7/5 - Our last days in AL

Here is a summary of our last week in Prattville, AL. It went by very fast. I got to spend some fun time with a friend on the sunday afternoon before we left. Here is Rusty. While she is also Aiden's therapist, she is an amazing, sweet, smart person. I could chat with her all day long about everything from owning a business, therapy stuff, kids, softball, exercise, etc. She is CRAZY busy but was sweet enough to fit a visit in with me. We had some fun at the batting cages, the bamboo forest, and crazy cross house, and then an early dinner. It was a great time. :) 

I've never seen anything like this house she took me by. It had crosses made out of everything you can imagine and had dozens of old metal machines (washers, dryers, microwaves, etc) that had ... religious messages written on them. Very odd yet fascinating.














The boys had their last day of Big Green Bus on Monday morning. They had a blast and I was just in time to snap a few pictures. Eli is in the first row. Aiden is in the second row. They both have had a great time for the last 6 months doing Big Green Bus almost every week.

On Tuesday, after Aiden's therapy (I'll post about that soon), we headed to the airport to let the boys fly with Brad. Brad picked up Eli and pre-flighted the aircraft before Aiden and I got there. Aiden went first. Apparently Aiden really liked talking on the headset to Brad and Brad had to kinda quite him down so he could hear the tower and be safe to leave. They flew over daycare and our house. They were gone for a really long time and I was nervous Eli wasn't going to get a chance to fly. Eli was a trooper and not getting too upset that Aiden went first.

They finally came back but there was only about 45 min left before Brad had to have the aircraft back. We did a quick change and Eli was in the passenger seat and it was finally his turn. He was pretty excited and thought the headphones were pretty cool. They started to taxi down the runway and then they stopped. Eli said his belly hurt so he got out.

We just thought he was scared to go flying but then before we even left the airport, he said he needed to go poo-poo. He just laid in the middle of the floor while Brad returned the aircraft and kept saying his belly hurt. He asked for a bucket for the way home because he thought he was going to get sick. We got stuck in lots of traffic but made it home safely with no throw-ups and then he was fine for the rest of the night. So I'm still not sure if it was his belly or he's really good at acting.

The rest of the week was a blur as the packers came on Thursday. They did the fastest pack job ever. They packed our whole house from 7:30-4:45ish and it normally takes about 2 entire days.

3/14 - Big Green Bus and going to stores

The boys love going to exercise with us which is so great. I wish I was exercising more right now but until my medical stuff gets straightened out, I'll take what my body will allow. We went to base to exercise and then afterwards, we always let the boys play. Here is Aiden doing a pretty good job of kicking the ball. Eli is still entertained by us just chasing him so I don't have a video of that. Also, if the video will not play (I don't think it does if you are viewing it from Facebook) then you can go straight to the blog to watch it (http://hoytfamilyhappenings.blogspot.com).

The boys really wanted me to come see them on the Big Green Bus a few weeks ago so I did. They were having a great time and there are so many kids doing it now that Aiden and Eli are in separate groups. They had the rings set up this week and they have been practicing hand stands. They both did really good and were definitely having fun. It cracks me up that Aiden is swinging with the rings around his armpits (and barely, if at all, swinging) and Eli was just running and swinging as high as he could. This has been a great experience for them.

Brad has had mid-terms the past week so he has needed some extra time to read, study, and write papers. One night I took the boys to Chick-fil-a for dinner and we were super excited to see that Spot It! is the new prize in the kid meals. The boys LOVE this game and now we have a mini travel version.

After dinner, I took the boys to Bass Pro Shop and let them play and run around. They really could stay here all day if I let them. We planned on doing something special at BPS too - getting a new penny. We have started collecting/making the souvenier flat pennies to the places we visit and Aiden really wanted one more from BPS. Aunt Pat sent him and Eli $1 each for Valentine's day so they both decided to use part of their money to make a penny (it costs 51 cents).

Aiden was pretty excited about his new penny. He's been trying to find a safe place to put them but keeps changing his mind as to where he wants to keep his special pennies.

I've been shopping for a mini wardrobe/pantry to help me organize. My house looks so cluttered and even though I know where most everything is, it still looks so sloppy. I've been trying to find ways to organize and one thing that I am going to do is put all the boys coloring, educational books, etc. all together and I want to put it all in a pantry type thing. I took the boys to the store with me (so Brad could study/write papers) and they were great helpers. I am a sucker and always carry their jackets for them but I am getting tired of that so Brad and I just showed them how to tie their jackets around their waste. They thought it was pretty cool.

Here they are testing out the shelf limit weight!!  Shortly after this the store had an announcement on the loud speaker about keeping your kids right by your side at all times. I had to laugh at that.

I tell you what - Eli is going to be a great helper in the yard. He loves to mow with me and he even mows the neighbors yards too. This bubble mower that Aiden got for his 2nd birthday is officially Eli's now. Eli was so upset when he broke the $1 plastic rake the other day because he couldn't help me rake. I'm on the lookout for a new one that is more sturdy since he really does like to use it.

Bath time with this kid is so much fun. He makes me smile and realize that bath time does not have to be a completely horrible stress-filled time.

So here is the "before" picture of our iPad. We need to fix the screen but I need Brad's help and he's been really busy so our screen is actually still broken but now it has tape on it. Hopefully I can post 'after' pictures soon. Getting the old screen off is a lot harder than the YouTube videos make it look!

I love that Aiden says he wants to "play in the rain." After we got home from daycare one day last week, the boys put on their rain boots and I let them play outside for a good 30 min or so. Here is Aiden gently, slowly walking through the puddle.

This picture of Eli makes me smile because I can only imagine what is going through his head. I can see on his check his dimple which means he is smiling because he is about to do something crazy. I love this kid!!!  He immediately jumped (with both feet) in the puddle and got his pants all wet. I told him it was fine and to keep playing and we could change his pants inside after he was all done.

They were taking turns going through the puddle (Aiden would walk, Eli would run) and Aiden wanted no part in having too much fun and getting wet or dirty. Look at the expression on his face as he watches Eli run through the puddle.  He is grimacing like it is the grossest thing in the world that Eli ran through the puddle and may get water on himself.

Eli is Mr. Helper in the kitchen. He loves to help us cook. Aiden is also becoming quite helpful and get everything he needs for his lunch.

We went to Home Depot to build a race car the first Saturday in March. The boys had a blast. Aiden did a pretty good job of trying to build it himself and putting all the nails in. Eli will give a good effort (a few hits with the hammer) and then he really just wants someone to build it for him while he bangs the hammer on the table and makes all the screws bounce off onto the floor. That is not frustrating at all! :) They built their cars and then we roamed around Home Depot for a bit so I could search for organization ideas and price some things out. The boys eventually found the floor cleaning machine and they stalked this poor guy for a long, long time. The followed his path all around that store!! We even stopped and talked to the guy for a while. They were fascinated. After about an hour, I told Aiden we needed to stop following him because it was probably a little freaky to the guy so we went and said bye to the man and then played on the tractors for a bit before leaving.

I have one more update to do. We took a quick trip to Atlanta last weekend and it was great. Pictures will follow soon. Brad is doing great in school although he is so ready for it to be all over. I have had some problems with low potassium and was even had to go to the ER at 4:30am a few weeks ago. Apparently the medication I take for adrenal insufficiency can lower my potassium level and a low potassium level can be a very dangerous thing. I saw my primary care dr on Monday and she is referring me to a neurologist so that I can get a sleep study done. The thinking is that I am so blasted tired all the time because maybe my body truly isn't getting any rest at night. We shall see.

2/1 - Sooo tired & Nana is here

It's been a long time since I've updated the blog. That would be because I've been so stinkin' tired. Extremely tired. Almost non-functioning tired. Over the past few weeks I've seen a few doctors and got an MRI of my brain. The good news is I don't have a tumor. The bad news is that also means the doctors have no idea what is wrong with me now. I've just been trying to keep up with Aiden and Eli at this point and try and make them a meal every now and then. Aiden has been keeping busy doing some therapy/educational stuff that I've tried working on when I have the energy. He loves that kind of stuff. Below you can see him making patterns, putting little alphabet cards in order, and even tracing and drawing a train. 

Brad encouraged me enough to do a family trip to the gym one day on a Saturday morning. I was exhausted but went. I did a light/moderate workout (I'm out of shape at the moment) and then we let the boys play in the gym. They did a good job "waiting" for us to be done and then we let them run around the track and we all played basketball for a bit.

The boys have had to rely on each other a bit more than normal to have someone to play with because I've been so tired. The little energy that I have had I need to make a meal or do something for my College of Southern Maryland on-line classes. Here are the boys playing "grocery store." Little Eli is getting quite the imagination!! It's so exciting to see. He will play by himself and talk to himself for a long time. I love it. Aiden has never really done that. He is too concrete to make things up. It's so fun to watch Eli's imagination work and really take off.

Eli has also become very independent, very fast. He wants to "help" any time we are in the kitchen, is putting is own clothes on now, brushing is own teeth (although they don't get too clean), soaping himself in the bath, zipping is own jacket, and he's trying to put on his shoes. It's great to see him start to do so much by himself but it's also a tad frustrating because he will not let me show him anything. He wants to try it himself and doesn't want any pointers but there are just some things that need to be taught. Here he is with Brad making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

On Sunday, Brad went to meet Papa and get Nana. My dad was nice enough to drive my mom from St. Pete to somewhere in Georgia. Brad met my dad to pick-up Nana and Bronco. The boys haven't seen Nana in about 7 months so they are loving spending time with her. Here are Eli and Nana swinging together.

On Monday afternoon, we checked on the boys at daycare and let Nana see the Big Green Bus. I got to snap a picture of the boys learning how to do headstands. Aiden wasn't so sure about it but I was so proud of him that he even tried it.

Eli had a blast doing it and was laughing the whole time.

Aiden hasn't figured out how to do zippers yet and I thought it was so cute that Eli decided to help Aiden zip up his jacket. These boys love each other so much and I pray that continues.

Because of pure exhaustion on my part on Monday night, we let the boys have a "movie night." Aiden got to pick the movie and he chose Dolphin Tale. Even though he chose the movie and he's seen it before, he still gets scared. There are so few movies that he will actually watch. He is such an empathetic little boy. Not only does he not like scary things/surprises, but he also can't watch movies in which animals or people get hurt or have a chance of getting hurt. We are never going to have to worry about this kid sneaking in to a Rated R movie. I'm lucky to get him through a G movie. I'm thankful, to an extent, that Eli does not share this "scary" gene that Aiden has.

Nana's goal here is to see the boys and help out a little when she can. I've been so exhausted that even spending some time with the boys is oober helpful because I feel less guilty for not having enough energy to hang out with them. Her and Bronco have been enjoying the outdoors and quietness that Prattville offers.

On Tuesday, Nana came to therapy with us to see what it's all about. Nana played a game with him while we waited, then Mrs. Rusty gave Aiden a ride on the scooter board on the way down to her office. They then played catch for a bit with giant swiss balls and then Aiden had to do some grasping exercises. Aiden had a bit of a rough day at therapy and Mrs. Rusty decided that we start brushing him again. She went over the details of it and then we hurried off across town to a doctor appointment with my endocrinologist. Aiden and Nana stayed in the waiting room and Aiden just laid on her lap most of the time. I just assumed therapy was stressful and tiring today for him and playing so hard with Nana for 1.5 days was wearing him out now. We went home and Aiden ate lunch and then got his blankets and took them into my bedroom. He's NEVER done that. He said he was going to nap in my room (which he never done either). I was a little shocked but could see how tired he was so I just let it go. I spoke with my mom for a bit and by the time I came in the bedroom (11:45am), he was already passed out with 3 blankets on top of him. That was amazing because Aiden barely even naps these days. We both took a nap and when he woke up at 1:30pm, he was pretty warm but I kinda thought it was because he was covered with so many blankets. Rather than taking him back to daycare, I did some work and then went to get Eli.

Aiden seemed fine on Tuesday evening and even on Wednesday morning. He went off to daycare and didn't say a word about not feeling well. I even came to his daycare about 11:00am to brush him and he said he wanted to "leave early" but I assumed he meant after rest time. I texted his teacher during nap time and asked her to make sure he was okay because he seemed a little sad/not himself when I saw him at 11:00am. I didn't hear back from her so my gut told me to go check on him. I showed up at 2:15pm and he had just gotten up from nap and was till downstairs. He made eye contact with me and almost started crying. He broke my heart. He was warm and said he wanted to go home. Eli came home with us too. Aiden went from a little warm (100 degree temp) to very warm (103) within 1-2 hrs and became extremely lethargic. He would barely move. After some phone calls to his doctor and insurance people and Aiden falling asleep on me while making the phone calls (this child is lucky to nap more than 1 day all week and he already took a nap this day), I hurried him to the ER. You can see Pouncer curled up next to Aiden while we were still at home. We got to the hospital and they immediately did a flu test and put us in a back room. He continued to go downhill and was barely even responsive to the doctor. The doctor was concerned because he tested positive for influenza Type B (he's already had Type A) which is the lesser severe flus. That said, Aiden shouldn't be this sick because of Type B flu. It ends up Aiden was extremely dehydrated and he also had an ear infection. They started an IV on him and pumped him with some fluids and also had labs drawn to make sure he didn't have a bacterial infection. He did amazing well getting his IV for a boy with some serious sensory issues. He had more trouble with the tape holding the IV on than anything.

I'm so thankful that my mom was here to stay with Eli. I ended up taking Aiden in at 3:30pm and Brad was still at school. Brad eventually came to visit us in the hospital and bring me some dinner. By about 7:45pm, Aiden was feeling much better and his temperature started to go down thanks to the drugs they gave him. We were allowed to go home after we stopped to drop off the prescriptions for Tamiflu and antibiotics. When we got home I checked on Eli who was already in bed and he said that he prayed for Aiden to feel better. What a sweetie. Needless to say, Aiden stayed home on Thur and Fri so he could get better and not spread germs. Eli and I took a special trip to Bass Pro Shop on Thursday afternoon to celebrate his health. I don't want Eli to think he's missing out on anything because he's not sick. Eli has been a great sport about not complaining that Aiden has not gone to daycare for the past few days. We are praying that Nana stays healthy. Since her immune system is already compromised, I'm so nervous she is going to get sick. She has faith that God will protect her though so I can't argue with that! Aiden went back to the doctor today and they put him on even higher antibiotics to get rid of the ear infection. I have lots of little projects I am working on at the moment that need my attention. I went for about 1.5 weeks with extremely little sleep at night. I was starting to get delirious from such little sleep. On Tuesday, the doctor said I should start taking Ambien again to at least get a couple nights of good sleep under my belt so hopefully my body and brain will start functioning again at a normal level.

I'm exhausted. Brad and I got to go on a date tonight while Nana watched the boys. After dinner, Brad and I went to Hobby Lobby to by some materials that I need to make Aiden a sensory fabric strip that I have designed. Hopefully it won't take me another 2.5 weeks to update the blog again.

1/9 - Sick again

Eli has been a bit emotional lately. OK. Maybe that is an understatement. He's has thrown himself to the ground more with uncontrollable crying in the past few weeks more than all of the times since his birth to age 3. Craziness. We think he's going through a growth spurt. He gets so grumpy so fast and always seems to be hungry. In fact, before he finished his dinner tonight, he asked if he could have a snack afterwards. Craziness.

I downloaded a free app on the iPad for Eli and he loves it. It's a Mr. Potatoe head app and he gets to dress up Mr and Mrs Potatoe head and then make them play around in different rooms. He likes to just turn on the app to hear the music and dance around too.

Aiden had a great week at therapy last week. Mrs. Rusty got him to play in water and use soap. I stayed back and just let them do their thing since water, soap, Aiden and mommy do not make a good combination. Aiden is getting so much stronger!!! His grasp has improved so so much as well as his strength. Now it just seems to be refining his strength and making him use his fingers versus his hand or arm and him being able to overcome his sensory issues. He does NOT like to use soap. He doesn't think making bubbles is fun and usually does not find it entertaining that his hands are even wet. Mrs. Rusty was able to help him overcome his resistance and they played in the water for a while making bubbles. When we got home at the end of the day, Aiden says, "you ready mom? OK. Here I go" and starts jumping and switching arms/legs (bottom right picture). This was something his therapist asked him to do over a month ago and he couldn't/wouldn't do it. However, because it was something he couldn't do, he just randomly starts practicing it every now and then and asks if it is right.

Brad was sick all of last week so I was with the boys quite often. Here is Aiden wearing my sweatshirt and Eli ... naked. This boy do not like clothes. In fact, we've had to physically hold him down and undress him and then dress him into regular clothes for the last 2 days. He refuses to change because he wants to wear his jammies all day. Once we finally get him out of his jammies, he just wants to stay naked.

We had a big bath night last week. The average person is going to think this is a little crazy but ... we are pretty excited about the steps Aiden has started to take in the bathtub. Bath time is a ... chore for us. Aiden dislikes water, is VERY sensitive to water temperature, and really hates soap. As you can imagine, all those things are required for a bath or shower. Aiden hasn't taken a bath in a long, long time. He usually takes a shower and a very short one at that. His therapist showed him how to wash himself last week using a paper towel that was balled up. His original goal was to soap himself. That didn't really happen but I think I didn't prepare Mrs. Rusty for what a good goal might be. Aiden let me run water over his back for a while. This is unusual. I then let him have control of the water sprayer and he chose to use a washcloth (versus poof). He got it all wet but then refused to pick it up. I laid it out and then asked him to put soap on it. I gave him a choice of soap and then he squirted some on the wash cloth. It took lots of patience and coaching, BUT he eventually picked the washcloth up and even rubbed his leg very lightly. He chose a leg to clean and then I cleaned the other one. He barely even touched the washcloth to his skin but I was just so excited he actually picked it up!!! Progress. Lots of progress.

On the flipside, Eli loves bathtime and usually protests when he has to come out. He doesn't like his hair washed but as long as we tell him what to expect and make sure it doesn't last long, he's okay. Eli only likes bath and is not a fan of the shower. On Saturday morning, I took the boys to Chuck-E-Cheese for the first time in Alabama. Brad was still sick and I didn't want any of us getting sick. I included this blurry picture because it's something so spectacular ... Aiden on a vibrating ride. He's tried this one other time before and wanted off immediately. This time though, you could see he was tentative by looking at his face, but I talked him through it and calmed down. It was a ride in which it is supposed to feel like they are wearing a jetpack and riding around the city. I was narrating and saying that it what daddy sees when he flies his helicopters. Eli had a blast and did it 2 more times (there are 3 different experiences - roller coaster, jetpack, and something else). Aiden did it 2 times!!!! I was shocked and so happy for him.

I pushed my luck and got a little too close to lunch time and that put Eli over the edge. He was hysterical and rolling around on the floor. He wanted more tickets but didn't quite understand he had to earn them. Aiden was so proud of himself because he earned 29 tickets. In fact, he was so proud and wanted to show daddy the number of tickets he got that he didn't want to get a prize that day because the woman was going to take his paper which showed how many tickets he won. 

Brad started feeling better later in the evening which was good because I was about tapped out of single-parenting since he had been sick for so many days. Here are Aiden and daddy playing Trouble. Aiden has fallen in love with this game.

We also have been playing with Legos more. Aiden built a big house the other day. It's great therapy for him to put everything together so I was happy with it. 

The boys went to daycare on Monday and it was a special day. The Big Green Bus has started coming to their daycare once a week. We have to pay extra for it but it's an old school bus that has been gutted and gymnastics equipment is inside. Yeah, it's a cool idea. They both wanted to do it so I figured let's give it a try for a month and see (the second child is just half price).

 

I peeked in on the session and took a few pictures. Eli was having a blast running on a mini-treadmill. It was too cute. Aiden found a bike and said, "look mom, this bike has no wheels as his little legs were spinning around." 

The couple that runs the bus are pretty energetic and were having fun with the kids. The man put Aiden up on a semi-circle and had him trying to balance. It was great.

The highlight of the session was to go on the zip line. Yeah, you read that correctly. They have a zipline in the bus and it goes from one corner to the opposite diagonal. They go all the way down and then they created a mat square for the kids to drop in to at the end. Aiden volunteered to go first; that would never have happened a few months ago.

Eli went to and really enjoyed it. They both wanted to go again.

Monday night we had dinner at Chick-fil-a because I didn't feel like cooking. They boys were playing with the photo booth app on the iPad. They were too funny watching themselves and taking pictures.

The mirror function was especially fun for the boys because they got to see 2 pictures of themselves at the same time.

Aiden ate his entire dinner without constant reminding. It was awesome. Normally he will eat his fruit and 2-3 fries but then we have to constantly remind him to eat his "muscle food." He normally is bartering with us about how many bites he has to take and he ate ALL of his nuggets without any fight or negotiations.

Even Brad and I decided to get in on the funny face pictures.

This week Aiden got to have a longer therapy session than normal. He did so many things with movement this week. I was very surprised. He normally would only do something 1, maybe 2 times and then say he is "all done." He was actually having fun and a lot of it was on unstable/uneven surfaces. I'm not sure where the Aiden is that I moved here with but I love the Aiden who is showing up now and can live life without so many constraints. Mrs. Rusty then did some water/sensory stuff with him. She had him squeezing sponges with water in them. I was shocked that he even picked up the sponge that was in water. He definitely contemplates if it is worth him participating in the activity but Mrs. Rusty has figured out what motivates him and uses that to her advantage. He was having so much fun on the obstacle course she made him that she said he could go back on it if he completed a certain number of repetitions with the sponge. He definitely thought about it for a bit but eventually thought that was a great prize.

Aiden stayed at home sick today :( I don't think he is sick as much as he's just so congested and can't figure out how to blow his nose. Oh yeah. A bath update: Aiden sprayed water on himself last night!! That's huge. He would have nothing to do with touching soap or washing himself but at least he was putting all his body parts in the stream of water. I'll take what I can get at this point. I made Aiden try the sinus wash tonight (it irrigates the nasal passages). He was not a big fan of it but I didn't know what else to do. I even tried playing games with him last night to teach him to blow his nose and he can't figure it out and then gets so frustrated with himself that he can't do it. I even had Eli doing my game (having a tissue paper race blowing with our mouth, and then trying to make it move with just using our nose - breathing out through the nose). I'm so looking forward to the day my boys can 1) wipe themselves - Eli still thinks this is very optional. In fact, I think he thinks skid marks make him fast like a race care, 2) blow their own nose and put the tissue in the garbage, and 3) take a bath/shower on their own. I can't imagine the freedom I may experience with those things. Until then, I continue to travel along the bumpy road of self-hygeine for them (and me).