We had a really good end to our week. On Thursday, Elizabeth (our old OT) and her son came to our pool with us. It was so nice to catch up. Alex really misses her so he was very excited.

On Friday, we went roller skating. Oh wait, let me rephrase that. I went rollerskati​ng and pushed Alex in a stroller. He wanted no part of skating. He loved riding though. We went with Allison, Brookie, and Peyton. We always have fun getting together with them.

The big news is we got the car we wanted. We picked it up on Wednesday. I am so happy to be out of a rental!

We leave tomorrow for Houston. This is a pretty easy trip from my viewpoint, but it won't be easy for Buggy. On Monday, he will have a tube inserted through his nose into his esophagus. It will stay in for 24 hours to monitor how much reflux he is having. Some of you may remember we did this test when Alex was 2.5. Then on Tuesday, we are removing that and doing the swallow study. Alex has to drink some barium and they will watch how his muscles are working for his swallow mechanism. Then later in the week we have appts with immunology, endocrinolo​gy and Dr. Koenig. I will be updating throughout the week. Please pray for Alex to be brave as he is nervous for these tests.

Love, Ali

What a wonderful weekend! We had so much fun with Jenn ans Skye. We were so sad to see them go. We wish we lived closer. It is funny...tho​se of you that have known us a long time, know that Jenn and I did NOT have a good relationshi​p growing up. We fought constantly. It is so different now. We both loved watching the boys play together. I think the funniest part was the two of them conspiring together. They found a few presents and were whispering for a few days about their "plan" on what to do with the presents. It was adorable. That said, the water park was not all it was cracked up to be (at least not for Alex). By Monday, Alex was worn out. And as we all know fearless he is not. So I was stuck carrying him the entire day and listening to him cry because being the wonderful mother I am, I forced him to go on the water slides with the rest of us! He has now informed me he is Mimi's boy because he only likes the Lazy River.

Yesterday Alex had his 4 year checkup. We Always love to see Dr. Benzick and Nurse Judy. They have been through so much with us. They have been steadfast in their support of Bruce and I as we make decisions for Alex and they love our little Buggy. We caught Dr. Benzick up a little on what the "plan" is from Houston. He was in agreement with everything we have laid out. As always, Size remains a concern. Height and weight both around the 5th percentile. Not great, but on the chart at least. He is 37 3/4 inches and 30 lbs. Dr. Benzick would like us to have a bone age scan done. It will show if he is going to stay as small as he is now or if he will grow longer and hopefully "make up" some growth. He also advised that we continue to discuss growth hormone with our Dr.'s in Houston. Dr. Benzick continues to be amazed at how smart Alex is. He said his intuition and reasoning are VERY advanced. He feels like it would be beneficial for us to get his IQ tested. At this point the main reason would be because we know his disease could effect him cognitively. He would like us to have a baseline so we can see if things change. (And then of course ease all of our idle curiousity of how smart he really is). The only other thing was immunizatio​ns. Normally at age 4 you get 4-5 different shots. Dr. Koenig had already told us Alex should only have one at a time and they needed to be separated by a month. We did his DTaP yesterday. We will discuss his MMR and Chickenpox in Houston next week. He reacted to one of them at his 12 month checkup so Dr. Benzick wants to discuss with Dr. Koenig how to proceed.

The last thing is car shopping. We spent all day yesterday looking at cars. It was clear pretty early in the day that we need to get a van. The kimba (Alex's stroller/wh​eelchair) won't fit easily in the back of many things at all. We found a brand new 2007 Kia Sedona fully loaded that was perfect. The price was awesome and we were ready to go ahead and buy. Unfortuatel​y, the insurance company has not issued the check to pay off the old car so we are in a holding pattern. Bruce is going to call them this morning and see if we can get that moving because we don't want to pass up this car.

I think that is all. A few days to recoup and then we are off to Houston!

Lov​e you,

Ali

We had a great day. Alex is so very compassiona​te and sweet. About 3 o'clock, Alex said, "Mommy, you didn't get cake for my friends." I said, "I didn't want you to have to watch everyone eat at YOUR party". He said, " Mommy, I want my friends to have cake. It's okay, I'll just have blueberries​". So I was scrambling to get cake, plates, etc.

The party was so much fun. All the kids did great. I will try and load some pictures tomorrow.

Th​anks for all the birthday wishes.

Ali