May 2010- August 2010 ( a very busy summer)

5/13/2010 We hosted a pastor from India in early May. We were trying to figure out the best way to “introduce” him to David. I printed a picture of the pastor off his website and laminated it about 4 days prior to him coming. We told David his name and that he would be staying with us for a few days. When the pastor arrived, the boys were both napping, he himself turned in to rest. When the boys got up, we worked on preparing dinner and then our guest came downstairs. David, without missing a beat, said his name and welcomed the pastor with his silliness. Our guest felt right at home, as he missed his grandbabies. He enjoyed his stay with us, we hope to host him again.

5/16/2010 To wrap up our guest pastor’s stay, the church had a huge BBQ in the church parking lot, complete with a bouncy house for the kids! The food was great and both our boys enjoyed the bouncy house. David would sit in the bouncy house and enjoy the colors and watch the other kids. Gregory (our youngest) got right in and jumped around.

David checking in to see that Momma was outside. "Hi Momma, I'm bouncing."

Gregory is in the front of the "pack" of bouncers. David is enjoying the colors, not the kids.

On Father’s Day this year, I coordinated with my two brothers and sister to surprise our Dad at his place. Everybody pitched in and did part of the meal. It was a bit rough for me because David kept getting in to things, he is just so curious in new places, but what boy isn’t? All in all it was a success, and we all slept well for naptime upon getting home.

We also had a surprise visit from my Great Uncle from Utah. He got to meet the boys and catch up with us for a bit. We let him know of David’s diagnosis and what we were doing to try to recover him. He is am amazing gentleman. He has endured a lot of loss in our family over the last 10-15 years. He is currently celebrating 97 years of life, and a wonderfully full one at that. He has always been like the Grandpa I never had, since my only one passed when I was too young to remember. He is gracious and generous and full of life.

The end of June brought us to David’s 4^th birthday. We had gorgeous weather and took the boys to Mukilteo to enjoy the water and maybe try and fly a kite. We enjoyed a picnic, then visited Nana before heading to the water park for a little play time. The boys were exhausted when we got home, what a full day! We celebrated that evening with Betty Crocker GF Brownies and Ben & Jerry’s Berried Treasure Sorbet…yum!

The wind is not cooperating with us...both the boys loved chasing the tail.

Watching the train go by on the edge of the beach- while enjoying apples, pretzels and a juice box.

That's not our ball...where did you get that?

That is the most sugar my boy has had in one sitting!

7/4/2010- David loves fireworks! Daddy took David up the hill from our home to watch over the town as fireworks went off everywhere. They were out until 10:30pm and David slept like a log that night- he was so happy when he got home, but so exhausted.

It's a bit blurry- but you get the idea...the whole skyline lights up.

7/13/2010 Follow-up on David's regimen with the Dr. We ran blood tests again a few weeks before and went to discuss what we found. It was decided we would add to his current regimen by supplementing with:

Carnetine because of the lack of protein in David's diet- he won't eat meat, except bacon (we buy uncured from Trader Joe's so there are no nitrates/nitrites)

     ~We also decided to run a comprehensive stool analysis for David, I was concerned about yeast/bacterial issues because of some of David's behaviors (demanding, noncompliant, hands over ears, stimming (rocking), climbing, standing on head, giddy behavior, funny smelling scalp, itching, smelly stool, and constipation vs. diarrhea) We also discussed running a NutrEval in about 3 months to see where we were in our care for David.

Someone enjoys snuggling in fresh, warm towels from the dryer.

7/14/2010- Had friends over for dinner, they have 2 boys about the same age as ours… we ate outside and the boys enjoyed playing on the swing set and the double hammock. David did really well socially with them, he’s growing and changing so fast- we are excited to see those benchmarks emerging in his social life.

7/18/2010- This was a very special day. Grandma & Grandpa took all of us on the steam train! We weren’t sure how David would do with the larger crowd and the loud noise of the train. We showed him pictures up to a week before going to prepare him. We also made a “trip book” with pictures of landmarks we would go by on the way down to Grandma & Grandpa’s. Both the boy’s thought that was pretty fun, until we had to deviate from our planned route due to traffic issues. The trip down to Grandma & Grandpa’s is about the maximum amount of time our boys will sit in the van. They start to get fussy and squirmy and downright grouchy. I have learned to pack lots of food, snacks and drinks along with books and things with buttons (calculators, old cell phones and remotes) to entertain them there and back. David did really well on the full 1 ½ hour ride. Cautious at first, he nestled in between Daddy and Grandma. He stayed there until about 10 minutes into the ride, then he stood up to watch where we were going, all the while keeping his ears plugged.

Waiting for the train…  

Checking out the engine…

Very happy but it's very loud.

David’s Motorcycle (he hasn’t told Grandpa yet)

7/29/2010- Results from David’s stool evaluation came in. Things looked normal. I appreciated the full color report from Genova Diagnostics and the explanations of what the heck they sent to me about digestion, absorption, metabolic markers & microbiology. Lots of big words were used, but they do tell you what everything means and how it plays a part in the body. Yeast showed as a possible pathogen, but not in a range to be concerned with (at this time). It was nice to count something out on the journey thus far. We keep the report as a reference, who’s to say, things could change.