JOEL CAN COUNT TO TEN!

I will let the video speak for itself...

(make sure your volume is turned up!)

I am so full of joy!  I feel like I am walking on air.  :)  For those of you who know Joel or read my post "When Your Child Can't Talk", you know what a surprise this was and how much it means to us.

The amazing woman you hear in the video is one of Joel's ABA therapists (the one I call "K").  We have been working on teaching Joel to talk in ABA, with excellent progress, but he is still needing a lot of prompting.  We had not been trying to teach him to count.  That still seemed a ways off.  We have, however, used counting to ten several times in the last few weeks for taking a "break" when Joel has not cooperated with what he was told to do, or told not to do.  He occasionally repeated the numbers with slight interest, so you can imagine how shocked we were today when he took the lead in counting!  Our jaws were hanging on the ground!  I had tears in my eyes as I listened to him count over and over, every time he ran off the playground into the planter.  I am so thankful that K suggested to take video so Joel's other therapists would believe us.  I was able to show the video to Isaac (Joel's daddy) when he got home from work and my heart swelled as I  watched him get tears in his eyes.  I love that I will be able to watch it over and over, but even better, I love that I can walk into the back yard right now and sit Joel down and count with him.  :)  I can't stop grinning from ear to ear.  Tonight it's time to celebrate!

Our First TSC Conference

I am so thankful for today.  We went to an all day TSC conference at UCLA, which is a long two-and-a-half hour drive from our house.  I am completely mentally and emotionally exhausted right now.  I am even typing half-blind because my eyes just couldn't stand my contacts any more.  I am completely ready for bed, and headed there as soon as I'm done typing this post, but I needed to write this before my head hit the pillow.

We heard so much great information today shared by some of the leading doctors and researchers in the field.  It was so much, I hope I can retain everything.  We met some other parents who have children with TSC, amazing parents who were so open to sharing what they have learned along this long journey.  For that I am thankful.  We were protected from an accident on wet roads as we left UCLA.  It was obvious that God put a buffer around our car as a speeding SUV lost control directly behind us and fishtailed within feet of our front bumper.  How that car managed to come in front of us before fishtailing instead of sideswiping us was only by God's hand.  Isaac and I went out to dinner on our way home.  A much needed date that had been a long time coming.  But the best part of today was that three other people were there for Joel (and any other future clients they may have with TSC, which I would highly recommend this company to other local families - email me and I'll give you their info).  Two are his new ABA therapists and one hopefully will be soon.  How incredible to have a large part of our team there, learning the intricacies of TSC.  Tuberous Sclerosis is such a complex disorder and I know it will be so helpful to Joel for the team working with him to understand more about this condition.  I can not even put into words how thankful we are that they were there, how thankful we are for this company that truly cares about Joel and our family, and how thankful we are for the incredible individuals that make up this company.

We are feeling very cared about and supported as we venture into this next stage of life.  We are blessed.

With love and thankfulness,
Joel's Mom

Summer's Comin'

I'm the first one standing in line.  For my day in the sun, I've been workin' 'till the sun don't shine. 
Clint Black ~ Summer's Comin'

First of all, yes, I listen to and actually like {may be more like love} most country music.  Secondly,  It has been such a beautiful day that I've had that song floating through my head all afternoon.  So warm, in fact, that it felt like mid-summer.  I was born and raised a Southern California girl. 
I love the heat.
I love sunshine.
Therefore, I love summer.
This year I have an extra reason to love summer...
baby girl sun dresses!

I just had to share these pictures with you.  She looked adorable in her sweet little dress today.  I am so in love with this little girl.  Actually we all are.  You should see how her brothers adore her.  It's sweet.

There's No Place Like Home!

There truly is no place like home! Even though it's dirty and messy like a tornado went through it, there is this special feeling when you walk through the door. This sense of finally being able to relax and be comfortable. I can not even express how much I am looking forward to being in my own wonderful bed tonight (very soon, I might add). I honestly can't remember the last time I was this exhausted. I think being pregnant doesn't help. I feel like I can't move a muscle in my body. To top things off, I have had a headache for pretty much the entire time we were at the hospital and I've been nauseous the last couple days. I think the cafeteria food didn't help. No, actually I KNOW it didn't help! My mom made dinner for us tonight since we had to pick up the boys at their house anyways, and it was the best tasting food I've tasted for a VERY long time. Thanks, Mom! While we were at my parents, Isaac and I informed Jonny and Jason that we were planning on having Joel sleep with us tonight, since it was his first night back and he is just getting back on his normal anti-seizure medicine routine. (The three boys normally sleep together because Joel can't sleep by himself.) We didn't want Joel's seizures to wake up the boys. They quickly protested, stating that the reason they were soooo excited that we were back and because they missed sleeping with Joel and were looking forward to it. Guess where Joel is sleeping right now. Well, I am going to bed now. I just wanted to say how wonderful it is to be all together as a family again and how great it is to be home! Goodnight.

An Early Christmas Gift

This is the first of several updates on our family. Sorry I have been so bad about posting lately, but I have good reasons which you will discover through the following updates. I am still trying to take a picture on most days, but obviously have not been able to keep up with posting Project 365. I may try to get back into it, but there is so much going on right now that it is not on my priority list. For those of you who don't know yet...we received an early Christmas surprise.

We are expecting baby #4!

Due on or around December 26, 2010. (Crazy that it's the day after Christmas, which also happens to be the day my grandpa passed away in 2008.)

We heard the baby's heartbeat today. Every one of us is excited. The boys are hoping for a sister...and I have to admit that I would LOVE to be able to buy girl clothes. But we would all be happy with a boy, if that's what it is. As long as the baby is healthy, which means so much more to me when I say it now as opposed to before we had Joel. I always assumed my babies would be healthy before having Joel...now I know the cold, hard truth that healthy is not always the case. So please pray with us that this baby is born without TSC and that it is healthy.

I am ten weeks and two days today. I have been feeling pretty sick and am looking forward to being twelve weeks, as that is when my morning (all day) sickness went away on my other three pregnancies.

I am going to leave you with pictures of my first three when they were newborn, or close to it. (Poor middle kid doesn't have too many pictures, the best newborn photo I could find of him was when he was three months old. I know I have some I can not find...hopefully they didn't burn up in my parents fire, which is a very real possibility.)

My first - Jonny - now nine years old

Jason - the middle child - to be seven this month

And my Joely - the baby for now - four years old

I love my babies!

Project 365 ~ Day 9 ~ Joel and Blue Snowball

Every Thursday Joel likes to "GO" to therapy. I mean he LIKES it! As soon as I tell him "Let's go to therapy" he says "GO" and rushes to the car. Today was no different except that today he took Snowball. He has fallen in love with this blue, stuffed bunny and since it's a bunny, it has received the love and name of our real bunny, Snowball. He insisted on taking it into therapy with us. Snowball had to participate in some way in most of the activities we did. It is actually very cute how attached he is to it. He likes to say "Ohhhh, kissy Snowball."

Joel usually gets a sticker after therapy. Today she asked which one he wanted. Knowing that there was no way he could understand or communicate enough to make a choice like that, I asked him if he wanted Pooh. He likes Pooh. He looked at her and very clearly stated "Elmo". He likes Elmo more than Pooh. Thankfully they had an Elmo sticker to reward his communication. When Isaac (my husband & Joel's daddy) saw the picture below, he was surprised. He reminded me that Joel doesn't like wearing his stickers. I don't know what was going on, but on this day Joel asked me (in his way) to put the sticker on his shirt. Of course, it didn't last long and then he transferred it to my shirt. And then back to his. The whole time not letting go of Snowball.

As you can see, he never did let go of Snowball. In fact, Snowball went with us into Costco after therapy. Snowball and Joel want to "GO!" somewhere, anywhere, anytime. It really is a blessing that this child likes to GO places in the car because he has spent A LOT of time in the car going to doctors appointments. As I drove away from therapy, I saw some people getting on a bus and it made me think about how blessed we are to have a car. It is one of those things that we tend to take for granted. There are many people without a car and if we were one of them, our life with Joel would be so much harder. On top of it being more work for us, he would probably not receive as much medical intervention. So, thank you God that we have a car. Thank you that we live in America where there is excellent medical care, excellent doctors, medicine available, ect. Joel is so blessed to have been born here. It is something we think about occasionally, if he had been born in a third-world country, he would be lying on a mat somewhere seizing constantly. He wouldn't be walking, talking, smiling, interacting. He would be a lump...like he was before his surgery. So again, THANK YOU LORD!

While I have these pictures of Joel in his carseat, I want to mention how much we have appreciated this car seat. I did a lot of research before we bought it, and I truly feel it is not only very comfortable, but it is extremely safe as well. The sides are so protective and keep him upright with his neck in a comfortable position when he is asleep. Joel and I both love his carseat made by Recaro.

And oh, I want to kissy Jo-jo...right in his kissing spot - the dimples just to the left of his beautiful smile (the right side in the picture)...and thank God that he is a part of our family.

Project 365 ~ Day 3

I looked over at Joel today as he sat in his highchair, and he gave me a huge grin. He is so sweet, cute and beautiful. I admire him every day. He has these gorgeous dimples that I love to kiss just to the side of the left corner of his mouth. (Right side of his mouth in the picture.) The bigger he smiles, the more you can see these beautiful dimples. (And yes, I am a mama in love with her babies...and they will all be my babies as long as I live!)

When his big brothers overheard me telling Joel he was beautiful, they said "MOM...he's a BOY! Boys AREN'T beautiful!" I have to disagree with them, boys CAN be beautiful. :)

Not so Wordless Wednesday

I was going to post this picture for Wordless Wednesday, but since I had already made the picture into a poster with Heritage Makers, I thought I'll just show you that. Aren't my boys sweet! I love this picture, it's so peaceful. I found a quote about brothers from the Quote Gallery. It will be an 18x24 poster that I will frame as art for my home. I love Heritage Makers! ~

Happy 5th Birthday, Jason!!!

I can't believe you're five today. You are growing up so fast and I love the young man you're becoming. You have such a sweet spirit and I love how you love to have fun. You're giggle makes everyone around you light up with huge smiles and joy. Your brothers love you and enjoy playing with you. I love how you guys are such good friends and how well you get along. My prayer for you is that you will continue to love the Lord with all your heart and that you will hunger to learn more about Him as you grow. God blessed me and Daddy so much when he gave you to us. I thank him every day for you. I am enjoying watching you become more adventurous, outgoing, and imaginative. I hope you had a great day today. I'm looking forward to your first train ride and the beach on Saturday.

Love, Mama
Note: We had a fun day today spending time as a family, then we had a special family dinner. Our tradition is the birthday boy (or girl) gets to choose their favorite food for their birthday dinner. Jason chose KFC and brownies. I would have preferred to cook something, but that's what he wanted. On Saturday we will finish his birthday celebration. We have another tradition we started with Jonny. Each child gets his first train ride on their fifth birthday then afterwards we take a picnic to the park or beach. Jason wanted the beach with sand and since Jonny currently has a cast on his ankle and can't go in the sand we modified our plans from going to a beach on Coronado to going to La Jolla Shores. La Jolla Shores is a great beach that has a grassy park-like area as well as sand and swimming. It's a wonderful beach for little guys because it's shallow for quite far out and it has nice sand (not too rocky). We are all super looking forward to Saturday. My mom and dad will spend the day with us. Happy birthday, Jason! We love you!

Jonny's Piano Recital

Look at my handsome boys! Growing up so fast.

Jonny with his buddies, Jacob & Josh.
(L to R Jacob, Jonny, Josh) It's fun to have twin friends.
They also take piano lessons from my sister-in-law, Dorinda.

Jonny had his end of the year piano recital last night. Sadly Isaac missed it due to being out of town working for a few days. I recorded Jonny playing so Isaac would still be able to see it. I am so proud of Jonny. He is such a wonderful, sweet boy and his piano skills have greatly increased. He went from never having played last summer to what you see in the video. He completed his first lesson book just a few weeks ago. Way to go, Jonny! I love you, sweet boy!

P.S. It's fun to be able to take piano lessons from your aunt!
P.P.S. You will need to pause the music on the blog before watching the video.

Good News

I went to visit my grandma today. Before I left Jason overheard me telling Isaac were I was going. He looked at me with a little grin and said "I would love to go visit Grandma with you because she likes me and it would make her happy to see me." How do my boys know just how to melt this mama's heart? :) I asked Jason if we should take Grandma a rose out of our rose garden and he though it was a great idea so he helped me choose which one (or ones - they were on the same stem). He carried it all the way from our house to her bed. He is one cute four-year-old. And Grandma loved seeing her great-grandson bring her roses. As we were getting in the car to leave I was scolding Jason for being shy with Grandma and he said to me "I haven't seen her a lot lately. That's WHY I was being shy with her, Mom."

Grandma looked great. She had the hip operated on this morning and it was a much smaller break than last time, so it should heal faster this time. Wonderful news. :)

My Miracle Boy

Yes, I know his face is messy.
It was the first time he fed himself with a spoon!
But look at that JOY.

This is his playful, silly face. A face that I want to cover in kisses. My little goober was in a great mood that morning (he does like oatmeal)!

Miracles can happen to those who love the Lord.
Blessed are they that believe in Him, His kingdom shall be yours.
(Miracles Can Happen by Sandi Patty)

This part of this song floats around in my head often. My favorite part: miracles CAN happen. Now, I'm not saying miracles WILL happen to those who love the Lord. I am saying they CAN happen. I have been blessed by seeing multiple miracles happen. Most have been through Joel. It is not easy to be a parent of a child with special needs. But it definitively has its rewarding moments and God has given us many of these.

There are too many to list, but I will highlight a few. It's a miracle...

...removing almost a quarter of Joel's brain stopped the seizures. He had constant underlying seizures with various other seizures approximately 4-30+ times every day from 6 weeks old until December 14, 2006 when he had the surgery that God had led us to. (That's a whole post of it's own!)

...removing so much of his brain didn't impair him further. A test before the surgery revealed that part of his brain wasn't working. When they removed the large tuber the surgeon said it was calcified and the brain tissue surrounding it was irritated. This explained why he had almost no control over his right hand and why he used to stare at it for hours...it probably had a funny feeling in it. The fine motor strip (area in the brain that controls fine motor skills) was irritated. Gradually after the surgery as the irritation went away he regained use of his right hand and stopped holding it up and staring at it. He still prefers his left hand, though.

...Joel can walk and run. The first fifteen months of his life we didn't know if he would ever do these. All he would do is lay there like a lump. Sometimes he would play with a rattle or small toy for over an hour (which concerned us about Autism). He didn't sit up until fifteen months old (a week before his surgery) which scared us. It's a miracle that Joel crawled two months after surgery and walked four months after that (six months post-surgery).

...Joel can see. Pre-surgery we didn't know what Joel could see. We knew that he could see light but we didn't know if he could see anything more. He never focused on faces or much of anything. He didn't interact with us at all. We didn't know if it was because of the seizures or very poor eyesight. Since the surgery we know for sure that he doesn't have any eyesight in the right side of both eyes, this is because the part of the brain that controls that was removed during the surgery. But we also now know (the Dr. said he believes) that the eyesight that Joel does have is good. :) Some days it is better than others. If he is tired, not feeling well or over-stimulated his eyesight will become worse and he gives a lot of blank stares, but when he is feeling good we know he can see. His eyesight is a bit slow and it is hard for him to follow with it, but it improves every month. I get tears of joy every time he looks deeply and lovingly into my eyes and gives me his sweet little dimpled "I love you, Mama!" grin.

...Joel smiles! A smile was very rare pre-surgery but now is a regular occurrence. I sure LOVE that dimpled grin!!! He is one little boy who now enjoys life and knows what joy feels like!

...he likes to play. Joel has made a connection to his family members. He likes to play with his brothers and he even gets jealous of Jason. This may not sound so great to you...but it is. It means his thinking is complicated enough to have that emotion and have the spunk to do something about it (like get Mommy or Daddy's attention). Through a special type of therapy called Floor Time he has made a special bond with me. Floor Time teaches my how to play with him where we can connect and interact. It helps increase his communication. And boy has it helped. When we started it (about 6 months ago?) he was not connected to me emotionally. We had both been through a lot in his little life and that special bond had simply never formed. I was his caregiver but he thought he didn't need me for anything else. Thus, he didn't communicate with me, he didn't like to play with me (or anyone else), he would only play with a toy if I put it in the middle of the floor and left the room so he was alone. Now it's a whole different story. He LOVES playing with me and doesn't want to play by himself. He makes eye contact, he grins at me, he even laughs at me. He gives me kisses while I play with him. The teachers who are teaching us Floor Time even commented today how much they saw the connection between us and how sweet the loving looks he gives me are. That in itself is a huge miracle.

...Joel is doing so well with Gross motor skills that he graduated from physical therapy last November. A mere 11 months after surgery. Not only can he walk and run, he is now an expert climber, he loves to throw balls and he has just started kicking them.

...he is doing excellent (for him) in occupational therapy. We worked for about a year on getting him to drop a toy into something, anything. I started to feel like he never would. The goal was a shape sorter. Well he now can do a shape sorter with two shapes and he is great at (and loves) dropping things into other things. :) He has also conquered many difficult cause and effect toys. Even though he is still really behind his age group, his fine motor skills are starting to catch up. Miracle!

...it is looking more and more like he isn't Autistic. The Autistic features he has had his whole life are slowly disappearing. What's more, I have discovered through an excellent Vision Consultant who God placed in our lives that most of the concerning behaviors can be explained by his visual impairment. That other children with visual impairment have the exact same difficulties. 1 in 3 people who have Tuberous Sclerosis also have Autism. Those are high odds and along with behaviors we were seeing we were concerned. But amazingly (God IS amazing!) those behaviors no longer concern us.

...Joel is starting to talk. This miracle is the most recent and I am still walking on cloud nine. Again, this is a result of Floor Time. We were really starting to feel like we would never hear his sweet little voice forming words. As he is approaching three years old it really concerned us that he didn't have any words (other than an occasional "bye-bye", which became rare). In the last month he has gone from pretty much no words to a small (very cute) vocabulary. I would say he now has about 20 words including animal sounds. And sometimes he imitates words we say really well. Even if we don't hear them again he is learning.

There are so many more but this post is already way to long. I would like to tell you one last thing about what God has done in our lives: he sends along just the right person at the right time. He has granted us with wonderful doctors and especially wonderful therapists. He has given us a wonderful support system (our family, church, friends, and even the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance in Southern California). He has guided us to exactly the thing Joel needs at the time, whether it be surgery or a certain type of therapy. He has guided our footsteps and been with us every step of the way. THAT is truly a miracle.

P.S. One last miracle. Joel is feeding himself with a spoon now. Started doing this about three weeks ago. Messy but wonderful.

Sweet Little Boy

Grammy reading to my little book worms.

I feel like I need to tell you that despite my last post (where I talked about behavioral issues) Joel is still an extremely sweet little boy. Most of the day is filled with kisses from him to me and shared smiles. The few temper tantrums he has in a day is completely offset by all the love flowing out of him. When he smiles he has the most wonderful dimples at the corners of his mouth. I love to kiss them. I love him with all my heart and more. I love him so much that I am always watching and evaluating him so that I may catch any issues immediately because in everything the sooner it is caught and treated, the better it is for him. My sweet baby boy.

Beauty is...

...little rainbows dancing around on your ceiling from a chandelier that you once admired at your grandfathers house.

...two little boys helping their daddy with cheerful hearts.

...your sweet baby boy enjoying the outdoors while the sun lends him a golden halo.

...this baby boy, who we thought may never walk, exploring with an independent spirit.

...in the eyes of the beholder.

...all around us, if we only look.

Thank you, Lord, for surrounding us with beauty. Help us remember to always look for the beauty in life. Thank you for these moments in the past few days. Amen.

Busy, busy, busy (& my heart)

It's always amazing to me that even when I get to stay at home most of the week (all of Joel's therapy's have been canceled...therapists don't want to get sick, imagine that :] ) I feel like a crazy chicken running around with my head cut off...or should I say I wish my head was cut off. I have had a head cold all last week that has now found it's way into my chest. For the first time today the house is quite for a moment. Joel is taking a nap, the boys are outside playing, there is a load of laundry washing...oh wait, not so quite, the kitchen timer is beeping at me.

OK, now that I've got the kitchen timer turned off...and in the process noticed that the boys (a 4-year-old in particular) were playing in the mud which I had already explicitly told them not to do...where was I? Oh yeah, life being busy. So, last week started by us coming home from Big Bear on Sunday (feels like a world away) and then Monday I had to pick up Isaac's car from a park 'n ride near the beach. That's right, the wonderful thing about southern California is that we were in the snow one day and on a 72* beach the next day. And, as you might have guessed by me picking up Isaac's car, he worked away from home all last week. So, after I picked up the car I took the boys by the beach. I tried with all my might to avoid it because I have been having problems with my heart and I was tired and had a lot of unpacking to do at home, but it's like the beach has a magnetic pull and I just couldn't be so close without stopping by. (We only live 30 minutes from this beach...but don't go as often as I would like.) It was great fun for the short time we were there (I didn't have much change for the meter). The boys played on a playground that is in the sand and then they moved to playing with the sand and then we progressed toward the water and they got to put their toes in. They loved it, running and squealing the whole time. It was hard to drag Joel away from the water when it was time to go. As we left the boys got to run and scare about 500 seagulls who were sitting on the beach. Wish I had my camera with me. :( Tuesday came around with me catching my mom's cold. I was sick the rest of the week and with Isaac gone, things were hard. It's difficult when you're not feeling good and there is no one to give you a break. How do single moms do it? I am in awe of single moms.

The doctor called me on Monday with results from the heart halter I had worn the previous week. It did catch one of episodes I have been feeling and after looking at all 24 hours of results the doc thought I should go on medication to slow down my heart. Now, for those of you who know me I like midwives, homeopathic remedies, herbs and vitamins...not pharmaceuticals so much. I know they have their place and can save lives, but it is not always my first choice. So, promising to avoid caffeine and get more rest bought me a week without medication. I decided to get a second opinion from a cardiologist. Part of this decision is that I want to know why my heart is beating too fast and having palpitations. I need to have further testing done...not just "your hearts beating too fast so here's your medication". Something that has to be considered is that my grandma had problems with her heart valves, and also that I haven't been ruled out yet from having TSC (since it is hereditary about a third of the time). TSC can cause benign tumors to grow in any of your vital organs including the heart. So I don't feel comfortable unless we do more testing.

I saw the cardiologist on Friday and he ordered more testing, an ultrasound and a stress test (you know, the dreaded treadmill). These are scheduled in the coming month. I will keep you posted about what's going on. Before we go any further, I should probably fill you in on what's been happening with my heart. About three weeks ago I was on a day outing with my family and we were taking a walk when all of a sudden my heart started misplacing beats (that's how I describe palpitations) after a few seconds of palpitations it turned into racing and pounding. So fast and so hard that it took my breath away. It was hard to breath and I felt lightheaded (like I was going to faint) and dizzy and I felt overheated so I had to take off my jackets (in the snow, I might add). This lasted several minutes (way too long) and part way through it felt like my chest was tightening. As my heart slowed somewhat I got a really sharp pain in my right shoulder. This lasted about 5-10 minutes with my heart still beating too rapidly and still feeling like I couldn't get enough oxygen. Scary stuff. Up until this happened I had only had palpitations occasionally (like maybe once every couple of months) during the last about four years. My mom has palpitations so I kind of expected to have palpitations also, but not an episode like this. Since that episode I have been having palpitations almost daily, multiple times a day. Whenever I get them I feel light headed and dizzy and I feel like I can't breath. I have also in general just been feeling exhausted and have a lack of energy. I have been waking up at night with my heart racing. Some other things, may or may not be connected, I have had a low fever (off and on) for over a year now (docs don't know why), my memory has been REALLY BAD lately (and I mean so bad it's scary...not just memory but thinking in general is bad), my eyesight is getting worse weekly and now I am often having trouble focusing my eyes. On top of all that I am losing my hair. Hopefully we can figure out what's going on soon because I sound like I am falling apart.

Thankfully Friday night Isaac came home. It was kinda hard to be thinking scary things about my heart all week without really being able to share it with him. Saturday I felt awful...it was one of my worst days...fever, heart acting up, really super weak (I almost couldn't stand or walk), exhausted, eyes not focusing...and then, God gave me a blessing through my children. "Mommy, mommy come outside fast!" And there before my eyes was the most beautiful rainbow. I was blessed to be able to get a picture of it before it slowly vanished.God's rainbow is a promise to us...Genesis 9:16 "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." The covenant this refers to is God promising never to destroy the earth again with a flood. But on Saturday, that rainbow meant more than that. It was a promise to me from God that he was with me and that no matter what is happening there is beauty surrounding me if I only look up to the sky.

DRINKING FROM A STRAW!!!

I am on my way to bed but wanted to let you all know that Joel drank from a straw today (Wednesday)! It may not sound like much to some of you, but it is. I have been working with Joel for about a year trying to teach him to drink out of a straw. To date he had either wanted nothing to do with it or got really frustrated because the drink wasn't coming to him. The concept of closing his lips around the straw AND sucking is really complicated. Well, over the last month or two Joel has decided he really likes anything we have in a cup that has a straw in it (probably because it is usually some kind of drink with sugar in it). So when he wants it I have been encouraging him to drink out of the straw. Every time I have done that he has pushed it away and fussed because he wanted me to give it to him from the bottom of the straw with my finger over the top (you know how you do it with little babies). Today was totally a God thing. We were shopping at Costco for our trip (we are going to Big Bear this weekend to hopefully show the kids some snow) and as we were headed out I was craving something from the Food Court. Well, I am trying to be a good girl so I resisted and went and loaded the car. As I was loading the car I saw something in the car I needed to return, so I went back in and made my return. Resisting two times just wasn't possible so as I headed for the Food Court I was trying to decide what I was going to get. I was really hungry, but knew dinner was going to be soon, so I decided not to get a hot dog. I fully intended to get a soda as I entered the line but at the last possible moment something (or should we say Someone) told me to get a berry smoothie instead. I did and as soon as Joel saw it I knew I wouldn't get much of it. Mmmmm, mmmm is the sound he makes when he wants something, and this was a very loud mmmmm. The great thing was that the smoothie was so thick that after I sucked it up in the straw he could get some by biting the straw. How is that good, you ask. Well, after working with him about ten minutes and coaxing him to suck, HE DID! And once he did it, he did it again and again (with some biting interspersed...note to self, get two straws). He looked so proud of himself and he was enjoying it (and being cheered on) so much that I stood in Costco parking lot for almost half an hour holding the cup for him and encouraging him to suck from the straw. These are the rewarding moments when all the hard work melts into the background and it's all worth it. HE DID IT!!! No Wordless Wednesday today! And by the way, if I had never gone back into the store, or given into what I thought was temptation, or listened to that little voice telling me what to get, none of this would have ever happened. Thank you, Lord, for giving me a little push and blessing me today. Isn't God incredible?!

Smile

In honor of Joel's birthday I wanted to make two special posts. Here is the first.

Joel rarely smiled before his surgery. One of the many wonderful results of the surgery is that he is more interactive, therefore he smiles more.

Joel's beautiful smiles: How could you not fall in love with him? ;-)