Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Well here we are yet another Halloween costume made by me and as always with only minutes to spare for Trick or Treating. We had fun putting this costume together and Ethan had fun wearing it. So drum roll please what was he? "I got voodoo, I got hoodoo, I got things I haven't even tried"



The "Shadow Man" from the movie Princess and the frog. Ethan loves this movie.




He was digging the role




Downtown Trick or Treating




Granna and Ethan hit the mall next.



So another successfully Halloween down and Ethan had a blast trick or treating with granna. The costume got big hits at the mall. Mommy and daddy had fun working a Halloween haunted house in Troy. Well Daddy scared the living daylights out of people while i did makeup and laughed at all the people screaming there heads off. It was fun.

Dance Away

Ethan has just been loving his dance class's This so I thought I would put up some pics and videos from a couple of his class's. 

Granna came to dance. this was Halloween night so they are all wearing there costumes.

 

Video's the first is a rythum and shapes dance that they do it is so funny how they all just make the same shape as the teacher. Love it.

 

 

I love it how in the end they are all following my mom around the floor.

First Field Trip

     Here we have some more firsts. The other day Ethan's Kindergarten class went to the WSU Apple Orchard. This was his first time going to the Orchard, first field trip and first time riding that cool yellow bus, also a first field trip for both mommy and daddy.
     We got to start the day actually watching how Ethan handles his mornings at school which was a good insight for us. We learned that personal space is still something to work on but then again that is a part of his WS friendly demeanor. We also learned that all the kids, teacher and aids like him so much to agree to disagree which person gets to have him and another wonderful boy in there group. Ethan did great riding the bus although he did take a power nap on the way back to school. The orchard was cold and a huge up hill walk. Each kid got to pick a gold and red apple and a raspberry. Ethan ate his raspberry. The only things that went wrong is he fell running up the hill and had a minor melt down about sitting on a tractor. Yet it was great to see how the teacher and aids all understood how to redirect his attention to take his mind off of these things. Now time for pic's.



 

Homecoming Parade.

                                2012 Vandel Homecoming Parade.



Granna and Ethan

Whats next?

Grandmas coming Yeah!

Doggie print.

As Ethan always says "I love tractors"

Best seat in the house.

Horses.

First Day

     Ethan was so excited for the first day of school. He is getting so big I can't believe he is already in kindergarten how time flies. Both Kevin and I took Ethan to school and wow was it slightly chaos. The kindergarten teachers were having each kid do a scavenger hunt for alphabet letters to familiarize them with all the things they do in class and were all the rooms they go to are (gym, library, music etc). It was a little intense working among 22 kids and a parent each in the class room but then in the halls were 44 kids and a parent each, yeah reminded me of being back in school, fighting your way through the halls to get to class. Fun times. So we finished the hunt with only one break down over a plane book, but considering our kid wasn't the only one breaking down I thought it went well. Ethan has kindergarten in the mornings. So far he has come home in great spirits and asks me about going back to school the next day. We are off to a good start and he is getting all the support from the teachers and special ed that he needs. Now I will check-in about a week to see if he is really doing good and behaving in class. Im sure he is (I hope).

Lake here we come!

     Our last little fun thing of vacation time was to McCall to soak up some sun and play in the lake. Kevin, Ethan and I plus my mom and dad all got to stay in a nice cabin near the lake. This was Ethan's first time to McCall. Years before it was either me and mom or Kevin and I going. He did ok on the trip. The drive up was fairly smooth as we stopped for a picnic outside of Riggins for lunch then finished the rest of the way to McCall. When we got there we found our cabin which was a little harder to find then expected mostly because not all streets are marked with street signs or the map. We unpacked our stuff picked our rooms and then set out for grocery's and places to play.
     The first day we went on a scenic drive around the lake to find all of the beaches. We stopped at the north end of the lake to play in the water. We had a good idea that Ethan wouldn't be to keen on going in the water or playing on the beach, but with a little encouragement from Papa he got soaking wet. That evening Kevin and I got to go to the Shore Lodge to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. I would love to make this a tradition, sitting there watching the water drinking a peach pina colada and having dinner. To much fun I love it. The next did some more McCall exploring and also drove out to the Golden Fork hot spring outside of Donelly. Now this place Ethan did like. He loved to play in the water, climbing over the walls to each level and playing with the big chess set. On the last day we went to the Pancake House for breakfast I just love the flowers at this place. Then it was on our way home. The drive home always seems shorter then the drive up. We had lots of fun and maybe I can convince someone to go back in February to see the winter festival there. I haven't done that since I was just a kid going to McCall to get some skiing in. Now for the pictures.

Lunch break

Papa look at this, Papa whats this, Papa follow me.

It started out with a Innocent game of drawing in the sand.

Then we were waste deep in the lake fully clothed, even his shoes were still on.

Don't stand still to long you just might find yourself covered in sand.

There goes the men taking the lead. This was also just before Ethan took off running and tripped over a tree root causing scratched up knees and a cut in his had.

Golden Fork hot springs, Donelly ID

There was never a checkmate but more of a your surrounded capture moment.

Kevin and Ethan outside Pancake house

Ethan and I out side Pancake house

Granna and Papa (mom & dad) out side the Christmas house attached to the Pancake house

I love these flowers why can't mine look like that.

Blessed

     The results are in and we couldn't be more thrilled with what we heard. Hearing that everything is fine for now is the best feeling ever. His echo did still show a smaller narrowing in the aortic valve which has been there since he was born and has always grown with him so that is not a concern at this time. The ultrasound reviled the bladder and kidneys to be just great. The blood levels came out normal for the calcium levels. However one of the two thyroid test done did show a difference which is nothing to worry about now but we will test again next year. So all in all things are great. This information came from his Pediatrician and confirmed by the geneticist.

     It's nice to know we don't have to change his diet or start giving him any med's for anything. As far as his development we were told to keep doing what we are already doing. School will be starting soon so he will be back to his old routine with the speech therapist, fine and gross motor skill therapy at school. Hopefully if we can make it work he will still be getting an extra dose of speech therapy at Gritman and maybe another motor skills session, we will see. It is just a blessing to know that even thought he has Williams Syndrome his health is just wonderful for now and his developmental skills have gone from being 1 year behind his peers to only half a year behind. We couldn't ask for a better out come and hope that as he grows older the results keep coming as good as they have been. Yet no matter what happens he is still our little man and loved by so so many. Thanks everyone for all the prayers sent his way.

Tears and Smiles

     This last friday was the day we took our little man to Gritman for his tests. Like most trips to see the doctor we had prepared our selves for the worst. None stop crying from Ethan. Yet we were surprised by how he actually did handle himself, and yet again it is another sign of how much he is growing up already. Now don’t get me wrong it started out just like any other visit to the doctors for just a check up.
     Since the appointments were set we have been avoiding telling Ethan about going for these test and for good reason. It is very draining to here every day that he doesn’t want to go see the doctor and he cries about it. So like the wonderful parents we are we opted not to tell him until the last moment. 1 hr before we left he got the news and like always there was protest but this time there wasn’t a whole lot of time to protest. The first test was the Ultrasound on his kidneys and bladder. It’s not easy keeping fluids in a little guy the minute he laid down he wanted to go to the bathroom. The gal was fast enough to get the picture of his bladder so he could go but getting a picture of his kidney’s was a little harder. Yes he cried the whole time but she was very patient with him and we got it done. Next was the ECHO for his heart. Now we aren’t sure if it was because he wore himself out in the first test or she was just that good but he cried only for one minute with the next gal. Maybe it was a little bit of both. Ethan did wonderful he laid back with his hand behind his head and watched some Mickey mouse while she got every thing she needed. Now the last test. We knew it wouldn't be easy for him but then again when is a blood draw ever easy. The nurse was patient and even with tears it went smoothly. In the end he got a bounce ball, pinwheel, stuffed frog and a smile on his face.
      Now we play the waiting game as usual. We aren’t sure how long it is going to take for the results of the test to be know but once they all come back in it is back to the geneticist for another talk about what is going on his insides. So we still don’t have all the answer and we may never but we are on the right track and as always we will keep everyone updated. Now how about a well deserved vacation by the lake that sounds fun.

Ethans Camo bandaid

Pool Fun

       Finally we had a break in our busy life to have some fun at the pool. Just a few pics from our first pool day. Most of the time all our pictuers at the pool are of me and Ethan, but this time I got to take the pictuers of Kevin and Ethan having fun. Ethan hasn't had any swimming lessons in part that he was never comfortable going in the water. Which like everyhitng else he wouldn't do. We now know a possible reason why. He really still isnt comfortable going in at first but like a true loving mom i always just pick him up and take him out and the both of us get wet. Once he gets wet he general wont let go of us. He will let us hold him under his belly while he trys to kick and swim.

Well this firday is the big testing day wish us luck. We just might have to go back to the pool afterwards to get our happy boy back.

Cousins

This last weekend Ethan and I got to meet my cousin Russells kids for the first time and Ethan got to meet my uncle Jerry (moms brother) for the first time. They are a very active and nice kids to be around. Eby and Ethan really hit it off and were out in the yard playing games. We don't get to see them very often so it was nice to get to see them and have Ethan meet them for the first time.







Here we go.

Well here we go The first round of the testing is set to take place next week. The upside to all of this is that we don't have to go back to Sacred Heart to have the testing done it can all be done here in Moscow at Gritman Medical. In one day they are going to attempt to do an Echo to check his aortic valve & heart murmur. Once that is done they will attempt an ultrasound to check the position of his kidneys. Finally if he will tolerate it they will draw some more blood to check his calcium levels. We will see if it can all be done in one day but the hopes for it aren't that great since we know from past experience it doesn't start or end well. Once these test are done we will have to go back to Sacred Heart to speak with the geneticist about the results again.

When Ethan had to do his very first echo at Dornbeckers in Oregon they gave him a anesthetic to try and calm him down so they could do the echo. Well when they did he had an adverse sort of reaction to it in where he would not calm down in fact it ended up making him lethargic to the point were he would not eat all day long and we ended up in the emergency room at the end of the day because he wouldn't come out of it. Thank goodness he did around midnight. Little did we know at the time that this reaction might have been a part of having Williams Syndrome. They are still doing studies on the affect of anesthesia on WS children but in a case were 26 children ages 6 month to 19 under went 60 surgical and cardiac operations one child a 18 month baby had a adverse reaction to anesthetic. Needless to say that was the first and last time we let anyone give him a anesthetic. We now know we have to inform the doctors before a surgery to beaware of his past reactions and the fact he has WS.

Ethan has gotten better about being around doctors but he will still go into a crying fit even during a regular yearly check up. We have learned to just go with it after all this itme but when it comes to some one new having to work with him its hard to explan to them what is going to happen.

1 in 10,000

      Two weeks ago Kevin and I took Ethan to the Providence Sacred Heart Medical center in Spokane for the counseling and blood draw for some genetic testing. They did a test called Micro-array analysis which told us something we didn‘t expect. The results were that of several (26) deleted genes in the 7^th chromosome which leads to a disorder called Williams syndrome. This is what we were told was causing his developmental delay’s.

      It has been a little bit of a roller coaster of emotions going on in our house hold, but in the end Ethan has always been who he is and even with knowing what he has. It hasn’t changed a thing about him. He has always been our social, happy, music loving, smiling boy and he always will be. Williams syndrome is a little hard to explain but we were told to watch a 20/20 video done on Williams syndrome which we found to be a good short explanation into the disorder. So I posted a link under the Links to the 2 part you tube episode if you get a chance to watch it you might find a small understanding about WS.

      We still however don’t know a lot about how this is effecting Ethan at this time. As we have read many times in all the information about WS this was something that just happened. Nothing could have been done to prevent or know it would happen it is just a anomaly that occurs in development in about 1 in 10,000 births. There are still a lot more tests to be done on his heart (which he was born with the heart murmur), Kidneys, calcium intake and thyroids. None of this testing will be any fun for Ethan since he still has the wonderful dislike for any doctor. As he gets older even more testing will be added to the list to make sure he lives a health life. So as we go through all of these wonderful testing phases I will be posting things we learn here on the blog along with of course some family fun stuff.

Sorry!!

     I know, I know I am a very late on updating this blog thing. I cant help that we got busy having fun, being sick, forgetting passwords and losing my camera. Ok so I guess I have no excuse for being silly about not posting any stuff, but here it is now lol. Here are just a few pics of what we have been up to lately.

I maade this cow costume for him to wear as a manger animal for the x-mas pagent.

Ethan at the Benson farm with family haveing fun on his 5th Birthday.

Ethans 5th birthday party cake for his friends.

Don't mess with the boy and his tractor's.

There first project together building my birthday present a new bench for the porch.

The end product  love it.

Theres my boys i took this same picture in 2010 and it is so wonderful to see how much ethan has grown.

Our little man.