2011 Chicago Trip

From June 29th - July 7th, Floyd and I went to Chicago alone for a little Rest and Relaxation. Floyd grew up in the Chicago area. So he took me around to see some of the sites. We toured Navy Pier, Saw the stained glass museum at Navy Pier, Saw buckinham Fountain, walked down to the lake front for awhile and did some shopping for the kids.

It was nice for a chnge not to have to stress over the daily tasks of the home, kids, Doc appointments. We had sooo much fun we have started to plan our next get away alone.

24th Annual Family Teacher Deaf-Blind Conference

We attended the 24th Annual Family - Teacher Deaf-Blind Conference in Greensboro N.C. June 24th - 27th. While Floyd and I were attending the conference meetings, Timmy on the other hand had fun, Fun, FUN with his old and new friends.

Here are a few pictures that I took at the conference. More are to come later. We should be receiving a CD of pictures that were taken during the day of all of the children enjoying the daily activities.

Another Inchstone Reached

Yet another sign that my little guy is growing into a big boy!

By the time Timmy had reached 14 months old, he still hadn't gotten his 1st tooth. We were very concerned and asked his Pediatrician if this was normal, being that Timmy has a hormone deficiency. We were told to address our concerns with Timmy's Endocrinologist.

Timmy's Endocrinologist assured us that Timmy would get his teeth. He stated that one of his boys didn't get their 1st. tooth until he was almost 18 months old.

Within a few days following Timmy's Endocrinologist visit, WHAM, Timmy had his 1st tooth. Three months passed, no more teeth, but time once again for an Endocrinology visit.

Dr. Ali asked if Timmy had any teeth yet. We all were happy to show him that Timmy did indeed have 1 lonely tooth. The others will come he stated. Again within a few following the Endocrinology visit, SURPRISE, Timmy had his 2nd tooth. I swear that Dr. Ali must have placed Timmy's teeth. Once the 2nd tooth was fully in all the rest of Timmy's teeth started coming in like popcorn.

Unfortunately Timmy now has more teeth than his small mouth can hold. So in the near future Timmy will possibly have to have dental surgery to surgically remove some of his teeth to allow room for his permanant teeth as they come in.

Myself and Timmy's Home Health Nurses wiggled and wiggled this tooth for almost 2 months trying to get it out. Each time we would try Timmy would cry. This would break our hearts knowing that we had possibly caused him to be in pain.

Timmy's Teacher in now not only Timmy's Teacher, but also his Dentist. After us trying for what seemed like FOREVER to pull the tooth and Timmy crying each time., Mrs. Bishop asked Timmy to let her try. Timmy giggled and smiled (His way of communicating YES/Okay.) Mrs. Bishop tries twice and out pops the tooth. Timmy DID NOT cry once! Goes to show what a wonderful trusting relationship Timmy has with his school teacher.

Timmy had a Special late night visitor, who bought his very 1st. pulled tooth from him for a grand total of $7.00!

Poor Emily now wants all of her teeth to be loose so that she can pull them all and get some money. She has also request to speak with the Tooth Fairy so that she can inform her just how much she expects for all of her teeth.

Oh forgot to mention, Emily feels that her teeth are worth $20.00 a tooth. Yikes! She doesn't need a Tooth Fairy, she needs Bill Gates!

Dr. Ali's Gift

It is nice when as a parent of a special needs child, we are able to take our children to see one of their Doctors when the child isn't sick. To have a special visit. A visit in which you are able to thank the Doctor for all s/he has done for your child and the entire family. A visit in which you let the Doctor know that he isn't just a major team player in the care of your child, but a true family friend.

It is nice to be able to walk into the clinic, tell the receptionist that the Doctor is expecting you. And No we don't have an appointment. To be called back to see the Doctor after just a few minutes. To see the glares from the parents of children who are tired, hungry, anxious, being unruley, who have been waiting to see the Doctor for what seems like hours. The glares don't bother you, because for once our child is seeing the Doctor and s/he isn't sick. The glares don't bother you, because your heart is filled with joy, love, pride, thanks, so many emotions to even put into words.

We had one of those visits today.

We took Timmy to see his Endocrinologist. Timmy had a special Christmas/Thank You gift to give to Dr. Ali. Dr. Ali is and has been Timmy's/our #1 team player, in Timmy's care, for the past 7 years. Without Dr. Ali's professionalism, care, dedication, knowledge, understanding, and his ability to trust and believe in us as Timmy's parents, Timmy wouldn't be as healthy as he is today.

Thank You Dr. Ali for all you have done and all that you do to help keep Timmy healthy.

Calendar Kids

Timmy along with 12 other extraordinary children, all of them patients of N.C. Childrens' Hospital, will be featured in the 2011 N.C. Childrens' Hospital "A Patient From Far Away" calendar. The children and their families hail from as far west as Bryson City in the mountains to as far east as Newport near the coast. Each month N.C. Childrens' will debut the story behind the patient featured in the calendar spread for that month. The Calendar Kids and their story can be viewed by visiting www.ncchildrenshospital.org/calendarkids
To read a story from a past month, simply click the name of the child you would like to learn more about. The links to the previous months are located to the left of the page.

Timmy's picture and story will debut in October. Yes, Timmy's birthday is in November. Being that UNC's telethon airs in November, the calendar kid for that month is the child being featured during the telethon.

We have a paper calendar, which has a small story entry of each child featured each month. I personally have really enjoyed reading about and getting to know the featured children.

8 Years ago on 9/11/2001

Eight years ago on 9/11/01, it was a beautiful, clear morning. The temperature was very comfortable, in the mid 60's with an expected high temperature in the low to mid 80's. A peaceful morning, like this morning.

I had gotten up, made my then 5 year old breakfast and walked him to meet the school bus. By 7:40am Zach was on his way to school for his 3rd week of Kindergarten. Being the morning was so pleasant, I decided to take a walk to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions, but first I had some things to do around the house. I washed up the breakfast dishes, started a load of laundry and just tidied up the rest of the house a bit, picking up and putting things in their proper place.

At about 8:45am Floyd and I left home to walk the 15 minutes or so to the pharmacy. While we were in the pharmacy, the DJ came on the radio, which was being broadcast throughout the small pharmacy and announced that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Having grown up listening to this same DJ day after day for over 15 years, I knew that he had a sick sense of humor sometimes, so my initial thought was "Yeah Right! What a sick joke guy." Not long after the DJ made the announcement all of the phones in the pharmacy started to ring. I remember over hearing the cashier asking the person whom she was speaking with on the phone to please bring over her 13in. TV, so that they (all of the employees at the pharmacy) could see and keep up with the news reports. After paying for my prescriptions, Floyd and I rushed home. We arrived home just in time to see the replay of the 2nd WTC tower being crashed into.
Even after seeing the news reports, with the replays of the planes crashing into the WTC's, I was in shock and disbelief. Why was this happening? How could something so tragic and horrific happen in our Country? A Country of Opportunity, Dreams come true and Freedom? Who would be so selfish and have such ill regard for human life and be so uncaring to do something like this? I felt sick at my stomach. My heart ached for ALL of those who so innociently lost their lives. And for the families who lost their loved one, who will have to live each passing day with such horrific memories. And for the friendships which had been shattered through death by such tragedy. With the magnitude of the destruction, my mind wasn't able to forsee the out pouring of generousity that was to come from strangers throughout the entire country, putting their differences aside while helping to rebuild and mend so many broken hearts.


My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who lost their lives 8 years ago, to the families and friends who lost that special friend or family member and to ALL of the HEROES of 9/11/01! May God Bless you all!

What were you doing on September 11, 2001?