A Final Goodbye

Friday, May 4, 2012, Aidan McSpadden said his final goodbye here on Earth. God has called him home at a young age of 3. Aidan was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) before the age of 2 and had a bone marrow transplant a few months ago. I was so very lucky to meet him last April at our Alana's Angels Fashion Show; Aidan was one of our handsome models and one of our Heroes. With his red hair and bright blue eyes, it is hard to not fall in love with him - then add his lovable, outgoing personality. An absolutely AMAZING child! Aidan was blessed to have two loving and caring parents, Kelli and Jared, and the most adorable little brother, Jax.

It breaks my heart that another child has died from cancer. It is not fair that children have to suffer from this horrible disease!! It amazes me how much my life has changed because of children like Aidan. Honestly, I was unaware or unconcerned about the life that these children lead. They are amazing individuals who have taught me so much about life and love. I encourage everyone to help fight cancer however they can. There are volunteer programs at local hospitals, local non-profit organizations, or you can give monetarily. Please find your way to help these children! Aidan's family has asked that people give donations to Big Love Cancer Care. For more information on Aidan and his fight, visit his website here. To find out more information about Alana's Angels click here.

Here is a slideshow of Aidan and his family. WARNING: it will bring tears to your eyes.

Aidan McSpadden - A True Hero

Today, Aidan's family and friends will say their final goodbye as they lay Aidan's body to rest. Please keep everyone who knew Aidan in your thoughts and prayers today - as they are saying goodbye to their Angel on Earth.

I wanted to give him away...

This cartoon sums it up for me...

Unless

So we took the boys to see "The Lorax" - a well acclaimed film based on Dr.Seuss's same titled book. The boys absolutely loved it (Cy was a little scared in some parts) and I for the most part enjoyed it as well. I think the main message of "unless" was a great take away for the kids, if they even understood it at this age. If you see something in this world that needs change, nothing will happen "unless" you do something to change it. Have a will to make the world a better place. I am in total agreement with this message of the movie.

However, I feel as though they took their stance on anti-capitalism a little too far. From the mayor to the songs to a large part of the story - all with very harsh anti-capitalistic views. I am not one to get very political in everyday discussions, but in my opinion, this definitely is going over the top. This is not a film aimed at political views - it is an animated film aimed at young children. Are we telling young children that it isn't ok to have a dream to become successful? The two people in this movie who were "successful" were "bad". I agree that we should always be respectful of our surroundings, but aren't we exaggerating the topic a little?

Once again, just my opinion. We will be purchasing "The Lorax" on blu-ray when it is released and as my kids watch it growing up, we will have the discussion that capitalism is not all bad as this movie makes it seem.

Golf Humor

What if you were playing in the club championship tournament finals and the match was halved at the end of 17 holes. You had the honors and hit your ball a modest two hundred fifty yards to the middle of the fairway, leaving a simple six iron to the pin. Your opponent then hits his ball, lofting it deep into the woods to the right of the fairway.

Being the golfing gentleman that you are, you help your opponent look for his ball. Just before the permitted five minute search period ends, your opponent says: "Go ahead and hit your second shot and if I don't find it in time, I'll concede the match."

You hit your ball, landing it on the green, stopping about ten feet from the pin. About the time your ball comes to rest, you hear your opponent exclaim from deep in the woods: "I found it!" The second sound you hear is a click, the sound of a club striking a ball and the ball comes sailing out of the woods and lands on the green, stopping no more than six inches from the hole.

Now here is the ethical dilemma:
Do you pull the cheating bastard's ball out of your pocket and confront him with it or do you keep your mouth shut?

#1 Rule

My #1 rule in the house has always been "no running". We don't have carpet in our common areas, just in the bedroom and there is absolutely nothing soft about falling on the tile.

Last night - Nolan vs. Tile

Tile Won

Yep, I'm Handsome

Nolan has needed a haircut for awhile now - too shaggy for my liking. He decided on the way to get his haircut that he wanted a new style. "Making my hair spiky is cool". We cut it shorter than we ever had before and made it spiky. The entire time he was getting his haircut, he was staring in the mirror. When his hair was spiked to his liking, he got down from the chair and just stood in front of the mirror examining it. About a minute later, he exclaimed "Yep, I'm handsome". I tried really hard not to laugh, because let's face it - he is handsome. :) But the fact that a 5 year old would admire himself and declare himself handsome is hilarious to me. I seriously thought that I wouldn't have to deal with this from a boy. When did boys become so vain? I thought that was a girl trait. Boys are supposed to get down and roll around in the dirt and not care? At least until he is a teen, right? Not Nolan - he likes to play, but he wants to look good while he is doing it. Oh goodness...I can only imagine what the teen years are going to bring.

Tomorrow is the day

As some of you may know, our son, Cy was born with a sensorineural bilateral hearing loss. My husband and I were found to both have the Connexin 26 mutation, which is the cause of Cy's hearing loss. He has worn hearing aids since the age of 9 months and has adapted super well using the hearing aids. We had a stint when he would take them off (one day I had to go to the daycare to find them in the outside trash can - that's a whole other post).

Cy has been a part of the Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program in our county since his diagnosis (around 3 months). They have been an amazing help at adapting to our new normal. ECI's role is coming to an end at the end of March because Cy will be 3. Once he turns 3, he will then be in the school district's system.

Tomorrow, Cy is undergoing a 3 hour eval with the school disability coordinator, speech therapist, occupational therapist, and two coordinators from the day school for the deaf in our county. I really hope he is not intimidated by all the new faces. He has been in speech therapy since his diagnosis and has done amazingly well. Tomorrow will tell us where he is relative to his peers and if he needs services. I think he will still need speech therapy, but I am really hoping that he will not need any other services.

This will definitely be a new step in our journey with hearing loss. Hopefully, it will be a great one!