Norris Lake

I'm thinking my timely blog posts are becoming something of the past.  Time just slips away from me and I'm finding less and less free time to blog.  I do enjoy blogging and keeping this family timeline, so we'll see how long I can keep it up. 

Back in October my family took our first extended family vacation together.  It's something we've talked about doing for a while, and finally got something scheduled.  A coworker of Drew's offered us his cabin down in Tennessee at Norris Lake for a week! The timing was perfect - the trees were just starting to turn and the temperature couldn't have been better.  It was even warm enough to do some swimming.  The cabin was spacious with three levels, six bedrooms, a walkout deck, a hot tub, and stairs out the back that led straight down to the lake.  PERFECT!!  Unfortunately, Kelley's husband, Brian, wasn't able to join us because of work.  We all missed him, and look forward to our next family vacation when he can join us!

While there we rented jet skis two days, rented a pontoon boat for a day, and did lots of relaxing!  We also took one day to drive to Gatlinburg to visit Ripley's Aquarium there as well as do some hiking in the mountains.  The aquarium was great - amazing walking through a tunnel and have sharks swim directly above you!  Unfortunately, our trip fell directly over the government shutdown, so the mountains were "closed."  We were told that we weren't even allowed to pull over to the side of the road to take pictures.  Boo!  So we viewed them from a distance and instead walked through downtown Gatlinburg and looked at the shops and even had some caricatures drawn of the kids.

We had such a great time and really enjoyed all being in the same house - fixing dinners together, chatting, and playing games after the kids went to bed.  It was so refreshing!  We definitely look forward to our next vacation together...whenever that might be!  :)

Hiking around the cabin

Papaw and Grant stopping to refuel the jet ski.

Jenna LOVED riding the jet skis!!  (As did Grant)

Playing Go Fish with Grant

The view out the back of our cabin

The view from the boat dock behind our cabin

There were a LOT of stairs, so we definitely got our exercise. 

Breakfast on the back porch.

Getting the jet skis ready to go

Love him!

So.much.fun!!

View of the back of the cabin from the boat dock.

There was this floatation next to the dock that the kids liked sitting on.  One time Grant was sitting on it and Drew tried "stepping" on it himself, however he stepped a little hard and flipped Grant right off head first into the water.  He had his life jacket on and was fine, but it scared us all a little...although in hindsight it was pretty funny.  He even laughed about it after the fact. :)

Bentley and Aiden hanging out in their highchairs

Drew with his kiddos

Papaw read a bedtime story to all the grandkids (minus Hannah)

Aiden mesmerized by the fish at the aquarium in Gatlinburg

The jellyfish exhibits are always so beautiful.

Peeking his head up in the middle of a little aquarium

Crawling through a penguin tunnel

All the cousins

Crazy how close we were to the sharks

This was by far the coolest part of the aquarium

Enjoying some Mexican food for dinner

Walking around downtown Gatlinburg

Kelley wanted to get caricatures drawn of the boys.  The picture turned out GREAT, but I don't have a picture of the final product.

Jenna, Grant, and Hannah being drawn

Their finished caricature - Hannah is spot on, Grant looks a little goofy, and Jenna looks a little mean/mischievous.  Although I think Jenna and Grant were a little off, I think he probably captured their personalities pretty well.

This picture is the epitome of relaxation!  :) 

Playing a very competitive game of Uno Moo.

I loved time with my nephews!

More game time - we love our games.

And some Candy Land with Grant and Maw-Maw.

Hannah hanging out at the boat dock.

Playing in the water by the boat dock.

Jenna and Grant loved warming up in the hot tub in the evenings!

More snuggles with Aiden!

Family dinnertime.

Family pictures before we left.

Enjoying the outdoors.

We forgot to take our camera on the boat, so we'll have to get those pictures from Kelley, but there were a lot more of us on the boat and tubing.  So much FUN!!  I'm ready to go back!  :)

Hannah - 8 months

I guess I should post Hannah's 8 month pictures seeing as how she'll turn 9 months in just 1 1/2 weeks! 

Going from seven months of age to eight months was fairly calm for Hannah.  Things finally started slowing down a little and we started working on getting into a new routine with all her therapies.  Each week Hannah sees a physical therapist and occupational therapist in Dayton, our chiropractor, and an occupational therapist from the county comes to our home.  I'd say things are still fairly busy, but at least we're done (for the time being) with all the doctor appointments and testing. 

We're realizing Hannah's progress is going to be much slower than we anticipated or hoped. None of the therapists will give us an idea of when they think she might hit different milestones, which is completely understandable seeing as how they don't know.  It would be so nice to at least know what to expect or to know if she'll even be able to do certain things.  Right now it's hard for me to picture her even crawling because that seems light years away.  So, patience is the key. 

Some have asked what they do with her in therapy - basically they're solely working on her gross motor development.  They do lots of tummy time and really emphasize how important it is for strengthening her back, neck, and tummy muscles.  They also try to get her to roll by motivating her with toys, lights, sounds, anything!  She has started rolling from her tummy to her back, so that's encouraging!  They also sit her upright and try to get her to balance herself.  She's gotten to where she can sometimes sit solo for 3-5 seconds before toppling over.

The physical therapist will also stretch her legs and arms.  She's made the comment that she foresees Hannah's hamstrings being very tight.  I'm not exactly sure what that means or how it will directly affect her.  We have some friends who have a son with CP and he has to have Botox injections in his hamstrings to help with the stiffness - so not sure if that's something we'll have to do down the road or not.

 Also the occupational therapist in Dayton noted how Hannah keeps the thumb on her right hand tucked under her fingers.  They want to get the thumb out because it can cause the muscles to contract, so Hannah now wears a thumb splint on her right hand at bedtime.  Sometimes I'll put it on her during the day, but she's not able to grasp anything with it on and it seems to irritate her skin.  So I try to keep it to a minimum.

This past month Hannah also had her two bottom middle teeth pop through!  She looks adorable with them!  She is still our happy little girl  - she smiles so easily!  She had her hearing retested this past month and she passed with flying colors!  We never doubted whether she could hear, but we figured it wouldn't hurt to have the 6-month follow-up appointment. 

Jenna and Grant can't get enough of her!  It's so sweet to see their love for her.  They're quite the helpers when it comes to Hannah and do a great job of playing with her.  She is blessed with two siblings who love her very much!