BEEP BEEP BEEP...Breaking News...Breaking News...Breaking News........We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for a Special Report...

Are you ready for this?! I sure am! We thought that it happened on Monday at Grandma's house. But it was confirmed yesterday in the presence of my Occupational Therapist, Ms. Laurie. The big news is that I said my first word!! Yep that's right, I did it! What was the word you ask? Oh it's one of my favorite things to play with and carry around. You know, those bouncy round things?! BALL! Yep I saw BALL and just to seal the deal I did the hand sign at the same time. The coolest part of it all is that BALL was my brother Kayson's first word too! Pretty neat huh? Now of course I say it with a big ole southern drawl.. more like BAOW, and my face ends up in an "O" position... just for added adorableness. Mom and daddy have asked me to say it like a hundred times... I don't always oblige, but they are overjoyed none-the-less! Who knows what will be next...but YAHOO for now!

...now back to your show...

Prayers and ketchup

Yes I realize this photo has nothing to do with my title... but in case you couldn't tell my mama's camera as been out of commission for a while now... BUT we should have one back in our hands in a few days, yay! We sent ours in for repairs and they offered us an upgrade for only $3 more... so that's what we're doing!

Okay now on to the prayers and ketchup. First the prayers... I have learned to fold my hands and I usually keep them folded throughout the whole mealtime prayer. It makes my daddy, mommy and Kayson all so proud. The other day I sat down at my little Spiderman table and folded my hands all by myself. The 'rents (parents) say it was the cutest thing! Now on to the ketchup! My brother Kayson LOVES ketchup so I've seen it on the table a LOT! Well I was finally able to try it recently... and I'm pretty fond of the dipping! I am now eating egg and cheese sandwiches in the morning, but I must have ketchup. Kayson is so proud! And if you're wondering, yes it is very messy... but so much fun!

I'm still not ready to talk yet... but I'm learning lots of sign language and it just tickles my parents to death to see me do the different signs. I can "say" more, drink, please, down, all done, puppy, bath, fan, baby, ball, hurt and hat. Pretty sure that I'm brilliant! Did you know that Einstein didn't talk until he was 4 years old or older? So for now I'm content to keep on learning signs and having fun all the while.

Wordless Wednesday

Baby K update!

Mommy and Daddy had an appointment with the perinatalogist (high-risk pregnancy doctor) on July 13 to see my little bro! He is looking great! The doctor got a really good look at his heart and it appears to be strong and have no anomalies. WOO HOO!!! All of his long bones (femur/tibia) are measuring right on target, as is his skull. His spine appears to have no curvatures, however it's extremely hard to see in utero. There are still TWO kidneys and they are pretty sure two eyes. We are thinking positive and just know that he is going to be a healthy baby. We are so excited to get to see the little guy every few weeks. In this ultrasound photo he is practicing his breathing, as you can see his mouth is open! They estimate that he weighs about 2 1/2 lbs. Grow baby grow! Mommy and daddy will go back on August 11 to see him again.

Psalm 33:21 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.

Oh and we think we've decided on his first name. What do you guys think of Kylar? We all love it and are pretty sure that is the moniker he will have!

Yes, we're still here!

Back in May we went to the coast for a fun-filled weekend with my Papa and Pama. This was my first trip to the beach, but my brother has been there a few times. We went to celebrate Pama's birthday and Mother's Day and stayed at Port Royal in Port Aransas, TX. We didn't spend much time at the beach because of the high winds... but I loved every minute of it! I was not afraid of anything there... not the plethora of sand nor the huge ocean before me! We spent a lot time at the enormous pool and it was super fun. Kayson didn't want to ever leave. While we were down there I tried fish for the first time, and loved it! We ate at a place called Snoopy's and then for dessert we ate next door at an ice cream place called Scoopy's! Silly, huh? The following evening we had lasagna in our condo in celebration of Pama's birthday and then had delicious lemon cake for dessert. Kayson and Phillip went out and hunted crabs at night and caught a few, hopefully when I'm bigger I'll get to go hunting too! The only downfall (according to my parents) was that I didn't sleep very well! I decided to wake up at about 3:30 or 4 both nights. Gees mom and dad I was just excited! But it was a super fun weekend anyway!

Prayers

I have copied this post from our youth director Jessica... another Jessica (the designer of my blog, is in need of prayers for her father, Scott)...


Dear Heavenly Father -

Please watch over Scott and give him the strength that he needs to fight off this infection. Please allow his body to rest and rebuild. Please watch over his Doctors and Nurses and give them the wisdom to figure out exactly what is causing him to be ill. Please continue to give Jessica the strength that she needs to be the light for her family. She is such an amazing young woman and I know she is getting her strength from you. Give her peace and let her feel your warm embrace.

Amen.

My friends, please pray for my sweet friend Jessica and her family. Pray this prayer or your own, but just lift them up in your prayers. Right now her father is stable, but in a medically induced coma so that his body and rest and gain strength. We are praying for his white blood cell count to increase because his count is so low. We are praising God that his blood pressure and oxygen levels have stabilized.

Thank you.

Speech Therapy

Laurie, my occupational therapist, from ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) came to see me on Monday. She had some beads for me to practicing stringing and I amazed her and did it on my first try! She said that usually kiddos are two years old before they can do it! I love when she comes to see me, she brings me new toys to play with while she is here. She said that I am doing great.

Yesterday I started my speech therapy. Natalie from ECI came to my house to play. She was very nice and we had fun. I showed her the couple of signs (sign language) that I do know and she showed mommy some new ones to teach me. I may not be saying any words yet, but I definitely understand what's going on. I will get to have my speech therapist come play with me twice a month. She left some flash cards for us and a sign language DVD so I can learn lots of new signs. Mommy and daddy watched it last night and next they'll teach me.

A couple of months ago I started using a fork and/or spoon at mealtime. I still use my fingers too and love making a mess, but I am learning! I also get to experiment with a little bowl at mealtime, which is extra fun (not to mention messy). I can point to my hair, feet, nose, ears, teeth and my favorite TUMMY! When I point to my tummy I lift up my shirt and daddy tickles me. It makes me giggle a lot. I can also put my cup in the sink, my dirty clothes in the hamper and a lot of other things that help out mommy and daddy. I love riding my horse and little car and love pushing my stroller around the house. Being a toddler is so much fun!

Wordless Wednesday

My brother... trendsetter!?

First my silly brother jumped in the pool with his socks on (see Wordless Wednesday post)... now he's outside playing around... sportin' his pajamas and Crocs! He's a crazy guy! We are so thrilled that we'll be heading to pick him up in about an hour or so. I've missed him so much and I can't wait to see him!

Look ma no eye!

Yesterday when my mom got me out of the crib I had a little surprise for her. Yep that's right. I was holding a toy in one hand and my prosthetic eye in the other. I think I freaked her out a little. And wouldn't ya know out it Mr. Wenske is out of town until Monday. My mom and dad don't know how to put it back in or even which way it goes for that matter. But from what I hear they're going to try to get it back in tonight. We'll see about that! If they're not successful we'll be making a trip to see Mr. Wenske on Monday.

So as if that didn't freak my mom out enough what happened next surely did. We had to take Biscuit to the vet to get checked out. On the way there she pooped in the car! Thank goodness mom had her little bed on the seat, but still! It was a bit stinky for the rest of the ride. Good news is that she is doing well with her spider bite.

I am missing my brother this week. He is away at Lutherhill summer camp. As you can see in the photo below... he's a goofball. He's jumping in the pool with his socks on!!! Who knows why! I guess we'll hear all about it when he comes home on Friday. I hope he's having fun, but I sure do miss him!

Wordless Wednesday

Biscuit...

We are dog-sitting my papa and pamaw's (Seidenschwarz) doggy, Biscuit, while they trek across the country for a couple of weeks. Last night they were on the strip in Las Vegas with my Uncle Bret!

Well the poor little girl was bitten by a brown recluse spider. She is quite the nosy pup you see and apparently this time it got her into trouble. We think that she found the yucky spider at the back of our property... she left a bit of evidence behind in the form of a freshly dug hole.

Don't worry though... we have taken her to the vet and she is recovering. I don't mind going there because they have this Clifford the Big Red Dog table and chairs that's just my size. You can see me sitting patiently in the picture above. The very nice vet had to put sweet Biscuit under 3 times already in order to get things moving along in the healing process. She has to wear this beautiful blue cone and her paw is wrapped up tightly in the some neato red tape for now. On Tuesday and she'll get her bandage removed. Mommy has been giving her medicine disguised in peanut butter and we've been giving her extra TLC so she can heal. (PS the picture of her is not upside down... she was acting silly and she was actually upside down!)

Wordless Wednesday

Mommy and Daddy got to see my little brother on Monday. It appears to still definitely be a boy. All of his measurements are right on target, and there are no signs of any abnormalities... isn't that great!?! They saw both of the normal eye sockets again and this time they saw two lenses (eyes)! I am so excited to hear that! He is weighing in at a whopping pound these days and mommy says he moves a lot. His heart and kidneys look great too! We think that this little nuggie is going to look a lot like me.... can't wait to find out!








While mommy and daddy were at the doctor, my brother and I got to stay with my Popo and Mimi (and my two cousins)! Mommy's doctor doesn't allow any kids, but, that was fine by us! We had so much fun! Mimi took these pics to prove it!

I'm a proud lil' bro!

Boy am I proud of my brother, Kayson! Today mommy, pamaw and I went to his end-of-the-year awards ceremony. He received an award for Academic Honors (which equates to ALL A's). He also was the ONLY 2nd grader to get both the medal for most Accelerated Reader (AR) points and achieving 25 points for AR per nine weeks. Yep that's right the only second grader in BOTH categories! Pretty awesome, right!? I sure hope that he helps me out when I'm bigger and in school. Way to go bro! I love you and I am so proud of you! I hope you saw me clapping my little hands for you today!

Wordless Wednesday!

Beautiful Day!

Mom and I agree... everyday should be like today! It's just gorgeous! It was in the high 50s this morning and it's supposed to just get into the 80s this afternoon. We had a great lunch of hummus, crackers, apples and grapes. Yummo!

After lunch we checked the mail and played outside for a while. I decided to grab a cactus and I got a little thorn in my hand... but I think mommy got it out, hopefully! Hope you guys are all having a great day like me!

Super great!

Well everything went great last week with my VCUG. I didn't have to get an IV after all. Mom was confusing my VCUG with a renal scan! It was a pleasant surprise though because the VCUG is a much faster test, yay! The stinky part was that I had to have a catheter put into my boy part... ouch! They put some numbing cream on it first, so it wasn't so bad. Mommy couldn't stay in the room with me because of the x-rays. But daddy did great trying to make me as comfortable as possible. The test showed that I had no reflux, which is super great! My diverticulum (the little extra pocket off of my bladder) actually looked a tad smaller than when the test was done last year.

When I was all done the nurse gave me a cool handmade stuffed fish from the Blue Bird Auxiliary... pretty cool huh? I am not sure who that group is, but I think it's really cool that they care enough to make things for kids who have to be in the hospital..

After the test I went to see Dr. Bartholomew, my urologist, and he said that I don't have to come back for a whole year! Rock on!

Other than this I am doing super great! I am learning to eat with a fork, loving to be outside and pretty much am on the go every waking second. I'm so blessed!

Thirsty Thursday...

If you haven't tried the fruit smoothies from Sonic, you should! My mommy got a strawberry banana one and I yelled until she gave it to me. Boy was I glad that I got it! It was delish!



Tomorrow I will have my VCUG done. This picture is from the last one I did in Oct. Please pray that all will go well and they'll get my IV in on the FIRST try! I'll let you know how it goes. This is a test done to check my kidney and my bladder function. I know everything is fine, I just have to reassure my docs!

My baby brother!

Mom and dad went to the perinatalogist on Monday. This is the same specialist that they went to when I was in mommy's tummy. They have chosen not to do any genetic testing or amniocentesis on the new baby, just like they didn't on me. BUT... so far everything appears to be normal! My little bro has two kidneys, a three-vessel cord, and his eye sockets look to be the correct size! So we are so thankful for that. We are leaving it all in God's hands and we're hoping for a healthy baby! They will continue to monitor him closely through level II ultrasounds... the next one is on June 1.

Wordless Wednesday