Caden Feeds Himself!

I have been hesitant to say anything about this because I wasn't really sure if it would last. I thought it might just be a fluke and he would revert to his old ways. But on October 29, Caden woke up and decided he wanted to feed himself! Now this is a HUGE deal!

Even though he has been eating 100% orally since September 2011, he has not wanted to eat, nor has he been willing to chew his food. All his food had to be pureed and we had to spoon feed it to him. It's been very exhausting!

This change literally happened overnight. It was like someone flipped a switch in him and he decided it was time to feed himself and start chewing food. This was not a gradual change at all and took me quite by surprise! We have been trying to get him to do this for the past 3 ½ years! All of his feeding therapists have been working with him, and us, toward this goal. But he was not willing... until October 29. I just wish I would have known where that switch was sooner so I could have flipped it and started this a long time ago!

I really thought he would only do this for a day or two and then the novelty of it would wear off. But for the past four weeks, he has continued to want to feed himself. It is so wonderful! He even tells me he is hungry now and that is a completely new thing! He has never told me he was hungry before and truly meant it. I am praying this new attitude of his continues on and his eating skills progress even more. He is still a long way off from being a “typical” eater for a child his age. But we are further down the road then ever before.

Here is a little video I took of him eating in the first couple days of him feeding himself and me feeding him some things he needed to chew. He has improved since then but this is how it all started. Please continue to pray things go well in this area. 

Baby Olivia!

Yippee! Baby Olivia is here! She was born Thanksgiving day, 11/22/12, and is healthy and perfect in every way! Congratulations to Ryan and Suzanne, big brother Brayden and big sister Ellie! We are so excited for you and your family! :)

 

Kyler and Caden were so excited to hear about Olivia being born that they sang “Happy Birthday” to her. I took a video of it and sent it to the proud parents so they could see how happy we are for them. :)

I can't stop smiling. What joy and happiness she will bring their precious family. Thank you Lord for your many blessings!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we spent the day at my parent's house in Hayden, ID. We had a really nice day there eating a delicious meal and spending time together. My parents are going to be in South America during Christmas, so they gave out their gifts to the kids on Thanksgiving. That made it really fun for them! It was a nice day spent with family.

We are very blessed and I could write out a very long list of things I am thankful for but I think I will keep this short and say I am so thankful for my family and the time I am able to spend with them. Don't take those you love for granted. You never know how much time you have with each other.

75th Birthday!

November 17 was my dad's 75^th birthday. My sisters and I decided this was the perfect time for us to throw him a surprise party to celebrate! So we started planning about 8-10 weeks ago. Since my dad is a runner and has done 202 marathons, we thought a running theme was in order.

My sister, Cheryl, compiled a LOT of pictures with the help of my brother-in-law, Kent, the two of them created a beautiful photo book chronicling my dad's life. It was amazing! My sister, Shelly, and her daughter, Charli Jo, made all the signs for decorations. They said things like, “Looking Strong”, “You're Flying Now”, “You Rock”, etc. Charli Jo did some very cute artwork to go along with each sign. They turned out great!

My job was to create invitations, party favors, cake, and get a shirt made for my dad. With the help of my cousin, Jonny, he created a graphic for us to use for the invitations and for my dad's shirt. They were really cute! Then, for party favors, I found a really cute idea on Pinterest to use Gatorade bottles and put running “bib” labels on them and hang medals around the neck of the bottle. I think they turned out super cute! By the way, the bib graphic is the same thing used on the party invitations. 

We created the name of a fictitious marathon to honor my dad. His name is Charles Cutting, so we named it “The Cutting Classic Marathon.”

Then, I had a friend who makes cakes so we had her make the decorations for my dad's cake. The party was at my sister's house in Spokane and my friend lives in Walla Walla so we didn't want to have to transfer the whole cake with decorations. So we bought a cake at Costco and had them write “Happy Birthday Charles” on it. Then, my friend, Angela, made the most amazing cake toppers for us to put on top of the cake. The runner is dressed like my dad on his most recent marathon. The finish line clock shows his time on the last marathon he ran, and she made the road for him to run down. It couldn't have turned out cuter. We LOVED it!

We also put together a short questionnaire for people to fill out about my dad which we had them do before he arrived. Then, after everyone left, he could read through the notes that people wrote. We asked the following questions:

What is your favorite memory of Charles?

What is your advice for Charles in his next 75 years?

If you could describe Charles in 5 words, what would they be?

We were so amazed at how much thought people took when they wrote out their answers. It was so special for him to read those. 

My dad loved having so many friends and family there to celebrate with him and he was truly surprised. He had no idea we were planning this! It was so fun! Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!

Twinkle Twinkle

Another month has passed and Kyler's class visited Garrison Creek again to do another program. This time Kyler actually played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when it was his turn. He did a good job and played it well. I am very proud of him for doing it. What a big boy. Now maybe next time, he will play a song that is a little more difficult... :)

Enjoy the performance. Kyler's piano piece is after the first group song in the video below.

Operation Christmas Child

This year we decided to participate in Operation Christmas Child through Kyler's school as well as through our church. I have wanted to do this for a couple years now, but always thought about it too late and missed the deadline. :( So this year, when I had a couple opportunities to do it, I made sure it happened! If you haven't heard of Operation Christmas Child, please check out their website and consider participating next year. It is a simple and easy way to impact the lives of children around the world! Just go to Samaritan's Purse website and learn more about it: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

I took the kids shopping with me to have them help pick out things to put in the box for the kids in other countries. We were shopping for three boxes. We did one for Kyler for school, and each of the boys did one to give through church. So we picked out enough toys and small gift items for all the boxes and went home to pack them all up.

Here is Kyler with the box he took to school.

Here are both the boys with their boxes we took to church. 

This is such a great way to help your children learn the true meaning of Christmas and help others. Something as simple as us going shopping together and packing the boxes together was such a great teaching opportunity. Every year we do something to help the kids understand what it means to give to others. In the past we have taken names off “Angel” trees and bought gifts for kids in need. This is just a different take on that idea. The kids and I all had a great time doing this and will do it again next year. We will probably do more boxes next time.

Kyler's Class Play

The first two weekends in November Kyler's class performed a play at two area churches. I have videos from both weekend performances. Kyler was a guard who stands to the left side of the entrance to the fiery furnace. All the kids in the class did a great job with their roles. They say a memory first, then do the play, then they sing a song. So fun to have your child be exposed to these experiences.

This is the first performance at the Walla Walla University Church on November 3.

All dressed up and ready to go!

Kyler is 2nd row, 2nd from the left

Kyler is the guard in the middle of the pic

This is the second performance at the Walla Walla Eastgate Church on November 10.

Kyler with his cousin, Mason

They will do another play in March and I am already looking forward to it!