West Metro Miracle League

I know I have said plenty of times that I don't want to leave here because of the programs they have for Corbin. Here is a short video clip of him playing his first game. Because of Sunday games and rained out games, this past weekend was his first game. Look at his face as he rounds third and heads for home. His buddy and coach are helping him run the bases, while Shaun waits for him at home. I love everything about this league.

Click here for an article that was on the front page of the newspaper. It's mainly about our coach and his daughter, but Corbin and Shaun are mentioned in it. The newspaper also took the picture above; it wasn't used in the article, but they gave us a print.

Still Alive

My new motto is, "be careful what you complain about because it can always get worse". I used to say that I would go crazy if I had to fit any more appointments into our schedule. Well, not only did we add another specialist into the mix (an orthopedic surgeon), but the neuropsycologist recommended getting Corbin tested for autism. At first I was opposed to it, and a little upset. I felt like she didn't know what to do because she couldn't test him. He is legally blind so he couldn't see the vision part and he has no speech so he couldn't answer questions. However, the longer I have had to calm down, I realize that if he has one more title besides Cerebral Palsey, Legally Blind, Developmentally Delayed, and preemie, the easier it will be to get services in the future.
And as stressful as all that is, it is only the beginning. But, not all bad. The one thing I have realized since living in Minnesota is you really have to take advantage of the spring and summer. And we have. We are outside every day playing. We have already been to two beaches (it would be more but it has been a very nice spring, only having 2 hot days so far), camping, and to 2 different zoos. Swimming lessons have started, and soon they will get to go to playground camp for two weeks. Corbin is on a Miracle League T-ball/baseball team. It has been a lot of fun. Last week they had the opening ceremony and Corbin and Shaun got to meet Harmon Killebrew (hall of fame baseball player who played for the twins). He was very nice and Corbin got a signed baseball.


We have had two graduations in our family. First, after three long but worthwhile years, Shaun graduated from law school. It is crazy it is already over. I was worried before we packed up our family and moved across the country if it would be worth it. Not only has it been worth it, but the best thing our family has done. We have met and made lifelong friends, and found an amazing place to raise a family. Next on the list is taking the bar. It's like 2 1/2 months of studying for finals. Yuck!!


The second graduation is from preschool. I can't believe I will have two kids in kindergarten. I have to admit it was very hard for me to let go of preschool. We have been at the community center, and partner's preschool since we moved here three years ago. The kids are defininetely ready. Brittan is officially out of special education and Corbin is ready for a more consistent week. I will miss the interaction with the teachers, therapists, and paras, but look forward to the next step. Corbin has had some amazing teachers and paras, and I will admit I cried thinking about Corbin having to leave them behind (they have done awesome with Brittan as well).


The final reason for my craziness is we will be adding the fifth member of our family in November (hopefully). It has been four months of bimonthly appointments and ultrasounds. I love my doctor, she is on top of everything and I am trying very hard not to worry. It's fun to watch the baby grow and develop every two weeks, but it's even better for my sanity to hear from the doctor that everything is looking fine (the ultrasounds are mainly to check my cervix to make sure it is not starting to shorten prematurely again). If, after 25 weeks everything continues to look good the appointments will be less frequent until the end when you have more appointments (haven't been that far before, so not sure what that will be like).

New York City

After winning at regionals for National Moot Court, Shaun and his team had the opportunity to go to New York City and compete. Thanks to Shaun's mom, who volunteered to stay with the kids for a week, I was able to go watch them compete. They did a great job and we had a blast exploring the city when they weren't competing.
I had heard many great things about Manhattan, and I wasn't disappointed. We met some great people, ate some AMAZING pizza, and got to see almost everything we wanted to. The subway system is incredible. Thanks to a couple of very nice people, we were able to figure it out and rode it most of the week.

We tried to sneak into the new Yankees stadium. One of the gates was open, so we walked in and figured what's the worse they'll do? Kick us out. And...they did. We were so close!

The last day we were there was Shaun's birthday. So, what did he want? A custom made Hot Wheels car at FAO Schwartz.
Brittan LOVES cats. She dreams about cats, talks about cats, and carries her stuffed cats everywhere. So, when the hotel we stayed in had a cat, we had to take a picture for her.

We stopped by ground zero, but it is now a construction site for the new liberty tower.

Shaun at the corner of Broadway and Wall street.

We were so lucky we took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty the first day we were there. It was a gorgeous day. The rest of the week was snowy and cold.

We were lucky enough to have time to go to the Manhattan Temple. It is so cool to come out of the subway and see the Angel Moroni.



The Met was a lot of fun. One of Shaun's favorite exhibits...collector baseball cards.

We spent a lot of time at Times Square. We were able to get tickets at the TKTS booth for Phantom. We were on the 10th row in the middle. Definitely a highlight of the trip.

Ant

This is one of my most favorite videos of Corbin. Because of his vision loss, he can't see the difference in similar colors, but can see opposite colors very well. He loves watching ants on our white floor because he can actually see them. In this video Corbin has an ant. He is usually giggling like crazy because it is so fun for him to watch the ants move. Watch carefully. See if you can see the ant crawling down his arm. He then gets distracted by a piece of white lint on the dark blue fabric. Another contrast that he can see well.

Cupcakes

One of Brittan's gifts for Christmas was a cupcake kit. It had everything you need to make cupcakes: bowls, measuring spoons and cup, cupcake tin, apron, tray, cupcake liners, recipes, oven mitt, etc. It said on the box for kids 6+, so I thought I would just let her pretend with it. WRONG! She asked and asked to make cupcakes. I finally told her after a couple of weeks we could try it.
She had a blast and I was impressed by how well she did. I originally thought we would just use a cake mix, but when I realized I didn't have one in the house, we got out the recipe book. I measured the ingredients and she poured them into the bowl and stirred them up. She put all the liners in the tray and then helped spoon the batter into the liners.
While they were cooking, I washed the dishes and she dryed them. After the cupcakes were cooked, she frosted them all by herself. I really couldn't believe how well she did. She is growing up way too fast.
When Shaun came home she was SO excited! She showed him what she had done, and told him he could have one of her cupcakes. But not until after dinner.

Casting

I always forget how hard it is to function when you get woke up every couple of hours at night. Because of Corbin's CP he has too much tone in his muscles. When he doesn't have his AFO's in his shoes (basically braces that help him stand flat-footed, not on tiptoes), he walks and runs on his tiptoes. Now that he is going through a growth spurt, if we don't do something to help loosen the muscles they won't grow with his body and then the muscles will be too short and he won't be able to stand on flat feet. Anyway, the doctors for three years now have been talking about Botox injections, which I REALLY do not want to do. Instead we opted for the less invasive method of serial casting. Basically they cast his legs a week at a time so his muscles are forced to stretch. After a week they remove the casts to see if any progress was made, and then put new casts on.
We did not like the idea knowing that Corbin would be uncomfortable during this time, but also knowing we had to do something. To make matters worse we had to put the knee immobilizer on him at night time to help stretch all of the leg muscles while sleeping.
The first day Corbin had his casts on he didn't seem bothered. He is so used to his legs being bothered with that he didn't seem to notice a difference. The first night we didn't have to put the knee immobilizer on him so that he would have the night to get used to sleeping with the casts on. When I went in to check on him, sure enough, he had his legs bent all of the way so that his muscles weren't all the way stretched. I just stood there crying watching him sleep, knowing how uncomfortable he was and it had just started.
The next day Corbin realized those casts were not coming off soon. He grabbed my hand and put it on his cast. I know he wanted them off so I just tickled him and played with him until he forgot what he wanted me to do. That night we put the knee immobilizer on waiting, not expecting to sleep at all. To my surprise we woke up the next morning, Corbin had slept through the night without a problem. I had put it on his right leg, knowing that it wasn't as tight as his left leg.
After a full night of sleep, I was encouraged and wasn't concerned when I put the knee immobilizer on his left leg. We weren't asleep an hour before I heard him crying. I calmed him down, got him back to sleep, and then went back to bed myself. An hour later we had Brittan by our bed telling us that Corbin was crying. The third time this happened, I took it off. The doctor had told us that sleep was important also, and if he couldn't sleep to take it off. However, I think it had been on long enough that it had gotten too painful and he couldn't go back to sleep. So, I picked him up and rocked him to sleep in the recliner and we slept there for about an hour until I was sure he could sleep. The rest of the week was similar and by the end of the week, we were all exhausted.
I took Corbin into his appointment and after they had removed the casts they allowed him to walk around and play for a few minutes before putting on the second set of casts. I have never seen him walk flat footed without his AFO's. I couldn't believe how much of a difference one horrible week in casts could do. The doctor was very happy with his progress. He told us he would only need one more week of casting and that we didn't have to use the knee immobilizer at night. YEAH!!

We're Back

After two of the busiest months we've had in a long time, I think life is starting to settle down. We had Thanksgiving at our apartment again this year with the added bonus of my brother, Luke, coming to visit. Not only was it is first trip here, but it was his first time on a plane. Brittan loved having Uncle Luke at her house and would wake up every morning, run out in the family room and make sure he was still here. We then had a week to cram in Christmas parties and packing before the kids and I took off for a three week Christmas break.

We first went to Utah for a week for my brother's wedding. I had great intentions to see a bunch of friends and jam in everything Christmas I could in one week. However, after being there two days Corbin got the flu and I had to cancel plans with friends, which I was not happy about. It didn't, however, cancel wedding preperations and the wedding turned out to be a lot of fun (even though Corbin did get into the Brownies playing in them like he would the dirt). Brittan and Emily's (my new sister-in-law) little sister, Lindsey, were joined at the hip and made the cutest flower girls.

After being in Utah for a week we flew to California to spend Christmas with Shaun's family. We crammed quite a bit into those two weeks also. Brittan got sick the day we left and luckily didn't throw up until we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house. She got a couple of days to feel better and then Grandma and Grandpa took us to Disneyland for Christmas. It was the first time I had been to Disneyland, and I think I had as much fun as the kids. I had the best time watching Brittan. She was so star struck by the Princesses. She loves the Disney princesses, like most 4 year olds, and couldn't believe she wasn't getting to meet them. Shaun's mom made her an amazing Belle dress and she loved being told she looked just like Belle. One of the highlights was a lunch with the princesses. Brittan was ready with her dress and her autograph book. She couldn't have been happier. I was worried about Corbin because he doesn't do the crowds or lines. But because of the weather, there weren't too many people and I think he had a great time. One of his highlights, of course, was a roller coaster in toon town. He went on it three times and loved every minute of it.

While we were there, Shaun and I also got to spend two days in San Francisco while Shaun's parents kept the kids. We had a blast walking around the city two days before Christmas. It was a very busy Christmas, but lots of fun.

Since it was our first time to Disneyland, we all got ears (thanks Grandpa!).

I love this picture! I thought for sure Brittan would be too afraid of the characters to take pictures. She surprised all of us by asking to take a picture with them. I think the princesess broke the ice the day before.


Brittan in her Princess dress ready to go and meet the Princesses.

Meeting the Princesses at the Princess lunch.

Corbin and Daddy waiting for Mommy and Brittan to get off a ride.
I have never seen her this tired, ever! She had the best day, and by 6:00 she was out cold. She slept in the car, at Denny's on the seat, and then after we got her home. She didn't wake up until 6:00 the next morning.


Corbin isn't much of a picture taker.
Brittan and Lindsey. They had a blast together and she still asks when she can play with her friend Lindsey.

Getting ready for the reception to start.