All Smiles for our Adventure Walk activites with HopeKids

Two thumbs up for HopeKids Adventure Walk!

Adventure Walk

Thank you so much to all who supported our HopeKids Adventure Walk team! We earned $445 for HopeKids, and since that was matched by a sponser for HopeKids, we netted $890!!! As you can see, Ben had a wonderful time!

A Very Long Night

Well, we almost made it five weeks without having to take Ben to the hospital. Almost. We've had the flu going around our family, and for the rest of us, we just feel sick. Ben ends up in the hospital. He started throwing up Sunday night, and kept feeling sick on Monday. By Monday night he had a fever, and we had to run him up the emergency room (standard procedure when he has a fever). We didn't get there until after 9:00, and the ER was just full of kids. I knew we were in for a long night. They got Ben right back and got him started on an IV to keep him hydrated, but we didn't even see the doctor until after midnight. I didn't sleep much on Sunday night because I was up with Ben, so the later we got in the night at the ER, the more exhausted I became. Finally at 1:30am I went out and told them they needed to make a decision about whether they were admitting him or not, because I was getting too tired to drive home. They decided they were going to let him go, but by that point I was so tired I could hardly see straight, so they had to admit us anyway. By the time we finally got up to our room it was 3:30am. I had to get Ben settled, and by the time I finally laid down it was a quarter to four. But then I was so keyed up I couldn't fall asleep (and the fact that I was laying on one of those awful bed chair things really didn't help much). I finally fell asleep sometime around 4:30am, only to be woken up at 5am from Ben crying because he wanted to go home. I got into bed with Ben, and then I think we both finally slept for a couple of hours.

The happy news is that Ben is feeling much better. Now we just need to keep him healthy for the rest of the winter, somehow.

Get Blog Updates Via Email

Hi Everyone! Well, it took quite a while, but I finally figured out how to let you all know by email when I've made a new entry to the blog. Look in the top left corner of the webpage and you will see, "Subscribe Via Email" and below that the link, "Subscribe to Little Buddy by email." Click on the link, enter your email address, type in the red security word, push the subscription button. You will get an email asking you to verify that you really did subscribe to the blog. Respond to that email, and you are set to go!

He speaks!

So, the other morning I'm lying in bed when I hear a little voice calling "Mah-om" through the monitor. At first I think it's Jared, still feeling very groggy, calling me. Then I realize the sound came from Ben's monitor, not Jared's! Well, of course I jumped right out of bed and ran in there to find a very happy, smiling Ben. I was so excited!!! Apparently, Ben and daddy had been practicing saying "mom," and for some reason it just all clicked that morning. He still does best saying it first thing in the morning before he has a chance to over-analyze it, but I'll take it any what I can get!!!

Another happy bit of news, Ben isn't throwing up as much! He went three whole days in a row last week without throwing up! Then he got worn out from going to the zoo (very fun!), and it took him a few days to recover. He is only throwing up once a day right now, first thing in the morning. A big improvement to be sure. It looks like his new medicine for the rumination syndrome is finally kicking in.

So, in all, we've had a couple of good weeks, and some things to be very grateful for!

Show Me a Sign

Ben has been learning American Sign Language (ASL) by watching Signing Time DVDs, and he is starting to be able to initiate communication with us. He is a smart little guy, and is catching on quickly. He likes to show us what he has learned. It is wonderful to see! Daddy and I are going to take an internet ASL course so we can become fluent in ASL. That way we can "talk" to Ben in sign language and help him to learn it even faster. We are excited about it, and can't wait to really start communicating with him again.

Ben also still has his cute sense of humor. He loves to tease us. There is a story that I read him when he was younger where a girl got dressed putting her socks on her hands. His latest thing is that he likes to take his socks off and put them on his hands pretending like that's where they go. He gets a cute smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes. He's still our sweet little Ben.