Wonderful Accomplishments :)

Congratulations Whitney on your Confirmation :) We are so Proud of you. Reach for the stars girl...YOU can accomplish anything and everything! We LOVE YOU!Happy Nurses Day ~ To our WONDERFUL Nurses Aleana & Gail! They are our FAMILY :)

Happy Mother's Day ~ My 5 Generation picture! (Taken 5-1-11)

The Whole Crew! I'm very thankful for my family and that I've been able to share so many memories with them. I'm one Lucky Lady to have them in my life for so long :)Danny chatting it up with his Great Great Grandma NaGreen. She is SO FOND of Danny! (Sophia NaGreeen 98)
************************************************************************************
Look what I can DO! My Mom NEVER gives up on me, Pushes me to my limits, and gives me opportunities that I was told I couldn't do :) SMILE!

Not only did I give him strawberries that day, but he licked a Dill Pickle potato chip (ewww), and had some applesauce (YUM). Can you say MAJOR taste overload? But he did GREAT with it. Vanilla Ice Cream is one of his favorites :)

Yesterday Danny was back UP in his stander. After a surgery, where in the beginning, I was told Danny would never be able to go back in. Well............................... Take THAT!

He is more reclined then he used to be, but he's UP and tolerating it :) Have I told you how PROUD OF YOU I AM, DANNY!

Danny's post op appts on Tuesday went very well. We don't have to see Ortho now until he is ready for another rod lengthening. They think it will be right around the beginning of Sept. BUT we'll see what his xrays look like. I will bring him in for xrays the end of the summer. If his curve is stable then I will put off the surgery until HE is ready for it. There is NO sense in growing him out if HE isn't ready for it. Danny is growing up so fast on his own, he doesn't need someone else to do it for him :) The ENT had to pull out another blood clot out of his right ear again, but now that it's out his ear should be good. Just another week of ear drops and to watch the ear tubes and make sure he doesn't have an allergy to these ones.

Avrianna is gearing up for the Summer. She can't wait! We have a few things planned this year: a Drama class, going up North for the 4th, having her cousin stay with us for almost a month, going to St Louis to Jellystone Park and doing some fun activities there, and she has a week long Girl Scout camp. She is going to busy....does that surprise you? NOT ~ LOL! Avrianna is doing really well with her glasses that she got about a month ago. I guess she really needed them ...darn kid should have told me sooner she was having problems. I'm glad we got it taken care of now and she is going great. Her braces haven't been bothering her, only when she gets them tightened does she have some discomfort for a few days. I can't believe how much/ fast she is growing up :( This week I did a bunch of cleaning out and the Barbie's went away, the dolls, the small bike too all went away....makes me sad. My Lil girl is becoming a young lady!

I was able to have my first MS treatment in Milwaukee the same day as Danny's Post op appts on Tuesday. I was so nice to have Gail and Danny there with me. Danny of course was the center of attention :) Everything went great! It's refreshing to say I'm doing good and in minimal daily pain. I didn't think I would EVER feel like this again.....EVER! So I'm grateful for the extra time I have :)

Dan is deligently attempting to get his race car ready. Good thing the weather has been darn right CRAPPY this last month and most of the racing days have been canceled. When he's done with it is should be a whole in car under the hood and electronically (not one of Dan's favorite things to do). I'm sure once the weather gets more like spring/summer around here he will be more busy with Fire Calls too but for now he has been busy with his Fire School and Training.

Mr Gunner got himself a "new" home. Yes the kennel is back! I think he has anxiety when we leave and lately he has been eating shoes when we are gone. Grrrrr! So instead of replacing tons of shoes and a possible vet bill, I went out and got a kennel so he will behave and be safe when we are gone. He is SO NOT impressed with it, but as Dan put it Game OVER and you lost. LOL!

I can into contact with an amazing BLOG the other day. This mother is AMAZING and inspirational. She knows exactly how to say how we all feel. I just LOVE reading her blog. I HIGHLY recommend taking a look at her Blog The Bird on the Street. If anything please read this post she wrote ALL I ASK it is a MUST read for my blog friends and family with and without children with Special Needs. Please Read it! I was going to repost it her on my blog for you all to read but I can not. And this post The Problem with Raising a Special Needs Child. Heck I could many more on here just stop in on her blog you won't be disappointed!

Thanks for checking in on us! Please let us know you stopped by as we love to here from you too.

Picture US cousin

Avrianna is very excited to have her cousin from Tomahawk here for the week. What a great week for Whitney to come. We, oddly enough, didn't have anything planned and with Danny still being out a sorts it's nice to have someone for her to play with. The nurses schedule had been "off" this week with vacations and Danny being gone for surgery so he's been stuck with just his mom more then normal. Which makes it hard to keep Avrianna occupied all the time.
Whitney going down the slideAvrianna going down

These two are two peas in a pod :) They get along very well and they like ALOT of the same things. I'm sure she's LOVING it to have someone your own age around. Both of the girls are water bugs......I finally had to drag them out of the pool at 9:30 last night and they were right back at it after lunch today. Avrianna is going to have a friend sleep over for the weekend while there parents are out. So I'm sure she is going to be worn out. I am going to surprise Avrianna and take her to the Dells next week so I hope she's not too wiped. I think we need to have some much needed one on one time just us. Once again our summer has been cut short with us hanging out together with dealing with Danny and his needs so I'd like to take her somewhere where we can have fun. She's never been to the Dell's and I haven't been there since I was a kid so we'll experience it together. I figure if it has water it should be a hit with her. I can't wait!! One of my girlfriends might be coming and bringing her kids so they can show us the ropes and that way Avrianna will have some other kids to hang with too. Dad and Danny will have some bonding time in the evenings as during the day his "girls" will be here to take care of him.

Boy is it a HOT one out there today, WOW! I'm very thankful for the pool and A/C. I don't know what we'd do without them. With the heat I'm pretty much inside with Lil Man ~ he doesn't do well in this heat, at all. Not to mention heat and MS are NOT two things that play well together. That's ok, I can update the blog and start my newest scrapbook, our Disney trips. Lil man has been a BIG help, I'm telling you he's a great supervisor :)

Danny and I were served our walking papers on Friday afternoon. I wasn't so sure we were going to bust out of there as on Thursday night he become VERY irritable and my gut just sank wondering and worrying if the hook had become unhooked again. I hate that feeling, that it will always be in the back of mind, what if. We still don't have a reason why or how in the heck it happened the first time...so now I've become one of "those mom's" ~ UGH! So I asked if we could order a KUB to see if there was something going on with his tummy (as it was getting very distended again), knowing that I would be able to see the hooks of the VEPTR and know if 1. they were in place 2. something was us with his tummy. My hidden agenda, LOL. I saw the KUB and then took a deep breath as the hooks are still were they should be. Not so funny story here.....the xrays I posted on Monday the ones that sent him back into the OR as the hook was out of place (very obvious for even me to figure out) well the radiologist report came back with hardware in proper position. Are you kidding me?!? Just makes me trust the medical field even more, grrrrr.

Ok now back to the KUB....all I could say was WOW ~ at first I thought F.O.S (full of sh*!) as his bowels are full and black, BUT I found out it's just ALL air. Which is proof that he gut is still not awake. Danny gut is VERY SLOW moving to wake up, this time around too. So he is totally on TPN still for nutrition, but thankfully he is tolerating his meds through his g-tube. We'll just have to be patient, HA, and let Danny do things on Danny's terms or all we go is backwards.

The upper viewLower view

You can also see his new hooks in place and the right hip sublexed (one with the hardware already on it)

Boy was it nice to sleep on our own bed and eat decent meals. I came home feeling very sick to my stomach and exhausted but it was a LONG evening for us. With us getting out so late in the day I didn't have nursing waiting for us when we got home. So even though it was great being home it's always alot of work getting things in place and ready for Danny. I passed out even before my head hit the pillow that night.

The recovery road....AGAIN! This time around has been more painful for him :( BUT we are starting to need less pain meds and his wheelchair time has been getting better. The incisions, must to my surprise, still look great. The steary strips on the top reopened incision are off and it has healed over already....AGAIN! I have noticed a large "Dimple" or divit if you will, right above an incision on one side, that wasn't there before. I am going to have to inquire about it at the post op appt next week. He is healing very well and with my measurements he's grown about another inch with the revised VEPTR surgery, that would make him 48"...... Seriously Danny?!? BOTH my kids have this mentality that this is THEIR world we are just living in it, LOL.

Here's what Dan has been up too....his new hobby. Picnic Tables ~ I LOVE it, so now he has to build one for us as this one is going up north to the Shack. Handmade all for the wood cut from The Newwoods.
I don't know if you remember from the Fourth of July when we were up North for the Fourth we had Dan's cousin from Vegas take some pictures of us..... We'll here are some of my fav's. Thanks Lori!

When it gets quiet and there is a 7yr old around..........

Now I have to get all the pics together and figure out which one we will blow up for our family portrait. I hope to get the rest very soon.

Thanks for checking in on us!