33 and New Adventures with LOTS of Pictures

As you can see, I am officially 33 yrs old now. My brother-n-law also shares a birthday in August, his is the day before mine. So, for our birthday we all decided to go to a Dash Baseball game at the new stadium in Winston. We had a GREAT time as you can see below but it was sooooooo HOT. This was Matthew's first baseball game and we will definitely be going back before the season is done.

We also took our neighbors kids with us, Corey and Lawrence and yes we all 8 fit into the van. This is just another part of our Marshall clan.

Matthew stayed so sweaty the whole ballgame. While we were watching the game, Matthew was sneaking some sips of soda out of our cups.

Boy, is it HOT!!!!!

This is Matthew's new way of cooling off during the game. Isn't he so CUTE!!!

Corey and Lawrence

I can say looking back since I've turned 30 that when a person hits 30 life truly begins. At least it did for me. My mom always told my sister and I that your 30's are your best years. So far mine have been a test of my faith and I can say that I'm somewhat still standing strong, with God's help of course.

Matthew too is starting out on his new adventures, he starts preschool in 2 weeks going 2 days per week.

This week has been another reminder that God has His best in mind for his children and that he goes above and beyond when he answers prayers.

Let me explain. This past Monday we had our annual eye appt. for Matthew at Baptist with Dr. Weaver. If you ever met Dr. Weaver he would remind you of a very strict drill Sergent who is very sure of himself and can scare you to DEATH. He pretty much had to hold Matthew down to examine his eyes (we were there an hour), anyway, I just said a small prayer the whole time during our visit that everything would just be normal with Matthew's sight and no sign of nothing. Finally, at the end of our visit I explained to Dr. Weaver about Matthew's diagnosis from Dandy Walker back to Joubert and about our upcoming trip to NIH. He put his hand on Matthew's knee and told me to get a second opinion, two heads are better than one. He told us that Matthew's eyes are perfectly HEALTHY and NORMAL with no malformations,etc. He also said that he didn't want to see him til he's 4yrs. old. WOW!!!!!, but that's not all.

Our next destination at Baptist was to Brenners', I hate going there, it's so heartbreaking. I requested Matthew's genetic report and it had been 12 weeks and we hadn't heard anything. We waited and waited and I prayed like never before for nothing to show up but if something did that God would help me to accept His will and have hope. The nice lady at the counter finally led me to the phone where Dr. Jewett's assistant was waiting for me on the other line. She explained that there were 8 major genes that help determine Joubert Syndrome and that they found all 8 of Matthew's and that they all showed NORMAL with a negative result for Jouberts. However, this still doesn't mean that he doesn't have it, but maybe only a mild version. We'll get a confirmation yes or no when we go to NIH.

Next, I've been trying to find a preschool that would allow part-time attendance instead of full time. All I needed was 2 days. My last preschool on my list to call did accept part-time and they had exactly 2 days available for Matthew's age group. He starts in two weeks.

For those of you, including myself ever doubt that God doesn't answer prayer or isn't always there. HE IS!!! God answered my prayer beyond my imagination.

God is GOOD!!!!

P.S. Please keep us and Matthew in your prayers as we approach our trip to NIH.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!!!!

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Happy 2nd Birthday my sweet little boy!! You have grown up so much in the past year and have accomplished so much. Mom and Dad are so very proud of you. We feel so honored being your parents-God has blessed us truly with an amazing little boy.
This past year you've learned to crawl, walk, sign, use a spoon and crayons, walking up stairs independently and so much more. We hoped you enjoyed your second birthday as much as we loved giving it to you.

We love you always,

Mom & Dad

Matthew has truly been a testement to prayer this past year. We have definitely had our ups and downs but God has seen us through it all. I look back over the past year and realize that God was in control the whole time. Thank God he was, there's no one I'd whether be in control than Him. Matthew is learning by leaps and bounds, we are now getting prepared to start Matthew in preschool about 2 days a week. We're hoping this will encourage his independence and speech. He can do everything a normal toddler can do but he's so sturborn. Which of course he gets it honest, ask my parents.:)

Above is a slide show of Matthew's birthday party. He had such a good time and loved all of his toys.

Farmer Dale

Matthew is the true farmer, he loves being outdoors and LOVES animals. He has now learned to feed the animals, at least bottle feed. Every Wednesday we go over to my parents' home for supper along with my sister and her family. It's FAMILY night with an added bonus- we get to feed the baby goats. Matthew was hesitant at first but after his first try, he got it down pat.

Matthew has officially been signed up for Hippotherapy at Riverwood, we start sometime at the end of August. We went this past Tuesday for a tour of the barn, meet the horses and his therapist. I do believe he's going to enjoy it. I envy Bradley since he's going to be the one taking him and them two having all of the fun. (Father and son time)

This is Matthew's first try at feeding the baby goat.


And this is Matthew's second try- he knows what to do now.

Along with living on a farm comes the dreaded mosquito bites. Check out Matthew's forehead.



This week I'm on vacation at home. Matthew and I have been somewhere everyday this week and what little break we have Matthew enjoys discovering new ways to play with a bowl.

Matthew loves being in the kitchen and the bathroom. We're still working on the potty some but it seems to have stalled for a bit. I guess he's on vacation too!! However, he still finds time to be fascinated by toilet paper.

Have a good evening-I finally get some quite time while Matthew takes his nap.

Getting Prepared

We started off this morning with this morning smile. Isn't he adorable!!! This week we've been getting prepared for our trip to NIH (National Institute of Health) We're going there in August to see what Matthew's chances are at developing kidney and liver disease, etc. I've been getting all of his medical records together, writing down what all he eats in a 3 day time span and what quantities he eats.

We've also had our 6 month IEP evaluation this week with a developmental assessment done. Matthew so far has made quite an improvement since his last development assessment at 6 months old. He has went from a 40% delay to a 22%-30% percent delay. His development right now is at around a 17-18 month old, a six month difference. Which isn't great but it isn't bad either as long as he continues to improve.

We also discussed in Matthew's IEP meeting about his therapy. With Gov. Bev Purdue cutting costs, some of Matthew's therapy may decrease. Example, he might lose his PT since he has all the basics and there are other kids more in need. Luckily for us we did get Matthew into HIPPOTHERAPY!!!! Which will help make up any difference in therapy if he loses what he has now.

We also discussed on Matthew starting school at 3(next yr.) We'll be having our school evaluation around the end of the year to see if he qualifies for everyday at school or half days or just a couple of days a week. Speaking of schools, Nancy Reynolds (Matthew's one day elementary school) is coming along nicely. Here are some pictures of it as it looks now.

After church today we had our business meeting, Matthew was playing with my camera and I couldn't resist getting this picture of him. Can't you tell how he feels about "business meetings".

Have a good evening and God Bless!!!!

Mr. Independent

This is Sadie, our SPOILED house dog. She's one of Matthew's best friends, he helps in the spoiling too. Sadie has more patience than I do and she knows how to easily relax-as you can see.

Mr. Matthew has become a very independent little boy here lately- he wants to help do EVERYTHING without your help. He catches on so quickly once you show him how to do something. He knows how to take the bubble wand out of the bottle and tries to blow bubbles or he holds it up to you to blow. He helps me unload the washing machine and load the dryer and then he likes to turn the dryer on. He also hands me the dishes out of the dishwasher to put and he tries to say "here" when he hands an item to me. He's such a smart little boy. And one of his favorite things is to unroll the toilet paper off of the roll and put it in the toilet. HE IS ALL BOY!!!

Since it's now garden time, Matthew likes to help with fixing the vegetables to be canned and frozen too!! It'd be nice if this stage would last FOREVER!! I could use all the help. I ended up canning 36 pints and 14 quarts of greenbeans, our tomatoes and corn are just now coming in. What a busy time of year along with Matthew's upcoming 2nd birthday!!

INDEPENDENCE DAY EVENT(S)

& LOTS OF PICTURES!!

We started off our celebration with a cookout where we invited some of our family over. Matthew had a great time and we found out he LOVES potato salad- just like his dad.

Afterwards, while the adults cleaned up, Matthew and Nathan went to play. We then headed to King for the fireworks display. Sorry, no photos of the fireworks, my pictures didn't turn out good. Matthew enjoyed watching the fireworks- he'd point to them and say "there, there" he actually sounded like "dare, dare", but he got the jest of it.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

P.S.

Matthew had peed in the potty two more times, yohoo!! (averages once a week)

Growing Up!!

Here in the Marshall Family, we've been pretty busy. We've had a terrible virus that had to run it's course and we just finished up VBS at church and Matthew done GREAT!!! He loves playing with all of the kids, especially the bigger ones. He was a little shy around them at first but then he was right in the middle.

He's grown up so much in these past few weeks, it's amazing to watch. He tried painting for the first time at VBS and loved making a mess. There was paint on his face, his hands and me!!

We had an orthopedic appt. this week (we of course changed doctors) and Dr. Suzi was so good with him that Matthew didn't cry AT ALL while she fitted him for his braces. We learned that there are 26 bones in each of your feet and you don't develop all of them until about 3yrs of age. Who Knew!!! Anyway, Matthew is being fitted for a different type of brace, one that will be open in the front and back and will allow him to move his ankle. Now he walks so stiff legged because he can't do the heel to toe walking that he needs too. Since he's double jointed at the ankles and flat footed, Matthew tends to walk on his heels and then his ankles give and he ends up walking on the inside part of his foot without the rest of the foot hitting the floor.

Matthew got to pick out his own design for his braces, "outerspace". I'll take a picture of them once he gets them. These new braces will allow him to work his calve muscles where as the ones he has now don't. Hopefully after the age of 3 Matthew won't need any bracing, if anything, maybe inserts in his shoes.

Since my last post Matthew has learned to bake, of course he prefers the cake mix. He's so adorable with chocolate.

Here lately Matthew would rather feed us or our dog, Sadie than himself. I've decided that I'm done buying sippy cups. Matthew will hardly drink out one now, he wants our cups. So I just gave him his own cup and he does pretty good with it, he spills it a couple times but he loves hearing his voice echo inside the cup. He's so funny.

Matthew is starting to put two words together, so far he's saying "bye papa", "dare dog", "over there". His pronunciation is still off but we understand what he says. He also will sign a word and then say the next word. He's so smart!!

This summer Matthew has found a new hobby, he's learning to drive the tractor, with Papa's help of course. Matthew's a natural, he now has tractor fever.

Matthew loves playing on his swing set. We have to wait til almost dark to take him due to it being so HOT!!!

We've been working a little on the potty training too, we're not pushing Matthew to do this but last week Matthew was sitting on the potty while playing with his bubbles and he peed in the potty. We were so excited and so was he, so he now knows that it's ok for him to do this. I think it was pure luck but he did it.

Swimming Lessons at the Y are getting better, yesterday he didn't cry as much and he actually tried to kick some.

Time to go!!! Bradley and I get a DATE NIGHT!!!! tonight. Our friends Frank & Annette are coming over to babysit for us so Bradley and I can celebrate our 10 yr. wedding anniversary. Yoohoo!!!

P.S. Sorry if you don't like the black and white picts. I just wanted to try something new.:)

Ready For Summer

The Marshall's are ready for summer!! I love summer, it's my favorite time of year. As you can see above our fish love it too.

Bradley finally finished Matthew's swing set and today he put his pool up. Matthew loves to slide he now doesn't want us to hold him while he comes down he wants to do it all by himself with us waiting at the bottom.

Matthew started his swimming lessons again at the Y Saturday. It didn't go well at all, he cried through the whole lesson. (30mins) I felt so bad for him, I'm not sure if it's where the water was cold or if this is the start of a sensory issue. (I hope not) Maybe next Saturday will be better.Matthew is getting alot better at walking, especially this week. He can just about walk everywhere. We've been practicing more outside and he is getting better at walking in the grass. This afternoon after church we decided to have a lazy day to where we just had fun being together. We played alot and ate some watermelon.

And finally, I have a good video of Matthew walking and saying bye. He loves the camera. Hope you enjoy!!