Christmas Decorations

It's become our tradition to put up all of our Christmas decorations Thanksgiving weekend.  While Steve and I were cleaning up after Thanksgiving dinner, Andrew took it upon himself to start after the decorating :)  He was able to reach one box which then led to getting the Christmas tree up and ready for ornaments.  I loved his eagerness and willingness to help - such a good, little worker!!

Andrew managing all of the ornaments :)

Doing such a great job!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This year Steve and I are hosting my side of the family for Thanksgiving...rather we are providing our house to celebrate :)  My Mom & Dad host every year, but they are in the middle of a remodel and without a kitchen.  So while we are celebrating with the Vehige side at Steve's parents, everyone is gathering at our house to prepare for Thanksgiving with the Bruemer side.  It was nice to come home to such a warm welcome :)  Andrew loved all of the attention while it took Nathan a bit to warm up to everyone.

We are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends and thankful for all this year has given us.  We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and is able to share this special day with their loved ones.

Grandparents Day at Ladue ECC

Today Nathan was able to show his school and classrooms off to his Gigi and Pops :)  He was so excited to have them at school and participate in each of his classrooms.  They were able to meet Nathan's teachers and all of the staff that work with him every day :)  This was the first year they had a grandparents day and I think it was really special for all of the kiddos. 

Nathan is one lucky little boy to have such supportive grandparents.  It was nice to have my Mom and Steve's Dad see everything Nathan does and how he navigates around school.  He is one hard worker and showed off for his Gigi and Pops - he didn't even take a nap this afternoon :)  It was also nice to have another two pair of eyes on Nathan to get another perspective.  They all enjoyed themselves and came home with great reports!!

Here's how Andrew and Nathan came home from school today - got to love my little Indians!!

So proud of their hard work :)

 

CP Clinic at Ranken Jordan

Today Nathan and I headed to Ranken Jordan after dropping off Andrew at school.  It's time for another team meeting with Nathan's orthopedic surgeon, physical therapist, orthotist and doctor along with some other medical professionals.  It's nice to have them evaluate Nathan and then be able to all discuss the plan forward. 

So far Nathan is doing well and we are to just make some minimal adjustments to his orthotics.  This does require another appointment at the orthotist's office, but they are usually pretty quick.  We are keeping his medication at the same dosage and continuing to wear his stretching orthotics at night. 

Nathan did really well with all of the measuring and testing this morning.  He is put through the ringer with everything asked of him and all in all, he was a very good boy :)  We will continue with our scheduled therapy and hope for continued progress. 

Happy 6th Birthday, Andrew Thomas!!

We cannot believe another year has flown by already and Andrew is 6 years old!!  We are so proud of our son and how he makes each and every day better than the last.  Andrew has had a great year.  We've had a lot of changes and adjustments, but nothing that seems to throw Andrew off in the least bit.  He continues to amaze us and takes everything in stride.  We are thankful for all of our memories with our happy, compassionate and inquisitive little guy and look forward to many more!!

It is so very hard to try and not think of everything Andrew has yet to face and birthdays are an especially hard milestone for us.  Today is about celebrating Andrew, but we can't help but hold back tears as we add another year.  Andrew is so excited to grow older and bigger - each year is going to be more challenging for our little man who is still so innocent and carefree.  We continue to pray each and every day for a miracle to keep our Andrew young and mobile... 

Our birthday boy first thing in the morning :)

Singing happy birthday after dinner and an ice cream cone from DQ.

Andrew's birthday wish :)

Andrew's 6th Birthday Party

We celebrated our little guy's 6th birthday today with lots of friends at the West County Safety House - Station No. 2 1/2 :)  We learned about this state of the art facility from a friend at the MDA.  Firefighters all across the nation are unbelievable ambassadors of the MDA and went above and beyond to help us celebrate Andrew's birthday!! 

This safety house is unbelievable!!  They have a mock kitchen that they can "set" on fire - it's all LED lights and controlled by an iPad - you've got to love technology :)  They teach the children how to use a fire extinguisher to put out the fire and it actually smokes once the flames are smothered.  They can also simulate what it's like to be in a tornado...lights flickering, house shaking, loud noises like a freight train - it's really scary!!  There is a bedroom up a flight of stairs that also can simulate a fire by filling up with smoke and the kids have to evacuate by climbing out of a window.  They have every piece of fire equipment hanging on a wall that they explained to the kiddos as well as kids' size uniforms for the kiddos to wear :)  And if that's not enough, there is a retired fire truck and ambulance that the kids can play in and push every single button as well as open any compartment.  I know Andrew was in seventh heaven and think everyone had a fantastic time.  Thanks to everyone that was able to make it and help Andrew celebrate turning 6!!

It's not a birthday without cupcakes!!

Ambulance - they are mounted into the floor without any engine - safety first!!

Uniforms for the kids to try on.

Listening to a fireman talk about fire safety.

More questions and answers :)

The birthday boy and a fire hose - it's heavy even without water!!

Gearing up :)

The kiddos getting up close and personal - they were so curious.

Andrew trying on a REAL fire helmet.

Watching a video and simulation of a tornado - only a couple of kiddos got scared and had to leave the room for a bit.

Andrew putting out a fire in the trash can in the kitchen :)

Nathan driving the fire truck - watch out!!

Andrew in front of the Safety House.

All smiles opening presents once home :)

Ladue ECC Parent Teacher Conference

This afternoon I headed to Nathan's preschool for our first parent teacher conference.  Unfortunately Steve couldn't get out of work to join me.  These meetings are difficult for many reasons and this is the first time I had to fly solo.  Overall, I guess it was a good report for Nathan's progress so far.  This year Nathan is splitting his day between a classroom for deaf/hard of hearing education and a special education classroom. 

Nathan has been doing very well in the mornings in the deaf/hoh classroom and not as well as expected in the afternoons in the special ed classroom.  I love that this is the first time I am hearing this and it's already November!!  I had a sneaky suspicion something was up when his special ed teacher wouldn't send home his progress report before our meeting - that's also fun heading into a meeting to go over a report that you are just seeing for the first time!!  I don't need to go into all of the specifics except that it was very apparent his special ed teacher was not pleased with Nathan's progress thus far.  She only has two goals to work on with Nathan and he maintained his ability with one goal and has regressed on another - ugh!!  Three months and really no progress :(  I left the meeting with asking for the team to come back together via an IEP meeting. 

However, Nathan is doing extremely well in the mornings in the deaf/hoh classroom.  His teacher, speech and auditory therapists were thrilled with Nathan's hard work and progress.  It was so great to hear some good news, but hard to get over what is happening in the afternoons.  Nathan is really not acting like himself and we need to figure out why.  I hope with some more discussion we can come up with a plan and get our little guy happy again and more importantly making some progress!!

Wii Bowling

This afternoon Steve introduced Andrew to the Wii.  We really haven't exposed the boys to video games and Andrew thought it was awesome!!  They played several different sports, but Andrew's favorite was bowling - he broke 100 his very first game!!  Andrew's reactions were priceless :)

First roll.

Waiting for the verdict...

9 pins down!!

Another turn.

Look at that determination.

 

All smiles :)

Dentist Appointments

We headed right after school to the dentist for our six month check-up.  Both boys did fantastic and came away with flawless reports :)  Brushing is not a favorite activity at our house so it's reassuring that the boys' teeth are healthy.  Some days it just doesn't happen between all of the tears and whining.  We are working on getting this to be a preferred activity for more than one reason :)  I am just thankful they like going to the dentist for some reason!!

Hike at Queeny Park

Our neighborhood entrance at Weidman road is across from a driveway that heads into Queeny Park.  Andrew has been very curious as to where it lead to, so today after church Andrew and I took a hike.  It was a gorgeous day and we had a great time exploring in nature :)

Navigating the rough terrain pretty well.

Check out this big stick!!

Walking on a hollow tree trunk.

Andrew checking out a restricted area.