A day at Occupational therapy

Here is some of what Joey experiences at occupational therapy...

Working with hand strength stretching a very stiff pack of putty. Also, sitting on a balance ball to work his core strength while working with his hands.
Working in the ball pit. This helps with sensory issues he has but also helps core strength by moving about in an unlevel area.

Working on the balance board. This has a rounded bottom that tilts with movement. He was bending to pick up bean bag animals and throwing them on a swing in front of him. This helps with vastibular movement, balance and many areas that I don't know much about! Ha! :)

Home school frustrations...

I don't know if it is in the air or what!!! Today was so CHALLENGING!!!! Miss Abby was not having any luck with paying attention today. Whew! Frustrating!!! She then started pulling the "I don't know" answer becuase she just wanted to play not learn. I had to get creative today to keep her attention! We made it successfully though! I want the sun shine back! I'd have sent her out to burn some energy! :)

~Mindy~

Our van...

Well, we got bad news about the van yesterday. Stephen tried putting in a starter just to be sure but unfortunately that was NOT the problem. the problem lies in the computer. So, they are towing it to the dealer today to see what we can do and get a dollar amount to see if we can even fix it right now. We'll be borrowing a vehicle for now to get to Cincinnati. We have the Jimmy to drive local, but it can't make distance. So... we'd appreciate your prayers. We have a LOT of appointments coming up in Cincinnati. Thanks!

~Mindy~

Feeling relief!!!

Well, I am thankful for the decision to lay down pampered chef. It has brought my stress load WAY down. Didn't realize how much of my time it was taking away! I have been able to do so much more with the kids which is the goal for a stay at home mom. I had become a working mom and now realize why I wasn't happy. God told me I was to be a stay at home.. so I was seriuosly out of his will!

The kids are doing good today. Joey's fevers seem to be gone! Thank God! Poor guy! He still has some shortness of breath when he gets to playing hard. T hat's concerning. We see pulminary in May so hopefully they will have some insight to help his asthma.

Miss Abby is actually doing really good right now. She's doing awesome in school. We took a long break just because of every thing that is going on, but are back at it! That's the nice thing about homeschooling! We can take those breaks when life is overwhelming and then start right back in! We will have to finish through the summer. I'm considering starting her kindergarten in January. She won't be 5 until Nov. 29 so it seems odd to start her right away. If she were in public school, it would be next year anyway. Would be kind of nice to not do school during the holidays. We may take our "summer break" fall through the new year. not sure yet!

Well, have a great day every one! ~Mindy

Too funny...

I had a grouchy moment this after noon and well, this picture cracked me up! got it in an e-mail and well... it looks exactly how I felt! LOL! :)

Busy days...

well, it has been super busy around here!

We are taking Joey to see the nurse practitioner this after noon about the fevers he has been having. Just crazy!

We got back to school today as well. You will notice that I got rid of the homeschool blog. Sis wasn't too interested in keeping it up like she thought she was. I will post here on occasion to show how we are doing, but not really all that interested in one more thing to update daily! It's school work and we are working away at it! That's what is important!

I have so much to do to the house, but just want to be outside! I love this weather!!!

Hope all have a great day!!!!

~Mindy~

How we spent our day....

We went out in the back yard to work. We are trying to give the back yard a serious make over! It's got a long way to go, but it's coming a long little by little! Anyways, we got the tire filled with clean sand and the kids were just extatic! The awesome thing is, they have been working hard with bubby! He HATES sand and the feel of it. Ot has focused on sensory problems with him and we are seeing him over come them! He's SITTING in sand and TOUCHING IT! Two awesome steps all in one night!

We were supposed to go to Uncle Jimmy's birthday party tonight... Well, didn't happen cause Joey's been having his temp still popping up and down. Sissy was so sad that we weren't going to get to go... so we made cupcakes tonight!

Joey wanted up close and personal with his cup cake! (oh, and pardo the mess in the back ground! I never finished my Spring cleaning/get ready for garage sale because of all the sickness going around here! LOL! That's on my to do list for tomorrow! :)

Miss Abby's cupcakes. She is trying hard to do what mommy does and did an exceptional job in mommy's eyes !

And both of their mini cup cakes all together!! Yummy!!!!

battling discouragement...

Today has been another one of those days that you wished you had stayed in bed. I decided to take Joey to a medical clinic today. Well, it was going well until I pulled into the first one and realized that they were closed on Sunday. So, I started to pull out of the parking lot, sitting in the drive, the van dies. Not a person in site. So, I call my mother-n-law to come and while waiting on her, I have to move the van. So, got it pushed half way by myself, warn out. took a break and started again. This timea n officer seen me struggling and came to help. He stayed with us awhile until my mother-n-law came to make sure the kids and i were safe. Got on the go. Get Joey checked in at the next medical center to be denied. They don't take his form of medicaid. So, foiled again! We are now home. Debated on the Er but realized that his fever was down at the time and they wouldn't do anything. Now, his temp is rising nad we are waiting to see what we are going to do. Long day... want some sleep... ~Mindy

sick boy...

Well, My little man is sick! He is running temp of 103.2 right now. Yep, it is after 1 a.m. and I'm awake and watching him. He was short of breath but it was the fever. Gave tylenal and it's slowly coming down. Guess I will be watching him close through the night.

Cinci was a no go...

Well, I had one of those feelings when I got up that just MAYBE I should have kept sleeping! More morning went yuck! I just couldn't get any thing accomplished... Then on the way out of town, I look in my mirror... flashing lights... ho hum!!! Yep, you betcha!!! So, I was busted. I apparently was going 40 before I was supposed to... yep! Thankfully, I just got a warning... but while waiting on him to write the warning, the van dies. Yep, dead as a door knob! So, Rick and Tammy just happened to be driving by. They stopped and jump started us... died again... finally got it home. You guessed it... we missed our nuero appointment!

We took full advantage though and had a beautiful time ENJOYING the weather! It was GREAT!!! Our trip we will get to try again next week! Night all! ~Mindy

Hitting the road...

We are headed to Cincinnati tomorrow with joey. he sees Nuero there. Please pray for safety, but also wisdom on our part. We want to be SURE we are doing ONLY tests that REALLY need frivolous testing just to say we tested! Thanks all! I'll let you know what they say!

I have proven Scripture!!!!

The other night I posted and I said I better not boast cause pride comes before a fall! I have proven scripture to be true and I have fallen! I LOST our card game tonight by a mile! So, take heed my friends... Don't boast and don't let pride rule your life cause one things is true... it hurts to be a looser!!!!!! LOL!

All done!!!

Ok, I have better pics from my digital, but for lack of fighting to down load them right now, here's a pic from my cell. This was made for miss Abby tonight! :) She was extatic. This was my first at trying to draw something on the cake. Gonna have to steady my hand! :) Oh, and that blob on the top, well it was supposed to be a flower but my frosting was too wet and I did it on the cake instead of the nail. So... oh well. It thrilled miss Abby. One day I'll get those flowers down! :)

Look out!!!!

I'm on a cake mission again!!! :) I can smell it already!!! Wonder what it will look like? Soon to find out! I so love baking!!! I might not always make it look the best, but Isure have fun doing it!

Taking a break...

Well, I have come to realize, I am NOT super woman! :) I exhausted and burned out! So... I have decided to permanently lay down Pampered Chef so I can be a full time mommy and wife. There has been a lot of changes in our schedule here of late adding more trips for medical and rehab. So, I'm tired! But, I think it is a good thing. This will free me to get to do more things in my free time that I enjoy. I'll miss doing the shows cause it's a lot of fun to go hang out with some ladies... but, I may just have to find me a group of ladies to hang out with anyways! :) Thanks to all who were a part of making my shows successful! My kiddos need me right now and they need me to not be exhausted. So, it is time! :)

Hungry boy....

My little man right now is much like this story... he's eating and eating and eating!!! I know it is the asthma meds doing it but wow!!!! What a little porky he's being! LOL!

I am the champion!!!!

OK, I am sure that I will pay dearly for this post as pride REALLY DOES come before a FALL! However, I couldn't resist but take a moment to say... I BEAT THE SOCKS OF JEFF at cards tonight!!! Heee hee!!!! : ) 340 for Jeff 580 for me!!! OH yeah baby!!!!!!! LOL! Oh, did I mention he really don't like to loose! Sorry honey! I still love you even though you didn't win!

Handsome boy....

I snapped this picture of Joey at the ER Sunday morning. He was too cute. He had just been playing with sissy in the bed. This was after he started feeling better. He told us "Twight!" That means quiet! "I night night!" Then he pretended to snore. He cracked me up! Little stinker. Gave us a big scare but right back to his stinker self when feeling better! Anyways, today, we took him to the ped. He is doing better. O2 levels still a bit low, but over all, he's not bad. They are doubling his daily Asthma med for the next two months. This isn't a really safe thing for him, so they can only do it short term. hopefully this will prevent this happening again! We are going to see a lung doc at Cincinnati come May 27th. We found that out today. Thanks for all the prayers. Some of you have sent some really sweet e-mails or left messages here and we so much appreciate it! This round of sickness has been really hard to handle for all of us. Joey's had a rough set back and we know that God is more than able! So, we are trusting and waiting for His hand. Obviously He is protecting Joey! So, thank God for that! Have a great night all! ~Mindy

Joey had a rough night...

Hi Every one! We are writing to update you and ask for prayers. Joey had to be taken by ambulance at 530 this morning for asthma. He woke me and couldn't get a breathe and was purple. the breathing treatment I gave him did not pull him all the way out. So.. he had two treatments on the way to ER and another at the ER They gave him a triple dose of sterroid while there. With all of it, it helped enough he was able to come home. He has an ear ache so they are treating him for that as well. pray for a better night tonight! ~Mindy

So awesome!!!!

OK, so yesterday, I couldn't get Joey to get dressed... UNTIL he realized we were going to Aunt Christi's house. He calls her "T". So... I went on about getting things ready not realizing what he was doing. 5 minutes later... here he comes! He had gotten in his dresser. This is where I keep his jammies and his socks. HE can't reach his every day clothes as they are hanging in the closet. So... he picked out a blue shirt with some dinosaur jammy pants and here is the kicker... ONE sock. Yep... so here is his picture of him. He does have another sock on but we don't know where the match to his ONE sock is... so we finally convinced him to at least put a different sock on! LOL! Big boy!!! :D

So tired!!!

I have pics of the kids for you all, but I am toast... so I did the lazy way and uploaded what was already on my computer.... you can see that over on my cake blog. PUt up three new things over there. Night all! www.mindyscakeplace.blogspot.com ~Mindy

Can't resist!!!!

So this had a lot of detail I have never done. 90% of it was a FIRST try for me. I know I have my cake blog, but I had to show this one here! I had so much fun! LOL! So, you can view my cake blog later when I put up some of my firsts there too! :) But for now... here is the sneak preview that is going to make my daughter come out of her skin in the morning! She loves easter, loves cakes and whew!!! She'll be PLEASED!!!! :)

egg hunts and bunnies!!!!

The kids are wound up!!! Today, we head over to Parker for an egg hunt and a visit with the easter bunny! The kids are all excited about it! So is Mommy! I love taking the kids for stuff like this! So much fun! ~Mindy

Weigh day...

I lost 1 pound this week. Puts me at 11.8 lbs. yippy!

At a loss...

I really have not been in the mood to blog, or be social! So sorry. Not sure why. Just tired and having a "funk" kind of time! So... Hm.... Not a lot to say!

The kids are doing ok. Joey has been having a crazy time with his allergies. Miss Abby has an ear infection. No warning of it and we ended up in the ER at 2 a.m. one night! Ug! That was a tiring trip! Then today back in, the ear drum burst! Bummer! At least we were able to go to the peds office. No problems. Just a split so it should heal on its own.

Night all!

~Mindy~

Oh my words!!!!!!!!!!

I have come to realize that my daughter is a complete and total pack rat!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going through rooms with a fine tooth comb, cleaning, organizing, getting rid of and puttin back fr later... and WOW!!! I have worked in her room 45 min. and still can't see the floor! I have found things stuffed every where. Pictures, coloring pages, sheets of stickers, dirty clothes, toys that belong to her brother.... I even found a pan from my kitchen in her room! Guess it was time to pull out the bed and see what she was hiding! LOL! Silly girl!

~Mindy~

What Have you been up to???

Ok, here's what I have been up too... packing up for a HUGE yard sale. What have you been up to?

weigh day!!!

Well, it is Friday!!!! That means time to weigh!!!! I lost 2.2 lbs this week putting me at a total of 10.8 lbs!!! On my way!!!! :) Yippy!!!!!!!!!!!

~Mindy~

Joey's results are in. They have decided that it is in no relation to an injury but is in some form related to a muslce disorder. They are jumping to no conclusions, however genetics has consulted with nuero. They will be doing an MRI very soon. A swallow study is in the process of being scheduled to check throat issues there. we see Nuero on the 10th of this month. Thank you for your prayers!

~Mindy~

Joey update...

Made it home from Cinci!! Long day! Took lots of xrays and blood work. We find out results of all tomorrow. Genetics is connecting with several other docs on our team to make decisions. prayers would be appreciated! Thanks!

~Mindy~

Chaos is our middle name!!!

I feel like I need this sign posted in my front yard! Joey has had some set backs, so we are packing up and getting ready to head to Cincinnati. Meanwhile, Our van is having problems, so Jeff is on his way To Muncie to get his Sisters truck. Then, we are off and running! I have forgotten what these travel days are like! Frantically getting things around to make a last minute appointment, etc. Plus, we are trying to eat healthy. So... I have a cooler packed with enough food for all day! This helps our budget to!!! :) No McDonalds for us! So... we are about to take off to Cinci. Joey is doing ok today. VERY irritable though. Thanks for the prayers for him!

~Mindy