Sibling love

{feeding Price his pudding}

I posted something a few weeks (or months) back that linked to an article about how siblings of special needs children are extraordinary. Well, I witnessed just that last night.

My mom spent the night with us and while she usually just sleeps in Ellery's bed with her, we decided to give her the entire bed and let Ellery bunk with Price. We roll a mattress from Street's room onto the floor of Price's room and voila, Ellery's bed for the night. The kids all get excited when the mattress comes out and can play for an hour jumping on it, letting us throw them on it, and just being goofy. (Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe we should break that thing out more often.)

Ellery and Street were in Price's room having a ball and a couple minutes into the fun, Street stopped and I could see his wheels turning. He ran out of the room, down the hall, and into the playroom where Price was playing. He said something like, "Bro-bro, cababbaba," and started motioning for Price to follow him. When Price didn't budge, he got right in front of him and started pulling his finger. Price still wasn't budging (the boy is heavy), and so he tried again, this time getting behind him and pushing him with his two hands. Price fell flat on his face, then started laughing, and finally began crawling in the direction Street was pointing. Ellery chimed in and got down on her hands and knees and started crawling right beside Price. All the way to his room...where Price lit up at the sight of the mattress and quickly joined in on the fun.

Street couldn't stand the fact that Bro-bro was missing out. I love that. I wiped a few tears and told Nathan that was the sweetest thing I have ever witnessed. Seriously, Street and Ellery are Price's biggest motivators and encouragers. He is one blessed little guy to be sandwiched between these two.

17 1/2 months

fun at the rodeo

first bites of pudding

favorite words: uh-oh, no, bro bro, ebey (for elle), cracker, cookie, big truck, big bus, hewoo (hello), oh ma (oh man), please, dog, bye-bye, nigh-nigh, and of course mama

favorite toys: still the vaccuum cleaner (he calls "vac"), mops, brooms, electrical cords and wires, choo-choo's, puzzles, phones, bubbles

favorite places: driver's seat, back yard, park, Price's school, wuwu's house

favorite books: Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Gorilla, Goodnight Construction Site (got a theme going here)

This kid is a hoot. Our constant entertainer. He's also Bro-bro's best friend and Ellery's follower. Goodness, we love this little face.

In His time

"Flowers bloom at the right time. You cannot force them to bloom. They do it when they are ready and on their own time." - Ellery

Hello writers block.

Don't you love the little "fratty-haired" climber in the background?

Homecoming

I really am going to sit down and write soon. We have had so much going on since the boys returned from China and it has taken us a little while to get back in the swing of things. Things were definitely simpler when Price was not here. There was more sleeping in and not rushing to therapy at 8am, there was one less school run, and one less (usually squealing) mouth to feed. Simpler, but not better. Definitely not better. We need our Price.

I didn't want to miss posting pictures from the boys' homecoming. I planned to take more, but well, I got caught up in the excitement of the moment.

Saying goodbye to Dr. Kevin
About to brave the big flight...what a daddy.
Ellery made 3 signs that were just so cute. I "loves" this one.
Seeing Ellery had to be Price's most favorite part. The look on his face was definitely priceless.

As for how Price is doing, all I can really say for now is that he looks "brighter". That doesn't mean much for someone who doesn't know him, but it means a lot to this mama. We have front row seats to this complex, yet so divinely orchestrated story of his. To Him be the glory.

{I read this blog post today by Greg Lucas about the community of disability. Awesome and encouraging. I love what it says about siblings being anything but typical.}

They're BACK!

Sorry I've been MIA, but the boys are back and it is sweet to have everyone home. Price has been all smiles, especially when I am serving some of his favorite foods.

He started back to school this week and will get back into therapy on Monday. We have been told that tons of therapy is the best thing we can do for him after receiving the stem cells.

So...have we noticed any improvements/changes? It's hard to tell. He's definitely doing more and doing it faster. Time will tell. The Lord will use the cells in His time and in His way. He's so good to us. The trip in itself was a miracle. We survived and even thrived. China was a blessing. We took away much more from that trip than we had expected. More to come...

Some pics

We are counting down the days until our boys get home. Price had his last stem cell injection at about 12:30am this morning. I don't sleep much the nights where I know they are on the other side of the earth in the operating room. Good news is that he did great.

Nathan texted me this picture about 2:30am. It's right after his lumbar puncture. I love this picture for so many reasons. One being the white Michael Jackson glove that Price has on his hand. Nathan crafted him the cool little glove out of a sock, to keep him from pulling out his IV.
This is a picture from the Jimo Road Market.
And because I don't want to leave out the other two, we had an adventure at the zoo this past Saturday. The jury is still out as to whether Street will be an electrician, engineer, or now a zookeeper. Seeing the zoo through his almost 16-month-old self was pretty awesome.
Aunt Meredith went with us. We are so thankful for her company this past month.