3rd Grade!

Today was the first day of school for Travis. Normally, he is VERY excited the night before school begins.

Last night, he was crying about it.

This morning, he was crying about it.

On the way to school, these were the best pictures I could get of him. Notice his expression and the pitiful attempt at a smile?




He calmed down on the ride some, and by the time we got to school, he had a little bit of pep in his step.


And upon seeing his friends in the hallway, and in his class...he managed a big smile!


And at the end of the day, he said his day was great. Hoping for a better beginning to the day tomorrow!

The big hearts of Bus 214

Travis' bus driver, is unlike any other I have ever known. She gets the kids involved with several service projects throughout the school year. They do toy and food drives during the holidays, and all year long, his bus collects...pop tabs, for the American Legion, who in turn, take them to the Ronald McDonald House of Durham. OUR Ronald McDonald House.

Pop tab collection for Ronald McDonald Houses (around the country) is NOT an urban legend. Each house takes the tabs that are donated, to an aluminum recycling center, and then receive money in exchange for the tabs. That money is then used to help meet expenses at the house.

Pop tab fun facts:
Approximately 1,430 pull tabs = one pound

The RMH of Durham receives the going rate for aluminum, which changes as the demand changes - varying from rates of 23 to 52 cents per pound on any given period.
The RMH of Durham averages about 450 pounds every 10 days, or approximately $234.

Every penny helps families stay at the House -- $10 pays for one family for one night!

Travis' bus collected right at 100 pounds of pop tabs this school year! That is enough pop tabs to fill TWELVE 2-gallon zip loc bags!!! That is enough to provide at LEAST 20 nights to families with sick children at Duke Children's Hospital. He and a handful of other students were asked to come represent his bus, as they were recognized for their collection efforts.

Ms Leslie got up, told about the giving hearts of the students on her bus. She pointed out our family, and how the Ronald McDonald House had helped us. Another students family has stayed at the RMH of Chapel Hill.

Travis and his friends (and Riley) present all the tabs collected to the crowd (as Mommy cried)


They were all presented with a flag for their efforts


So next time you crack open a soda can, a soup can, or any can with a pop tab, make sure you save that tab. The family you help could be mine!

Random is what I do best

Here is another random post for you.

Friday was a busy day for both of my boys. Riley had an appointment at Duke with his GI specialist. It was a hellish day for he and I. While he is "ok", he has been having quite a bit of GI issues. So up to Duke we went, where they prodded and poked him (literally) and he wasn't real thrilled about that. In fact, as soon as we went in the triage room, he began crying which earned him a "CRIES" note on his paperwork. He did stand on the big boy scale (23lbs still...not gaining any weight), although he screamed while doing so, and his blood pressure registered something like 145/72 which made the machine beep like crazy. . I would be interested to know what Riley's blood pressure REALLY is, but I am positive we haven't gotten an accurate reading on his since he was very very very very VERY young, because I can remember him crying, even while in the NICU during the BP reading. After meeting with the doctor,and getting a little frustrated with how that was going, Riley and I got to hang around, for him to receive yet ANOTHER contrast enema. At least it wasn't with that nasty barium this time. We walked over to Duke Gardens for a few minutes while waiting, and had a little picnic lunch and I tried to get some pictures of him, but he apparently felt violated, and wouldn't smile. Then we were called to go back for his test. This one was so different than all the others. He has always had a stump of a large intestine, with a nice, shiny little clip at the end, that glowed on the screen, and indicated that the dye had traveled all the way to the end. Well now, he is reconnected, and we needed that dye to travel from his bottom, all the way up to spill into his small intestine a little ways, so we could see that he had NO strictures whatsoever, even at his anastamosis site. But he is missing his right colon, including his ileocecal valve and it all kind of looked the same, but FINALLY, after tilting him head down, and face down, with fluid running off the table, down my legs, onto the floor into a big puddle, we could see the change from large to small intestine. But wow, were Riley and I both a big mess! But, he has NO strictures,which was fantastic (that would have meant more surgery), so we could feel relieved that his issues were strictly diet and GI function related. Although still having to deal with problems related to that, it isn't a surgical problem. So, we press on, and hope we can find a happy medium somewhere.


DUCK! Riley yelled when we saw these ducks and geese

No smiles today

"beebee duck"




Meanwhile, Travis was at school, pretending to be Michael Jordan for the day. The entire 2nd grade had a big project called Living Wax museum to do. They had to choose a famous person, write a paper on them, and memorize a short speech. Then, they had to dress up like their person, and stand around in the multipurpose room, until someone pressed their "button" (their outstretched hand). Then, they would come to life, and state their rehearsed speech about themselves, before turning back into a mannequin to wait for the next person. Over a hundred people passed by Travis!! His teacher said he did fantastic. I sure wish I had been there though. :(



Bubbles...one of Riley's current favorite things. But he's become very independent and insists on doing it himself.

And then this happens

He totally doesn't care though

Totally doesn't care that his pants are now dripping wet with bubble liquid


All dry now!


Country boys

Pinewood Derby, climbing and bears...

Yesterday, was Travis' cub scout pack Pinewood Derby race. This is his second year participating, and he was so excited. I have to admit, it is pretty fun to watch. It's a lot of work for the kids/dads, so I think I have the easy part of the deal though. Jay and Travis went to help out Friday night with the setup and such and then Saturday was race day.
There were this many cars in Travis' group (Wolves). I forget the actual number,feel free to count the cars in the picture though :o)


Lots of excited little boys

The little brother was determined he was going to take down the banner thing

There it goes!

Travis did not win anything this year, but his good buddy won 1st place in their group, and Travis cheered loudly for him and gave him lots of high-fives and celebrated Holden's accomplishment as if it were his own. I think that made me more proud than if Travis had won. What a great show of good sportsmanship! Some of the dads could learn a lesson from a group of 7 years olds I think.

Riley made a discovery yesterday...that by using the step stool, he can climb, yet one more thing in our house...the furniture!
**disclaimer...yes, he is wearing a wonky outfit. His pajama pants seemed so much more comfy for naptime than his jeans, and well, he never quite made it back out of them! So please excuse the tacky outfit!**
Must get the stool just so...

Hoist chubby booty up...

Tada!


Riley loves the bear...

Little bear that Riley had before he was born...and who I grabbed from his room during our quick stop home the day he was lifeflighted to Duke and who I tearfully brought to his bedside when he was 6 days old, and who stayed at his bedside, traveling up and down the interstate with him, for 107 days, and who traveled back to Duke in September to keep him company, and will travel there again next week, has now become a much loved companion to Rileybear. And he loves to "love the bear". And carries him around with him, and sleeps with him, and bear has now begun to travel around with us.

(note in the picture above, you can see "Souza" written in sharpie marker on the tag on the bears bottom...a forever reminder of his stay in the NICU as well - also, he's digging at his belly...a sure indicator that within 10 minutes, his bag would have to be changed, because it was leaking...sigh)

Travis has an assignment to collect and display 100 of some sort of collection, to bring into school this week in honor of the "100th day". He chose this year, his shark took collection, and today, he spent time arranging them in preparation of the 100th day. Good thing his daddy is a diver!


And it wouldn't be Sunday night without a picture of Travis and Misty would it? Here they are, snoozing in my bed (beside me actually)

Report cards and memory boxes

Travis continually amazes me. He amazes me with his big heart, that is so full of love and compassion for others. This week for school, he had a project to turn in. It went along with a story they read in class. He had to make a memory box. And in that box, he had to put items that represent each of the following: a happy memory, a funny memory, a sad memory, a memory from long ago an a memory more precious than gold. You ready to hear his choices? All unprompted, totally his own, although Jay and I DID weigh in on the funny memory (he was having trouble deciding between 2 different things).

• A happy memory: He chose the camouflage tote bag I made for him and filled with goodies as a big brother gift, "because that is when Riley was born and I became a big brother!".

• A funny memory: He chose one of his little foam darts that go in his nerf dart gun because he has "LOTS of funny memories of shooting daddy and all sorts of people with my dart guns"! We had to agree on that one!

• A sad memory: He asked for a picture of Riley, sick, and at Duke because " he was sick and far away and that made me really sad".

• A memory from long ago: He chose a railroad spike from the first time we went camping with the Pope family and went walking on the railroad tracks.

• A memory more precious than gold: once I explained what "more precious than gold" meant, he IMMEDIATLY said "mommy, I need you to print me another picture....when Riley came home!!".

I'm so proud of him. And just to make me even MORE proud of him, today was report card day...and he had an EXCELLENT report card! Way to go buddy! He continues to LOVE cub scouts. In fact...here he is, fresh from walking in the door from scouts tonight, all sweaty, with his jacket hanging from his head, holding his new marshmallow shooter gun he made in scouts tonight!



Riley has been his typical self....cute, sweet, and full of mystery.

He has been completely off bottles (weaned himself cold turkey) for several weeks now.




Having fun outside



You can't tell from this picture, but he is crying softly, because I rolled his ball too far away. It was so pitiful.

Big boys

Yesterday, Travis started 2nd grade. He was very excited to go back to school. We are very lucky that he enjoys it! The only complaint that he had, was that he couldn't ride the bus the first day. I reserve the right to take him and pick him up from school on the first day, until he's graduated from college :o) He did ride the bus today and that made everything perfect he said.







After school, I picked him up and we went to the public library where he got his very own library card and checked out a few books. He was very proud of this.

Riley had his last physical therapy appointment until sometime after his surgery yesterday. The therapist was very pleased with his progress! Which pleased me to no end. He said to work with him hard on his skills this last week before surgery, and he will be as good as possible beforehand.

Speaking of Riley, I've been trying to type this blog for over an hour, but Mr. Big Boy does not want to go to bed tonight. At the moment, he's sitting beside me on the couch trying to shred a magazine. A few moments ago, he was here:


Which progressed to this:

That hand he's holding out? That means "I want you Mommy". It can also mean: "take me there", "look at that", or "aaaaaaghhhhhh, why aren't you picking me uuuuuuppppppp". :o)

He has a new thing! He has learned to clap, and is quite pleased with himself when doing so. See for yourself: (click on the picture for video)