Wow! It's Been a Long Time

Now, coming up to the end of September, and all is well with the Haynes household. We had a great summer, which flew by, and are looking forward to fall and dare I say the holiday season!

The kids are doing great. Ian did not go to summer school this year, so it was nice being able to sleep in and not having to be on a schedule. We swam about everyday and had a great time. It makes Brian and me very happy to see Ian totally relaxed and overjoyed to be in the water. We started him on some new medicine for his stomach in July and a gluten free diet in August. We also adjusted some other medicine he has been on, and the result seems to be a happier and more content boy. Walking has been a struggle the past several months, and in fact, because of his size and his unpredictability to walk, we began using a simple transport wheelchair when we're away from the house. But last night, for the first time in several months, we had him walk from the car to the church building. He did great- did not sit down a single time. He has also been taking a few steps by himself in the house. I am very hopeful that one of these days he will be walking on his own- or maybe just with a sighted guide. Now that I say all that, I have to mention that one little detour in his improvement is coming up in November. That is that he is having surgery on both hips Nov 4 here in Shreveport at Shriners. They will be breaking both legs (femurs) and inserting wedges, plates, and screws to reposition the bones. Once they go in, they will determine whether he must have a spika cast (one that goes from the waste to ankles with a bar in between ) or one that is less restrictive and made of metal and leather. Of course we are praying for the less restrictive cast. Second only to his safety and a successful surgery, I am most concerned about the cast situation. After 6 weeks with the cast on, we will return to the hospital for daily rehab for several weeks. This is typically in-patient, but since we live so close to the hospital, we are hoping we can do it out patient. So, it looks like we will have the cast until about the 16th of Dec.- off just in time for Christmas! I often here me telling myself that we can do anything for 5-6 weeks. . . and I know we can. This should keep Ian from having severe pain in the future and will hopefully help his walking. When the time gets closer I will probably be updating our blog regularly.

As for Olivia Kantika Jane Haynes, she is doing great. She also became quite a little swimmer and jumped off the diving board a couple of times. She talks constantly at home, but you would never know it when we are out and about. We can hardly get her to say "hi". We took her to her first football game the other night, and she really enjoyed that. I think what sold her were the peanuts, coke, and M&M's! We just returned from Washington DC a couple of weeks ago, and she was a great little traveler. We had to go to the Thai embassy to get her registered, so we spent a few days seeing as much in Wash. as we could. We had a great time. Ian stayed with my parents a few days and Brian's mom and aunt a few days. He did fine and stayed happy most of the time, I think. Olivia is in pre-school a couple days a week, and she loves it. It is the same place she attended mother's day out last year, so the transition was easy. She would like to be going every day I think, but I wanted to keep her home a little longer!

Brian and I are both doing fine. He has not had any overnight trips for several weeks because of a project he has been working on close to Shreveport; however, that has come to an end, and he is going back to Chicago for a couple of nights this week. We have enjoyed having him home all the time the last couple of months. The minute he walks in the door, Olivia asks him if he is ready to play games! Ian sometimes holds on to him and won't let him go!

My morning is getting away and I have 6 mums to plant so I need to get out there. We have had so much rain lately, the ground is really soft, so it shouldn't take long. I hope all is well with anyone who ever thinks to check our blog. We would love to hear from you- Leah