Sunday, July 31, 2011

And the Summer Fun Keeps Rollin' Along...

Absolutely AMAZING summer....thank You, Lord....what a joy in the simplest of things :)
 pool times are always good times :)
 Armed and Dangerous
No mercy! haha
 early morning tussles :)




no mercy for the princess either
 welcoming a new "pet"
 it's an ANOLE :)
 for outside....so cute.....and sadly, this is the last we saw of him (haha)
 more pool time
 LOTS of pool time this summer, thank God
 Football basics w/ Coach Godsey
 Bonfire out back
Cow carcass from Brian's farm...
very cool science lesson since Dad brought it home and set it up in the back

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Last PT Session!

It is again amazing to know that we've come so far! Samuel made tremendous progress with both his occupational + physical therapy, and he has made it to the end of that road. In May, he had his last official PT appointment (and again, such a strange mix of joy/sadness because we will truly miss seeing Ms Lori, too).
 Samuel's progress has been remarkable w/ regard to restoring most of the strength in his hands + feet, his balance is exponentially improved
 Showing off how long he can stand on one foot these days :) This is a huge success at over 15-20 seconds considering he started out only being able to hold the pose for about 1-3 seconds each leg!
 Getting SO much better at kicking too!
 The laughs never really stop...
 
 As a very special treat today, Samuel was able to "exercise" on the rooftop playground area!
  So many fun things, so hard to choose where to go first!
Samuel has been wanting to play up here for a LONG time now - this was such a cool thing for him




Took a spin on/in every possible vehicle - if it had wheels, Samuel was all about it!
big kid in a little car...haha!

Along w/ the coolness of hanging out on the rooftop playground, Samuel also learned some new "moves" to practice at home, taking his exercise up to the next level in preparation for his participation in a MARTIAL ARTS THERAPY CLASS - he's thrilled about this coming up in July + you can see his determination to get the "moves" right (even if his body doesn't always respond the way it should!) haha
learning how to do jumping jacks....
"switch jumps" - working on that ankle strength....so cute :)

Summer Fun

 ICE CREAM IS ALWAYS GOOD :)
 Learning to play hopscotch!
 So into it
 As the summer rolls on, the hair gets a little more wild.......
She's got the hang of it!

Trains, Friends, Playgrounds

Can't express how GREAT it is to have so many blog posts that are just purely kids being kids having fun finally free from yucky health challenges or restrictions....SUCH a blessing. Thank You, Lord.
 Checking out the cool electronic trains running around at Easton Town Centre
 Smiles w/ our friend little John (somehow we missed the pic of Mom Jenny, but LOVE her too!)
 "Hanging out" at Thompson Park
 Made it to the top of the neat climbing wall
 After conquering the challenge
 I see visions of these 2 zip lining in the future :)
 Just having fun
with extra cheeze :)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Family Time

We were so blessed to spend some lovely time with the world's best Granny (Dad's maternal grandmother)...truly a precious gift.
 Trinity, Granny, Mom
 The proud grandmother + proud grandson :)
 Best part is that we get to play outside and get dirty w/ the dog now!!!!! Yessssss :)
 Samuel, Trinity + very very very special Aunt Iris :)
Girlie love, xo

April 2011

April 1: PT W/ DAD

So, physical therapy has become a highlight of the week...but PT with Dad is waaaaay better :)

 Cool "chopsticks" game
 Object is to pick up the little plastic balls w/ the "chopsticks" to work on his pinch grip strength
 Of course, we're ALSO working on strengthening his ankle muscles + stretching out his legs, so...
 The incline board definitely adds a challenge
 But Samuel is so excited to play the game w/ Daddy (and determined to win!) that he couldn't care less :)
 Practicing the "duck walk" w/ Daddy to improve overall foot/ankle strength
 "Leftie" has been his bigger challenge - but he is a trooper + never quits!
Incline treadmill workouts w/ Ms Lori (already getting him ready for SPEED TRAINING!)

April 4: BREAKFAST "DADDY STYLE"

Well, not really "Daddy Style" but certainly wearing Daddy's Army beret......too funny


April 9: OT W/ MS AMY

Today's occupational therapy appointment was interesting + fun. For the final "exercise", Samuel was able to choose whatever game he wanted to play w/ Ms Amy (since this would be his last official OT session - weird mix of joy + sad because we'll miss Amy). Surprisingly to us, Samuel chose Jenga. This would be slightly more challenging for him considering his recent recovery from severe neuropathy in his hands... 

Samuel was excited! Amy + I braced ourselves for what could've gone either way in the confidence-building arena. And, of course, Samuel showed himself to be an EXCELLENT hand at Jenga! He was able to securely move pieces + even had some pretty ingenius strategy going on! Needless to say, we were both thrilled at his progress :)
Building the tower
tada!
 The fun part :)
 Amy also let Samuel have one last fun day in the "obstacle" room
 Rope climb, jumping in the crazy barrel
 Aaaaand out of the crazy barrel... I think Samuel made it a personal mission to test the limits of Ms Amy's nerves whenever in this room - he made every simple obstacle more like an all-out adrenaline-filled escapade 
(GO FIGURE!)
Swinging from the trapeze bar - and jump landing into the bean bag chair
And then napping in the bean bag chair :)
 LOVE LOVE LOVE Ms AMY!!!! Thank You!!!!!
 Finally, picking sister up from the sibling clubhouse downstairs - always a good time, too!
 (and no masks even in the lobby!!!!! yay)

April 11: SWIM SCHOOL!

Samuel + Trinity were both so very excited about starting swimming lessons for the first time. It was so cool to send them off w/ half a dozen other little kids and not once have to worry about whether someone may have some waterbourne bacteria or communicable illness.... ahh, the sweet simple things we now cherish.
 Getting heads wet
 The littler people's class - Trinity is 2nd one in from the right
 Learning to put one side of head/face in the water
 Getting there...almost really swimming :)
 Going under :)
 Loooooooooves it!
Loves it too :)

April 12: PT W/ TRINITY!

Another great day of physical therapy appointment w/ Ms Lori. In the interest of having the most fun possible, we MAY have (allegedly) broken some rules about proper use of hospital equipment so that Samuel + Trinity could end the experience on a great note :) Last session ever in one week!!!!


At least we were still "supervised" right? :) haha

April 18: FOLLOW-UP VISIT W/ DR SETTY

In celebration of our increasingly-rarer visits to the Heme/Onc Clinic, we all decided we would decorate a huge "THANK YOU" poster for all our wonderful nurses + assistants who work there. We spent the day coloring + writing + cutting out pictures so that we could surprise them w/ our special gift :)
 We really do love + appreciate all of our doctors, nurses, techs, and support staff...xo
 Proud of a great artistic job well done (and that's just her stickered-up shirt!)
Picture of human brain we see walking down the hallway to the sibling clubhouse - they point it out every time, and then get especially excited when we get to go INSIDE the radiology department where this image hangs on the wall (excited until the IV's come out, that is! ha)
Hanging out in the exam room waiting for Dr. Setty...
Why the crayons are in a bedpan, I just don't really know...hospital life...*sighh*
 
 More coloring in the waiting area

Video games :)
What a handsome young man!
Waiting around for labs...the face is priceless - this is what happens when you don't watch a lot of TV...
...TIMES THREE! They're practically hypnotized
Absolutely drawn in :)
*PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR DEAR FRIEND GABRIEL, HE IS A TRULY REMARKABLE JOYFUL YOUNG MAN (5 days older than Samuel) WHO IS FIGHTING (AND WILL WIN!) THE BATTLE OF HIS LIFE RIGHT NOW...HE COULD USE ALL THE PRAYER + BELIEF WE CAN MUSTER TO BRING A SPEEDY COMPLETE VICTORY INTO HIS BODY - AND PLEASE KEEP HIS WONDERFUL FAMILY, Dad Jeremy, Mom Rhonda + little sister Sarah (Trinity's age) LIFTED UP FOR ENCOURAGEMENT, WISDOM + FAITH...THANK YOU so very much...so very VERY much....xoxo*
Dr. Setty! the world's greatest most wonderful oncologist everrrrr :) we're totally biased.
A special prize for being so brave today :)
And a special boy who deserves his newest little bear
We wrapped up the day w/ hot fudge sundaes...oh yeah, good times.

AND FINALLY.......
We wrapped up the month at full speed w/ TONS of fun stuff! Samuel + Trinity went to their 1st College All-Star football game (where Dad coached special teams on behalf of the Ohio Army National Guard).
Mawmaw, Papa Don + Nonna were all there with us too!

 Yes, perhaps most excitingly, NONNA CAME TO VISIT!!!!!!
 
 Celebrating "Resurrection Sunday" with the family :)
 Napping w/ Nonna....xo
 our All-Star landscaping team!
 Great times at the pool
 In their cool new suits from Nonna :)

......And that was just APRIL!!!!!