Happy Birthday, America! and Lori!

We went to the cottage for the 4th...great weather, great beach days, great cook-outs, great company. Joan, Dave and Maddie camped and we grilled and chilled at their site till the fireworks on the beach Sat. night. Then back to the campfire, where Drew finally succumbed to sleep. He fought it hard tho! He doesn't want to miss a thing! Lori snuck in a kiss...

We hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. We are blessed that we live in America, and our brave soldiers fight tirelessly for our freedom and way of life. Thank a soldier~!!! :)

Summer...so far

We hope this finds everyone well...we are doing great! Last Saturday our friend Shelby K came to Drew's game and sang the national anthem for us before the game! She is 8 (and a half!) and has a beautiful voice. And the guts to sing that difficult of a song in front of people! American Idol in training!!! :)

It was so sweet. The teams lined up on the first and third baselines, and she was on the pitchers mound. The kids had their hands over their hearts...nothing gets me more than a kid singing...except a bunch of kids listening and cheering when the anthem was over!

We are looking forward to going to visit Aunt Terri in Hilton Head in a couple weeks...we can't wait!!!! Beach days, dolphin cruise, music in the park, swimming, shopping, grillin' and chillin' is how we roll on HHI! :)

Angels among us

Today was Drew's last day of school for the year...till next week when he starts the summer program. He is classified as SXI, or severly multiply impaired so he goes during the summer too. He has a the rest of this week off, then goes for a week, then has 2 weeks off. He also has two weeks off in August. We thank God for the dedicated teachers and para's, and support staff that take care of our kids and teach them academics, life skills, creativity, and have fun!

I gotta give a huge shout-out to Dottie...the world's best bus driver. Ever. We have been blessed with great bus drivers since we started (and I have heard horror stories!), but Dottie has a loving soul and gentle spirit. She truly loves what she does, and it shows. She will not hesitate to clean the kids' faces, wipe their noses, indulge their unique personalities. She makes the ride fun for the kids...at Christmas, there is the Christmas music, the jingle bell bracelets for everyone, the thoughtful gifts. She told me once "I can't believe I get paid for this job"...and I believe she really feels that!

She is an Angel. She marks every holiday with thoughtful gifts, and now that it is the end of the year, this is what I found in Drew's bag. I know there was a similar award in each of the kids' bags...cuz that is Dottie.

The 'Piano Man' reference is cuz we tape Drew's keyboard to his tray so he can jam as he feels the urge. The 'excellence in bus riding' is pure Dottie. :)

We are so blessed. We hope you all have a great summer! Check back for baseball pics...we missed tonight's game cuz Boogie is still under the weather and actually took a nap! He needed it!

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT SUSIE! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Last LOKO post

We ended Lokomat last Friday...I need to tell you that Drew supassed our goal of 50% guidance force for the legs! He did 50% for a good part of the session and then Terri brought it down to 45% Drew did 55% of the leg work for 10 minutes! He complained a bit, but I can only imagine that it was hard work for him! So proud!
We also got some great feedback from his re-assesssment. And video of his truckin' down the hall, while I was holding him up...but only if someone was 'chasing' him!

He also pedaled a lot by himself at CWJR on the bike yesterday...Terri R, are you reading this!? put that in your data for Lokomat!

Kay, I am done talking about Lokomat for a while. Oh, and he did say 'Da'...3 times to call Daddy on Sunday!
Okay, now I am done. :)
~Shout out to Drew, Kylie, ABC, Hannah, and all my other heroes!

lovin' summer

We have had a great start to Summer '09! Lokomat is ending (BOOO :( ) but we have done a lot of fun things so far. We went to the Zoo today with the Wolo Girls. Maggie, Kylie, and Taylor are fun to hang with, and the highlight of the trip was the Arctic Ring of Life. The lowlight was me getting a tinge motion sick from the Wild Ride dinosaur simulator! It's like the reverse bucket list; there are things I cannot do anymore the closer I get to 40!

The Polar Bear was so cute, swimming around and putting his giant paw on the top of tunnel. The seals swimming upside down were totally cute too.

We went to the Zoo with Danny and Monika last week...it was totally fun! Here are some pics of that trip, and a few others.

65%!!!!

I am so proud of my little man! I was all proud of his doing 25% of the work last session...but today, Terri dropped the guidance force down to 65%! so Drew was doing 35% of the work for the last 19 minutes of the session!

We have a week left. Terri is cool, and set a goal of 50% by the time Drew is done. So he will be doing 50% of the work, moving the legs, while she is adding more and more body weight too. Thank God she is pushing him! He is up to the challenge!!!!

DMC/Children's is amazing. We are so lucky to have found therapists there and at Crawl, Walk, Jump, Run that push our kids, and WANT to make a difference!

GO DREW! We are so proud of him. He truly ROXX!!!

Love to all, and GO WINGS!

Time Flies

Drew and Brendan at B's school play Drew talking to 'Beast' his buddy

We are coming up on our last week of Lokomat. :( June 5th is our last day...I have tried to bribe Terri, the PT to get us back in ASAP, but she is too honest.

There is now a long waiting list...and I am excited for everyone on it! We have seen Drew work so hard these past 7 weeks. He has gained better head control, gotten some increased muscle mass on his cute legs, and his trunk seems stronger. He can stand for longer (assisted) than he could before, and he seems to be trying to 'talk' more.

The guidance force (how much work the robotic legs do) is down to 75% for most of the session now! That means Boogie is doing 25% of the movement to make himself walk! And, he is supporting more of his body weight every few sessions. It must be a hell of a lot of work for him...but he comes thru like a champ! I dread the day I have to explain to him we can't go to Lokomat! :(

His Challenger baseball games start next Wednesday. Stay tuned for pics of our lil' sluggers on their new field!!!

The picture of Drew & his brotha-from-anotha-motha Brendan kills me...it was Brendan's idea to put the wig and glasses on Drew! I love how he includes him in everything. We are blessed to have such great cousins!!!!