On our way out...

Just a brief note that I won't be blogging for a week....which I will miss. We are heading out tomorrow for vacation. We are headed out for the East Coast which will be fun. Brian's brother, Scott, who passed away from cancer in 2001 was married to Sue. She is such a wonderful person and important to our family. She is getting re-married, and we are going to be there for the wedding. It will be a big reunion of family for Brian's side which will also be nice. We are excited to see Sue and Jason (Sue and Scott's son). There will be aunts and uncles and cousins, too. We will be doing lots of sightseeing and touring and hopefully a little resting, too! I will be sure to take lots of pictures and will catch you all up when we return!!!! Bon Voyage for now.....

Happy Father's Day

I love you, Daddy and Reid does, too. Thank you for everything you do for Mommy, Reid, and me. I am glad you are my daddy.

I love you!
Ellie

Meet Fred the Frog...or Toad, rather...

The kids and I were out in the backyard yesterday afternoon when Ellie spotted this little guy near our swing set. She was SOOOOO excited. Right away, she named him Fred the Frog. I couldn't bear to tell her this was a toad. Minor difference.....right?
Here is Ellie contemplating if she should touch Fred or not. She REALLY wanted to!

Getting closer.....

And closer. After I took this picture Mr. Fred hopped and Ellie, Reid, and I all jumped, too!

Reid liked the hopping! (and how appropriate...look at Reid's shirt!!!! Pure coincidence!)

In awe of Fred because he was hopping all over the place. Look at Reid's face. He has no clue what to think!

So, of course, when you find something as cool as Fred...you HAVE to catch him and put him in your "bug house", right???? So, we did just that. Mama had the lovely job of catching Fred. Thank goodness I had some garden tools nearby to scoop him up with. The kids LOVED watching him close up.

Ellie was so excited. She couldn't wait to show everyone Fred. In fact, both sets of grandparents had to come by to see Fred....and Daddy, of course had to see him, and we even went over to show our neighbor who was out doing yard work (Thanks, Mr. Brower!).

Ellie and Fred.....(she asked me to keep him in her room...ummmmmm.......)

So, we had a brief science lesson on animals who really shouldn't live in plastic bug houses for too long, and Ellie finally agreed to let Mr. Fred go. We went on with our evening and right before bedtime, Ellie found the perfect spot to free Mr. Fred.......under the swing set where we found him. I am sure she will be looking for him later today!

Sacked Out

Love my sitter who took these pics of Reid for me on Wednesday when the kids were there. In the matter of time that she went into the bathroom, Reid grabbed his blanket, made himself cozy on the floor, and simply went to sleep in the playroom. I am shifting him to one nap a day right now, and as you can see, Reid is rebelling. This was taken at 10:15 am.
Too funny....

Out Cold!

Goodnight, Reid!

Breaking out the POOL, folks! The Sun is Shining!

We've just had some dreary, yucky days. Brian and I both had bronchitis and an upper respiratory infection over the last week, and we were both running really low on energy. Our antibiotics are now done, we are starting to feel more human again, and nothing can put a kick in your step like SWIMMING!!!! As you scroll down, you will see it was just mini-swimming, but it required bathing suits nonetheless!!! I was just happy to get the kids outside, and Reid stayed in one spot long enough for me to snap some photos. It was a fun afternoon, and the kids slept great that night! I think we will have to swim as much as we can this summer!!!!
Reid getting his first glimpse of the pool, or mini-pool rather. Love these trunks on him with the little swim diaper sticking out! Too funny!

Ellie helping Reid in the pool. She was about beside herself....she couldn't wait to get in!

Ohhhhh, a bit chilly! As you can see, Reid takes his lead from Ellie. He watches EVERY move she makes!

Splashing.....and enjoying the water.

And nothing beats a yummy pospsicle after all that hard work of playing in the water!

And yes, leave it to my daughter. My princess girlie-girl daughter to show Reid how to spit water out of their mouths. Unfortunately, Reid thought this was hysterical, and that just added fuel to Ellie's fire.

"See you in a year...."

....those were the words our craniofacial team said to us yesterday at Reid's one year post-op lip repair appointment. Really???? One whole year????? Wow. A part of me will actually miss seeing our team. They have all become so close with us and to Reid, it is almost bitter sweet in a sense. We talked about what is next in line for Reid, and here is where we are headed.

1. Continue to see our speech team at Rainbow every 3-6 months for evals.
2. Continue with Reid's speech therapist here at home once weekly.
3. We will see our dental team at Rainbow every 6 months.
4. We will see our ENT in 6-12 months to check the t-tubes in Reid's ears. They look pretty good now. Nothing to be alarmed about.
5. See our craniofacial team in ONE YEAR for another evaluation. On the agenda in terms of surgeries are some nose revisions (2 most likely before Kindergarten) and if needed another palate surgery. Not for the palate itself, but for speech purposes to get rid of any nasal tones from Reid's speech if this develops and can not be corrected by speech services.

Dr. Gosain was very happy with how Reid's lip has healed. In fact, I will quote what he said that gave me goosebumps. While he was examining Reid's lip/scar area he said, "This is one of the most positive outcomes that I have ever had." Enough said. We agree. We are thrilled with the care we have received by our medical team. We are truly blessed. Reid's report came out great. No issues with the lip, gumline, or palate. We will just keep on trucking along, and see our team in a YEAR! And now, to leave you with some pictures from the day.
Kissable lips! He was eating a grape here....or sucking all the juice out, I should say!
Right side view.

Left side view.

...and my favorite....."CHEESE!" This is my favorite scrunchie face in the whole wide world!

It's only 10:00 a.m.....

..and here is how Reid's face looks already!!! I swear he was clean this morning when he woke up!
We went outside and in a matter of about 30 minutes here is what Reid managed to do...*helped me water the plants, and his entire outfit, *helped me dig in the mulch to plant flowers, and then sit in the holes we dug, * played in sandbox and filled socks and shoes with sand with his big sister's help, * shared a popsicle with Sophie, *sat in puddle of water at the bottom of the slide, *and had a blast doing all these things!
A bath this early in the day????? Hey, when you look like this.....that's exactly what you get!

Reid's new word

Reid has a blanket with all sorts of sports balls on it. He now knows that the football has a word to go with it. Daddy is proud.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

House call...

Did you know that clowns make house calls??? Pretty awesome, huh? I have a friend who works with me at school who "clowns" for children and for older adults in nursing homes. She brought some novice clowns over to our house for a trial run today, and the kids loved it. Balloons were blown up, tricks were performed, and goodies were passed out. Reid didn't know quite what to make of all this, but with some time, I was able to capture some good photos.
Reid and Amy

There were 3 sisters that were in training who came along to help. So cute, huh?

Actually, this "clown" will be in my class next year! Neat!

A group shot of us.

A group shot of all the clowns together with Ellie.

Thanks for all the fun!!!!! Can't wait to do this again sometime! Loved the visit today!

My Ellie

Just some pics of Ellie from the other day (oh, and Sophie snuck in one, too). I think these show exactly what kind of personality Ellie has.
Sophie.....in the sun for about 2 minutes and panting.

My Sophie imitator.

Not pretending to be a dog anymore...on to bigger and better things....a LION!

Sweet.

Cute.

Silly.

Giggly.

My girl....growing up so quickly.

Love you, always.