A walk, a nap and a poem!

Buka is FINALLY better. He actually didn't puke all morning on Sunday, so we headed out to Aunt Jackie and Uncle Steve's house for a pre-Super Bowl party. Just as we had planned, Luke spent the time there sleeping in his old crib that will soon be a warm comfy bed for his new little cousin! I went for a walk with the girls while Dan played Guitar Hero with the boys! We headed home after the first quarter, so it definitely wasn't a late night!

As I was checking my e-mail though before I wrote this blog post, I read my CID newsletter and found this great writing! I have read it before, but honestly, it makes me cry every time! I certainly live this everyday of my life, especially with Luke and oddly enough, I wouldn't change a thing. Enjoy!

Is it He who chooses these moms?
Erma Bombeck, well-known author

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures, and a couple
by habit. This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of special needs children. Did you ever
wonder how mothers of special needs children are chosen?
Somehow, I visualize God hovering over earth selecting His instrument for propagation with great care
and deliberation. As He observes, He instructs His angels to make notes in a giant ledger. “Armstrong,
Beth, son. Patron saint, Matthew.“Forrest, Marjorie, daughter. Patron saint, Cecelia, “Rutledge, Carrie,
twins. Patron saint…give her Gerard, He’s used to profanity.” Finally, he passes a name to an angel and
smiles, “Give her a special needs child.”
The angel is curious. “Why this one, God? She’s so happy.”
“Exactly, “ smiles God. “Could I give a special needs child a mother who does not know laughter? That
would be cruel. “But has she patience?” Asks the angel. “I don’t want her to have too much patience
or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she’ll
handle it.
“I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in
a mother. You see, the child I’m going to give her has his own world. She has to make it live in her
world and that’s not going to be easy.” “But, Lord, I don’t think she even believes in You.”
God smiles, “No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness.”
The angel gasps, “Selfishness? Is that a virtue?”
God nods. “If she can’t separate herself from the child occasionally, she’ll never survive. Yes, there is a
woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn’t realize it yet, but she is to be
envied. She will never take for granted a “spoken word.” She will never consider a “step” ordinary.
When her child says “Mama” for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she
describes a tree or a sunset to her blind child, she will see it as few people ever see creations.
“I will permit her to see clearly the things I see….. Ignorance, cruelty, prejudice…and allow her to rise
above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because
she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side.”
“ And what about her patron saint?” Asks the angel. His pen poised in mid-air. God smiles, “A mirror will
suffice!”

The bug hit Buka!

It always happens, doesn't it. I had to go and say that we are having a good winter and haven't spent the whole thing sick, and then BAM it hits us! I was just talking to my friend, Jennifer, about her daughter, Kate, who was just diagnosed with RSV and I knew once the words were out of my mouth, I shouldn't have said them! Our poor little Luka Buka has managed to catch a nasty "belly bug!" as we are calling it. Hopefully we'll be able to make it out of the house tomorrow for a SuperBowl party we were set to go to...AND hopefully no one else with catch anything! Sorry, but no pictures on this one...Buka looks a little green!!!

Snow day, round 2!

Today went a lot like yesterday. Dan was the one that got up early and shoveled the driveway...WOW...there was a lot of snow. Thanks to my friend Ang, who measured the snow with a trusty ruler - it measured 7 inches! Dan also got to assist some neighbors who got stuck in our cul-de-sac!!!

Thankfully, the sun was out today, which made it feel so much better out there. For some reason, when the sun is shining and you are out in the snow it just doesn't feel THAT cold. Again, no snowman was to be made. Dan made some valiant attempts, but it just wouldn't work. We'll try again tomorrow!

Because of the depth of the snow Luke couldn't walk in it...he kind of just crawled around and then finally screamed for our help! Dan had cleaned off the deck for Dunkin to get outside to "do his business" so Luke and I hung out there for a while...he still got to play with the snow, but could also walk around a bit!
He finally got into the thick stuff once the boys had stomped around in it enough and he wasn't sinking anymore! Here he and Nick are working on that snowman!
Jack had a pretty good start on the snowman until he decided to turn it into "the biggest snowball ever!" and throw it at me...ah, the life of a mother of 3 boys!
Nick loved pretending he was climbing a mountain (a.k.a. the piles of snow from the driveway!). Here Nick posed at "the top!"
Luke's favorite thing was circling around on the sled with Dan! He was laughing the biggest belly laugh I have heard from him in a long time! (Pardon the trash cans in the back. Our trash was supposed to be picked up on Tuesday...we got an automated call yesterday telling us it would be picked up by Saturday!)
Hopefully tomorrow is back to work for everyone! I'm definitely ready to get out of the house and I know the boys are in definite need of some structure! Happy hump day, all!

HELLO SNOW!!!

Yesterday morning I was awaken by my school calling me to tell me we had no school...at 5:30 a.m. So, I hopped out of bed and headed outside to shovel the driveway while the boys (and Dan) slept! They woke up just as I was getting done, and of course they were ready to head outside!

Of course, this year I opted not to buy any boots or snowsuits. I am the one who thinks that winter is over once Christmas is past! Luckily we had a snowsuit for Luke, but poor little guy didn't know what was happening when Dan starting to put him in it...we had to give him his "binky" to calm him down!
Once Dan got all the gear on him though, he was warm, snuggly and happy to be outside. In fact, he screamed when I brought him in after about 30 minutes!
We got a good amount of snow, maybe 3 inches, but it wasn't very good "packing" snow, so no snowman. Instead the boys made snow angels and filled up a wheelbarrow and pushed the snow around.

After all the snowy fun outside, I pulled out the book and activity that Ms. Beth left us. I figured since Luke was missing his appointment with her (as she always sees him on Tuesdays) I would use my speech therapist skills with my own son and do a little language therapy. We read the book, Hello Snow (I've never read it, but it is great for language expansion!) and then made these great snowflakes...

We had to choose either blue or white snowflakes, then we talked about how we squeezed the glue and spread it with a paintbrush...
...and then we would "shake" the glitter (this was Luke's favorite part!")
...and we ended up with these great snowflakes! Too bad I'm not having a "winter" themed birthday for Luke this year! These would have been perfect decorations!
We had such a great snowday yesterday. The boys even had a playdate with their friends Ethan and Noah and I got to hold their little sister, Emily...thanks Laura for letting me hang out with her for a bit. Then, Kristin and Maddie came over for a visit. We had a great LATE dinner and then finished off the day with making and eating chocolate covered strawberries! For all of our east coast friends, the snow kept falling and we actually got a few more inches over night for a total of about 9 inches that we woke up to today. Dan was off again so we got another fun snow day! Pictures to follow of our adventures in the snow! Hope everyone had a great day!

Can you tell me how to get....

...how to get to Sesame Street???

So Sunday we traveled out in the snow (Luke couldn't contain himself saying, "sno, sno!") to see Sesame Street Live. Surprisingly, Jack and Nick had said they wanted to go too, so all 5 of us found ourselves in the middle of center ice at the Savvis Center. Our seats were great! Look at our view!!!
Luke was a bit tense before the show began. He is NOT a fan of characters, actually, Nick isn't either, really! Here Luke and I get our pic taken right before it started!
Dan, Jack and Nick say "cheese" before the 1 p.m. start!
Luke and Nick totally got into the show though! In fact, whenever a song would end, (this is where I brag a bit!) our Deaf son, Luke, actually signed and screamed "more!"
It was great! I especially loved the little "princess" type girl (who was about the same age as Luke) in front of us, with a mom, who got all dolled up for Elmo, who couldn't help but stare at Luke the entire time...come on, lady, it is a cochlear implant....it's not like he has a 3rd eye! Anyway, she threw a MAJOR tantrum the entire time, but not Luke...he LOVED it! Here he is clapping!
A quick pic of me and my boys!
After about 2 hours, all the Sesame Street characters said "goodbye" and to my surprise, my little Buka, said "bye, bye" too!
We took Jack and Nick when they were younger, and I can honestly say that this was the best production ever! We all enjoyed it and it was a great precursor to our family vacation this summer...a whirlwind trip to the East Coast (with a two day stop at Sesame Place!).

Jack's got game!

Jack started playing basketball at the YMCA with the same boys that he played soccer with! He had his first game on Saturday and did a great job!!!

Here he is before the game, posed with Dad!
I wasn't able to make it because the game was at 1, right in the middle of Luke's naptime. Luckily Jack took a quick picture of me before he headed out!
Jack was so excited that he could pick his jersey number. He chose number 45 - the closest number he could pick to Aunt Jackie's high school basketball number - 44!

Although I've not seen a game yet, the practices are fun. All these little 6 and 7 year olds, running around the court, most of which have never played basketball and don't know all the rules, no traveling, double dribbling and such! Good times! Luckily Jack knows the coaches and they know him...specifically the hearing loss. I don't talk too often about Jack's hearing loss, but I'm just so thankful that his coaches are so caring and patient because WOW...listening in the gym is TOUGH for Jack, but they make sure that they are using gestures and an extra loud voice when they are talking to him!
Jack's team only scored 1 basket, the other team had 3, but at the end of the game, Jack said he "had a blast!"

Walkin' in Memphis....

I mentioned in a past post that the boys and I headed to visit my brother, Bryan, his wife, Allison and their daughter, Alyssa after Christmas. Can you believe I forgot my camera...the day had started off kind of crazy with an unexpected trip to the Children's ER because of redness again on Luke's CI incision site (luckily it was nothing!) so I had to rely on my mom's pics. Thanks to Nana, for sending these my way!

I love going down to Memphis as we usually just hang out and eat...Allie is an amazing cook. This trip was a bit different though as Allie totally planned fab things for us to do! We arrived Friday night and headed to Chuck E. Cheese's. Of course we had a great time and I was excited b/c we got to try out Luke's FM system with his CI. To those that don't know what I'm talking about, essentially, I wear a microphone that goes directly to his CI and hearing aid, so even if he is 40 feet away from me, I can call his name (quietly!) and he'll stop and look for me! What a great device (sometimes I think this would be great for "normally" hearing children as well!) The four kids had a fun time playing with all the games there...so did Uncle Bryan and Aunt Allie! :)

After we got home we had Christmas all over again! The boys got FUN gifts from their aunt and uncle...Nick some cool paint pens, Luke a glowing Magna Doodle and Jack got the boys version of the EZ Bake oven, in which he makes bugs! Fun times! We got Alyssa the biggest hit of the weekend....6 pair of Disney princess high heels. Notice those cute chubbie legs modeling the yellow "Belle" shoes?? All the boys loved them (we got great pics, but as soon as Nana took the pics, Jack made sure to say that I was not allowed to put them on my blog!!!) Alyssa did a great job sharing, and it was good that there were only 4 kids and 6 pair of shoes! Luke actually fell asleep with these!
Here is Alyssa opening up her V-Tech from Nana and Papa...
Uncle Bryan and Aunt Allie pose for a pic with their cutie puppy, Riley!
Because we wouldn't be able to spend Aunt Allie's birthday with her, we gave her gift to her early...this great "It's My Pan" with her name on it and a new cookbook!
Here is Nana with her 4 grandchildren. We can't wait until Aunt Jackie and Uncle Steve have their little one in April!!!! 5 is a great number!
After all the present opening it was time to go to sleep! We blew up the air mattress for the boys and Alyssa. They all started on the mattress and all 4 woke up on the floor next to it...

Saturday we did a little after Christmas shopping. Uncle Bryan was feeling lousy so we tried to keep everyone calm! Aunt Allie got home from work, whipped up a great Italian meal and then pulled out the fun...it was time to ice cookies. She made BIG cookies and had tons of good stuff to decorate them with! Unfortunately the red icing kind of looked like blood, but tasted good nonetheless! (Forgive my crazy snowman pj's!) We were all chillin' for the night!
All the sugar must have affected some of us, because Saturday night Jack, Luke, Aunt Allie, and I stayed up LATE to watch the Polar Express....so we all slept in Sunday morning, except for Uncle Bryan who had to go to work! The weather was AMAZING and everyone wanted to golf! It was honestly like 80 degrees. We got to take the kids outside to play and then Aunt Allie, the most AMAZING massage therapist EVER gave me an 1 1/2 massage while Nana watched the 4 kids! Thanks Allie....it was so relaxing! We then took a nap and then headed out for dinner and then for a special treat. Aunt Allie and Uncle Bry are members of the Memphis Zoo and they had heard about Memphis Lights at the zoo! Basically there were TONS of little light scenes all over the zoo. My favorite part was when we first walked in, there were all these snow machines that made fake snow, but they were SO far above us that at first it really looked real!!!

Nana snapped this great pic...
Our weekend came to an end Monday morning when we had to go. The four cousins love to play with each other and play so well. The boys miss Alyssa terribly and I know Alyssa misses the boys (she was crying and kept telling Uncle Bryan, "bye-bye Dad" as she so wanted to come with us!) Luckily they will be back up here soon to celebrate Aunt Jackie's baby shower! It was another amazing weekend in Memphis that ended oh too soon!!!

We managed to get this pic before we left...notice Alyssa's eyes closed? Whenever anyone whips out a camera she says "cheese" and closes her eyes....too cute!