Summer Fun

Happy Fathers Day!

I love Chocolate!

Vince really loves to throw rocks, he could do it all day long.

We have been having a great time. So far we have gone up to the cottage 4 times (more on that later) and have gone to the zoo once. We are going to the zoo again tomorrow. We have also gone for many walks and played in the back yard. We even got out the kiddy pool. Vince was not too excited to sit in it, but he did like walking through it. We have not had too many appointments this summer, but we did have a fitting for new braces. He did so great, we watched video's of him walking on my phone and he did not mind what they were doing at all. We will not have the new braces for a few weeks but they will be hinged to allow him more mobility while walking. Vince has been doing very good walking, he is still not doing it independently, but he is cruising on furniture.

As far as the cottage goes, we said good bye to it last weekend (we might still be able to use it this weekend though). After my Grandpa passed away last year it was decided that it would be sold. It has been in my family for 64 years and it is very sad to see it go. After all if we had not had the cottage, Nick and I would not have ever met and Vince would not be here today. There are so many great memories there. We have some very good friends and cousins on the lake that we will be able to visit but it will be different.

Happy 4th of July

Love,

Nick, Andrea, and Vince

Family Pictures

A couple of weeks ago we took some family pictures. I think they turned out pretty good. We decided to try them ourselves this time because Nick got me a very nice camera last year for my birthday. I think we will continue to do it ourselves. We have had a busy month and with summer around the corner I know it will continue to be busy. Vince has been doing very well, he still loves to walk holding onto our hands and we are just waiting for him to decided to do it himself. We know he will be running around in no time at all. We had Myelo clinic a little while ago and it went very well. They were all very happy with the progress he is making and there were really no concerns. The last time we had clinic they noticed his spine was a little curved but this time it looked like it had straitened out. :) We also had a urology appointment and the urologist was happy with how he is doing too. We still do not have to cath him, so that is great! We know we are going to have some challenges in that department in the future, but for now we are just taking it one day at a time. We hope everyone is enjoying spring!

Love,

Nick, Andrea, and Vince

Happy Birthday Vince!!

I am 2 today!

All of us after his party!

Vince is 2! Hard to believe he is two already, time has gone so fast! Vince had a great birthday, we got to go out to a restaurant, eat cake, and play outside! Playing outside is his new favorite, he really hates coming inside. I know that Vince and I are going to be outside a lot this summer. Two years ago we were so unsure of what the future would bring, but now we just see the most amazing and inspiring little boy who is going to do whatever he puts his mind to and even though we still have a lot of questions about the future we know it is all going to be ok. I wish I would have known all of this then, but then what fun would have that been. :) I know in two more years we will be even better than we are today. We also had a birthday party this weekend for Vince and he did a great job. He did not even cry once and for Vince that is huge. He is finally starting to get over some of his anxiety of other people. We had Myelo Clinic last week as well but I will post about that later, everything went well though. We hope you are all enjoying spring, it is so great to finally be able to go outside and not have to be all bundled up!

Love,

Nick, Andrea, and Vince

New Braces and a Walker

He really likes to walk!

Here he is with his new walker

Here he is showing us his sad face. If you ask him to show you his sad lip, he will. So cute!

Vince recently got new braces which are called DAFO's (Dynamic Ankle Foot Orthodics). He has been doing so great with walking and seems to be gaining a lot of strength. He cannot walk independently yet but he is working on it. We also just got a walker for him and he really loves that. His personality has really been coming out lately as well, he is so silly! If you know Vince you know that he is not to sure of new people and we were a little worried when a new friend was going to be joining him at day care, but he has been doing pretty good with it. His new friend is 8 weeks old and his name is Kip. He is a very cute baby and I think he and Vince are going to be great friend someday. Other than that everything has been going well. We recently had a Neurology appointment and she felt that he was doing great. We hope that you are all enjoying the beginning of Spring (even though it does not feel like it here yet, but it will soon).

Love,

Nick, Andrea, and Vince

Snow Days and Fun Outside!

All ready to go outside!

This is what happens when we put mittens on

Snow day!

I really love cheese puffs!

So in the month of February I had 5, yes, 5 snow days! I don't feel like I even worked in February! We had a lot of fun on our snow days and Nick even got to spend two of them with us. We got to go out side a couple of the days, the others were too cold, but Vince loves being out side. I think we are in trouble once he starts walking, he will always want to be out there. When he wants to go outside he crawls into the mudroom and gets his boots and my boots and gives them to me. It is really cute. Vince is doing very well in all other aspects. He just got new braces because he grew out of the first pair that he had. He really loves walking and we are just waiting for him to become confident enough to do it by himself. He also is getting really good at going up the stairs, we just bought our second baby gate that will go up this weekend for the bottom of the stairs. He is starting to get dangerous. Nick is enjoying his new job and we are enjoying having him at home!

Love,

Nick, Andrea, and Vince

Snow Day!!!

Like most of you, we had a snow day on Wednesday this week. We all got to be home together and it was great. Vince and I got one extra day as well. We took a few pictures on our snow day. Vince has been blowing with his mouth, so I captured some of that. Nick also taught him how to do that on my stomach, Vince thinks it is very funny.

Great Grandma's 80th birthday!

This was a couple of days before the party, but I had to include it. He put is plate on his head. Silly boy.

Grandma, her children, and their spouses

Grandma and her five kids

Grandma and two of her grandkids

Uncle Kenny

He was a little unsure about this, but at least he sat on her lap for a little bit

Blowing out the candles

Last weekend we went up to Rogers City for Grandma Yuldine's 80th birthday. The party was at Nick's parents house. We had great time, Vince even enjoyed himself. Vince was not the best traveler, but we made it home. Enjoy the pictures!

Love,

Nick, Andrea, and Vince