Fun with Abby and RJ at HHI!

When I was growing up, I was fortunate to be able to have a close relationship with some of my cousins, despite the long distance. My kids are so blessed to be able to grow up with their cousins close by. Many of you often hear about Abby and RJ (along with Abby and Conner's shenanigans!). Thought you might like to see some pictures so you wouldn't think I was exaggerating about how beautiful they are, even with my brother, Russell as their father!! You know I love you Russ!! Oh, and Chrystal, thanks for your help during the HHI stay! The boys loved spending time with you! ;-)

Chad, Conner and Abby playing in the water after our picture session

She really can be an Angel!

Beautiful boy. He has those Owens' eyes!

Too cute!

RJ relaxin' at the pool!

Aww, best friends Conner and Abby!...

...and then back to normal!

Sweet Potatoes and Refrigerator Magnets

Okay, what do they have to do with each other? Well, they are Cam's newest achievements!

Cam had a swallow study done on Monday. Cam did so well eating at The Grace Center this year, I wanted to be certain that he was doing as well swallowing as I felt he was. Because he has so many problems handling secretions (saliva, etc.), there is always a concern that he could aspirate some of the food into his lungs which would be extremely bad. Well, he didn't eat very well during the test, but they saw enough to agree that I should continue feeding him! We are going to begin working with Speech Therapy at Richland working specifically on oral motor skills as well as feeding. He has always had a strong cough which has enabled him to clear his airway if something went down wrong. He also has never gotten a pneumonia when I have fed him (knocking on wood!!). These things are definitely in his favor as far as feeding goes.

So, we are continuing with the feedings we started working on at The Grace Center and he is doing really well! Today, Cam ate a 1/2 of a container of Stage 1 sweet potatoes! This is so huge for him. He is swallowing it very well and lost very little of it. I think I may have already said this in another post, but he really just tasted stuff last year when we did feedings at The Grace Center. What he is doing now is actually eating! Please say a prayer that this continues and we can get him eating more. I know a lot of you may be wondering if this could mean we might get rid of the g-tube some day, and the answer is that we just don't know. The main thing we want to be sure of is that Cam gets the nourishment that he needs to be healthy. Having the g-tube insures that if he did start eating again, but didn't eat enough, he could still get what he needs. But, I guess you never know.

Erika enourages Cam as he walks up the hallway at The Grace Center












Cody is in the lead followed closely by Jakob who seems to have a little Dale Earnhardt, Sr. in him (just a little bump draft!) and Cam is bringing up the rear!





Another thing we have continued working with is Cam's new set of "wheels" as Clark calls them. Cam's new walker is a hit! He love spending time with it and has begun discovering new parts of the house. The majority of his time is spent in our living room. Well, with the walker, he has begun cruising the kitchen as well! His new thing is checking out the refrigerator magnets. He is also starting to work on pulling the hand towel off of it's perch. The other two boys do that all the time and it drives us crazy. I was hoping that he would pull it off so I could leave it on the floor for Clark to find. Clark would then fuss about it being on the floor and ask who did it. I wanted to be able to tell him, "Cam did!". I think that will happen soon, he is really trying! Another new thing he did today was to run in his walker! He covered the area of our small kitchen in about two good steps! He was so excited he was just laughing, which of course made me laugh. But, probably the best moment was all 5 of us standing in the kitchen right after Clark got home from work. I couldn't help but think how amazing that moment was. Just our family standing together in the kitchen. If Cam has done nothing else, he has really made me appreciate the small miracles God has allowed us to witness though Cameron.

We're done and heading home!

Pictured left to right: Erika, our Conductor; Kristy with Cody; Deana with Jakob, Me and Cam; Stephanie with Hannah Grace



It's hard to believe that we've come to the end of our five weeks here in Hilton Head and The Grace Center. In a way it seems like we've been here forever and in a way it seems as though we just got here. I owe a huge THANK YOU to my Mom for putting up with me and the boys and hanging in there the whole time. I couldn't have done this without you, Mom!!

Cameron has done so well over the past few weeks, as I am sure you have read in the previous posts. This week Cam started off with a record 7 stickers and then kind of slacked off as the week went on. I guess he had the "short timer's" attitude!

For some reason, Cam wouldn't potty for me after Monday, although he did do it twice that day. I guess as with any child, we'll have good days and bad days. We will continue working on it when we go home. We have some of our best conversations while he's sitting there!

Rolling over is getting better for Cam. I can tell him now that he needs to move his arm over or his leg and he will do it! Getting from his stomach to his back continues to be difficult due to his lack of upper body strength. Erika has been trying to show him that he can use his hand to push. Another fun thing to keep working on!




Cam's artwork - "Scenes from the Island"







Play Doh fun!


We continued the week working on opposites and Cam really did well. Even when he cannot verbally answer me, or physically show me, his eyes are still scanning and focusing on the task. Just giving him exposure to these lessons in different ways is so important and I know he is getting something from it. It actually pains me to leave Hilton Head and The Grace Center. Just knowing that Monday morning they will be going on without us is heart breaking! If the last 5 weeks has done anything, it has strengthened my resolve to have this available in Columbia.

We made some great friends at The Grace Center this year and will miss them so much! As always, Hannah will hold a special place in Cam's heart. We so enjoyed meeting Jakob and his Mom. We specially enjoyed hearing Jakob singing along to "Down by the Bay"! We also loved hearing about their Letter Boxing adventures! We also enjoyed meeting Cody, his Mom, Dad and sweet Nanny! Cody has the most infectious smile I have ever seen and I am so glad I have a picture to remember that smile!

We finally took the kids to the beach. I feel bad saying that it took over 4 weeks for me to take them there. We did our beach photo shoot for Christmas cards. We got some good ones and the Christmas card should be great this year!

So, that wraps up our trip for this year, possibly our last one? Stay tuned as Dawn and I continue our work toward opening The Therapy Place!