Joshua's birthday party part 1

Joshua had a wonderful birthday party last night with family and grandparents. I think he really enjoyed himself and is finally at the age where he can really appreciate it.

Jorie's teeth

So, here is the latest on Jorie's teeth. For those who don't already know..last year we discovered that Jorie was losing her baby teeth way too early. She actually lost her first tooth at the age of 3. At the time, we thought it was from a fall. But, are now thinking it had much more to do with root resorbtion. Basically, all of the roots on her baby teeth are dissolving much too soon and noone can tell us why; meaning they will all fall out WAY too early. Her dentist said this is extremely rare and can only think of one other case, but that child had a specific disorder/disease causing the problem; which Jorie does not have. We also took her to Portland to see a specialist and to rule out any underlying disease that might be causing it. They basically said the same thing as her dentist here in town said. Noone knows why this is happening and if it will continue in her adult teeth. Secondly, she is missing 7 adult teeth. So, this means that when her teeth do eventually grow in and if she can keep them, she will still have large gaps and will need several implants and spacers when she gets older. As well as a TON of work on her teeth in the next few years. Braces,retainers, etc..Today, we were told that we better start saving now for her teeth problems as it could cost us as much as $40,000! My jaw dropped to the floor when I heard this. Currently, we do not have dental insurance. But, Steve says that even if we did have it, chances are it would only cover a small portion of that cost! Even sadder for us, though, is what Jorie is going to have to endure in the years to come with her dental work! Poor girl. But, we did have a good report today with NO cavities! The picture is of Jorie after losing her first tooth at age 3 1/2.

Joshua is TWO!

Today is Joshua's 2nd birthday and oh what a wonderful two years we have had with our little boy! He has been such a blessing to our family and we have sure enjoyed him these last two years. Here are a few of my favorite pics. There are so many, though, it's hard to choose. I'm sure there will be a birthday post shortly as well.

Letting my boy grow up :(

It was a beautiful day for a walk and a trip to the park. There is a park about 3 blocks from our house which is nice. It's amazing to me being the mom of such a fragile child, like Ryan, letting go and letting him "grow up" and be independent is a bit scary. Without his wheelchair, Ryan is completely helpless. While lying in bed at night, he isn't even able to lift his arms to his face, turn his head or even roll from side to side. In many ways, because of his disability, I still sometimes view Ryan as a "little boy" and I often times catch myself calling him that. :) But, he's just not anymore! What a strange feeling it was to see my 13 year old boy drive so far ahead of us while on our walk today when I'm so used to him being right by my side. He even asked if he could drive his chair home alone without the rest of us. Knowing he is trying to find his independence, I agreed that he could have a head start. But, that's the best I can do at this point. I realize at some point, he's going to want even more independence and it's something we'll just have to let him try. But, not without an assistant or buddy. If something happened and he fell into a ditch or something, he would be completely helpless until someone came along to help him. In the last picture, Ryan is actually not even in it because he's so far ahead of us! I actually let Joshua get out of his stroller and walk/run for a bit. He sure loved that!

update

Thanks for all the prayers. Ryan is doing well. We think it must have been something else going on that caused the lower o2 and higher heartrate. Although, with Ryan, you never know what is going to happen. Joshua is still fighting something. Thankfully, it's mild. We have had a full day today. I wish I had gotten some pictures to capture it. Today was parent watch day in Jorie's ballet class. She's doing so well! And then afterwards, she had a "family game night" at her school. She enjoyed a cake walk, a bouncy house and several other games.

Ryan

Please keep Ryan in your prayers. Joshua is sick right now. So far it's pretty mild. But, today Ryan's nurse called me from school to report that Ryan's oxygen sats are a bit lower than normal and that his heartrate is elevated. It's never a good sign when his heartrate is up. It usually means he's coming down with something. Please keep him in your prayers that this does not turn out to be anything more than just a mild illness!

Jorie got her ears pierced!

We took Jorie out today to get her ears pierced. She has been wanting to for quite some time and we finally made it over to the Old Mill to get it done today! She was so brave and wasn't even worried about it until the lady pulled out the ear piercing gun. Then she wasn't so sure. I was sure she wouldn't go through with it at that point. After about 10 minutes of talking, holding daddy's hand and sitting in my lap, she finally agreed to do it. She did great! She didn't even cry. Afterwards, we decided to get some ice cream.