Keys!

Tuesday, December 27 was a GOOD day! We got the keys to our new house! We signed all the paperwork before going to Spokane for Christmas, so when we got back we were able to go straight to pick up our keys. :)

Now comes the construction of replacing the floors before we can move in. A few more days/nights in a hotel before we can truly call our home, “home.”

Here are the boys by our front door. :)

Christmas

December 22, we drove from Walla Walla to Spokane, WA to spend Christmas with my family there. We got to spend time with my sister and her family and my parents. Unfortunately, my sister and niece that live in Portland weren't able to be there because they were visiting my aunt in Ohio. But they had a wonderful trip out there so that was nice for them.

It's been a couple years since we have had Christmas with my family in Spokane because it was a long trip from Sacramento. But it was especially great to do it this year. We just moved up and didn't have any of our household goods yet, and hadn't even been able to get into our new house yet.

We spent a long weekend there and had a wonderful time. We were also blessed to have a white Christmas with some snow. Not a lot, but enough to do a little sledding down my sister's driveway! Kyler really enjoyed that.

Kyler getting ready to sled down the driveway

The boys both got scooters from Grandma and Grandpa and those were huge hits! We know they will get lots of use at our new house. :)

Aren't they cute???

Our boys also enjoyed playing with their cousins and getting piggy back rides around the house from Rylan. Caden even helped Melissa roll crescent rolls for Christmas dinner. It was so adorable!

Making crescent rolls for
Christmas dinner with Melissa :)

The attempt at family photos was more than a little difficult as Caden decided he'd had enough! But we managed to get a few that turned out okay. We are very happy to be back in the Northwest and closer to more family.

Our family of 4

The grandparents with the grandkids

Mom & Dad with their daughters and their husbands
(and Caden grabbing my hand)

We wish all our friends and family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Enjoy this short video of our holiday.

New Home

Tuesday, December 20, I was able to see our new home in person for the very first time. I put a lot of faith and trust in Greg to find us a home because we bought this one without me ever seeing it in person. Greg took lots of pictures and videos and send them to me so that helped. And, Google earth helped me visualize the area. But nothing compares to actually being able to walk through the house yourself to see how it “feels.”

I have to say that Greg did an AMAZING job! The house is perfect and I LOVE it! The size of the house quite a bit bigger than our last two houses. And, it is on a half-acre lot which I love. I really wanted a large yard for the kids to play. And, we are on a very quiet culdesac with only 4 other houses so the kids can play out front on their bikes and scooters without me worrying about them getting run over.

To top it off, we are only a little over a block from Kyler's new school so we are going to be able to walk to/from school which I think is absolutely fabulous! In Sacramento, it took me close to an hour round trip twice/day to take Kyler to/from school. So the comparison is fantastic! And, we had no idea before we bought the house that our neighbors to the left of us are actually friends of ours. I used to work for her my first two years out of school doing marketing. And I had several business classes with him. Their son is about three months older than Kyler and the boys have become fast friends. And, their daughter is a few months younger than Caden and they have a love-hate relationship. They love the idea of playing together and seeing each other, but they hate actually having to share toys, etc. :)

We signed all the papers before we headed to Spokane for Christmas, so after the Christmas holiday, we should get our keys! :) Yay! We can't wait for the transition to be over and to be settled in our new home!

Trip to Walla Walla

I have the best husband in the world! Have I mentioned that before? If not, shame on me! In order to help us have a less stressful move to Walla Walla from Sacramento, he arranged for us to fly up. That meant that we didn't have to spend endless hours in the car dealing with frustrated, screaming, stir-crazy small children. That alone was good enough for me.

But on top of that, without me even knowing it, he upgraded my ticket to first class. That meant he sat in the back of the plane (literally almost the very last row) by himself with the two boys while I sat by myself in first class. I had a hard time even wrapping my mind around that. I have never flown first class before so that by itself was a real treat. But to actually be able to sit back and enjoy the flight and read a book was almost too good to be true. That just doesn't happen when you have small children with you!

However, Greg was very fortunate because Caden slept the entire flight from Sacramento to Seattle. So it made his job much easier. And, it helped me feel less guilty for being up front all on my own. :)

In first class, they give you a lovely little snack. Something a little more than a miniature bag of pretzels or peanuts.

The pictures of Greg and the boys are a little fuzzy because they were taken with Greg's iPod Touch so the quality isn't great. But you can get the idea of how things went for Greg anyway.

You can see how unruly Caden was during the flight. He was downright hard to control! ;) Okay, not really. He was pretty much passed out the whole time. Isn't he adorable?!

Once we reached Seattle, we had to change planes to go to Walla Walla. While we were walking around trying to get the boys to use up some of their energy, we found this cute Orca.

This is me with Caden on our flight into Walla Walla. There are no first class seats on these small planes. So we all sat together at the back of the plane and both the boys did amazingly well!

I am so proud of how well they traveled. Especially Caden since this is his first airplane ride. And, although Kyler flew a lot (!) before he turned two, he doesn't really remember it. So it was almost like a first airplane ride for him also.

Overall, we had a fantastic day of traveling and we were happy to arrive at our final destination. Although we aren't able to move into our home immediately. We are at least in our new hometown.

Best Friends

Being a kid is hard. You don't have any choice in where you live or how long you live there or where you move to. You just have to go along wherever your parents take you. Poor Kyler has learned this the hard way. He had to say goodbye to his best friend, Brayden when we moved.

These boys have been friends since they day Kyler was born. Brayden's mom, Suzanne, and I made sure of that. We spent a lot of time together, therefore the boys spent a lot of time together. It wasn't always easy because of the 17-month age difference between them. However, as they grew up and matured, they became very close friends.

Suzanne and Brayden and Ellie drove us to the airport the morning we left Sacramento. So Brayden and Kyler had the opportunity for final hugs goodbye at the airport. I was also able to hug Suzanne one last time. I had been doing okay with my emotions in the car on the way to the airport, but as soon as we unloaded our luggage and said our goodbyes, I was a wreck. I couldn't hold the tears back and neither could Kyler. :(

Such bittersweet moments. I am so grateful the boys have such a deep love for each other. I know they will remain friends for a long time because of all the years they have spent together already. Brayden, thank you for being such a great friend to Kyler! We love you and your whole family so much!

Homes

The day before we moved, I thought I should take a picture of my boys in front of the first homes they ever lived in just so they could remember them down the road. Thankfully that was easy enough considering our first two homes were across the street from each other!

Here is Kyler in front of the house we lived in when he was born:

Here is Caden in front of the house we lived in when he was born:

Here are the boys together in front of our house the day before we moved:

It's crazy to think we aren't in those homes anymore. But we have great memories and I'm thankful for all the wonderful times we had together there.

Friends

Please forgive me, but this is a post mostly for me to acknowledge an incredible friend that I have. It's mostly for my benefit as it tells our “story.”

There are “friends”... and then there are “FRIENDS.” I have been lucky enough to have one of those “FRIENDS.” My friend Suzanne. We met at church about 10 years ago. The pastor's sermon that day had to do with going out of your way to help people in need. Little did we know how that would impact us so soon...

After introducing ourselves to each other, we hit it off and decided to meet up later that night for dinner at a restaurant near their house. At the time, neither Greg or I had cell phones (we were very resistant to them at the time). Ryan, Suzanne's husband, gave us his cell number almost as an afterthought just in case we needed to touch base beforehand. As Greg and I were driving on the freeway to the restaurant, we were involved in a car accident caused by a vehicle that drove away. We rear-ended the car in front of us and were rear-ended by the car behind us. Not great for a Honda CRX!

Once the police arrived and helped us all get off to the side of the road, they said our car was driveable and we could leave once all the paperwork was taken care of. However, we were now late to meet our new friends and had no way to contact them. One of the other drivers had a cell phone and allowed us to use it so Greg could call Ryan and let him know what happened. They immediately left the restaurant where they had been waiting for us, drove to meet us at the gas station just off the exit where we were, and then followed us home to make sure our car made it there safely. We ended up going to eat at a restaurant near our house. We were very glad they were able to assist us in our time of need! We had no idea it would be the same day as our pastor's sermon and the same day we met our new friends.

Suzanne and I became closer friends over the next several years, becoming especially close during my pregnancy with Kyler. Her son is about 17 months older than Kyler and she was so helpful in giving me advice about a lot of baby-related things.

Then when I was pregnant with Caden and we didn't know if he would live or not, she was right by my side, supporting me when I thought I couldn't get through the stress. She and her family came to visit us multiple times while Caden was in the hospital at Stanford (it's about a three-hour drive from Sacramento, factoring in traffic).

And then last year Suzanne's beautiful baby girl, Gabriella, died about an hour after being born. She had Trisomy 13, which is a chromosome defect which is incompatible with life. I tried to be there as much as humanly possible for Suzanne, Ryan and their two children, Brayden & Ellie to help them get through this difficult pregnancy and devastating loss. In fact, I was honored to be there at the hospital with them when Gabriella was born and am one of just a few people who got to meet her and hold her.

These life circumstances brought me and Suzanne much closer together and I consider her to be my best friend. I can't imagine my life without her part of it. Her husband, Ryan, and Greg were also best buddies. They are both cyclists and went on rides together all the time. They were a support to each other during tough times, and enjoy hanging out and having fun. Their son, Brayden, is Kyler's best friend and it has been really hard to think about moving away from this family as our lives are very intertwined.

I am so sad to move away from my best friend. But I also know that we will always be friends and that distance will not take that away from us. She is a rare treasure and is genuine, loving and compassionate. It is hard to find that these days. Thank you for being such an incredible friend, Suzanne! I love you more than words can express!

I love you Suzanne!

Best buddies, Greg & Ryan

One of the greatest families to touch our lives!

Going Away Party

On Saturday, December 17, our friends threw us a wonderful going away party. Well, as wonderful as a going away party can be. After all, it means that we had to say goodbye to all our dear friends in the Sacramento area and that wasn't fun! :( But it was so great to be able to spend some time with a lot of these people before we moved.

Special thanks to Suzanne, Sharon, Jenny, Becky, and more who helped put the party together. We really appreciate your thoughtfulness. It is especially hard for us to leave our church since it has been such an incredible support to us over the years, but especially in the last three and a half years as we have dealt with the emotional ups and downs of what was going to happen to Caden. We couldn't have gotten through it all as well without all their love and support. We had no family in Sacramento and our church truly became our “family.” It's hard to imagine not having them as part of our daily or weekly lives.

Here are just a few people who came to the party to fellowship with us before our move.

Pastor Walt and Brenda Groff

Maxine

Dede, Greg, Martha (Greg and Martha look like twins)

Ashley and Darin

Jenny and Allison

Rhoben, Shonna and Kayla

Me and Stacey

Sam with Nicole and Becca

Bethanee and Me

David, Alisa and Crosby

Me and Becky

JB, Sharon, Me and Greg

Greg and Me with our dear friends:
Suzanne and Ryan and their kids Ellie and Brayden

Such cute table decorations!

“I Love This!”

Caden's OT, Monica, gave me a couple small gifts for him after our last session. She wasn't with me when I gave them to Caden so I had to video his reaction so she could see it. She gave him a massager that vibrates because he loves the sensation it gives his hands, arms and tummy when he puts it on them. And, she also gave him another gift which I don't know the name of. You can see it in the short video clip I put together. He is saying, “I love this!” and then says “Thank you Monica” at the end. So adorable! :)

Nursing Farewell

Friday, December 16 was Caden's nurse, Lyuba's, last day. She has been with us since September 2010 so it will be a definite adjustment for all of us not to have her help anymore. She truly loves both Kyler and Caden and I know it will be hard for them to not see her five days/week anymore.

The nursing care has been such a wonderful thing for our family. It really helped us be able to keep Caden healthy because I could leave him at home with the nurse while I took Kyler to/from school and ran errands, therefore keeping Caden away from all the germs. That was wonderful! And, it also allowed me to spend some much-needed quality time with Kyler away from the house.

So much of our lives have been focused on Caden because of all his appointments. It has been really hard on Kyler to not get as much attention as he deserves. So I was able to do special things with him after picking him up from school that I wouldn't have been able to do without nursing care. It was really a blessing for us.

And, the wonderful thing about Lyuba is she was able to go work for another family that I know and be the nurse for their son, Cayden (she won't have any trouble remembering his name!). :) She was able to start work there on the Monday after finishing with us. I am so happy she didn't have any lapse in work because I know her family depends on her income. And I know my friends got a kind and caring nurse to take care of their Cayden. It was a win-win. :)

Thank you for everything Lyuba!

Last Day of School at Orangevale

So many of my posts have been about the last therapy and the last doctor appointments for Caden. But this was a pretty big “last” for Kyler: his last day of school at Orangevale Adventist School.

Kyler's last day of school at Orangevale was Friday, December 16, after only four months of Kindergarten. We were so sad to leave the wonderful school and his INCREDIBLE teacher, Mrs. Vickie Altman. Vickie changed all of our lives! Kyler had a bit of a difficult time adjusting to school five days/week and she truly helped him through that process.

She was such a help to me in helping me understand him better. I always believed he was being defiant when he didn't want to do certain things. But she helped me realize that his “defiance” was almost always “apprehension” about trying new things. He is a perfectionist and he is afraid or nervous to try new things because he doesn't want to fail. He wants to be able to do it perfectly the first time, which is not reasonable. This significantly decreased my frustration with him because I understood what he was feeling and could work with him on that.

I didn't get to help out in the classroom as much as I would have liked, mostly because of our busy schedule with all Caden's doctor's appointments and therapies. But I knew I was welcome in the classroom anytime. There were only 6 kids in Kyler's class, including him so it was a very close-knit group and they all received wonderful one-on-one time with Vickie.

I am so thankful for the wonderful start Kyler had with such an incredible teacher. She has a true gift for teaching and for understanding the hear of children. She brought lots of love and prayer into the classroom and for that I am grateful! We will desperately miss Vickie and Orangevale. Thank you for all you have done for Kyler!

Vickie and Kyler's classmates saying a special prayer for him before school was out - SO sweet!

Kyler's class (L-R): Kyler, Emily, Wesley, Simon, Immanuel, Nate
(yes, there was only 1 girl!)

Mrs. Altman with the Kindergarten class

Kyler with Mrs. Vickie Altman - such a wonderful, incredible teacher and friend!
We will miss you!

Dr. Chipps

From the time Caden was very small, we had Dr. Chipps for his pediatric pulmonologist. He was extremely knowledgable in treating kids like Caden who have serious lung/respiratory issues. My only complaint is he didn't have the best “bedside” manner. It was difficult to ask him questions because he was ready to run out of the room and on to the next patient.

I never had any hesitation that he knew what he was doing. But I am the kind of mom who truly wants to understand why my child is getting a particular medication or what certain test results mean. Those were the kinds of things I struggled with at Dr. Chipps office because it was hard to get those answers.

I will say I am very grateful to him and his staff for keeping Caden so healthy and allowing us to treat him at home when he had pneumonia in 2010. It's really hard to leave a doctor who has treated your son their whole life, knowing you have to find someone new in another state. :(

We had our last appointment with Dr. Chipps only three days before we moved. This is a picture of Caden in the exam room while we waited to see him.

Stephanie

For about a year and a half, Caden had another feeding therapist, Stephanie. She did such a fantastic job with Caden's oral motor skills. Even though he refused to eat anything during that time, she was so great about keeping his skills up. In fact, when Michelle came to start feeding therapy, she was amazed at how well his oral function was considering he was almost two years old and had never eaten anything. I can honestly say that was entirely due to Stephanie!

We loved having her come to our home each week to work with Caden. In fact, one time she brought her daughter to observe so she could better understand what her mom did for work. It's kind of hard to explain to most people, let along a young person, why a child won't eat by mouth and that you have to teach them. So Sydney came along with Stephanie one day and just fell in love with Caden.

A couple days before we moved, they both came by the house to say goodbye to us. Sydney was excited to see how much Caden had changed in the year and a half since she had seen him. It was really fun to be able to see them both again and to tell them goodbye. Thank you, Stephanie, for all you did to prepare the way for Caden and his eating. He wouldn't have been ready for the behavioral approach if it wasn't for all the preparation you did ahead of time.

Thank you!!!

Feeding Therapy Goodbye :(

I think one of the hardest therapies for me to leave for Caden is feeding therapy. The reason is because I knew he was caught up or close to it in all his other therapies. Feeding, however, is one area where we still have significant issues. For almost exactly one year, Caden has been participating in a behavior-based feeding therapy program called Clinic 4 Kidz. This is an in-home based intensive feeding program with great results.

We started off slowly with Caden gradually taking more and more volume at each oral feeding. And we were able to reduce his tube feedings. By the middle of September we had stopped all food/fluids through Caden's g-tube! It's absolutely incredible to even be writing that! What a huge milestone. However, that comes with a whole new set of issues...

Although Caden is eating and drinking 100% by mouth, he is not a typical eater for a child his age. Children who are almost three are eating what everyone else eats, just in smaller pieces. Caden on the other hand will only eat pureed food and he will not feed himself. He strongly dislikes eating anything. There are really no foods he particularly likes. He “tolerates” eating. He does not enjoy it and sometimes he suffers through an entire meal with crying.

It is so hard as a parent to watch your child struggle with something that seems so natural to the majority of the population. Every meal with him is a feeding therapy session and is quite stressful for me. Even if the meal goes well and he doesn't gag, retch, or cry, I am always on the ready to deal with any behavioral issues that might come up.

But I have to say I am so incredibly thankful for Michelle, our therapist with Clinic 4 Kidz. She is absolutely great! She is always coming up with new things to try or new ideas of ways to get Caden to do something. Our biggest challenge now, and over the past several months, is getting him to chew his food. Anything something goes in his mouth that needs to be chewed, he freaks out. He screams, cries, holds his mouth open, and outright refuses to close. It's really hard to deal with. How can you teach a child that he needs to chew his food in order to progress to eating what the rest of us eat???

Michelle always remained calm even when Caden was throwing a tantrum about one thing or another. I have a much harder time with that. Probably because I am more emotionally involved that she is because he is my son. I am so thrilled that we aren't using the g-tube anymore. It is a wonderful thing and we look forward to the day when we can get it removed entirely! I know we wouldn't have gotten to this point without Michelle's help. She was instrumental in making this happen. December 14 and 15 were our last session days with her and I am nervous how things will go once we don't have her help anymore. I have learned a lot over the past year, but we still have a long way to go and I hope we don't lose any ground.

Thank you so much for everything, Michelle! We can't thank you enough for everything you have done for Caden and our family. We miss you already!

You can watch the video below to get an idea of what a session of feeding therapy looked like.  It's a LOT of work!

That lip curl is cracking me up!

Having some bites of banana

I'm pretty sure that face means he is not thrilled about eating!

Caden is perfecting the "cheesy" smile!

Michelle with Kyler and Caden

Thank you for everything Michelle!!!