Life at the Selly House

2011-11-10T21:15:00.002-06:00

Jace and Kai dancing to Tik Tok

2011-05-30T21:30:00.001-05:00

'Tis the Season (continued)

2011-05-29T08:37:00.002-05:00

For the continuation please refer to a past blog entry, http://ldselly.blogspot.com/2009/08/day-that-changed-our-lives-forever.html

And for more pics on the tornado refer to this blog entry
http://ldselly.blogspot.com/2009/08/2006-tornado-pics.html

'Tis the Season

2011-04-07T20:17:00.014-05:00

Yep, it's that time of the year again...tornado season. Posting a few pictures again from when we got hit by the August 24, 2006 tornado.

The above picture was taken minutes after the tornado hit, as you can see our house is gone. The garage and house were in front of the vehicles. My car was parked to the left of our truck before the tornado and see where it is after. This picture was taken by our neighbor from their driveway, this is what they saw after coming up from safety. This picture is chunks of our house scattered along the lake shore and in the lake.

This is an ariel shot of where the tornado hit. If you look closely, our "house" is outlined in red; the hole in the ground. Levi's parents' house is the log house in the top right corner with the semi in the driveway.

I know some people probably get sick of hearing about the tornado that hit us, it will be 5 years this summer. I just feel that I can't stress it enough how dangerous a tornado can be and how people should take severe weather seriously. Some may think that I am a paranoid freak about the weather, but my thought is...until you have been through what I have been through, don't judge. I know I have said, one minute sooner, one step over...we would not have survived! We were in the heart of that tornado, which had a damage path of 33 miles. It was rated an F3 in our area. This tornado picked up our house and basically threw it in the lake...we had nothing left but a hole the ground. There are many things that are still pretty vivid from that evening, many things I will never forget. I'm not sure why this tornado hit us and I will never know the answer to that. But I definitely do know that angels were watching over us and guiding us through that evening. Even though we are here today and survived, there are still many things about that evening that are painful. With one of them being the loss of our dog...she did not make it. She was in the basement with us, but things happened so quickly and we were trying to get ourselves and the boys under the stairs and didn't get her right with us. Right at first, we weren't sure what had happened to her. It wasn't until she was found on the lake shore that we knew she didn't make it. As I sit here and write this blog, I get all antsy....I just start thinking about everything of that day and what that tornado did to our life. I'm still bitter about it. I get mad about and think that "it's just not fair". I know that God gives us what we can handle, but that was quite the test. I try to analyze the why, but then just get all frustrated that I just make myself stop thinking about it. It was the day that flip our life upside down with seconds. Up until we got hit by that tornado, I never took severe weather seriously. I had the attitude that it would hit us...boy was I wrong that evening. I look back to minutes up to the tornado hitting. I was just coming back from maternity leave with daycare, so I had one daycare family that day (thank god, they left just before the tornado hit). Gavin was 17 months old and on that day, he played with play-doh for the first time. I had even gotten pictures of him playing with it and had already sent them through email, so I still have those pictures (thanks to the internet). Jace was just 5 weeks old. My daycare kids had just left. I was sitting at my computer getting mad at it, telling Levi that I wished I had a new computer. Levi was making supper. After supper, Levi was bringing his dishes to the kitchen and just happened to look out the window (so thankful that he did). He told me that there was tornado. I got up and looked out the window and sure enough...there was a tornado. You could tell that it was a distance away, but it was heading this way. Dummy me...I flip on the tv to see if we are under a warning...uh duh!! There's a tornado heading towards our house...definitely under a warning. I remember scrambling around the house looking for the diaper bad to bring to the basement (never did find the diaper bag). I put Jace in the infant car seat (just set him in, didn't strap him in), got the boys and our dog to the basement. I was kinda freaking out and trying to keep a 17 month old out of things in the basement. Meanwhile, Levi is outside video taping the tornado. I remember yelling at him to get down to the basement to help me with the kids. He comes down and opens up the one little basement window to look out and it started to get windy. He closes it up and says that we should get under the stairs. Well since we were remodeling the house, we had a lot of stuff in our basement and so much stuff under our stairs. So we are trying to hurry and get things cleared out from under the stairs when all of a sudden we felt pressure in our ears. I remember at that point, we looked at each other and then quickly tried to scrunch under the stairs. And boom! The tornado hit and that seemed like the longest few minutes in my life. I was holding Gavin and hunched over him trying to use my body to protect him. I remember him fighting me, screaming and crying. I remember screaming myself and crying....and feeling the suction...just trying to push myself down on top of Gavin. Levi was on the outside of all of us. Jace was just sitting in the carseat and got sucked up a little and Levi was able to catch him. And I remember Levi was trying to hovering over all of us. I still remember looking at him when I screaming and crying. It was the scariest moment of my life. One minute we are in our basement, somewhat under stairs and the next minute we were basically outside and the stairs were gone. Right after the tornado it, it started to rain. I remember when I finally looked up to see if it was done, we were covered in mud splats. I was so scared. When the tornado hit, we got pinned in by some homemade shelving that Levi had made out of old interior doors. That shelving unit was on the opposite side of the stairs from us. When the stairs went, that shelving unit fall over and pinned us in, which probably saved our lives. I remember being unsure if the tornado was done and questioning if it circles back. Unsure of what we should do...we were pinned in. Then we heard a gas leak...we had to get out. I remember Levi having to push down on my leg to get himself out. He climbed out of the basement (remember there were no stairs anymore) with Jace in his arms. He was going to set Jace in his truck, but it the inside was covered in glass. He came back to the hole and told me that I had to get out and he couldn't help me. I grabbed Gavin and I guess the adrenaline kicked in. I climbed on this wobbly shelf thing that was up against a wall and stretched my leg as far as I could to climb out of our basement. I remember it being so wobbly and thinking to myself that I could not fall and drop Gavin and that I had to get us out of there. I made it out of there! Once I was out of the basement with Gavin, I remember Levi hugging us so tightly and telling us that he loved us. Next thing...we had to get to some shelter. We looked around and there was a lot of damage...we ran to house a few doors down because that was the closest one that was as damaged. We ran over broken down "live" electrical wire, huge branches and debris...oh and I was barefoot, I had no shoes on. We knocked on our neighbors door and was so thankful that they were there to let us in. To be continued.....

Goal

2011-03-05T19:29:00.003-06:00

I know I say this all the time, but I am hoping that I get better about keeping up with our blog. My goal is to post at least once a week. Time will tell if I meet that goal. I sometimes wish that my thoughts could just automatically go onto our blog, that would make it a lot easier ;)

Our photo sharing site

2011-03-05T19:27:00.003-06:00

I'm not posting as many pictures on our blog...you may view more of our pictures at our shutterfly site. www.thesellyfamily.shutterfly.com

Children's Museum in St. Paul

2011-03-05T19:23:00.002-06:00

Last Sunday, we took the boys to the Children's Museum in St. Paul. They had a blast!

Email written by Kai's PT from school

2011-03-05T19:20:00.001-06:00

"Hello All - I had the opportunity to go with KS to his doctor's appointment at Gillette, and Dawn and I would like to share the following info. Some of it is review, but I think it's a good idea to keep it fresh in our minds anyway (Dawn, please add to or correct anything you want). As we all know, Kai has significant joint instability. At this time, they do not feel that he would benefit from any form of bracing aside from his SMOs (foot braces). The doctor feels that, because Kai would need solid bracing at virtually every joint, braces would actual restrict his movement too much to outweigh the benefits of supporting his joint. Even braces for hand/wrist positioning are not an option right now because hard braces would be too restricting, and he would still get too much mobility with soft splints. I asked if there are any movement or activities we should avoid with KS, and the doctor said that the activites that Kai chooses to do on his own, such as walking, crawling, climbing on furniture, etc. are all ok because KS is choosing to do them on his own. That's not to say that he won't try to do things that would be harmful, such as somersaults, or that giving him free reign on stairs is a good idea, but we should, for the most part, let him direct what types of activities he wants to do. Safety continues to be an issue, because KS's joint tend to give out and he doesn't always have the strength to catch himself, so close supervision is still needed for climbing, stairs, etc. Because of KS's joint laxity, he is at a significantly increased risk of dislocation at all joints. While he dislocates his own joints with some of the movements he does, WE have to be very careful not to give any outside forces to increase his likelihood of dislocation. Long story short, be VERY careful not to pull or tug on KS's arms or legs, always pick him up by his trunk, and NEVER swing him by his arms or legs as this provides strong stretching forces to his joints. Finally, and this one is probably one of the most important things to remember, Kai is at a high risk of joint dislocation at his spine and neck due to his ligament laxity. Becasue of this we should always avoid activities like somersaults and upside-down play because this can cause dislocation of his neck/spine which could result in injury to the spinal cord. As much as he likes it, and tries to do somersaults on his own, we really need to avoid this. I hope I covered everything, and Dawn please let us know if I missed anything. Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you,Lindsey"

It's been awhile....

2011-03-05T17:31:00.023-06:00

It's been awhile since I have posted. It has been a busy, long winter! The last few months have been busy....or maybe it's just the boys keep me so busy....OR it's probably a combination of both. And of course, Levi is still working A LOT of hours!

Gavin--Gavin has been doing very well in school. He is quite the sponge, just soakin it all in! Gavin and Jace are now done with Taekwondo. I was a bit torn because I wanted Gavin to continue, but it was a huge commitment. It was just getting to be too much to have Taekwondo be part of our schedule. Shortly before the boys were done with Taekwondo, Master Winkler visited Gavin's class/school. Gavin was able to break a board in front of his class/school. He was thrilled about that. We were very proud of him! Gavin has been enjoying his DS that he got for Christmas. He has also been enjoying the wii. He loves to play games with Levi. Not much to update on Gavin. He just recently had an allergist appointment. His allergist would like us to continue the action plan that we are have in place. Other than that, Gavin is eagerly waiting for his birthday AND to lose a tooth! He has no wiggleys yet!

Jace--Jace...where to begin?? It's been a very challenging past few months with Jace. Every day I am trying to figure him. In January, he started up OT again at Pediatric Therapy. Because our insurance only allows 50 combined visits per year, Jace is only doing OT and Speech every other week. It's a bummer, because he could definitely use the therapy every week, especially OT. We have implemented a few new things with Jace. One big thing, was that we split him and Gavin up. Jace got his own room. His own space...his own mess! This has helped with a variety of things, so it was good change. We also have Jace doing indoor swinging (this helps cut down on the rocking). He LOVES to swing. He is on that swing several hours a day! We have also been trying the brushing technique. Jace likes it and is relaxed at the time of brushing, but I'm not sure if it is really helping him. Over the past few months, Jace seems to be very anxious, bouncing off the walls. He is constantly moving from the time he gets up in the morning until he goes to bed at night, with NO down time. He will go through rough patches here and there. During these times, on top of what I have mentioned, he regresses back to toddler age. He has a lot of toddler behavior. He becomes very defiant at times. Sometimes, it can be something so little (at least to us) that can set Jace off for days. It can be very frustrating. He went through a very rough few days, just recently. It was over about 4 days and he escalates as time goes on. There were a few days that he was so all over the place, he just didn't seem himself. I have a call into his doctor...hopefully will hear something this coming week. I also have an appointment for him with the Development and Behavior Doctor up at Children's in April (that was the earliest we could get in). I just really feel that there is more to Jace. I know some people don't understand, heck I don't even understand all the time. But I think some just don't get it, but when you deal with it on a daily basis...I think one knows their child. There is just more to Jace than we know...he does not act like a normal 4 year old. I can go on and on about Jace, but I want to try to get this whole update publish soon. I may blog about Jace in a future post. Jace will also see the sleep specialist up at Children's at the end of this month. We had been doing melatonin with him, but the last handful of nights we haven't been giving it to him and his has been sleeping through the night...go figure! Wonder how long it will last?

Kai--Kai...he's had a handful of appointments over the past few months and has a handful more in the next month or so. He visited Dr. Moore (Development and Behavior doc) in Dec. I think he was impressed on how well he was doing. During this visit, Kai got to walk down the hallway to his genetics doc's office to show off his walking skills to her. I think she was impressed as well. After all, from an orthopedic stand point, Kai wasn't going to walk. He is now walking 100% of the time. This is exciting and yet it makes me nervous. This has opened up a "new can of worms". Due to his joint issues, Kai does not have great alignment, nor that great of stability. His joints can give out on him at any given time and without warning. This is not fun, when he falls a lot. For awhile there, he had bruise on his forehead that I was calling "a permanent bruise". He always had a bruise there. As soon as the one bruise go away, a new one would appear. He recently has been remolded for SMO's (leg braces). Without these braces, Kai basically walks on his ankles. He will get his new braces on the 15th. His PT from school joined us for his appointment at Gillette with the Rehibilitation doctor. She wrote up a nice email about Kai's appointment and reminders to those who work with Kai. I asked her if I could share her email on my blog, so I will post that separately. I thought it was very well written. Kai's eye appointment went well. He goes back in 6 months. Kai's dentist appointment went better than I had expected. She stressed that we really need to be very good about brushing his teeth. She explained that if Kai were to a cavity, he would need to go to the hospital to have it taken care of. Not all of Kai's teeth are in, but he is going to have some issues with his teeth that will need to be addressed in the future. Kai also had a feeding clinic appointment just recently. He is weighing in at 21 lbs 1 oz and is 30 7/8 inches tall. He is in the less than 3% for both. So he has finally made it over 20 lbs! About 3 weeks ago, we bumped Kai up to 30 kcal for his formula and have decreased the quantity by a little. He is still doing the 4 bolus feedings during the day, but for now we have cut the overnight feeding out. He is taking more liquids orally. So we have added 6 ounces of the yogurt drinks to his daily diet plan to help add calories. I will probably do a separate post about the rest of his feeding stuff. Even though Kai has gained some weight, he is STILL in size 2 diapers! He is still in 18 month clothes as well (he is now 29 months). Kai is talking more. He says quite a few words and he also says some phrases. One of his favorite phrases..."I want down" (that's usually during a tube feeding). A few of his favorite words are "Otoodles" (from Mickey Mouse), "Move" (loves to tell this to his brothers) and just recently..."what?". He is an amazing kid, with normal toddler attitude!

A few randoms from Jan 2011

2011-03-05T17:23:00.004-06:00

We ended up getting a new vehicle in January. Traded in our Trailblazer for this Tahoe. We absolutely love it and it's so much nicer to get the boys in and out.
Kai got his hair buzzed! He looks older!

Took the boys bowling...they had a lot of fun

The Rest of December 2010

2011-03-05T16:32:00.013-06:00

December was a busy month with Christmas, Christmas programs, Gavin having surgery and Kai getting sick. Gavin and Jace both had Christmas programs at school. This Christmas time wasn't any different then the last few...Kai ended up in the hospital. It is starting be a Christmas tradition, that I wouldn't mind ending. Kai got the stomach bug a few days before Christmas and since we couldn't even get him to keep pedialyte in him, he was admitted into the hospital in Mankato. He was put on IV and that helped get him through the sickness better. He got discharged on Christmas Eve afternoon, just in time to start our holiday celebrations. Unfortunately, he ended up still be sick (we thought he was better when discharged). We just backed off of full strength/full feedings and did our normal plan when Kai gets sick like this. After a few days of this, we were able to get him back on track with his feedings and he was feeling better. About a week prior to Kai getting sick, Gavin had surgery. He had two hernias removed and a bilateral orchipexy done. He was so scared about having surgery, but did so well. It helped (for me) to have the same surgeon that has worked on Kai. Gavin's healing process took a handful of days. He pretty much hung out in the recliner and played video games. After about 5 days or so, he up running around and playing just like normal. Below are some of the Christmas pictures. I goofed and uploaded them in backwards order. It is too much to redo, so they will just have to be like this. To view all pictures, visit our web albums at www.thesellyfamily.shutterfly.com

Christmas at my sister's, the boys with their cousins

A quick self timer family picture right before church

Gavin with his presents (Christmas Eve at home)

Jace with his presents (Christmas Eve at home)

Kai with his presents (Christmas Eve at home)

The boys ready to open their presents (Christmas Eve at home)

We spent Christmas our traditional way. Christmas Eve day at home, the boys get to open their presents that are under our tree. Early evening Church service and then off to Levi's parent's for Christmas dinner and presents. Christmas morning, the boys opened up presents from Santa and then we were off to my sister's. She lives about 2 hrs and 20 mins away. We did a late afternoon Christmas dinner and then presents. It was a busy couple of days and I felt bad that the boys got all these nice gifts and basically had to wait a few days to enjoy them! Considering Kai was sick, it still was a wonderful Christmas!

Jace at his Little Lambs Christmas Program

Jace all dressed up and so excited for his program at Little Lambs

Gavin at his Christmas program, he is in the far left front.

Gavin at his Christmas program, far left in front

Jace

2010-12-03T15:11:00.004-06:00

We have had a rough few months with Jace. We have been trying several things to help him. School is working nicely with us. He gets sensory breaks during his morning preschool and then we also communicate through a notebook. We also got Jace this squishy fish that he can have with him so when he feels anxious, he can fidget with it. And school has been okay with him having it there. Play therapist thinks he is regressing back to toddler stages, which some of his behavior is totally toddler like. Jace is like a puzzle to me. I wish I could get him figured out to help him more and so that we can have better days. I believe that his anxiety has increased, which could be the reason why his rocking has increased ALOT! He isn't sleeping through the night and nor does he stay in his bed. He gets up in the middle of the night and goes down to the couch and rocks. So, since he isn't getting a good night sleep that in turns affects his behavior. I called his doctor on Monday and just heard back from him last night. The plan is...to increase his medicine to help with the anxiety. We are going to try this for a few days and see if this will also help with his sleep. If this does not help with his sleep, we will then start melatonin with him. Also, his doctor put in a referral for Jace to possibly start OT again to help with his sensory issues. They will have to do an assessment again, but I have already chatted with them about him so we will see how that turns out. Hopefully in the next week or so, we will see some improvement with Jace.

2010-12-01T16:41:00.000-06:00

Kai is walking!

2010-11-30T13:52:00.003-06:00

Not the best video quality!

Selly Family Update

2010-11-16T09:16:00.015-06:00

Well I haven't been the greatest of keeping up with our blog. I wish I would make the time to blog at least once a week. We are keeping busy. I feel like I am running all the time, with bringing the boys to and from school, Jace and Kai's therapies, doctor's appointments and Taekwondo and then this past month extra visits to my great grandma's. On top of all of this, Levi is on 10 hour shifts. And for those who don't know how Unimin works their guys, they work 19 days on and then have 2 days off. That is a lot of hours if they are doing 10 hour shifts and sometimes it's 12 hours. Or Levi will get called back to work shortly after he gets home. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving break, we are hoping that Levi will have 4 days for that. Kai's update is in the blog about him turning 2 years old. Some time here I will blog about his medical updates. Gavin is doing good, growing like a weed! He is loving kindergarten and is doing very well. It just amazes me how smart he is already! He is doing things that I think is beyond kindergarten level. We just had his conference and he had a really good report card! He has improve on his writing skills and coloring as well. He knows quite a few sight words and quite a bit of math as well. He also gets very wiped out from kindergarten. He is soooo crabby when I pick him up from school. It's kind of a bummer because it's almost every day and it's not pleasant for me or him. I almost wish he would just do a little cat nap after school, but Gavin doesn't really do cat naps. He is one that is out for awhile. Along with him being crabby after school, comes sassy mouth too ( I really think a lot of it has to do with him being wiped out). He is working on having better afternoons after school. Just recently, Gavin had an audiologist appointment. I wanted to have his hearing checked because it seemed like he wasn't hearing that great. My suspicions were somewhat right. His hearing falls in the normal range, but for his left ear, it is barley in the range. She also tested the pressure in his ears. There is negative pressure in his left ear. She stated that if he were to keep going this way with that pressure, he could potentially have a hearing loss. So Gavin sees the ENT on Monday to see what he would like to do to relieve that pressure. Gavin also had a pulmonologist appointment recently. They did that blowing test ( I can't remember what it is called). He did ok, but the numbers I think were on the low side. His doctor said to continue the Asthma Control Plan that we have for him and to continue the daily medicines. I have noticed that his asthma is flaring up, so I think we are gonna have to step it up a notch.

There isn't much to update about Levi, he work a lot of hours and is wiped out a lot. As far as me, for someone who doesn't work, I sure keep really busy. I just feel like I can't keep up with everything and it is sometimes hard to find balance. In the past month, I have been helping my great grandma a lot. She is getting up there in age, she just turned 93! It is getting a bit challenging for her to do things. She's can barley see, has a hard to hearing and has a hard time getting around. She still lives on her own in a high rise in Edina. She has asked me to help her with multiple things. I have recently been added to checking account and now power of attorney of her finances. I am currently helping her get her Will prepared with a lawyer and also I will be the guardian of her when she becomes incapacitated. So it has been a little hectic trying get everything taken care of, especially when she is a little over an hour away. I have also been trying to get the rest of our things unpacked! Yes, I know, we moved here at the end of April! I am trying to go through things and get rid of stuff we no longer use or don't need.

Jace's update: Love this kid to death, but he is definitely my most challenging! This past month or so has been really challenging. A lot of people just look at his behaviors as just "bad behavior". But it's really not (there are times that it is). There is so much to Jace that people don't see and understand. Heck, I don't always understand. I am trying to learn more about Jace so that I can help him more and in turn then he can function more like a regular 4 year old. For those who don't really know about Jace's stuff...Jace has been diagnosed with overanxious childhood disorder (childhood anxiety) with some OCD features. Jace also shows autistic traits and SPD (sensory processing disorder) traits. On top of all of this, Jace has a speech delay. So if you know about some of these disorders, you can probably relate to how challenging it can be. Jace still continues to do speech therapy at Pediatric Therapy every week. He speech has improved a lot! We were going through a period about a month or so ago where Jace's behavior was really bad. He was rocking A LOT more and not sleeping through the nights anymore. I wish I had video of his rocking to show people who haven't seen it. It can get very intense! Jace continues to do play therapy as well, so I had talked to his therapist about it. He got bumped to doing play therapy every week instead of every other. We had learned a few things. The main thing was he wasn't enjoying his morning preschool anymore. We still don't' know exactly way, but I have been in contact with his teacher and OT at school. I found out that he was doing some silly behaviors, nothing too bad. His therapist said that he was doing those silly behaviors because he is trying to work through whatever is bothering at school. So Jace now gets sensory breaks at school. He just started them last week, so we will see how it goes. We are gonna try some therapeutic listening with him. Jace saw his regular doctor (who is excellent doctor for these kinds of things) and he would like us to try these new things to see if they help before upping his medicine dose. As far as the rocking....it can be challenging at times. Jace NEEDS that hard impact. This is the only way he knows how to wear himself down. So we are working on a few things at home to help him with that. We are trying to do some rough house play at night time just before bed. We got him a sit and spin for Christmas. We are also looking a getting a hammock swing for the doorway swing. As far as him sleeping through the night, part of the problem is that he falls of of bed and then the only way for him to get back to sleep is to rock. I was looking into getting him a bed bolster, but they are kind spendy. So I got creative and made one kind of. I got a body pillow and a deep fitted sheet. I put the body pillow under the sheet length wise of the bed. So this acts kinda like a bed bolster and it's comfy. I did this two days ago and so far the past two nights he has slept through the night and in his bed...yeah! I hope this works long term. I will have to get a picture of what it looks like and post. So as you can see, it's been a little hectic around here trying to help Jace meet his needs. I can go on and on about his stuff and the different disorders, but.... So if anyone who reads this has any other ideas that may help Jace, feel free to let me know.

Jace's bed with my homemade bed bolster

First Snow Fall 2010

2010-11-16T08:59:00.008-06:00

November 13th, 2010--The first snow fall of the year. This is the first time Kai actually got out and "played" played in the snow. He did not like it! He lasted just a few minutes, just long enough for me to get some pictures. Gavin and Jace had a blast. They played out in the snow for a long time.

Hotel in St. Cloud

2010-11-16T06:46:00.013-06:00

The first weekend in November we went up to a hotel in St.Cloud for a little weekend getaway. The boys had a lot of fun. We meet up with cousins during the day on Saturday and then Saturday night we had dinner with my cousin, Kim and her boys, friend Berta and her husband, Brandon, friend Kayla, her husband Rukshan and their kids. It was a great time!

Kai having fun in the wading pool

Kai kept wanting to go up and down the stairs

Gavin (the pool water was a little chilly)

Gavin and Jace playing with the Ipad

Kai eating

Kai trying to play the games

Gavin and Jace with their cousins, Alex and Josiah

Gavin and Jace playing in the water

Jace had fun playing with the sprayer

Jace

It was a great time! This sicknesses didn't stop us. Just before the weekend Jace and Kai had gotten pink eye. Jace's cleared up right away, but Kai's didn't. Kai had an icky virus as well. After day 5, they switched him to different drops and that helped a lot. He also broke out in petechiea (non-blanching spots). It is where the blood vessels were breaking. They had run some blood work and everything look good. They think it was due to the virus he had. The night before going to hotel, I ended up with pink eye and then Friday night of that week, Levi got pink eye. So the pink eye part was no fun. Levi's was really bad. We were suppose to head over to Pine City for my nieces birthday party that Sunday, but Levi needed to get home to get in with the doctor. Gavin lucked out and didn't catch the pink eye.

Halloween

2010-11-15T19:44:00.018-06:00

The boys had a lot of fun with Halloween this year.

Pumpkin Carving!

The boys also did a gingerbread haunted house. It was actually kinda difficult to do. Some of the materials did not work very good, but they had fun anyway.

We had grandpa and grandpa (Levi's parents) and Joan over for supper. It was "make your own pizza" night. I think everyone enjoyed making their own pizza and they turned out really yummy!

Gavin, Kai and Jace

Grandma and Grandpa took Gavin and Jace around trick or treating while Levi and I stayed behind to pass out candy and hang out with Kai. The boys had a lot of fun and ended up with a lot of candy by the end of the night. We had a good turn out for trick or treaters. We counted 56 of them!

Random pictures

2010-11-15T19:25:00.008-06:00

Visiting great grandma (great, great to the boys).

Kai sitting on great grandma's couch eating fries.

Leave it up to Kai to climb in the oddest spots. He always plays with the stuff in this cupboard, but this was the first time he climbed in. Then he did get stuck and Levi had to get him out.

Jace

Kai really enjoys getting his back rubbed!

Kai and his new highchair. This one is one that will grow with him. We really like it and it is nice and sturdy. Kai also really likes it!

Kai's birthday cake video

2010-11-15T18:48:00.011-06:00

This is the best quality video, it was taken with my Ipod

Kai's 2nd Birthday Party!

2010-11-15T18:04:00.017-06:00

Since Kai didn't really have a 1st birthday party (due to him being sick), we thought he should have a wonderful party for his 2nd birthday. I think overall, he had a great birthday!

We decided to go with the Handy Manny theme since I had a hard time finding just plain cars and trucks theme party stuff.

Besides cake and ice cream, we also had a lunch.

Kai eating his birthday lunch!

Lots of presents, thanks everyone!

Enjoying lunch!

The older kids playing outside in the leaves, with the help of Levi and the leaf blower

All the kiddos except for Ethan, Claire and the Rauh kids

Opening presents

Getting mad while opening presents

Cake time!

Not too sure about the cake

Not happy about the cake

He was much happier after the cake mess and being able to be down on the floor and play with all his new gifts. Thank you everyone who came and shared that special day with us.

Kai is TWO!

2010-11-15T16:31:00.007-06:00

Kai turned TWO on October 14th! He is one amazing little boy. At his 2 year check up he was 30 1/4 inches tall (1%), 19 pounds (1%) and his head was 19.5 inches (73%). In other words, he is tiny with a big head! He is one cutie pie! He has accomplished so much in the past year.

Kai is STILL in size 2 diapers and wears 18 month clothes. He is moving all over the place, mainly by crawling. He does cruise around furniture on his feet. He isn't walking yet, but can take a handful of steps on his own. He climbs on everything that he can (not a good thing in my eyes). Cognitively, he is definitely a 2 year old. He throws tantrums and crabs when he doesn't get his way. He does a lot of things that are age appropriate, so that is wonderful! He has babbles more and has a few more words to his vocabulary. He can say; help, mom, dad, uh-oh, go, hi and bye (those are those clear ones) and he also says in his own way; thank-you and all done. I know there are more words that he says, but I am drawing a blank. He has been saying a few two word sentences like; help mom, uh-oh..help, uh-oh mom, hi daddy. There are times that he says things and you take a double take and think "did he just say that?". Kai still does PT, OT and Speech at Pediatric Therapy every week. And then for school, he does PT, OT, Speech, Deaf and Hard of Hearing and then a regular teacher. He is one busy little 2 year old!

We are still working on his feedings. He still takes formula through his tube feedings. He is now up to 27 kcal for his formula. He does 4 bolus feeds at 157 mls during the day and then the overnight at 24 ml/hr for 8 hours (we haven't been doing the overnights as often). He does a few more table foods, but the quantity isn't there. His favorite is Cooler Ranch Doritos! He loves the stronger flavored stuff. He loves to dip and just eating the dipping sauce! He eats a lot of regular toddler foods likes, chicken nuggets, french fries, etc. He is drinking more liquids orally. He uses a sippy cup and and a straw cup. He usually prefers juice and loves pop! He usually gets everything that the other boys get, but doesn't always try things.

He's got a few more teeth. I'm not exactly sure how many he has since it is so hard to look in his mouth. I know he has at least 9 that have popped through.

Like I have said, he is an amazing little boy. He is doing way more than the doctors thought he would be doing. I look at him today and he is one special unique little kiddo!

At the beginning of October

2010-11-15T15:50:00.006-06:00

At the beginning of October, Kai got some new items.
The first one is his new bed. He got to the point that he was not sleeping in his room at all. He was terrified of his crib. We came to the conclusion that he became kinda claustrophobic. He didn't like the tall side of the crib. Levi suggested we go to a toddler bed, but I wasn't too keen on that at first. Kai's crib converted to a toddler bed, but 3 of the 4 sides were still tall and it was so far off the floor. So after browsing around on the internet, I came across this platform toddler bed. How perfect! Once we got it together, Kai got to play around on it and he loved it! This created a new problem, he can now get up from bed in the middle of the night. So he has a gate up in his doorway during the night time. Easy fix, but we still had one more problem, his night time feedings. He does an 8 hour drip feed on the overnight. We still don't have it all figured out yet, but we just recently got some extensions on his feeding tube so we have more tubing to work with. So he doesn't sleep in his room on a regular basis yet, hopefully soon!

Kai also got an Ipad. And he absolutely loves it! He even sometimes gets very possessive of it. There are some great apps for him and of course he has some favorites. This balloon is one that he really likes. It's very simple, but for Kai is great. He really enjoys the cause and effects apps.

Busy, busy, busy!!

2010-10-04T19:19:00.002-05:00

We have been keeping pretty busy as usual. School, therapy, doctor's appointments, taekwondo, work, house stuff...and everything else. I will blog about us more in the next blog or so. I have to be in the right thinking mode to do that and tonight is not one of those kind of thinking nights.

Grandma Barb

2010-10-04T19:05:00.006-05:00

My grandma Barb had passed away on September 22nd. She had been battling with Alzheimer's. Below is a picture of my boys and their cousins with Grandma. This was taken in July 2009. She will be very missed!

St. Peter Flood 2010

2010-10-04T16:02:00.008-05:00

Some major roads in St. Peter had flooded at the end of September. Below are a few pictures that we had taken.

Misc--September

2010-10-04T15:44:00.003-05:00

Levi and I
Gavin and Jace planted this pot for me all on their own...how sweet!

Gavin and his yard of bubble gum, he completed the first task of the school fundraiser so he got this as a prize.

My boys!

Kai attempting to eat spaghetti

Jace earned his white belt

2010-09-29T12:51:00.003-05:00

On September 9th, Jace earned his white belt at TaeKwonDo. He was so excited!

1st day of School

2010-09-29T12:35:00.004-05:00

Gavin and Jace both started school on September 7th. Gavin started Kindergarten this year and goes to school at our church (St. Peter Lutheran School). Jace is in preschool again this year. He goes to special ed preschool at the elementary 4 mornings a week and then he goes to Little Lambs at our church, 3 afternoons a week. Some may think we are crazy to have Jace go to 2 preschools, but it is good for him. He needs a lot of structure and routine. Both boys are enjoying school!

Gavin with his teacher, Mrs. Thompson

Kai walking a few steps

2010-09-12T13:56:00.002-05:00

Jace has started Taekwondo

2010-09-02T18:03:00.003-05:00

This past Tuesday, Jace started Taekwondo. He has been waiting for awhile now to start. We had to wait due to a conflict of time with therapy. He did very well on his first day. He knows a lot already, just by watching Gavin. I think this will be a very good thing for him.

Not that close of a picture, Jace is the shorter of the two

School

2010-09-02T17:56:00.002-05:00

Well, it is getting to be that time of year. School time is just around the corner...just a little over 4 days until school starts.

We are done with school shopping and the boys are ready to start. We had back to school night at Gavin's school. We had a conference with Jace's afternoon teacher (conference with the morning teacher is next week).

Gavin starts kindergarten this year and will attend school at our church. Jace will go to special ed preschool 4 mornings a week at the elementary and then 3 afternoons at the preschool at our church. They are very excited! I'm ready as well. Jace really needs structure and routine, he functions a lot better. Gavin is a little bummed that he doesn't get to ride the school bus. We only live about 7 blocks away. He doesn't understand that. It's hard to believe that our oldest will be in kindergarten!

Kai's past appointments

2010-09-02T17:47:00.003-05:00

On August 19th, Kai had a feeding clinic appointment. The appointment went well. They had Kai try different foods and textures. He wasn't too happy with all the people in the room, so they watched him through the two way mirror. His dietitian met up with us there as well. We are going to try to increase his calories in his formula. He was on a 24 kcal and now we are ate 26 kcal. Hopefully we can try to increase his oral intake. He is trying more foods and liquids by mouth, but the quantity is not there. It doesn't help that he is on the go so much and that he is probably is burring more calories than what he is taking in. So far, he has not gain anymore weight.

Today, Kai went to the dentist. He has a mouth full of teeth since his last visit. All the molars are coming in. One of his pointers on top is coming in and she thinks that the teeth on each side of his bottom two front teeth are going to be coming in soon. So that may explain why he has been a bit on the crabby side lately. Tomorrow, Kai gets to see the eye doctor.

Girls Day

2010-09-02T17:14:00.005-05:00

On August 21st, a bunch of us did a girls day in Mankato. Our day started with Angie and I having breakfast at Panera. Then we headed over to Liv Aveda and had 4 hours of pampering. We had 1 hr massage, manicure, pedicure, shampoo and style and then make up. It was nice and relaxing. After the spa, we headed over to Olive Garden for lunch. It was a great time. Tasted some wine and some giggles (okay, maybe I had more giggles than everyone else). I think I ended up with a massage high. After lunch we headed over to the mall to catch up some more girls and then do some shopping. We had a wonderful time at the mall. We then had dinner at Applebee's. The night didn't end there. We hit one of the bars in St. Peter (it has been a long time since I have been in a bar). And then lastly we went to one of the girl's house. It was a really good time. A little break from the kiddos and just plain girl time! Can't wait for the next one.

Us girls at Applebee's

Us girls at Olive Garden

Me right after the spa

Angie right after the spa

Gavin has cavities!

2010-09-02T17:12:00.001-05:00

Gavin and Jace had their dental check ups in August. Gavin ended up having 4 cavities! I thought that was a lot for a 5 year old. So he had to get fillings and now we have to work harder to keep his teeth clean.

Levi is on a roll

2010-08-25T11:03:00.006-05:00

Now that Levi is on 8 hour shifts, he's been able to get things taken care of around our house. Yesterday he tackled the new sink/vanity in the upstairs bathroom. This bathroom really needs to just be gutted and be updated, but that would take a lot of $$. So for now, we just make it work with a few changes. There is suppose to be a drawer at the bottom of the vanity, but it didn't work with the water lines. Levi might try to make it work, but for now it works good for the step stool. Because the medicine cabinet/ mirror is so high, we have a little suction cup mirror lower for the boys. Heck, I can't even see in the mirror unless I am on a step stool, LOL! This looks so much better than what was there. Again, I did not get a before picture, but it was a pedestal sink and a icky looking faucet.

Out with the old and in with the new

2010-08-23T19:49:00.004-05:00

Levi changed out another light fixture in our house. This one was in our hallway coming in from the breezeway. I didn't think to take a picture before he removed the old light fixture.

OLD

NEW

4 Years Ago

2010-08-23T18:38:00.007-05:00

The day that changed our lives, August 24th, 2006. Four years ago, we got wiped out by a tornado. I'm not going to rewrite about, but if you want to read more, click on the red date above and it will bring you to my blog from last year. I also posted a separate blog with pictures. If you click on the red word pictures, that will also bring you to that blog from last year.

Kai's Computer

2010-08-20T18:36:00.001-05:00

Since Kai likes my computer so much, we decided to get one for him. So now he has his own computer. Wonder if Kai will leave mine alone??

Husband's work boots

2010-08-20T18:07:00.001-05:00

Need I say more?

That's Great, Great

2010-08-20T17:45:00.005-05:00

This past Thursday, Kai and I stopped in and visit my Great Grandma in between his appointments. Yes, this makes her the boys' GREAT, GREAT Grandma. I was only able to get one picture (due to Kai not being cooperative). So I am glad I got a good one. It was a nice visit. We haven't seen her in awhile. She wasn't doing the greatest that day. Her vision was very poor that day and something was wrong with her hearing aides. She was also feeling dizzy when she would move around to much. It was nice to visit with her. Unfortunately, Gavin and Jace didn't get to see her because I had left them behind (they get to be a handful at appointments). So we will have to make another trip to visit her again soon, so all my boys can see her.

Kai's obsession

2010-08-20T13:27:00.008-05:00

Kai has an obsession with my computer. He loves playing with it. He did even get something to print one time. He won't leave it alone and gets very angry when I take the chair away. Any time that I am sitting at the computer and he crawls by, he squawks until I pick him up and put him on my lap. He may learn this technology stuff at an early age.

Ignore my messy desk

Update on our back yard project

2010-08-20T12:51:00.010-05:00

I don't think I have pictures from the very beginning, at least I can't locate any at this time

Below is a picture from when we had the patio poured, so this was in a previous post and this was before fence.

The above and below pictures were taken this past Tuesday (8-17) We have fenced off the back and added the storage shed and then this is pre-sod around the patio.

The picture below was taken on Wednesday evening (8-18). The sod is down around the patio. The backyard is coming together. We are going to add some pavers towards the fence for the grill and that stand up rubbermaid cabinet. We plan to extend the fence along the alley. We need to do some other little maintenance around the yard yet this year, so this is just a progress picture. Next year we are hoping to have a pergola put in and maybe a new patio set.

Day at cousin Charlie's

2010-08-20T12:26:00.006-05:00

This past Wednesday we went and visit cousin Charlie (me, the boys and my mother in law). The boys had a lot of fun at Auntie Lynn's and at the water park.

Kai playing on the patio
Charlie and Gavin sitting with Grandma

Gavin and Jace

Kai and Jace; they had these cool swing things for the little ones. It was nice since Kai can't walk around in the water.

Kai getting tired of sitting in the swing

Jace having fun

Charlie lovin the water

Charlie and Jace

Gavin going across the logs, he went down the big water slide too, but I didn't get a picture.

The boys had fun. I didn't get many pictures because it was hard to hang onto Kai and take pictures.

Kai on a walk

2010-08-20T11:03:00.002-05:00

Gavin's chalk art work

2010-08-15T17:31:00.003-05:00

Gavin drew sponge bob on our drive way with chalk. I thought he did a pretty good job. Double click on the picture to make it bigger.

22 Months!

2010-08-15T16:21:00.020-05:00

Kai turned 22 months yesterday (Aug 14). I can't believe he is going to be 2 in 2 months! He does not look his age. Kai weighs 18lbs 7 ozs and is 31 inches long. He is STILL in size 2 diapers! He still isn't walking. He can walk behind things or with a walker. He is babbling more and every now and then will blurt out a word. One of his favorite things things is that he will keep saying "mom" over and over until I say "what Kai?" and then he will going into this big long babble and then a little while later, he will do it again. It cracks me up!

Another tooth has popped through, but this time it is on the top. Tonight we noticed that he has two more on top coming in. The one right next to the tooth that just popped through and then one of his back upper molars. No wonder he has been so crabby the last few days! Below is a picture of his teeth. I didn't know how to do arrows, so I just used the letter "t" to show where there are teeth coming in. Otherwise, Kai is a very busy boy. Always on the crawl, exploring and trying to keep up with the older brothers. He is very much a toddler. He gets into everything and throws some tantrums. He definitely has some toddler attitude!

I'm a big boy now!

Mommy calls me a monkey because I try to climb on everything

Peek!

"Now how can I get up farther...guess I need some more practice"

Cheese!

(Kai's hair looks a little funny in the middle because it was still a little wet from his bath)

"another picture??"

Nicollet County Fair

2010-08-15T15:58:00.044-05:00

Yesterday the boys spent a good chunk of the day at the fair. Both Gavin and Jace participated in the kiddie tractor pull. They went on rides, ate the junk food, looked at animals, hung out in the little petting zoo area and then end the night with going to the Demolition Derby with dad.

Jace

Gavin

I don't remember how far they actually pulled, they weren't able to do a full pull. Maybe next year!

Enjoying the rides

Jace kept waving at me on this ride

Gavin going down the big slide...Jace wanted to, but had to have someone go with him. I couldn't go since I had Kai as well. Maybe next year, Jace will be tall enough.

Brothers having fun together!

Jace waving at me again!

Enjoying snow cones and in front of a bobcat

The little Petting Zoo are; Gavin and Jace (kind hidden in this pic) with friends Jonathon and Joseph

Gavin petting the bunnies

Jace petting the pig...yes Jace was actuall petting them. I couldn't believe it! He has really come a long way with his anxiety.

Kai hanging out in the stroller

Playing in a bucket of corn

August 6th...fun with some friends

2010-08-15T15:47:00.003-05:00

On August 6th, my college friend Angela come down to visit with her two kids, Samantha and Jonathon. The kids had a lot of fun!

So much

2010-08-11T17:52:00.002-05:00

Because I have posted so much at once, you have to look at older posts to view all the posts that I just published. Also, I make the pictures medium size, so if you want to see a picture better, you can double click on the picture and it will make it bigger.

What's new at the Selly house?

2010-08-11T17:28:00.003-05:00

The boys playing in a very tiny pool, but they had fun!

Kai showing off his skills, he is standing on a tool box

As usual, we have been keeping very busy. It is not dull around our house. The boys keep me on my toes. We are already getting close to mid-August. Can't believe fall is just around the corner. I am ready for it though. I wouldn't mind the cooler weather and I am ready for the boys to start school, especially Jace, he needs the structure and routine. At the beginning of August, Jace had his last week of summer school and Gavin attended vacation Bible school at our church. This week, Jace is doing is doing private swimming lessons. Thought it would be better for him than a regular swimming lesson class. He is a little nervous, but is learning new things. We still run to therapy and taekwondo a few times a week. Then you add in doctor's appointments and it adds up. Kai will be 22 months this weekend. He now weighs 18 pounds 7 ozs. I don't have a current height on him, but I will at the end of this week.

Levi is wiped!!!!! Working lots of hours EVERYday and in this nasty heat. I feel really bad for him. I am still trying to get caught up on things and unpack! Hopefully, I will have everything unpacked by winter ;)

Again, I need to blog more often so I don't have to do so much at one time to get caught up.

Until next time!

2010 Farm Festival

2010-08-10T18:45:00.009-05:00

Levi's parents had their 2nd annual Farm Festival this past Sunday www.earthworksgardens.blogspot.com

The boys had a lot of fun even though it was really hot and humid.

Promotional Testing

2010-08-10T18:38:00.011-05:00

This past Saturday Gavin had a promotional test for Taekwondo. He got a little nervous, but did good. He passed and earned his next belt. So now he has a white with yellow stripe belt.

Gavin doing a hammer fist and broke the board

Gavin receiving his award and new belt from Master Winkler

Gavin getting his new belt put on
Way to go Gavin!!!

7 Years of Marriage

2010-08-10T18:27:00.011-05:00

On August 2nd, Levi and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary. Can't believe it has been that long already. Time sure flies. Levi and I went out to dinner at Whiskey River here in St. Peter for our anniversary and without kids! It is very rare that we get just time together without kids. It was nice! Hopefully sometime in the near future we will be able to do it again. We definitely have experienced a lot of life happenings (not sure if that is what I should call it), but I think it makes one stronger. We have navigated through the tornado and losing everything to rebuilding and starting from basically nothing but our family. Then we entered another challenge of having a special needs child. Life's testing us to see how strong we are. It has been a rough past 4 years...we have had ups and downs just trying to get through these challenges. Selling our house and moving into town was a wonderful thing for us! We love being in town. We love our new house (or would you say "old" house). It was a good change for us. Although we aren't completely unpacked yet, I think we feel more settled in this house.

I thought I would post a few pictures of me and Levi. We don't have many of us, especially pre-tornado. The very top picture is one that survived the tornado. The actual picture had scratches all across it from glass, but I just took it to a photo place and they fixed it for me.

The above flowers are from Levi on our anniversary day, the below flowers are ones he sent to me like at the beginning of July.

Soccer camp

2010-08-10T18:25:00.002-05:00

At the end of July Gavin participated in a week long soccer camp that was put on by our church. He had a blast! He learned a lot more about soccer and met some new friends.

SMOs

2010-08-10T18:24:00.003-05:00

At the end of July, Kai had an orthopedic appointment at Gillette. I think the doctor was surprised by Kai's gain on gross motor skills. The last time Kai saw this doctor, he was barely crawling. He again does NOT recommend surgery for Kai's dislocated hips. He examined him and looked at his significant amount of hyperlaxity. He also commented on his instability at the ankles and knees. Then we went on and discussed his braces. Prior to this appointment, Kai had AFO braces (they went from his feet all the way up to his knees). It was decided that we would have Kai try a different kind of braces. This would still give him some support, but yet give him a little flexibility with movement. So they took his AFO's and cut them down to SMO's (Supra Melleolar Orthosis). Below is a picture of the new braces (well the same braces, just cut down). So these are going to give him the foot and ankle support, but allowing him more mobility. We are to touch base with the rehabilitation doctor (who we see this Friday) and talk about how these are working for him. He may have to get some other kind of bracing in the future as he gains more gross motor skills. In a previous post, there was a picture of Kai in a new walker. He will be getting one of his own, hopefully sooner or later. Right now the paperwork is getting sent into insurance.

Misc July Pictures

2010-08-10T11:47:00.014-05:00

Below are some misc July pictures. The boys ended July with summer school for Jace, soccer for Gavin and appointments and therapy for Kai.

Kai working with an Ipad with his teacher Becky. He really enjoyed it, he even got mad when she put it away.

Drawing with his finger on the Ipad

The boys with a few of their cousins

Random of Kai

Sleepy Kai

The boys at Sibley Park in Mankato

Kai enjoying being on the tricycle even though he can't reach the peddles

Kai climbing out of the toy box

The boys coloring

The boys playing in the sand and water table

Kai trying out a new walker...this is a loaner, but we are working on getting one just for Kai. He really likes it (except at therapy). It was so nice to see Kai go for a walk on his own two feet.

Jace's 4th Birthday

2010-08-10T11:20:00.007-05:00

Jace turned 4 on July 17th. He had a nice birthday party....family, friends and lots of fun! Thanks to everyone that came!

Water balloon fight!

Slip and slide time!

Jace getting ready to open presents

Jace and his cake

Jace

Opening presents

Very excited that he got "20" dollars!

More presents

Yummy Cake!

Bounce house fun!

Skyfest Wings and Wheels

2010-08-10T11:07:00.020-05:00

During the day on Saturday (July 10th) we attended the airshow in Marshall (www.wcainc.org/skyfest) We had a lot of fun...unfortunately it was hot out that day. Luckily it was pretty windy as well. I took a ton of pictures, but on selected a handful to share.

Gavin, Levi and Jace in front of one of the small planes
(If you double click on the pictures, you can see them bigger)

Towards the beginning of the show; there are two planes and one skydiver

It is so cool how the airplanes do this

The Skydiver

The skydiver after he released the flag

This was my favorite airplane

In this picture you can see a woman standing in between the two wings

Now she is on top of the top wing

Again on the top wing

The woman is still on the top wing and now upside down with the plane

Again upside down

Plane upside right, but now the woman is upside down on the top wing; just amazing!

One of the other planes

The airshow was excellent...we are hoping to attend another airshow in the future.

Camping (7/9-7/11)

2010-08-10T10:43:00.015-05:00

Kinda at the last minute, Levi and I threw this little weekend camping trip together the second weekend in July. We wanted to attend this airshow in Marshall, and since it is a few hours from here we decided to make a weekend out of it and go camping as well. Levi's parents let us use there motor home for the weekend. That was really wonderful...not sure how we would be able to do tent camping with Kai. We ended up get reservations at Camden State Park, just a little south of Marshall. Below are pictures from camping. The pictures from the airshow are in the next post.

Windmills a little ways outside of Marshall

Kai riding in the motor home

Gavin and Jace riding in the motor home

Got to our campsite a little later than we had originally. So didn't do much that first evening.

Gavin and Jace ready for bed...with messy faces!

The next day we attended the Airshow in Marshall (in the next post) and then afterwards, we took the boys to the beach at the campground. They were so excited to go to a "beach"! They had so much fun!

Gavin and Jace

Jace having fun

Kai chillin with Levi

Gavin having fun

Lots of fun

Gavin practicing his floating

Jace playing in the sand

Gavin playing in the sand

Unfortunately, Kai did not get to play at the beach. We are hesitant to be in lake water due to his feeding tubes. Not sure how safe that is for him.

Boys chillin after swimming and waiting for the grill to heat up.

The second night we were there we had some icky weather that went through. Our cell phones didn't work down in our campsite and we couldn't get radio stations to come in very well. We got a lot of rain and it got very windy, but luckily nothing major happened. The rain sounded very loud in the motor home, but surprisingly it didn't move around much with the wind. Felt bad for the tenters. We had fun! Hopefully we will be able to go camping again sometime.

4th of July

2010-08-10T10:13:00.023-05:00

A picture of the front of our house with a little bit of 4th of July decorations. Hopefully the whole porch will have decorated next year.

We started the 4th of July with the parade. We mark out our spot days before to unsure good seating. It's a great time and the boys love the parade. Kai even got to participate this year.

My boys waiting for the parade to start

Levi and Kai

Gavin, me and Jace

Gavin and Jace watching for the parade to come

Me and my boys!

Kai

Getting candy!

Kai and mommy

Kai loving his sucker

Kai chillin watching the parade

Me, Kai and Angie watching the radio stations coming in the parade

Later that afternoon we went to a friend's birthday party for a little while and then that evening we did some little fireworks in the driveway. Levi, Gavin, Jace and Grandma went to the grandstands to watch the fireworks while I stayed behind with Kai.

Gavin with a sparkler

Jace with a sparkler

Me helping Kai with his first sparkler, he did not want my help and wanted to wave it all over the place

Me trying to get Kai to move his sparkler up

Kai and his sparkler

Gavin and Jace doing sparklers with Grandma

End of June

2010-08-10T09:40:00.012-05:00

June ended with swimming lessons, microstars and lots of swimming.

Gavin going off the slide at Grandma's

Jace going off the diving board at Grandma's

Jace just chillin in the pool

The boys participated in Microstars. They got an introduction to a variety of sports.

Jace hitting the ball

Gavin hitting the ball

Jace throwing the ball

Gavin getting ready to scoop up the ball

FYI

2010-06-27T08:14:00.002-05:00

Just an FYI...since I blogged so much at one time, you will have to click on the older post in order to view all the posts that I have just recently posted.

Finally!

2010-06-27T08:00:00.004-05:00

Finally, I am finally updating our blog. I shouldn't wait so long next time. We have been keeping real busy. We have been in our house now for two months! We still have lots to unpack and stuff to move! We just have a little bit left in our storage unit to move. I have been keeping busy with the household stuff and the boys' stuff. Levi has been keeping busy with working. Unfortunately, he is still working a lot of 12 hour shifts. He is getting wiped out with all the hours. Hopefully he will get to enjoy a little down time 4th of July weekend.

We love our new house and the location we are in. It's nice to be able to just walk the boys to the pool. Or go for walks or bike rides. We can walk to church and few different parks. It is really nice being in town.

Well I know this is part is brief, but I'm tired of blogging and playing catch up. So hopefully I will blog more often now that I am caught up on updates, instead of doing 3 months worth at one time.

Update on the Selly Boys

2010-06-27T07:13:00.012-05:00

Kai

Kai is 20 months now! At his last weight check, he was 17lbs 10ozs. So he hasn't gained a whole lot. He is a very busy little boy! He is on the go constantly. He has really taken off on gross motor skills in the last few months. He cruises around furniture. Walks behind push toys. Climbs up and down stairs. Climbs up and down on the couch. He climbs on whatever he can climb on. It has been decided that we are not going to use his braces right now until his orthopedic appt. They seem to make it harder for him to move around and to move his legs. So I am anxious to see what the orthopedic doctor will have to say. As far as food, Kai isn't really take more quantity wise, but is trying more table foods. He loves the cooler ranch Doritos! He loves dipping foods in various sauces. He will eat chicken nuggets, french fries, tator tots, fish sticks, pop tarts, chips and more. But he only eats very tiny amounts. He has also started to drink some liquid through a straw. Although majority of it probably lands on his shirt, but it's a start. Kai does have two teeth now. He has the two bottom middle teeth. As far as speech, not a whole lot new there. He babbles a lot still and sometimes it sounds like he will say a word, but I think is concentration right now is in the gross motor department. He is definitely understand more and trying to communicate with us more in other ways. Kai got sick in May and was sick for about 4 weeks. During that time he spent a day in the hospital and a few trips to Urgent Care/ER. All they conclude was that he had a virus. At one point his cough was pretty bad and he did get set up with a nebulizer. Otherwise, he has been healthy. Kai is on the go constantly, getting into things and acting like a toddler should. Yep, he has toddler attitude as well. And don't little his size and cuteness fool you, he also picks on his brothers and fights with them. Kai loves being outside and being in the pool. Since we have a nice concrete driveway, we just put Kai in the baby walker and he can move around on his own. At the kiddie pool, we put him in a baby floatie and he can actually touch the bottom. So he can move around in there on his own as well. And to think that some doctors didn't think he would be doing this much. He is determined to prove them wrong!

Jace

Jace...he keeps us on our toes! Jace is almost 4 now! He is a busy little boy. We are still working on some of his behavioral issues and OCD stuff. He continues to do play therapy, which I think helps. He continues to do speech therapy. He is talking a lot more, he is very verbal now. And his words are clearer. You can understand him a lot better, although there are times I can't figure out what he is saying. He continues to take medicine for his anxiety. These meds have made quite the difference. He is a lot more social. Jace just started summer school last week and goes again this week. And then he will do another 2 weeks later in the summer. It is so nice for him to have the opportunity to do summer school. Jace needs a lot of structure and routine. He seems to function a lot better when he has that. Besides all of that stuff, Jace has been really enjoying being outdoors and at the pool.

Gavin Here is a picture of Gavin at Taekwondo. Yep his is on top of 4 mats. The kids were to try to jump over 4 mats and then do a kick into the black mat. As you can tell, this was a bit challenging.

Gavin is really enjoying summer. He is signed up for some summer activities and continues doing Taekwondo. He started swimming lessons last week and will continue those for at least the next month. He will be doing 2 weeks of soccer and a week of vacation bible school. He is very excited about starting kindergarten in the fall. He has been practicing writing words and even trying to spell some on his own. Besides him enjoying the summer, we have been trying to get down to the bottom of his allergies and asthma. He is on a handful of medicines and uses an inhaler and nebulizer as needed. He visited the pulmonoligist (sp?) up at Children's earlier this month. He helped us with a plan of Gavin's meds and wants to see what the allergist has to say. He wants to see Gavin back in October and will repeat a chest x-ray and a PFT. Gavin is scheduled to see the allergist July 6. So hopefully we will know more. In May, Gavin's coughing was pretty extreme a few times and landed him in urgent care. They ended up giving him a steroid to settle the cough.

The Karate Kid

2010-06-27T07:10:00.002-05:00

Last Friday, took Gavin and Jace to see The Karate Kid. We meet up with a friend and her two boys. The boys had fun. Jace doesn't get into movies as much as Gavin. Gavin loved the movie. It was a pretty good movie.

Gavin and his comments

2010-06-27T07:00:00.005-05:00

This is a picture Gavin drew one day of Jesus on the cross. Pretty good for a 5 year old!

A few quotes from Gavin....

"God didn't make monsters, he didn't want us to be scared" Seriously, how does a 5 year old think of these things?

"When Kai has his hearing aides in, is that the only time he can hear?" I think because Kai wasn't listening to Gavin (he wanted him to quiet down so he could hear the tv) he thought he couldn't hear him since Kai didn't have his hearing aides in. Too funny!

New Patio

2010-06-27T06:57:00.003-05:00

Towards the end of May, we had a patio and sidewalk poured. We are still working on this back yard project. We have also put up a fence in this back section of our yard. I will get an update picture hopefully soon.

Swimming Lessons

2010-06-27T06:51:00.004-05:00

Gavin started swimming lessons last week. He loves it! It is very convenient since the pool is across the street.

Gavin on the mat (on the very end)

Gavin going off the diving board

Beginning of Summer Fun!

2010-06-27T06:35:00.006-05:00

The boys are really enjoying living so close to the pool.

Gavin, Kai and Jace
Kai

Kai chilling in his stroller while the rest of us swim in Grandma's pool

Gavin jumping off the diving board at Grandma's

Jace jumping off the diving board at Grandma's

More random pictures--late spring

2010-06-26T23:42:00.006-05:00

Kai climbing up on a shelf

Found Jace sleeping under our bed one morning

Kai enjoying some spaghetti

The boys

Gavin

Kai and Jace

Jace and Gavin

Preschool Graduation--May 21st

2010-06-26T23:28:00.006-05:00

Gavin, the proud graduate!

Gavin with Great Grandpa Robert and Great Grandma Roxie

Gavin with Grandma

Gavin and mommy

Random pics at the new house--early spring

2010-06-26T23:12:00.010-05:00

At the beginning of June, the boys and I went to this event Livestock held at a park in St. Peter. We had the chance to meet Greg Rikkart, "Kevin Fisher" from Young and the Restless. It was really neat to actually meet him in person. I have been watching Young and the Restless since I was really little.

Gavin and Jace climbing the big blow up wall

Kiddos being silly; Mya, Jace, Lily and Gavin

Lily and Gavin

Kai peeking out the kitchen window

Jace and his friend Mya

Kai coloring with chalk on the basement wall

Gavin and Jace coloring with chalk on the basement walls

Our new house

2010-06-26T23:02:00.002-05:00

We moved into our new house April 27th and it has been crazy busy ever since. Below are a few pictures of the outside. I still haven't gotten inside pictures to post yet.

Random pictures--April

2010-06-26T22:49:00.006-05:00

A few random pictures from our old house on the Lake. Most of April was spent packing and then at the end of April, moving.

Jace, Kai and Gavin

Kai

Gavin

Jace

Jace and Gavin

Kai being silly on the couch

Kai sleeping away on the couch

Kai trying to help pack

Visit from Great Uncle Dann--Early April

2010-06-26T22:29:00.006-05:00

Early April, Uncle Dann from Texas came to visit. The boys had a lot of fun and went on a lot of "adventures" at Grandma's. Poor Uncle Dann probably got wiped out from hanging with Gavin and Jace.

Uncle Dann, Gavin and Jace

Great Grandma Roxie and Kai

Uncle Dann and Gavin playing checkers (one of Gavin's favorite games)

Looks like Great Grandpa Robert is looking over making sure no one is cheating ;)

Gavin's 5th Birthday Party--March 27th

2010-06-26T17:24:00.006-05:00

Gavin had his 5th birthday party at the bowling alley. He had a Ben 10 birthday, one of his favorite characters. He had a great time with friends and family. Can't believe he is 5! He is getting so big and learning new thing all the time!

Gavin's Ben 10 Birthday Cake

Gavin with his friends and family

Gavin with a few of his friends from school

After the party, we went back to our house with some family. The boys with some of their cousins.

Gavin turned 5!--March 25th

2010-06-26T17:14:00.005-05:00

Gavin got a new bike for his birthday from us. He was pretty excited about it.

Gavin had Taekwondo on his actual birthday and got to wear the birthday belt. Above is a picture of Master Winkler put the birthday belt on Gavin.

Gavin doing push ups

End of March

2010-06-26T16:58:00.008-05:00

Today is June 26 and I am trying to play catch up on our blog.

Kai moving around with his AFO's (leg braces) on
In a previous post, I wrote that I would get a picture of Kai in his braces with just a onesie on, so you can see how they are on him.

Kai in his stander, playing with Gavin and Jace

Below is a picture of Jace's head. About a week after I cut my head open, Jace cut his head open and had to get a staple. He was such a tough cookie about it.

Can't get caught up

2010-06-16T22:43:00.002-05:00

I just can't seem to get caught up on everything. I've been meaning to attempt to get caught up on our blog, but just never seem to find the time to get to it. We are all doing well. Levi is still working lots of hours. We are loving our new house. The boys are enjoying living in town and being across the street from the pool. Kai is doing wonderful and is doing more than what some had expected. Well until next time!

Will I...

2010-05-16T08:24:00.001-05:00

Will I ever get caught up on our blog? I've been hoping to get caught up soon. I just can't start from what is going on now....I have to backtrack.

We have moved!!

2010-05-10T09:22:00.001-05:00

For those who don't already know, we have moved! We moved into our new house almost two weeks ago. It has been really busy with trying to get things unpacked and organized. I hoping to get our blog updated soon.

Behind

2010-05-10T09:21:00.001-05:00

I am so far behind on blogging. One of these days I will get caught up. It just has been crazy busy around the Selly house.

Tender Tape

2010-03-23T13:59:00.002-05:00

It's a little hard to see in these pictures, but this is what we use when we hook up Kai's night time feeding. It's called Tender Tape. We wrap it around his tummy to help hold the feeding tube in place. We could use other things, but most things, you would have to tape to the skin. This we just wrap around and it doesn't stick to the skin, just to itself.

It's that time of year!

2010-03-22T20:50:00.002-05:00

We are heading into tornado season. My advice...get your storm shelter area ready and be prepared. Don't put it off, you never know when you are going to need to take shelter. I know, I know...some are probably get sick of hearing about it from me. But when we just barely survived the tornado of 2006, it's going to be constant reminder every spring/summer of that very traumatic event in our lives. My biggest advice is to take this severe weather stuff seriously. We always thought that "it's not going to happen to us" and it did! God took care of us that evening and had angels guide through each step of that tornado!

Genetics

2010-03-22T20:37:00.005-05:00

Kai had a genetics appointment at Children's today. She was impressed on how well he is doing. He is doing better than what doctor's had expected. She seemed like she just isn't quite sure about her clinical diagnosis that Kai has DeBarsy Syndrome. Because there isn't a blood test to confirm it, there isn't a way to know for sure. She just seemed like she wasn't completely convinced, but that is what she is going with right now. He does however for surely have a connective tissue disorder and cutis laxa. She had brought up the idea of a possible progeria syndrome, but didn't really think so. So when he sees her again in 6 months, she is going to do this bone test on him to see how his bones are aging. I don't even like to think about this. It would not be good if Kai had some kind of progeria syndrome. Kai does have some progeriod features (for instance, he looked like a wrinkly old man when he was born). For those who don't know what progeria is...it is premature aging. So anyway...I think I will try to tuck that idea in the back of my head until we revisit that subject with genetics in the fall. So bottom line...we don't know for sure what Kai has...some kind of connective tissue disorder and something VERY rare. I think he has the doctors a bit puzzled! Maybe it's just "Kai Syndrome".

Me and Levi

2010-03-22T20:32:00.002-05:00

Well, there's not a whole lot to tell about me and Levi. We have been keeping really busy. Levi is still on 12 hour shifts. For those who don't know how Unimin works....they work 19 days on and 2 days off. That's a lot of 12 hour shifts!

I have been really busy with everything, especially running all over the place for the kiddos. There have been moments where I forget what day we are on. I think I need a vacation...ha!

It's not going to slow down anytime soon. Hopefully after we move and we get settled into our new place, we will get some time to relax.

My head injury

2010-03-22T20:22:00.003-05:00

There are two staples

Last Thursday, I had a little accident. I was at a friend's house and cut my head open. I bent down to pick something up and smacked my head on a display box as I came up. Boy did it hurt! I touched my head and realized I was bleeding. It was bleeding pretty good, I felt lightheaded and shaky. I called Levi at work to come and bring me to ER. Gavin had to get to Taekwondo. Luckily, my friend's son walked him over (they just live a few blocks from there). I had the girl that I watch with me, so her mom had to come and get her. Then my friend watched our boys while I went to ER. I ended up with two staples with no numbing medicine. I also had to get a tetanus shot since I could not remember if I had gotten one after the tornado or not. The shot actually hurt worse than the staples. Maybe because my head hurt so bad already. My head feels better now. It gets sore every now and then. This Friday, I get the staples removed. I have a feeling that it is going to hurt. I just need to stop worrying about it until that day. "Stop being a worry wart " as my sister would say.

Kai is 17 months!

2010-03-22T20:04:00.004-05:00

Kai turned 17 months on March 14th. Today he is weighing in at 17 lbs 5 ozs. He is STILL in size 2 diapers! Kai is very much a toddler along with the toddler attitude! He is crawling around and getting into everything and gets extremely mad when you take something away from him. He's been going through some separation anxiety and at times gets very upset when I am out of his sight. Kai likes to tag along with Gavin and Jace, but some times the boys get frustrated with Kai getting into their stuff. Kai is pulling himself up into standing position (without his braces). He has a harder time maneuvering with his braces on. Nothing is really new with the feedings, pretty much the same as the last post about it. He still has no teeth. His dentist has looked over the chest x-ray that showed his mouth. From what she can tell, he has NO baby teeth, just adult teeth. She hasn't seen anything like this. So at his next dental appointment they are going to do some more in depth x-rays to get a better look. So I am not sure what this is going to mean. Is he not going to have teeth until like age 6 ish (when most kids loose their baby teeth)?

Kai playing "peek-a-boo" with the cupboard
Kai digging in the cupboards

Kai's button fell out during a feeding...the button had deflated on it's own due to a small leak. Luckily, we know how to replace these and we had a spare.

Kai in standing position without braces

Peg to Button

2010-03-22T19:58:00.002-05:00

On March 12th, Kai had his J-tube peg switched to a button. So now Kai has two buttons. The top one is the G-tube and the bottom one is his J-tube. This is much nicer than a peg. He doesn't have a tube constantly hanging from him. Although, it does make the night time feeding a little more challenging, but I have come up with a solution. I will post a picture about it in a future post.

Gavin and Jace

2010-03-22T19:42:00.002-05:00

Gavin and Jace--Silly boys!
Gavin

Jace

Gavin has been keeping himself busy with school, taekwondo and helping with soup supper at church. One of Gavin's new things is trying to spell words. He is just a sponge! At the beginning of March, Gavin had kindergarten round-up. He was pretty excited and yet a little overwhelmed. Gavin will be attending kindergarten at our church (the Lutheran Elementary School). Gavin is still enjoying Taekwondo. He goes twice a week. I need to get some new pictures of him there.

Jace has been keeping himself busy as well with school, speech therapy and play therapy. His speech is continuing to improve. It's been a little rough lately trying to figure out Jace. Now that his anxiety is being taken care of, he seems to be now going through toddler stage (at age 3 1/2). So at times, it can be difficult. But I think with the help he is getting, he will get through all of this. He enjoys school very much. He will be attending summer preschool for 4 weeks this summer. Next year, he will be going to the same preschool (ECSE) as he is now (Mon-Thurs, the first half of the day) and then in addition to that he will be attending preschool at Little Lambs (at our church), 3 afternoon days. So 3 days out of the week he will pretty much be in preschool all day. I think this will be good for him and really help him.

Both the boys have really been enjoying the nice weather and playing outside. Sometimes it is hard to get them back indoors!

SOLD

2010-03-22T19:33:00.002-05:00

If you haven't already heard...we sold our house. So the last month has been extra busy with house stuff. Luckily, we were able to find a house that we like. We don't have an official closing date yet, but it has to be on or before May 1st. It is going to be a big change for us, but a good change. We are going from an almost 4,000 sq feet open floor plan, lake house built in 2006 to about 2,200 sq feet old Victorian house right in town, built in 1890. We are very excited and yet sad to leave our neighborhood. It's going to hard on the boys to not be able to just walk over to grandma's (Levi's mom lives right next door). Although they are excited to live right next to the pool in town and we will be just a few blocks great grandma Roxie. Word is that our new neighborhood is really nice as well. We have been very busy taking care of this or that for our current house to our soon to be new house. We have already started packing and trying to downsize. So the next month or so is going to be really busy with house stuff. I will keep everyone updated as to when we officially move.

2010-03-22T19:24:00.002-05:00

The last time I blogged, I wrote that I was going to post a picture of Kai standing up with the walker in a onesie. So here it is...although Kai has an odd look on his face.

Walker

2010-02-20T11:08:00.004-06:00

Kai just got a walker to use at home (thanks MVED!). He isn't walking with it quite yet, but he can pull himself up to standing position using the walker. We have the walker pushed up against the two step stairs so that Kai has something to sit on. Some of the pictures are hard to tell that he is standing all the way up because of his pants. I think next time I will take some pictures of him in just his onesies, so you can get a better idea of how his legs are. He is wearing his AFO's (leg braces) when he does this.

So excited to be able to pull himself up to standing position by himself

"Look at me!!"

"This is getting easy, how about just one hand?!"

Sleep study

2010-02-20T10:47:00.002-06:00

Last Tuesday night, Levi had a sleep study done. The picture above was at the sleep study. It has been concluded that Levi has mild sleep apnea with hypersomnia. Some interesting information from the study showed that the first part of the night Levi was moving his legs about 39 times per hour and his sleep efficiency was only at 69%. The second part of the night they put him on a CPAP machine and he didn't move his legs and his sleep efficiency was at 77%. There was definitely a difference with the machine. So yep, Levi is now on a CPAP machine at night. Hopefully, he will be getting better sleep.

White Belt

2010-02-20T10:30:00.002-06:00

Gavin earned his white belt at TaeKwonDo Thursday. He was so excited! The above picture was taken afterwards at home. I didn't have my camera with when he actually got his belt, so the pictures below were taken with my phone. Yay, Gavin!!

Kai at therapy

2010-02-15T11:20:00.002-06:00

Kai standing on his own here with the support of the walker.

Picture Quality is not the greatest; pictures were taken with my phone

Kai is working with a walker at therapy. He did a really good job today. He was grabbing onto the handles more and he even stood on his on for a brief moment.

Three boys

2010-02-14T12:34:00.002-06:00

It's hard to get a good picture of all of them together. They don't all want to look at the camera and smile at the same time.

The boys are doing good. Kai's update is in the previous blog. Gavin is almost 5 years old (well next month), but he is already planning his party. He is getting so smart. We are looking at sending Gavin to kindergarten at the school at our church. He has kindergarten roundup on March 4. Jace is improving all the time, but is still our "wild child". We just had his school conference. He is doing good in school. He has made improvements in speaking and in socializing. He is a busy boy and keeps me on my toes all the time!

Life at the Selly house is always busy. It's never dull around our house. There are days that I am completely wiped out and just want to hibernate in my bed, unfortunately that is never an option. We had a house showing the other day, even though our house is technically off the market right now. The showing went good. These people would like to come back and see our house when the snow is gone and it sounds like they have house of their own that they would have to sell. I'm very anxious for spring. I'm done with winter and want to let the fresh air go through our house. I'm also anxious for the boys to get more outdoor time.

Happy Valentines Everyone! Until next time....

Kai is 16 months old!

2010-02-14T12:17:00.002-06:00

Kai is 16 months old today! At his last weight check, he weighed 17 pounds 7.5 ounces! He keeps gaining, yay! Kai is doing really good. He currently is pretty healthy. He is moving faster on his hands and knees. He tries to keep up with the brothers sometimes. He is pulling himself up on his knees and not hanging onto anything. He can stand up against something for brief moments. He is also working on sit to stand and vice versa. It was suggested that we look into the start of getting a wheelchair for him. On Friday, we met up with the rehabilitation doctor at Gillette. She feels that he is not ready for one yet and because he is somewhat mobile on his own, that we would revisited the idea in August. As far as feeding, not a whole lot has changed. Kai recently had a feeding clinic appointment. They suggested to concentrate more on purees than to try chopped and bite size foods because he doesn't have teeth yet. He can have chopped and bite size, but to try not to focus the meal on that. It takes him longer to chew the food up and takes more of his energy. As far as teeth, Kai went to a pediatric dentist a few weeks ago. They want to see him in 6 months and if he still doesn't have teeth at that time, they will do a certain kind of x-ray to get a good look at his teeth under the gums. Not a whole lot else is new with Kai. Typical toddler stuff...gets into things he shouldn't, gets mad when something is taken away from him, says the word "no" and doesn't like it when he is told "no".

Randoms

2010-02-14T10:27:00.003-06:00

Kai
Kai so sleepy after a car ride home

Kai getting into things

The Two Peas in a Pod!

Jace and Mya

I don't know how he slept like that!

Gavin, Cousin Charlie, Jace and Kai