she was an ok person and I was right there but I must say that scares me quite a bit that he at times seems to be so lovey and think everyone is a friend.  Then on the other hand if we go into a place and he doesn't know someone and they want to talk to him he clams up and gets shy!  It is like HOW is this the same kid.  One extreme to the other it seems!  Noah is so my helper around the house!  We have added some small chores and he takes them very much to heart and takes pride in them which is adorable to me! He even will help with things way above and beyond what is his job to do which is nice most of the time :)  He is growing like a weed.  We have him measured at 40 and half inches and he is 40 lbs at last weigh in.  BUT I am told that is probably not an accurate weight because of our bowel issues.  They have increased greatly.  We will be seeing 2 specialists in August to get some more information about some possible things going on with my sweet Noah so please be in prayer for us as we explore all this and hopefully find the answers we need.  We will be starting K4/K5 with him in the fall in our homeschool.  He is still developmentally delayed in multiple areas and also still dealing with some hearing loss and all so I am not totally sure how the year will go.  At this point my plan is for Math I have a K5 curriculum and for everything else we are doing more preschool/ K4 level things and going from there!  I am excited for the coming year and can't wait for all the things I am working on planning to happen! ;)

Jeremiah, my sweet frogie boy, amazes me!  He had surgery this summer on his hips and for the first time EVER we did NOT end up in PICU and were only the hospital over night! :)  He has grown so much and so some of the improvements he was making seem to have slowed or been lost as he adjusts to this new bigger and longer body!  I think it will all come back and then some as time goes on.  Feeding wise he does still have a gtube button.  But he is now eating 3 meals a day!  He has to have it pureed and then thickened!  Just  recently I started trying "Thick It" rather than baby rice cereal to thicken and I am loving it and he seems to do even better and it does not affect his bowel movements as much.  I am also entering a stage of trying to do my own blended foods for him when I do have to supplement down the gtube rather than the Compleat Pediatric he is currently been taking.  We have not had any of the packaged formula in about 5 days and he is doing so good with it all.  I have so much to learn but I am feeling like real foods will be so much better for him.  We have had a nurse for Jeremiah through a program for the past 10 months.  I was nervous to start nursing and had many reasons brought to my attention why it would be a goo thing.  Some of those things happened and some did not but overall it was a good experience.  It came to my attention recently that this program that we were a part of was for children who are totally homebound.  Like go nowhere but drs and such.  Well, that is not the life we have chosen for Jeremiah.  We do not feel it is in his best interest to stay at the house constantly while we go on with life.  We go to Church, We go to the park, the science museum, the pool, and anywhere we feel like it.  Well, it turns out all this time when things have been charted about Jeremiah and his day the nurse was not allowed to put that such and such happend at the park, she could put what happened but not where it happened.  She was to make the notes appear as if he was not leaving the house.  Well, when  found this out it really bothered me and we began praying about things.  So 2 weeks ago we were at Church during service and I felt in my heart a LOUD message from the Lord that YES this is wrong and YES I should not be a part of something that was being done that broke the rules of the program.  Of course I knew this and I am ashamed to say that I did not cancel the service the second I found out.  Anyway that day I felt the Lord tell me to give my 2 week notice that day.  So on a Sunday I texted the case manager and put in the notice.  Today was the nurse's final day.  I can't tell you the peace I have about our decision.  Am I worried about not having any physical help with lifting the chair and all.  YES.  But I know that this the right thing for our family and God will take care of us! :) I would appreciate prayers for us as we make the best choices and try to give Jeremiah all we can :)  I feel like in so many ways after 2 years home that I am still learning what to do for him, how to reach him, how to help him, etc.  I feel alot with both the babies that I fail them and I need to get better at this quickly!  Another change that is going to happen for Jeremiah is that August 13th he will start going to the local school each morning for a therapy program.  This decision was made several months ago after alot of prayer with Bobby and I and some observing and meetings with the school.  This is a trial.  I am praying it works out for Jeremiah.  It finally came down to it in my mind.  If our private therapy place called me up and said they wanted to give Jeremiah therapy every day Monday through friday from 8 to 12, work with him with communicaton devices and all his current objectives and more and it was all free, all I had to do was bring him would I turn it down? Well, how I can turn down therapy for a child that so needs it, that so needs as much brain stimulation to increase the length of his life as possible. The teacher in his little class has 28 years experience and a degree in severe and profound children!  She probably is WAY better at knowing what Jeremiah needs than me in so many ways.  Anyway, I am scared and sad to not have my baby with me all the time, but at the same time I feel like I have to give it a try because I feel like I would be wrong to take the opportunity away from him.  Now, if we start having alot of illness or if he does not seem to handle it well then we will have to rethink things.  I would appreciate y'alls prayers for him during this time please.  Jeremiah is getting bigger and stronger every day :)  He is 36 inches tall and 29 lbs now! :)  Not bad for a 4 year old who was soo tiny just 2 years ago.

Well, there you are the update!  I know its long but there is probably alot I forgot to put in that I should have! :)  Now, let me find yall some pics from the past month or 2.

Jeremiah LOVES to go! :)  He almost always (unless he is having a totally unresponsive day :( which are fewer lately) smiles when we take him outside or when we put him in the car seat! :) 

Noah in OT one day.  He is getting better with the special earphones and cd's that play while he is working.  This is our family in potato heads! :)  heehee

More OT

Smiling Frogie :)

Bobby and I had the Nursery one night :)  Jeremiah loved being outside during the playtime and hearing the kids play and feeling the little breeze there was on his face :)

Some of the kids will come up and talk to him :) This is my friend's daughter Noah!  She is such a compassionate little thing :)

Noah looked so cute to me this day :)  Wish this shot came out better.

$1 movie fun!  Breakfast Picnic during the movie :)

Noah packed to go to the hospital for an unexpected surgery.  He is so happy here, little did he know what the following few days would hold for him :(

He is so big!! :)  He wanted to take his own suitcase :) 

Waiting for me to get Jeremiah out of the van and in his wheelchair :)  Such a big boy :)

his good friend Josh came to see him before surgery :)

so blessed to have friends come by and bring stickers and things for him to do :)

hugging his elmo before surgery.  he is not asleep but groggy and sad.  :(

Showing Sissy his boo boo from the iv.  I ADORE this picture!!!  So sweet!

more $1 summer movie fun  with friends :) 

Love his hand on his friend :)

look at his head!!!! :)  holding up so strong!

sweet siblings :)

Noah is sooo into dublo blocks now!  I can't wait to get him some more :)  He is showing off what he made! :)

my beautiful frogie boy! :)

Big smile! :)

Father's Day 2012 :)  Daddy and his boys! :)

Fathers day 2012 

Father's day 2012

This picture cracks me up!  The school loaned us an ipad for a bit.  Noah has become SOOOO attached to it.  He calls it "my pad pad" LOL  Well he is gonna freak when I have to give it back.  I will say an ipad is so on my list for both boys!!! I can't tell you how much Noah is learning from all the apps and Jeremiah too! :)  so wonderful :)  Jeremiah is actually entered in a contest to prayerfully win one! praying for that!

My amazing friend Tina and her sweet princess! :)  I was blessed by Macaroni Kid Shreveport and the sponsors thereof  with some wonderful blessings and this was taken the day they came and brought it all :)  Tina helped them pull off the surprise :) 

Mini family reunion! :)  Noah hanging out with cousins :)

Love to watch my kids together :)

Look how long my boys are! :)  

Noah at VBS with Aunt Michelle! 

This day was soo funny! First day of VBS and I said let me get your picture!  He began posing like he was American's Next Top Male Model!  LOL

is that post not hilarious?? :)

another similar :)  cracks me up :)

another shot with Aunt Michelle :) Love his beautiful smile :)

I LOVE THIS!!  He is telling another little boy to SHUSH cuz the leader was talking! :)  heehee

Jeremiah is getting so strong that when his tone was really high and he would lean forward we would have to put the chest strap on his chair.  Well when we did that he was pushing against it and almost hurting himself bad so they had to change it to a different kind!  Jeremiah decided to sleep through the guy fitting it :)  heehee

to cute seeing Noah with the kids :) I loved coming each day for the closing time and seeing all he learned during VBS each day :)

Jeremiah loving the music too :)

He really liked this song! :)

Noah got a happy package from friends!! :)  He loves to get mail! :)

this was tooooo sweet! :)

look at that smile :)  LOVE :)

He LOVES stickers and sticker books! :)

Daddy with some stuff from the railroad!! :)  

Our family the night we were blessed with a catered and served to us supper!  I can't tell you what a sweet blessing this was!!!  It was given to us by Catering by Yvette as one of the sponsors of Macaroni Kid Shreveport who blessed us with so many things recently! I can't wait till we are finanically back on our feet!  I will be using this catering service for sure again for us and I will also pay it forward and gift someone else with a night like we had! :)  

Well, I have tons more pics of the last couple months but I am sure yall are tired of this post by now so I reckon I will close.  Please leave me a comment and let me know you are reading! :)  God bless!

Until I post again, the babies I sent kisses in the wind so many years send you all, our friends, kisses in the wind!

Spring in pictures part 1

I have not been good about keeping up my blog.  I am sorry guys.  Life is kinda hard in ways this past year.  For anyone that is following along and likes to read THANK YOU!  I NEED YOU GUYS!  Anyway I will be posting some pics from our springtime now that we are moving into summer and will have all our fun summer activities to share :)

a fun date night with a picnic at the fountains where we danced on our wedding day!

Celeste doing my hair for mother's day

Mother's day 2012

Noah playin with friends!

Noah playin with my best friends kids at her daughter's college graduation party

my  baby girl  is 24 now! :)

My sweet girl did a photo shoot for us!

I a so blessed!

My happy Boy!

My Panda Boy at therapy!  He made the family in potato head people

Noah on hair cut day and in Daddy's Taiwan R.O.C.ks tshirt!

Pirate day at therapy!

Jeremiah Harold Sisemore is 4!

Sorry I am a bit late with Jeremiah's Birthday update!  Was trying to wait on pictures that were taken at the party!  I have some now so I will go with what I have.  :)  The weather was beautiful for Jeremiah's party swinging in the park!  He LOVES to be outside!  He was very non responsive on party day which made me a little sad, but I just have to pray he was loving it all on the inside!  We are so thankful for those who took time out of there Saturday to come out and celebrate Jeremiah's life with us! :)  I look at him sometimes and I am amazed at the power of God!  I will ALWAYS remember those LONG days in PICU and that Jeremiah was the baby they thought would NOT go out of there alive! :)  He has defied the odds so many times in his short 4 years!  He is doing remarkably well!  He is EATING AGAIN!  And they said it would never happen! :) This boy LOVES to hear someone say he will NEVER do something.  I think it gives him what he needs to push to do it! :)  heehee  He is eatin 3 meals a day!  He is slow and he does tire out so we do have to supplement with his formula by his mic-key button but he is eating!  :)  So on his party day I made my first birthday cake baby food! :)  Thank God for the food processor my family got me for Christmas! :)  It is big and at times I get sick of cleaning it and pulling it out but when I want him to have something specific or we are out of baby food it sure is handy! :)  His cake was blueberry muffin with a splenda cream cheese icing.  The icing bombed!  It was so thin and runny not at all like what is claimed it would be.  So I kept TRYING to make it work never did, so I literaly had to pour it over the big cupcake and the little cupcakes.  The big one I would have to let dry and pour again and try to fill in the spots.  It was very frustrating.  It LOOKED ok other than the fact the icing was hot pink NOT RED!  I was soo frutrated!  I put in a BIG bottle of red food color and then 2 red gel food color tubes and it never did get red!  The taste to me was not good and of course it did not have the texture of frosting.  It looked like everything had hot pink shelack!  lol  Anyway live and learn.  I am already worried about Noah's cake for next month.  I guess I will NOT try and make it healthy! LOL  Jeremiah is growing like a weed!  He is 35 inches long and 28 lbs! :)  I am wondering if we have gained since that last weight cuz he is looking a bit chunky in the thighs!  We will go in for a check up soon and get a new weight.  There are some days he is sooo responsive and he just amazes me and then other days he worries me to death!  His newest trick is to THROW himself OUT of his tumbleform chair!  I dont mean just roll out or lean over and flop out, I mean throw himself forward and out!  It is the scariest thing!  I soooo wish I had the straps that some have that come over the shoulder and then latch onto a waist strap.  This one was a gift but no straps!  He is spending way more time in his baby/toddler rocking chair because it has a strap!  He does try to fling himself out of it, but it doesnt work!  I think it ticks him off! heehee  He loves to be on the floor on his space blanket and will scoot all over the place on his back on that!  He is not as pleased with tummy time but we do it just the same!  He also spends time in his stander and at times will sleep in there! LOL  His cortical visual impairment is challenging to figure out ways to help him use what vision he does have.  It is wild because some say he is totally blind but that is obviously not true because he can see light for sure.  The school folks that come to the house have gotten him to look at some things and he seems to see red the best.  That is why the party was a ELMO party!  He loves to hear Elmo giggle too! :)  He will watch his new ELMO dvds in his stander now and it is so cute.  He doesnt appear to be paying attention most of the time but every once in awhile you can tell he is watching and then all of a sudden he will crack up! :)  He also likes Caillou! When Noah watches it he will at times coo or laugh at them!  He loves weird sounds, funny sounds, loud sounds, obnoxious sounds! LOL  The smoke alarm in the house went off, he is laughing and cooing at it! At a fire state field trip on his real birthday they set off smoke alarm, he grins soo big!  They set the siren on the fire truck as they were pulling it out for kids to see, he grins and cracks up!  Too funny to me :)  He loves giggling!  It is hard at times for me to believe that he has not been home even 2 years yet!  Well, I am sure you are tired of  my talking on and on.  Now for some pics!  Some are from the party, some are from his real birthday which was the 29th.  We did a picnic at the park.  It rained on and off but the covered pavillion made it workable!  He loves it outside and the sound of the rain on the tin roof made him happy too :)

He is soo beautiful to me! :)  The middle picture is at the party!  My mom put her sun shades on him :)  the picture on the right is him laughing at the fire engine!

I was so blessed my best friend of almost 23 years dropped by when she was recouperating from a major surgery and was suppose to be resting at home!  :)  Aunt Pam loves her babies :) 

This boy loves to swing!  I know he is not really responsive in the pics but because of past times I just know he was loving it!

Here are some shots of Noah playing at his baby brother's party! :)  He has soo much energy! :) 

This was a the fire station on his real bday.  I wish we could have gotten this without me in the picture!  When I first set him down he was grinning soo big!

Going for a stroll on our picnic in the park.

This was when the man set the smoke alarm off! :)  I love how he expresses joy! :)  

My sweet frogie boy gives me soo much love!  It is funny the ways he communicates to me at times.  One of his newest things that I just have to believe is an I love you mom thing is when I have him laying on my tummy and chest and his little face is in front of mine he will lean his head down so his face is touching mine and he makes some little almost purring sounds.  I know it sounds odd but I have not seen him do that to other people and for this mama it is a very special thing.  I may be puttin more to it than it is but I hope not.  

I have to get a big huge thank you to everyone that helped use bring Jeremiah home!  Every time I look at him I think about what if.  What if just one of the people who donated didn't, just one of the places that ordered plate lunches didn't, just one person that prayed didn't.  I think often about Dr. Edleman saying if we had waited one more week to pick up Jeremiah he would have died in Taiwan.  WOW!  That is huge!  So whether you donated a penny or a ton, whether you donated your time, your prayers, your support, when you look at Jeremiah KNOW that HE is a life you have changed! 

And last but certainly not least I have to give huge thanks to Jeremiah's birth mother for giving him life.  For going through with her pregnancy and giving him a chance to know love and family!  And a HUGE thank you to St. Lucy's Center Orphanage in Taiwan for loving and caring for my frogie boy till I could get there to get him, and to Heartsent Adoptions for all there help to adopt him, there patience with us as we sent in penny by penny our fees, there prayers and friendship through the years, and there continued work for the orphans of Taiwan and the world! 

Jeremiah and I send you all Kisses in the Wind!

February at the Sisemore's!

So Its been almost a month since I posted on this blog so I thought someone out there might like to see what has been goin on at the Sisemore's.  Not sure how many still read blog's now adays but I still love reading and posting.  I am determined to afford someday to put this all in a book, but since I have a big mouth (well at least with my fingers I do) and post so much there are ALOT of posts on this blog since it began way back when :)  Anyway on to February at The Sisemore's :)

This was a skate night "date" with Noah the night before he had surgery.  Since we have the nurse now to help with Jeremiah and had hours we were not using with the help of my family we decided thursday evenings would be "date night".  The plan is for one night Bobby and I go out and do something and Celeste keeps Noah here with nurse and Miah, and one night Celeste and I go out and Bobby keeps Noah here with nurse and Miah, one night Noah and I go out, or Noah , Daddy and I, or Noah Celeste and I, depends on the activity.  Someone is always in the home with Jeremiah and the nurse but my mom can be here but not really do Jeremiah's care, but can know he is being taken care of well.  Everyone seems to be enjoying this.  The trick has been finding very cheap or free activites to do at night.  The skating was good priced and it was a whirlwind of emotions with Noah.  You might have to click on it to make it bigger t see all the faces.  He was so excited and then he flipped out at the idea of skates, so I thought will I will try and put on one and see how it goes, totally freaked.  so off they came and I thought well this is not working out at all.  Then we sat down to eat something and daddy reminded him about Caillou ice skating and then Noah wanted skates on.  lol  We also talked at length during the meal about surgery the next day.  He did not seem to understand at all, but at least we tried to prepare him.  

Here are some shots from surgery day.  Noah was not a happy camper to be taken out of his bed so early! But considering how tired and afraid he was he did amazing.  I know the Lord was helping him thanks to all the folks praying!

We were very blessed to be at a Children's Hospital.  They called before the surgery because they offer tours to prepare children.  But they also know Noah from us living there with Jeremiah that first month, and our trips back since and they agreed that it would be too much for him to know that far in advance  So they said they would do something to help him understand better that morning.  I was thinking a book, and a book was mentioned but the child life lady came with a little stuffed patient and a kit for Noah to do surgery on his little patient.  He really didnt want anything to do with her at first, but by the end he was in her lap! :)  I am still no positive he totally understood but everyone did there best to help him to understand and he was such a big boy taking his versed to make him loopy before time to go to surgery.  

I thought I was going to collapse when they wheeled him away.  He was loopy but still awake and just looked at me with those eyes!! I know he was thinking mama you are not REALLY going to let them take me away are you.  I held it together till he could not see me anymore and then lost it.  Then pulled myself back together and went back to the room to pray and wait and eat breakfast with my daddy and Jei Jei.

So after the tongue and ear surgery we were to go back for more hearing testing to get the readings they needed for his hearing aids.  They dr and audiologist had explained that with permanent hearing damage to the nerve that tube surgery will not help that part, the tube surgery is mainly for a child with so much pressure in the ears to remove that and equalize the pressure so it wont fluctuate and affect the hearing aids ability to work.  So when we went back everyone, especially the audiologist and the dr.  were excited to discover that Noah does not follow the rules (just like his baby brother, lol) and even thought " tube surgery cannot reverse permanent nerve damage" IT DID! Noah does still have some mild permanent hearing loss caused by damage to the nerve but it is GREATLY improved!  The audiologist was shaking her head!  I then told her about all his little friends in church praying over him and laying hands on his ears 2 days before his surgery.  She was like wow.  Funny thing is the newest report on his hearing says that this testing was more accurate and reliable and the first testing was not.  LOL  I cracked up  She insisted in the first testing that he was 100 percent on target reliable everytime she redid a sound he tested at the exact same place.  But now that a scientifically unexplainable miracle has happened the first testing was wrong.  LOL  Oh well, they can believe what they want, but little Noah ran up to a sweet lady he knows at church that night at supper and said , " God fix my ears!  That's my boy! He knows!

So then on the 9th was Daddy's bday!  He chose to go eat at Genghis Grill and have mongolian food.  It was soo yummy!  Noah was not very happy at this place at least at the beginning.  You have to go through a line and pick out your food you want cooked and put it in your bowl and then at the grill you leave it for them to cook and then they bring to your table.  When he had to give that bowl to them, HE FLIPPED OUT!  poor baby.  He kept screamin I HUNGY!  over and over.  So I am taking a flailing screaming child back to the table trying to explain over his cries AGAIN that they are cooking your food baby, you are going to eat.  He did finally calm down but was not really happy till they indeed brought his supper.  Even when Celeste's beau Dallas went and got some of the little fried Chinese noodles, he was still worrying about his supper!  But he ate it up soo good once it got there :) 

Next came Valentine's day!  Great minds think alike and both Celeste and us got Jeremiah the same little valentine's frog! LOL  Noah is very into little animals right now so he was thrilled with his monkey from us.  We could not find a panda and were sad.  Never fear, big sis found one at the store she was at so he got a new panda with a heart too :) 

So we had a belated Chinese New year Celebration trying to work around work schedules and such.  It was also alot less involved this year that I would have liked but at least we still did it.  None of the clothes were new, so many of the traditions of it we could not do this year but we did have a nice chinese homecooked and healthied up meal and enjoy some time together!  Noah chose to play mexican train after dinner!  LOL  So we had Chinese food, Mexican train and had been gifted with a Southern Maid Donut king cake for our dessert! LOL  guess we brought all aspects of our family into one night, except no Irish component!  heehee

This was just too cute, Noah was watching the wheel chair man the entire time he made some adjustments on Jeremiah's chair and then I find him fixin the chair himself!  lol thank goodness his tools were fake!

Just some shots of Jeremiah from the past month! :)  He can be the most snuggly little fellow and can be so responsive and cooing and smiling and then he can be so withdrawn.  You never know for sure what you will get.  You can do the same thing and one day he is bold face laughing and the next its like you aren't there.  We just keep trying to expose him to as much fun, stimulation and parts of life as we can.  The middle picture is him with a switch the school therapy brings in with them to the house.  He can push that button to turn on a tape player attached to it!  He does not always do it, but he can do it.  It is so exciting.  And you see him with a light board they have at the school that they bring for him to use.  We have discovered he can see red the best and of course things that are shiny and have alot of light he sees better.  

This is a shot from his private therapy one day!  He was batting 1000!  He actually SAW himself in the mirror and reacted!  That is a first!!! :)  and he is sitting up and not indian style! This was a first for that too!  See how hard he is working to stay up!  It looks like his eyes are closed in the picture but he is not asleep.  lol

Here are some other shots from therapy days! We are so blessed that he is doing so well and responding to everyone.  He really seems to like being 'worked with" :) 

Some more therapy shots.   See how strong he is getting!  And check out how LONG he is.  We measured him at the surgeons office this past thursday as best as we can by stretching him out and drawing on the paper and then measuring and he is 35 and half inches tall!  and he is 28 lbs!  I can't believe he is 3 years and almost 11 months!  Do you see him looking at Elmo!  He can see elmo most of the time!  He responds to him :)  That is why his party theme at the park next month is Elmo!  I am on the search for that specific elmo toy they have there.  It stretches!!  You pull the arms and legs on him.  Perfect for a little guy with cp who has to be stretched all the time!

Just some faces of Miah one day when he was very responsive :) 

and some playful faces of Noah.  He is so into having me take all kinds of "camra" with him.  LOL  he will tell me take my camra!  rather than picture!  too cute :)  one of them we are trying to get him to stick his tongue out.  

and here we are having some waiting room fun one day after his surgery!  look how he can move that tongue now!  He is so enthralled by it now! LOL  He still does not stick it out as far as most kids can but it is way improved.  I am wondering if he will be able to more and more as he learns how to use it now.  I will say that his speech has skirocketed since this surgery!  He has vocabulary now we had no clue he had.  I think the tongue had a great deal to do with his speech issues.  The other night he was here spending time with big sissy while I was at the gym I think, and she went to her room when I got here and Noah wanted to watch a show, I asked him where is the remote and he said, " We turned it off while you were gone to watch Celeste's puter and so its in her chair!"   I was like , well ok then!  heehee It was not totally clear but he said his version of all those words and I understood them all!  My mother is also able to understand him better now so that is good.   I am hoping he will continue to improve :)  

Here are some shots of Noah working hard in therapy!  It amazes me every day how he is learning and doing more and more.  

more therapy shots!  This boy loves to cook!  He is always serving everybody! :)  heehee

more waiting room fun! :)  in the bottom last pic he is watching the tv on the ceiling! heehee

Just some shots of Noah from this month!! He is so imaginative! :)  the tray of rocks is a cake just so you know! :)  heehee  Oh and he is holding up gifty he got in the mail from his friend Allie!  He gets soo excited to get mail, he doesnt care what it is but it makes him feel so special! :) 

And a few more of Miah.  He scared us Wednesday Night with a really scary seizure and then a few more smaller ones and so we were set to ER to see if there was an infection or something causing breakthrough seizures.  You can't always tell when he runs a fever because of his skin doesnt react like ours.  He will be having an MRI soon for something to do with his hypthalmus.  Anyway they said it could have been his constipation that caused it.  They really dont know.  We see Neuro in early March in Baton Rouge so anxious to have some questions answered we hope.  one of these is him looking at the RED mobile his speech therapy lady from the school made him! :)  and one is getting a preop xray.  He will be having surgery soon.  I will share more about that when we get the dates and all.  

Well, hopefully for anyone reading you have enjoyed this picture journal of our February.  I know there are a few more days left but thought I would get this done now while I could.  Lots going on this week.  We have IEP meeting for both boys tuesday.  Please be in prayer.  Previous meetings have NOT been fun and I am a little apprehensive about all this.  I am very thankful that the schools will come in and do things with them here at home so I am trying to not worry too much. And Wednesday is my 2 month measurments day for my journey to a better me!  God shook me up and made me realize I am gonna die If I do not get a handle on this soon on dec 29th.  So I do measurements each month on the 29th.  If you want to follow along and cheer me on along my journey check out my personal journey blog HERE!

Happy February all!