Vacation Pictures

Vacation pictures!

Truett with Great Grandma K

Mom has a picture of Josiah just like this.... I guess boys love an open fridge

4 Generations (I'm only in this one to get the baby in there with them!)

Putt Putt with Great Grandma

LET ME OUT!!! I want to come play too! (Truett's face pressed up against the screen door)

Aunty Hannah out on the blow up boat on the morning of Jay's birthday.

Josiah relaxing on the boat

Jay waiting in the window for Grandpa and Grandma S to arrive

waiting....

Truett's big smile (that's because he is so hyper on sugar!) LOL

Jay's cake! I had asked him before what type of cake he wanted and he said cookie cake. Grandma saw a way to make a train cake so we asked which one he wanted.... NEVER ask a question like that! The answer : A cookie train cake! Of course! Why didn't I think of that! So this is what we came up with....

My birthday boy!

I can't believe it was four years ago that he was born. The moment he was born he let out this hardy scream... Josiah and I both started crying and saying "He's crying! He's crying!" Since he was born so fast they literally pulled a doctor in from the hallway to deliver him that we had never met so she knew nothing of our history with Dillon. She was looking at us a little strange when we were so happy to hear him cry!

Truett bragged an apple from the cooler and walked around eating it! It was so cute

Jay feeding the ducks

Grandpa S and Truett
Grandma S, Mommy and Truett - I think we were looking at the ducks here. Truett LOVED watching the ducks swim beside the boat
Grandma S and Dillon
Jay helping Grandpa S drive the boat
Swimming! We decided not to put Dillon in since he had a hard week and it wasn't worth upsetting him. Jay was scared to death. Truett was a little scared but would calm down and enjoy it a little. Grandpa K got in for a few seconds and that was enough for him. Grandma K is scared of water and didn't go in, but the rest of us enjoyed swimming!
Dillon with my sunglasses on

Mommy and Truett

I don't know why this is flipped, but if you look right in the middle you can see the bald eagle! It was so cool to see a bald eagle in the wild!
Dillon loved the boat ride, his stats were the best that they were the whole vacation while we were driving around and he could feel the breeze and the vibration! Truett and Dillon enjoyed a nap!
I think this one is Josiah out on the inter tube
Me
My Mom
My Dad

Dillon's first days of School

Dillon's first day!

Sitting with all his supplies waiting for the bus to come. This is what he has to have with him every day. This does not include the nurse's stuff and her lunch bag!

Our little boy is growing up!!!

Don't let the smiles fool you, we were both sad to see him get on the bus!

The big boy!

Here's the bus!

Being strapped in, just like in our van

They're taking my baby away!!!!!!!!!!!!

He actually did very well on his first day. He could do his stander or get his PT or OT because of paperwork not being done on time, but he didn't get upset of have seizures or anything. The night before he left I kept whispering to him that if he did horrible he would get to stay home with me.... I don't think he wants to!

Jay was sad that he didn't get to see Dillon get on the bus since he was still sleeping so he asked me to wake him up from his nap so he could see Dillon get off the bus. I told him he would have to go to bed early if he wanted me to do that. Normally he goes to sleep around 2 and Dillon was due to be home around 3:30. So right after lunch, about 12:30, he willingly went to bed. We waited outside for the bus to come....

While we waited he kissed the baby - I don't know why I look HUGE in this picture, I'm really not THAT big!!
Jay was so happy to see Dillon come home!


Dillon's second day went well too. He was cooing during circle time and during the tactile time. His nurse is so sweet and sends me one or two messages during the day to let me know how he is doing so I won't worry. Maybe he has an independent streak in him like my other two and likes to finally do something on his own! I don't know but so far he seems to enjoy it. It will be interesting to see if he likes it once his therapies start and they make him "work!" He won't be able to go on Tuesday because he has a neurology appointment that has been scheduled for about 8 months!

Thank you everyone for praying for me. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be so I know people were praying for me! I had a peace that I didn't think I would have. It was weird without him but I was okay. I am dealing with mixed feelings about it. I enjoyed having the time to talk more with Jay (normally I talk a lot with the nurse so he got my full attention) but I feel bad about liking the time without him. I know Jay feels the same confusion as I do from things he has said. Even though he hasn't voiced it in this way I can tell he is feeling it. The second day he was excited to get Dillon off the bus again because, as he said, "I love Dillon!"

4th of July!

Happy 4th of July (ok I'm late but these are our pictures!)

I already updated with what we did so these are the pictures....

Truett's first time seeing fireworks... He wasn't scared at all - he loved them!

He would blink every time they made the loud BANG but he wasn't upset he was laughing!

Dillon stayed in the car seat in the truck but with his window down and facing the fireworks. He slept through it all!

"School" on Tuesday!

Tuesday July 5, Dillon gets picked up at 7:45am for his first day at Easter Seals Classroom A. I need lots of prayer! I really don't want him to go. Everyone keeps saying it is because I "have too much on my plate" or that it is a "break you need" etc. No one is telling me they think DILLON will benefit so I am not confident this is a good choice. He is going every Tuesday and Thursday for the next 5 weeks, with his nurse from home going with him. He won't come home until 3-3:30pm!!!! That is a long day! Especially for someone like Dillon who shuts down after 45 minutes of therapy!!!

Please pray Dillon will be ok and that I will be ok. I haven't been without him like this ever before and I feel like I am "just sending him away" since that is what everyone keeps saying to me. If I thought he were going to benefit and learn and improve there it would be different, but I think everyone wants this for ME not HIM.

I just need God to calm my heart and help me to give this a chance. I also need it to be clear at the end of the 5 weeks if this is something we should continue with next year or if it is better to have him home. I know I WANT him home more than anything, especially since I will be homeschooling the other kids, but I need the data to back me up on it so it isn't just an emotional decision. OR I need the data to show that he is doing great at school and it really is benefiting HIM to continuing going.

My heart is a mess already - I just need to rest in God tonight and tomorrow.....

I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.

Catch up without pictures

Let's see here, catching up on all the happenings! I left my camera in the van which is in the shop so I will do a quick catch up and then do pictures later.

• My 26th Birthday (June 22)! Josiah planned for a sweet dear lady from church to come over Tuesday night (since we have church on Wed) and watch the boys for us. We went out to Cheesecake Factory and sat outside. I decided even though it was a little warm I wanted to sit out side because that is something Dillon wouldn't handle well and normally we wouldn't be able to do it. We were right by the door too so every time the waiters went in and out we got a gust of cool air. Then we got a piece of pina colada cheesecake to go. We drove around on the back roads and finally ended up at a retreat that Josiah thought was bigger than it was, but it was pretty and quiet. We walked some of the trails until I was too tired then we took our time driving back. For some reason there were a lot of songs on that night on the radio that talked about being lame. I had never heard this one before and it brought tears to my eyes. Click here to listen to it: Slippers with Wings Although my presents didn't come on my birthday Josiah did get me several things. First - he got me a prepaid phone for when Dillon starts at Easter Seals. It is only to be used for emergencies with Dillon so only Josiah and the two day nurses have the number, but at least if he aspirates and needs to be brought home they can reach me no matter where I am. Second and Third - he got me two games. One is a card game called Discipleship plus and the other is a board game called Decalogue about the 10 commandments. Fourth - he got me the new Bible cover I have been wanting. It is an organizer Bible cover, I love it! I love to write in my Bible so it is great. It even has a place to store my pens and I have a very important pen in there... Right before my Grandpa went Home to Glory he gave me one of his special Bible marking pens that even has his named on a tiny piece of paper taped to the side of it. Every time I open my Bible cover, I see that pen and I think of my Grandpa and want to make sure I am living my life to make him pleased. Here is a link for what the Bible cover is like (except the inside of mine is pink) in case you are looking for one, but shop around online for a better price than this site.
  
• Approved!! Finally it was approved that we could take a nurse with us on vacation. In the five years of Dillon's life we have not been able to go on a vacation where everyone actually got to sleep! Someone always had to do his night care and then was exhausted the next day. After 4 or 5 appeals and the insurance company telling us that one of us can stay up all day and one of us all night, a third party review board finally approved 9 hours a day for the night time care so we can sleep! Praise the Lord! Of course, the insurance company sent us a letter saying just because they are doing it this time doesn't mean they will ever do it again. But I figure if the third party review board said this is the standard of care for the industry it should be easier to get it approved again in the future. Then a few days before we were to leave3, our nurse was selected for jury duty! He told the Judge what his plans were and she said don't worry about it then he was selected, and supposed to sit from Thursday-Tuesday. Well Thursday morning after being there for a few hours he found out the case settled and he was able to go with us!
  
• Vacation! We left Saturday morning for WV. We took Josiah's truck so that we could take our bikes and a bunch of stuff. Dillon aspirated very bad on the way down. He coughed for over 30 minutes without stopping! He just hasn't been good for almost a month now, but I am having to take my inhaler and my allergy medicine a lot too so I am sure it is allergies. While we were there we went out on the river in a blow up boat (PA tried to fine us 75 for taking a blow up boat out on a lake since it wasn't titled - in WV they don't care!) We went on bike rides, etc. More to follow....
• Jay's 4th Birthday! Wed was jay's birthday. We started it by going out on the blow up boat with Daddy, Mommy, Jay and Aunty Hannah (she had to work a lot while we were there so we wanted to be sure he got some time with her on his birthday!) Then my parents arrived in and spent some time with us. We started Jay's cookie train cake and went to church. After church we decorated the cookie train cake and sang and ate it! Yummy!
• Boat ride! The next day we rented a large pontoon boat for 8 hours on a huge lake (about 12 miles). We spent all day out on the boat! It was beautiful! Dillon was the best out on the boat than he was the whole time! He loves the breeze and the vibration of the boat! Most of us jumped in the lake and went swimming. We had a great time. We BBQ lunch on the dock and went back out. Then we used a rope and a inter tube meant for being pulled and rode behind the boat. Since it was a pontoon boat it couldn't go fast enough to really knock anyone off, but it was fun. I only went once because with my growing belly it was hard to lay on it comfortably! Josiah had a blast! My Dad tried knocking him off and when my dad was out on it Josiah tried to knock him off!
• Shooting! After the boat Josiah and I went with Hannah and her boyfriend Todd to his grandparent's house out in the boonies and shot a 22 rifle. I only shot once but the guys shot more. Hannah and I had a great time talking with his Grandma, who is hilarious!
  
• We came home Friday - to being locked out of our house. We knew before we left that it happened but we had to call a locksmith to let us in. We had keys but it was to the door that the previous owners had trouble with too and sometimes it doesn't work. We also locked a door that we knew we didn't have a key too because we thought we would go in the other door (the one the key wasn't working to). Needless to say we got our locks all fixed.
• Picnic! Saturday was a picnic with the deaf people at church. Since I am learning sign language it was neat to go. I thought it went from 11-4 but really it was 4-8 so we ended up killing time by driving around where we used to live, seeing our old houses, etc. Then we went to the picnic and had a great time, Jay got to fish a little in their pond and helped catch some. He loved it!
• And that bring us to 4th of July! We stayed home today and just did things around the house, We had a small BBQ, played outside, played a board game from my birthday, and are about to do some sparklers with Jay then maybe head out to watch some fireworks in the truck someplace (or maybe we will just watch from home, not sure).

Will post pictures and videos later!