Fall Break!

Well, it's been a busy four or five days! Kayleigh's grandparents, Monna and Pops came from Mississippi and boy were they busy! Thursday they shopped and stayed at a nice hotel and swam. Kayleigh and Maddie's cousins Megan and EmiLee also joined them for an overnight stay and swim. It sounds like they had a great time. Since I was childless on Thursday afternoon, I went and had a mani/pedi thanks to the gift I received for Pastor Appreciation! Thanks Grace Church! And then I spent the rest of the afternoon with Fletcher. Craig came to the Center at his usual time and we spent the early part of the evening with Bubba. Then guess how the Lord blessed us! One of Fletcher's roomie's parents treated us to a wonderful dinner at Yamato Steak House! It was fabulous! I had sushi for the first time and I really liked it! It was so nice to have a date with my sweet husband! The girls spent Friday with the grandparents and I spent the day with Fletcher. Everyone ended up at the Center and we all went to dinner at Hunan Garden, a belated birthday dinner for Craig. Saturday morning Kayleigh had to fulfill a youth obligation of cleaning a house for a family in the church and Maddie and I went to a party for my nephew Ryan's 2nd birthday. We left Craig, Monna and Pops at home to watch some tense football! Way to pull through Sooners! Today we went to church and to Olive Garden for lunch. Monna and Pops had to hit the road after lunch. Whew! What a weekend!

Ryan and Maddie at the birthday party

Monna and Fletcher

Monna, Kayleigh, Maddie and Pops lunch after church

Thursday and Friday I was able to go to school with Fletcher and spend the whole hour observing this ever so smart boy of mine! He is truly amazing and I'm so proud of him. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Fletcher stands in his supine stander during class. Isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen? Each day they start their class time with songs. They sing the hello song with each child's name and then they get to choose a song. Lately Fletcher's song of choice is Wheels on the Bus. He loves music and he loves for us to sing to him.

Fletcher waving hello to his classmates

choosing songs...

Monday...

Today we had one of our first cool mornings. It really feels like fall! Today Maddie, Fletcher and I actually wore long sleeves. It was great! We're having a normal Monday night around here. Kayleigh is out bowling with the youth group. (She has a busy social life these days!) Maddie is all dressed up and doing Bella Ballerina. I think she just might be a natural dancer she's so graceful and LOVES ballet right now! She has been watching a kid version of Swan Lake and she loves to mimic it. The pictures I've posted are from tonight. She is being a swan. She has to be a black one since we don't have a white leotard or tights! But that's okay she said.

Sweet swan!

Fletcher had a pretty good day also. Craig came up at lunch and we met with Fletcher's physical therapist. She showed us some holding and sitting positions we could do with Fletcher while we're spending time with him. It was hard watching him in a supported sitting position, he hated it! He cried quite a bit. Craig and I kept telling ourselves this is for Fletcher's good and he's just not used to this blah, blah, blah! Who would have thought sitting up would be so hard? Not us! Please continue to pray for him and us. We want so much for him to have some independence and he's just not going to get that laying in a bed for 20-22 hours a day. These pictures are from school this morning.

Guess who wants to go first?

Nice new long sleeve shirt, Bubba!

Thursday and Friday the girls are on Fall Break! Woo Hoo! Kayleigh's grandparents, Monna and Pops will be here from Mississippi. That should be a lot of fun. It's always such a treat to have them visit. They'll take the girls to a hotel (with a swimming pool) and take them shopping and probably to the zoo. We'll get a lot done in just a few short days, maybe we'll even get some pansies in the front flower bed! It will be fun!

What do you think?

This is the first time I've ever changed my template since I started blogging in January. I can't tell if I like it or not. It is however, very fall like and I'm all for that! Hope you all have a nice weekend!

Daddy's turn...

Today Craig came to TCC on his lunch to be 'trained' to feed Fletcher. Craig now has a new appreciation for how difficult it is to feed that boy! But he now has the training to feed Fletcher and will take over his PO feedings when the units are closed due to RSV. As soon as the first case of RSV takes place TCC will 'close' all of the units and no one under the age of twelve will be allowed into the units. So, that means I will not be able to see Fletcher in the afternoons because Maddie can't come into his unit. We decided that Craig will feed Fletcher in the evenings. I really think this will be great for the two of them. I get to do so much with Fletcher like go to school with him and help in his therapies and Craig doesn't. I'm excited for my boys!

He really doesn't want that bite, daddy!

I love the way Fletcher is holding onto Craig's finger! So sweet!

As Maddie would say, 'Mommy you're in love with Bubba's feet and hands!"

Pumpkins and rock painting

Friday afternoon Maddie and I went to buy a few pumpkins and a bale of hay. We put them in our front flower bed (that has no pansies yet) with a fun scarecrow. I love fall, I just wish we were having some nice fall weather, unfortunately it is still in the high eighties low nineties! YIKES! I'm ready for long sleeved shirts, cool crisp nights and fall food! You know chili, beans and corn bread...

On Thursday Maddie went to our sweet friend, Miss Jo's house to spend the afternoon. The two of them had a great time, while they were out shopping Miss Jo bought Maddie this neat book about painting rocks. Maddie has spent most of the weekend painting rocks with anyone who would sit down long enough to pick up a paint brush! She has painted with Kayleigh, with Daddy and with her cousin EmiLee. Here is her collection so far...

These feet...

I walked into the Center yesterday and Fletcher was sleeping with his rag over his face and the first thing I noticed were his feet. His bare feet, he always has socks on so I was taken by these precious little God given treasures! The second picture is of me holding his tiny feet when his was just five months old. Too precious! Thursday we had a Patient Care Conference (PCC) for Fletcher, PCC's are scheduled every ninety days. They are an informative meeting with the pediatrician, nurse practitioner, head of nursing, nutritionist, PT, OT, education, speech therapy, music therapy, and our social worker. Everyone goes around the table and gives us an assessment of the past ninety days. Fletcher is doing well, he hasn't made very many gains but he was sick for awhile and the Center seems to be short-handed right now so he's not really (in my opinion) truly getting the benefit of all his therapies. Our PT filled us in on Fletcher and said he had made no gains this assessment period and also that they would no longer be working with him in the gait trainer (basically a walker). I can not remember her exact words, but what Craig and I heard was they would no longer be working on helping Fletcher to walk. It took a moment for it to soak in and I finally said 'wait a minute, are you telling us that Fletcher won't walk?' And she said something and then I said,' EVER?' To which she said she didn't know the answer to that question. I will say I felt like I had the wind knocked out of me. I began to cry and I tried desperately to keep my emotions under control. You know, Craig and I have a lot of questions that we're sometimes too afraid to ask like, will Fletcher walk, will he talk, will he breathe on his own? Thursday was the first time we ever heard those words spoken out loud. It was devastating to us. Anyway, this lead to a lot of drama and miscommunication. I believe we have worked it all out and that we're on the same page. His PT told me a lot of different things have to happen before we can even begin to work on walking. She told me it was her goal to maximize Fletcher's potential. She was not the one who started him in the gait trainer and she believes we put the cart before the horse since so much more has to happen before he's ready to walk. Every morning Maddie and I have prayer time together and we ALWAYS pray that the Lord would strengthen Fletcher's neck, back, legs and lungs so he can do what he was created to do. Would you all mind praying that with us?

Middle Name 'Meme'

Okay, so I don't exactly know what a meme is except for that's what my sister's grandsons call her. But one of my new blog friends, Miss Sniz just tagged me with a fun middle name meme. It sounds like fun so here are the rules: (If I tag you, you have to post the rules too!) You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. At the end of your post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Got it? Good! Okay, bare with me friends because I have EIGHT letters in my middle name! UGH!!(Thanks, Miss Sniz!)

Here we go:
D - delightful, as I'm sure you all know from reading my blog...
A - amazing, of course!
N - nice, sometimes....
I - incredible (I'm not sure that I'm supposed to be blowing this much sunshine up my own skirt, but it's my first meme for pete's sake!)
E - exactly right ALL the time (that one was for my husband! mwah!)
L - loving, I do love my family, that's for sure!
L - lazy, sometimes, wish I could be more often!
E - energetic (after an energy drink Full Throttle is my brand of choice this week)

So, there you have it! Denise Danielle I have always liked my name especially my middle name. My daddy always called me Danielle makes me think he liked it too! Okay so I don't know how to do all the 'click here' stuff I'm totally a novice at this blog thing. And Craig is watching Heroes so there is no way I'm calling him in here to help me. So, I'll tell you who I'm gonna tag Millie, Kristin S, Kristin C, Traci, Amber, Kayleigh, Carol, and Christa they are all on the sites I visit thing over there >>>>>>>