The Walker Kids

Yes, where in the world have we been? It has been a couple of weeks since we have updated our blog and that is terrible! Mommy has been busy at work and hasn’t been much help either. So here is the run down of events:

July 26,2008 Kendra is offically 2! No Mommy can’t believe that it had been 2 years since she was born and knows that she won’t slow down anytime soon. We went to the Butler County Fair, had slushies at Sonic, had McDonalds for dinner, and went to church.

July 27: Visited Mommy and Daddy’s friend Ben and Kelly’s new house. It is really nice there and they have a pool. We were disappointed that they had so many chemicals in it and we were unable to swim but we enjoyed seeing their bunny rabbit Carmel.

July 29: Ephriam had his Occupational Therapy evaluation done. Mommy thought that he did a fantastic job. (Results later in this post.) Last day of OT with Miss Jen (it is bittersweet moving on to the new facility closer to home.)

Aug 1: Time with Grandma and Grandpa. We had lots of brownies, candy, and sugar! Daddy worked on Grandpa’s computer to see if he could fix it. Now it seems to be working fine.

Aug 2: Toured the new Children’s Hospital Satelite Center with Uncle Matt, Aunt Heather, and Luke. We got to meet Ephriam’s new OT Aurora and see all the equipment he will be getting to use.

Aug 3: Celebrated Uncle Matt’s Birthday at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Aug 5: Ephriam’s last speech therapy day with Miss Lindsay (yet another bittersweet good bye.) We then recieved Ephriams OT eval results. Ephriam has improved 14% since his last evaluation. Miss Jen said that she hasn’t ever seen a kid make that much improvement in such a short time. We are so excited for him! We still have a long road of therapy to do. Ephriam is still 2 years behind in his grasping (crayon, spoon, ect.) and only one year behind in the rest. I am sure that he will continue to grow and move forward with this process. Jen said today too that Miss Aurora is one of the best so it will be interesting the new tricks that she shows us. We can’t wait to get to play with her on the 25th of this month.

We are preparing to go on our very first full week vacation! We are going to have a ton of fun! We are taking Nana and Grandpaw with us too! We will let you all know how things go when we get back. For now it is going to be crazy at home with preparations. Wish Mommy and Daddy luck too. They seem to have everything under control so far but we will see what we can help them with. For now we are going back to bed before some one catches us out and at the computer. Check for more updates soon!

Things have seemed to go back to normal for us or as normal as they get around here. We had a great weekend this past weekend. Uncle Bubby came to visit!

He got to our house on Friday just as we were getting ready to eat dinner. Kendra didnt’ say a word through the whole meal. Not even when she bit her finger and wanted Mommy to kiss it. We couldn’t believe how quite she was all night. She didn’t want even Uncle Bubby to touch or hold her. Took her a long time to warm up to him.

The next day after we all woke up we took everyone out shopping so that Uncle Bubby could buy Kendra some shoes for her birthday. We went to Dick’s Sporting Goods, JC Penny, and finally Kohl’s. He got her a nice pair of Nike Free Mary Janes in Black and a pair of Nike pink sandles for at the beach. She enjoys taking them one and off and has worn the sandles out several times already. She then was good friends with Uncle Bubby. One day when she realize that he is the shoe man she will do a great deal of sucking up to him and will win him over with her smile. Just as she was getting really comfortable with him he had to go.

She asked many times for Uncle Bubby’s girlfriend Katie and their cat Zibby. Mommy told her that we would see Katie in a few weeks. Till then she would have to deal.

Ephriam did just fine with Uncle Bubby of course the first place he wanted him to go was to his room to wrestle with him on his bed. He did just fine giving him hugs and kisses and saying Bubby. He enjoyed trying to get Bubby to do whatever he wanted him to do. He made Uncle Bubby nervous on the playground at church doing things that Uncle Bubby wasn’t sure that he could do but he did just fine.

On Sunday when we got up Uncle Bubby was gone picking up Katie from the airport. We spent the day in the pool. It was nice and toasty warm out so the water felt really good. After we ate lunch and took our nap it was suppose to rain at our house but it never did. Got a little bit of thunder and lighting so we had to stay out of the pool. We played inside with Mommy and Daddy and helped to do some chores around the house.

This week should be a normal on for us. We are looking forward to this weekend getting to see our cousin Luke and go to the County Fair with him, Uncle Matt, and Aunt Heather. We will also get to see Mommy and Daddy’s Friends Ben and Kelly too.

Other then Ephriam is getting reevaluated in one week in his occupational therapy. We will let you know how well he is doing then and where he stands when we get results. Otherwise he seems to be progressing greatly in both speech and occupational therapy.

Last week on Thursday afternoon after Kendra had almost 6 doses of Amoxicillin she was still running a fever and wanting to be held. So I called the doctor’s office back and they wanted to see her in the morning.  No sooner did I get off the phone with them and it turn 5pm did Ephriam start laying around on the couch not feeling good. I thought that maybe he was just tired because he didn’t take a nap that day but leaned over and kissed his forehead to feeling him burning up. At dinner we tried to get him to eat but he didn’t want to and ended up getting sick. So I got him all cleaned up and layed cuddled with him for a few and then laid him on the couch. He was out cold sleeping in no time flat. I went to work and Chris took care of the kids. He called to tell me Friday morning that Kendra slept well except was waking herself up with a cough and that Ephriam got 2 more times from coughing so hard.  When I got home in the morning I waited till 8 to call the doctor’s office to see if Ephriam could come with Kendra.  Chris’ dad had come over to watch the kids so I got a couple of hours of shut eye till we had to go. Once we got to the doctors the kids seem to be acting normal other then their fevers. Kendra got looked at first with her throat and it turned out it was still as red as it was on Wednesday. So she was going to change her antibiotic. She looked at Ephriam too and he had the same thing. so he got put on the same antibiotic. They both also got some cough syrup to help with some of the drainage they were having.

Friday night we hung out around the house. Saturday Chris got the kids up and feed them breakfast while I was at the grocery store. Then we just hung out at home. The kids and I did lots of TV watching since it was hot outside and they weren’t feeling well. They did go out for a little while when Chris cut the grass but weren’t out there long before they wanted back inside. Chris went to church and I stayed at home to take care of the kids. On Sunday, I got up for church and Chris was then again in charge of taking care of the kids for breakfast. I got home and it was almost lunch time. The kids went down for a nap early and then got up early so we decided to go out to Target to pick up a few things that we will need for our vacation. Then headed over to Chris’ parents house so that his mom could get a grandkid fix. Chris’ mom also offered to have us stay for dinner. Which was nice for the kids to get out for a bit. Monday they got up earlier then I expected and didn’t nap very well. Hoping that Tuesday will be a different story that maybe after Ephriam’s therapy they will be worn out enough to take a little nap for Mommy to get some rest.

They really seem to be on the mend and are looking forward to Uncle Bubby coming in this weekend.

Kendra is sick again. If the child would leave things out of her mouth maybe she wouldn’t get sick. Nope that is not how it happens. On Tuesday while Ephriam was playing with Miss Lindsay she was doing okay but didn’t seem herself. She stayed in the stroller most of the time and played or drew. When we got home I thought that she was feeling a little warm but it was hot outside and she had fallen asleep in the car so I thought she just needed to get in the house and cool off. After her nap her temp was up to 100.9 so I gave her some Tylenol and she seemed to be doing okay. I gave her and Ephraim seperate baths and then gave her Motrin before bed. On Wednesday morning she woke up with a 101.9 fever. More Tylenol and a call to the doctors office knowing that they were only open till noon. Dr. Lang wanted to see her. So off to the doctors office. There were no other symptoms other then her fever. I was concerned because this is what happened when she had pneumonia in March. Luckily after waiting for 2 hours to see the doctor it is an infection in her throat. It would be unusual for her to step so no culture. Although if she still feels crummy I am to call the Dr. back. Before I left for work she seemed to be doing well with the Amoxicillin and still alternating Tylenol and Mortin. I will see how she is doing this morning. I am hoping no fever and pretty normal. We will see how she does.

(Forgot to say that I will post pictures soon from her Birthday/ 4th of July Party)

This past weekend was really great even though it was very busy!

Thursday: July 3

Picnic at the Brewer’s house. We had a great time. There was tons of good eats! Not to mention a lot of firsts. Ephriam got to do his first sparklers! At first he was afraid to hold it himself and just wanted Daddy to do it with him. Then Mommy got her turn to help him and he took it right away from her when she offered. He was a real mad man running around the yard twirling his sparkler. We both then got to see our first big fireworks show. Ephriam was getting tired so he didn’t sit and watch much but Kendra really enjoy watching them. She also enjoy the music that went with them and tried to dance on the side of the hill. Luckily Daddy had her hand so that she wouldn’t fall. We didn’t get to bed till after 11pm that night.

Friday: July 4th

Mommy got up early and started getting ready for the party. We weren’t up till about 9:45ish. We enjoy our breakfast on cinnamon rolls while watching  TV in the living room. Usually only something that we get to do on Saturday mornings but Mommy was busy in the kitchen. Then we got down and ‘helped’ Mommy finish picking up the living room just before Grandma and Grandpa Lubinski arrived. None of us were dressed and Mommy was still trying to run the vaccum in the living room. We got dressed and enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa before everyone else arrived. Then Nana and Grandpaw arrived and of course once we saw who was here we went running out to them or to Nana rather. We really didn’t seem to care at first that Grandpaw was there. Then one right after another people started flowing in. We were going to have the party outside only it had rained pretty hard in the morning and didn’t really warm up enough for all of us to be outside. Daddy grilled under the car port and Mommy added the finishing touches on the inside. After we had a late lunch we had cake. It was one of the best cakes ever! Daddy’s friend from college Stephanie made it. It was so good. You should order your cake from her from now on at http://stephsweets.com/default.aspx

Then Kendra opened her presents. She got a whole new wardrobe of clothes. Along with some new My Little Ponies, Baby doll clothes, a nice little lamb, and a set of things for her baby dolls (stroller, swing, high chair, pack ‘n play ect.) She knew exactly what to do with them. One day I am sure she will be a great Mommy. After everyone left it was time for bath and bed. It took Ephriam just a little time to settle down and go to sleep, but Kendra on the other hand kept hearing the fireworks and wanted to go outside with Daddy to see them. It was late before she fell asleep.

Saturday: July 5

Daddy and Grandpaw went to breakfast with the boys from small group. They must have had a great time because they didn’t get back till after 11. We then all got dresses and headed out to Houston Woods to take a walk, have lunch, and see the nature center. It was really cool to see the animals. Some of the snakes were the most active that Mommy, Daddy, Nana, or Grandpaw had ever seen. Most of the other animals weren’t as active. After we got done there we went back home to take a nap. Nana, Grandpaw, and Mommy went to Meijer while Daddy stayed at home with us and we slept. We then had dinner and headed out for church. We got to play on the playground for a little bit after that too. Another late night of getting to bed but Mommy and Daddy knew that we wouldn’t see Nana and Grandpaw in the morning.

Sunday: July 6

Mommy made Daddy put up our pool and Nana and Grandpaw bought for us. It wasn’t too hard to do. The water was still very cold when we got in but we enjoyed being wet since it was so hot outside. Once we were all in the pool it started to rain. We thought that it was funny being in the pool while it rained. There was no thunder or lightning or else Mommy would have made us get out. We had a great time in it till Dinner time. Then we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

So that is how we spent our 4th!

This past weekend we spent time at Nana and Grandpaw’s house! It was so much fun! We are missing them now that we are at home. We were really glad to get to see Uncle Bubby and Katie everyday while we were there too.

Friday we had a little bit of a late start due to some things that went on that morning but was probably better for us. When we got to Nana and Grandpaw’s  house Nana meet us at the car. Grandpaw was still at work so he didn’t get to see us till he got home. Ephriam knew exactly where he was when we pulled in saying Grandpaw’s! When they got inside Nana gave each of them a bag of gummi bears. They also started helping Nana cook dinner and had several things to eat. So Kendra didn’t eat anything for dinner but since she had tons of good stuff before dinner we weren’t worried that she was hungry. That night we just enjoyed the company of one another. We shared a family dinner with everyone and hung out together. Mommy thought that it was just fun to watch everyone enjoy us running around and getting into things.

Saturday we got up and eat breakfast of eggs, toast, and a banana. Then we got ready to go to the zoo. Only it was raining. So we headed over to Uncle Bubby and Katie’s house to wait the rain out. We were there for about an hour before we were able to go and we ended up eating our picnic lunch at their apartment. We had a great time at the zoo. Mommy and Daddy couldn’t believe how much walking around we did on our own and how we didn’t ride in the wagon so much. Nana and Grandpaw treated us to ice cream. Kendra only ate about half of hers but Ephriam worked hard at eating all of his. We were all proud of how well he did eating his and only needed a little bit of help. Then when we were leaving Nana and Grandpaw got us animals to remember our trip with them. Ephriam picked out a Giraffe with a leash and Kendra picked and elephant and named it ‘Stinky’ mostly because we all laughed when Daddy said stinky after Nana said pinky. Then we went back to Uncle Bubby’s and Katie’s to have pizza and fruit for dinner. Then we hung out for a while before going back to Nana and Grandpaw’s for a bath and then to bed.

Sunday was Father’s Day and all Grandpaw wanted was for us all to go to church. So we got up and went to church with him. Kendra got to be in the room with one of the girls from Nana and Grandpaw’s small group named Greer. Ephriam was in with the 3 year olds and had a good time with them. Of course he showed his loving side and gave them all hugs. Then we all went out to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. It was way busy and we had a good size wait but it was well worth it. Then we went back to Nana and Grandpaw’s to play in the water so that we would be all worn out for the ride home.

Mommy thought that we did really well riding in the car that long since we hadn’t done it since October. On the way back Kendra thought that we were going to Nana’s house again so she started singing ‘Going to Nana’s House’ and Mommy tried to tell her that we were going home but she insisted that we were going to Nana’s house.

It was a great weekend. We were all worn out but it was totally great. Can’t wait for them to come up for the 4th of July.

Pictures will be coming as soon as Daddy gets his computer all in order again.

Things have been a little bit crazy for us since this weekend. We are so out of wack that we haven’t been taking naps for Mommy. Mommy is hoping that will all change today when we do our normal routine with her.  Friday we were out late, Saturday we slept in and then were out later then normal, Sunday slept in again and had a short nap in the afternoon, Monday went with Mommy to help pick out a Bible study for her and the other ladies at Church, Tuesday was therapy day, and today should be normal. Hopefully Thursday will be too. The weekend will be different since we will see Nana and Grandpaw but that will be okay since we haven’t seen them since January! If you ask us is way too long but we understand so that they can get their house all nice and fixed up.  Monday should be then returning us to normal life again.

Ephriam’s therapy on Tuesday went really well. He did so great with Ms. Lindsay. Mommy will probably work more with him through the week with the things that he has been working on. Mommy did his occupational therapy with him on Tuesday and he is doing super using his special putty from Ms. Jen. He also did a great job holding onto the marking when he colored. Today we will work on drawing a circle and stopping and hopefully some cutting. Mommy wants to see how he does if he doesn’t use the spring loaded scissors that he uses with Ms. Jen.

Kendra is doing great too. She has new tricks everyday. She loves to laugh and play, sing and dance, and of course get into everything! She is sometimes harder to deal with then Ephriam since she has such a good vocabulary and knows how to voice her opion. She is also very sweet and loving. Some times she just wants to “hold me mommy or daddy” and of course we are eating it up while we can. It won’t be long before she doesn’t want to do that anymore and the first 2 years of her life have gone by so fast already.

So that is our update so far. Hoping to post some pictures from our weekend after it is over.

We had a great and hot weekend this weekend.

Friday night we got to see our friends from Akron. Drew, since he is a baby, slept almost all the way through our visit. He woke up towards the end to eat just as the bugs were coming out. We had a great time with Xander though. We all had dinner together and then headed to church to play on the playground. We had a great time since we had the playground all to ourselves for the most part. There was some event at church that had child care so they were hanging out at the playground too. Xander did really well on the playground. He was able to do somethings that we haven’t been able to do. Ephriam can’t do them do to his low muscle ton in his upper body and Kendra mostly because she hasn’t tried. We were out really late for us but we were being so good that Mommy didn’t even know what time it was till we got in the car since we were having such a good time. We also got to see Mommy and Daddy’s friend’s Ben and Kelly. They live in the area so we might get to see them again soon. Right now they don’t have any kids but they are really just getting settled into a house and Kelly is just getting started with her job after many years of school. We can’t wait till we are able to get together with everyone again!

Saturday we went and got some sandles for the summer. Ephriam and Kendra picked the ones they wanted and tried on a couple of pairs that Mommy and Daddy like. They ended up getting the ones that we liked the most. Ephriam got Lightning McQueen ones and Kendra got ones with Strawberries on them (a girl after her mom’s heart.) Then it was back home for lunch and a nap. Mommy got us up from our nap and then she headed to church for a meeting about the new programs that they are doing in the nursery and preschool areas. She also got to talk to one of the ladies in Ephriam’s area and her son loves Ephriam and asks about him if he doesn’t get to go to church with her. She says that Ephriam is doing really well in and not to worry about him not wanting to go to chapel that he is doing really well. Then we headed out to church with Daddy to meet Mommy and go to church. We had a good time and didn’t want to leave the playground when it was time to go home.

Sunday we stayed at home and played. Daddy got our pool out and filled it up with very cold hose water but we played in it anyway and we didn’t want to get out to have dinner that Mommy cooked. So that is it now it is time for bed. Nite Nite.

Here are some pictures of us from the end of May Hope that you enjoy!

Kendra and Ephriam enjoying Mommy’s cereal that was for work.

Kendra and Ephriam playing in the water.

Kendra looking like her Mom!

Hot stuff Ephriam talking on the phone.