Time with Family

Today we said goodbye to a great friend, really family. Dale will be really missed by all of us. It was nice to spend quality time with everyone. I am so glad we were here.

This Week

Our week has been very busy. Preston was in Orlando at the beginning of the week. Monday evening his Grandfather passed away. We will all miss Mr E very much. It is comforting to know he is home in Heaven.

Tuesday we went to several productive appointments. We saw all three of our therapists at Hand in Hand. Melissa, SLP, worked with Owen on the computer, Kristi, PT worked with both boys. The highlight of Owen's time was trying to drive this car! Andrew, OT, also stopped to give Owen a chew straw to help with his teething and a small wrist splint for his right hand. Both boys also had new pairs of AFOs made. Nathan also went to see the orthopedic surgeon. Owen was so tired he slept through the whole thing. Nathan's hamstrings are VERY tight. He is not able to straighten his legs all the way. We are looking to have his hamstrings lengthened in order for him to sit and eventually walk less assisted. We have done stretching and Botox but with his degree of tightness it is believed that only the surgery will give us the results he needs. We are praying about this and the timing. Your prayers are appreciated too.

Wednesday we spent the day with Preston's family and had Mr E's funeral. It was nice to see so much family. Just wish it were for a happy occasion. Wednesday night we learned that a very close family friend passed away, so we made plans to travel to Michigan.

Thursday morning we had an augmentative communication pre-evaluation. An SLP from CRS came out to play with the boys and observe them. Our next evaluation will include a PT, OT, SLP and rehab tech guru. They will look at lots of different devices for the boys, much more in depth for Owen because he has such difficulty moving his arms. In the mean time she told me of a few good iPad apps for the boys to use.

Now we are on our way to Michigan.

Last few days at the Pool

The pool closes in one week. We are trying to get in as much time as possible. We ate an early dinner and headed to the pool around 6, to get in an hour of swimming. On the way into the pool Logan offered to carry all the floats for me. There was only one other family at the pool while we were there. It was nice and relaxing. All three boys had fun. I loved seeing Nathan and Logan playing so well and really interacting throwing the ball together!

We have a busy day tomorrow. Both Nathan and Owen have physical therapy. Both boys will also have leg splints cast and made just for them. Nathan has an appointment with the Ortho doctor and Owen has speech therapy at Hand in Hand. It will be a full day! I'll update tomorrow night to give you an update on all the appointments.

Bell Center Tailgate Challenge

We enjoyed a wonderful day of yummy food, great fellowship, exploring Sloss Furnace and inflatables all at The Bell Center Tailgate Challenge. The Tailgate Challenge is an event celebrating the beginning of football season. Tents are sponsored by various organizations and all represent a college team. All proceeds from the event support The Bell Center. This year Preston's office sponsored a tent so of course the team we chose was Georgia Tech. Our friends Jennifer and Michael came over yesterday for the event. Michael and Preston were in charge of our tailgate food and they came up with BBQ Pork Dumplings. We each started cooking our BBQ Thursday night and Friday night we stayed up until 2:00am wrapping and steaming all 300 dumplings. It was lots of fun! The dumplings were a huge success. We had tons of repeat tasters and many asking for our recipe. Michael was our professional fryer at the event!!

Nathan and Owen really enjoyed hanging out with Grandparents. Logan had the best time exploring Sloss Furnace, especially the underground tunnel and jumping in the bounce house.

We all had a great time and are looking forward to making this an annual tradition.

Pictures

Here are lots of pictures over the past few days. They published in random order but I will explain them as best I can.

We went to the park Monday night and everyone had a great time. I let Logan run all the way around the long path and he really thought he was a big boy doing it all alone.

Nathan was busy taking the clothes out of his drawer and spreading them around the house.

Owen has a new wrist splint to help him with holding and grabbing for things.

Nathan has started to use his right wrist while he plays for pushing and feeling things.

Logan started art class on Monday and said everything about it was wonderful.

Owen still really loves playing with the iPad.

Logan and Nathan are playing really well together.

New bed and new Cars Race Track

Logan and I colored a new Cars race track today while his brothers were napping. The cardboard is about 4'x3'. He love making things with cardboard and markers. I think maybe that is what Santa should bring him for Christmas.

Owen moved into a new bed tonight. He often times turns sideways in his crib and hits the wooden sides which then wakes him up multiple times a night. Hopefully with more room and the soft bumpers he will be able to sleep well through the night. Nathan is still in love with his crib and sleeping in it well so he will stay in there for a while.

Roller Skate Fun!!!

For Logan's birthday he wanted a pair of roller skates so he could have wheels like his brothers do in their gait trainers. Yesterday was the Westminster back to school skate party. Preston took him, since when he gets off on time on Friday he can pick him up from school. They ate lunch first and then went to the party. Logan loved roller skating! He is ready to go again any time.