Medical Update

We have finally gotten some answers about Andrew's medical issues after being home seven months with him. Andrew has been doing great with all of his development except for speech. In fact, in some areas of his development, he is advanced. However, the speech has been a concern for awhile now. He has been at a six month level since he has come home, and now we just needed to get some answers on why. We finally had a hearing test completed after the third try just a few weeks ago, and it came back that there was some problems, so we then needed a full screening done on his hearing. We finally got that done, and it came back that he has fluid in his ears, and he is going to need tubes. In fact, they think the fluid has always been there. Just this week I finally was able to get in, into the ENT, and they want to schedule tubes to drain the fluid in the near future. Andrew also has swelling in his tonsils, and in the lining inside his ear. The Dr. gave me some medication to help with the swelling, and we are hoping that, that will do the trick. All of these things could be contributing to Andrew not learning to talk. Basically when I'm talking at a normal voice, the audiologist said he is hearing me whisper. We also have started with a program called Help Me Grow, which comes to our home once a month to evaluate Andrew's development, and because his speech is behind, we qualified for a program called MRDD, and we are getting help with speech therapy. In the mean time the speech therapist wants me to continue teaching Andrew signs, and we work trying to get him to say sounds as much as possible. Andrew is doing great at communicating with signs, and he is using around 10 of them now, and he has started saying a real word recently. He loves to say hi, when he has a phone to play with. We were just so relieved to get some answers with Andrew, and once the tubes are in I'm sure he will hear a world he never new existed!!!!!

My Anniversary Gift To Cain!

I got this great idea to come up with a collection of pictures of the last 13 years and put it on a slideshow for my husband for our anniversary, which was last week. What I didn't quite know was how big of a task this was going to be. I first had to go through all my negatives that I had before the days of digital, and then I had to pick through the ones I wanted. Trying to do that alone with Cain around the house sometimes was a challenge. Then I had to find the cheapiest route to get the negatives transferred to CD's so I could save them onto the computer. Lets just say it isn't cheap to do that, so I had to be picky on what pictures I had copied. Then I spent many, many hours putting the pictures in order, since I didn't have the years marked in any way, shape, or form. In fact I realized that a lot of my negatives are missing, and the others are starting to get spots on them, so eventually I want all my negatives transferred to CD's but that will take time to do. Then I finally got to the point of saving my video and it wouldn't let me save it because it was so long. I mean how do you turn 13 years into just a few minutes? I know I couldn't, so I made it as long as I needed, but to save it, it is in three separate parts. It may be to long for people to watch, but it is fun to see how we got to the point in our life we are at now. We have had many fun times over the years, and also some tough times, but together with God we have managed to be together 13 years later, and that I am very proud of. Happy Anniversary Cain!

Through The Years Part 1

Through The Years Part 2

Through The Years Part 3

The Great Escape!

We have been having the busiest summer ever! Andrew has had many Dr. appointments, and after next Friday, I will give a full report. I still have some unanswered questions that I will hopefully get answered. We have been also having lots of fun in the midst of the craziness.

The kids were enjoying the pool while soaking up the sun!


Alisha met a new friend last week. I have been going to a Bible Study every week that one of my good friends started, and I had all the ladies to my house last week. One of the ladies has a daughter Alisha's age and they hit it off. This other girl was singing at a church the same week and Alisha sang with her for 30 minutes. Alisha got a chance to sing some of her own songs she wrote and they both did a wonderful job.



Cain surprised me for our anniversary on where we were going. He took me to Pier W which is voted the best view in Cleveland! We got a table right by the windows which over looked the lake. We got to see two storms go by! It was awesome!

We took the kids to Kalahari (which is a resort with the largest indoor water park) for the weekend. The things to do at Kalahari was endless, and all five of us found things to do. It was the best weekend getaway, and we will be sure to take the kids there many more times! We managed to get a suite for the same price that a regular room was. It was great to have some space. In fact when we got our suite the girls were so excited of how nice it was that they started jumping on the couch. Below is a picture of it. We took some crazy pictures. I think some of the people at Kalahari thought our family was crazy. I just was thankful for some wonderful bonding time with our family of 5!

After we left Kalahari we took the kids to an African Safari. You drive through and the animals come right up to the car. Andrew was terrified and the girls even screamed a few times when the animals came up behind and snuck their heads in the vehicle. Check out the video below!

This is Andrew's I'm afraid of animals face!

We then took the kids to see the lighthouse in Marblehead!

Andrew was so good the entire trip. He was so tired though by the end of day two!

Sweet Dreams Baby Boy!

Alive Festival and Independence Day!

The summer is getting away from us, and we have so many other things we want to do! Alisha finally finshed her summer volleyball league, and Andrew did good at all the games. I hope he will do the same when her season starts up in August. Alisha will be going to Wyoming this month for a volleyball camp. She had a blast last year, while learning so much about the game. Andrew has 5 Dr. appointments in the next 3 weeks, so I'll update everyone after that on where he is with everything medically. There is a lot to tell, so that is a post in itself!

Every year we go to the Alive Festival. It is a 4 day event with Christian Concerts back to back, swimming, and camping! We decided this year we would go for just one day, since camping would be tough with Andrew. We had a great time until we got rained out in the evening. We were so bummed. We went out to eat, and by the time the rain cleared up it wasn't worth it to go back to the festival. We only got to hear a few bands. Andrew did like the music for the time we were there.

Alisha invited her friend to spend the day with us at Alive!

Family Portrait!

Alisha and Andrew matched, so of course I needed a picture!

4th of July fun at the cousin's house!

We spent the evening on July 4th with family! Cain's aunt and uncle got to meet Andrew for the first time today. They traveled from Georgia with their grandaughter! We were amazed that Andrew wasn't scared of the fire works. In fact he was relaxed to the point of falling asleep. He did awesome all day with so many crazy events!

What a cute couple! We are celebrating our 13th anniversary in 2 days! Wow!

Water Fun and Father's Day!

Andrew is learning more sign's everyday. It is fun to be able to communicate with him. We are having such a fun summer so far, with many more fun things to come. Alisha has been playing volleyball in a summer league with her team from school. She is playing with varsity and is doing a great job. Andrew has been doing pretty good sitting in his stroller and behaving. He has many more volley ball games to come, over the next two years, so I will need him to be good. I hope his good behavior continues. Andrew has been enjoying having his sisters home more. The girls are both so good with him, and it makes Cain and I so happy to see our children enjoy one another. Andrew has become our entertainment at times, and he knows how to make us all laugh. Andrew has a great personality, and I think he loves to see people smile. In fact, Andrew love people so much, that the psychologist is a little worried about that. He doesn't have fear of strangers at all! The hard part is that Andrew attracts people all the time. I can't go anywhere without people making comments about how cute he is. Then Andrew gets excited when other people get excited, so then these strangers start talking more to Andrew. Were trying to teach him that not everyone is his friend, but that is hard to teach at a young age. Andrew has also attracted a few weirdos. One of these weirdos was following us through the grocery store one day, and I had to get out of there quick, meanwhile Andrew just smiles and points at people! We are happy though, that we have a friendly baby that seems to love life!

Our happy little Andrew!

Andrew loves his little pool! Megan has one of her own, but she ends up in Andrew's most of the time playing with him!

We discovered this splash park by our house that is free! I love free things and the great thing was that Megan and Andrew seemed to have fun!

We had a great father's day at the park! We had both our dad's with us and tons of food and fun!

Andrew's hair has gotten quite thick and crazy! I get the most compliments on his hair. I think he has more then Cain already!