How do you dress a squirmy boy?

SHOW HIM WHO'S BOSS!!!

Hehehe...such a typical thing for us, we do it automatically. Just throw a leg over him and keep on going. Caylee's expression in this just cracks me up, it's so Caylee, and I can just hear her "I don't think so Mr.!" and he's thinking "Who me? I didn't do anything!"!

Josh with his cousin...

This is my silly cousin, Justin, entertaining Joshua (they speak the same language as you'll see). :-) These two just love each other!

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

YUMMY!

I will omit the melted butter and substitute, organic virgin coconut oil in the butter's place.



Bon apetit'!

Catching up? Not even close, but a glimpse...

Caylee and Joshua on the carosel.


Caylee, Josh, and Tiffany (Joshua's aide/nanny. Isn't she cute?)


Joshua and his best friend, Maddie at the Laurie Berkner concert.

I haven't been on in sooo long, there is way too much to catch up on! Thought I'd catch up in pictures.

The zoo was a blast. This time of year is the best time for a trip to the zoo, in Fort Worth anyhow. ;-) The weather is perfect, for us and the animals, who are super frisky in the cooler weather. The male lion stood on his own "pride rock" on roared so loud, it was so cool. The mama lion had four cute cubs bouncing all over her and each other, it was so cute! We drug Tiffany along with us, my other sweet girl around here, even though she isn't quite the camera ham as my Caylee and Joshua are, she was very reluctant if you can't tell in the picture. Hahaha, but I'm a mean boss and made her pose! Right Tifferzz? :-)

Joshua did have two seizures on the train at the zoo though, caused by the sunlight flickering through the trees. That was a bummer, but he had fun nonetheless.

We went to see Laurie Berkner in concert a couple of weekends ago. We went with Josh's best friend, Maddie, and her mama and nana, and Caylee. She sings the cutest songs, and they are not near as annoying as other kids songs, I think they are quite catchy and I love the folk feel of her music. I did worry about the lights in the dark theatre and if they would affect Joshua, but all was well! Hooray!

I haven't said anything on the blog yet, but we are adopting Joshua's biological sister, Ashley, VERY SOON! We are all so very exctied to have her here, to have her and her mini-me together at last! We have been cramming, lots of adoption classes, and all the other stuff that goes along with it:

1~TB tests for all in the family
2~CPR/first aid for Kevin, Cay and I
3~Fire inspection
4~Update the dog's vaccinations
5~Medication training
6~21 hours of CPS training
7~Lock and keying all meds
8~Background checks for all in contact with kids
9~Homestudy
10~Tie-downs for Ashley's wheelchair in the van
ect...

Fun, fun, fun....but all so worth it to get her here! Keeping my eye on the prize as my good friend Jen told me. :-) That's the truth!

We found out some awesome news....Joshua's medicaid waiver caseworker told me that as soon as we get Ashley here in our home that we can get her on the program also! That means that I will be able to hire her very own aide/nanny to work with her after she comes home from school each day! Happy dance! Just that will make such a huge difference in being able to trasition her into the family smoother. I am so thankful for the way that God has been in all of the details of her arrival. We are very blessed. I mourn for a friend who had to go through such a loss for us to have such a gain though. There is always a good and bad in any situation, and I know that she is happy that we are going to be her new family. Bittersweet...

Well that is about all the catching up that I can handle for one night, I have a kitchen to clean now!

Love one another!~Yvonne

Joshua's VEEG...

Joshua had a video EEG done last week to test for seizure activity. We were at the hospital for about 30 VERY long hours! Don't ever go to a hospital to get any rest, it's impossible. Anyhow, it did go well, they were able to see the seizure activity that I had witnessed a month or so ago. While it was scary to witness again, I was so glad that it happened, so that they could see it for themselves and know that I really did see what I thought I had. I would hate for Josh to not have had any activity while we were there and then have it happen again a week later and have to do the testing all over again.

He did not have any seizures unless they used a strobe light to induce them, and they tested the frequencies that it occurred and used different colored filters in front of the strobe to see what difference that made. He seized at many frequencies and with all colors but blue. From that they were able to tell that he has photosensitive epilepsy. He has an appointment on the 11th to see a pediatric opthamologist to get his vision checked and to get a prescription for frames with polarized blue lenses in them. The blue lenses are supposed to keep him from seizing when he normally would with certain light conditions.

He had two seizures today on the train at the zoo. We were on the train, it was going through the trees, and the sunlight streaming in through the trees and flickering, set him into a seizure. He bumped his head when he first went into it because it makes him stiffen his entire body, so he sort of goes from the sitting position to a stiff board for the duration of it. He was wearing sunglasses, but not the right blue tinted kind. The eye doctor appointment can't come fast enough for me!

He had a blast on the train other than that, and loved riding the carousel also. We had a great zoo day, the weather was just gorgeous for it, and the animals were quite lively. The lions, tigers, and giraffes all have babies running around right now, and they are so cute!

I have so much more that I need to update here, but for tonight I am exhausted!

Love one another!~Yvonne

Pictures from Joshua's video EEG...

Click HERE to see the pictures!

It was quite an eventful night...I'll post more about it later!

Hippotherapy...

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Joshua's favorite day of the week is Wednesday, when he gets to ride horses! He is SO CUTE when he is up there!

His therapist is so pleased with his progress. Today she commented on how well he is weight bearing into his feet now. She said when he first started it was like he had no bones! :-) Now he's so strong, and getting stronger all the time. I love that he gets to do this therapy that is so fun for him, and not just work. It's so fun to watch him on the horse, how happy and big and proud he looks; I could watch him up there for hours.

Love one another!~Yvonne

Texas State Fair (part 1)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Texas State Fair was a lot of fun! Joshua, Kevin, Tiffany and I all went. Caylee was spending the day with her friend for her birthday. It was SO LOUD that even I had sensory overload, so while Joshua looks a bit overwhelmed in some of the video, he really enjoyed it. He seemed to love the fountain and the airplane ride the most. Once he got hurt on a slide, and I took him straight to the restroom to play in the water in the sink to distract him, and he loved that too. So while you could spend a fortune in tickets for the rides, he loved playing in the bathroom just as much! Silly boy cracks me up! We all had fun watching him have fun.

Love one another!~Yvonne

A rare moment...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We caught Joshua actually being STILL on the couch! It is a very rare sighting, indeed! I had to capture that moment on video. Kevin, Caylee and I watched in amazement. THEN we realized the only reason he was lying so still is because his arm was caught in the couch cushions! LOL!

Maybe one day he'll lay around like that without being stuck...but I'm not holding me breath, he has way too many things to do! :-)

Love one another!~Yvonne

Odds and ends...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Caylee and Joshua playing around tonight. Joshua looks so funny with his legs going up and down, sort of like a frog jumping. :-)

Cay and I had co-op today and while she was in her classes, I sat out in the cafeteria and played around with Joshua's new communication device. It has a very large instruction book, plus instructional dvd's, online classes, or local workshops too. Yes, it's that complicated! Ah... Good news is his new speech therapist says she knows how to program them! It will be going to therapy with us tomorrow, and she'll be taking it home with her to work on getting things programmed in that are both fun and functional for Josh. So far he likes to watch You tube videos on it! :-)

I actually made it to the gym to work out tonight!!! HUGE accomplishment for me. I was working out steadily for months, that is until Kevin's back went out and I drove him all over for appointments and therapies and to work and back, plus all the usual of going to Joshua's many therapies, and Caylee's activities. I just didn't have energy then, or the time, and got out of the habit. So, today is a fresh start.

Joshua is getting heavier and I have to get some muscles back or I'm not going to be able to lift him any longer. It's not just his weight, it's his weight combined with his wiggliness. He loves The Wiggles, and he aspires to be a Wiggle, so he never stops wiggling. He must practice, practice, practice! I love that little wiggly boy!

Off to bed for me now, tomorrow is a busy day. Joshua has speech, and physical therapy and then we'll grab lunch and head over the the ENT's office. His tubes have come out of his ears and the holes don't seem to want to close up on their own. So, we'll see what the doctor has in store for us.

Love one another!~Yvonne

Soy Ice Cream

We don't eat dairy at our house, and we missed having ice cream so badly that we bought a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. We have tried quite a lot of recipes in it, but this plain ole' vanilla recipe is our favorite. We can each add whatever we want to afterwards. I like to put cinnamon, and pecans, and ginger snaps in mine. YUM!

Vanilla Soy Ice Cream (I don't remember where I found this)

Serves 4 (or Caylee and I) :-)

1 C powdered sugar
4 egg yolks, or 1/2 C of egg beaters
1 tsp. of corn starch
2 C soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract (if you are gluten intolerant make sure to use a GF extract)

1. Put the egg yolks, sugar, and corn starch into a bowl; whisk the mixture together.

2. Heat the soy milk; slowly pour the hot soy milk into the mixture while continuing to heat.

3. Add the vanilla extract.

4. Gently heat the mixture until it thickens.

5. Let the mixture cool in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.

6. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker; make ice cream following the instructions of the machine.

Put whatever toppings you enjoy on it. Stawberries, blueberries, banana, cookies, honey, candy bars...endless possibilites.

Furry friend...

Josh loves to play the piano, he stands there for up to 10 minutes playing sometimes, and that's a LONG time for him to do any one thing. He is usually more like a little hummingbird, quickly flitting from one toy to the next.

Today, Happy joined him at the piano and listened to his excellent playing. Every few minutes Happy would lick the spit bubbles from Joshua's chin. Now, that's a great friend!

A yummy GF cookie recipe...

Gluten-Free Recipe of the Week:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Treats

Difficulty:
Easy

Makes about 16 servings


Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1-1/2 cups light corn syrup
1-1/2 cups peanut butter
6 cups EnviroKids Koala Krisps
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Place the sugar, corn syrup and peanut butter in a large saucepan over medium low heat. Stirring constantly, cook the mixture until blended and the mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat and set aside.

Combine the cereal with the chocolate chips in a large bowl. Stir in the hot peanut butter mixture until combined. Spread the mixture into a 13x9" lightly greased baking pan. Let cool to room temperature. Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill for 15-20 minutes or until set. Cut into squares or fun shapes with cookie cutters. Serve.

from Gluten Freeda Magazine

Sweet...

This was on the magnadoodle when I came home yesterday. Tiffany and Josh are doing so well together. I know the feeling is mutual, he loves her too!

Love one another!~Yvonne

Potty training...

Or maybe potty timing would be the better phrase! hehehe! I've been keeping record today or all Josh eats or drinks and when he wets or poops his diaper; exciting times in the Hamrick house! Tonight about 15 minutes after his last bottle I sat him on the potty (the kind that fits over the regular toilet seat) with a step stool under his feet and after about 4 minutes he peed! I had to help him aim it down so it wasn't hitting mama in the face, but otherwise it went well! After he went, I helped him walk to the back of the toilet and flush and then he got to stand on the stool and wash his hands, all of that definitely made it worth it to him; he was laughing his head off! It was so cute! We went back to the living room and Daddy and Sissy cheered for him too, and that made him laugh all over again!

I am feeling so much better. That was one whopper of a virus I had. I didn't think it would ever end! It was so good to have Joshua's respite worker, Tiffany, here to help during that time. I don't know what I would have done otherwise! I slept most of the days away.

I'll get that book list on here soon! Caylee and I are really enjoying them a lot.

Love one another!~Yvonne

No energy for blogging...

Sorry I haven't posted our school reading lists yet, but I am feeling horrible right now. My allergies are really taking their toll on me. I cough all night and then I'm exhausted during the day, my head aches, and my throat is so, so painful right now. I just want to curl up in a ball and moan. My family just wishes I would do it in private so they don't have to hear it. :-)

I sure hope that I feel better soon, or find some miracle allergy drug!

Hopefully I will return soon...

Love one another!~Yvonne

"What if there was ablist discrimination?"

The Disability Rights Commission, in the United Kingdom, produced a 3 minute video clip that asks us to use our imaginations in a different way: what if there was ablist discrimination, if the able-bodied encountered whispers, inaccessible buildings and transport, stares, intrusive and rude comments, and more? This is a genuine use of the imagination: to develop an image of a world that was designed and organized so that people unlike me could move about in it easily. It's easy to see, instantly, why the best world is one where there would be access and openings for everyone.

Taken from Monastic Musings blog.



I cracked up when the man in the elevator tells him "I had a friend with all his limbs once." or "I think you are very brave." Brave for what? Getting out of bed this morning, getting on the elevator? Navigating this world that doesn't do anything to help you fit in unless it's forced to by the ADA? I know it is very difficult to think about such things if you've never had to, I didn't, but now I try to navigate my son's wheelchair through the world. There are some stores that I cannot enter if he is with me; no room. Of course that also means to me a mom, that other's with young ones in strollers can't get around either. So there is a common perspective that you can think about it from. What if your stroller didn't fold up nice and neat and go into the trunk of a taxi, or if your baby was the only child in such a contraption; do you think you might some looks and whisperings? It is sure food for thought.

The quote above about having a friend with all his limbs once made me think of how we treat people who are different than us, not only those with physical or mental impairment, but even those of another race than ourselves. It may be our way of trying to find a common ground, but to those who hear such statements all the time it must sound very trite.

I am learning, as I go, see the world though new lenses also. Joshua has blessed me with the opportunity to grow and stretch my viewpoint.

Love one another!~Yvonne

Our new friend and school...

We had our first day with our new friend Tiffany today! She was with us from 10-5 today and it went really well. Joshua seems to really like her a lot, and so do the rest of us, even the dogs love her. We went to speech and PT, and just hung out at the house everyone getting to know each other. Very casual day. Hopefully, she doesn't think we're all TOO crazy! hehehe!

Tomorrow Caylee and I go to co-op. She has her first big biology test; which she is very nervous about I think. I know she will do well though. Caylee loves science and has an awesome memory. In the past our testing style has been me asking her questions or her narrating what's she read in either oral or written format. This is different than that, but she has done very well with the written tests in Spanish 1 and 2. She's a smart girl!

We will start our history/language courses here at home next week. With all of our hospital visits and now Tiffany's first week, we've had to push it up a bit. We aren't too far behind when I had hoped to start though. I'ts going to be a lot of fun, we are going to be reading some really interesting books this year!

Tomorrow I'll post our book list...

Love one another!~Yvonne :-)

My Personality Results...

I don't know, but I love this kind of stuff!

Life is wonderfully boring...

After all the hubbub around here lately, boring is awesome! I did get glutened at a restaurant on Saturday night and I felt pretty cruddy all day yesterday though. I'll take that kind of stuff over hospitals and surgeries though.

Tiffany starts working with Joshua tomorrow!!! We are pretty darn excited it, and that's an understatement. :-)
Joshua has such an aversion to strangers right now. I am planning to just have her with us doing what we normally do: therapy, co-op, shopping, park, watching tv, ect...until he gets used to her being around all the time and they make friends, before I leave them alone togethe, except to be in other parts of the house. It probably won't take too long, but I just want to make sure he's comfortable with her and her with him. I think Joshua's very easy, but then I can read his mind because I'm mama, so I do have an advantage.

It's so nice that the weather is actually cool enough for Joshua to be sitting outside with his dad. Kevin is making a birdhouse in the garage, and Joshua seems to like to watch him do stuff like that. I guess it's the tools...boys do like tools.

our golden doodle, Happy, is not so very happy with his new haircut. Poor guy just mopes around; he used to be smiling all the time, but not now. He is feeling naked and vulnerable and humiliated I think. I don't know what to do to make him feel better either. Poor guy!

Well off to tackle the toy room! I am cleaning toys and replacing batteries. We always need batteries. Joshua only likes toys that he can chew on, or that have lights and music.

Love one another!~Yvonne

Politics?

TC's interview on the nomination of Governor Palin.

TC you crack me up!

Yvonne :-)

Naked dogs and a Joshua update...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy before:



Henry before:



This is what happens to your dogs when you can't afford to have them groomed because your hubby is off of work with his back. They get so tangled and matted that they must be shaved bald! Poor Hubby and poor doggies! Happy, our golden doodle, was sportin' a shaggy dog look, now it's more greyhound I think, or maybe naked mole rat? Henry the bichon doesn't look too much different I guess, but the beard has to go!

Naked dogs; quite the sight to wake up to. It's strange to think that if Happy was lost and someone shaved him like that, I would not know him if I saw him. Joshua doesn't quite know what to think of his dog yet. His favorite thing about Happy was all of his shaggy hair that he could tangle his fingers into and get big handfuls to put in his mouth! I'm thinkin' that won't be happening again for a very long time. Maybe Christmas?

Joshua is not quite as grumpy as before, but he is still yelling at me. I have tried giving him advil, but it doesn't help. Caylee did remind me that the last time he was really sick it took a while for him to get back to himself, we were saying; "Where did our happy little boy go?" He did come back though!

The sound of the day...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Josh is NOT a happy little camper today. I hope it is only the steroids! He had his last dose this morning, so maybe, just maybe my happy little boy will return to me in the next day or two. He's still cute, even when he's angry. He literally has done this since he woke this morning, no matter what I've done or fed him or sung to him or played with him. Calgon take me away! :-)

Love one another (even the grumpy ones)!~Yvonne

Home from the hospital...

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

Hello everyone! We are HOME!

We got home yesterday evening. The xray showed that there will still
a VERY small pocket of air in the pluera, but it was smaller and they
didn't think it warranted doing a chest tube, thank the Lord! So we
were sent home with orders to keep up the breathing treatments every 4
hours, keep giving steroids, and to see his doctor tomorrow. I just
realized that they didn't give us any antibiotics to take home and
they had him on zithromax at the hospital, so I hope that wasn't an
oversight. He's not completely healed yet, and they still don't know
why he has the coughing all of the sudden either, but only time will
tell that.

Joshua had been such a brave little trooper, trying to be happy and
make the best of it, but as soon as I told him we were going
home...whatever they did to him he screamed his head off at them,
crying uncontollably and making himself have such horrible coughing, I
was afraid they'd decide to keep him! :-) I know he didn't understand
if we were going home, then why did they continue to mess with him,
let's get home already!

As soon as we got in his wheelchair and down the hall to the elevator,
he was happy, and in the car on the way home he was downright giddy
about it! He slept great last night, even through breathing
treatments. Maybe he's learned to sleep deeper through this? Hahaha.
I can hope!

Almost all of the rice crispy feeling under his skin is gone, you have
to really feel around to find it now, when before you could touch
anywhere and feel it right away. It was pretty scary, but I'm just
glad that I know his body so well that I noticed it quickly. I am
sure many of you are like me and give your kids the once over
regularly, they can't tell us when things are different so you have to
be on your toes.

We had lots of med students coming in and wanting to feel it and
listen to him, but I drew the line at them looking in his throat. The
doctor had just done that, and it took two of us to hold him down and
her to look and a lot of discomfort for Joshua, so I told them I
didn't think there was anything interesting to see in there, but they
could ask the doc and if she said that is was very interesting and
they should see it that I'd let them. I didn't hear back on that one.
:-) They were all very sweet kids though and we enjoyed them, for the
most part!

I hope that we don't have anything else of any interest to report here
at the homefront for quite a long while...

Side note though; my poor mom fell coming into the hospital to see
Joshua and was rushed accross the street to the other hospital for
stiches and a ct scan, but luckily is home now with a mild concussion
and six stitches, but she truly looks as if she's a part of a fight
club. She looks terrible, it's all on the one side of her face that
she fell on, and I think if I only saw her from that side, I wouldn't
recognize my own mother; she is so swolledn and black and blue. I had
kept it so together the whole process with Joshua, but having mom get
hurt too, just about pushed me to my limit. I am so thankful that she
is home also!

Your prayers were coveted, precious gifts to us during this whole
ordeal, thank you all. It's so awesome to have such a large family!!!

Much love and hugs,
Yvonne, Joshua and family

Updating from hospital...

Hey everyone, thank you all so very much for your prayers, they are
precious to us right now.

Joshua was admitted last night. I am e-mailing from the hopital library room.

The rice krispy feeling under his skin was air in his tissues. He has
been coughing so much that he has a tear in his lung that has allowed
air to go into the pluera and out into all the tissue. They did a
swallow study last night to make sure the tear was not in his
espophagus, if it was they would have had to do surgery right then or
he wouldn't be able to eat or drink. Thank the Lord, it is not in the
espphagus! It is in the lungs, they just did another x-ray to see if
it has reduced. They have him on a lot of steriods and antibiotics
through his I.V. and continue to do breathing treatments every four
hours. So far today, he has not needed extra oxygen, so that is good.

They could have to put in a chest tube to release the air, but maybe
not if it's greatly reduced already, I hope they don't have to do
that, if so, we'll be here at least another two days.

So now you know to watch for that rice krispy feeling, it was in his
pec area under into the armpits and the scapula area in his back, and
even down his arms some.

I'll update when I have more news.

Hugs and many thanks to you all!~Yvonne

Taking Joshua to the ER...

Now Joshua hurts when I lie him on his back, and his face is a bit
swollen, and it feels as if he has rice krispies underneath his skin.

I was told to take him the local Children's hospital's ER.

Please keep him in your prayers, this has been quite the week with his
breathing and Kevin having back surgery!

Love one another!~Yvonne

Joshua feeding himself!

Joshua has, just this week, started to feed himself his cereal from his tray, so tonight we tried some scrambled eggs also. Boy, was it a mess, but I don't mind at all. To see him self-feeding, and the look of pride on his face makes every mess worth it.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Love one another!~Yvonne

Josh and reactive airway disease...

We ended up taking Joshua to Cook's urgent care again two nights ago. He was having a horrible coughing attack and his breath was so rapid, it scared me to death! By the time we got there he was doing just fine though, but I took him in anyhow, I didn't trust that it wouldn't start up again as soon as I turned the car around. I told the doctor's that Joshua is trying to make them all think I am crazy or have Munchausen by proxy syndrome ( I saw this on an episode of Law and Order SVU).

They went ahead and did another chest x-ray to make sure it didn't look worse than the first one, and it didn't, which was good. They have just given him the diagnosis of reactive airway disease. The only thing to do is give breathing treatments, and they prescribed a steroid for inflammation, and wait and see if it goes away, or if it is indeed asthma.

The steroid or the xopenex one are making him so whiny and irritable, and he's having a difficult time sleeping. It so strange to see Joshua in cranky mood! It's just a very rare occurrence that Joshua is grumpy. I don't think even he knows what to think of that feeling, poor guy.

The Pertussis test did come back and it was negative. Thanks be to God! I was afraid that we would have to be quarantined here at home for weeks on end.

Keep my little guy in your prayers. It's a tough time for him, and the rest of us. It scares us all to death when he has those attacks!

Love one another!~Yvonne

Good news!

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!

Kevin is HOME!!!! He is feeling a bit yucky from the surgery/anaesthesia, but that is normal. Other than that, so far after being up for many hours, no headache! The doctor says that he believes this means he got the problem fixed, no more leak!!!!!!!!

We are REJOICING....Rejoice, Rejoice, again I say Rejoice...

I cannot even begin to tell you all what a comfort it was to know that Kevin was covered in your prayers. Thank you all so very much.

Another WONDERFUL blessing; Joshua has barely coughed at all today. I have not had to give him even one breathing treatment today!!!!!!! AMAZING!

God is mighty, and listens to your prayers!~Amen!?!

Another very cool thing!...Joshua for the very first time EVER is finger feeding himself!!!!!!!!!!!! He is sitting in his highchair right now and just eating up the Perky O's (like Cheerios for the gluten intolerant) like crazy and he's just grinning from ear to ear; so proud of himself! I am so proud of him!!!

Joshua's attendant (my mother's helper) starts next Tuesday!!!!

I truly don't know how I can handle any more good news today, I feel like I could explode with happiness. I told someone else, I had no idea so much good news in one day could be so dangerous! Hehehehe!

I am so thankful for my mom-in-law for staying at the hospital with Kevin, she was so faithful to sit with him and dote on him the whole time so that I could be home with our sick little guy and feel at peace that Kevin was being well taken care of. After all, the only thing better than a wife's tender care is a mother's tender loving care. Right? :-) I am also thankful for all the prayers of our family, church family is included in that, and our friends, and for those, including our dear pastor, who visited Kevin in the hospital. He even had one late night visitor from church to watch the Olympics with last night since he knew that us Hamrick's are night owls.

I am bursting with blessings!

With love to you all; continue loving one another,
Yvonne

Piteous Pooh Bear...

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

Poor little guy, he doesn't enjoy these treatments but as you can see he is already tolerating them pretty well. I really think that he understands that they make him feel better! He gets so still at times and just sits and breathes deeply over and over again. He is actually sitting still longer than he ever has before, and if you've seen Joshua in person you know just what I mean! Hehehehe!

I am very encouraged today. The breathing treatments seem to really be helping, unlike yesterday. I will wait until tomorrow to make the decision to take him in for the Pertussis test.

Hug your kiddos!~
Yvonne

Comic relief...

I am sitting here at home with Joshua, just waiting to hear how Kevin's surgery went. So...I am needing some comic relief and this just cracks me up!



Did you laugh? :-)

I saw the show the day this was on and I laughed and laughed, probably more so because it was so unexpected at the time!

I really think that Joshua is doing better today...we'll see how the rest of the day goes, but so far the breathing treatments are giving him relief from the cough much more today than yesterday.

I continue praying...

Love one another!~Yvonne

A day of doctors...

We saw Kevin's ortho today and he agrees that he must have a spinal fluid leak; somewhere where his original back surgery was done.

Tomorrow morning around 8:30 or 9:00 he will be having another surgery to try and find the leak and repair it. I pray that it is clear to the doctor where the leak is and that there will be no complications from this surgery.

Some other moms at co-op had me pretty nervous about staph infections! Oy! Not pretty stories!

Joshua's still the same, but if his cough gets worse tomorrow I have been given a prescription to take him to the downtown Cook's for a Pertussis test (aka Whooping Cough)! She says there is quite an outbreak in our area of it and that his beginning symptoms fit. It is highly contagious, so I am to keep him away from others until we are sure that it's not Pertussis.

Joshua has been vaccinated, in the last two months, for Pertussis. The doctor says that you can still get it even if you have been vaccinated. Why vaccinate then? I don't understand? I just pray that is not what it is.

I am to continue to give him breathing treatments, as many as every 4 hours, if needed. His respiration's do go up after the treatments; so they are helping some. I will have to get a picture of him wearing the mask during the treatment. He looks so pitiful!

Kevin's mom will be spending the day with him at the hospital so that I can drop Caylee off at co-op and keep Pooh Bear away from the general public.

Keep praying! Your prayers are such a comfort to us during this time, and we know that our God is bigger than than any of this!

Psalm 124:8 (English Standard Version)


8(A) Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

I will update more tomorrow and I pray it's good news for everyone! :-)

Love one another!~Yvonne

A letter to Ben Stiller...

This is in regards to the movie Tropic Thunder.

From blog: Chewing the Fat...please just don't read the comments section on this post! Some people are just very crude and show unacceptable behaviour!

R Rated

An Open Letter to Mr. Stiller,

Dear Mr. Stiller,

You hurt me today. Personally. I am writing to protest your action against me, I am writing to hold you accountable. Not that I imagine you care, but I wish to explain myself to you.

This afternoon I stopped at a local mall to do some shopping, I wanted to pick up a birthday gift or two for a friend. After shopping I went to the food court to have lunch. Food courts are wonderful places. One can dine on Mexican whilst one's partner dines on Thai - they are places of such diversity. Around me were representatives from many nations, colours and creeds. Around me were those with varying faces, varying languages and varying abilities. I sat in my wheelchair, across the way from me was a young mother with a child with Down Syndrome, over there was a college kid dripping big words from the corner of his mouth. We were an ecclectic bunch, we were.

A skinny girl and a chunky boy with long hair arrived alongside a geeky friend. They were clearly in a playful mood, suddenly one said to the other, "There you go, you went full retard." My heart stopped. It was the first time I'd heard the phrase spoken in common parlance. The first time, the phrase you wrote, you created, you crafted, was spoken in my presence. I cannot tell you how much that phrase hurt me. I cannot describe to you the look of pain on the face of the woman who's child sat with her. A child, thankfully, not yet old enough to understand the meanness of that statement. A child simple by age who will grow complex with disability.

You hurt me a second time today, Mr. Stiller. I am writing to tell you, to hold you responsible. I arrived home and saw on a website that it is now possible to buy tee shirts with the phrase 'full retard' on it. You are responsible for this Mr. Stiller, you wrote those words, you chose those words, you went public with those words. It is you, and only you, who must bear the consequences for your actions.

There are parents, Mr. Stiller, who have to send their children into schools in only a few weeks. Hallways have never been welcoming places to those with differences - even so, those hallways are now even more dangerous than they were when they were abandoned for summer play. A new phrase will tickle the fancy of the privileged and scar the selves of the different. 'Full retard,' this is your creation. One you are no doubt proud of.

But I read interviews with you on the web. Interviews that explain that I 'don't get it' that the humour is about shallow, self absorbed actors, not about people with disabilities. Mr. Stiller, I submit to you that your reaction, your denial, in the face of reasonable protest, reasonable requests and reasonable explaination could only be the reaction of a shallow, self absorbed actor. A person that cannot see beyond his need to express to the need of others to be safe. A person that cannot understand protest as anything other than hysterics.

I tried to find a way to contact you, to write you personally, to tell you of the pain I felt today, of the pain I fear tomorrow, and of the concerns of millions of parents, millions of people with intellectual disabilities. I wanted to tell you that you may make a few people laugh for a few hours but you will undoubtably cause many more hours of pain and many more tears to be shed. But as I could find no way to contact you, I resort to this, my blog. I hope that if there are truly only six degrees of separation - that those six between you and I - will get this to you.

Years ago, Mr. Stiller, I met a man with Down Syndrome who was in his late 30's. I met with him because he would no longer leave his house. He abandoned his work (yes, he held a job), he abandoned his friends (yes, he had friends), he abandoned everything he loved and enjoyed in the community. Why? Because he had decided that the world was a cruel place. That he no longer wanted to walk the mean streets. That he never wanted to be called a 'tard again. He had had enough. He would stay in and stay safe.

That was the world before you came into it. It was already bad. But now it is worse. Much worse.

Tropic Thunder will make a lot of money, I'm sure. Box office and momentary popularity is the goal, is it not? It is to shallow, self absorbed actors, so I assume it is to you as well.

Godspeed,

Dave Hingsburger

Love one another!~Yvonne

A new video...and updates...

You would think Joshua never wears pants watching these videos! I guess he doesn't all that much when he's home, hehehe. When I used to watch my nephew Sam a friend down the street always told me Sam either had on no pants and a shirt, or no shirt with pants; one or the other, never both at the same time. I don't know why I do that? One of my many, many oddities I imagine.

Kevin is not able to get into to see the orthopedic surgeon until tomorrow at 1:30, so I'll update again after that. I did an online search for "spinal fluid leak" and it came up with the same symptoms as he has.

When a person is in the upright position, intracranial pressure is negative.[9] Intracranial hypotension is defined as an abnormally low intracranial pressure, and it is characterized by headaches that worsen when standing and improve when lying down.

It even said that it can take a month or more for the symptoms to show themselves, and that would fit the timeline for Kevin. His back surgery was almost 2 months ago.

I took Joshua into the pediatrician and she listened to his lungs and agreed with me that she hears a wheezing. We did a breathing treatment there in the office and then she took another listen to his lungs and there was a marked improvement, so we were given a nebulizer and a prescription for Xopenex and told to do breathing treatments three times day right now. We were then sent us off to have a chest x-ray done, since Joshua doesn't have a history of this. We should hear back about the x-rays tomorrow.

Caylee enjoyed her first day of co-op. She is sitting at the kitchen table watercolor painting right now, so I know that she enjoyed that class. She was a bit overwhelmed, I believe, just being in a big class environment again, but I think she will quickly adjust; but since she was feeling that way she wasn't too forthcoming about her thoughts on the day. Maybe after she has the night to process it all a bit more she will more to say about it.

We heard today that Joshua has been accepted into the MDCP Medicaid waiver program; a huge blessing! It's something I have been praying for. I knew that God had it all under control, and I am so thankful to be getting it. We will be able to hire a young woman named Tiffany to be my "mother's helper" here around the house with Joshua, and to watch him while we are at co-op. Joshua will appreciate that very much! He is quite the little homebody lately, and it was very crowded and hectic there so he was quite overstimulated. He'll love to be able to stay home and hang out with Tiffany. :-) We will be able to take Caylee to do things that we can't normally do with Joshua: see a movie or go shopping (he HATES shopping). Tiffany will be doing a lot of Joshua's therapy with him, so I think of her as a therapist, and that will leave me time to just be mom with him. I am pretty excited about that part!

Well, I really should make myself get to bed now. I have had the worst insomnia lately! I will probably start reading The Endless Steppe, the next book for my book club reading; I have been told that it's an excellent book!

Love one another!~Yvonne

Video...

I have no idea why my camera was acting up so much this week, but here is a very grainy, black and white(!?!) video of Joshua, Caylee and Ashley.



I am so not happy with my camera right now!

Love one another!~Yvonne

Now this just cracks me up!

My funny Pooh Bear!

Headaches, coughs, and co-op's

Just wanted to update; Kevin's headache is still hanging on. The good news is it only hurts when he is sitting or standing up, so he does have relief when he is lying down. We will certainly be calling the orthopedic surgeon first thing in the morning.

Joshua is also still coughing and wheezy sounding; I have given him two breathing treatments today. He is such a sweetie. He will cough and cough and gasp for air; all the while smiling and laughing when it's over. I am so thankful for his cheerful disposition, it always lightens the mood; even though I have probably gotten about 1000 new gray hairs this weekend between him and Kevin. :-)

Cay starts her new homeschool co-op classes tomorrow and she is very excited about it. She'll be taking watercolor, American Sign Language, and Biology. I am excited for her to take the watercolor class so that she can teach me the techniques that she learns! I love to watercolor, but I could certainly use some good instruction. Spanish 2 continues on Tuesday also.

So tomorrow I will be calling doctors for Kevin and Joshua, and trying to get them in sometime after taking Caylee to co-op. I think it's going to be a busy week!

Love one another!~
Yvonne

Library sales...

Oh, just the words library sale send shivers of excitment through me!!!

Yesterday was the Hurst Library sale. 1 huge sack of books = $2.00! Yay!

Today; Bedford Libray sale here I come! I will be going with my mom; the one who passed on her passion for books to me; I was the oldest child and she had all the time in the world to read to me in my beginning years... Thanks Mama!

This will be my house one day:

It was clear that the books owned the shop rather than the other
way about. Everywhere they had run wild and taken possession of
their habitat, breeding and multiplying and clearly lacking any strong
hand to keep them down. (1963)
~ Agatha Christie ~


Love one another!~Yvonne

UPDATE: I hit the jackpot at the Bedford sale, so many great books there, brand new ones too. I don't know where the new ones came from; I'm assuming donations. It was a good time, but Joshua didn't think so; he made his whiny "shopping noise" much of the time we were there, so luckily there weren't many people there today. Joshua just does not appreciate a good shopping trip. He's just like his Daddy.

Joshua...

Ashley's mom, Jennifer, told me the way that she got her little one to go from a bottle to a sippy cup; first you give the bottle and get their sucker going and then quickly switch it out for the sippy cup. Well...she is a genius! I tried it with Joshua today and lo' and behold he DID IT!!!! I was amazed and thrilled and so proud of him! He would not take the cup later on until I did the trick again, so I think it will take a few days for him to get used to the feel of the harder spout in his mouth and for his mouth to remember what to do, but he is doing it by golly! Boy will it be so cool to not have to use the baby bottles any longer!

On a more serious note; Joshua had a coughing spell for quite a while today that sounded just like my asthma attacks do. I took him over to my sister's house to use Eli's nebulizer on him with the asthma meds in it, and he did much better after that. I will see how he does tomorrow, and if he needs another treatment I'll be taking him into the peds office on Monday.

Love one another!~Yvonne

Hubby's down again...

I spent most of yesterday in the ER with Hubby. He had a severe headache start on Wednesday afternoon and it's still hanging on. It's a very strange headache; it's positional. If he is lying flat on his back there is no headache, but as soon as he stands up it starts in his neck and creeps up into his head and is quite severe; the worst headache he's ever had; in fact he says it feels more like a concussion. He has even had nausea and vomiting with it.

I feel better that we went to the ER and they ran a head cat scan and an MRI, and there were no signs of a brain bleed or a tumor; that is something they look for when headaches are more positional.

Please pray for Kevin to feel better soon. He is supposed to call his back surgeon Monday morning and let him know if he has had any relief yet; because the MRI showed a space in his surgical area that spinal fluid could escape, but the images did not show and fluid pockets of build up, so they don't think that is the cause, not yet anyhow. I pray that it's just a virus and that it will soon go away!

He missed work Thursday and Friday, and he had only been back one week; since returning from his back surgery. We pray that he can soon return to work and usual.

Love one another!~Yvonne

Joshua and Ashley...

The visit with Ashley and her new mama, Jennifer, went so well! Caylee, Joshua, and I all drove down to Killeen on Tuesday and stayed in the hotel that Jennifer was staying in. It was so awesome to meet Jennifer and to see her with Ashley, she was so good with her! I could tell that she was in love at first sight. Who could help falling in love with Ashley at first sight; I sure did! She couldn't be any sweeter, and she is so much like my Joshua; they are as alike as two peas in a pod. Both of them have the exact same mouth, chin, make the same sounds, even make the same "O" face, same hairy backs, toenails, tummys, skinny arms and legs...it's just too funny and cute!

The hotel was very nice; we all thought so. If we had thought it out better I think we would have preferred to have adjoining rooms though. It was so neat that Jen was able to bring Ashley to the hotel to just hang out for the day with us. The kids were hilarious together, and seemed to enjoy just looking at each other with big smiles on their faces. Of course, a lot of giggling was going on! LOL!

I am just praising God that He has given Ashley her first real HOME, with her own Mama, Daddy and two brothers(three including Joshua) and two sisters; after waiting for seven years. Jennifer and Dave have opened up their hearts and home to little Ashley, and it's just a beautiful thing to be a part of of. I know that Ash will THRIVE on the love in their home!

More later...

Love one another!~
Yvonne