Getting Ready for China

Well it is almost time for us to leave. We leave on Thursday Aug. 6th and will be gone for almost 4 weeks. Boy do I have a lot to do with organizing the kids and hubby and dogs and the house and not to forget that I still have to pack. How do you pack for four weeks? I guess I'll let you know in about a week. ha ha ha

I have some other friends that have recently come back from Costa Rica for SCT. They are already seeing some results. One is trying to climb on the couch. He couldn't do this before. The other is starting to roll back and forth and she has not done this before. Keep up the good work Charlie and Makenzie. 

Ok one last quick note, please send extra prayers out to my friends Lindsey and Santana. Santana had his near drowning accident 1 month before Joey. Unfortunately they have not seen results like we have had with Joey, so they need extra prayers. His website is www.prayforsantana.com

Ok my next update will be once we get to China in a week. Please pray for a safe and easy trip to China.

Busy Summer

WOW, it's amazing that we are already half way thru July. Summer has been busy. Joey goes to therapy 5 days a week from anywhere to 2-3 hrs each day. Between me and our most wonderful, can't live without her babysitter, we have been switching off taking Joey to therapy and doing funny things with the older kids. I have my nephew Elijah staying with us for about a month and a half, and it seems my daughter has her whole  middle school over every other day. So our house is busy.  We leave in 2 days for a vacation to the lake. I guess we felt that the 95 degree weather wasn't hot enough so we are going to Lake Havasu where it is 115 degrees. Joey is staying home with our most wonderful, can't live without her babysitter. It is way to hot for him and I don't want anything to happen to him before our China trip. Anyways, I think Joey likes the babysitter better anyways. :) Speaking of Joey, he is doing AWESOME. His body has been loose and he has been a happy camper. He hasn't been wearing his braces though. He hates them and I hate them. I have been spending extra time and making an extra effort to stretch his feet and ankles as much as possible. It's been working, because when he walks in his gait trainer he is able to get his feet flat. WHOO HOO! 

He has also been commando crawling more. He use to only move his left arm and leg and he went in a circle when on his tummy. WELL, he has now started using his right side too. My living room is not big enough. He is all over the place. As for his eyesight, well that hasn't changed much. He still can't see well at all. I'm praying hard that the Stem Cell therapy will help with this. Speaking of Stem Cell Therapy, Joey, me and my mom leave in exactly 3 weeks. I am so nervous, anxious, excited, hopeful, and scared. I kind of feel that this trip is a make it or break it for Joey. I don't expect miracles, but will be disappointed if we don't see even the smallest improvement. Thats all I want is the smallest improvement. No actually it's not. I WANT A MIRACLE, but will settle for the smallest improvement. I don't want this SCT to just be another therapy we mark off the list. I believe that SCT is the future to help healing our kids. I know people who have taken their kids all over the world, and 9 out of 10 have seen improvements. On the other hand, I am very excited to go to China. I have never been. Thanks to my mom and Aunt and Uncle we are flying first class. We have three flights to get to our final destination. A total of about 17 hrs in the air. I hope I have enough Valium for Joey and I. ha ha ha When we are in China, I will post updates as much as possible. I will also post picture on his dropshot site.

Ok, I'm done talking for now. Time to take Jack to football camp, Jessica to her friends, me to the gym, then a little work and then Joey to a late afternoon therapy session an hour away.

OHHHH one last thing, Joey has two friends, Makenzie and Charlie who are in Costa Rica right now having their SCT. Please send extra prayers there way for a safe trip and a successful treatment. We love you guys.

Bye for now.

HAPPY 4TH B-DAY JOEY

Today Joey turned 4 years old. Happy Birthday Joey.

Joey's Superman cupcake birthday cake

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Mommy, Daddy, brother Jack , sister Jessica and Joey

Papa Dave and Joey

Birthday boy. 

SUMMERTIME...............................WHOO HOO!

I know its been awhile since I have posted, but life got in the way and very busy.  Everyone is out of school now and the house is buzzing with kids. Jessica and Jack did great in school. Jessica got accepted into the GATE program again next year and got an award at school. Joey had a pre-school graduation. It was very cute.

Joey did really good at school. The school district has an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) for Joey.  The IEP is a goal setting  program for Joey in regards to PT, OT, ST, VT and education. Good news, Joey meet all his goals except one. He did awesome at school. He is also doing great in therapy. He is really starting to use his arms more. When asked he will reach for a toy in front of him once showed where the toy is. 

About a month ago during therapy a muscle in his foot/ankle was strained. We had to let it heal for a couple weeks, so I could not put his braces on. Joey didn't mind, he HATES his braces. I'm not fond of them either. Once his foot was healed I decided not to put his braces back on. I just spent extra time stretching his feet, however, I was still a little nervous that his heel cords would tighten up to much and that maybe I was doing him a disservice. Well good news, they didn't, today he showed me that his heel cords were fine. During therapy he walked with his feet flat, NO braces. WHOO HOO! It was awesome to see. I took pictures. They are posted on www.dropshots.com/fightingjoey

Today, Joey went to the dentist and had his very first teeth cleaning. Boy did he do great, he kept his mouth open and the hygienist was able to floss, clean and examine his teeth. Of course his teeth were perfect. 

As for the rest of the summer, My husband and I celebrated our 13 yr anniversary, Joey's Birthday is June 28th, my baby is turning into a big boy of 4 years old. Happy Birthday Baby Boy. Also Happy Birthday to my husband. We have a camping trip in which Joey will stay home. We are going to Lake Havasu and it is way to hot for him. The dogs will babysit. j/k ha ha ha Then August 6th we leave for China. We are all set to go and can't wait. I will try and make daily posts when we are in China to document our trip. As for the other kids, Daddy will stay home with them when we are in China. Grandma and Grandpa will help watch them and take them to football and cheerleading practice. 

We are still waiting for Joey gait trainer, hopefully it will be here when we get back from China.

Well that's about it. Please pray for a save trip and great results. Have a great summer everyone.

New pictures are posted on www.dropshots.com/fightingjoey

Moving Up the Hill

Ok, where do I start. Ummmmmmmm. Life like usual in the Stafford house is busy. Not out of control busy, just busy. The kids have finally finished their sports, Jessica softball and Jack flag football. School is almost out for all three kids. They are all doing great in school. We all can't wait for summer. We have a lot going on over summertime and we are very excited about it.

Joey is doing awesome. I have heard from a few of Joeys therapist, teachers and relatives that they noticed Joey on the up. Over the last couple months, Joey has really made great improvements. Yesterday at PT, Joey was really putting weight through his arms when side sitting. We would say to Joey when his arm started to collapse "push up with your arm Joe, push up" and holy cow, he did. He did this for about 10 mins. it was awesome. He then did this when he was in crawling position. He is finally starting to feel his arms. The connection in his brain is firing again. YEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! 

Joey also began Behavioral Therapy. Not that Joey has behavioral issues. It's more like OT & ST when working with Joey. They take him on the swing and for walks and play with his toys and read books and they also feed him his lunch. They are working on getting him to talk more. To ask for things and to anticipate things. He is doing great with this. When his therapist walks in the door and after they greet each other, Joey starts saying  "I go, I go, I go", he wants to go outside and play on the swing. He will also vocalize when he wants more food during lunch time. The other amazing thing that has been happening is the use of his arms. When he plays with his piano, the therapist will ask Joey to touch a perticular part of the piano or just have him reach for the piano and he is doing it. He does it all the time ,everytime he is asked.

Joey has increased his vocabulary greatly. He says:

I love you

I'm Joey

I'm Joe

I go

I don't know

Hello 

Hi

Yeah

These are the words he says all the time. They are not always very clear, actually only us and others that see him all the time could probably understand him.

Oh Yeah, I almost forgot. His eyesight is getting better he is starting to see the expressions on our faces. You have to get close and it can take up to 5 minutes for him to focus on you, but he does.

Ok, I think thats about it. Joey is very busy healing and we are very busy helping him heal. 

For those of you that live in Simi, the HUGS Foundation for near drowning kids is having their annual fundraiser on Wednesday May 20th. It is at Pauls Italian Villa. If you are interested please let me know.

Blessing to all.

Sorry Girls, I Only Date Models

Just wanted to share a cute shirt I got for Joey.  Also today he had his Behavioral therapy session. The therapist had him sitting and playing with his toys. One of the toys was a pad that you could hit different buttons to have a pig, chick or cow sing a song. We ask Joey to hit the cow and he did and every time we ask him to do it, he did. He would lift his arm and hand from his side and hit the button, he would then put  his arm back down to his side. I have never seen Joey do this before. It was so awesome.

You go Joey!

Spring Break

Wow, spring break has already come and gone. During spring break, the family split and went different directions. My mom took me and my older two kids to Maui for a week. It was great fun. My older kids Jessica 11 and Jack 9 got along great. I didn't want to leave just for that  reason. It was a very nice relaxing vacation. Thank you so much mom.

As for Joey, he stayed home with a few different people. Daddy had to work, so he only had him on the weekend. My babysitter and her mom watched him a couple days, my stepmom also had him a couple days and my mother-in-law took him a couple days. Thank you to everyone that took care of Joey. He couldn't have been in better hands.

Even though Joey was very well taken care of, he was not a happy camper when I got home. He wouldn't let me leave the room for a second without him screaming. His body was very stiff and he didn't have a bowel movement for a few days. He is beginning to get back on track now. He went to school yesterday and had a great time. Boy was he tired. Then he had therapy for two hours after and knocked out for an hour nap when it was all over.

A couple weeks ago Joey got approved for behavioral therapy. The therapist come to the house Mon., Wed., and Fri. for two hours to play with him. He is really talking a lot more due to this therapy. He is continuing to go to the NAPA Center for traditional and neuro suit therapy twice a week also.

We are now getting ready for our next therapy endeavor. We leave for China on August 6th. Can't wait.

God Bless all