Disney World Day 2 (Morning)

Day 2 Lesson learned:  Plan naps accordingly, no matter if that means going back to the hotel

We started day2 at Chef Mickey.  It was a really cute breakfast.  We had purchased the dining plan with our vacation package and I know we are a little weird but we used all of our sit down meals on breakfast.  Kinson is a VERY particular eater.  Even at home, he really only eats breakfast foods, so we wanted to be sure that he got a good breakfast every morning.  

He loves all fruit and of course a donut hole or 2!!

He informed us when we got there, that Goofy was his favorite character.  He loved getting all of their autographs.

Not scared one bit, loved giving hugs!!

Another "Cick and Dale" sighting. They were at every park in theme appropriate attire.  This is in Tommorowland.

This is Stitch before we got on the ride.  We had been on a few rides that morning that didn't go over too well and we saw the Stich Great Escape ride and it had no wait.  We said we might as well try it.  BIG MISTAKE!!  75% of the ride is in complete darkness and you just here Stitch's voice as he "escapes."  Kinson went CRAZY screaming he needed to get off.  Normally I would suck it up and make him continue until the end but I was afraid he would have nightmares!!  Luckily I was able to crawl out from under the harness and grabbed him and we got out during the middle of it.  The workers didn't looked surprised so I am guessing we weren't t he first ones to do that.  He now hates Stitch!!

Waiting on Tomorrowland Speedway.

Taking the turns like a pro!!

Can't forget my Lightening McQueen glasses :)

There were a lot of shows going on on Main Street and we got to see a few of them.  This one was very cute!

We stood longer than we had to in any line to see these 2 but Kinson was not leaving without seeing them.

And this is what you look like after sitting down on the curb to wait for the 3:00 parade!  He fell asleep laying on the sidewalk.  I felt so bad for him.  But he slept a good 2 hours laid out in his stroller!!

Can you see what woke us up....we are now in new clothes after we had an accident sleeping :(

We rode the Toy Story ride at least 6 times!!  He loved it.  We were so glad there were no lines!!  My kid has no patience!!

Disney World Day1

It might take me a month to go through all 500 pictures and narrow it down to show everyone our 4 days of vacation!!  We decided this year to take Kinson to Disney (by himself) for his 4th Bday.  If you know my child, you know he has a STRONG personality and boy did he demonstrate it.  We have a few things we would change about the trip, but overall he ended up having a lot of fun and the "itch" is over and we are satisfied until Cohen will be big enough to go!!  We made some great memories............

Day1:

First thing we would change:  take a later flight and take your time getting there.

Our flight left a 6:00am, Wednesday morning.  It is easier said than done that you will leave your kid in his PJs and let him sleep.  That didn't happen.  He has only flown as an infant so he didn't remember and he was soooo excited about it.  That lasted until we started landing and he started screaming he had "bugs in his ears!!"  They were hurting him and he cried until he fell asleep.  That child slept the next 2 hours as we got off flights, got on the Magical express, and got to our room.  We should have let him sleep, but Mama and Papa were too excited and didn't want to waste a minute :)

As soon as we walked in we saw these 2 guys, a.k.a. "Chick and Dale" according to Kinson.  He loved meeting all the characters.  And it was no lines longer than a few minutes to see anybody.

We then decided to start the day with Nemo ride.  Again he loved the characters!!  I should have known that something was wrong after we got on the ride and when we got in the dark park he started screaming.  He is never scared!!

Waiting on Papa to come back with fast passes to Soarin'

The shark from Nemo!

We then went in a character spot where you stood in line a few minutes and got to meet everyone!!  This was by far his favorite part.  We had to go and meet everyone twice!!

Everyone at Disney has to have Mickey ears, right?!  He chose Lightening McQueen ears!!  This was right after we did Soarin' and Fast Track............he was pretty mad at us by this point!!  He did not like either ride on ebit and it only went down hill after that.  At this point we are beginning  to realize that he is tired, very tired.

Don't forget that I had been up since 3:00 that morning ;)

Loves, loves all the charcters :)

Beer around the worlds!!

We loved Epcot at night.  I am really glad we saw it then because it made it so much prettier and I could appreciate it.  Too bad it was late and we had an early breakfast scheduled because we could have stayed much longer!!

Just be friends

Kinson and my conversation this morning over breakfast:

K: "Mama, what day is it today?" (he asks us this every morning)

Me: "Today is Monday"

K: "Are we not going to school today?"

Me: "Not this Monday. We are staying home."

K: "Why?"

Me: " Today is Martin Luther King Day.  Do you know who that is?"

K: "Yes.  Dr. Luther King had a dream.  He had a dream we would all be friends."

I couldn't have been more proud of that little boy.  It amazes me what he learns and remember but it also reminds me of how moldable and plyable their young minds are.  I hope he retains this virtue of acceptance towards everyone.

So sad.....

I had asked you to pray for Cohen's sweet doctor, Dr. William Bastian, Saturday as I had found out he suffered a massive stroke on January 10.  I am so devastated to say that he passed away yesterday.  I am just heartbroken over this.  He was such a great advocate for our community in his fight against childhood obesity and his care for his patients.  My mom helped recruit him to Jackson a few years back never knowing that her granddaughter's care would be led by him.  When we first found out about Cohen's diagnosis we weren't given many options of local doctors who specialized in childhood hypothyroidism.  My mom just raved about him and after our first visit, we understood why.  He was upfront but caring, thorough and aggressive.  We waited hours to see him at times but after your visit with him we understood why.  He spent whatever amount of time it took to answer any questions and offer any new advice.  Cohen loved him and she always made him measure her and threw a fit if the nurses attempted to :)  We will be forever grateful for his care with Cohen and give him so much credit for the strives she has made due to his early diagnosis.  He will be truly missed by many of his patients and collegues.

New Year's Resolutions 2011

How can I dwindle down my list of resolutions?? I have soooo many things that I would like to work on this year

1.  We, as a family, would like to find a church that we truly like and can be a part of.  This has been a struggle for us because of me being Catholic.  I do not mind attending a church of a different denomination but when it comes to joining, I don't want to have to be baptized again.  We also want to feel like we are part of a church family and meet new people.  I am worried how the kids are going to do as we go to various churches.  If you have a church you love that is reasonably close to us, let me know, we would love to visit!

2.  Organize everything!  You think I am kidding, but I am not!  I have so many things stacked up in my room, car, kitchen, office, you name it I have a stack for it.  It is getting out of control!!  But most importantly, I have to get Cohen's medical info organized.  We have spent lots of money on dr visits and prescriptions and I can't keep up with what we have paid, deductibles, and tax info!  This is a priority so that hopefully soon we can finish refiling for Cohen's assistance program (which we were denied initially!!)

3.  Couponing-  I even went to a class on this back in October.  I learned so much, even bought the accordian file to organize them in.  Then I went even further and got Sunday papers for 4 weeks in a row and stored them in my file.  They are still there..never even pulled them out to look at them!!  I am determined this time.  I follow http://www.southernsavers.com/ to get my coupon match ups (you never have to cut them, just file them and pull them out when she matches them with a sale item).

4.  Cooking--  We don't eat out a lot but I have began slacking in the cooking department.  we were surviving off sandwiched and lean cuisines, ugh.  It was mainly because I was going to the grocery store everyday because I never had everything I needed (reference back to New Year Res2010-- always have a list-- um, yeah, that didnt happen!).  My mom got me a few 5 ingredient cookbooks that were also cooking light (even when I do cook, I make sure it is relatively healthy) for Christmas.  So far, it has gone well.  Now if I can just combine last years resolution to make a list and this year resolution to coupon, I will be hopefully be cooking cheaper too!

5.  I know everyone says exercise, but not really exercising as my resolution but just being a more active family when we are together.  It is so easy to put the kids in front of the TV to get a few minutes of quiet time or take them shopping to just get out of the house.  But I am talking more trips to the park, museums, playing on the swingsets, riding bikes, etc.  The kids always love it when we do it, momma and papa just gotta do it!!

6.  Education-  I love learning anything and everything (I mean really, who goes to a class on couponing!!)  We have to get CEUs to keep our liscense and everytime i get a brochure my first instinct is "I am going to this one!"  If it wasn't the cost and scheduling around work or missing family time on the weekend, I would go to everyone of them, even those that aren't for OT's.  So I am going to definitely look into pursuing/furthering my education online or limited classes to make myself more knowledgeable and up to date to make me a better clinician.

7.  Advocate-  This kind of goes along with education but more specifically-- Hearing Impaired and Language Disorders.  Before Cohen's diagnosis, I knew how to change batteries in my patient's big ole dinosaur aids and when they started whistling I would hit a few buttons and would pray the racket would stop.  Now I can change batteries, know how to dry one out when you accidently leave them on in the bathtub, clean out more ear wax than I thought humanly possible, anyway you get the idea.  But most importantly, these children deserve the best technology has to offer and the best education.  We are fortunate that Magnolia is relatively close to us and that we are in a position that we can afford it.  This is not the case for everybody.  I know people will get tired of me asking or forwarding emails requesting donations, sponsorships, or participation with events, but I feel very strongly about this.  I want only the best for Cohen and it breaks my heart that children just like her can't get the same care.

8.  Be more acknowledging and express my gratitude.  I have never been very good at giving compliments, it is probably because I am not real good at receiving them.  I want to apply this in all aspects, work, friendships, marriage, and family. I love, love, love to write a Thank you note but sometimes things that are small and somewhat expected, I let get by with no acknowledgement.  I want people to know how thankful I really am. 

See, I told you I would have a hard time narrowing it down and these aren't all of them.  A lot of them are more personal changes and smaller things but things I want to work on.  I know I need a lot of motivation to keep up with these but i am determined!!

Prayer request

Most of yall know the multitude of doctors that Cohen has seen over the last 2 years.  We have adored each and every one and are so thankful for their care.  Cohen's Pediatric Endocrinologist had a massive stroke last week and is at UMC right now.  I am not sure of his prognosis at this time.  Besides her pediatrician, the endocrinologidt is the "lead dr" in her care being that majority of her diagnosis are endocrine related.  Needless to say we are DEVASTATED!  He is from Peurto Rico and moved here a few years ago and has had a huge impact in our community with his outreach to childhood obesity.  As far as I know, he had no family here and loved his patients so much that he continued to stay here.  Please pray for him and his recovery during this time. 
With that being said, we have no idea when/if he might return to his practice.  There a very, very few board certified pediatric endocrinologist around this area.  There is 1 at UMC and the possibility of another one that we know of.  I hate to start over with someone new but we have no choice at this time.  We are also cosidering a dr at UAB.  If you have any feedback on the drs at UMC, please let me know.  It would be great if we could have her care centralized there but we are very apprehensive.  Also, we have no idea how long it will take us to get in to a new dr.  Initially, it was 3 months for us to get in and now that his whole practice will be trying to get in... we have no idea what to do.  We are at a loss at the moment, poor Dr Flowers...now I will be bugging him for everything until we get this figured out!!

Crazy hats, Christmas, and a rarity!

Yes, we did celebrate Christmas at the Smith household this year!  It was a very different year for us, since it was the first year without my Mamaw :(  Her house was always the gathering spot every Sunday and for every holiday.  So the tradition carried on at our house this year.  We survived, but boy were we worn out!!  I am not sure how she made sure every gift was bought, every meal was shopped for, planned, and cooked at the right time, and then enjoyed every moment that she had company.  More than a few times did I want to go in my bedroom and shut the door so I could think for a second!!

Christmas Eve my mom brought hats for everyone to wear and we fed the reindeer and attempted the Christmas Story.  Cohen loves hearing stories and was very content on listening but, um, well Kinson had Baby Jesus ramping off of the barn's roof top and had all the wise men playing with trains.  Maybe next year he will get it!

Papa Elf!

Princess Claus!

This is typical right now.  Bear is trying to get Cohen to put out her Reindeer food and she sat down and said "No!"  Her favorite word at the moment..........

Cohen got a dollhouse from Santa.  She loves the one in her therapy room and she knows if she participates well she gets to play with it at the end of each session.  So we got her, her very own to play at her herat's content.  She loves it!!

Kinson got Thomas the train stuff.  That's all he asked for from Santa.  If he opened a present and it wasn't a train, he would quickly tell you he didn't want it and he told Santa he wanted Thomas stuff!!  We have to work on appreciation and gratitude.......

Please dont look at the vast number of presents, these were for our whole family, not just the kids!

Both kids in a picture together.  Can you believe it!!

This was  after the Christmas day festivities, they layed down together with new blankets and pillow pet to watch "Polar Express."  We had to rest up to do it again the next day!!

Magnolia's Christmas Program

Please forgive the clarity of these pictures, I am too short to be taking pictures behind all these parents but we had to sit far enough back that Cohen couldn't see us.

Cohen's class dressed as stars for their program and sang "Twinklw, twinkle, twink."  It was such a cute performance from all the kids.  Cohen got a little shy up on stage and scooted herself behind a little boy for some coverage.

She had her first solo!!  They asked her, "Cohen, where are the stars at?"  We practiced and practiced her little line.  She was supposed to say "Up High!"  At home she was about 50/50 if she would say it and the teacher said she did betterwith a food incentive (Imagine that!).  But she put her mouth up to that microphone and in the sweetest little voice said "Hiiiigh!"  She has such a souther drawl so it was sooo cute!

Needless, to say momma shed a few tears during her performance and for many of the other performances too.  These kids have overcome so much and these teachers put soooo much into them and it really showed!

They came back out with the whole school and sang "Happy Birthday, Jesus!"  Cohen had enough of the crowd so she did not let her teacher get far away from her.  We love Mrs. Mary!!

This is the whole student and teacher body at Magnolia.  We are so blessed to be surrounded by such a loving group of people!!

A small update on Cohen--  We have seen the Endo since the last post and she actually grew 0.33in over the last 6 weeks.  They adjusted her medication again based on her labwork that has risen to 175 (the dr would like her at 240).  She also has some bloodwork done for her immune system that indicated she was slightly deficient in subclass4.  It only signifies that the drs will be a little more agressive with small things such as colds and sinus crud to ensure it can't progress due to her low immune system.

  I have monthly meetings with her teachers and we met this past Thursday to discuss the last few weeks.  Receptively, Cohen has excelled and surpassed most of their goals for her this year.  They said she can match, scan, and identify pictures after being showed once in a group of 15-20.  We are beyond thrilled to hear that cognitively she is understanding.  However, expressively she is demonstrating small progress but not at the speed they would like.  We started weekly Auditory Verbal therapy back in October and through that and some testing done by the speech therapist, They are suspecting that Cohen has oral apraxia.  It is where the brain is understanding what it wants to say but somewhere in sending the message to the mouth the signal gets mixed up and the muscles that are used to talk seem uncoordinated.  We have known that she isn't "talking" as quickly as we thought so this does help with identify some reasons why.  Beginning in January, Cohen will begin being taught by the "Association Method."  Half of the school, is hearing impaired and half of the school is language disorder.  The "Association Method" is the method they use to teach the language disorder group.  I am not very familiar with it so I don't want to risk explaining it wrong, but I do know that it has proven to help many, many children who have graduated from Magnolia and we are thrilled to be somewhere that they feel like they understand and can help Cohen.  I will explain it further as istart to understand it more.  If anyone has any experience or knowledge on it, I am a sponge right now-- just soaking up all the knowledge I can!  My coworkers are so tired of me bugging them about speech stuff :)

Canton Lights

We took our annual trip to Canton this year...I think we picked the coldest night of the year!  We were FREEZING!  We met Robert and his family there and the kids had the best time just running in the square.  I am not sure if they really ever saw the lights :)

All the kids actually sitting and looking at the camera....this is a success in my book!

Of course, Bear would be the one who can't keep his eyes open..........

Take 2!

Cohen is really smitten by Graham and he was so sweet to chase after her and play games with her :)

I am so glad they came to meet us and entertain my kids ;)

Such a rarity, Bear and I in a picture together, just the 2 of us.....awwww, aren't we sooo cute!!

Christmas Card Final

With Love Blue Christmas Card

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View the entire collection of cards.

Short Cohen update

I thought this was so cute, how difficult it is to get 5 1-2 year olds ready for a picture!!

This is as good as it gets!!

I know I have been neglecting my blog, therefore some of our friends and prayer warriors have been out of the loop.  Cohen had that surgery back in September and her sinuses never really got better.  After the culture it was discovered that Cohen grew strep-pneumo and we started a new antibiotic for 21 days.  Well about day 10, we knew it wasn't working so the next option was 1.  another surgery to put the "windows" in her sinuses 2. pic line of Vancomycin 3.  antibiotic saline wash.  After much deliberation and a great ENT, we decided definitely no to the pic line.  Dr. Carron told us our decision needed to be based on how much we think it interferes with her daily life.  After the last set of tubes, we have seen a great difference in how much she hears so we are not as concerned about that aspect.  We also decided to put off the surgery and attempt the sinus wash.  I am just not excited about putting her under anesthesia for the 3rd time in less than 6 months just to clear up some snot.  If it comes down to it, we will do the surgery.  We hope to start the washes this weekend and will pray it works. 

We also met with the Endo and she measured 30.5in (no change since July) and 22.5lbs (gained 1lb).  Her medicine had been doubled in July and we were hoping for better results after being on the injections for 4months.  Her hormone levels we retested and her IGF is 175 (which she was 29 in June, after 4 weeks of meds in July she was 125).  This is in the normal range but on the low end and for the amount of medicine she is receiving, the dr feels it should be higher.  Even though she isnt growing, her body has changed dramatically.  She has very little fat to pinch to give her injections in her arms and belly.  So we are seeing them meds work in that sense.  We have been very fortunate with our insurance company and allowing us to try this for 1 year, however because of Bear's job change we will be having to change to a new insurance company in February.  Of course we will have the help of the drug company and our Dr, but we can't help but be apprehensive in waiting to see how the process will fold out and see if we are approved and if we are what the out of pocket co-pay will be. 

But on a positive note, her schooling is going GREAT!!  We still can not believe in 6 months how dramatically different our lives have become and the doors that have opened for us.  Magnolia has been such a blessing for us. Cohen loves her teachers, friends, and education.  She is now receiving an extra therapy session each week, called Auditory Verbal Training.  I am learning so much because I get to attend this 30min class each week.  She has added a few more consistent words to her vocabulary:  mo(re), up, ball,  ba(th), "i" eye, no.  Receptively she has exceeded her goals for the first semester and were upgraded.  She is just doing so well and working so hard. 

Casual Saturdays.....

We are still not sure what to do with our weekends now that Bear does not work or study.  Soccer filled the void for a few weeks but that ended last weekend.  Kinson has been so upset that soccer ended.  So this past Saturday after I finished working, I met Bear and the kids at the zoo to try and deter him from constantly saying on Saturday he plays soccer. 

She wants to play with Kinson sooooo bad, but he will not have a thing to do with her :(

Bear had been kind of upset that we had decided to leave Cohen home during our Disney trip but 10minutes into the zoo after Cohen couldn't decided whether she wanted to be in the stroller, walk, or be held about 100 times, he quickly confirmed that we made the right decision.  She was more interested in the wind blowing, airpplanes in the sky, and the leaves on the ground!!

What it looks like when......

Halloween costumes are 50% off!!  I couldn't pass this up nor could I save it until next Halloween.  We have had hours of happiness dressing the Lightning McQueen pit crew!!

Christmas Cards....Check them out!

Have you ever ordered from SHUTTERFLY??  I am so excited about our Christmas cards this year.  Like I said in previous posts, I have been preparing since September to get our Christmas Cards prepared.  We had our pictures made and I have been browsing all the sites to find the best designs and deals.  Here are a few that I am having difficulty deciding between:

• If my children liked each other enough to actually hug, I would LOVE this card.......CUTE CARD
• This is more like what I have in mind, I like a collage of different poses.....COLLAGE CARD
• And I can't forget about how much the grandparents love to look at their grandchildren all year long....PERSONALIZED CALENDARS you can put in everybody's birthday to be printed on it!!

We had out pictures made and I had them printed through Shutterfly and was very pleased with the end results, even the enlarged prints.  I have also started to uload my pictures to their site because it is so easy and a backup to my external drive.  But y'all know me, I want a good deal and this site has not disappointed.  I am always receiving coupons and codes to receive discounts and free prints.  And for Christmas they are offering multiple promotions (free shipping, 30% calendars, etc) but I am most excited about receiving 50 FREE Holiday Cards just for blogging about them.  If you are interested in this deal go HERE!!  I can't wait to put ours in the mail :)