Noah' s Shrek Building Kit from Lowe's Noah has been recovering from a cold. He is coming through it rather well with some antibiotics that made the world of difference in catching it early. Noah of course shared the germ with his little brother. As hard as I tried to keep the two of them apart for germ quarantine, the two of them are simply magnets that find ways to get to each other. If Luke is in the pack-in-play then Noah knows he must roll to get to Luke. Big brother is really smart and knows that he must be near little Luke. The sudden onset of illness (which I think came from a sick hairstylist when they cut Noah's hair and I simply dismissed it as potential allergies), put a big damper on a set of plans that we had over the weekend. Really we rarely, if ever make plans, however this particular weekend we were invited to a wedding which was really wonderful that we were thought of and asked to be included in a couple's special day, we also had hoped to go to the Ice Cream event at the zoo, and build a Shrek dragon at Lowe's with Noah, and Noah also missed his last summer session of hippotherapy due to his illness.
The zoo was so nice and refunded our tickets since Noah was ill; something they didn't have to do but their kindness doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated. And Lowe's allowed Noah to take home his Shrek kit and Noah and his daddy can build it when he's feeling better. So it all kind of worked out okay, even though at the time we were very bummed that we weren't going to be able to participate in anything we thought we'd be able to. But Noah is on the mend and that is always the most important part is keeping him healthy and happy.
Hopefully Noah will be much better by this next weekend and we can work on him helping me bake zucchini bread in the kitchen. Noah was invited to participate in a therapy calendar of him cooking! And I think he'll be great assisting me with a batch of ingredients it should be lots of messy fun for us. And then maybe his daddy him can get to building this little Shrek dragon from Lowe's! We try to include Noah in as many activities as we possibly can. We don't want him to ever feel left out of anything. It often requires a little bit of extra work and thought, but between Noah's daddy and I, we usually can come up with a way to make it work. It's not like neighborhood kids are going to come knocking on our door asking for play dates, so as mom and dad we have to find ways to make sure Noah has the ability to participate in the world like other children his age. And it's important for Luke too, Luke just can't sit on the sidelines because of his brother's special needs, and Chris and I have the philosophy that we never leave a member of the family behind. We just don't. It is all four of us, always and forever and we'll do everything together. So if someone thinks they'll invite Luke but not Noah think again... we're a package deal. A family in every sense of the word.
Noah also was invited to have his pictures done at his therapy school to be featured in brochures and literature about school events. We were so excited for the invitation and honored that someone would think Noah would be a perfect fit. Noah got his pictures taken in a formal tuxedo, 60's spiral tie-dye and during pool therapy - where he was most certainly all smiles. I can't wait to see how they all turned out. I can't tell you how amazing it feels to be included and surrounded by people who understand - and I mean genuinely understand and care. People that don't look at Noah and think wow what a challenge and inconvenience it will be to try to photograph a child that can't sit and has no trunk control. There are days when you're just so overwhelmed with this journey from battles with SSI and Medicaid, to calling equipment vendors, remembering all of Noah's therapies, schedules days, the amount of time required to load him up for the simplest of adventures. And kindness and understanding along the way well it's like pure gold. We've met some really beautiful people along our journey and they are like jewels that I put in my pocket and know yes, they are keepers and forever friends in our lives. They won't just say they don't have time for coffee or be too busy to invite us to the zoo, or ask us to take a walk at the park with their kids. They mean it - they mean every loving word of "I'll be there for you."
It's been so nice to keep in touch with Noah's foundation photographer with Inspiration Through Art, although we haven't known each other long, she sends me the most loving emails as if we've been friends since childhood. She has three boys and somehow I can picture the two of us one day somewhere with five boys in tow sharing our mommy experiences. God does send people along this road he just knows exactly the people to place, when, why and how. And I am so blessed to have two very amazing neighbors, Tracie and Samantha who in a crisis offer to help grocery shop, or even bring us food knowing we are experiencing some difficult times. It takes a special person to care in those ways. Most people wouldn't even consider does the mom up the street with two sick children need any help today. They are always checking in periodically offering help and comfort. I am truly grateful for those that come into our lives. They leave their footprints in our hearts and we owe them a lot of thanks for making our difficult days a little brighter.
Please say a little prayer that Noah continues to stay on the path of wellness. We've been working really hard to get both boys well.
Love,
Noah's Miracle by Stacy Warden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
The zoo was so nice and refunded our tickets since Noah was ill; something they didn't have to do but their kindness doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated. And Lowe's allowed Noah to take home his Shrek kit and Noah and his daddy can build it when he's feeling better. So it all kind of worked out okay, even though at the time we were very bummed that we weren't going to be able to participate in anything we thought we'd be able to. But Noah is on the mend and that is always the most important part is keeping him healthy and happy.
Hopefully Noah will be much better by this next weekend and we can work on him helping me bake zucchini bread in the kitchen. Noah was invited to participate in a therapy calendar of him cooking! And I think he'll be great assisting me with a batch of ingredients it should be lots of messy fun for us. And then maybe his daddy him can get to building this little Shrek dragon from Lowe's! We try to include Noah in as many activities as we possibly can. We don't want him to ever feel left out of anything. It often requires a little bit of extra work and thought, but between Noah's daddy and I, we usually can come up with a way to make it work. It's not like neighborhood kids are going to come knocking on our door asking for play dates, so as mom and dad we have to find ways to make sure Noah has the ability to participate in the world like other children his age. And it's important for Luke too, Luke just can't sit on the sidelines because of his brother's special needs, and Chris and I have the philosophy that we never leave a member of the family behind. We just don't. It is all four of us, always and forever and we'll do everything together. So if someone thinks they'll invite Luke but not Noah think again... we're a package deal. A family in every sense of the word.
Noah also was invited to have his pictures done at his therapy school to be featured in brochures and literature about school events. We were so excited for the invitation and honored that someone would think Noah would be a perfect fit. Noah got his pictures taken in a formal tuxedo, 60's spiral tie-dye and during pool therapy - where he was most certainly all smiles. I can't wait to see how they all turned out. I can't tell you how amazing it feels to be included and surrounded by people who understand - and I mean genuinely understand and care. People that don't look at Noah and think wow what a challenge and inconvenience it will be to try to photograph a child that can't sit and has no trunk control. There are days when you're just so overwhelmed with this journey from battles with SSI and Medicaid, to calling equipment vendors, remembering all of Noah's therapies, schedules days, the amount of time required to load him up for the simplest of adventures. And kindness and understanding along the way well it's like pure gold. We've met some really beautiful people along our journey and they are like jewels that I put in my pocket and know yes, they are keepers and forever friends in our lives. They won't just say they don't have time for coffee or be too busy to invite us to the zoo, or ask us to take a walk at the park with their kids. They mean it - they mean every loving word of "I'll be there for you."
It's been so nice to keep in touch with Noah's foundation photographer with Inspiration Through Art, although we haven't known each other long, she sends me the most loving emails as if we've been friends since childhood. She has three boys and somehow I can picture the two of us one day somewhere with five boys in tow sharing our mommy experiences. God does send people along this road he just knows exactly the people to place, when, why and how. And I am so blessed to have two very amazing neighbors, Tracie and Samantha who in a crisis offer to help grocery shop, or even bring us food knowing we are experiencing some difficult times. It takes a special person to care in those ways. Most people wouldn't even consider does the mom up the street with two sick children need any help today. They are always checking in periodically offering help and comfort. I am truly grateful for those that come into our lives. They leave their footprints in our hearts and we owe them a lot of thanks for making our difficult days a little brighter.
Please say a little prayer that Noah continues to stay on the path of wellness. We've been working really hard to get both boys well.
Love,
Noah's Miracle by Stacy Warden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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