Update on Logan's Therapies

Just wanted to update on how Logan's speech, developmental and occupational therapy sessions are going:

SPEECH: Logan has increased his vocabulary a lot in the 2+ months he has been in speech. He is saying new words almos daily, we are still working on putting together short phrases, but he is making his needs known using words more often now which makes everyone's life easier.

DEVELOPMENTAL: Logan is doing better at following one command direcetions we are starting to work on two command direcetions example: "Go get your shoes and bring them to Mom". He is starting to use imagnative play more, although we are still working on this. Logan can count to 5 and knows many of his shapes (although we don't really work on this during his therapy he picked it up on his own). We try to work with him to talk more durning play we have a goal of 10 animal sounds, right now he has 4.

OCCUPATIONAL: Logan is really enjoying occupational therapy, it gives him great ways to get the extra sensory stimulation he needs. We have started the brushing therapy where you use a surgical brush (soft) and you brush his arms, legs, etc. and then apply pressure to the joint areas, Logan loves it and it helps him calm down and focus which is our goals in OT. We do different activities with the therapist that are sensory based and it seems to be helping, Logan now can focus better and longer during his other therapies which all boils down to helping him speak more.

Logan will have his 2 year check-up next month and we will update after that!

Holland MI Trip

This past Sunday and Monday we were in Holland MI which is about 3 hours from home so not to far away. Logan and I tagged along with Matt on a mini business trip up there, so most of it was paid for by his company which was nice! We planned on going to Dutch Village on Sunday but they were getting pounded with rain up there, so we hung out at the hotel and went swimming (Logan LOVED swimming), checked out the mall and went to Walmart where Logan scored a new car and a Thomas Duplo set to play with at the hotel. We had dinner ordered in to the hotel room and we just relaxed which was really nice. Monday morning I dropped Matt off at the company he had to do his interview and factory tour with and Logan and I bummed around until he was done. Once Matt was finished we checked out and headed out to Downtown Holland. We looked around at the little shops, got some yummy fudge and Logan had fun playing in the toy store with the train table and had fun in the bookstore that had a bird, bunny, fish, and a guinea pig. Then we were off to Windmill Island and Gardens where they have a Dutch Village set up and a Windmill that is 240 years old from Holland and is fully functional. We had fun walking around but Logan was ready to go after awhile so we headed home. We had fun on our mini business trip and it was nice to go away just relax!

A Month Since We Said Goodbye

I think we are both surprised it has been a month already since we said goodbye to our Peanut. For me at least it feels like yesterday. While the day to day is easier now and I feel like I can function normally now, it still hits me several times a day that I am not pregnant anymore, the baby we had wanted for a long time is gone. We fought as hard as we could to keep Peanut, but she (I think it was a girl) was sick and had to leave us.

I want to thank all our family and friends who helped out while I was on bed rest and for all the calls and emails of concern and for the words of comfort and cards of comfort that we were given when we lost Peanut. I didn't talk to many people at the time, I let Matt handle it because I couldn't, but I want everyone to know how much your words helped, we both appreciate it very much.

For those that don't know, the baby was buried at All Saints Cemetery here in Des Plaines. It is a service the hospital offers in cases of loss before 20 weeks. We won't ever know the exact plot where our Peanut is, since they do a group at a time (That sounds bad, but that is what they do). We haven't been over there yet, I don't know if we will ever, I drove by there the other day and I felt sick the rest of the day so I don't think I am ready.

Still we feel the need to remember our dear little Peanut she was so much apart of our lives already. I now wear another birthstone baby around my neck, but this one has angle wings to represent our angle in heaven.

I was in Hallmark and came across a Willow Tree figure, a unisex faceless child holding a balloon that says Miss You. I new I had to get it and put it with our other Willow Tree figure that I had gotten for Matt the day we brought Logan home from the NICU. Peanut will always be apart of our family and looking over us from Heaven and will be forever missed.

So here we are a month after the worst day of both of our lives, getting better, finally starting to look to the future as scary is that is for both of us, we don't ever want to go through what we did last month ever, ever again. I will have some tests run in a couple of months to check my hormone levels and depending on what we find out we will hopefully try again in the near future, but we will never forget our little fighter.

If you want to enjoy the rainbow, be prepared to endure the storm.

~Warren Wiersbe

A Typical Trip to the Park

Here is a brief summation (with photos!) of a typical trip to the park with Logan. The trips last anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, but are usually shorter rather than longer.

After playing outside for a little while (or sometimes not), Logan decides when he's ready to go to the park. Of course, that's the time that we go, excepting sometimes when dinner needs to be made or something else is going on.

Daddy, it's time to go to the park now.

When going to the park, there are certain items we need to take with us. They are: 1) Duckie 2) a toy car (although this one is not always necessary) 3) water/juice, which Logan doesn't ever think to bring, but we do, because he usually ends up wanting it when we get there.

Once we arrive at the park, Logan might run around for a while, he might get up on the equipment a little bit. He used to like the swings, but not so much anymore. We think it's a terrible twos assertion of freedom of movement thing, that he can't be stuck in the swing. Recently we've gone down to the park and after he's done running around for a while, he'll play with his car at the picnic table.

I know we have a picnic table at home I could do this at, but this one is different.

Then, when Logan is ready, and usually not before, we will head home. He'll decide this by starting to walk back home. It's amazing how within about four trips to the park he knew just where to go to get from home to the park and back. It's just down the street, but it's on the other side of the street and three or four blocks away. I'd send him on his own (he's indepent and doesn't want us to hold his hand right now), but the darn kid seems to think he can run into the street and the cars will just bounce off him or something.

Ok, I'm done, you may follow me home now.

And of course, going to the park is very serious business. We don't mess around with the park.

Daddy, I'm always serious about the park. Now stop blogging so we can go.

All photos taken by Brandi, who has much more skill in this area than I do.

Logan's 1st Camping Trip

Last weekend we went camping with Brandi’s mom and one of her aunts to the lovely Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan. The park features modern and rustic camping, Lake Michigan, dunes for climbing, etc. It’s a nice place and I’d been there once before to go to the beach, but never for camping. My mother-in-law and her family usually go every year and most years, one or both of her sisters come with their spouse and/or children. And at only about 90 miles away, it doesn’t take long to get there.

We were looking forward to it, and Brandi got into going out and getting the supplies we needed. We had a tent and a few other things, but we had to get cooking implements, a lantern, sleeping bags, etc., etc. All of last week Brandi had been making lists and inventorying what we would need, and then Friday night most everything was packed into the car. There was so much stuff in the car that I couldn’t see out the back as we drove. We did end up using pretty much all of it, although there was a lot of food left over.

The plan was for everyone to meet at our house, as we’re closest to the park, and then the caravan would leave from there. Everyone was supposed to get to our place at 10:00 on Saturday. At around 9:00 or so on Saturday morning we get a call from Brandi’s mom; they won’t be getting to our house until 10:30. *grumble grumble* That’s typical and I should have expected it, but really, a half hour is no big deal. This left us a little more breathing room to get Logan ready, get myself ready, and get the car packed. Guess what, 10:30 rolls around and no mother-in-law. I take Logan for a walk around the block, and by the time we get back, everyone else has arrived. Now, we’re ready to go.

At the state park we have to wait a while because there’s a line of people that want to come in and get a camp site, and the way it’s set up is they only accommodate one person/group at a time. Finally the representatives of our party make it into the room where they tell you what spots are available and there are only two sets of three left. Instead of going to look at the two areas, they just pick one.

Ok, we're here. Now what?

We get to our sites and being to unpack. Logan has fun wandering around and looking at stuff and Brandi’s sister helped out a lot to keep an eye on him while I put up the tent and Brandi pulls out the other stuff. It didn’t take too long to get the tent set up and most everything out. We had lunch and then were ready to go to the beach. There was an incident involving a spilled cup of peaches and the bees that came to investigate afterward, in which I was blamed for both, but in my defense, I was setting up the tent while Brandi and her mom watched over Logan. Oh well.

The beach was nice. The sky was clear, the sand was on the cool side. Small waves were coming in. And it wasn’t too crowded. Logan wasn’t too impressed with the beach, and I thought the whole experience was going to be ruined when a bee stung him on his cheek. I was carrying him and all of a sudden he started crying and pulled the bee off of his face. Fortunately, the stinger didn’t get in very far and came right out. After a while Logan calmed down.

The beautiful Michigan beaches.

We tried bringing him to the water, but he didn’t like the waves, so after a while I took him over to this little stream and tide pool, which he liked playing in a lot. He splashed and explored and played with the sand. Brandi came by with her brand new camera to take some pictures and slipped and almost went right into the water, camera in hand, but she righted herself and the camera didn’t get wet. Logan was not happy when it was time to go, but we had to get back to the site to make dinner.

Let's see how deep this thing goes, daddy.

He went that'a'way.

On the way from the beach back to our site, we stopped at the tiny general store and bought some wood to burn for cooking and what not. The price wasn’t too bad, but when we got to camp and I tried starting the fire it didn’t go so well. The wood they sold us was pretty wet still and didn’t want to start. Luckily, Brandi’s uncle had brought “Boy Scout Water” and we were able to use that to get things going. Logan had grilled cheese and we had some of those precooked smoked salmon filet things. Dinner was good. Logan played around while we cooked and cleaned up.

The master chef at work.

Wait, you guys get smoked salmon and I'm stuck with grilled cheese?

Logan's 1st bee sting, poor cheek.

After dinner we headed back to the beach to watch the sunset, it was a bit cloudy so we didn't get to see a great sunset but it was still pretty and Brandi took some pictures. Logan was done with the beach and said Bye-Bye and headed back to the car where he watched a movie until everyone else was ready to go.

Watching the sunset

Back at the campsite we got Logan ready for bed and I laid down with him so that he’d fall asleep. This took a very long time as everyone had set up at the middle campsite fire pit to sit around and talk, and that kept Logan up for a couple hours. At some point I took my glasses off as I was laying next to him on the air mattress and at some point after that, I lost track of my glasses and rolled on top of them. I still haven’t fixed them yet. Eventually, Logan fell asleep and We stayed up for a while longer, and it was starting to rain when we turned in.

Who is putting who to sleep here?

I couldn’t sleep. I stayed up listening to the rain and worrying that it might come in the tent. We have a ten-year-old tent that has never been re-waterproofed. At first it was just a drizzle, but eventually it poured, and for a half hour at least. I don’t think I got to sleep until some time after 3. I kept checking my watch and I pulled Logan onto the air mattress with us (from his little mattress) because I was worried that he might get too cold, even though we had a space heater. We did get a little water. The first clue that we were going to get some water in the tent was when I would get hit by a drip on my shoulder every couple minutes. In the morning there were some little puddles around the edge of the tent, and the only thing that got totally wrecked was a board book of Logan’s that shouldn’t be too hard to replace.

Brandi did the breakfast cooking while I watched Logan. She had decided to go with the meat trio combo of corned beef hash, sausage links and bacon. Brandi’s mom made pancakes and offered us some too. We had a bunch extra and I think Brandi’s step dad and sister ended up finishing the bacon and left over sausage for us. Logan played and wandered around as we clean up the pans and started getting ready to pack up. The car was not packed as neatly as when we left for Michigan, but it didn’t really matter. Somehow we ended up coming home with more than we left with. A beach chair that Brandi’s mom brought was actually Brandi’s that she had never bothered to take when she moved out, is now back in our possession.



We left the camp at about 1 Michigan time, so we’d been there for just under 24 hours. Much of Michigan is such a picturesque state and it’s nice to drive through. We were happy but tired. Logan fell asleep after a little while and didn’t wake up until we hit Chicago traffic in the Loop area. So Logan’s first camping trip went well, and I’m sure it will go even better next year.

Welcome to The Warnock Family Blog

Welcome family and friends to our family blog! We thought we would start up a family blog since we always have so much going on and everyone wants to stay up to date on our family happenings. We thought this would be the prefect outlet to let everyone know what is going on with all of us and share pictures and news. We hope you have fun reading and keeping up with our crazy lives!