Picture upon picture

As today is physical therapy day and we have a busy afternoon as well, here are a few pics:
Gabriel and his best buddy, Samboni (yes, as in the cat version of a Zamboni, hockey nuts, all of us)


Gabe and Bits both got microphones for Christmas...and sing as often as possible. In this picture, I have been informed that they are no longer Gabe and Bits, but instead, the Jonas Brothers. I had no idea!


SarahAnne and I had matching pig tails the other day and I could NOT resist having Geo snap a picture or two ;)


Gabe and SarahAnne are lucky enough to have TWO sets of great grandparents! We went to visit them on Monday and Miss Apprehensive didn't want anything to do with Great Grandpa, except to touch his beard. Goofy girl.

Happy Birthday Great Grandpa

Happy "19th" birthday Great Grandpa John!! We wish we were with you eating cake and ice cream and having some of Great Grandma's yummy dinner too! It was nice to talk to you :)
xoxoxo

Big Ole' Update Coming At You

I haven't done a proper update in quite some time, so here we go.

George: Lowe's has decided that they are doing some restructuring, which never seems like a good thing, does it? Thankfully, George won't be losing his position; the departments he manages are going to be split up, so he has a bit less responsibility but no loss of pay. He's actually relieved that they are being split up, the departments he runs keep him so busy he's bringing work HOME, which is a no no for our family.

Chrissi: I'm going to be a full time student again in the fall AND quite frankly, that scares me a bit. ha ha. Gabe will be in school, it'll just be Bitsy and me. I am going to probably take online courses the first semester and see how I do and go from there. I should have my registration info later this week...then the fun part, applying for scholarships, etc, starts!

Gabriel: He had his MRI's two weeks ago, we get the results next week. Overall, Gabriel is doing VERY well. He's only seeing his physical therapist once every other month and sees his occupational therapist once a week, however she is in Ghana right now on a mission trip, so he's taking a break from her ;) We are getting ready for Gabe's birthday party in a few weeks, he's decided on a Chicago Black Hawks party; the child is a hockey NUT. He knows half the players on the Hawks, and while they are his favorite team, he always roots on the other team as well. He he. So cute. He excited about starting kinder in the fall and always thinks the bus is coming for him (it goes by our house four times a day) poor kiddos has NO concept of time ;)

SarahAnne: The Bits. Well, she's a holy terror, hell on wheels, if you will, and just amuses us to no end. She is all about the potty lately, she steps onto her stool and perches her little booty on the seat and that's that. No help from momma or daddy at all. The little stinker is so independent it hurts ;) Her vocabulary is huge and lately when something happens that she doesn't like, she says "awww nuts!" To hear her say it just cracks us up to no end.

Sammy the cat. He has a new name, it just kind of stuck. We started calling him Samboni, because of the nutty hockey fans in the house and now he's just "boni" Gabe and Bits chase him and terrorize him like it's their job. And God love this cat, he's never scratched, hissed, or bit them. He is so tolerant of them. He has a "birthday"coming up soon, he'll be three. Gabe has suggested we "invite over a lot of cats" for a party for him. SarahAnne suggested that we invite Aubrey as well. So, you know, if you have a cat that wants to come celebrate a birthday, send him over :) Catnip toys appreciated :)

And that's that, I think that brings everyone up to speed. I will post when I know the results of Gabe's MRI and spinal x rays (later in February) Stay warm everyone!

Just a couple of pics :)

SarahAnne and Aubrey playing with Sassy the dog, I am pretty sure Gabe and SarahAnne would have brought Sassy home if they could have :)
My brothers three kiddos along with Gabe and SarahAnne


More pictures coming soon, I need to unload my camera

home again

We are home and we are exhausted! Pictures to come tomorrow :) xoxo

Off to Michigan

We're off to Michigan tomorrow morning, around six a.m. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend :)
xoxo

snow day :)

We had some excitement this morning. Our carbon monoxide detector went off multiple times and the fire department had to come out and give us the ok to go back in the house. We ended up running to Meijer at 1:30 in the morning to pick up a new detector, the roads were so awful a normally 45 minute trip took nearly two hours :( It's been snowing for about 12 hours straight now, with no end forecasted in the immediate future. Geo is at work so I had the unfortunate task of shoveling the sidewalks and drive way. Ah the joys of being in a house as opposed to an apartment complex :O
Here are two pics of the kiddos enjoying the snow while I shoveled, they are loving all this snow!

Let the fun begin..

After three hours of playing phone tag with the pediatrician, neurosurgeon, and hospital registration office, Gabriel finally has an appointment to have his mri's done at the local hospital. Next Wednesday he'll be going in for an iv and the procedures. It should take between one and a half and two and a half hours and they are checking for a few things: Shunt placement and function, spinal cord appearance, and making sure that his spinal cord has not tethered to his spine where his myelomeningocele is located. (which can happen to children who have a repaired spinal cord) He'll be having the mri's on Wednesday, he'll be getting fit for new orthodics braces on Thursday afternoon, and then Thursday evening, we'll be heading to Michigan for a little R&R with the Michigan grandparents! A busy week for sure, please keep Gabe in your thoughts :)

I've been slacking ;)

Uh oh! Momma has been slacking on blogging, whoops!

We had a lovely Christmas, filled with lots of family and fun. We had a nice quiet New Year's Eve, Bits, of course, conked out hours before the ball dropped and Gabe stayed up until the bitter end so he could get his New Year's Kiss ;)

We picked up our new kitty and he's adjusted quite well to the house and kids. He spends most of his time sleeping in the sunlight on Geo and my bed, not that I blame him, it's the comfiest part of the house! SarahAnne seems to think Sammy is a pillow, Gabe thinks he is a playmate. Thankfully, he's very VERY tolerant of the kids and has yet to snap at them or use his claws ;)

We're getting ready, weather permitting, to take a short trip up to Michigan to see Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle JD, Aunt Katie, and Aubrey, not to mention Uncle Dave and the Michigan cousins. Let's just hope the snow holds off for another few weeks so we can take a small trip and see everyone.

Gabriel is quite the Chicago Blackhawks fan as of late. We went and ordered his birthday cake a few days ago, and of course, it's a Blackhawks cake. I also ordered SarahAnne's cake when I was there, that way it's one less thing to worry about as it gets closer to their birthdays. I can't believe in another five weeks I am going to be the momma of a five year old. It happened SO fast...and then a month after that, the momma of a five year old AND a two year old.

Of course, since Gabe is having a birthday, that also means he is going to be having two mri's, x rays, and yearly check ups from the orthopaedic doctor, neurosurgeon, and pediatrician. Fun stuff. Thankfully this year his mri's will be done at the local hospital, as opposed to having to drive two and a half hours-each way-to have them done at the place we usually have them done. We'll have a lot of driving to do in the next month or so, both his ortho and neuro are an hour and a half away-in good traffic-so that'll be fun-or not. I'll keep everyone posted, of course, about the outcomes of these appts. What I am hoping to hear from his ortho is that we don't need to see him until next February (as opposed to every six months now) and that the neurosurgeon will tell us we are done for two years, as opposed to every year. And on the plus side of ALL of this, our out of pocket deductibles for our new insurance will be taken care of with all of these appointments ha ha Look on the bright side, right?

Pictures to come soon, I promise!