Alex's new AFO

I wanted to share a few videos of Alex walking in his new AFO. It has been less than a week since he has had it and we are seeing lots of good things. First here are a pictures of the AFO and insert.


AFO for right foot

shoe insert for left foot


This first video Alex's walks down the hallway and sits down (not the best from of sitting down but we work on that eventually). Then he stands back up.....with no help. He has gotten really good at this in the last week or so. Oh and he almost always claps for himself even if no one else claps!






The next video is him walking down the hallway, stopping to try to bug Hayden (while he was taking a bath). Then on his way back he is trying to be silly and starts walking backwards. He almost falls but catches himself and then starts walking sideways.



This last one was taken almost two months ago when he was not wearing shoes and braces. It is a HUGE difference from what we are seeing now!!




I am still very excited about the brace and how well Alex is doing with it! I can't wait to see what is next!!!

Hayden

Sometimes I forget to stop and dwell on things when I need to. Like my kids. I enjoy them and have fun with them but there are times when I just need to stop and really think about who they are. And when I do that, I need to write it down so I don’t forget it! So tonight I am going to tell you a little bit about Hayden, who happens to be starting 2^nd grade tomorrow.

Hayden is in some ways hard to describe. Some days I think I have him figured out and other days he surprises me. He has a temper at times and doesn’t like to be picked on or teased. He can be very silly but usually only when he wants to be. Other times he is very serious and gets mad if you joke with him and act silly. He doesn’t like to be wrong and will argue even if he knows he is not right (I might or might not have been like that as a child or maybe as an adult). Hayden is very sensitive but hides it most of the time. He takes things very literally so some things need a little extra explaining. Most days he is very polite and helpful, other days not so much. He brings lot of joy to our family and we love him so much!!

Hayden does his fair share of fighting with Hayley but he really does enjoy playing with her. Hayley is very silly and picks at people, which always makes him mad. He is working on learning how to handle her and he is doing a great job (most days). When they do play together they are very sweet and it is so neat to watch them. They act like animals or pretend they have a restaurant. It is quite humorous what they come up with.

I am pretty sure that Hayden has a special place in his heart for Alex, even if he doesn’t understand it yet. He is so sweet to Alex and gets excited when Alex does new things. Hayden will usually share his toys and play with him just to help me out. But there are times when Alex makes Hayden lose his temper as well, like when he takes a toy from him, throws something and hits Hayden in the head or messes up his monster trucks, hot wheels cars or legos. Brotherly love!!

I am still amazed at how well Hayden is able to draw. He has loved to draw since he was about three or four. He doesn’t do it quite as much as he used to but when he does it is usually very detailed and I am always impressed. He also knows more about the computer than his Pepaw (but that might not be saying much)! He is like Cory in that he can do something once or twice and remember it from then on.

He will still hold my hand, sometimes even when I don’t ask him to and he has promised to always give my hugs even when he is a teenager. I plan on holding him to that! He is the best cuddler and likes to sleep (I think he gets that from me).

As I have watched Hayden grow from my little baby to a big kid, I have learned so much about him. As he starts this new school year, my prayer is that Cory and I will continue to learn things about him and be able to guide him in a way that is pleasing to God. In a way that he can learn to make a difference for God and others.

Being a parent is a lot of responsibility. I have said before that I don’t think I was prepared for all that it takes to raise a child. When Cory and I got married I thought about having a baby…..not about having a 2^nd grader! Hopefully with God’s grace we will be able to raise Hayden (& Hayley and Alex, too) in the way he should go. I plan on taking more time to sit back and dwell on my sweet boy more often and enjoy everything about him while I do.

I love you Hayden and I am so proud of you!

Updated:

Hayden was VERY excited to go to school today!! He woke up in a good mood and I asked him if he knew what day it was. He said, "First day of 2nd grade."

Busy, busy, busy!

It seems like we have had a lot going on lately!!

With all the excitement of traveling to meet the Pender's I didn't mention that Cory and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on August 1st (which was while we were in South Carolina). It really doesn't seem like it has been eleven years (I think I say that every year). I will have to have to say that I have learned a lot about myself, Cory and marriage in general. It is not always easy to learn new things; we don't always like what we learn (and sometimes it means we have to change something about ourselves). But that is all part of God's plan for us. He wants us to become the person He planned us to be. But there is also lots of fun that goes along with all that learning. Cory still makes me laugh and he is fun to be around. I love to watch him with the kids. He is a great daddy and Hayden, Hayley & Alex all adore him (and I do too!!). I will have to say that Cory is my best friend and I really do love him more today than I did the day we got married. There is no one else that I would rather be "learning new things" with.

I love you, Cory and I look forward to what God has for us in the future!!

Then on the 10th we celebrated my birthday. I am officially in my 30's now. I hit the big 3-0 last year but you can use the "I just turned 30" line for just about the whole year. :) This year I am 31.....and I am really OK with that. I don't feel any older and being in my 30's isn't so bad!! We had a pretty normal day except that Cory brought pizza home for lunch and he got a cake too! The kids sang "their version" of "Happy Birthday" to me and I loved it. That evening, Cory and I went out to eat (kid free....woohoo). It was a very nice day and I loved spending it with my family!

Next, we have already started getting ready for school to start. This summer has flown by. We were fortunate enough to get to experience a lot of fun things and but I am ready for school to get started. I never thought I would be this way.....but I am ready for a routine! I am also ready to enjoy my Tuesday's and Thursday's with no kids. Hayley and Alex will be going to the Preschool and Parent's Day Out at our church on those days from 8:30 to 2:30. While I plan on doing a few fun "me" things during that time I also plan to use it to gain some control of my house. I have high hopes of getting all our closets organized (hopefully complete with the closet organizing systems). I will let you know how that goes and maybe even post before and after pictures (that is if I am not too embarrassed to let you all see what they look like now ;) ).

OK....so back to school...I got a little distracted. I have a 2nd grader!! How did that happen? When did Hayden get so big? I am really excited for him to find out who his teacher is (which should be very soon) and who is in his class. He is not all that excited. He told me the other day that school was boring and all you do there is learn stuff. He makes me laugh!! I do hope that he has some good friends in his class and maybe that will help him be a little more excited. We will see!!

Oh, before I go I thought I would update you on how it is going with no TV. The kids have been watching movies so it is not like they aren't watching the TV at all but it is definitely much less than before. With it being only movies we are able to be more selective in what they are watching. So, in general, they really aren't all that affected by it. They are playing with each other more and they might even be fighting with each other less (but that is still a day to day thing). I on the other hand have missed the TV several times. It doesn't really bother me all that often but occasionally there are times when I just want to sit down and do nothing but watch TV. I am working on finding more productive things to do with my time (that is not to include more time on the computer...lol). It really hasn't been all that bad......just seems weird every now and then!! :)

Visiting the Pender's

If you haven't already read our Caring Bridge update, please read that!!

www.caringbridge.org/visit/alexward


I have a lot of pictures to post to show how much fun we all had on our trip to visit our friend, Julia and her family in South Carolina.

Hope you enjoy!!!

We left Thursday and I flew with all three kids by myself.
I was really proud of all three of them!!

Here is Alex playing with the window. Just trying to keep him entertained!!
He was either eating or doing this.

Here is Hayden and Hayley on the plane. They both did so good!!!


Alex getting ready to fall asleep.

He's going......

And he's gone!!!
He did eventually let the pacifier fall out of his mouth so I knew he was sleeping good then!!
And yes....he was "that kid with the very dirty mouth and shirt"!!!

We finally go to meet Julia and family on Friday evening!!!

Here is Julia and "the boy," as she called him!!

We finally got a good picture of the two of them.....we just had to have Bari hold them both!!


We went to the downtown Greenville, SC area.
It is a really neat area with lots to do.


Hayley, Hayden and Lucas.
The look on Hayley's face makes me laugh.


The kids enjoyed a fountain/waterfall area.



Saturday night we the kids played in the sprinkler at the Pender's house.

Lucas, Hayley and Hayden playing in the water.


Alex preferred the swing!!


Hayley was being silly and kept covering up in her towel.


Julia loved it and kept copying Hayley. It was very cute!!



Sunday evening we went out to eat and then to a little ice cream shop near our hotel. The kids loved it and they made a huge mess but it was a lot of fun!!!

Alex, Julia, Hayley, Lucas and Hayden
They are looking into the sun so this isn't the best picture but we did get them all to look in the same direction!! :)


Julia and Mark & Alex and Cory


Me and Bari


We had such a great time and hated to leave. Monday we made it to the airport early only to find out that our flight was delayed. We had to entertain the kids for about 5 hours!!

Here is Hayley taking pictures of airplanes.


Here is Hayden being silly and playing with his home made gun.


Here is Alex standing in the chair.
(Did I mention that we had to entertain them for 5 hours??)

Here he comes....

This counts as therapy....right?


He was determined to get to me and the camera so he climbed over to me!!

The rest of the five hours Hayden and Hayley played with some other kids that were waiting with us and we chased Alex around trying to wear him out!!
All thing considered they all did great.