Capital City Buddy Walk

This is Ben .
It's time again to raise money for the Down Syndrome Awareness in Lincoln.

How can you help? Many different ways! You can donate on-line by going to Ben's Brigade team page by clicking here. You can donate by check made payable to DSAF of Nebraska and send it to The Willey Family (email me @ awilley1@yahoo.com if you need the address). But the best way to show your support, is to register and come walk with us! Our team name is Ben’s Brigade. My family would love to see you there! To register, click here. Be sure to register by September 20th to get a free T-shirt with your paid registration!

The walk is 1 mile around the Children’s Zoo but there will be so much more than just the walk! I know they have a lot of fun stuff planned for the kids! Click here to see the brochure.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for donating. Thanks for loving me for me!

Love,
Ben
Randy, Angie, John and Noah Willey

Hand, Foot and Mouth

Last week Ben crawled into the bathroom and just as I rounded the corner to get him, he fell into the tub. He did not hit hard, and cried just a little, but soon after I noticed a red spot on his tongue. I figured he bit his tongue, since it is usually sticking out anyway, and did not think much of it after that.

The next day, Alyce and I were laying tile on the kitchen counters, and needed to make an unexpected trip to Lincoln for more supplies. (That is a whole other story, but I will not tell it here.) While at the store I noticed what looked like a small white head in the spot on Ben's tongue where the red mark had been. Along with it were lots more little white heads on the front of his tongue, along with a few more toward the back of his tongue.

Time to call the Dr.

While it was hard to diagnose over the phone, they suggested it must be hand, foot and mouth, or a similar virus. Either way, they don't treat it so we were to just watch it closely and give meds for pain as needed.

At the time he was just slightly whiny and clingy, so I did not worry much.

Boy did that change over the weekend. Those sores in his mouth must have really hurt. He stopped nursing and drinking, did not want to eat anything he had to chew, and just sat and cried for 5 -10 minutes at a time, especially when his pain meds wore off. My happy go lucky baby was gone.

Looking back, it really did not last long and he is now back to his happy self, but I was worried quite a few times that something major was wrong, by the way he carrying on.

Luckily I already had the week off of work for vacation, and we were able to get the counter tops done in spite of the clingy baby. Thank goodness for the backpack carrier.

School started on Monday in our beautifully newly remodeled school. So far I think both older boys are enjoying it.

Branson Vacation

We decided to go on one last quick vacation because we had some time share points to use up. School starts late for us, due to the construction, so it was the perfect time to go. We went down to Branson on Wednesday and came back on Sunday. We are really not into the shows down there, but go to get away, shop and so the boys can swim.

One place we enjoyed was Silver Dollar City. It was their last summer ride day, and most of the old-time craft booths were closed, but all the rides were open. The boys were fine with that, since they really only wanted to ride the rides anyway. There were basically no lines, and the boys got to ride multiple times if they wanted. One of their favorites was the giant barn swing. Here is a picture of the boys and Randy on it.


Usually Randy and the boys would go on the ride first, while I stayed with Ben. Then the boys and I would go on it. I chose not to go on this one. This was the only time Randy went on it. They did get me on a couple of roller coasters. I learned that I do not like the kind of roller coaster that just has a bar that goes across your lap. It totally feels like you are going to fall out. Give me the good old fashion shoulder bars any day. At least that gives you something to hold on to.

At the end of the day we went on the water rides. True to the warning signs we did get very wet. Why is it that the person who wants to get wet the least always manages to get wet the most? Here are some more pictures from Silver Dollar City.


The boys at the entrance.


Randy, John and Noah on a water ride.


How the boys felt every time I said, "Let's stop at this craft mall".


The giant chair.

The condo where we stay also has a decent indoor pool. The boys had fun swimming and playing with some of the other guests. However, we did learn a few very important lessons.
1. Babies who like beans, love bean burritos from Taco Bell.
2. Sometimes waiting a 1/2 hour before swimming is not long enough.
3. Don't let a baby swallow too much pool water.
4. Re fried beans will float in a pool.

That being said, Ben loves to swim. He kicked and squealed and splashed and wanted back in after we got out.

Another highlight of the trip was the Osceola Cheese Factory. We stopped on the way down and the way back to sample and purchase cheese. There were many different kinds of cheese and it was fun trying them to find our favorites.

On the way back through Kansas City we got to see the Royals and Twins baseball game. It was the first visit to a major league baseball stadium for the boys. They thought it was pretty neat. Fortunately our seats were in the shade, which was great for Ben, but bad for boys hoping to catch foul balls. We were cheering for the Twins who ended up winning easily, and had 2 home runs in the same inning. It was pretty cool.

We are home this week getting ready to move, and preparing for school to start. Less than a week left and it is back to the old routine. I am looking forward to it.

County Fair

Last week was our county fair. We each took a few items to be judged. Randy took some photos, I took photos, crochet, and crafts. John took photos, cooking, crafts in both 4-H and open class. Noah took photos and cooking as a clover kid in 4-H, and photos in open class. We got ribbons all over the board, from white to purple. It was a lot of fun.
John's muffins were chosen to go to the state fair. They were a zucchini dill muffin. The squash bugs are threatening the zucchini plants in the garden. Hopefully I can keep the plants alive until the 27th when we have to have the new batch of muffins baked to take to the State Fair.


Here is John singing with the Cass County Creative Cats 4-H club. Noah is in the back ground. Back in my day it was called a song contest and everybody sang. Now it is called a Performing arts contest and most all the other groups danced or lip synced. We were the only ones that sang. Our group did "Kids of the Future" of by the Jonas brothers. Each kid dressed up as a profession that they might want to be in the future. We only practiced for a couple of weeks before, and they were not very polished. Plus they only had one microphone, and we had planned on two so we had to make some quick last minute adjustments, and it was hard to hear them. They still got a blue ribbon, which was excellent for the first try.


Noah took this picture to enter in the special contest for next year's fair. Pictures need to represent the title "Meet Me at the Fair"


This will most likely be my entry.


Ben got in on the fun too, and enjoyed the merry go round.


Here is a picture of John getting ready to go on the Round-up. Not a ride you would ever see me on. Noah went on it too a bit later. He was scared at first but really enjoyed it in the end. Overall we had a great time at the fair.

Slow Down Mommy

This morning I woke up late.

Got my shower, checked email, ate a banana, got the big boys up and going, fixed my hair, and went into get dressed. My clothes are in Ben's room so this always wakes him up.

While I was getting dressed, we were working on his signs. I showed him out, eat, milk and he would just smile and wave at me.

When I would get close to his crib he would put his arms out for me to pick him up. I was finally done and able to grab him, and was signing eat and milk at the same time since we were going to have to eat fairly quickly to get out the door on time.

Ben threw both arms around my neck and gave me the biggest hug ever, as if to say "slow down Mommy, I don't have to eat just yet, just give me some loves first". Then he patted my back. I stopped dead in my tracks and just took it all in. This was the first time that I definately recognized that Ben initiated a hug. There are times in the past that he has laid down on my sholder and patted my back with one hand, that I think might have been a hug, but this was obviously a hug. It was so great.

Needless to say, I was late to work today.

Near Miss

Last week Noah wanted to earn some Play Station time, so I told him he could help me go across the road and gather the trash. The trash was kind of smelly, so I decided to just throw it in the back of our truck, which we keep over there, instead of putting it in the back of my van. As I drove up to our drive to drop it off, the puppy was there barking and jumping and it hit me that the smelly trash bags might attract some scavengers. So instead of stopping at the end of the drive, I pulled up to the cement in front of the garage and ran in to get some twist ties. I told Noah I would be right back and left the truck running.

I bopped into the living room to check on Ben who was sleeping, went back to the kitchen to grab a couple of twist ties, and headed for the door. Just as I put my hand on the back door knob and there was a big noise that sounded like pop cans being crushed.

I opened the door and was surprised to see the truck in the garage. Noah was behind the wheel with eyes as big as saucers. The truck was still moving forward slightly. Lucking he was not tall enough to actually reach the gas, so he was just idling forward and all the stuff at the front of the garage, like the refrigerator, a old table, cases of pop, garden tools, the gas grill, etc. stopped his forward movement. I was able to jump in and stop it from doing any more damage. Luckily only the old table and one case of pop were destroyed in Noah's first driving experience.

Now, I know I should never have left Noah alone in a running vehicle. However, with working on the other house, and stopping at one place or the other for just a second to grab something I forgot, I have been doing it a lot lately, and Noah had never even made a move to try to get in the front seat. But my brother and family were back the first couple weeks of July and he was teaching the kids how to drive a 4 wheeler, and Noah must have wanted to keep up his driving skills. He claims that he did not mean to put it in gear, and accidentally pulled down on the gear shift while trying to climb in the front seat to pretend to drive. But I am not sure how he could have done that and still stepped on the brake to get it in gear.

Noah knew he was in big trouble, but it did not hit him until he realized that lost Play station time instead of earning it. Then the tears started to roll.

We are just so greatful that he was not hurt and no real property damage occurred. Noah definatley had his guardian angel with him that day as there were so many things that could have gone wrong. Like the propane tank on the grill and the air bag that could have deployed. We just thank God that he is OK. And as a bonus, I don't think he will try driving again for a long, long time.