KALEB - Update

I love this picture! He laughed at me like the wicked witch! He thinks he is Joe Cool to be able to eat a whole apple himself! He makes me laugh so much! Whoever said that kids with Autism can't show affection was obviously wrong! I love Kaleb's hugs and worries of me!

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON!

Okay, sooo....I'm REALLY behind on the hole blog thing. I will spare you most of the details and just give you the quick versions of everything that has happened in the past few months. Though I might do it in seperate blogs about each person.

So Kaleb was diagnosed with Classic Autism (high functioning) by three separate specialists in December. In January we went to Primary children's for his first initial visit and to rule out other possibilities. There are several genetic diseases that are more serious that Autism mimics. Those came back negative, YEAH! But....in the process I almost had a heart attack!! The doctor made some assumptions about our Medicaid and they almost did not pay for the genetic procedures and testing....if they had not it would have cost us over $29,000.00 just for TWO blood tests. But we lucked out and things smoothed over.

Then we hit some other bumps and we started seeing a new pediatric neurologist/neuropsychologist that moved out here from Indianapolis, Indiana. He is AMAZING and we need MORE doctors with his kind of knowledge to move to Idaho! Anyway, he is the only person who started doing some blood work on Kaleb to see what other kinds of problems he had internally and how some of the symptoms and behaviors might be relieved.

So....off to Primary's we went again in February/March. Then again, in April...and we will be going back in a couple of weeks. Here is what we found out....

Kaleb has Sleep Apnea (all 3 different kinds, which is rare to have all 3), heart problems, Gastro-Intestinal issues, but the good news is he is NOT having seizures which everyone around here was telling us he did. Here are some pictures of Kaleb at Primary's in April. He had to have more than 30 EEG wires wrapped to his head....this was a TRIP! I'm TELLIN' YA! YIKES! no fun for either of us!

Kaleb loves to watch this train go round and round and the Ferris wheel go around and the dinosaurs all move! He could watch this train for hours!...and he did the first two times. On the second time one of the doctors decided to tell us the third floor had a huge play room for patients! That would have been nice to know the first time! oh well.

What was really amazing was that the moment he woke up he said, "Look mom! It's off!" He NEVER talked in sentances like that until that morning...nor did it continue. Until......

In the middle of April Kaleb fell out the front window of our two story apartment and fractured his skull landing him in the hospital in Rexburg. At first it was really scarey! There is no way he should not have broken other limbs, been impaled on the sharp, pointy branches onto which he fell below, or any other number of things! In fact, he didn't even need stitches! I am telling you that Angels watch out for these littles ones! Especially little ones with special needs! What was really interesting though is that Kaleb's language took off even more and some other symptoms appeared and disappeared, so we in new territory a little. The brain is a truly fantastic and mysterious thing!

Kaleb is back in Preschool and loves it! I take him in the morning and then he rides the bus home! I'll have to download a pic later! He does have to be dropped off first though or he gets disoriented and melt down on the bus because he doesn't know where he is and he thinks they are taking him away. He's getting better though! He's so funny! He brought me a carnation home for Mother's Day and said "Look! Look! It's Red!"

Here are some other recent pics and videos of Kaleb!

Kaleb's Birthday

Kaleb turned 3 on February 23rd. He is such a great kid! At the time his favorite movie was CARS (since then it's changed from Toy Story to The Bee Movie to Meet the Robinsons), so I made him a Lightening MacQueen cake and my family that was in town came over for dinner then we went to my mother-in-laws in Rupert and gave him his Cars blanket and sheets and the construction set. My MIL made cookies instead of a cake which Kaleb and Joshy both thought was cool because they each got their own with their name on it.

We thought because he loved CARS so much that we could help him transition to a smaller (twin sized) blanket instead of my green queen sized quilt (this is his obsession) by buying the Lightening MacQueen bed set but so far no luck. Oh well...soon maybe. Cross our fingers. Here is couple pics of the cake...it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. (hee hee)

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY, KALEB!

23. February. 2008

WHAT KIND OF WORLD DO YOU WANT?!

WE CAN DEFEAT AUTISM & WE WILL!! Thank you Mandie Snell for passing this on to me!!

This is about a 4 minute video that is BEAUTIFUL!! It is about a little girl with Autism and is put to a song titled "What kind of world do you want" by the band FIVE FOR FIGHTING.
http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214

I checked on Snopes.com and this is TRUE.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/charity/whatkind.asp

Every time someone views this video the band FIVE FOR FIGHTING will donate $0.49 cents to Autism Speaks (a research organization) to help fund Autism research for a cure and for education awareness.

PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO AS MUCH AS YOU CAN AND PASS IT ALONG TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!

...AND WE'RE OFF TO PRIMARY'S ON MONDAY!!

WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!! I am SOOOO excited. We were placed on a waiting list to get Kaleb into Primary Children's Hospital and were told it would be April or May before we could even fill out the paperwork. But I truly felt inspired to call again and see on Monday. I was placed on hold as the 3rd caller in line. I was on hold for 45 MINUTES!! But I thought, if I'm only 3rd I don't dare hang up and call back. I'm so glad I didn't because caller #2 canceled their appointment which happens to be THIS MONDAY!!

So we're off to Primary's to beat this horrible awful thing called Autism and to have a bunch of tests run on his brain and to see if he is having seizures. We will be meeting with a team of pediatric neurologists who are actually doctors from the University of Utah. I'm so stinkin' excited!

Of course our medical bills are going to be huge because Medicaid and private insurance won't pay for a lot of the services Kaleb will need and has been getting, but I'm holding a Pampered Chef Fundraiser on February 9th, 2008 for any one who would like to donate or purchase products and the proceeds will help us pay for everything. I promise that what we don't need or wind up using will go to some kind of Autism Charity. I'm actually thinking of trying to found an Autism Organization and an Autism Center right here in Rexburg, for everyone in the area! If you have ideas or would like to donate to that let me know as well.

Wish us luck! We've worked hard for this moment and I'm just praying that they say this hard work is paying off!

KALEB MAXWELL WHITLOCK - My Hero

On Monday I took Kaleb to see his Ear-Nose-Throat Specialist who did Kaleb's surgery and tests back in June 2007 (6-7 months ago). He had a severe ear infection this week that we treated at home and that was almost over and his tubes were still in his ears. But we have to take him back to check and make sure they are still in his ears every three months.

Also on Monday we finally met with the Madison School District - Child Psychologist and some other specialists. The outcome at first didn't really phase me because it seemed like nothing was going to change really and that Kaleb was the same person, except for maybe adding a couple of more therapies back into Kaleb's weekly regimen.

But Tuesday I talked to Kaleb's Doctor because I wanted to get a second opinion and maybe even a third. The result left me bewildered, sad, and grieving.

...Take Kaleb to Primary Children's Hospital for testing. The Diagnosis: AUSTISM.

And yet, as hard as that was to hear when we discussed further we started talking about Kaleb's chronic headaches. He drinks like a fish! So he definitely gets enough water. Most bewildering is that Kaleb has started to rage again. [A RAGE is basically hour incriments (for Kaleb it's usually 3-4, sometimes twice a day) of violent tantrums, crying, screaming, and for Kaleb moderate self-violence by banging his head against the wall to get rid of the pain and pressure and for nerve stimulation).] Because of these factors and the fact that yesterday (Wednesday) we had his eyes checked and he has perfect vision (maybe 1/2 of a power far sighted which is nothing). So....not only are we going to be worrying about Autism but we going to be testing for other larger nuerological issues like a possible cist or brain tumor.

Who am I doing? I'm numb honestly. I cried yesterday and then immediately started reading and researching things. I've posted all the websites and links that I've found very good information on so far. But I'm still a little shocked because of things that unfolded yesterday. It's now turning into a pretty big deal and I am just trying to not overreact so that we can make calm and educated choices for Kaleb since these moments and choices right now will affect him for LIFE and his happiness in this world. I'm also stressed about our financial abilities now. For the most part Medicaid will pay for things in Idaho...but Primary's Neuropsychology Clinic doesn't accept Kaleb's Medicaid so today we researching any other options that there MIGHT possibly be in Idaho Falls.

I'm just not sure which opinion to trust and to choose. One thing is for sure...Kaleb has let me drag him to all these therapies and work with him for hours on end at home and all of that is about to get more intense and even though he fights it sometimes he is truly...

...my little HERO.

Ice Cubes

I know it seems silly but I find it facinating the things that an innocent child thinks are amazing. For example, tonight we went to my parent's house for dinner to celebrate the new year. My mom has one of those ice cube trays that make tons of mini round cubes. Little Joshy thought they were the coolest thing and would slide it around on the table to get it to melt. Then when he had melted it to where he wanted it he would try to pick it up (which of course was hilarious to watch) and then he would promptly and curtly pop the melting ice cube in his mouth and go "Mmmmmm!"

Hmmmm.....something so simple: a melting ice cube. Pure Delight.

If Mitt Romney Becomes President

This is too funny to think about, regardless of who you are voting for! It's just for fun - and definitely over the top. Thanks Brigitte for sending it my way!

If Mitt Romney became President of the United States (code name POTUS) won't we have something we've never had before -- a president who goes to a specific church? Other presidents belonged to religions that didn't have tight congregational boundaries. Now, think about this...WHAT WARD WOULD POTUS BE IN?

...AND...

IF YOU WERE HIS NEW BISHOP, HERE ARE YOUR TOP 11 QUESTIONS!
(plus more)

1. Will you allow an inaugural ball to be held in the cultural hall? If so, do you mount security cameras on top of each basketball rim and have a secret service detail stationed on the stage?

2. Can you call Mitt and Ann as the Nursery leaders... even if you really feel inspired?

3. Who is going to home teach them? Will you call someone who needs activation but may not pass the vetting and national security screening?

4. If Harry Reid and Mitt Romney are in the same High Priest group, will you need to be there to keep order?

5. Exactly how will tithing settlement work? Will the Secretary of the Treasury come too?

6. Will you be inviting the new Romney family to speak in Sacrament Meeting... and if they go over, at what point do you ask them to sit down?

7. Will the Secret Service do a sweep of the building before each meeting? And if the Romney's always leave before Sunday School, will the Sunday School President need to interview them? If they stay, where will you hold the class?

8. Can you call the Secret Service agents to help out in Primary?

9. If you give Mitt a calling and the two Democrats in the Ward raise their hand AGAINST sustaining him - partly out of habit - does the Supreme Court need to be involved?

10. If you can't give them a calling (job), and they don't attend very often (for presidential stuff) will that mean they're 'inactive?' If they're not active, can you give them a Temple Recommend? And if you do, can they go or will the Secret Service have to screen the temple too?

11. If the President wants to hold Sac rament Meeting at Camp David or the White House for security reasons, is that a conflict of Church and State?

...NOW...IF YOU WERE ASSIGNED TO BE THE ROMNEY'S HOME TEACHER...

1. Can you just drop by, no appointment?

2. Can you even call them for an appointment or do you have to go through the Chief of Staff?

3. Can you bring by Christmas sweets and cookies? Will they be analyzed? And for how many people - family, secret service details?

4. If you don't come can the IRS do an audit on you?

5. Will they want to do a national security background check?

6. Do you have to have a permanent companion who has been vetted or can you just grab any teacher or priest to come with you? And what if that priest has been a little wayward? Do you need to search him first?

7. Do you have to help him move in and out of the White House?

8. If Ann Romney gets sick, are you allowed to bring in meals or at least tell the Relief Society about it?

9. What can you share with the Bishop about the Romneys?

10. Do you have to ask them about their year's supply?

11. If you get a late night call for a blessing will reporters follow you around wanting to know what was wrong and what you said?

...FINALLY...IF MITT ROMNEY IS ASSIGNED TO BE YOUR HOME TEACHER...

1. Is telling the group leader you haven't been home taught a national security breech?

2. If he wants to come at the end of the month, do you accept his reason, 'I've been out of town'?

3. Will he drop by unannounced or will the media crews give him away?

Funny Faces

I just find the little children so fantastic! Their little faces exhibit so much emotion and character and their expresions are so dramatic when they can't use words to communicate yet. I love being a mom!

My Little Chocoholic

Joshy discovered Chocolate at Christmas and is now my little Chocoholic!

CAT ATTACK!

Sooooo....my husband grew up on a dairy farm and although the farm part no longer exists mother-in-law still has had several dogs and cats. This year the boys really showed the animals quite a lot of attention! By the time we left, Betsy, the dog, would RUN--more like a sprint really--anytime she saw Kaleb coming her way. The cat, too lazy to run away, endured the unconditional squeezes and love that Kaleb and Josh bestowed upon it! But it too was glad of some peace and quite when Kalbe and Josh were down for a nap! I never did get pics of the boyz with the dog. For two reasons, one the dog ran away too fast and two it was always outside.

If I can figure out how...here are a couple of short 30 second videos with the cat.

KALEB & The CAT

JOSHUA & The CAT

Christmas PICS

Does anyone know if you can rotate pics and how? If so, please submit a comment...otherwise

...just turn you head -- but don't give yourself a neck kink.

CHRISTMAS

IIIIIII LOVE Christmas! I remember my dad once telling me though that as you get older you have to learn to CREATE THE MAGIC. I'm learning that's true! This year has been fun because we've been teaching the Christmas story to Kaleb and he's finally catching on to the concept of Santa Claus. After watching the old 1970's 'Santa Claus is Coming To Town' clamation feature with Fred Astair, he walked around the house like a robot singing "Take one step in front of the other..." and yelling "Santa, Santa! HO, HO, HO!" He actually LIKED sitting on the JCPenny's Santa Claus at the mall and loved it even more when Santa's beard fell off. Kaleb just laughed. Josh of course, still freaked and screamed and cried. But I can cut him some slack because he's only 1&1/2.

The Christmas was a blessed one for us. We received a lot of money from different people instead of lots of gifts...and somehow each sum was just what we needed to pay a certain bill at the time. We're still way behind and had to ask the bishop of our ward to help with our rent this month but we're making it and it has indeed been a blessed Christmas. I made sure that I took time to hold my children and to rock them to sleep and to give them attention. I also made sure that I made time for quite reflection and I enjoyed some of the things I remembered and am grateful for surrounding the birth and life of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

I actually got a Christmas card/email done this year....quick and short as it was...at least I did it!

We spent Christmas in Rupert, Idaho at my mother-in-law's house and it was short but nice. We saw a couple of Bryce's high school friends and their spouses and children and took some time for ourselves as well.

Kaleb and Josh got lots of toys, puzzles and balls, etc. Mostly Santa brought presents that also double as developmental and occupational therapy tools that both of the boys can use.

I can never seem to surprise Bryce and that frustrates me...I was going to get him a watch (because his old was is seriously lame and has major issues and had never really worked even though he paid more than $50 for it) and surprise him. But noooooo, the stores I go to have nothing that I like so then I asked him if he had any features that he really wanted for a watch...in the end we went to Wal-mart and I picked out four watches that I liked the best and thought that he might like. I got a rude awakening when he picked as his top two choices the ones that I thought he would NOT like. Shows me how much I really know about his taste I guess. Oh well...he got a nice watch. I also got him the Pirates of the Carribean movie and some shirts and pants and socks for work and school that he needs. But HE got me the BEST PRESENT I could have asked for!!

A digital camera!! I've been using the FunSaver cameras for over 3 years now because we couldn't afford to buy a camera. But I guess Bryce had been saving some money and I was totally floored!! He let me open it early so that I could actually use it for Christmas! Thank you Bryce! I love him so much!

I guess I'm not very good at this, eh?...

I'm going to have to go backwards in order to remember everything that has happened since I made my first post in June.



First...the REXBURG, IDAHO Temple Open House is in full swing. It began the day after Christmas and will go until the end of January I think. We have tickets for January 4th. They're not turning anyone away though, so if you don't have tickets it's alright. I think they just want to see how many people are going to be going through. The dedication is set for February 3, 2008. I'm really excited to have a temple LITERALLY up the street from where I live. :)


I just seriously can't believe that it is already 2008!! It seems the older you get the faster time flies.

It's about time,....I suppose.

I'm not much for fads, but it seems that these blogspots are pretty neat so we're giving it a try.

We'll have to see about uploading pics though it seems to have worked. We don't own a good camera...I've just been using the fun saver pacs. Oh well.

Here is a picture of the boys and their cousin, Hannah (Jerry & Holly's little girl), at Christmas time.

Let's see,
Well...

We live in Rexburg again. Moved back in 2005 and have moved 4-5 times in a 2 year time period. We're currently in Hyde Park apartments (the temple is being built at the top and Madison Middle School is at the bottom). They are nice and have many ammenities...I'm very grateful for central air conditioning, a dishwasher, and washer/dryer in the apartment.

It's wonderful to have family around as well. My parents (the Hansen's) live here in Rexburg and Bryce's sister, Megan, is here at school as well. My in-laws live in Rupert and Boise and so they're not too far away either.

Bryce is currently attending BYU-Idaho. He's majoring in Automotive Technology Management. Many of you are probably saying the same thing I did...

"Hunh?!...ohhhh....so you're a mechanic, I mean, you work on cars, right?."

...it's true. He LOVES to work on cars. But he doesn't just want to be a mechanic and he doesn't want to own his own business (WHEWWW!! what a relief for me). That's where the management part comes in. He'll graduate in December 2008 at the latest...I'm hoping sooner. I guess we'll see. The man is superman! He's working 2 jobs and going to school full-time this summer. One of the jobs is actually his automotive Internship. He's been working as a general mechanic for Lister Automotive.

He's also an Intern at Wal-mart (He's been with the company for 4 years now!) but that internship doesn't count for the Business internship he needs...don't ask me why because it doesn't make much sense to me, but whatever.

Kaleb Maxwell Whitlock is now 2 years and 4 months old. We've had quite the summer with him. He was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (aka: SID, or Sensory Integration Dysfunction: it's on the autism spectrum but it's highly functioning and highly social) back in April. We've had him in Speech & Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy for a couple of months now. This week we're adding Developmental Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Social Rehabilitation.

He also recenly had his adnoids and tonsils taken out and tubes put in his ears and the blood test for allergies.

He is the happiest and cutest kid (of course I'm biased as a mother, but truly). His personality has come through so much since the surgery and the RAGES (3-4 hours of non-stop screaming and crying and mild self-violence) have all but stopped. We've been working on sign language with him and that's helped a lot and also he's started using 3 word phrases since the surgery. So he seems to be taking off and I'm sure his progress will continue to be really quick.

I don't think I've ever seen a kid so excited to watch TV. Disney Playhouse in the mornings is AMAZING. He sings and pats and knows all the songs with the Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Higgleytown Heroes, and Handy Many. In fact, when Mickey Mouse comes on and says "Do you wanna come inside the clubhouse with me" and then he pauses...Kaleb will say "Surrre. Alright! Let's go!"

He LOVES going to the Park and swinging and playing on the slide. He loves to run, jump on mom's bed and the couch, go swimming at the Splash park and play in the bathtub, and he LOVVVVES to wrestle with Josh (Josh likes to, too, until he gets rolled on and squashed).

He loves to eat raisins, LIME yogurt, chicken nuggets and french fries, pepperoni pizza, and he just thinks that Reeses Pieces and ice cream and popcicles are the coolest thing. He will even point and say "Wow! Cooool! Yummm!".

He wakes up every morning now saying "Hi guys!" He's really good at giving 'high 5s' and 'rock'. He's still in the 115% for his heighth....he's been wearing clothes for a 4 year old for about 3 months now. So far, it's been a VERY BUSY summer with a VERY BUSY 2 year-old!!

Joshua Bryce Whitlock, is now 10 months old. He is SOOOOOOO smiley! He has these HUGE, WIDE grins and these big, bright blue eyes....you just melt....and what's more is he's a HUGGER!! We have so much fun cuddling! He's cutting his first tooth on the bottom front this week so he's been a grouchy boy. OUCH!

Josh LOVVVVES TO EAT!!!! He started eating early on. Currently he loves preztels, potato chips, DIRT, POOH, rocks, sticks, pine cones, spiders, worms, cheese, soft tortillas, yogurts, apple-cinnamon cheerios, and pizza. He enjoys swinging, diving on to Kaleb in surprise attacks and "sqwuaking" at Kaleb, drinking out of a "big boy" cup, playing chase and peekaboo, helping mom unload the dishwasher ...

...(he even licks off the food from the dirty dishes if I'm not watching), playing on the slide and is currently learning how to walk. He can push the musical walker around everywhere really fast and he walks along every surface standing up now. He's even standing on his own in the middle of the room when he doesn't notice, but if he notices then he buckles and crawls. My only thought..."Ohhhh brother! He's so close. I'm in trouble!" He's as active and as energetic as his 2 year old brother. He gets so frustrated that he can't do everything that Kaleb can.

Josh also just finished Occupational therapy about one month and a half ago. He was born with severe torticullis (bending of the spine and neck and muscles). He's pretty straight now. Every once in a while his eye will start to droop and then I do the stretching exercises (which he hates) and things straighten up again. This will happen EVERY time he hits a growth spurt until he's much older.

ME, Beckah,...well....my life is pretty much The BOYZ (Bryce, Kaleb, and Josh). I enjoy my Pampered Chef home business immensely and have made quite a bit of money with it to help with finances. But....sadly, with Kaleb in so many appointments I'm cutting WAYYYY back for a while. I'm okay with that because I love my sons more than the money or fun time and I love being needed. I'm not sure what we'll do financially, but I felt that this was definitely an inspired decision and have felt at peace with it the past week or so. I did just hit my $15,000 in career sales which gives me a raise and I am going to the Pampered Chef's National Conference located in Chicago, Illinois for a week in July. The time will be fun I'm sure but i'm already ancey to get back to my family and I haven't even left yet....in fact, it's still two + weeks away! I'm a dork, I know. I also clean house for a friend every Wednesday AND I am one of three cleaning crew supervisors at the Colonial House Apartments (female student housing) in town. At least I'm good at something.

Well...that is our long update but there you are...what we've been doing since January. Now let's see if I can figure out how to upload some pics...if not, maybe next time.