Chocolate Lover

Luca loves chocolate! He got to lick the spoon tonight and he was pretty excited! We also went to the Children's museum today. He painted some pictures and when he showed them to John he said, "Daddy, they are amazing," a few times. It was pretty funny.

Luca up close

I got a few rare pictures of Luca up close. he is very hard to photograph these days.

View

I don't know if you know this, but we have an incredible view from our roof. There was a amazing sunset the other night and since Luca was sleeping we decided to venture up and this is what we found. Wow, I sure wish we had a little roof top patio or something...easier said than done but what and incredible view!

Kayak

Luca enjoys playing in the beautiful wooden kayak that John made a few years ago. I think Luca is ready to take it out for a spin on the lake.

Dr. Mosca

Luca had an appointment with Dr. Mosca today to follow up with what the Dr. out in Philly had said about next steps for ideal foot correction. We hoped that Dr. Mosca would be on board with casting the left foot as the dr. in Philly recommended and Dr. Mosca agrees that is the next step. Luca will get a new series of casts starting in the end of Oct. for about three-four weeks. Then new AFO's to keep his (hopefully) more corrected foot position. I believe that the casts will only be on his left foot as his right foot still looks very good.

Hand Doctor

Hand Doctor report:

We met with the leading hand surgeon for arthrogyposis at Shriner's in Philly, Dr. Kozin. We wondered if there was anything surgically that could be done to improve Luca's hand mobility. Dr. Kozin was very nice, interacted with Luca as Luca used his hands to play and then gave him a big soft cookie to watch him feed himself. Dr. Kozin's conclusion was that there were no surgery to be done right now to Luca for Luca. He encouraged us to come back in a year or two when there may be a use for surgery depending on Luca's development. Dr. Kozin was glad to see that Luca could get his elbow to 90 degrees (passively) and his wrists to neutral (two big reasons for surgery at this age which Luca doesn't need)

I was kind of disappointed that there isn't anything that can be done for Luca's hands, but also encouraged that Luca can use his hands as well as he can and that all three hand dr. we have seen have the same option. Dr. Kozin told us to keep on doing therapy and having Luca wear his overnight hand splints.

Luca then had new "cool" hand splints made at the clinic. The whole appointment took 4 hours. Luca is a trooper!

More NC

NC

Luca's first merry go round. We went on at least 6 times. He loved it! He is waving in the picture:)

Molly and Luca on a bike ride

Saying good bye to Nanny, Grandpa, and Daddy at the Newark airport

Great Grandma Walker

Such a gift to spend time with Great Grandma Walker!!! And the Hicks!

Luca and Annalise and friends

We had a great visit with Peter, Kara, Ben, Kristin, and Matt. Annalise was showing us her hippo smile in this last picture. She is just so cute and Luca misses her already!

Oma

Luca, John, and I were able to visit my grandmother, Oma, when we were in Washington, DC.

Luca and Annalise

Luca and Annalise in the PJ's in the morning.

Luca in the fountain

There was a big fountain in a park in DC where Peter and Kara took us. Luca loved playing in it. The water would fall down and then spray back up. So much fun!

Washington DC

John, Luca and I are down in DC this weekend visiting Peter, Kara and Annalise Barrett. Luca and Annalise were dancing in this picture together as they looked at the river. It is very fun to watch them become fast friends.

Philly dr. visit:

We also went to Shiner's Hospital this last Friday. The foot doctor recommended more casting for the left foot and different AFO's. We are processing the information and were glad to get a second option. We see the hand doctor on Thursday and will let you know how that goes!

The Beach

The Beach week: We are at the beach in New Jersey with John's family. Luca loves being in the sand and going in the ocean! What a blast! It is very nice to be in lots of sunshine and warm weather!

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Wading Pool

It has finally been warm enough to go to the Seattle Parks wading pool (it only has to be 70 degrees) to have them open. Anyway, Luca loves splashing, walking and sitting in the water. He also likes that there are no diving boards there (as he is currently scared of diving boarders- as he calls them). Anyway, here are some pictures Jess took the other day!

Luca and Layna

Luca and I got to watch Layna and Jonah the other day. Luca and Layna liked walking around the house holding hands, playing hide and go seek, reading books, and "caring" for baby Jonah as they both asked, "Jonah, what is the matter...over and over again!"

Amazing Jean!

The three musketeers
Jean makes everyone smile, what else can I say?
My dear friend, Jean and co-worker is moving back to Michigan next week. Her family moved out to Seattle so her husband could go to grad. school, he graduated and now they are moving home. She began working at Bethany when I left on maternity leave, and then she stayed on full-time and was even the interim director of Children's Ministry for 6 + months! She has been such a valuable contributor towards Children's Ministry at Bethany, does amazing work, encourages everyone and is a friend to us all. We are all going to miss her dearly!!!

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Playgarden

Luca now receives his physical therapy at the Play Garden. It is a park/therapy center that Boyer in partnered with. His PT, Beth, meets us there every Thurs. morning. Luca loves being outside and enjoys working with Beth. There is large soft hill which he calls a mountain and he is able to walk up and down it by himself. There are also chickens to chase, bunnies, a life like pig and a playground.

reading stories with Dad

Luca loves to read stories all day and especially before bed. I think he would like us to read him his entire book collection before bed if we would. Here is a picture of John reading one story to Luca before bed tonight. Luca is still wearing flannel christmas pj's in July because it is just 60 degrees (0r less) right now in Seattle. Who knew we could where snowman pj's all year long in Seattle. I am so glad we are going to the east coast for 2.5 weeks this summer so at least I know we get 2.5 weeks of summer this year! It is hard to wait till Aug!

I also finished VBS (Kids Summer Adventure) at Bethany. We had a little over 100 preschoolers and a little over 100 elem. Quite a week! Awesome volunteers and I think the kids had a blast. Luca didn't go to VBS because he is still to young but did get big panda balloon that he has enjoyed playing with all day long!

Mom's sweatshirt

Luca and I have matching sweatshirts and Luca thought his was on the couch. Luca put it on and it was mom's! Pretty cute! John said he played in it for 10 mins. pretending it was a cape! He also picked out his Elmo shirt to wear today. He is learning to say, "cheese" when we take his picture.

Happy 4th of July

Enjoying history, I thought I would look up the 4th of July in google. I found this quote and thought it was pretty amazing that John Adams forecasts this holiday celebration more than 200 years ago. Independence was gained on July 2nd, but the Declaration of Independence was signed on the 4th. Hence the celebration on the 4th. We had a great sunny day and enjoyed seeing the fireworks we could from our front yard. I do look forward to when Luca is old enough to take to the fireworks show!

A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.^[6]

Adams's prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.^[7]

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Bookworm

Luca is a reader through and through, it is fun to see him looking at books on his own now as well as being read to aloud by us! He is reading Good Night Seattle in the picture.

Luca and friends

The other day Luca's friend Scarlett was requesting a photo of Maya and Luca together. We don't have too many so we took one the other day. Scarlett is in it too! All three of them enjoyed going barefoot on the cozy rug.

Other happenings....

We finally had two days of sunshine and warm summer weather in Seattle. Wow, is it ever nice to feel warm! Luca loves wearing shorts, he says they are cozy. (of course)

We went the the arthrogyposis conference at Children's hospital in Seattle, this last Wednesday where we met several other families with toddlers and older kids just like Luca. It was fun to see them all doing things in their own way together. One other two year old can stand up by herself and showed Luca how she does it. Luca said, "Good job Ellie, do it again!" There was an eight year old boy there who showed us how he writes and wins coloring contests! It was quite inspirational for all the parents.

There was also a newborn and all of our hearts went out to that family in the midst of grief and trying to wrap their head around this diagnosis. We have all been there and wished we could lighten their pain somehow. We did told the mom, "These days are the hardest, it does get easier, his little body will straighten out, but it is so hard."

None of the families live in Seattle, they had traveled from Alaska, other parts of WA state and California to come to the conference. I wished we could get together more regularity as a group. Luca's little friend, Joshua with AMC was there and we were able to give them the gate trainer that was given to us. Hopefully it will be helpful for their family. There is a national annual conference for kids with arthroygposis in July. This year it is in Kansas City. Maybe we can go to it next year but I am glad we have our own in little conference here in Seattle where we don't have to travel far to attend!