Happy 6th Birthday, Micah!!!

Yesterday was Micah's 6th birthday.  I think it is safe to say he had a good day.  I ordered 24 Spongebob cupcakes for him to share with his classmates and then we planned a small dinner with friends to share pizza and cake.  He got some really nice gifts, even one he has been asking months and months for, a telescope.  He is not one that enjoys the spotlight all that much so when his classmates sang happy birthday to him you could see him cringe, it was cute though.

 All the kids get to wear this on their birthday at school.

 The cupcakes that instantly quieted twenty-one first graders.

 Noah told me, "I'm going to sit with Micah".

 

 

 Apparently, Noah didn't approve of our singing.

Knott's Berry Farm

For Micah's birthday celebration we decided to go to Knott's Berry Farm and take advantage of their Veteran's Day special.  We had done this in the past and picked a day other then Veteran's Day to go on.  It was so PACKED this time though because we actually went on Veteran's Day.  We stood in line for a long time, but overall it was a good day.  Tim's parents came up from San Diego and Tim's sister and her family joined us there also.  We had not see our niece Makenna since July 4th so it was great to have a sweet little baby to love on.  The boys are so good with babies and it is very cute to watch.

After begging and pleading for me to go, I caved and joined Tim, his sister and her hubby on a roller coaster!  I was so scared to try it and almost refused to buckle my seat belt and bolt the opposite direction seconds before we took off.  We had waited in line for at least an hour so I had to suck it up.  It was a ton of fun and I would do it again, in shorter lines though.  The boys rode a few rides and had a good time also.

 Great family photo op.

 Micah is no longer scared of characters, Noah on the other hand is.

 First solo amusement park ride.

 

 Uncle Timmy and Makenna.

 

 The grandparents with their grand kids.

 Micah's b-day present.

 Megan and Makenna.

 

 Micah is doing his fake school picture smile in this one.

Noah getting some love from cousin Makenna, so cute!

Second Opinion & Mother/Father's Intuition

Recently I had requested a second opinion referral from TriWest for Noah to be seen by a pediatric opthamologist because his current eye doctor had been trying to get us to go the surgery route to fix his alternating isotropia, (crossing of both eyes).  I am so thankful the change was approved and the doctor we switched to is more knowledgeable.  Noah was a complete brat the first appointment, usually he is pretty well behaved for the eye doctor so that had me a bit concerned about my decision, but today he had his second appointment which consisted of eye dilation and measurements and it was concluded that Noah has been wearing a much stronger lense in his glasses then originally needed.  We have been told all along that he needed to ultimately be in +5.50 lenses and we never were able to get there because of his aversion to the glasses.  We had finally settled on +4.00 lenses for some time and still noticed how much his eyes crossed with and without glasses.  So all along we have been forcing his glasses on him and they were the complete wrong prescription!  The scariest part of this all is that the glasses he has been wearing might have caused more damage then not.  He was slated to have corrective eye muscle surgery in October but Tim and I both agreed something did not seem right about it all and we cancelled the surgery.  Thank goodness we did, the surgery would have been done with all the wrong measurements because his actual eye glass prescription was wrong!  The second opinion doctor wrote a letter to Noah's pediatrician as well as one for me to present to the original eye doctor to hopefully recoup our money we spent on new lenses and glass.  


Noah will certainly have to have eye surgery in the coming months, but for now is to go two months without glasses to help the brain and eyes communicate correctly, or  as correctly as they know how to with each other.  We will have a better idea in that time frame if all the back and forth with his previous eye care caused damage.  We will not even attempt glasses again until after he has a corrective eye muscle surgery to once and for all have him in the correct prescription.


We also got word this week that Micah's yearly kidney ultrasound looked good.  Both kidney's are a bit small, especially the left kidney which is the abnormal one.  His right kidney did not really grow either but this has not been a record growth year for Micah on the growth charts.  We are hoping for more growth on the right side on next years ultrasound.  To this day it is so strange to mark the kidney disease box on health forms for Micah because to look, listen or see him you really would have NO clue he has a kidney disorder.  He also got cleared recently to be able to play contact sports so hopefully we can figure what sport suits him best in the near future.    

STAY OUT!!!!

The boys did some early trick-or-treating to a few buildings Tim works in or near and let's just say they'll probably not ever want to go back to those buildings again!  The way they had it set-up was to go through a haunted house and collect your treats at the end.  The last haunted house we went to one of the boys hollered, "stay out"!  The timing of it was perfect.  We went ahead and left after that one because each boys was begging to go home.  Hopefully we don't have two scared little boys in our bedroom in the middle of the night. 

 Micah is Heat Blast from Ben 10 & Noah is doing a repeat costume this year.

This weekend is a 3-day weekend for Micah, Monday is teacher planning.  He's been sick all week and now the rest of us are feeling like we are getting something as well.  Maybe the long weekend we'll all kick whatever is trying is to catch up with us.  I'll probably have an actual Halloween post sometime next week.  I must say, we had some beautiful weather to do some festivities in today, much different then trick-or-treating in a blizzard!

Noah wanted a happy face one and Micah a spooky one.

Goodbye to Grandma V.

August 2011

 Grandma Venneman and most of her grand kids, (my mom is in there also).

Today my Grandma Venneman passed away.  She broke her hip for the third time on the 14th, had very high-risk hip surgery on Thursday and decided to go be in Heaven today.  I am so thankful this whole week she was surrounded with so many people that loved her.  She had a sense of humor all the way up to the end and even had a few smiles for my sister today.  My family that was with her this morning during her final hours said she was reaching her arms out all morning for something or someone and when the hospital chaplain came to say a prayer she said it is very common for people to be reaching for the other side, Heaven to go and be with God.  This makes her passing so much easier for me to accept. 

She was such a kind person and I am so thankful she was my grandma.  She was a proud military wife and was always telling Tim how proud she was of him for his service.  It is strange to think the next time we visit Cheyenne she will not be there in person, but I know she will continue to be with us in spirit.

Thank you grandma for all you have done for our family.  I will forever be grateful and love you very much.

Avila Barn

He had a great time!

The camera was on the wrong setting so the color is weird, the look is priceless.

On the hayride back.

Noah took the hunt for the perfect pumpkin pretty serious.

I am usually behind the camera.

Such a beautiful, festive place to visit.

Avila Barn is the most festive place this time of year to visit. They have the best apple cider and so many other things that are yummy. Micah was able to go to with his class yesterday on a field trip. That little stinker only hate four peanut butter crackers the whole day! His teacher pulled me aside this morning and asked about his lack of eating yesterday, which has always been a challenge. Needless to say, he was in bed by 6:45 last night due to poor behavior due to lack of enough calories. Most people cannot get their kids to stop eating, we cannot get Micah to start. This too shall pass, right?!

And the award goes to.....

Micah and other first graders that received the perseverance award.

Today Micah received a cougar of the month award for perseverance, he was nominated by his teacher. We are very proud of him. So far, he really seems to enjoy first grade and has adjusted to being gone all day at school.

Tomorrow Noah has his pre-op appointment for his upcoming eye muscle surgery. The doctor said he will have about three bad, uncomfortable days. The doctor referred to the surgery as a 80/20 surgery, meaning eighty percent of the time after surgery the eyes no longer cross; the other twenty percent is when the surgery does not fix the crossing because the eye, brain communication is too jumbled. Of course, we are praying for his outcome to be in the eighty percent group. We hope that after surgery and healing time he can begin a preschool program, he certainly seems ready. He will still have to wear his prescription glasses due to his farsightedness.