Sorry...I've been sick...

Hello family and friends and fellow bloggers...
It's been a while since I have updated my blog...but I have a good excuse "I've been sick" with this really weird syndrom called "neglectablog". (pausing for laughter) I know hilarious  just a little funny right? Ok...in all seriousness....I don't really have an excuse. I just wait until we have an appointment to update it. Guess I need to break that habbit!! Luke had another helmet fitting Monday (this was his 4th visit to the naperville office for his helmet). It went great. They cut the helmet up over his right ear because it was touching and is not suppose too and the cut the neck up a little higher(which makes this momma happy because it' a little easier to zurple (sp?...basically making farting noises:) on his neck and of couse give him kisses there too!! The orthosist said we are just "going through the motions" with the helmet. His head looks great and the picture is pretty much the same as last time so we are just keepin on keepin on with it. We are so excited to go in December to see Luke' plastic surgeon and to see what he thinks! :) As for the rest of Deckerville...things are going great. Excited for trick or treating and then jumping right into thanksgiving crafts and decorations ect the next day:) I have already been Christmas shopping (a little) and plan to continue to try to get one or two things taken care of each week!! This year we are getting Lane a fish tank for Christmas...HE LOVES THEM. Ever since we stayed in Chicago at the childrens hospital he talks about them a lot! I am excited for him...however I am a little curious how the "dying" of the fish will go, I am sure Lane will do just fine and we'll handle it well, we probably won't even tell him. We'll just say "he's all gone" and get him a knew one:) My curiosity is how I will be able to flush them! I don't want to do that!! (However I've never had to do that so maybe I'll be ok....to be continued I guess). As far as Luke goes for Christmas...he has a thousand little baby toys and loves all of his brother's toys anyways...so we may do something "practical" and still a little something special toy wise! I see little walk behind toys and things that are "new" and I want, but we already have from when Lane was this age...however do I really need 2 of the same type of toy? More taken up space, more to pick up, more to clean ect... Being the 2nd child(and my hubby the 3rd) I DEFINATLY will get him his "own" stuff...when it' old enough to matter to him:) My AMAZING husband has been talking about my Christmas gift for almost a year it seems. He has been "working" on it for a long time!! And I have NOOO idea what it is. I am super excited though that he is so excited about this surprise for me:) Last year his surprise was the iphone 4s I told him he wasn't getting:) And this year....NOO CLUE YET!! I have to get to thinking. Sure there is LOTS of things I want to get him...but they are just EH' OK...and I'm looking for the wow factor always when it comes to my hubby because he is great;). So...to be continued on that too. Oh and for those of you who "know" me...he has actually already got a Christmas gift(I should NOT shop early for him as I always seem to ruin the surprise.) This one lasted about 10 minutes...I had gone to the christian bookstore to get some stuff for my niece's baby dedication and I saw a Tim Tebow book about his life, walk with Christ ect...I thought "well that'd be one little gift from me or the boys for him for Christmas"...oh about 10 seconds  minutes after heading to putting  it in the "Christmas gift spot" I pulled it out, shoved it in his face and said "I got you a book:)" Haha! He wasn't surprised I ruined the surprise:) He's been reading it and really enjoying it. Well that is all for now. Hope this post finds you all well AND
 Happy Halloween !  Look for the little "fire fighter" and his "dalmation puppy" tonight trick or treating:)

OMG IT'S BEEN A MONTH!!!

WOW!!! I can not believe a month has passed since I posted. FYI...I did create a post from the day we recieved Luke's helmet and wouldn't you know I never posted it (even though I was pretty sure I had hit publish when I finished it a week or so later). Even still that would have been 3 weeks ago had I posted that correctly and that is still WAAAYYYY too long!! So let me get you up to date.....
Luke recieved his helmet on Monday Sept 17th! At the appointment they showed Matt and I how to take it off and put it on, clean it ect... They also went through the risks of red spots that we had to watch out for. We started out having him wear it 1 hour on then a half hour off, then 2 hours on, a half hour off, and so on and so on until he was wearing it the 23 hours a day that they had instructed. He did so well adjusting to it(as they said he would) and had limited red spots! The doctor told us as long as they subsided with in 30 mins of the helmet being off then it was ok...which they almost always did. So he has had it for 3 weeks and looks soo adorable. I am not going to lie....the day they put it on him for the first time...my eyes swelled up in tears and Matt had this look on his face that I can't even describe. We of course instantly thought he was so cute and are BEYOND GREATFUL this is temporary, available, and on and on and on...but to be completly real....it took just a second(literally just that night we drove home until the next morning) and then we were completly humble again. But like I think any parent would feel....we were just a little overwhelmed. And it had been 3 1/2 months since his surgery...his head was looking great, his hair was coming in, his scar was lightening, and things were just feeling so "normal"...and then they put this cranial molding helmet on him....and it just was a rush of a reminder of what he went through. The way the helmet shaped around his little face also reminded us of the exact face he had when his head was wrapped after surgery those days in Chicago where we could only see from the eyelids down. Now like I said....that sadness and emotions literally lasted not even 24 hours....we are SOOOOOO THANKFUL that this is ALL we are dealing with because so so many deal with so much more:( With that being said....here are some pictures of Luke in his "helmie" (as I like to call it...always a name for everything from this girl, my cars I've had : Syndey Sunbird, Connie Contour, Mable Monte Carlo, Ellie Esacape, and currently Cara Caravan, my favorite coffee cup Genavive....and I'll just stop there hee hee).

Here he is yesterday on the way home from the fitting...they actually cut it up higher off his eyes!! (love seeing more of those baby blues:) But when we initally got his helmie it was much lower...I will have to upload a pic of that once I get it downloaded....

Now this to us is amazing....here is the picture of the top of his head from July 23rd(the original casting day) Look at the bump on the left side of his head....

(ahhh!! I rotated it in my pictures and it was correct then I upload it and it flipped! Sorry)

Now look at the picture from Monday October 8th.....

Again I am sorry that they are not horizontal....but can you see the difference?? The bump is pretty much gone!! The doctor said he is improving significantly! We go back at the end of the month for another fitting!!:) We are soooo blessed and give God ALL the glory for this amazing transformation in our son's life.

And for the big brother who is always sooo good on our 4 hour trips for a 15 minute doctor appointment....here he is being his supportive self like always.....

SEPTEMEBER 17th...

OCTOBER 8th....

Everything else in "deckerville" is going great. Matt has joined our churches praise and worship band and I could not be more happy for him. He is great at playing the guitar and has the perfect heart for this. He is so humble and is doing this ONLY for God and the calling he felt God gave him.  I am excited to see his closeness with God get even greater through this new addition in his life. We are enjoying listening to christian music even more around this house and the boys and I just love to sit with him as he practices. BLESSED to be married to such an AMAZING man :)

As for this momma....all is good in the hood. My clients are fantastic for adjusing their appointments when needed for these doctor appointments with Luke(ecspcecially since we go on Mondays and I only do hair Mondays and Saturdays) and dance has been so fun as I have about an hour a week with girls 4 and under which of course I LOVE! THEY ARE SOOOO CUTE, I can barely stand it!!! :) I have been working on some personal goals (like getting up before my kids a couple days a week and some other things) that are going well!!!

I promise to get back to my regular posts for those of who enjoy this blog. And like always THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS for your love and support and prayers these past 8 months!  (oh my goodness Luke will be 8 months on Sunday)

 We love you!

HAPPY FALL YA'LL!! :) (The helmet is on it's way)

So happy  ECSTATIC that it is FALL!!! Since all of this began with Luke I can't even tell you how many times this past winter, spring, and summer I kept saying "I am just looking forward to fall". Reason being is that we knew that his surgery was going to happen and happen in the summer sometime back in the first week of March so I just kept feeling like come fall things would start to have a new sense of "normalcy". The late winter was filled with "worry"...spring is usually my favorite season (I love how the world just all of the sudden becomes as though we are looking at it in HD and everything is bright and beautiful)...however I think I missed that this spring. Spring for us was "knowing" (shutter) what they were going to be doing to Luke but not knowing all at the same time. It was a very very anxious time in our lives. Then came summer SURGERY TIME....which actually after surgery wasn't too bad. We were blessed blessed BLESSED with lots of good news and progression after the surgery. However the whole month of June we were very cautious while he recovered...while we waited for the incission to heal, the stiches to fall out, to feel comfortable with a hat on his head and going in public ect...so all of that in June. Then come July we had a great report for the follow up appointment with our plastic surgeon and then began the helmet stage. He was casted on July 23rd and then it was sent to our insurrance for approval. So July was filled with that "progression" stage...and well then August was just plain HOT HOT HOT....and so needless to say IT'S FALL YA'LL!!! And WE could not be happier! Matt and I were enjoying our beautiful ride home from church on Sunday and he said it feels so good to be entering a "new season" (in weather and in life). Obviously it is not the end of the road for us but the helmet is the beginning of the end of the road and we are on it people! Today after our long wait for approval from the insurannce(you can read my previous post for that story) we went and got Luke's head RE-casted in Naperville. The Doctor that did it today was fabulous. Giving Luke lots of sweet sounds and noises to help (he sounded like Donald Duck which our 2 year old loved) and he gave Lane lots of high fives(even after Lane chucked lego's across the waiting room out of pure exhaustion an hour and a half passed his nap time)...so we thought he was pretty cool. Just like last time they had us take off Luke's clothes and put vaseline all around his neck. Then slipped on this white panty hose head sock thingy that made him look like a little bank robber, then inserted the plastic piece where the sizzors would go when time to cut it off, then applied layers and layers of fiberglass mesh. The panty hose part he actually didn't cry for this time...but the mesh wrap and pressing on his skull he WAILED! Lane and I left the minute he started crying because Lane started to cry and said Oh no Baby Lukie!!! (Lane was not as easily distracted during this helmet casting as apposed to last so better to just remove him, give him daddy's phone to play flash cards on and go to the waiting room right out side the door rather than upset him over what his little bro was going through...have no worries the minute the phone came out his tears disappeared and never even hit his cheek and he was happy as ever and tuned the crying right out.) As soon as I got Lane settled outside the door in the chair I peaked in and they were cutting it off  Luke's head and I was able to scoop his sweet sticky bright red/purplish face right up out of daddy's arms and get him to calm down fairly quickly. (oh how I hate it for him:'( ...he's been throught "ALOT" worse you may say...but even a runny nose makes this Momma's heart break for them...thank God it only takes about 3 minutes for this casting) We then got to hear the doctor call in and speak to the people right away in regards to the rush on the helmet and we are getting it next Monday the 17th! In plenty of time before the 23rd like we need it and on a Monday when my hubby is off! WHEW!!:) Thank you Lord! (blessings blessings all the way thanks to our awesome God). And a great shout out to my amazing clients for being sooo understanding and flexible with your appointments!!! YOU GUYS ROCK AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!
Also here is the GREATEST NEWS OF ALL....the doctor today thought Luke's head looked fabulous. He was acting as though he barely thought he needed this helmet. He said he will only need it for 4 months tops(however that is the plastic surgeon's final decision) and that he will only need it adjusted ever 3 weeks as apposed to once a week like they had told us back in July:) So we went today, will go next week to get the helmet, then the following week for our first fitting/checkup then every 3 weeks(so about 3-4 more times for fittings:)
Here are some pictures from today. I only took them of him with the "panty hose" thingy on his head while he was calm because once the crying began I had to exit and take care of Lane but here is a few. He is such a little cutie and such a tough cookie!!!


Here he is getting the netting put on his head before the casting and the apron is to keep Matt's clothes clean....

Here he is after it is on.....Him's so cute even though I hate it for him:).................

Here he is as they insert the plastic piece they put for the sizzors to go over once the casting is done so they can protect his head as they cut...

Sizzor guard inserted.....then the head is wrapped with the fiberglass mesh (probably 30 wraps I'd guess and pressed all on his head(almost like paper mache but thicker)

And the tired supportive big brother....about 10 minutes after throwing the legos...and about 5 minutes after leaving the office... :)

And last but not least....I just feel the need to share again how much we appriciate you all praying for us, loving us, and reading our blog and being on this journey with us.  Many many many people in this world compare to us and our past and current circumstances make them seem minuscule (and that breaks my heart) and to many many people our situation is awful compared to theirs...but regardless of what people may feel I know what we feel and that is BLESSED BLESSED BLESSED beyond messure to have Luke!! And to have him alive well and normal is literally a feeling that washes over us and leaves us without words.

My heart aches for people that so badly want a baby and don't have them or that have them and are facing critical situations. We don't even begin to compare to what some people have to face and Matt and I would take this task again ten fold for the blessing of this child. Oh how we love him(and his big brother)!!

(and look for a post next week with pics of him in his helmet!!)

Luke's Helmet UPDATE

Well we finally heard from the inssurance that they are helping cover the helmet but since it has been 6 weeks since the first casting and his head has grown we have to go back Monday the 10th for another casting. Then we have to get the helment made and fitted before Sept 23rd for the inssurance. Luckily Monday we get to go to the Naperville office (which isn't as far as the first casting it should only be around 2 hours) and they said it will take a week or two to recieve the helmet. So please be praying all will go well and Luke will have it on his sweet little head before the 23rd of Septemeber!! :)

The bump that they are perfecting on his left side is getting better every day even without his helment! He is such an adorable little guy and so fun!! Can't believe he will be 7 months old next Friday! He loves the baby food I have been making him and he loves patty cake, his flash cards(he loves the "baby" flash card the best), So big, YAY, and to make the "indian noise" and literally fusses when I stop doing it!! Haha!

Here is a few developmental pics:)


Here he is on the way to his first helmet casting 6 weeks ago, this picture really showes off the bump on the left side....

Here is about 3 weeks ago and as you can see his head is taking more shape around the bump...

Here he is last week and it is even a little better you can definatly still see that bump right above his left eyebrow but his head is growing in around it making the bump appear  smaller and with the few months of the helmet I am sure he'll have the most perfect shape head :).....

Reflections....

It is great to be back with the awesome group of women "reflecting" on the same topic. This week we were to reflect on a verse or verses from the bible that speak so deeply into our lives. When I read that we were doing this topic all I could think was....WOW my post is going to be RIDCULOUSLY long....however after some pondering and praying and talking to my husband and realizing what that/those verse/verses are...I realized I actually could narrow it down. The past few months have been so great as I have been adding scripture into my life ecspecially healing scriptures for Luke. But THEE scripture that I feel is so daily and deeply in me is....get ready....it's pretty typical...but true to me..... THE LORD IS MY SHEPARD from the 23rd Psalm. Ok yes...I know....even the non christians of this world know this scripture and it's not "so original" but narrowed down....it is my deepest scripture. It goes way back to my infancy of being a christian  to having to memorize it during confirmation classes and now to my current christian walk. It resinates in me and my husband so much and into our family. No matter what we may be going through we know that He is our shepard. What we are believing for He is leading and guiding us (a.k.a.His sheep) down His amazing path. No matter what we are afraid of He is protecting us, no matter what we are thankful for He has given us His grace and blessings as our Abba Father. We can put that scripture into everything in our lives. HE is our SHEPARD. It is just the way we feel for Lane and Luke....we keep a constant watch on our herd. We would never let anything happen to the 2 of them. We have a constant eye on them when they are awake and when they are asleep we are monitoring their every noise. Even more than that the Lord is watching our EVERY move and moment and is guiding, protecting, and blessing  us in every aspect. The 23rd Psalm continues to say " I shall not want" and that is something I have finally began to be content with. Do I sometimes see an amazing commercial with something on it and thing "I want that" yes of course I do.... Or do I look at a stain on a shirt or on my carpet and think "man it'd be nice to get new" yes of course I do. But that is not exactly what that means to me.... It's finding contentment in what HE wants for me in my life. And Trusting that He will bless me and carry me through and protect me all the way and wanting only what He wants for me.

~Psalms 23:1-6~

The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not  want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Amen.
 

Rain....

On Friday I took Luke to his doctor appointment in Clinton and on our way I was listening to Klove and they had everyone that was listening pray all together for rain due to the drought. I joined in and prayed for rain and it is raining today!!! ;) so neat to be apart of prayer things like that! Made me smile to see that rain this morning! Reminds me of the scripture we talked about last week in church....Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16 NIV). ;) Coming before him boldly and making our requests known is exactly what He wants to hear! Try it for yourself!!!;)

6month picture of Luke that will make you smile