2013..already?!! Sammie has had a fantastic year . He is in 1st grade at a lovely school and still loves riding the school bus! His teacher. PT , ST, and OT are all wonderful and have been working him each day and we have seen so much progress! Sammie is crawling around everywhere , getting into things, knocking things over, and just messing up the house..it's great :). Sammie is beginning to pull himself up to his knees and still enjoys being on his feet. He is now able to roll around and sit-up from laying down. He walks all over school with assistance, he enjoys going up the stairs and seems happiest when on his feet! He'll get there..one step at a time! Sammie is increasingly aware of how effective and ineffective communication is. His receptive language is far beyond his expressive and it has become obvious that he is aware of this. He is able to indicate his wants and needs with yes/no questions. He is able to shake his head yes but stubbornly prefers to do a small nod with a. "Hmm" sound attached to indicate a yes reply. He can shake no but prefers to give you a look like "are you kidding me!". He says more, ball, sponge bob, baby, mama, firetruck, and randomly comes out with other words. He signs all done and is extremely accurate with the sign :) Sammie continues at Medicine Horse..we've missed sessions recently due to the frigid temperatures here in New York. Sammie's circulation is not great and his little fingers freeze very quickly. Sammie has really started to take an interest in toys. He loves rolling cars and trucks, making noise with shakers, and listening to and turning pages in books. He digs around in his toy box and I see him crawl over to Thomas' toy box (he 's 5 1/2) and dig around till he finds the talking Iron man figure, it warms my heart to see him excited to find a treasure! Sammie recently had his cardiology check-up. Everything is the same..I'm grateful nothing is worse but prayed things would look better. I'm not disappointed just feel even about it. I hope and pray that one day his heart function looks better.

2012

Hello friends!
Not sure anyone still follows this but felt it in my heart to update =)

Sammie is doing so wonderful..he is 5, in Kindergarten and progressing very well!
He loves school and gets so excited every moringing when he sees the bus pull up, yes he rides the bus, a difficult decision for me to make but I have to work so he rides the bus. He sits in the front seat with one of the lovely bus monitors and enjoys looking out the window while he rides. The bus staff just love him and are happy to see him everyday!

Sammie has been participating in Medicine Horse for almost a year! He loves it, his horse's name is Miss Lilly. It's been a cold winter but Sammie has been patient with the weather and tolerates riding.

Sammie continues to work on crawling and walking, he needs help to walk but loves to be on his feet and really enjoys going up and down the stairs with help. He also continues to work on communication. He is able to shake his head yes and no and say mamama, bear, apple and cookie. He has different sounds for yes and no but we really attempt to get him to shake his head. He also started using a big kid cup. He is very messy but enjoys being independent! Thankfully he enjoys most foods so he eats pretty good!

Sammie continues to be a sweet, loving little boy. He has blessed me everyday with happiness.

A beautiful walk!

Thank you to everyone who donated to March for Babies! And also a huge thank you to everyone who traveled to Plattsburgh for the walk and to all those who live here and were able to make it! We had a beautiful day and a beautiful walk!

Twenty four people were present to support Team Sammie Wammie's! We raised $1046!

March For Babies!!

Hello Everyone!
I'm pleased to announce that we have a fabulous group representing Team Sammie Wammies this year!! Sammie's Aunt Lynn, Aunt Andrea, Uncle Jam, cousins Isaiah, Owen, Mia, Landyn, GG, fantastic family friend Sally, and maybe a few more!!

My fundraising efforts haven't been as prosperous as last year but every little bit helps the organization! We're very happy to so what we can to help raise money for the March of Dimes. Both my sister Lynn and I have spent time in the NICU with our babies and both of us had to spend many sleepless nights at Boston Children's Hospital with our sick babies. Our famiy supported us through these times and continue to support us. We have personally seen the wonderful effects of the March of Dimes organization and hope you will donate to us or eve start your own team!

You can go to marchforbabies.org and we are Team Sammie Wammies in Plattsburgh, New York!!

Remembering..

Today has been a year since Sammie and I lost our dear friend Emma. I wanted to write something about her because I was thinking if I was her mommy I would want to know that people are remembering her and how much love and joy she brought into this world.

I remember the first day we all met..I was so happy to have someone so close by to share my adventures of raising a child with 1p36. She was so beautiful (like her mom) and I thought "my god..if I had a girl..thats exactly what she'd look like!". My mom was with me and we were all so excited to meet.

Each time we went to Vermont we met up. Kaitlyn was the parent that planned our 2nd annual conferernce and she also pretty much, single handedly started up the initial procedure for our nonprofit organization. She got the ball rolling! She was so wonderful with her peanut and a fantastic advocate!

The news of Emma's passing came suddenly...I still can't believe it. I think of them almost daily..Sammie's would be best friend and her mommy..my friend who totally understood my life, lost in a heartbeat. I can't change whats happened, I'm grateful to know both of them and share in some of Emma's memories. She was a beautiful, sweet, baby girl who is missed each day.

Both of these girls will be in our hearts always. We miss you Emma and we love you.

2010

Hello all!
Been a little bit since my last Sammie Blog! I apologize but we have been super busy like everyone else on the planet =)

Sammie is doing great! Preschool is going wonderfully! He just finished a weeks vacation..that I think he enjoyed! I didn't have vacastion so we didn't get real crazy but did enjoy some down time while it lasted! He has had 2 parent teacher conferences and his teachers and therapists are as pleased with him as we are =) He is continuously making gains in the right direction! He is still working on walking/standing..he loves to be on his feet but still needs to be supported. He's doing pretty good in his gait trainer and loves to hold on and walk around! He also brings his leg up when in front of stairs, he steps up on the stair, and with as much weight as he can he'll go up the stair! Pretty impressive! He has had CME therapy twice at school! It stands for Cuevas Medek Exercise Therapy. Designed by a Venezualian man named Ramon Cuevas in the 1970's! If you google it you'll find videos! I'll try to post the one of Sammie on here! But just in case check out other videos! He has been using PECs at school with some success. He comes home with all sorts of fabulous art projects! I'm trying to make sure I don't save all of them! haha

Darby is back and we're all so happy about that! She stayed with her mom for a few months but decided to return and we have all enjoyed spending more time with her! Sammie loves her so much and she is so wonderful with him =) She has really been helping us out by watching Sammie here and there between work and school! She is working on training her Geniue Pigs (sp??!) If you have any suggestions let me know and I'll pass them on!

Sammie went skiing at White Face a couple of weeks ago! The whole preschool was invited to go and they have some adaptive skis that Sammie used with the assistance of the adaptive ski instructors!! How exciting! He didn't like the ride up but seemed to enjoy the ride down! I hope he learns to love it cause I do and so does Darby!

All of his recent appointments have gone well which makes us all very happy! He is no longer drinking pediasure =) we do have a weight check coming up but he has been eating like a little piglet so I'm not worried!

Preschool and Sammie's 3 years old!

Sammie had a party for his 3rd Birthday at school!! He had a fantastic time! His make a wish granters brought cupcakes and balloons and presents! All his classmates were able to be there to enjoy the fun time! As you can tell from the picture he looooved the string on the balloon!
Preschool has been going great for him! I truely think he enjoys it there! The staff is wonderful! Sammie is getting better at cruising around in his gate trainer and he can wave now! We're pretty sure he has said bye on a couple of occasions! They are working on all sorts of wonderful things in preschool!
We had a party for Sammie's birthday this weekend! Lots and lots of family and friends were able to join us and it turned out to be a beautiful day out! I still can't believe my little guy is 3 years old...but it's true! He has really started to interact with people and sort of play with other kiddos. It's so exciting!