A First

There comes a time in every young life,

when you just have to face your fear,

put one foot in front of the other,

take a deep breath and just get it over with.

Do you see that ominous sign in the distance?!?

Today was Eli, Cara, and Brady’s first trip to the dentist!

After filling out 16 pages of new-patient paperwork, it was time for the kids to see what going to the dentist was all about!

I myself have always liked going to the dentist. However, the only concept of dentistry that my children have is from the few scenes in Finding Nemo where Nemo is trapped in the aquarium of an Australian dentist.  My children have watched in horror as that dentist drills away mercilessly in the mouth of a screaming patient.

There were pretty leery of stepping foot inside a dentist’s office, but as I always try to do, I told them how interesting, easy, and fun it would be!?!

We had a great hygienist who showed the kids all of the instruments they would be using and also gave them choices along the way. I wonder if they make you take child behavior classes when you train for that job?

Brady was up first and had some reservations…

I was holding his hand with one hand and snapping pictures with the other. I wasn’t going to miss these priceless photo ops!

It was all going pretty well until the hygienist put on a mask and leaned toward Brady to get started. He instantly just froze up, then rolled over toward me and said, “NOOOOO!”  The last thing that Brady sees before he goes under anesthesia for his scans is a room full of people wearing the same masks. He understandably is quite fearful of anyone wearing one. She so sweetly took off the mask, used some sort of antibacterial mouthwash so that she wouldn’t breath germs on him, and continued without the mask.

Eli was up next and I was surprised by how willingly he jumped up in the chair. Before she could start talking he said, “Wait!” and reached out for my hand. So sweet.

He was the only one who liked Mr. Thirsty (the spit-sucker thing).

I love, love how Eli assumed his usual foot position.

Cara was getting inpatient.

The hygienist could barely help Eli out of the chair before Cara leapt into it as fast as can be.

This girl does everything with intensity and gusto!

The kids’ teeth got a great report! No cavities and pretty good brushing all around! Next up we have to work on flossing and encouraging them to spit out after brushing.

Perhaps the best part of their day was getting to choose new toothbrushes and picking a sticker to take home.

On the way out, I asked the secretary if I could start a savings plan for braces!

Hip Hip Hooray!

So happy. So thankful. So relieved. So encouraged.

I've felt discouraged lately. Life is hard. It gets me down.
God sends his mercy. God pours out his grace.

On the way to Brady's appointment today, I heard this song which was so encouraging to me.


Now onto the appointment. Brady's spine looks great! Can you believe it?
His scoliosis looks about the same (was 15 degrees, now somewhere between 12-18 degrees) and his kyphosis has improved (was 42 degrees, now around 35).

He had 3 Xrays and stood like a still soldier for all of them. Dr. Sanders was very encouraged by the results and thinks that Brady's muscles getting stronger in the past year or so has helped his spine hold steady as he grows. Considering his risk for instability (laminectomy at 5 levels) this is incredible. Some may say that this is "a great medical outcome," I choose to call it "answered prayer!"

I then asked the Dr. what, if any, restrictions Brady has in regard to physical activity. All of a sudden Tball is upon us, the kids love bounce houses, and of course there are the daily wrestling matches between brothers. Dr. Sanders looked at us and said, "No restrictions. Brady Williams have fun just being a kid!"

Tears of joy followed as I told him the story of that day, December 23, 2008 when the specialist told us that Brady would never play Tball because he was going to be permanently disabled with cerebral palsy. Two years and a few months later and we are a month away from opening day. A victory in Jesus that is contained in the 32 pound body of our little boy.

Thank you for continuing to pray for Brady. But for today, would you remember to thank God for what he continues to do for him? Now go listen to that song above:)

Praying for No Change

It's not everyday that we pray for no changes in our lives.

Matt and I are praying for no changes when it comes to Brady's spine. His appointment with the orthopedic specialist is tomorrow. He will have a series of XRAYs to assess the status of his scoliosis and kyphosis. At his last appointment, in July, his scoliosis was 15 degrees and his kyphosis was 42 degrees. We are hoping and praying that there is not an increase in either of these curves. Children with spinal instability are at a greater risk of curve during years of rapid growth. Children up to age 4 are in a period of very rapid growth, then they slow down from 4 until puberty when they hit another period of growing. As Brady approaches turning 4 (1 month from tomorrow!), we are hopeful that he is getting "out of the woods" when it comes to further curve progression, at least for a few years.

I have noticed that the right side of his chest, around his collar bone and under it, seem to be bulging a little. Matt said that this could indicate some change in the curve, kind of pushing that part of his chest out. It is so hard to know if it has been like that for a while, or if it is something new. The XRAYs will give us a good idea of any changes since July.

If you would, please pray that God would protect Brady as he is exposed to radiation (again) tomorrow. Pray that Brady would be brave during the XRAYs as I no longer can stand right next to him because of all the exposure I have had. Pray that God's mighty hand will guide Brady's spine as he grows, keeping it as straight as possible. I'm also going to be asking the doctor what sort of limitations Brady has as far as physcial activity. The triplets are signed up for TBall and I want to make sure we have the go ahead for things like this.

Next up on our schedule in Brady's world are a trip to the eye specialist because of some repetitive blinking he has been doing, a pre-anesthesia physical with the pediatrician, his scans scheduled for April 19th, and his post-scan appointment with the oncologist April 21st. We are going to get all of that out of the way so that we can celebrate Eli, Cara, and Brady's 4th birthday with a whole lot less worry on our minds!

Pictures!

I have been terrible about taking pictures lately. Since our DSLR broke before our Disney trip, I haven’t gotten back into the habit of using it regularly. It did get repaired, but it is stuck on some setting that isn’t right. Of course I have never used it in any other setting than “auto” so I have no clue how to fix it. It is nearly impossible to get good pictures of moving, squirming children with a point and shoot.

Nevertheless, here are a few pictures of recent happenings.

Brady called me into the playroom other day to show me the house he built out of blocks. I thought it was quite impressive and well thought out. Notice the steps out front and the small blocks around the outside. He told me that those were the bushes.

Admiring his work.

The triplets performed in their preschool’s Spring Program last weekend. They had to wear plaid shirts and at first I wasn’t sure what to put Cara in. Then it hit me…one of the benefits of being a triplet with 2 brothers, is that you have lots of boy clothes in your size should you ever need them. I grabbed a plaid shirt I had bought for one of the boys for spring, put a long sleeve shirt under it, stuck a bow in her hair and VOILA! Cara looked cute as can be.

Today my mom invited Cara and I to go with her and my nieces to see a local middle school production of Cinderella. It was a great show and hanging out with “our girls” was so much fun. I decided not to include Allie this time as she is not quite ready to sit in one spot for 2 hours!

First we stopped for an early lunch before the show.

My nieces Aubrey, Natalie, and my Cara.

I got to hold the biggest cuddle-bug in our family, Natalie throughout the whole show:)

My brother’s girls and our girls are so close in age. Aubrey will start Kindergarten next year, Cara will start the next year year, and Natalie and Allie will start the year after that!

Of course Cara had to bring her Disney crown and her Tinkerbell wand (renamed the Fairy Godmother wand after the show, naturally).

 

Silly Boys

I mentioned that the boys and I had an outing together last week. Brady had PT and Eli tagged along. Of course any trip to Rochester must include a little shopping and if Brady has anything to say about it, lunch at I SPOT. 

What, you have never heard of I SPOT?

I SPOT is Brady’s name for IHOP and I love it.

I took him here last month and the boy ate pancakes for an hour. He delighted in trying all of the different kinds of syrup. He tried Maple, Strawberry, Boysenberry, Blueberry, and Butter Pecan. He loved them all.

So after PT and a stop to find the boys Easter outfits, off to I SPOT we went.

And my two hungry, silly boys were with me.

Super silly warning.

On this day I was reminded that having triplets plus one isn’t the only  exhausting parenting gig.

Spending the morning with two wiggly, goofy, hungry, needing-to-go-to-the-bathroom-every-15-minutes boys is quite exhausting too!

Here's What Shaking

Hello out there?!? We are all alive and well. I have just been too caught up with life to find the time to write. I'll just go ahead and say the ever-popular excuse, "I've been busy!"

Here is a quick, unorganized, run-down of what has been happening in our lives as of late:

1. The kids are very anxious for spring. They want to be outside.

2. Matt and I realized recently that it had been quite a while since Brady has had an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. This doctor's office has a "don't call us, we'll call you" policy when it comes to booking appointments. Well, they didn't call us. Come to find out, they were supposed to call us in January and there was a clerical/computer error. We now have an appointment later in the month to check the status of Brady's spine.

3. Scans are coming up in April. Cue the anxiety.

4. I signed the triplets up for T-Ball tonight.

5. I'm sharing my testimony and Brady's story with two groups this spring. I'm excited about what God has in store!

6. The triplets turn 4 on Easter Sunday this year!

7. We are battling a lot of disobedience in our house these days. It is exhausting work trying to shape all of these young minds and spirits all at once!

8. Matt and I have gotten into couponing. We might be total nerds, but our goal is saving money.

9. We had our heating ducts cleaned last week. The kids were thoroughly confused as we waited for the "duct guys" to get to our house. Brady finally asked me, "Will they have yellow feathers mommy?"

10. I let the kids draw all over our front door with markers and crayons (made for windows of course). Drive by and check out their artwork!

11. The Spring Consignemnt Sale and my garage sale have been scheduled. Bring on the cleaning out and sorting process!

12. Brady HATES using nasal spray daily.

13. Taking two almost-four-year-old boys shopping for Eater outfits is a real treat. I laughed and sweat my way through the process of trying on dress shirts, ties, and pants in a dressing room while trying to rangle two silly boys who were distracted by their own body parts.

That's the latest around here. I promise I will get some pictures up before the end of the week:)

Brady Hearing Update

I took Brady to the pediatrician today to have his ears checked. We have been having concerns that maybe he isn't hearing very well as he says, "Huh?" and "What?" often. First the nurse did a brief hearing screen. Brady put on big "ear muffs" as he called them and had to listen for beeps. I thought he was doing a great job, but the nurse told me that he did have, "some hearing deficits in both ears." After the screening, we waited for the doctor to come in. My stomach was in knots as a I sat and watched him play. The poor boy. His ears were bright red and he had that line down his face from being hot. He also has been doing this strange eye tic thing and he was doing that over and over as he played. As we waited I just felt very sad and annoyed by all of these little lingering things that no one can really explain. Of course I also realized that all or some of these things may just be "normal" almost-four-year-old stuff.

The doctor came in and checked his ears and found a "considerable amount" of fluid in both ears. She explained that they were not infected, but that fluid in the ears can most definitely cause some level of hearing deficit. We talked about the possibility of allergies and that made sense to me as Brady does seem to sniff a lot. She recommended that we try a nasal spray once a day to try and open things up. If that doesn't work, then she will perscribe an allergy medicine like Claritin. If that does not work, then she will refer us to an ENT specialist. Sounds like a plan.

She did comment on his eye tic and recommended that we bring him to the pediatric eye specialist. We are in luck there! It just so happens that Cara goes to one every 6 months, so I will call and see if Brady can tag along for his own appointment.

I'm glad to know that I wasn't just imagining the hearing issue and most importantly that there could be a simple solution.