Sunday Snapshot: Owen

Happy Sunday!!

Today I decided to participate in Stefanie's *Sunday Snapshot* over at NihaoYall!!

This week I decided to spotlight Owen.

Today happens to be his 3rd *Gotcha Day*!! He was so excited that today was his day!!

Owen is into Super Hero's of any kind, but Superman is his all time favorite!

Though for Halloween, he was some sort of Ninja. He just likes to fight, I think!

He is definitely all boy.

And, when he grows up he plans on being a cop & Superman! That way he can *always save people & have a gun!* hahahaha.....

He is such a trooper and never complains. There are so many things that this kid can not do physically....but that never slows him down or keeps him from trying!

He is so bright and talks non-stop! My parents recently stayed with the kids for two weeks and my father has decided that Owen will be an attorney some day. He will argue anything with anyone!

He loves his family. He loves his friends. He loves school and is doing great!! He loves to joke around and giggle! And, his giggle is so infectious!! He is quite the budding artist and will spend hours making cards, pictures and presents for everyone.

Oh, and he has the BEST smile!!

and he loves the camera!!

Happy Forever Family Day, Owen!!

We love you bunches!!

A late call...

I called the numbers that the doctor left for John on Wednesday, but was never able to reach a person with a pulse, so I finally left a message. The young man returned my call and let me know that the doctor did want to talk to us today, so he would page her and have her call my cell number. He assured me that she would call today! As I was getting the girls ready for bed, doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, reading emails and listening to the news, my phone rang. It was a 214 number....I knew the doctor probably had a phone number with that area code. I glanced at the time it was 8:57 pm. She was apologetic, but didn't want us to have to wait until tomorrow to hear from her! Ok.... basically what she said is Scottish Rite is unable to manage Kaylea's airway. Children's is unable to meet her orthopedic needs. Her orthopedic doc is adamant about the trach being placed. She has decided to have a look at Kaylea's entire airway and make her decision based off those findings. So, that will be done in the first week or two in October. If she feels that Kaylea absolutely NEEDS the trach, then she will discuss with us her findings and we'll make a decision at that time. ( She feels like the trach will likely be a safer option for Kaylea due to the nature of issues that she has and the number of procedures she will endure in the next 12 -24 months.) Then the next week she will be moved over to Scottish Rite and have her Halo removed and her cast put on.

They actually have her scheduled for the same day Owen is scheduled to have his first hand surgery as Scottish Rite, so Kaylea's will be pushed back to October.

From the mouth of...Owen....

We were on a little walk this evening and it started thundering and barely, barely sprinkling when the lightening struck! A couple of times and close! The street got pretty bright. We were heading home and the sprinkles were are little harder. We are all chatting and Owen says "It is dripping water or something from the sky!" HAHA!!

ENT

Cool tat, Kaylea!!

Visiting with the clown

Kaylea has an appointment tomorrow with the ENT. They are suppose to let us know their reasoning for wanting to put in a trach. I'm still not for this option, but we will at least find out what they have to say and find out what it would entail and our options. I am hoping the hospital won't drop her as a patient if we do not have the trach put in, but we will deal with that issue, if it becomes an issue.

Kaylea is doing exceptionally well and tolerating the procedure better than expected. She is up to 15 lbs of traction. She will have pictures taken Friday to compare to the ones taken last Wednesday before her surgery. THEN....we should be able to bring her home over the weekend!! WAHOO!!! A whole week early!!! Which means she shouldn't miss any school, except they aren't expecting her. We do have to figure out the transportation issue and the issue of switching her from her walker to her wheel chair. They both have the traction pulley system attached so she is able to switch between the two.

I am going to a Women of Faith conference Friday night and Saturday, but we should be able to check her out of the hospital on Saturday and come home on Sunday.

She will go back to have the Halo removed the 1st of October. Then they will cast her torso for 6-8 weeks. Also, that week Owen will have a hand surgery. He is very excited that he gets to sleep in the hospital :o) He has been waiting for his turn!! If we can squeeze it in, Rylea will have surgery to correct her club feet! Sound like a busy fall to me!!

Love,

Letters

Kaylea getting her face painted

Ethan riding his horse!!

We received letters in the mail from all 3 kids yesterday!!!  That totally made my day!  Owen says he *mist* us!  Today I got email replies to the emails that I sent to them. They have been horse back riding, swimming, face painting, playing all kinds of sports, including hula hoop :-)  The camp posts pictures daily so we have been viewing those daily.  Looks like they are having fun!!!   

I am excited to see them tomorrow and go to their awards ceremony!!!

 

Campers

Well, I took 3 little darlin's to camp yesterday, until next weekend!!  Can you believe it??  This is the first year for all of them, but they WILL be going back next year!!  When we pulled in yesterday, they had 3 different cheering stations. The kids loved that they were cheering for them!  Then we had many stations to get through to get them signed in and to their respective units.  The 2nd stop, after dropping off luggage, was the LICE check station!  Thankfully they all got through that station with NO issues!!  We have BTDT!!  I was happy to see that they did check the children, so we shouldn't have any coming home.  I was HAPPY that they all seemed ok, when we left them. We were glad that one of the counselor's in Ethan's unit is a young man with CP.  Ethan was shocked to see that he, too, had AFO's. The camp is for children with orthopedic disabilities, so all of the children had some sort of special need.  They are going to have a dance, so they all took their *dress up* clothes. They have swimming, horse back riding, archery, arts and crafts, drama, and of course all kinds of sports!  I think they will have a BLAST!!  All though I miss them, I am glad they had a chance to do camp like every other child!

Wordless Wednesday {in video}