Haircut

I gave Ryan a haircut the other day. He has been trying to grow it a little longer since last summer. But, wanted me to cut it short again. I can't believe how much hair he has!

Jorie and Ryan (May 2005)

I was going through some older videos today and came across this one of Ryan and Jorie. This was taken in May of 2005 (so, just one month prior to Ryan's spinal fusion surgery). Hard to believe that was almost 4 years ago. Anyway, I thought this was cute because Jorie was giving Ryan kisses at bed time. Something she does not do these days!

Jorie's ballet class

So, here is a video of Jorie's dance class. I thought she was pretty cute. :)

Ballet

Jorie has been asking me (more like begging me) to join a ballet class for a very long time now. So, we finally decided to try it out on Wednesday. (Jorie is on the end in the blue leotard with bright pink socks:) ) We will try another class at a completely different school tomorrow. I wasn't too excited about this class as we had to climb maybe 30 stairs to get to it and I know Ryan would never be able to attend it with us. So, we'll see how tomorrow's class works out. I am hoping their building is handicap accessible at least! Jorie LOVES ballet! Her teacher pulled me aside yesterday and said she needed to be in a more advanced class. It was exciting to hear....maybe there is some talent there?? :)

Playing

It is amazing how much fun these kids had with this box! They poked a hole in it and then took turns having mommy push them around the living room. LOL I even had to tape it up so they could keep playing with it when it started to come apart!

Brothers

One of Ryan's favorite things to do is invite his baby brother up onto his chair to give him a hug or "loves" as we call it. It's so cute when Joshua lays his head against his older brother. And Ryan is thrilled that he is able to touch and interact with him this way. I can't believe Ryan will be 13 in just a couple of months! Here is another recent picture of just Ryan. One of my favorites. :)

Jorie and Daddy

Just thought these were cute photos of Jorie and her daddy. Jorie had her Christmas performance at school tonight. The first one was cancelled due to snow. I posted two other favorites of Jorie and daddy too. I believe they are probably 2 years ago or so.

Joshua's owie

Joshua gave me a little scare last night. I was buckling Ryan and Jorie into the van and went back to get Joshua. He was busy playing w/ daddy's car. His newest interest is opening and closing the car door. He was NOT ready to stop playing and when I went to pick him up, he immediately arched his back and fell backwards into the car door. He fell pretty hard and when I picked him up, I saw a fair amount of blood coming from his head. Thankfully, it wasn't anything too deep and it stopped bleeding pretty quickly. But, it's never fun seeing blood coming from your child! He has had more cuts, bruises, scrapes and bumps than Jorie ever did. Although, Jorie too was a very active toddler. I think Joshua has her beat!

Having lunch at the pirates of the carribean restaurant...yum!

Steve and I inside the hotel

Princess Jorie and Daddy

Disneyland!

Jorie's hair after having a "princess makeover"

Getting her nails done

Out to breakfast

Jorie with her very first lolipop! She loved it, of course but never finished it.

There are a few reasons why family vacations are a rare treat for this family. It's pretty rare that we can find things that the entire family CAN do and all participate in. Either, Ryan physically cannot do something (ie: camping) or the differences in age make it tough to find something that we can all enjoy. Usually, when we ALL go somewhere, my mom (grandma Brown) goes w/ us to act as Ryan's nurse. So, this last fall Steve and I decided that we wanted to let Jorie experience Disneyland while she was still young enough to get alot out of it! Joshua was too young to care and Ryan felt he was TOO old to care. LOL We are so glad we made this choice!! Jorie got to experience being an only child and enjoyed it very much!!

Crib tent

Recently I got Joshua one of those crib tents to go over his crib. I am not ready for my baby to be in a big boy bed yet....and I wanted to see if I could get a few more months out of his crib! The other night, he discovered that he could climb over the side of his crib. He fell out before I could run to catch him. He fussed for a minute. Then I placed him back in the crib and he started to do it again!! So, we shall try this for a while. The kids had a blast playing in the crib tonight with the covering over it. :)

Jorie and Joshua love playing on their daddy. They also enjoy horsey rides from time to time. ;)

Ryan and Joshua

Many times throughout the past year or so, people have made the comment that Joshua looks alot like his older brother, Ryan. Not sure if it's just their blonde hair and blue/green eyes or what. But, just knowing that they both look similar is actually a blessing. Of course, we have always tried to imagine what it would be like to see Ryan walk or even stand. In fact, the Elf Yourself dancing scenes that come out each Christmas are so much fun because we can put Ryan's face on another body and see him dance and walk around! Since Joshua and Ryan do share some resemblance, it has been fun to watch him walk and grow stronger physically. Something we never got to see in Ryan. Joshua is such a gift. In more ways than one, he has been a HUGE blessing to our family. We weren't sure about having more kids after Jorie as I was just SO incredibly sick during my pregnancy with her. I don't think I left my bed for at least 6 to 8 weeks or more and again in early 2006, I was in bed for an entire month...only to lose our 3rd baby. It took alot of prayer and long talks, to even decide on having another child. God certainly answered our prayer! I felt SO much better during my pregnancy with Joshua. It was amazing, actually. My pregnancies previous to his were horendous to say the least. And with him, I think I probably felt almost what a "normal" woman feels during pregnancy. Certainly not great. But, not deathly ill either. We are so thankful we took that chance to have one more baby. We can't imagine life without Joshua Aaron!

Suffering

I recently came across a blog that a friend had shared with me. It was written by a grieving mother who had lost her precious little boy almost a year ago to a terrible disease. I can't believe how much this story has touched my heart and now I can't help but return each day to read her blog and pray for her as she goes through such horrible pain! I can't help but think of Ryan when I read her blog. Our boys seem to have so much in common. Both blonde, both were so articulate and smart at such a young age. And of course, it reminds me of just how precious our time on earth is. Although, I try hard not to focus on it...we too could lose Ryan at any time due to his horid disease. I have come to realize after more than 12 years of living with SMA, that there is so much in life to be thankful for. Although, my oldest son will never play football (his favorite sport), he CAN play football through his video games and he CAN watch football on TV. And even though we went through numerous hospitalizations with him in his early years, the past few years have been pretty minor when it comes to illness. I thank God daily for Ryan's health. I am not sure if I've been through anything in my life that is harder than watching my son suffer and just struggle to breathe, time after time after time, being completely helpless to stop it all! And of course, adding to that the stress of fighting the doctors and nurses who don't know how to care for an SMA child. The hope that we cling to is that Ryan WILL walk one day, he WILL play sports one day and he will be free of sickness and pain. I can't wait to see it!

Back to school

The kids returned to school today after a two week break! It sure goes by fast. But, we enjoyed our time at home making Christmas goodies, having friends over to visit, playing board games, doing puzzles, coloring, watching movies together and just hanging out as a family.

And now that I have some free time on my hands, I decided to try and create a blog for our family! So, we'll see how this goes or how often I update it. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!