Life as a Leach

We have a beautiful lace-leaf weeping Japanese Maple in our backyard that is a deep purple in the summer and a bright red in the fall.  I thought it the perfect place to get a few pictures of the kids. Caleb and Abby thought otherwise.   Caleb flat-out refused to sit there. Abby sat because she's too  young to realize she can just run away she's compliant like that, but she fussed the whole time.  Fussy Faces don't make for pretty pictures. I took one of myself, because I sit still and smile when I'm told.

I had such grandiose ideas of my kids playing in big piles of leaves and capturing those silly grins on camera.  Hey, maybe I'll even take a video so that I can record their shrieks of laughter. That was great...except that they really didn't want anything to do with the leaf-jumping.  Caleb did jump in once, and thought it was fun.  But he didn't want to do it again. He did enjoy throwing the leaves... ...especially at me! They spent the vast majority of their time digging in the dirt, but they played very nicely together! So much for beautiful fall pictures, but I'll trade them in for fun playing in the dirt pictures!

A friend of mine, who teaches kindergarten at Caleb's school, posted this on my wall tonight: I just have to tell you that yesterday I was admiring Caleb's pink cookie in his lunch & told him how much [my son] likes them. While doing so he shared, with the biggest smile, ..."Today's my sister Abby's birthday.  She is 2! She has this disease...or something like that...and kids who have it only live to be 1. She's already 2, and she's a miracle!  She loves Hello Kitty & we had a Hello Kitty party for her.  These cookies were what we had for it!"  With tears already in my eyes, I told him that I knew who his sister was & that I prayed for her & him & his family all the time. He thought for a moment, then looked at me and said, "You do?! Do you read about us on my mom's computer?!" I literally could have just eaten him up!!! I know you already know, but I just want to remind you what a sweet, kind, loving little bo...

Abby and Caleb carved pumpkins last Sunday.  Caleb did most of his carving himself, although he did not enjoy digging out the pumpkin guts. He made a storm trooper with all sorts of battle scars.  So he says. Abby didn't do too much with the carving, but she liked to play with the seeds and cheer us on while we carved.  I carved her a Hello Kitty pumpkin.  It leaves a little to be desired, but I'm satisfied as long as she thinks it is Hello Kitty!  

...lazy Saturday mornings watching cartoons. Love those kids!!

Caleb's first glimpse of Abby without a trach!  Get your tissues.  :)

Hugs... ...and shoves!

Caleb and Abby are going to be the ring bearer and flower girl in our friend's wedding tomorrow! This is a pretty pitiful picture taken with my phone and with two kids who weren't interested in giving me nice smiles, but I'm hoping that "A bad dress rehearsal means a good opening night" holds true here.  :)

I love these pictures because they're not perfectly posed.  They capture exactly how Caleb and Abby are every second they're together.  They really love  being together, and I hope that never changes!

Caleb and Abby love dancing to "All the Single Ladies!"   The girl learned to climb up on chairs to dance pretty quickly, and the boy is a dancing machine!  

Matt and Abby walking in the Red Shoe Shuffle I'm so thankful for my parents, who have been so incredibly supportive and willing to pitch in these last 18 months!  (And always, but especially since Abby came into our lives!) Our family, ready to Shuffle!! After the race...not looking too terribly tired! Matt did most of the stroller pushing, except for when Caleb rode on his shoulders.   Sisters, cousins, and best friends all around...pre-Shuffle Anna gets her We Choose Joy button Caleb was so proud of his button that he wore it the next day on his field trip as well!

Abby and Caleb had a good time the other day playing in their teepee!   Of course, Caleb put the play tunnel up to the opening and crawled through the tunnel to get to the teepee, and then he started pretending to be a bad guy sneaking up to attack Abby in the teepee, and then somehow it became Star Wars themed...boys!!  :)

Seriously, why do I buy toys??   Abby went right to the Amazon box I had just unpacked and motioned for me to put her in it.  If I had taken a video, you would have heard her giggling hysterically over sitting in a box. That is, until Caleb wanted to join in the fun.  Then she got a little unhappy.  He's driving a boat here, but she seems a little unsure of his driving capabilities.  Hold on, Abby! Then she started looking at our nurse as if to say, please get me outta here! Note the lack of room Caleb is giving her as he tries to convince her that she really doesn't want to play in the box. Abby starts getting mad.  Caleb tries to make it up to her, but the damage is done. Doesn't she look utterly defeated here?!   Sigh, he won the box.

On Friday night, we went to the mall to return some shoes and get a few things.  While eating at the food court, we had our first experience with kids making fun of Abby.  A few boys were laughing and pointing at their throats, making faces.  They were silly middle school boys and I was the only one who noticed it, so it wasn't a big deal and I didn't say anything at the time.  I did mention it when we were in the car on the way home, though.  Here's the rest of the conversation. Caleb:  Ohhhhh, I wish I had seen them! Me (a little afraid of what he might have done): Oh yeah?  Why? Caleb:  Well, I would have marched right up to them and very calmly said, 'Don't you know you're looking at a miracle?!' Ahhh, I love that kid!  I'm so proud of the way he loves his sister.  I don't doubt that he will say that statement to more than a few kids.  My boy, changing the world...one punk kid at a time!

Caleb really wanted to have matching pajamas with Abby, so his Grammy (Matt's mom) made some for Christmas!  Now Batman and Batgirl can fight the bad guys in their dreams.  :) PS:  I don't know why my pictures look so distorted.  This happens whenever I "save" them in my editing software, even if I don't actually edit them.  If you have an idea how to help, I will take any suggestions!!

I'm way behind on posting this, but I have some fabulous news to share, in case you didn't hear it on Facebook...WE WON OUR APPEAL!!!  I was shocked that we found out as quickly as we did, considering they said it would be closer to a month and we found out in a week.  Apparently, the third party arbitrators deemed it so obviously in our favor that there was no need for them to mull over it any longer!  We're approved through May, which is when we would be up for reevaluation anyway.  We're hoping that they will move onto someone else and leave our family alone, but we'll see.  For now, we're covered!! Abby is pulling up on stuff like a champ now and has officially met all of her physical therapy goals that had been set for her...which were meant to be met by April!!  Go Abs!  We're going to meet to write new goals, since there's no rest for the weary around here. :)  Next up:  walking on her own! My parents are fostering a new Boxer nam...

Caleb's version, that is!

 Abby's weapon of choice against Caleb But they really do love each other!  I find that I catch those moments the best when they don't think I'm taking pictures So I just snap away while they play and I capture all kinds of true love And I even got one posed picture!