Isaiah 7.17 : Updates, etc.

..is no fun of course which is why yesterday we bought Isaiah a playground/swing set for the backyard. We pooled up all of his birthday money, saved and scrimped ourselves this whole summer and got a great deal this weekend on a nice wood playset for Isaiah. It won't be delivered until Friday but we're excited. It's got a little tower with operable windows, a slide, rock climbing wall, telescope, steering wheel, a trapeze like swing and a couple of standard swings. The best thing of all is that its got a wooden roof. We learned very quickly with our canvas roofed gazebo/cabana that very few fabrics can handle the pine cone grenades that fall 40-50 feet from our pine trees, not to mention any branches that might fall. In development news Isaiah is starting to talk more and more. Still its just word approximations, but its getting better. 'Cheese' & 'Shoes' are still the clearest, but he's getting there with other words. He can approximate m...

Well first day of school today - PreK that is, but he's at the big boy elementary school across the street from our house from 7:15-11:50 5 days a week! We all went through a bit of separation anxiety this morning and I think Rachel has been taking it the hardest. After spending nearly every waking hour of every single day with Isaiah for the last 3 years it's hard for her to let go and let someone else take the reigns, even if it is just for a few hours. I'm taking it on the chin a bit as well. His little pouty face when we said goodbye this morning would probably even make Chuck Norris cry. We hope it'll be great for his development all around. Socially and speechwise should keep progressing at a good clip. We both worry a bit about bullying since he looks so different and is sooooo small compared to the rest of the school age kids. Hopefully he's just too young for that right now, plus they are sort of insulated in the Special Needs Pre-K area.

Well we finally made it to the hotel and settled into bed at about 2 am this morning after being stuck in traffic for three hours about an hr south of the city. The interstate was shut down due to a hazmat truck crash and we all got shoved on a little side road which took forever! So far we're enjoying the symposium. We've had only one session so far and we're looking forward to meeting a ton of new people the next few days.

... in Atlanta for the next couple days at least. Sorry for the lack of pretty much everything for the last couple months. We've had a bunch going on and I just never seem to remember to post when I actually have the time. Later this week we'll be heading up to Louisville, KY for the Annual CCA retreat. (CCA = Childrens Craniofacial Association) They've helped us out by giving us a scholarship for the room and event cost as well as some gas money so we can go for the first time. It'll be great to meet more Apert families as well as many other people coping with other craniofacial issues all while gaining a some practical education at the symposium. It's getting a bit crazy to think that in a little more than 3 weeks Isaiah will be 3 years old!! OUr big push right now is still speech as he's pretty severely delayed. He's on a big book reading kick which is good, but now I'm feeling the pain of reading the same 5 books over and over again. We...

For those of you wondering we made it through the storms last night unscathed. A little less sleep than normal, but everything intact. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. We're hoping all of our friends in the SE, especially those in and around Tuscaloosa and Birmingham are doing alright.

Wohoo the roof has been fixed, and for the whopping sum of $25! The guys that came out first for an estimate said it was a nail that had backed its way out and punctured the two layers of shingles and patched it up lickety split. That's great! Now all I have to do it fix the water damaged ceiling and insulation. Of course since something went well, something 'bad' had to happen too. We were outside playing, enjoying the nice spring weather that Georgia offers and I notice a bunch of flying termites coming out of the ground by the carport. I guess we should've had termite protection all these years after all. Yet again one of those things that drops by the wayside worrying about insurance and surgeries. It should easily be fixed / controlled, just a pain, and more money out of our pockets, but that's the joy of being a homeowner! Oh and did I mention the dishwasher is on the fritz again? Anyways on to the real reason most people read this, Isaiah! He's ...