Our Beach Vacation

We had a wonderful vacation in South Padre Island and we were so sad to leave & come back home.

We rented a BEAUTIFUL beach house right on the beach with it's own private pool.

Okay, the pool was SMALL but perfect for the kids to play in while we unloaded or at the house relaxing.

My brother, niece, nephew, and Gage getting into the water the first day. We got there late afternoon so the kids swam while we unloaded. Uncle Chris then took the kids to go for a quick dip in the ocean before frying us up some yummy food for dinner.

The next morning my SIL watched Autumn so the Madison, Gage, James, and I could go horseback riding on the beach.  It was so much fun!

Me on my horse...

it was nice to take them into the water and they even allowed us to do some trotting down the beach.

Family Photo

After our riding adventure we had lunch and then the Reed's (my brother's family), the kids, and I went on a snorkeling adventure while James stayed home with Autumn.  Gage is a fish...he snorkeled the entire 55 minutes and LOVED every second.  I'm so proud he's such a animal lover and water person just like his momma!  Madison was NOT thrilled at all of the thought of snorkeling and could not breathe out of her mouth so she got in for less than 5 minutes and gave up. :(  We only saw 3 types of fish but it was still fun. 

The next day the men went deep sea fishing while Jen & I stayed at the beach house with all the kids.  We decided to spend the morning taking all 5 kids to the beach...it's lots of work taking a trach child in a sand/water filled area.  It took us about an hour to get it all set up and ready to bring Autumn down.

Autumn was in her tent to keep the sand from getting to her.  We attempted the ocean for about 10 minutes.  The waves were so strong we could only put her in her floatie faced away from the ocean at the edge and everytime a wave came in I would have to lift the floatie up with it to prevent the salt water from splashing into her trach.  For extra protection we put a hankercheif around her neck to prevent sand from blowing into her trach as well.  She had fun splashing her hand in the water and then hanging out in her tent reading her book and sunbathing in mommy's lap.  The 2 hours was enough for us to decide she got to experience the beach for the week and could hand inside for the rest of the week. ;) Momma and Aunt Jen were tired! It also did not help that the sand burned my feet as I carried her & her suction machine back to the house...ouch!  . 

We spent the rest of the afternoon resting/playing in the house (I took a nap) until the guys got back from fishing and we all went out to dinner.

The next day everyone but Autumn and I went on a pirate adventure.  I think that was everyone's favorite.  It was a 2 hour adventure on the ship with entertainment, face painting, sword fighting, water gun fight, and loads of fun!  I was sad I missed it but was able to watch of videos from it.

After being pirates all of girls went shopping for a couple of hours. 

James, the 2 kids, and I went out to dinner and then on a dolphin sunset cruise that evening.

 The last full day James went golfing while the rest of us stayed at the beach house to play in the ocean & relax around the house for the day.  We could of had more days like that...it was lovely.  The Reed's went on their dolphin cruise that evening while James went bay fishing and I stayed home with the kids to start packing up to leave in the morning. :(  It was a great vacation & did not want it to end.

Madison & Gage doing photos on the beach

View of the beach line from near our beach house

Looking our from our livingroom in the beach house...BEAUTIFUL!

Catch-Up Time! (gonna be a LONG one)

I really am too busy to update my blog but I am forcing myself to sit down and get it done before I get even more behind on what's been going on in our lives.  Let's take you back to May...

Autumn received her wheelchair and it's given her lots of independence.  We've also learned she loves to go outside and wheels herself to the door and cries when she doesn't get to go. Her favorite thing to to open & BANG the drawers closed to her dresser and "No,No" means nothing to her.  We have had to put up a baby gate to block her from going into her room when she's in her wheelchair because that's the only thing she wants to do.

Gage had his 7th birthday since I last blogged.  We did a reptile theme party and had games upstairs and then hired a lady to bring animals to show & teach the kids about.  It was so much fun!

This is the type of snake I use to have ;)

 We thought it would be the perfect time to surprise Gage with his very own pet snake.  We decided a corn snake would be the best kind as his first.  He named him Corny and the pictures show his shock and happiness.  His hands were literally shaking & his eyes filled with tears.

I just love that boy so much! He also had his 7 year check-up. His new pediatrician wants us to see an endrocrinologist about his height. We've been down this road before but she wants us to check it all out again to put all of our minds at ease about it. We are also going to get a hand x-ray to see the bone growth and it will tell us if he's going to just have a late growth spurt, have stunted growth, or be in the middle that it could go either way. Gage is just now getting to where he wants to be the size of his peers so I think it will be good to look into again in case he does want to do something to help his growth. We are open minded to choices but I want him to understand God created him perfectly and to accept himself short or tall. If medically he needs growth hormones because of an issue with production and not just genetics then we do want to have that option available for him. We also took his doctor his Connor's test about ADHD. She did not give an official diagnosis that he is ADHD but all signs say he is. She first wants us to finish our business with an endocrinologist first before meeting with us to discuss options to help with the ADHD. She said if we choose the medication route it can cause loss of appetite and we do not want that to happen. Medication will be our last choice but we will have to figure out what will work best to help Gage be his best in school & help him to stay focused.

May is always a busy time with the end of the school year activities going on.  Both Gage and Madison had their field day on the same day so Dean (my nephew) & I went to watch that morning.

Gage with his friends

Madison decided she would rather work with the special needs kids instead of participating in the activities with her friends.  My heart was so happy when I walked into the building to take a bathroom break and saw Madison singing with this girl. Autumn's life has touched all of ours to be aware of the needs of others & I'm so thankful Madison has embraced that need.

Dean & Gage

 This year I had 2 graduations to attend.  Gage graduating from Kinder and Madison from 6th grade.  I was so proud of the both of them.  Gage earned many certificates, including the art award for his class.

This was a letter he wrote to his teacher for her end of year gift

This ice sculpture was for the 6th grade graduation

 Madison did awesome this year and it was no surprise all the special awards she received.  She got straight A's, perfect attendance, & 3 other special awards for best in her class in 3 subjects.  She's got natural smarts and is taking 3 AP classes next year in middle school.

So, it's official and I now have a 1st grader and 7th grader.

This summer has been busy as well.  It seems like I can never catch up...even "rest" days are filled with cleaning & projects.  So far this summer we have taken a couple of library trips, have done LOTS of therapy, Autumn had a EEG done to hopefully wean from her seizure meds (waiting on results), we've gone bowling, swimming (Autumn LOVED it), had a fun lake day, we've been to several movies, Gage is taking gymnastics and completed swimming lessons (went from wearing life jacket to diving off a board and swimming solo in just 8 days).  We got an AWESOME deal on furniture and a car so trying to redecorate and switch out furniture in rooms has been a pain but it was a blessing we could not let pass us by & worth it.  James had his birthday so I am married to a 36 year old...so old! ;)  I also managed to fit in a 24 hour trip to Odessa to go to my cousin's dad funeral. 

Autumn received her Dynavox communication device yesterday so next week we will get it set up for her to use.  So excited and thankful for it...it cost $18,755 but we got it free through a program called STAP.  These programs are so awesome because it allows for us to get devices that we would never be able to afford to buy but that Autumn can GREATLY benefit from. I can't wait to see how this helps in her development. 

We are leaving in 6 days for our vacation to South Padre Island.  I'm excited to be taking our first family trip since Autumn has been born and my brother's family is going with us so we will have a blast.  I can't wait!