Feeding Update

We went for our feeding study today. It was our first visit to Children's Hospital in St. Louis, we normally go to Cardinal Glennon but since the therapy that we are hoping that Will is a candidate for is only offered at Children's we decided to have the study done there instead. The hospital itself was amazing, so child friendly and really cool. For example, on the elevator there is a child's voice that says "Welcome to Children's Hospital, this is the 3rd floor". I thought that was so cute, and such a personal touch. Anyway on to the study...

During the feeding study there was a speech pathologist and an occupational therapist in the room with us and we fed Will all sorts of stuff. We were supposed to bring things that he eats well and then things that he has trouble eating. I brought pureed pears which he normally lets fall out of his mouth without swallowing, cheetos, which he normally really likes and tries to eat but still let it fall out of his mouth and cheerios which he does the same. There is really nothing that Will eats "well" except for drinking his bottle, he never lets any of the formula come out of his mouth.

And wouldn't you know....he ate like a champ!! Like I hadn't fed him in days, weeks, months and years!! The pears, ate them with out anything coming out of his mouth! I couldn't believe it, Josh and I sat there in shock as he opened his mouth for each bite. I kept saying "he normally doesn't do this well". The therapist said that this sort of thing happens all of the time, I am not sure that I believe her!

So they watched Will eat his food for about an hour and asked us questions and took notes. After that was all done we went down stairs to the x-ray department, where he would have the swallow study. During this study they mix barium with his food and take an x-ray of him swallowing. The barium makes the food glow in the x-ray. So Will did some more eating, which he did really well but was starting to get tired and full.

They said that Will is swallowing some food even though he is letting some come out of his mouth. He also doesn't pocket food in his mouth or throat, though they thought that he holds food in the back of his throat longer than he should. And that his suck is not very efficient, he has to suck a few times before he gets anything out of his bottle.

The therapist thought that he would be a good candidate for the e-stim therapy that we had discussed with his GI doctor in June. We are going to have to wait until one of the therapists has an opening in their schedules and we also have to line things out with our insurance.

I will have to take him to the therapy sessions 2-3 times a week for 90 minute sessions each. So this is also a major time commentment for me but I am totally on board with it because I really think that this is going to help.

So it was a really successful visit today, even though he ate like it was his last meal!!

Happy Birthday Andrea!!

We here at Lilo and The Stitch hope that you have a great day!!

ps. I realize that I look really scary in this picture, but it was the only recent picture that I have of Andrea. This photo was taken at Marcea's graduation party. In the photo are Me (the scary looking one), Teresa (Josh's little sister), and Andrea (the birthday girl).

The Many Adventures of Mr. Cow

Last week Mr. Cow went swimming, in the toilet.

Today, I had to pull Cow out of the trash can. Gross!

I was looking for Mr. Cow because Will was really fussy and Mr. Cow always does the trick, but I couldn't find him. I looked around the living room, upstairs, in the van and Mr. Cow was nowhere to be found. Then I decided to take look in the kitchen trash can and there he was. I was holding Will when I looked into the trash can and I lifted the lid and Will started giggling. What a stinker!

More pictures from the Cards game

I just got an email from Christina with pictures that she took at the Cardinals/Brewers game and thought that I would share them.

The view from our seats.

Will looking too cute for words in Sissy's Cardinal's hat.

Lilo and The Stitch.

Christina, Will and Cow hanging out.

Thanks for the pictures Christina!!

Marcea's graduation party

On Saturday, we celebrated my sister, Marcea's graduation with a party. It was a really nice party and I believe that everyone had a great time. Here are some pictures from the occassion...

Mikkah Joseph, hamming it up! I would take a picture of him then he would come running over to me and say "me see! me see!" That is also how he says my name but he wanted to see the picture that I had just taken on the back of my camera. Ham bone!

Will really liked the fruit punch. He didn't let any come out of his mouth. He had lots of practice with an open cup!

From Left to Right: Tyler (Marcea's boyfriend), Marcea (what does she think this is, Project Runway or something??), Mike (my step-dad), Linda (my Mom), Caroline, Josh, Me, William, Mikkah (my nephew), Leslie, and Aaron (Leslie's boyfriend).

Me and my sisters.

From Left to Right: Me, Caroline, Josh, William, Phyllis (my grandma), Marcea, Mikkah, Chris (my dad), Leslie, Lauren (my sister), Vicki (my step-mom), Christopher (my brother), and Aaron (Leslie's boyfriend).

There was a band that played at the party. Marcea and Tyler shaking their thing.

Randomness...part 2

So I realized that I do have more!

I turned on the radio today while in the car, hoping to find a good tune. What do I hear?? Christmas music!!! Are you kidding me!!! I am sweating, there is no snow in sight and it is the middle of JULY!!! So why am I hearing Christmas music?? After much pondering, I realized that today is July 25th, six months before Christmas. Good grief! Seriously??!! And they didn't just play one Christmas favorite, they have been playing it ALL DAY!!!

On to other things....

When do dogs realize that it is not okay to pee on my kitchen floor?? Hmmm, though Buster may be cute I am not sure why it is taking him so long to get this whole potty training thing. He has grown out of the crate that we had for him, so we had to get him a bigger one but he still hates it. He has not reached the point of "this is my home therefore I shall not pee in it!!" yet. I am patiently waiting for the doggie light bulb to go off and him to take a liking to peeing in the grass. But it can't happen soon enough.

William realized today that it is really cool to blow raspberries. Funny!

Randomness...

is that a word?? Hmmm, not sure, but it is my word. Anyway, here are some random things that I have for ya today.

First thing...My Husband is coming home today!!!! Praise the Lord! He will be home just in time to put the kids to bed. Caroline has already said several times today, "Daddy will be home today!"

Second thing...Today I was running erronds, it wasn't unbearable hot yet so I had the windows rolled down and the music turned up. I was singing and sorta dancing in my seat (don't judge, you know you do it too!!) I turned around to check out what Will was doing and he was dancing in his car seat and trying to sing along too (babbling and cooing). The boy was grooving to "Pink Houses" by John Mellencamp, that's my Boy!

Here is another random thing you may not know, I have actually met John Mellencamp. When we lived in Bloomington, IN (that is where John and his Almay model wife, Elaine live with their two boys, Hud and Spek) I was at work and he came into the office that I was working at. I said Hello, he said Hello, he bought something and I touched his credit card!!! I almost peed my pants and he probably thought I was a complete Dork because my face was bright red and I was fighting back that "Holy Crap, is this really happening to me" smile.

Anywho, Will has been trying to shake his goove thang for about a week or so. He bends his knees and bounces, arms out for balance and his head is down (he is looking at his feet). It is pretty cute to watch, I am trying to get it on video but I never really get the grooving part. I'll try, I promise! But in the car he was kicking his feet and wiggling around in his seat. Too cute!

Third thing....Josh is coming home today! Oh, sorry I already told you that!

Fourth thing...I had to go to Aldi's today. I didn't have cash (which I normally carry) so I was going to use my debit card, until I realized that I couldn't remember my pin number. I never use the darn thing and if I do I just have them run it as a credit card. Well, Aldi's doesn't do credit cards so I had to abandon cart and go to the bank and get cash. Grrrr...and remember that Will was with me and he has now learned that he can stand up in the cart and the cart that I had to pay my quarter for didn't have the seat belt thing, so I had to hold Will while I put my groceries on the belt and paid for them. Trying to hold him is like trying to hold a greased pig. It was not fun.

Fifth thing...sorry, that is all I got.

Under Construction

As you can see, I am trying to change things around a bit. I thought Lilo and The Stitch needed some sprucing up. I am still working on it so bear with me here! I can't figure out how to change the color that is around the photos, I am stumped. I promise that I will be done soon.

Oh, tell me what you think! Do you like it so far? What don't you like? Thanks!

The game

I promised pictures from the game yesterday and I didn't come through, sorry about that. Truth is...I didn't take that many pictures at the game because I had the wrong lens on my camera. But have no fear!! Kelly posted pictures from the game on their blog! Check them out!!!

She also has some cute picture of the boys and Caroline and Ava at the zoo!

Swimming

Cow went swimming today, IN THE TOILET!!! I knew that it was going to happen eventually. Will is obsessed with putting stuff into things, no thanks to all of the therapy where we have practiced the "put in" game. For example, one day I couldn't find his bottle. I remembered that I resently took out the trash, yep! I had to go digging through the trash to retrieve the bottle. Will also likes to put finished rolls of toilet paper into the toilet, nice! So Cow in the toilet was only a matter of time. Today was the day! So Cow had a bath today too. I just have to laugh at this point!

Today at the zoo

We met up with some friends, some of our RTS friends!!! We hung out with Max and Alex and their families!

When we went to the RTS Midwest Reunion we met Max and his family, remember the picture of the two boys? They are so stinking cute!


At the reunion we decided that our families would go to a Cardinals/Brewers game when the Brewers where in St. Louis. Well, they got into town yesterday afternoon and we all met at the zoo this morning. Alex just so happened to be coming to StL for a doctor appointment today so him and his family met us at the zoo too! We met Alex and his Mom and Dad at Cardinal Glennon a few months back and Jessica and I have been keeping in touch through e-mail ever since.

It is so cool for us RTS parents to get together because they are all like family, our RTS family. Kelly (Max's Mom), Jessica (Alex's Mom) and I are all bloggers, so we each read about each other's kids on a daily bases. So it was very cool to get together and talk and compare notes, etc. Here are all of us Blogging Momma's and our Boys!

Did you notice that Will is holding Alex's hand?? How cute is that!!

Here is a picture of all of the kids today. There are Alex's two brothers, Noah and Joel, Caroline and Will and then Max and his sister Ava.


Caroline and Ava had a great time today. They are both the same age (only two weeks apart in age). Lets just say that they talked non-stop while we were there! I am not sure who talks more, Caroline or Ava! It is funny how they are exactly the same in their manorisms and the things they say, they were funny!

We are going to the ball game tonight. Christina is coming along too to help me out with the kids, since Josh is out of town, STILL! I will be posting pictures from the game sometime tomorrow! Go Cardinals!

Pretzels? Help Please!

Will's birthday is next month and I am feverishly planning his party. I love birthday parties!

We are having a "carnival" for Will's 2nd birthday, I have been working on it for months, seriously, I heard that gasp! I know, I need a hobby. Anyway, back to the point, Myssie! I thought that I might make homemade soft pretzels. I found a recipe here, but I would like to make the dough ahead of time and freeze it. That way I only have to make the petzels on the morning of the party. Can I do that? Or will it mess up the dry yeast stuff? I have no clue. Please leave me a comment and let me know the answer. Click on "comments" at the bottom of this post and type in your comment in the box and post it. Please! Thank you!

7 more days

Josh left on Wednesday morning for another business trip. This time he is in China Lake in California. He will be gone until next Friday, a week and a half away from home. I have no idea how I am going to survive! LOL. He has never been gone that long before and I really don't like it when he is gone. But I am grateful that he is not gone more or for longer. When we went to Destin, one of Josh's co-workers was there as well and he was going to be there for 3 weeks! Yikes! And, here is the kicker, him and his wife have FIVE boys between the two of them. I tip my hat to you Shelly, wow! So, it could be worse.

Many people have said to me, "I don't know how you do it when Josh is gone" and quite frankly I am not sure how I do it. Will requires alot of care, the feedings alone are enough to drive me batty. Even though he will be two in a month he is like a 12 month old in his development. So he needs constant supervision, constant. He is in to everything, climbs on everything, and puts everything in his mouth. Caroline, well, she talks more than any child should, I really wonder if her jaw is sore by the end of the day. I am not kidding, non-stop talk.

I guess I just go to auto-pilot. I just get through the day the best I can. I loose my cool faster, we eat crap for dinner because I don't have the time or energy to cook, and my house looks like WW 3 took place in it. Let's just say that it is not my finest hour as a Mommy. I hate every minute that Josh is gone, it sucks, but I just do what I gotta do.

I am exhausted and it is only Friday, I still have 7 days!!

What has Will been up to?

So this is what Will has been up to lately....WALKING!!

He really started walking more about two or three weeks ago but I didn't post about it because I didn't want to jinx it. I wanted to wait and make sure that it was for real and that I wasn't dreaming or something. But I feel comfortable saying that William is a walking man! He is so cute! Disregard my mess of a living room in the video!! That darn housekeeper just quit showing up!!! LOL!

Pudding

Today during Will's speech therapy he had chocolate pudding. Patti, his therapist, is trying to get Will aware of his mouth and to use his tongue to lick his lips, etc. So she started with a little pudding on his upper lip and then it soon turned into this...



He started to stick out his tongue a little bit but never really got the pudding off of his lip by using his tongue. But it sure tasted good!

Visiting

On Tuesday the kids and I went to my Mom's house in Sparta. My cousin was in town from PA and we wanted to see her before she leaves this weekend. Chloe, my cousin has grown into a beautiful young lady. I can't believe that she will be a 7th grader in the fall! She was a flower girl in Josh and I's wedding. Chloe and Will really hit it off, he was always smiling at her (he does that to cute girls!). Here is a picture of the kids...Mikkah (my nephew, my sister Leslie's son), Caroline, Chloe and William. A pretty cute bunch, if I do say so myself!

Here is a good picture of William with his great Grammy Abell (my grandma). I thought that it was a good picture of the two of them.

Wrong in so many ways...

Today Caroline came up to me and asked if I knew when Mr. Robber's Neighborhood would be on CVS.com

Translation: She wanted to know when Mr. Roger's Neighborhood would be on PBS Kids.

What have I done to this child?

On the road again...

our day started bright and early at 4:15am and we were on the road at 5am. By 7am Caroline was vomiting into a cup (it was the only thing that we could find). We think that she was really hungry which kicked in some car sickness. All was well when she got a hash brown from McDonald's down her!

The rest of our trip home was pretty uneventful, thank goodness. The ride home only took us 12 hours, so we were thankful for that. We were all ready and glad to be home!

Our last day

in Destin we spent by the pool. We wanted to get one last day of relaxing before we all piled into the van for our 13 hour drive home tomorrow.

Caroline had fun jumping into the pool. It was only 3 foot deep so she never went under (right up her alley) and it was fun to see all of the faces that she made while jumping.



Will had fun in the water too. He is a little water bug.


After swimming we went out. We had promised Caroline that she could pick out a suvinior so we went to one of the stores, you know the kind, every thing under the sun that a tourist would want. And she picked out....A hermit crab! Good gravy! She named him, Hermie.

After we (she) decided on the crab, we went for some dinner. We were told of a place that had the best seafood in town and they weren't joking! The food was great, the place was called the Dewey Destin. It did not disappoint. It looked like a complete dive but once I ate a shrimp I really didn't care that I was sitting at a picnic table! If you go to Destin, you have got to check this place out!

Aboard the Southern Star

Today we (Christina and I) took the kids on a dolphin siting cruise. The boat was named the Southern Star. Here is Caroline before we boarded the boat in front of their sign.

The kids got to throw chips off of the back of the boat and feed the seagulls. The birds knew that it was time to be fed and were swarming the boat! I think that they are well trained.

Caroline had a great time trying to spot the dolphins but the highlight of the cruise was when she got to drive the boat! Here she is Captian Caroline...

Looking for Dolphin...


Christina and the kids...

Shell Island

Caroline and I ventured out today. Caroline is in love with collecting seashells so I thought that we would have some fun at Shell Island. We had fun but it wasn't what we thought it would be. We were told that there would be shells everywhere, mmmm not so much. We were kind of bummed and really hot.

There were also jellyfish, everywhere!! We didn't even want to take off our flip flops because we were afraid that we would step on one. We spent about three hours on the island and that was enough.

When we were getting off of the shuttle boat we spotted a dolphin off of the pier. We went over to the pier and waited. We didn't have to wait long and he came up to say hello. Caroline thought that he was waving at her.

Our Day

Today started off really nice, we had breakfast and went to the pool. Caroline and Christina stayed at the pool and Will and I went upstairs so that I could tube feed him some lunch at around noon. As I was tube feeding him, he pulled on the tubing and his mic-key button came out!! The whole daggum thing came out of his stomach! I freaked out, he freaked out and his entire lunch was coming out of the hole in his stomach. If I were a good Mom, I would have remembered to bring the emergancy back up kit that I have at home, just in case something like this should happen and I would have been able to fix it right there. But I didn't, so I scooped him up and ran down to the pool to tell Christina that I was going to the ER. I went to the front desk to ask where the nearest ER was, two stop lights down (thank goodness). So we were off...

I got to the ER at 12:25pm, checked in and was taken back to a room. I still had the button, so I just thought that they would put in a new one and we would be off. Wrong. We waited for over an hour before the doctor even came in to see Will. I was starting to get mad because I knew the longer that we waited to put it back in the harder it was going to be because the body's natural reaction is to start closing the whole.

When the doctor came in he asked what type of feeding tube it was, I told him a "mic-key button", to which he replied that he had never heard of it before, what?? Seriously?? Then he said that he didn't think that the hospital would have a replacment, are you joking??? Then we decided that the old button was okay to put back in because the balloon was still intact and working (holding water). So he tried putting it back in....it wouldn't go it. Will just about jumped off of the table and his eyes just about came out of the sockets and screamed in pain. I told the doctor to stop and he would have to come up with a better solution, because the button was going back in as is. He went and got a helper, they put some ky jelly on it and pushed in it. Will was screaming, I was screaming and we were not happy.

They gave Will some tylenol for the pain. They didn't offer me anything.

They then wanted to make sure that the button was in the right place so they wanted to put some contrast in his stomach and take an x-ray. Okay, I am good with that. Problem was they didn't have a way to get the contrast into his stomach through the tube because I left the extention tubing at the hotel. I didn't think there was any reason to grab it in my panic to get to the ER. And because none of them had ever seen a mic-key button before they didn't know about extention tubing. So I had to take Will and run back to the hotel to get the tubing and then go back to the ER and have the x-ray done.

We finally left the hospital at 3:45pm. All is fine, button is back in. But we did not relax today, maybe tomorrow.

On Location...

Lilo and The Stitch is being brought to you today from Destin, Florida. The kids and I are here with Josh who had to come down here for work all week. It's rough, but some body has to do it! We brought along Christina for the ride, she is our awesome cousin/babysitter. I can't believe that she actually agreed to come along and help me out with the kids while Josh is working, but hey, I'll take it! She is really great with the kids and Caroline is happy to have someone to play with.

So on Sunday morning, bright and early (5am) we left home. The 13 hour car ride was a dream, not! The kids did really well until the last hour. During the last hour Will cried, non stop and threw up all over himself and his carseat. It was great.

But we finally made it to sunny Destin at 6pm, we ate some dinner and went to the hotel pool. We swam for about an hour or so then got baths and went to bed, no I am sorry, crashed.

This morning we got up and had some breakfast then went to the beach. Caroline loved it, Will not so much. He didn't like it very much and actually fell alseep while Josh was holding him. This was the first time Christina has seen the ocean (or gulf, same difference), so that was exciting.

Caroline and Christina jumping the waves.


Will and I getting our feet wet.


Caroline making a sand castle.

Our 4th of July

On Thursday the kids and I drove down to Sparta to go to the Steeleville picnic with Mikkah and Leslie (my nephew and sister). We went to the picnic and the kids got to ride some rides and then the rain started and it rained, alot. So we decided to call it a night and go.

We stayed at my Mom's house so that we could get up in the morning and go to the parade the next morning. We got up and it was still raining!

We went ahead to the parade and the rain finally stopped. Caroline got way more candy then one little person should ever need in one lifetime, but she had a great time. She was so cute, she would stand along the curb and wave at every single float that went by. She didn't stop waving until the last horse had gone by.

After the parade we went to a pool party. The kids went swimming and had a good time. Then we went to Josh's mom and dad's house for dinner to celebrate Josh's dad's birthday. Then we headed home and started packing for another adventure.

Softball game

Last night the kids and I drove over to St. Peters to watch Josh play in a softball game. He and his office buddies formed a team and are playing in a slow pitch softball league. They played a double-header against the same team. They lost both games but they gave it a valiant effort.

Josh's team is called the "Fat Daddies"! Is that hysterical or what!? They even have t-shirts and all!

This is what the kids did during the games...played in the dirt. They were both little piggies when we left.

It was good to see all of the Stauder family at the game. Josh and I feel so blessed that he was given the opportunity to work at Stauder. Jerry and Angie (the owners of the company) are such wonderful people. It feels like everyone that works there is our extended family. Josh could not have found a better place to work.

Josh was able to get out of bed this morning but very slowly. I think that he may need to do some more stretching before the next game so that he doesn't really hurt himself. As long as he doesn't try to pull a Jim Edmonds type of catch in centerfield then he should be good. (grin)

Prayer Request

Josh's Grandma may be having surgery today to remove a lump from her throat. We will know by noon if she will be having the surgery today or not (they are waiting to see the results from some lab work).

Please pray for Grandma Montroy.



7/3/08 Update: Please continue to pray. Grandma starts chemotherapy treatments today. All prayers are greatly appreciated.

More about the Amish...

Caroline got home last night from staying at Grammy and Papa Pillers house (Josh's Mom and Dad), my ears got a much needed rest! I dropped her off on Sunday when I went to Sparta for a bridal shower and Josh went down to Belleville to pick her up last night. Anyway, when she got home I asked her what she did and if she had fun. This is the conversation that we had, try to imagine a very excited 4 year old, pointing her little index finger.

Me: So what did you do a Grammy and Papa's?

Caroline: We went to the Amish!

Me: The Amish? What for?

Caroline: We went to just look at the cows.

Me: Look at cows?

Caroline: The Amish don't use their phones or turn on their lights, but they DO answer their doors! (pointing her index finger at me)

Me: They DO! That is awesome Girl!

She is so funny! They DO answer their doors! The child is enamored with the "Amish Way" thanks to the PBS Kids show Arthur. Isn't it funny how she thinks that they have phones and lights but they just don't use them? I think that I may have to tell her that they don't even have them, she may flip a lid!

So the story is that Papa (Jimmy) went to look at some cows that the Amish folks have for sale. He is going to buy a few for his pasture. Caroline wants us to take her back down to Sparta today so that she can go with Papa to pick up the cows! Sparta is about a hour from us, if only she knew about gas prices...