It's all about the numbers...and steps

This past week in the Giosa household is always a "big" week from a numbers perspective at least.

On May 20th, our sweet little preschooler, Aiden, turned 4 1/2 years old. It's so hard to believe that he's that old, where has time gone? I feel like I can think to just yesterday when he was a little snuggly baby. He is now wrapping up his first year of preschool this Friday. I wish I could just slow things down. The older he gets- the more he remembers, the smarter he seems, and the older he looks.

Aiden recently completed his first year of soccer and he did really well. While most of it instructional, he knew all the "drills" and technique they learned and he did well during their scrimmages. He asked me when he can play again.

Today I received the sweetest note from his teachers saying what a joy he has been and how they'll miss him. Aiden will miss his teachers too, he loves school and is so sad it's ending...but as he reminds me only until September. I know one day this opinions will change :)

Our May 22nd, Keith and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. While the day pretty much was like any other- work, taking care of the kids, keeping the house together, it was still amazing to celebrate 9 years of love, happiness, and being with my friend. We did get to "run away" overnight this past Friday. Our parents watched the boys and we got to enjoy some much needed together time in the Inner Harbor. We really enjoyed ourselves and ate some fabulous food. I'm pretty sure some people thought we were newlyweds and we kinda felt like we were.

Our Wedding Day- May 2004

9 years later still in love 2013

And on May 23rd our little crazy baby boy, Jonathan, turned 15 mos old. He amazes us each day with new words (we now call him polly parrot as he repeats EVERYTHING anymore) and this little and crazy personality. He definitely has his own opinion, but at times is so sweet. And in the biggest new of all, he gave us the best anniversary gift by starting to take steps on his own!! He's now up to 5-6 steps and he's doing it all the time. This weekend was so amazing to watch him "take off" and he seems so confident and happy with himself.

Lastly, we would like to thank ALL of your for following our blog and reading our story. We love to hear how everyone reads it and loves to see the boys grow up and feels they are getting to know our family. We have had a hard month or so and we know some of our family members are dealing with declining health and some close friends are having personal struggles too. This blog has been a great outlet and knowing we have so many people supporting us and loving our family is just amazing and we want to say THANK YOU!

This is Keith and I with our twins

Life is funny- A Mother's day Decision

The saying goes "Life is Funny"...but, recently I have been having a hard time trying to find the humor. It's been a rough month- for me, for a few family members and for a couple of friends.  So in the day to day activity I try to cherish the small triumphs and moments.

But there has been  moments of Joy! One is that my cousin Amanda is expecting her first child with her husband, Henry, in November, so exciting.

Second- Aiden's school had a Mother's day Tea the Friday before Mother's day. It was so sweet and I found myself a little emotional too.  We got to come in the last hour of school and the kids were so excited to have their Moms there. They sang us songs, read us a story and gave us a present to plant in the ground (aka flower seeds). All in all- Aiden was so excited I could come and honestly I wouldn't have been anywhere else.

I also had a lovely Mother's Day. Keith and I (along with the boys) attended a Mother's Day brunch with some FH families from the Facebook group we're a part of and I could not have been happier to share this day with them. It was nice to be among families that understand the  struggles of a child with limb deformities. The FH children there were of all ages and stages of surgery. A few of the families already feel like close friends even though this is the second time we met them. It was so nice as a new FH mom to share my concerns and struggles and hear from the others the other side of this journey. And yeah-  one of the Mom 's is also going to make me some covers for JP's fixator! It was great to see the kids all played along together.

 This is JP with a fellow FH friend- Nick, who's 10 and has gone thru several surgeries already and is similar to JP. 

Recently, Keith and I have decided on which doctor/hospital to go with for the surgery... finally. We're going to go with our "first choice" - Dr. Nichols at DuPont. She was the first doctor to give us answers during uncertain times. We always felt she was an amazing doctor and we know she loves our son and will take good care of him. And one of the FH Mom's from the group help me realize she's just as amazing and good as the Doctors at Sinai/Rubin Institue of Advance Orthopedics (not that I didn't know that, but it was nice to hear from a RIAO mom)

Of course with a date- that means the count down begins, so in less then 3 months JP will undergo his first surgery and in two weeks he'll go for his MRI. I'm trying to get thru the hurdle of dealing with this, but the FH Mom's assure me the first time the kids go under and go in for surgery is the hardest because of the fear of the unknow and it will get better.

Walking outside the comfort zone

I feel like I have been pretty open with JP's condition since he's been born. I have this blog, which discusses the variety of emotions I go through, I started a FB page and invite people to follow his journey there, and I'm open to talking about his situation when people ask. While JP's condition isn't "glaring" or completely noticeable to the untrained eye, I have seen people look at his shoe with a lift and it's never bothered me.

Well last Saturday I came face to face with the reality that I'm not completely in the comfort zone. Jonathan's therapist encouraged us to get him to use his walker outside the house, outside his comfort zone. So last Saturday, it was a gorgeous day, and I decided to bring his walker to Aiden's soccer practice/game. I was surprised how uncomfortable I became as I set his walker up. Then Jonathan started to walk over to people and it just put a sad feeling in my heart that I hadn't had in a long time...that my baby needs a walker. Of course this isn't a permanent course of action, really it's fleeting, but it was a shock to my system on how I felt uncomfortable (almost embarrassed that I didn't do something right during my pregnancy to make my baby "turned out" this way). The dumbest thing was no one around made me feel this way, complete strangers were smiling, talking, and loving my baby.

Tomorrow marks 3 months until Jonathan's first surgery (as we're pretty sure we'll be having it done at DuPont), and as it gets closer, I realize I will have to continue to move out of my comfort zone as a parent, but realize there are so many strangers that see the adorable baby that my Jonathan is and not a "deformed" leg that he has.

April Showers...Bring May Flowers

It's been a crazy an unpredictable few weeks, but we're weathering the storms. All four of us have had some trying days and some exciting days.

I'm now a soccer Mom as Aiden started his pee wee league at the beginning of April. He plays every Saturday and it's mainly the basics- teaching the kids the beginning of soccer and how to be part of a team, but he loves it and looks forward to it. He also loves to "practice". He was also excited to show his Uncle Brian and Aunt Amy (from NC) his moves when they came to visit.

It's hard to believe that in just 30 days he will finish his first year of preschool. He loves school, so the summer will be tough on him to go 3 months without it. Next year he'll go to the PreK class for 3 days a week, so I do breath a sigh of relief that we're not at Kindergarten just yet. Last Monday night, his school had an art show and it was so cute to see what the kids had worked on...here's a few of Aiden's gems.

We've also are taking to the nicer and warmer temperatures by going out on the deck blowing bubbles, going for walks, and heading to the park. Both boys love being outside and enjoy climbing and sliding.

JP got his first haircut this month too and it went amazing. Although he looked a little freaked out, he did so well. He never cried or got upset and by the end he looked older, but just as handsome

Also JP has been making strides with standing indpendently and trying to concur walking. We have notice times were he is standing for a mintue or two on his own and it's so exciting. The other day he was "playing" Keith's bass and let go and clapped while standing independently. 

We've also been practicing "walking". JP's physical therapist had left a walker for us to get him use to feeling upright and comfortable. We had tried to get him to use it for a couple weeks, but with little success. My brother and sister in law were visiting last weekend and they had him up and moving with it...no problem

We NOW have several videos of him walking around with the walker. Yesterday, I took the opportunity to work from home so I could participate in JPs Physical Therapy (since January Keith and his parents have been doing it all by themselves). So it was the first time I met Paula, Jonathan's PT and she was wonderful. I felt like she knew my kid's personality well. She had him up and using the walker in our house and then had us take him outside to leave his "comfort zone" and had him walking all over the driveway. Well now today, he decided he needed his walker to get around and keep up with his brother, which was amazing.

And lastly is just a quick video of my boys just loving and enjoying each other...don't get me wrong, they fight like crazy too, but they do love each other :)