SOOO Big!!!!

I have been waiting to post this until it became a reality in my head.

Aine TOOK a step ALL on her own!!!

Speech apraxia

Lets just be blunt.
Speech Apraxia S***S!!!

There are times when Aine can tell you what she wants, there are other times she can only cry.  At those times, the only thing I can do is try not to cry myself.

We have and are working with specialists to help Aine be able to communicate to the best of her abilities as well as being given the gift of including it with her hippo therapy.  All these combined has given Aine the strength and confidence to work through us not understanding her.  School is getting used to her dynovox, we continue to work on updating it, and making it better for her when she just can't get her speech or lips to work.

However! While resting today the most wonderful sounds came out of her mouth!
Mickey Mouse clubhouse, come inside its fun inside.

And....  It was clear as day!

Can we say tears of joy from this momma!  Oh yes we can!!!!
She may not be able to say it in an hour, but her tiny voice will repeat in my head while she is trying :)

In the beginning of the school year everyone asked me what I was going to do with all my free time.

I just laughed, free time?.?  What's that?

Now, as the weeks go by and Aine's para gets more comfortable with all the signs she needs to watch for I find myself at Caribou anxiously waiting for the time to tick by, reconfiguring a long overdue messy phone and Ipad.  Downloading things I think will come in handy as well as think about what my kids are doing in their own little worlds.  Because I will never truely know what they are doing, it's their time not mine, and they are growing up.

As Shawn has told me before, I should be happy that they will wave to me and say goodbye without a tear, it's good that they cried in the beginning when it was time to leave the fun and friends for the day.  I agree, but it doesn't always help when that pit starts to hold the tears while thinking about how lucky I am to have my little family.  Growing strong and dependent on themselves while still needing me when they get a bump or bruise.

While all this is happening, I am seeing that a little free time is something that could happen, even if it is at caribou or mocha monkey  twice a week because I can't be that far away from the kids :).   So when I was given a gift to help myself (maybe just to support my up and coming fancy coffee kicks twice a week :) ), I accepted.  I was gifted a site where I will be selling candles with jewelry inside.  I've always loved looking at them and have wanted to see what they were all about.  I'm hoping that this will fill some of the "free time" that is giving me that pit in my stomach.

Feel free to check it out and ask any questions :)

Http://www.jewelryincandles.com/store/nicolecasey

Tons to post!

Tons to post, forget to post, time goes by :(

We have been super busy lately.
Liam is in swimming, horse back riding, and kindergarten!
Which is crazy to think about.
Wasn't he just 3?

Aine is in swimming, horseback therapy, and preschool!
Wait!  Wasn't she just born?...

There have been some weddings in our families, some coming up, some babies in the family, and some more coming up.  Birthdays, anniversaries, and family events have come and gone.

Right now though?
Well, we are all working on getting over something, and it is affecting all of us differently.  Liam seems the least affected and is having a grand time playing trains.
Shawn is tired and stuffy. I have headaches, body aches, stuffy nose, and more.
Aine - I wish I knew what she felt.  She doesn't know how to express herself  to I don't know except that she feels yucky :(

But to not dwell on the negative :)
Liam had conferences and he is doing Wonderful in school.  The teacher loves having him in class, he is compassionate to others, and have a love of learning :).

Swimming is going awesome also!  He is learning how to side breath and is doing a really good job at it,  swimming half the pool!

Horseback riding is amazing also!  He went from two side walkers to one, to just a lead person who will soon be removed and he will be leading the horse by himself.

Aine has gone to school 3 days!  We've had to pull her because of live vaccines and illness, but she has loved the times she has been there!

Horse therapy is also going great!  She is steering the horse (with some assistance), stopping, starting, and mounting (all with assistance) as well as working on her speech!  She is in a saddle and using the reins!

There is more to update on, but this is a beginning!

Have a great weekend!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

We would like to wish everyone a safe and happy fourth!

We went for a bike ride earlier this morning (Liam is working on riding his 2 wheel bike because he wants a motorcycle).  And we have so far spent the rest of the day going on missions and checking out the garden.

Shawn is going to grill tonight (can't wait!!) and we will see if we can see any fireworks from the house.

We also are excited because we got chosen to be the featured family on Coles Foundation.
We just started with them, so there isn't many journal entries, but feel free to check it out!  There are some cute pictures that haven't been posted here :)
http://www.colespages.org/


Again Happy 4th & be safe!!!

Loss

I have come to realize in the last months that loss, no matter how big or small is difficult to deal with.

In the last couple months we have lost a lot, which has become hard for me to deal with, making it hard for me to keep up with our blog.  This in itself makes me sad because I love looking back and seeing all the cool things my kids have done.  That they don't just do medical things.

We had a medical student come into our lives to see what it is like to live with a medically complex child.  She was fun to talk to, always had a smile on her face, and enjoyed being around the kids.  We tried to show her many sides of our lives before we had to say the inevitable good bye.

The kids are getting older, which means they are moving on to different things.  Aine had to say good bye to gymnastics because of her hyper mobility, Liam said good bye to his first teacher, Aine said good bye to the birth to 3 program, I have had to start coming to terms and say good bye to half days with Liam, and having to say good bye to Aine and leave her in the care of others for 2 hours twice a week.

We have had to say good bye to an awesome delivery guy as today is his last day because he is moving.  As strange as it may seem to some, you become friends with the people who deliver you child's medical items, take their orders, make their appointments, and check them onto their appointments,  they almost become an extension of your medical family.

We have had to say good bye to people that we have never met before, only talked to on the phone.

We have said good bye to our cat.

We have said good bye to a pretty cool aunt, who I wish the kids could have spent more time with.  I learned a lot from her when I was little and got a ton of creative ideas from her.

We have said good bye to shoes, books, and other misc treasures (it can be rough being a kid at times).

Through all this, the small things have started to look like big things.  The future looks bright, but the future good byes create a heavy heart because they will be coming too soon.

I have made a promise to myself that I will catch up on our blog so the kids can see the cool stuff they got to do,  ballets, football camp, horse back riding, plays, and the list goes on.

Because, that is also what the past few months have brought us.  And the future will only bring us more happiness.

Three years!!!!

There are soo many things to be thankful for and celebrate today.

Aine was born 3 years ago today!!  (Boy was That a stressful day for many)

We met Alot of people that have become near and dear to us.  Some of which have moved onto bigger and better things and some that are still in our lives in a consistent basis.

Aine has defeated many obstacles that have been placed in her way and exceeded the expectations of many.

We have grown stronger as a family and discovered what true friendship and hardships are.

It may seem odd that I'm not talking more about her birthday, but to put it out there, this is more a day for me to give thanks to the team of people who have been there for us.  Holding our hands when we need it, carrying us when times have gotten extremely tough, and flat out saving our daughter's life.  Which in turn allowed her to be with us three years later.

There is a day coming up that seems to be of Aine's day to me.  That will be coming in July 3rd.  Many of you know this as her Gotcha Day.  After 3 LONG months in the hospital, Aine was finally able to come home with us.  No matter how unstable she was at that time, she Came home.  That is the day my heart fully opened up to her and a day that has become to me a huge day to celebrate Aine.

So, that being said, I celebrate twice.  One is remembering how hard the Drs and staff worked to help her and remembering to thank them for a job well done, as well as remember how strong Aine is.  The other is to celebrate her New life At home.

We are blessed to have her in our lives, and hope you will help celebrate her strengths and courage as well as the work all her staff has done to help us get her where she is today!

Polar Plunge

I think it is a well known fact that I CAN'T stand the cold.
I don't have much protection from the elements and get frozen to the bone Very quickly.

 While talking to a friend last year about wanting to help out in any way I can, she asked if I would ever consider doing the polar plunge.  Now, I have thought about it many times, but I have this problem with being cold and not being able to touch the bottom while in the water.

I told her I would like to, but also told her of my concerns.

It has now been a close to a year and the subject has resurfaced since the polar plunge is right in front of us.  So.....  The question is, do I take the plunge or not????

That is when I was told about the Dairy Queen team putting together an awareness project which will hopefully involve 
Ian Somerhalder from Vampire Diaries.
If they can get 10,000 likes he may plunge into the cold waters with the DQ team.

I being who I am, opened my mouth and said I would jump also if they get the likes they need and i
f Mr. Somerhalder is there i will bring Aine to hopefully meet him.

So...  This is where You come in.

Do you want to see me jump???
Do you want to help Aine possibly meet an actor?

It's Super easy to do.
Just like the page "Hey Ian come plunge". (It has The DQ team as a picture) and post the like request onto your page.  Feel free to send them here to find out more information.  Or... C tact the DQ team to get even more details!!

Thanks!!!