Our little Gibblet

Winter?

2012-01-17T20:12:00.006-05:00

This is what the weather does in Michigan...

Last Monday it was pushing 50 degrees, so we pulled out Grey's "Monster Truck" (If you look closely, you'll quickly discover this was indeed a Barbie Jeep that has been rebranded a "Green Boy's Monster Truck" Grey was having a blast!

By the end of the week, we parked the Jeep and got out the sleds! Finally, some significant snow. So Grey and I hit the backyard!

Grey doesn't quite get the idea of good "packing snow". He continually asked to make multiple snowmen...but it was the soft fluffy stuff the fell. :) So we took some more runs down the hill...

A few times Grey was "too aggressive" with his approach down the hill and took a faceplant...he didn't like that too much.

Hope everyone's having a good year so far. Stay Warm.

Love,
Andy, Leigh, Grey

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012-01-01T22:43:00.009-05:00

As we sit here tonight, on the first day of 2012, I can't help but think back to some of the highlights of 2011.

*you may want to grab a cup of coffee for this one, I can't guarantee that this will be a short post. :)

January started off with Grey doing more standing with his knee
immobilizers and becoming more and more comfortable on his feet.

January was also the month that Grey met "2 Orie" as he is known today.
Here he is showing off his love for both of his Ories...can't sleep without them. :)

In February, our little baby turned 2. I still can't believe it. He is almost 3 and I
am still getting used to the idea of him being 2!

March brought Greyson's first pair of KAFOs!! We were so excited to get
these. They have changed Grey's life...for the better, and we are so thankful
that Grey is able to do so much while he wears them!

In April, we went to Florida with grandma and grandpa Neal, uncle Jake and
aunt Jenny, Parker, Kendall, Olivia, and Mallory...Grey had a blast with his cousins!!

Grey also discovered his love of numbers and large books. :)
May was a big month for us! Grey wore his first tie!

He helped me celebrate Mother's Day!

He also helped me decorate his room...

and started sleeping in his big boy bed!

June was spent walking outside...

getting his very own wheelchair!!!...

and visiting with friends who we wish we could see everyday...

July was spent relaxing at the pool...

taking swimming lessons...

and going on vacation with grandpa and grandma Gibbs,
uncle Jim and aunt Emily, and of course, baby Evan. :)

FYI: "baby Evan" is not really considered a baby anymore, but Grey will
ONLY refer to him as "baby Evan" and tries to hug and pet him any
chance he gets. They are the cutest. :)

August was spent just being cute. :)

In September our little guy started PRE-SCHOOL! I know, I still can't believe it!
Such a big boy he is! He is LOVING it and everyday there, is his "best day yet!"
according to his teachers! We are so proud!

October was spent getting ready for our first Stroll 'N Roll for the
West Michigan Spina Bifida Organization! It was a HUGE success!!

Grey was also an astronaut for Halloween and is still asking us at least
3 times a week what we are going to be for Halloween. :)

No pictures for November :( Grey was busy doing another session of Therapy at 1 plus 1! Everyday for 2 hours! A very busy month!

December was spent making his first snowman...
celebrating Christmas with Emily and Carson at the WMSBO Holiday Party...
and spending time together.

We were so incredibly blessed in 2011, and I am praying for a happy and healthy 2012!!

Each night Grey says in his prayer...

"Thank you that I am strong, thank you that I am healthy, thank you that I am happy..." (with a few other random 'thank yous' mixed in) :)

We could not be more grateful for our sweet little boy, he truly is the biggest blessing. I know that 2012 will be a big year for him...turning 3, going to preschool more than just one day a week, and most likely discovering that he isn't just like everyone else. My prayer for this year is that he will remain healthy, happy, and strong. :)

Much love and many prayers for your 2012 as well!!

Andy, Leigh, and Mr. G

Heat Miser

2011-12-22T08:33:00.005-05:00

I think i know why we haven't had any snow...

Grey is the heat miser!

hahahaha! it's spot on.

for those that aren't familiar with the heat miser.... enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbfgVEk-mxQ

White Christmas?

2011-12-20T21:23:00.005-05:00

So its days before Christmas and here in Michigan we haven't had any significant snowfall. A part of me loves this, because i dont have to deal with the horrible roads and such, but the inner 10 year old version of me really wants it to snow for Christmas! Turns out Grey really wants it to snow too. Any time the mention of snow is heard, he immediately brings up the fact that he wants to make a snowman. We both repeatedly explain that there isn't enough snow outside to make a snowman, it needs to snow more...he's not buying it. So this past weekend we got the smallest amount of snow and Grey convinced us it was time to venture out and make a snowman.

And so it began, the clothes, the braces, the snowpants, the long sleeve shirt, the jacket, the hat, the gloves, the boots...i recall Leigh saying something like, "you better stay out there for at least 2 hours!"

Heres Leigh, getting him ready.

Ready to Go!

As you can see there wasn't much snow...at all. :) But we scrounged up as much snow as we could and made a snowman!

Here we are just adding some final touches (arms) to the snowman. So we didn't stay out the full 2 hours as Leigh had hoped, however the 2 of us sure had a great time!

Oh and someones getting excited about Christmas!

Love to all,
and a Merry Christmas from Andy, Leigh and Grey

A few questions for Grey

2011-11-30T22:27:00.005-05:00

Well Leigh and I had this great idea that we'd set up the camera this past holiday weekend and ask greyson what he was thankful for. Naturally, he wasn't interested in accommodating us for our video...However we did get some footage of him answering some random questions, drumming, and singing his favorite song, which happens to be called "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 song"

heres the video.

Heres a few images from our Thanksgiving Day.

Just relaxing after a big meal...and some how Grey ended up with 3 "ories" (eeyores)

Another incredible year with so much to be thankful for!

love to all,

Andy, Leigh, Grey

Grey the Astronaut

2011-11-06T19:48:00.007-05:00

So far this Halloween has been Grey's (and our) favorite! It all starts with the costume and this year we scored big when we found an amazing (and really reflective) spaceman suit. From there the ideas just kept flowing. Rocket booster's on his walker, a space shuttle, spray paint, stickers, paint. we were pumped... until we actually had to make the stuff. We both procrastinated until the last week before and with some help from grandma the basic shape of the space shuttle was formed...with cardboard and A LOT of duct tape. Soon it was primed, painted, detailed and fitted for his chair. Here it is right off the showroom floor.

So the next big thing was to cross our fingers and hope grey liked wearing his costume and having his rocket ship attached to his ride. Turns out he loved it!

Here he is getting ready to make his rounds.

Here he is showing off his rocket boosters.

Here he is with his cousins. Boy they sure helped him out and made sure he got all the candy he deserved. Thanks girls for going up to the house with all those steps!
Preparing for take off...

A proud astronaut mommy.
Lets do this daddy!
It took Grey approximately 1 house to figure out what trick or treatin was all about, and after that you couldn't stop the kid. "should we go to that house daddy?" "that house has candy daddy." "I want M&M's candy!" he loved it, and so did we.

heres i little clip of grey as an astronaut...

Hope everyone else had a happy halloween!

love,
the gibbs'

Stroll 'N Roll = Success!!

2011-10-21T18:08:00.004-04:00

That is right...the first ever Stroll 'N Roll for the West Michigan Spina Bifida Association was a HUGE success!! Emily and I spent the week leading up to the event making signs, finalizing the menu, getting things ready for the raffle, and most importantly...checking the weather! October in Michigan is VERY unpredictable! On Monday, weather.com said that Saturday was going to be sunny and 60...yay! By Wednesday it was cloudy and like 55...on Saturday it was HIGH WIND and mid 40s. Yikes. Not what we were hoping for. Emily and I, along with our awesome volunteers got to the park early on Saturday and were a bit discouraged by the weather conditions. Our signs wouldn't stick, our raffle kept blowing away, and pretty much every thing else that we had planned was just not working out...we had to move on to Plan B. :)

With the help of our great volunteers things ended up working great! By 10:00 the teams starting rolling in. We had over 20 teams and 230 register to join in the walk with us!! A-Mazing! Having all of these amazing families show up was really incredible to see. Emily and I were still a little discouraged by the weather, but then we thought to ourselves...if anyone in life knows how to roll with it when things don't go exactly as planned...it was this amazing group of people. Everyone was happy, enjoying themselves and we heard such nice things from everyone. We only wish that we were able to sit and talk with every single person who made it out. I am so happy to announce that this event raised over $20,000 for the WMSBA!!

To say that I am blown away by this SB community is such an understatement. Emily and I had such high hopes when we first got this crazy little idea of holding our own stroll n roll...will people show up? will people want to support the WMSBA and this event? We shouldn't have doubted. To everyone who came, everyone who supported us and was thinking of us on the 15th, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have all made it possible for this organization to continue helping and supporting those living with spina bifida.

We are already looking forward to next year!

And a special little love note to Emily...I honestly feel so incredibly blessed to have you as my friend. I would never even consider doing something like this without you. Love you!

Busy, busy

2011-10-06T19:59:00.004-04:00

Hi friends!! I feel like it has been so long since I've posted on this 'ol blog...and I have so many things that I want to catch up on!! Like...

Grey's first (and second, and third) day of preschool!

and...

How awesome he is doing with his standing/walking!

and...

His new haircut!

and most importantly...

October is Spina Bifida awareness month!! Because of this, (or maybe it's just a really awesome coincidence) we are planning our first Stroll 'N Roll and that has pretty much taken over every spare minute that I have...so no blogging tonight. :) Just wanted to give you a quick update and let you know that you still have one week to help us reach our goal!! Thank you so much to all who have donated already!

Once October 15 has come and gone you will get a nice LONG update! :)

Love to all,
Leigh (and Andy and G)

Splash Park

2011-09-23T21:24:00.004-04:00

So it's officially Fall...and we're not really ready to say goodbye to summer. However, here in Michigan, we've had some really pleasant weather as of late and we took advantage of it last weekend. Not to far from our house is a great riverside park that has a "fountain thingy" that kids play in often throughout the summer. Well, for whatever reason, we thought we'd check it out in mid september, and to our surprise the fountain/sprinkler was still working. Leigh and I were somewhat leary of "submerging" Greys braces, but ultimately we were like "come on, lets just give thanks that he can participate in an activity like everyone else. who cares if his braces get wet." so we let him play in the "splash Park" as grey called it, and he loved it!

If you look closely you'll see grey's braces were "wrapped" in Meijer bags (our local grocery store's plastic bags) It was the best solution we could think of and, yeah it worked pretty well. :)

Here's a little video of Grey enjoying the Splash Park!

love to all,

the Gibbs'

urology update

2011-09-06T20:50:00.004-04:00

Today was Grey's annual urodynamics/VCUG/renal ultrasound day. Not really something that we look forward to around here. (My SB friends will surely agree). Basically, this is a big 'ol test to check on Grey's bladder and kidneys. Last year, the results of this test were awful. His bladder was thick, super bumpy, and and the weirdest shape ever. (your bladder should look like a balloon...smooth, round, and thin) He had grade 4, out of 5, reflux (reflux=bad and should be at 0). This is the test that proved that we needed to start Grey on a cathing schedule, and the test that left me with one of my biggest worries. Since we started cathing Grey, he has been UTI free and doing pretty great in this department...or so we thought. 4 months ago Grey had another renal ultrasound that showed that his bladder wall was still crazy thick and his bladder looked like a piece of popcorn. Not good. So...we started on ditropan. Ditropan is a medication used to relax the bladder. To me, this was terrible news. I have heard terrible things about ditropan and this is the last thing that I wanted to be giving my little guy. But, I knew that it was what was best for his kidneys so we started it. The only side effect that he seems to be having is the overhearting (but it has also been a pretty hot summer) and we can totally deal with this.

Back to today...today, Grey's bladder was SMOOTH, THIN, and kinda ROUND (still looks more like an oval) AND HIS REFLUX IS TOTALLY GONE! Yes, you heard me right...he no longer has reflux...AT ALL!! Last year I cried because I was so sad about the news we had heard and this year I cried because I was so so grateful.

I know that Grey's bladder and kidneys may not always look this way, but for now they do. :) As the parent of a child with spina bifida, I tend to always expect something. If it's an orthopedic appointment, I know that she is going to tell me what areas need to be stretched more, what muscles are lacking, and what more we need to be doing to help strengthen what he does have. If it's a neurosurgery appointment I know that he is going to give me the run down of what symptoms to keep an eye on for tethered cord. And, if it's urology, I know that I am going to hear all about reflux, and how thick his bladder wall is. and that it may be time to up his dose of ditropan. But today, today was so so different. We left with not just "ok" news...we left with amazing news. News that I can't stop smiling about and news that I can't stop giving thanks for. I couldn't wait to come and give you all, Grey's prayer warriors and biggest cheerleaders, this amazing news too! God is so good!

Love to all,
Leigh, Andy, and Grey

PS don't forget. :)

Outside Fun

2011-08-23T21:54:00.010-04:00

So this summer was our first attempt at gardening, and all three of us have really gotten into it.
Sure, we planted WAY too many tomato plants, but what did we know.
Here's Grey helping pick some grape tomatoes.

He quickly asked if he could eat one...We looked at each other and were like "yes, of course." And sure enough, not even half way through the bite , he spit it out. hahaha.
He loves picking em, but we have to watch out or we'll find tomato guts all over the place, as he likes to squeeze them in his hands.

Here's Leigh with the harvest.
We've had about 20 bowls of tomatoes like this so far...and they are still growing like crazy! I guess the Gibbs' have a green thumb.

This past weekend grey and i did some yard work in the front yard, ok Leigh helped to, but she took a break to take a few pictures of grey and i cutting down some branches. It was great to have grey feel confident enough to get around (with lots of help and patience) with his walker on the grass. He's made some big strides with his walker recently so we are trying to get him to use it more and more everyday.

Grey helping me cut down a branch.

He had a great time and especially liked being under the tree in his "little house" as he called it.

Here he is playing and bouncing.

After the hard work we had time to do a little fishing. The fish weren't bitin' so Grey spent some time with his cousin Mallory.

Finally it was time to cool off and hit the pool with mommy.

So speaking of outside fun the stroll n' roll is coming up! Support Grey, by supporting Grey's Gibblets. More news to come about the Stroll n' Roll as we Leigh and Emily plan it.

Love to All,

The Gibbs'

First Annual Stroll N Roll!

2011-08-18T19:18:00.003-04:00

Yep, you read that right...the West Michigan Spina Bifida Association is holding it's first ever Stroll N Roll event! And Emily and I are in charge!! EEK! :) Some of you may be wondering..."what is a stroll n roll?" Well, check out our website to find out! Emily and I have been working so hard at trying to get things organized and things are finally starting to come together! Big thanks to Andy for helping with the website! Emily and I, basically had no idea what we were doing and Andy swooped in and saved the day! :)

So, if you want to support Grey's Gibblet's (that's our team name, is it dumb?) click here to go to our donation page. There is also a donation button on the top right of our blog.

Who knew that three years ago, when we were meeting Nate and Emily for the first time, and I was praying "please let them be normal, please let us get along, please let us like each other" that we would be here today! Greyson and Carson have changed us...and in doing that, we are hoping to help change others. To spread awareness about spina bifida and to CELEBRATE those living with it.

Here is Grey practicing for the event...he looks ready. :)

Mid summer Vacation

2011-08-06T07:24:00.012-04:00

A couple weeks ago we headed up north to Elk Rapids, MI to spend a few days with my side of the family. To sum up, it was Great! Naturally we took a ton of pictures so i thought I'd post several to highlight the trip. From the top.

This is where we spent a lot of time...the East arm of the Grand Traverse Bay, some of the nicest water in the State. (in my opinion)

Grey hit the beach with his bucket and shovel and was happy all afternoon!
Here he is concentrating on his sand sculpture...Apparently i used to (still do) stick my toungue out like that when im in focus. weird. sorry grey, you go that from me.

Gibbs men relaxing.

Grey given us sas at dinner. those eyes!

Later that night Grandpa gave Grey a boat ride. Grey was into it!

Then he took the wheel...and naturally turned the wheel all the way to one side. My dad was a good sport and let him drive us in circles for a while, Grey loved it.
The seas were calm that day.

later that evening...these 2 little rugrats became best buds, (not that they weren't already) We'll mainly Grey was obsessed with his cousin Evan, but it sure was entertaining seeing the 2 of them "play" Love em both so much!

Grey and Evan playing on the beach.

Here's my Dad giving Grey a ride on the "little yellow boat" Looks like a fun time...
...Oh wait, maybe not...

This was a horrible idea and a short lived trip. Maybe another time Greyson.

The boys taking naps after a long afternoon of playing.

This one's just silly.

There was great park right down the road, Grey hit the swing and turtle.

But the weekend was not all play, here's Grey walking on the sidewalk!

The last day the whole family rented a pontoon and hit Torch Lake. Now this is the most beautiful lake i've ever seen.

Yes, thats the color of the water, no photoshop, its that blue.

So yes, we had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back next summer.

love to all,

Andy, Leigh, Grey.

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-14T22:18:00.008-04:00

So yeah, the 4th was almost 2 weeks ago, but things have been busy around here, so posting some pictures has been delayed...until now!

So here ya go, a recap of the Holiday events starting with an impromptu photo session in the backyard, followed by bubbles.

Cutest crooked smile i've ever seen!
love this kid, look at that grin :)

"oh wait Dad, let me adjust my shades."

"oh no Dad, the bubbles are all gone"

On Monday we went over to Aunt Pat's for brunch. Grey and cousin Evan were being quite Patriotic...until Grey's pinwheel thingy stopped spinning.

Here's Grey hugging Ev, Any chance he gets to hug him, he does. Im not sure Evan likes it as much as Grey, Lets say he tolerates it... most of the time.

After brunch we headed over to the local "carnival" where Grey quickly spotted the swing thingy, and pointed us in the right direction. Although it was a really nice family event for the community, I swear it seemed like every ride was a "jumpy thing", not exactly ideal for Grey. So Grey rode the swing...like 7 times, and he loved it!
Superman indeed!

And of course because the sun was out, we had to hit grandma and pop's pool! Here's Grey and I exploring the "waterfall"

And Finally to cap off the eveing we decided to give fireworks a try this year. We weren't sure if the noise would be too much for Grey, but it turns out he loves fireworks! Here he is before the show, getting excited!

The family enjoying the show.

Grey watching the Grand Finale with Grandma and Grandpa Gibbs.

So i'll end this post with a little video montage recapping the day.

Hope everyone's having a wonderful summer! it's been great here in Michigan.

love to all,

Andy, Leigh, Grey.

M-I-C-K-E-Y MOUSE!!!

2011-07-04T16:32:00.007-04:00

This past week, Grey, my mom and I went to the National Spina Bifida Conference in Anaheim, CA. It. was. amazing. The best part about the whole trip was having the opportunity to meet some of the SB families that I have come to know so well over the past 3 years. Seeing them face to face and feeling like I already knew them was really something that I will never forget.

One of the first nights there, we had a little get together to meet with everyone, I could have stayed there all night. Unfortunately Grey couldn't. :) The time change was a bit much for him. But he was a real trooper.

I was really terrible with taking pictures, but here is one with just a few of the moms that I was able to meet.

We had 3 days jammed packed with classes like "Management of the Neurogenic Bladder" and "Insights into Maximizing Bowel Function and Achieving Continence" and "Nonverbal Learning Disabilities: How to Remediate Executive Function Weaknesses that Inhibit Self-Help and Adaptive Skill Development" so you can only imagine how our minds were mush by the end of each day. It was so nice to be there with people who really, truly "get it." To those families that I was able to meet while I was there...Thank you so much for all of the love and support, my life is better because of all of you.

The conference was held at the Disneyland Hotel, and we couldn't go there and NOT go to Disneyland! From the minute we arrived, Grey was OBSESSED with "Micky Mouse's house" seriously, obsessed! He LOVED every second of Disneyland. Every ride, every tram, every elevator, EVERYTHING!! Here are a few picture of him during a ride, I'm not sure which one. I know it looks like he is terrified, but it is a good terrified. :)

We also couldn't go to Disneyland without meeting Orie (Eey Ore) and Mickey. He was intrigued by both and WANTED to meet them, but the second we got close to them he kinda freaked out.:)

We were lucky enough to get to go to Disneyland with our good friends David, Joanna, and Jet Penny one day. Grey and Jet weren't too sure of each other the last time they met (last summer) but they seemed to warm up to each other a bit during this trip.

It doesn't really look like it, but they really are BFFs!! :)

Here are just a few more Disneyland pics...

It really was such an amazing trip. Going out of our room each day we saw many, MANY other people (adults, kids) in wheelchairs and it was so nice. We are home now, and Grey is back to being the only kid around in a wheelchair...which is OK! but boy was it nice to just "fit into the crowd" for a few days. :)

Here is our friend Katie, she is going into 2nd grade and her attitude is amazing. She loves sports, reading, and LOVES LIFE. I, love her. :)

We really had such a great time, and I'm already looking forward to seeing everyone again next year...and so is Grey!! :)

Grey Spells his name...and sings

2011-06-28T21:32:00.004-04:00

So Leigh and Grey are currently at Disneyland at the National SB conference, and from what i've heard they are having a wonderful time! Sadly i couldn;t make the trip this year as Leigh and I blew through a large chunk of my vacation time within the first couple months of the year. haha. oh well, it was worth it. Anyway, Leigh, Grey, and Chris (Leigh's mom) left Sunday for the conference and ever since i've been getting emails, calls, texts saying just how great their time has been. In the meantime, while im here back at home, i was looking thru some video i shot at lunch this past weekend and thought i'd share. We've been trying to teach grey how to spell his name and while having lunch he was willing to show us what he's learned. oh and a little bonus after the spelling is a rendition of "Jesus Loves Me."

enjoy.

:)

love,
Andy

Greys bed ramp/slide

2011-06-15T21:55:00.006-04:00

So in the last post we showed off Grey's new Big Boy Bedroom, and this week we made one addition... a bed ramp. As much as we (and Grey) loves his new bed there's just one issue with it for him...he can't get in or out by himself. So in the interest of giving him as much Independence as we can, we had this idea of a ramp that would allow him to pull himself up and slide down whenver he wanted. Okay, admittedly its not often that hes asking us to go to bed these days, but if we introduce this to him now, he will learn early that when he's ready to go to bed, he needs to get into bed himself, and the same goes for when he's done with a nap, he can get out of his bed with out our help. As he's getting older we've been encountering more and more scenarios of times when Grey needs our help with things that typical kids don't. It's our job to think creatively about how we can adapt things to make it easier for Grey, this is just one example so far. A big thanks to my Dad for building the ramp! Lord knows if i tried to do something like this Grey would be riddled with splinters. :)

So he's not a pro at it yet, but he's got the concept down.

Oh and heres a detail of how it seamlessly attaches:

One other big discovery that Grey has made is that this also serves as a pretty cool ramp for his cars... here he is putting it to use!

love to all,

grey, leigh, andy

It's Official...

2011-06-06T20:20:00.013-04:00

We have a big boy. A few weekends ago my mom, my sister, and my nephew took a trip out to Ikea (my nephew had a soccer tournament there so it worked out great!) and I took the plunge and bought Grey a big boy bed! This is something that I have seriously lost sleep over. I had no idea what kind of bed to get for Grey. Should it be low to the ground so he can climb onto it? Should it be higher so he can transfer over from a wheelchair? Decisions, decisions. I decided to go with this bed from Ikea. It is low, but not too low and seems to be just perfect for our Grey. :)

Before we put together the new bed, I wanted to spruce up his room a bit. We hadn't painted it since we moved in (over a year ago) and I was so excited to finally decorate Grey's room! I loved putting his nursery together in our old house, but I wasn't sure what to do here...until now. :) I had visions of colorful robots dancing through my head. We knew that we wanted Grey's room to be fun and colorful and this is what we did...

This GNG has been with Grey from the beginning. Greyson Neal Gibbs...gotta love the initials.

Grey loves his letters so I thought that this would be perfect!!

I just love these robots!!

So far, Grey loves his new room and his new bed. It was a super easy transition for all of us and I'm so happy that we did it! Although more times than not, we go in to check on him and he looks like this...
he's been wearing undies to bed for a few weeks now (yay!!) but his scrawny little booty has a hard time keeping them up!!

Here he is his first night in his new bed, still has to have his Ories!

Hope you all are enjoying your summer!!
Love,
Leigh, Andy and the big boy

Grey counts "real fast"

2011-06-02T21:07:00.004-04:00

Lately Greys been wanting to do things "real fast" and just the other day we caught him counting real fast. He loves counting...randomly he'll just blurt out his numbers, loudly and most of the time accurately, so i guess thats good. Heres a little video of him counting real fast and playing the role of Batman/conductor of a symphony orchestra. goof.

heres just a picture o him in his Batman pj's, he likes them almost as much as his Monkey ones (curious george)

the weather's been amazing the last couple days...almost nice enough to make it worth living in Michigan. :) So we've taken advantage and greys been playin outside!

love,

the gibbs'

A Little Spring Gardening

2011-05-20T21:59:00.004-04:00

Well the weather is getting nicer lately so the 3 of us decided to try our hand at gardening this year. Having very, very little gardening experience we decided to start simple...and followed the square foot gardening method. We built two 4'x4' garden beds, mixed our soil and last weekend bought our plants. So after one full week in the ground we are "happy" to report that only 2 green bean plants have fallen victim to that "cute" little bunny in our yard. The fence will be going up tomorrow! But yeah, its been fun and this week grey's been helping "wash the plants" as he puts it. goof.

Here i am showing him how to do it. He quickly pushed me aside and wanted to do it himself...naturally.

Here's a little video of grey washing the garden.

love,

the gibbs'

"I go OUTSIDE"

2011-05-04T20:36:00.004-04:00

This is the phrase that Andy and I hear...A LOT!! Grey wants to be outside all. the. time. The past few weeks have been difficult trying to find things that he can actually do outside. He isn't crawling on all fours yet so if he is on the pavement or the deck he gets so dirty and I am super paranoid that he is going to get all scraped up. He rides on his 4-wheeler, rides his amtryke on the deck, and loves to rip out grass and throw it...other than that, we were at a loss, not wanting Grey to be stuck inside all summer, but really having a tough time finding things for him to do outside..until today. :) This past month (thanks to 1+1 therapy) Grey has made some amazing progress with his walker. His balance is great, he is taking steps and moving the walker all on his own, and his confidence in his ability has soared. So, I decided to take the walker outside and let Grey stand at it while we played catch...he had other plans. :) He was walking all over the place!

He walked (really fast because it's sloped downward) down the driveway, he walked on the grass, he walked on the deck. He walked all over! It wasn't pretty and it wasn't fast...but he did it. I was so proud as our neighbors walked by and saw my little boy doing what little boys do. And amongst all the walking/playing he had time to give his mommy a kiss :)

Today, Grey showed me (yet again) that I need to stop worrying about the future and just focus on all of the amazing things that he is doing today!

love,

Leigh, Andy, Grey.

ABCDEaster

2011-04-26T22:14:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we headed down to Indiana to celebrate Easter with Leigh's family. We knew there'd be an Easter egg hunt so we packed grey's 4-wheeler to help give him an edge on his competition. :) Grey could "take or leave" the Easter egg hunt, however as soon as he discovered what was inside his interest grew.

Here he is on the prowl, with mommy has his official "egg picker-upper"

Here he is with his cousins, enjoying his findings.

In other news, Grey's been saying his Alphabet more and more these days and is getting pretty good at it. Here he is just the other day.

love to all,

Andy, Leigh, Grey

Spring Break!

2011-04-11T20:29:00.016-04:00

Last week friday we packed up and headed to Florida with Leigh's whole family, eleven of us in all. Lets just say we were more than ready for some warmer weather as the end of march can get very depressing here in Michigan. So we were off! Thankfully we were able to fly...I feel for those families that make the 20+ hour drive south from Michigan, its brutal. Trust me i've been in that back seat a few times riding down and it takes forever!!! Even with a fully charged walkman and DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince Summertime album blaring through your headphones, it's tough. Anyway, we were lucky enjoy to fly (thanks Mark) and our very first flight Grey got some special attention. He was able to sit in the cockpit! Here he is...being amazed.

After a few minutes of amazement we left to find our seats, but not before the pilot gave us a spare set of wings! no, not the plastic ones they give to every other kid, the real deal! Grey didn't care, but i thought it was pretty cool. :) Anyway, the flights went great, Aside from Grey jubilantly shouting at takeoff, he did wonderfully. AMazing what a bowl of goldfish, and a Curious George movie can do. :)

We made it, and the weather was incredible! Imediately we hit the beach. Last year the sound of the waves put grey to sleep...this year he wanted to "ride" them.

Here he is with pop, ridin. he loved it.

When Grey gets excited he wiggles his hands. Anyone thats met him has probably seen him do this. You can imagine what his little hands were doing here. :)
He loved the sand as well. But hasn't learned the proper beach/sand etiquette yet...he threw it around a lot.

The house we stayed at was great and actually worked out very well for Grey. It was open, had a lot of flat surfaces to roll around. (we brought his ride, he's really good at gettin around in that thing) they had a pool and spa. Grey loved it.
But it wasn't all just play...Leigh made sure that he worked on his walking and the tennis court made for a perfect place. Admittedly, we were both a little lax on therapy related stuff this trip, but as always, Leigh made it happen and worked him good.

Towards the end of the week the boys (except for Grey) took a charter and did some fishing. Given our collective fishing record in the past, we were simply hoping not to get skunked. Well, turned out we hit the right spot and we were slayin King Mackerel from the moment our first line went in. Here i am, hooked into a big one.

Here's my father-in-law with a shark! yeah, a real shark! so cool!
And finally the whole crew with our limit for the day.

So yes, we had a warm, relaxing, wonderful time in Florida!

One more thing...For those of you livin in colder States, you might relate to this. Have you ever had some one say before you leave for a warm place say "have a good time, bring back the warm weather." and you always respond with a "you bet i will!" haha. Well this year we kinda did. This Sunday it was like 82 in MI! incredible. So the 3 of us took a bike ride!
Grey loved it!

WE can't wait for summer!!!

P.S. props to Leigh for taking video and riding the bike :)

love to all,

Andy, Leigh, Grey

Greyson Neal Gibbs

2011-03-30T21:42:00.001-04:00

The Children's Museum

2011-03-20T18:55:00.004-04:00

This week, my mom and I took Grey and two of his cousins to the Grand Rapid's Children's Museum He LOVED it! He has been borrowing a wheelchair from his PT and he had the best time zooming around! He also had on his KAFOs so if there was something that he could stand at...he did!! Here are just a few pictures from our day!

Here he is enjoying the giant lite brite!

He is learning his shapes...so we heard "ti-angle" for the next 20 minutes!

Here he is standing at the bubble table and the sand table...such a big boy!!

What a cutie!!

I hope you all are enjoying your spring!! We are off to Florida next week and can't wait for some warm weather!!

Much love from the Gibbs'!!

A picture worth a thousand words...

2011-03-13T20:18:00.004-04:00

To those not living in the SB world, this picture may not mean much. To me, this picture means more than I can say.

The scar (which you can barely see)
The standing
The undies

I knew there would be a scar, I hoped that there would be standing, and I had no idea if he would ever wear undies.

I know that his bladder can change anytime, so right now, we are so thankful about this huge milestone.

He's basically Superman. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!

2011-03-12T21:07:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to the best Daddy around!!

We Love You!!!

Love,
Leigh and Grey

Grey's new gear...

2011-03-09T18:43:00.006-05:00

Today, Grey got his very first pair of KAFOs (knee ankle foot orthoses). These are braces that go above his knee and can be locked so that the knee has complete support when standing. I spent many nights worrying and debating weather or not we should stick with his GRAFOS (ground-reaction ankle foot orthoses) or take the leap and go with KAFOs. So far I am THRILLED with our decision! Grey's quads are extremely weak and it is nearly impossible for him to stand for any length of time without some sort of support for his knees, and trying to walk...forget about it. His knees would just buckle. We have been using knee immobilizers for months and for standing and walking they have been working pretty well, although they were getting much too small and we knew we didn't have much time left with them.

Grey with his knee immobilizers on

So, I went in to talk with Gabe...the most amazing orthotics guy around and he showed me something that I didn't even know existed. It's a KAFO that can turn back into a GRAFO...amazing.

See how it attaches near the ankle? Awesome.

At that point, it was a no-brainer. We knew that these were the braces for Grey! Before I show you what his new braces look like, I thought that we could take a stroll down memory lane and reminisce a little about his past AFOs...

Can you even handle this picture? I can't.

Grey got his first teensy tiny pair when he was just 3 months old. He had a curve to his foot, that if left untreated...would just get "curvier" so we strapped these bad boys on for about 20-22 hours a day and voila! his feet were (and still are) straight and beautiful!

I'm not sure what's cuter...the tiny AFOs or those chubby little legs!

Next came a pair that he only wore at night. This pair was to help with his plantar flexion (basically they pointed his foot down).

Here we are putting them on

and here he is just being cute. :)

Next he got his "standing AFOs" this was the first pair to help with standing.

Who is this kid?

snacks are always a good motivator

He also figured out how to take this pair off

His next pair were GRAFOS....they give a bit more support at the knee, you can tell in these pictures that there is an insert that goes above his knee in the front.

Next, it was time for the casting of his new KAFOs...here is Gabe doing what he does best...

Grey's just keeping himself busy with the IPOD

And there you have it!!

How did we get from so little to...so big...so fast???

Grey at therapy...standing so tall!

Grey with his brand spakin' new KAFOs!!

I heart life

2011-03-02T21:46:00.003-05:00

A few days ago Grey got a new t-shirt...

...and he loves it.

Blizzard Sledding

2011-02-28T20:55:00.005-05:00

Last weekend the weather was beautiful! so nice in fact that i got out Grey's swing and hooked it up and we went for a swing! Great i thought, spring is almost here. Well, the next day we got like 10 inches of snow in an afternoon... *sigh. oh well, Grey and I decided we'd get some sledding in. Leigh joined us as the field photographer.

As you can see it was coming down pretty hard. Grey loved it. (so did I)

Let's hope the next time i'm pushing grey down that hill, it's sunny and he's rolling down on grass.

love,
Andy, Leigh, Grey

Grey's 2nd Birthday

2011-02-20T15:19:00.014-05:00

It's hard to believe that last weekend our little gibblet turned 2! Here's some pictures of how the day went.

First off i made him pancakes, and this time we didn't even" trick" him by mixing sweet potato puree in with it, it was just straight Mrs Butterworth! haha he loved it and i attempted to make a "2" with the batter...not bad.
We had a pretty lo-key morning just playing and hanging out, grey really liked his decorations and was asking often to kiss Elmo (the ballon)

here's the birthday boy before his party.and the cake...it fit into the theme of the party...yep you guessed it ELMO!
grey quickly tried to sneak a taste of his cake...
Naturally he had to have the piece with his own name on it.
After cake and ice cream it was on to presents, and grey was pretty excited to open them.
Here's grey trying to "magic doodle" his arm while rocking out his new guitar.
Heres Grey and his cous Evan, he must think evans' ear is the on button.
He got a new elmo video and was watching it with pop.
After a very exciting and eventful day, here he is relaxing with mommy.

Onto the next day...before all the snow melted we hit up the hill at grandma and pop's house and we took grey for a ride. Lets just say the run was intense, but that didn't stop us, Grey laughed the whole way down. (so did i) :)

And finally heres a little video that highlights some of the birthday events!

love from the Gibbs'

Give Love

2011-02-13T19:24:00.004-05:00

My good friend Joanna who has an amazing heart, introduced us all to a sweet boy named Shea. A boy who, like Grey, has spina bifida and all that comes with that. She has been keeping us updated on where he is and how his forever family is doing in their pursuit to make him a permanent part of their family. Well, a few days ago Joanna sent out an urgent call for prayer and help. Shea will be sent to an institution in a few weeks and we need to do all we can so that this won't happen. There is a family waiting for him, a family who desperately wants him, and a family who is so close to welcoming him into their lives. They just need a little more help. Please do what you can to help Shea. This is what Joanna wrote on both her blog and Shea's, she says it so much better than I ever could...Thank you Joanna for sharing it here as well...

Because it's February.

Because I just decorated my house in pink and red hearts.

Because Valentines are not just for couples...but friends, mommies, daddies, siblings, classmates and neighbors.

Because everybody needs love. And not the romantic comedy, butterflies in your stomach, plucking petals off daisies kind of love.

They need the "I'm yours forever" kind of love.

The "we can do this together" kind of love.

The "can't stop starring at you" kind of love.

The "I'm always there for you" kind of love.

The "I can't keep myself from smiling around you" kind of love.

The "I promise to make time to laugh with you" kind of love.

The "everything you say is so important to me" kind of love.

The " I couldn't be prouder of you in this moment" kind of love.

The love that lifts you up....

Squeezes you tight...

Makes even hard times feel alright..

The love that teaches you all that you need to know...

And gives you support you need to grow...

The undeniable you were made for me...

And together we make a family...

What's mine is yours...

I treasure each kiss...

And everyone deserves to feel like this...

Kind of Love.

Because real love is something that cannot be bought - only shared. We need it from the time we are born - and those of us who having loving families know that NOTHING could have replaced that. The love of family - the love I was given as a child - made me who I am today. It teaches us how to love the rest of our lives. It can never be truly expressed in the form of greeting cards, chocolates, flowers, or jewelry. Those sweet tokens and gestures give momentary happiness - it's the feeling love behind them that really means anything at all. So with that in mind, and in the spirit of this holiday of love - I would like to propose the perfect gift for your loved ones.

Give the gift of Love itself.

Give Love.

You can bring joy and love not only to those who hold your heart -

but to child who needs your help.

Give Love.

By helping one little boy come home to the family who is waiting to give him this kind of love. The kind of love every single one of these children pictured above are given every day.

The kind of love so many of us are blessed to have.

The kind of love he deserves.

Give Love.

Shea's story is a remarkable one - and it is only just beginning. He now has a family ready for him - and Shea is WAITING to come home. His family is actively completing the adoption process - eager to give Shea the love, support and care only a family can give. The only thing wecan do to help them bring Shea home as soon as possible is to GIVE.

Give what you have.

$5, $25, $50

It's not the size of the gift, but the size of the heart behind it.

GIVE LOVE.

It is so costly to adopt internationally - so much so that many people say "we can't afford that" or "it's just not possible for us". But this family has given everything they have not once, not twice, but 3 TIMES (read their blog - they are an amazing family)and is making that leap of faith to make Shea a part of their family - but they need help raising the last bits.

(And in adoption language, "bits" = $9,000!)

They need our HELP!

As a friend so honestly reminded me " Let's face it ... we all spend/waste $$$ on this every year. The chocolate is gone...the flowers die... and all you have is a distant memory of the token(s) you invested in."

How much more meaningful - how much more noble - how much more true to what love is all about - to give that money instead to this family - to this little boy -

to bring him home - to give him Love.

So help share the love...with Shea. :)

Isn't that the most adorable Valentine ever?!

It's message is simple - it's purpose sincere.

Make a donation (even just $5!) in the name of a friend or loved one - to Shea's Adoption Grant (through the chipin on the right hand margin of the Saving Shea blog) or visit his family's blogand donate through their chipin (it all goes to his account.) Then print out these adorable Shea Valentines and give them to your sweetie, your sister, your mother, your friend - and see their faces light up at the sweet face on the card.

I can't think of a sweeter, kinder,

more beautiful way to Give Love.

Can you?

(visit www.savingshea.blogspot.com to read more about Shea's story as well as to view/print these Valentines.)

Happy Birthday to Grey!!

2011-02-11T21:11:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow my baby boy turns TWO! I can't even believe it! These past two years have been the best of my life and they have just FLOWN by! It seems like only a few months ago we brought our sweet boy home and wondered "now what?" and now, we are pros at this whole parenting thing...hahaha..yeah right! :) Although we have two years under our belt and are doing pretty good! :)
Remember this one?

Thinking back to two years ago tonight, I wish I would have known what our life would be like. I wish I would have known how amazing Grey would be, that the gut-wrenching worry and fear that I had so weren't worth it and were so not needed. Sure, I still worry and have plenty of fears...especially as our little guy gets older and his differences are becoming more obvious, but it is so much easier to take it one day at a time. It is so much easier to push those fear aside and think about today, to see how happy he is RIGHT NOW and to soak it up!! I love Grey more than I ever thought possible and can't imagine my life without this perfect little two year old in it!!!

Oh, and Grey has learned something new!! We travel 45 min-1 hour (each way) 2-3 times a week for therapy and his favorite video to watch is an Elmo video about the alphabet...well...he can now recognize the letters!! This was a huge surprise to me! I knew that he knew the alphabet, but he shocked me by pointing out an L on the keyboard and saying "L" well, it turns out he knows way more than L...take a look!!

Much love from Leigh, Andy, and the Birthday Boy!!

two ories!

2011-02-09T22:15:00.005-05:00

Wow, so it's a been a while since we've updated...we've been really busy and very relaxed all at the same time. A few weeks ago Leigh and I were in Cozumel for some time off! Grey stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa and since our return has been asking for chocolate milk, exclusively. Hmmm.... very curious. hahaha. It was the longest we've been away from the little man and yeah we totally were missing him by the 4th day. (Note: Leigh missed him before we even left :) So yeah, the time away was incredible and much needed.

oh how i miss you sun...don't worry we'll see you again...in june. *sigh*
oh yeah on our way home we got stuck in the largest blizzard in history! perfect. just when we wanted to be home and see our little man, we get stuck in Atlanta! (note: to those living in the Atlanta area, im sure its a great place and all that, but we wanted to be HOME!) :)

So needless to say we were very excited to see grey when we got back to Michigan. I can;t believe how much the little guy changed in a single week...crazy. the kids a giant, and enrolled in college. geez.

Ok, now onto Grey's best friend (besides me) his stuffed eeyore. This has been Greys "goto" stuffed animal for a long time now and recently we've noticed eeyore (or orie as Grey refers to him as) has gotten a little rough around the edges, heck the kid drools on him all night long, what do you expect. So leigh and i thought, "hey we should buy another one just in case this one goes out of commission" Perfect we thought. So we did and recently we introduced Grey to his new orie...

we took a video of the introduction...

while watching you'll notice a few things.

1. He's not really sure why there's 2 ories and proceeds with caution.
2. He thinks theres 3 ories for some reason.
3. But he's not afraid to kiss either one of them
4. He's not interested in taking a nap at this time.
5. He Definately knows thediffernce between the "real" orie and the "fake" one.
6. Finally he resorts to some "close talking" followed by falling over to make his full introduction... goof.

*A few side notes from Leigh
1. Grey does not exclusively ask for chocolate milk. My mom would kill me if she saw that. My parents did great and followed all of my rules (even though they think my rules are crazy)
2. Our plan on having a "spare" Orie backfired...big time. He now has to have BOTH ories. He can't sleep unless he has two Oriess.
3. You may be thinking "oh, how cute he cuddles with Orie when he sleeps...Uh, no, he uses them BOTH as pillows. What a weirdo!
4. When first meeting the "fake" Orie he refers to him as "puppy" it's not in the video, but it's very funny!

oh yeah in other news...grey's almost 2!!! ahhhhh

love to you all!

the gibbs'

Paper Towel...

2011-01-19T19:59:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, Grey was in the bathroom on his potty and he spotted the toilet paper. He looked at it, pointed, and said "paper towel". I, of course laughed and laughed...a) because he had just called toilet paper paper towel, and b) because it was the first time he had ever said paper towel. Well, for the next few weeks he thought that it was HILARIOUS to call EVERYTHING a paper towel. (Admittedly, Andy and I laugh pretty much everytime he does this, we're an easy audience)

He thinks he's sooooo funny (and so do we)

Untitled from Leigh Gibbs on Vimeo.

Smarty Pants...

2011-01-18T19:50:00.002-05:00

Lately we've been amazed at how much Grey is learning and how quickly he picks things up. While at therapy, Grey can't get enough of the beads (as seen here)

and while he plays with these beads, we talk about what colors they are, not really thinking that he would be paying any attention to us. Now...we have a little boy that knows his colors!

Grey knows colors from Leigh Gibbs on Vimeo.

Love to you all,
Andy, Leigh, and Grey

Sunday Sledding

2011-01-10T07:33:00.002-05:00

So we got a little snow here in Michigan the last week but its been bitter cold, so i haven't taken the little man out to sled as much as we would like. But yesterday the sun was out! which helped a little bit (it was still really cold) so we got our snow gear on and hit the hill. As you can see grey loved it!

Untitled from Leigh Gibbs on Vimeo.

A very merry christmas

2011-01-09T21:14:00.019-05:00

Well, we're a little late on showing some of these Christmas photos to everyone, but here we go!
On Christmas eve we had my family (Andy) over to our house for dinner and gifts. Grey was excited to see his cousin Evan. He so lovingly refers to him as "baby elvin" these days. Anyway here's a picture of grey and evan with grandma and grandpa.

I think aunty em was being silly, Grey thought it was hilarious!

These pictures were taken "post-gift opening" where apparently the boys stripped down to their onesies and started partying.

i just really love our new home and Christmas felt so great in it this year!

this totally wasn't from Christmas eve, but i just like photo.
Anyway, back to Christmas eve...After Grey was in bed we set up his big gift, a tent (or a house as he refers to it) Christmas morning he was able to see it and as we thought it was a big hit! in fact he ate his breakfast in it that morning. So now we currently have a tent permanently set up in our living room.

ah yes, holdin my boy wearing snowman pj's on Christmas morning, can't beat it.

Here's a family shot on Christmas...man i feel like we could have tried that one again...were like 50 feet away from the camera. Don;t worry, i got a tripod this Christmas so i wont have to rely on propping it on the arm of the sofa to do the job anymore.

Here's Christmas at the Neals! Christmas chaos at it's best!

Oh and here's Leigh with niece Kendall singing Karaoke. Let's just say we don't have the next American Idol in our family :) hahaha.

here's grey crawling out of his house when Leigh was finally done singing :)

Here's the cousins playing with their new gadgets. Grey found the play/pause button quickly and kept pushing it until Olivia got sick of him and left.

Might as well wrap up the day with a spin behind the go-kart on the tube! oh yeah!

I hope everyone had a Wonderful Christmas and we wish all of you out there a happy and healthy new year!

love the Gibbs'

How it happened...

2010-12-30T18:13:00.007-05:00

First, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who called, emailed, commented, etc. on our last post about Grey walking. It means so much knowing that there are so many people cheering Grey on just as loud as we are. :) I said in that last post that I would have more info on how his new-found walking came about, and then I realized that I really have no idea! But...here are some things that I think helped...

Since Grey was about 11-12 months, we started using this little push toy. At this point he couldn't bear weight at all and I was doing ALL of the work. He wasn't shifting his weight, wasn't swinging his legs, and wasn't supporting himself. This was the beginning. Lots of work for mama, and lots of learning for Grey. Each time that we did this, I would say "shift your weight, swing your leg" he never did, but that little mind of his was starting to get it. :)

Next, his PT, Liz, brought over a gait trainer. Not Grey's finest moment. :) He wasn't a fan of this gait trainer and all of the "extras" that came along with it. Liz decided that it wasn't the right time. Good decision. :)

THEN...Liz suggested that we get a pair of knee immobilizers. Grey was still having trouble bearing weight for longer then a few seconds, his knees would just buckle and we weren't making much progress. His ortho didn't want to go with KAFOs (knee, ankle, foot orthotics) just yet (which I understood) but I felt like that left Grey hanging. Unable to do the things that I knew with a little more support, he would be able to do. The knee immobilizers were the next best thing! (Although, I was so excited when I ordered them, that I forgot to check the "male" box and they came with fairies on them...oops! Sorry Grey!

Once his immobilizers were here, we started working more on standing on his own, taking side steps, and being upright way more often. Then, during one PT session, Liz brought that gait trainer back...without all of the "extras" just to see what would happen. Much to our surprise...Grey started getting it! He still needed help with shifting his weight, but he was bringing his left leg forward all on his own! So exciting!!

Then, in December, we made a huge decision and decided to try out a new therapy place. 1 plus 1 Therapy
A decision that I was so nervous to make (sorry, Amy!) has turned out to be so good for Grey. Grey gets to do things there that he has never been able to do before...like jumping,

standing without leaning on something,

moving forward on all fours,

and more jumping!

After that first week of going to 1 plus 1, his Early On PT, Liz was back over and we were trying out the walker again. This time he was shifting his own weight and swinging both legs forward all on his own! He still needed a bit of support at the waist but he was doing it! Now, after a month at 1 plus 1, he is starting to 4 point crawl, and no longer needs any support when using his walker, although we do still need to push it forward for him. Army crawling is still his perfered method of getting around, but more and more I see him on all fours taking a few "steps" that way.

So, that is some of what we have done leading up to this point. So many people have helped Grey, but above all...it's Grey's strong will and determination that have gotten him to where he is. He is the best!

Grey's gift to us...

2010-12-25T19:06:00.003-05:00

Grey has been working very hard on a special gift to give to all of us. There really aren't words to describe how proud we are of him...to say that we are bursting with pride just doesn't even seem to come close. Take a look...

grey walking!! from Leigh Gibbs on Vimeo.

More to come on how this came about. I just couldn't wait to share with all of you! :)

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Much Love,
Leigh, Andy, and Grey

hittin the hill

2010-12-08T21:57:00.005-05:00

So it's getting cold here in Michigan these days, and with that comes snow. This past weekend we got a "dusting" on snow that left our yard with just enough snow to pull out the snow suits and dust off the sled! I was pretty sure Grey would love sledding, he was obsessed with going down the hill in our yard on his truck all summer, so i assumed he'd feel the same way on snow.

Right when i put him on the sled he got his "Lady Face" (by Lady Face I mean the little grin he gets when he hear's that Lady Antebelum song...) by the way he still loves that song, haha.
Anyway here he is going down for the first time.

He loved it every time down!

I'm pretty sure where going to be doing a lot of sledding this winter...and I can't wait!

love,

The Gibbs'

Heavy Heart...

2010-12-03T20:52:00.002-05:00

My heart has been heavy since reading this post from my dear friend Joanna. She is out to save a little boy named Shea. A little boy, so much like my own that I can barely breathe at the thought of what his life may become. You see, this little boy has spina bifida and all that comes with it. Just like Grey, Shea has a shunt, has bladder and bowel issues, and isn't able to stand or walk. And just like Grey, Shea is "a very good, and smart boy." The only difference is Grey has a family to love him, a family to help him, and a family who will never give up on him. Shea on the other hand, because of his age, is close to an institution where he will become bedridden for the rest of his life. A life that is worth so much. Please visit Shea's blog and do what you can to help us save Shea. Every little bit helps.

Burning off that thanksgiving feast

2010-12-01T22:37:00.004-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! (yep a little late) Just wanted to say how blessed our family is feeling this time of year. It's really remarkable looking back on the year and realizing that this year there's even more things to be thankful for than the last. I remember last year listing a few key things that were so important in my life and that i'm so incredibly thankful for, and guess what, they haven't changed!

*Greyson: yup no surprise here, he's still my best little bud and amazes me all the time. The highlight of my day is when i come home and the minute i open the door he says, "daddy home, daddy make house." He loves making forts out of blankets, and guess what so do I! Everything up to that moment in the day is pretty insignificant in my book, it's all about the time i get to spend with him! I am thankful that i can.

*Family: Some Really exciting times for my family this year, a new baby cousin evan, some big milestones for Grey. Combined with some really hard ones as well. Losing a grandma and a grandpa in the same year was tough, my moms fight with cancer was grueling (we got it this time, right mom!) but all these people, all these experiences i am thankful for. They mold us, make us who we are.

*Church: Our small group remains strong and the relationships more meaningful, they continue to love and encourage us in the good and hard times.

*SB support Groups: We have had several opportunities to meet other SB family that we've met online and it's been incredible to interact with them in person. A truly amazing community of families out there that will do anything for their kiddos and willing to help anyone that has a question.

*micro brew: i've got one brewing right now, should be ready in time for the holidays :)

*Leigh: yeah she's still amazes me how wonderful a mother she is and am so thankful that she is Greys mommy. That really doesn't even describe it at all, it goes way beyond that...you get it :)

*A job: I still like what i do and am thankful that my job can help provide what my family needs. and some of those fun things too :)

Anyway, this years thanksgiving was incredibly relaxing and just such a nice time spent with family.

Heres a few pics:

and heres a little video of Grey working off some of those extra Thanksgiving calories!

love to all,
Andy

Rough Riders

2010-11-18T19:22:00.005-05:00

A few days ago I got a text from Emily asking if Grey and I were up for an adventure at the park...my reply? OF COURSE!! Any day that Grey gets a chance to see Carson is the best day of his life. Seriously, he loves him. They started off on their bikes. They weren't really racing (that would be a pretty slow race) :) it just looks like it.

Then, they spotted a dog. Who knew that a dog could be so entertaining. They couldn't take their eyes off of that dog. So cute.

Not sure what they were chatting about here...
Grey taking a break from peddling.
He might be the cutest thing that I have ever seen. Seriously. I can't get enough of him.
Not sure what this contraption is, but they seemed to like it...for a minute anyway. :)
This is what Grey is constantly doing when Carson is around. He either has to be taking his glasses off of him or petting his hair. He is obsessed with Carson. Poor Carson.
Here is the petting. I'm not making this up.
Impossible to get them both looking up and smiling at the same time, this was as good as I could get. :) Maybe next time. :)
I feel so unbelievably blessed to have Carson and his parents in our lives. God is so good, he knew just what we needed. :)

Hope this finds you all enjoying your fall!

The shark that ate Grey...

2010-11-01T21:02:00.004-04:00

The title explains it all! For Halloween this year Grey was a SHARK!! He pretty much loved every second in his costume. I hear these horror stories of kids hating their costumes and wanting to rip them off the second that you put it on them...well, Grey is pretty much the opposite! We put him in it and put him in front of the mirror and he got this goofy grin on his face. :) He LOVED it!

Our day started off with a brief photo shoot...

Checking out the big pumpkin

Such a big boy...getting stronger and stronger everyday.

Then the real fun began...we put on the costume for another brief photo opp

Gotta have that family picture

making his scariest shark face

using the pumpkin as a ball

such a cutie

we then went to great-grandma Kuiper's to trick-or-treat

Grey telling cousin Leah "Don't worry, they'll take it off soon"

We then came back to our house for the real trick-or-treating! Grey went to a few houses before he became too exhausted to go on

seriously, he was exhausted!

Now for the Grand Finale!! Grey was showing off to his Grandma Gibbs!! What a smartie pants!

Lady Who?

2010-10-21T20:24:00.002-04:00

This could be the most embarrassing post that I have ever written. But I am going to write it anyway...becuase it's that funny. Ok...here goes...

Every Thursday, I, Leigh have to work. My mom watches Grey and they have a great time. Well, apparently she has been listening to Lady Antabellum (or however you spell it) in the car and Grey has become OBSESSED with the song 'Need you Now' (or something like that). When I say obsessed, I mean CRAZY obsessed. Like, the minute he gets into my mom's car he starts crying for "sick" as in music. And my mom, being the doting grandma that she is, plays it. Every. Single. Time. Well, the other day Grey and I were outside playing and it was getting really cold, so I told him that we would go inside and listen to music and dance. He got really excited and I thought "oh, cool he loves music...just like his dad." ahahahahaha!! Not exactly like his dad. :) I put pandora on and we hear music. Grey freaks out. I think to myself "what in the world is this kid crying about?" Then it hits me. He is expecting HIS song. Once I figured out what his issue was, I had to get it on video. Notice that he knows within seconds that the first song is not what he is after. Then, when his song finally plays the look of blissfulness that falls over his face. What a goof!! Oh, and he is staring off in the distance because the computer is there and his song is on YouTube...enjoy!! :)

Spina Bifida Kids Worldwide Day of Prayer

2010-10-18T13:12:00.005-04:00

Time

Wednesday, October 20 · 12:00pm - 1:00pm

October is Spina Bifida Awareness Month, and we SB moms have on our minds, more than anything, the precious unborn babies who are so often terminated before they even have a chance to prove their lives have meaning and value to the world. To say that 50% of all Spina Bifida affected pregnancies are terminated is a conservative estimate. But we SB moms know there is no reason to terminate a baby because of SB. Our children are beautiful and intelligent gifts from God who have every opportunity to live full, productive, and totally normal yet extraordinary lives.

So we proclaim Wednesday, October 20 as the Spina Bifida Kids Worldwide Day of Prayer. We believe in the power of prayer, and we are excited at the prospect of many people praying at the same time for these unborn babies. We moms can make a difference individually and collectively, but that is nothing compared to the change that can come if we have God on our side.

We will begin at noon EST. Pray for as long as you feel led. Pray individually or with another person or group. On your knees, at your desk, while driving your car … the logistics do not matter.

Here are a few things you can pray about specifically:
1. There is one woman in particular who is on our hearts. God knows who she is. She is expecting a child with Spina Bifida, and she is afraid and considering termination. Today (Wednesday) is her appointment with a pediatric neurosurgeon to find out the severity of her baby’s case and to learn more about the diagnosis. Please pray that she will go to this appointment with an open heart and mind, that the doctor will give her a prognosis that is realistic and hopeful (we believe these adjectives are not mutually exclusive when talking about SB), and that most of all, God will give this woman a peace beyond understanding and a clear indication that she should keep her baby or give it up for adoption. There are many mothers willing to adopt this baby.

2. Obstetricians are usually the doctors who first diagnose Spina Bifida based on a prenatal ultrasound. Unfortunately, most know very little about SB except for what to look for on the ultrasound. Many of us were told by our OBs very scary and inaccurate information, such as “Your baby will likely not survive,” “She will be a vegetable,” “Terminating is the most loving thing you can do for this baby.” If this is the first time you’ve really even heard of SB, and a doctor you trust tells you this, you’re probably going to believe it. Please pray that these doctors will be educated about the SB prognosis so that they can give the diagnosis accurately and compassionately.

3. We SB moms will always remember the day we received the diagnosis as one of the most terrifying days of our lives. An initial grief response is denial, which often presents as “Please make this problem go away.” Termination is offered quickly. Please pray for these mothers and fathers, that they will first and foremost trust God to get them through this scary and uncertain time instead of letting fear guide their decisions. That God will draw near to them and make His presence known, as He did for so many of us. That these parents will be so filled with His peace about the future and love for their child that they will consider carrying the baby to term the easiest choice.

4. These precious babies are absolutely innocent and helpless. They are being thrown away because they are not “perfect.” Not one of us is perfect. Please pray for the lives of these babies to be spared. That each movement and kick will remind the mother that God knit that baby in her womb exactly as he or she should be. That their lives will bring glory to our Father.

5. Many of us SB parents cite the support of our family members and friends as the biggest comfort during the time right after receiving the diagnosis. But there are also families and friends who are unsupportive and even encouraging of termination. Please pray for these family members and friends, that God will use them to minister healing to the parents’ breaking hearts. That they will be wholly supportive, not hurtful, and they will lift up and help these parents as their raise their child.

Feel free to add other suggestions for what we should pray. And please pass this on to friends, family, church prayer groups, prayer warriors, pastors, and strangers.

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:19-20 (NIV)

look mom...one hand

2010-10-16T22:16:00.003-04:00

He's a show off!

Need a new shirt?

2010-10-05T22:21:00.005-04:00

A fellow SB mom, Kari, had the great idea that we should come up with some sort of shirt for our online SB family! I totally agreed and thought that this was a great idea!! Since Andy is a graphic designer I enlisted his help! :) (he loves it when I do that!) So, the other night the two of us put our heads together and came up with what I think is a pretty sweet shirt that represents SB and what it means to us!! Here are a few pics of Andy and Grey working on the shirt...

And here is the final shirt...

The front...

And the back...
To us...the line on the back of the shirt is the spine, and the words make up spina bifida.

So...if you are interested in ordering one, you can go HERE and find all of the info!! I'm so glad that we could do this and I hope that you all enjoy your new shirts!!! :) You will only be able to order the shirts for ONE WEEK...so get your orders in NOW!!!

Love to all!

A Bike for Grey...

2010-10-03T13:18:00.005-04:00

A few months ago, Kelly, an OT that we know, emailed about an organization that was donating some Amtrykes to local kids who could use them. She thought of Grey and I am so glad that she did!! Yesterday, Grey received his bike and after a rough few minutes...decided that he loved it!

Here he is checking out his bike before it "officially" became his.

Mommy, Grey, and the new bike!
Quite a few people gathered around Grey once he was on it to check the sizing and he wasn't really a fan of all of the people.

Why are you all watching me?

I had a feeling that a cookie might help. :)

Once we were home, he became a real pro at it!

This morning, he loved it even more!

I have to add a pic of his new trick...I think that my fellow SB moms will enjoy this one. :)

Here he is loving his new bike!! Ambucs, Amtryke, and KELLY...thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

PS...the OT, Kelly, that I mentioned...is now the mama to a beautiful new baby Grayden...who just happens to have spina bifida. He is almost ready to come home and we can't wait to meet him! Lots of love and prayers to Austin, Kelly, big brother Zander, and of course...baby Grayden! You can read their story here.

2 years...

2010-09-23T20:06:00.004-04:00

How can it possibly be two years already? Two years ago tomorrow, my life changed in a way that I never expected. Changed in a way that now almost defines who I am. September 24, 2008 was the day we found out about Greyson's spina bifida. I won't go into detail about that day...you all know it by now. Most of you reading this have had your own day. As I sit here tonight, I can't help but wonder if there will ever be a time where I feel like that person again. The person I was before September 24, 2008. That person didn't know anything about spina bifida, tethered cord, hydrocephalus, AFOs, the difference between a programmable vs. non-programmable shunt, the signs of a shunt malfunction, what a VCUG was, what a urodynamics was, that person most certainly COULD NOT cath someone. That person didn't lie awake at night feeling like I didn't do enough PT that day, or lie awake going over the pros and cons of getting KAFOs over AFOs, she didn't worry about appointments, or make a list of the different medical supply companies to call trying to find the right catheters, or know the fear of the surgical family waiting room... BUT, that person didn't know how much she could love another person. Didn't know what it was like to cry tears of joy over her baby sitting up by himself for the first time, or rolling over. She didn't know what it would sound like the first time her son would say "mama" the or what it would feel like the first time he would give her a hug. She had no idea how she could just look at his face and know exactly what he needed. I never knew this kind of love before and I am SO GLAD that I will never be that person again. The person who took things for granted...took life for granted. As hard and as sad as that day was...my life has changed in the best way, I have become the person that I was meant to be...this little guy's mama...

MRI results

2010-09-17T21:17:00.002-04:00

GOOD NEWS!!! Today, we had our appointment with Grey's neurosurgeon and his MRI hasn't changed from last year! His doctor explained that the changes in his bladder are most likely due to the bladder maturing and changing. His tethered cord, syrinx, and arnold chiari malformation haven't changed at all!! He was pleased with the progress that Grey is making and we don't need to go back until our next scheduled clinic appointment which is in May!!! God is SO Good!!

Our Little Rockstar

MRI Day...

2010-09-14T12:15:00.003-04:00

Waiting...Waiting...Waiting. Grey has been back for about an hour now and we are thinking that it will take another 1-2 before the MRI is complete (depending on if they want to use contrast or not, they won't know until they start) To say that Grey was amazing this morning would be a GIANT understatement. He. Did. Awesome. He wasn't able to have anything to eat or drink and you would never even know it. I did hear "I want chiPPPP" "I want cheeeeese" "I want deenk" and "nack" (snack) quite a few times, but there weren't any tears or tantrums. He just read books and played while we waited. Grey makes being his mom so easy. :) I just love that boy!

We have our appointment with Dr. Foody, Grey's neurosurgeon on Friday and will let you know what we find out. We are praying hard that his tethered cord and syrnix are both stable and that a surgery won't be in Grey's near future. Keep those prayers coming! :)

This video isn't from today, but it gives you an idea of what we heard this morning. (Don't pay any attention to the fact that he is sitting in a laundry basket watching the spin cycle. :) His favorite stuffed animal "orie" was in there and he likes to watch him take a "bass" (bath)).

BIG update!

2010-09-08T19:15:00.004-04:00

Where have we been? I feel like it has been ages since we've done an actual update on how things are going over here...so here goes!!

Here is Grey on his first day of school
(I know he looks like he's going to College...but no, he's still just a baby. :)

This past week Grey started back up at The Conductive Learning Center and I couldn't have been more excited! We had the summer off from most therapies and I was itching to get back into it. There is only so much that we can do on our own here, and it is always nice to get a fresh perspective on things. Already in this first week, Grey stood at the bar for the first time all by himself! It only lasted a few seconds, but those few seconds were pretty amazing. :) I couldn't wait to call Andy when class was over to tell him what a great day Grey had. We go everyday from 8:30-11:30 so it took a few days for Grey to adjust to the new schedule but he is now back in the swing of things and doing so so well! We are so proud!

This is Grey's new "smile for the camera" face

Grey is also starting to talk up a storm! He now can say "ready...GO!" "one two three" "All done" "I deenk" (I drink) "tee-eee" (TV...not super excited that he is saying that one, but he loves to play with the remote) "own" (phone)...swing, slide, chip, mommy, daddy, grandma, papa, yes, no, shirt, sock, nice, down, up, in, out...all of those have their own variations and he pretty much repeats EVERYTHING that we say. It is just so much fun to hear all of these new words. We will for sure get some video of this soon! He is also pointing to most of his body parts (eye, nose, mouth, ear, toes, hair) We pretty much think that he is the smartest person ever...seriously. :) He also fake yawns which is hilarious...my favorite!
Overall, things here have been going pretty great! Grey does have an MRI coming up next week that we could use some prayers about. His urologist and neurosurgeon want to get a better look at things to make sure that his new bladder issues aren't due to his tethered spinal cord or his syrinx. We are praying that his bladder has just changed on it's own and that we can continue with what we are doing without having to think about another surgery. Please keep us in your prayers next week! The MRI is on Tuesday and our follow-up appointment with the neurosurgeon is on Friday. Thankfully we won't have to wait too long to hear the results.

Here are some of our recent pics...we just can't get enough of this kid!!

Ugh! What can I say? I just love him!!

Playing with play doh...such an artist! :)

Grey working on that standing...he's gettin' good!

OK, as I was typing this, I decided to see if I could get some "proof"...here it is!! ENJOY! :)

just a few family pictures

2010-08-22T11:12:00.003-04:00

Hello all,

Last weekend grey was zooming around in his stander (he's getting better everytime) and when he finally came to a stop we decided to snap a few family pictures. He's the best!

love,

The Gibbs'

Favorite Things...

2010-08-08T21:03:00.003-04:00

It's time to lighten the mood around here, and what better way to do that then pictures!! :) I thought that I would go over a few of Grey's favorite things...in no particular order...

Being thrown in the air. It doesn't matter what is going on, if he is crying about something he instantly forgets all about it with just a slight toss in the air. He loves it!

Folding his hands together. I'm not sure why, but lately this kid has been folding his hands every chance he gets. Maybe he is trying to show off his sitting skills (look ma, no hands!) I'm not sure, but it's pretty darn cute!
Riding the bike with daddy...hahahaha! Yeah right! Take a look at the expression on his face! He is NOT a fan of the bike. I think that the helmet has a lot to do with his dislike of the bike...sorry kid, the helmet is a must! :) We made it to the park tonight without too much crying, although I pretty much had to ride RIGHT next to them talking about the park and the swings the whole time!
His car! He loves it! Even walking thru the garage to get to my car, he wants to stop and take a ride! He goes crazy with the steering wheel. I have a feeling that this guy is going to be a great driver one day!

Swimming! He is getting very brave and loves putting his face in. He is actually way to confident on those stairs and thinks that he can just do whatever he wants on them. He forgets that he doesn't actually know how to swim. :)

Carson! Whenever we will be somewhere with Carson I always say "You want to go see Carson?" and Grey laughs and laughs! He loves him. Loves petting his hair, loves taking off his glasses, loves to rest his head on Carson...I think that Carson is even starting to like Grey too. :)

Ok, here is a video of Grey showing off his skills on the steps and also showing off some new words! Andy and I had no idea that he even said this until we were home watching the video. "Ready?...GO!"

Here is another video of Grey "jumping" in. We are so lucky that my parents have a pool, our summer would be so boring without it!

I also wanted to say thank you so much for all of the thoughts and support after that last post. You will all be happy to hear that we are all pros at cathing and it really is no big deal. It meant so much to us to have all of those supportive comments after such a tough week. This weekend has been great and we are so over last week! :)

Love to all,
Leigh, Andy and Grey

Reality...

2010-08-05T18:36:00.006-04:00

Reality set in big time for us this week. We had quite a few appointments and learned some things that we were so hoping Grey wouldn't have to deal with yet. A few weeks ago Greyson had some urological testing done. He had had three UTIs in about a month and a half and we knew that things weren't right. We have always known that Grey has what is called a neurogenic bladder, that wasn't being completely emptied. Up until this point he hasn't been bothered by this and has been doing great in the urological department. He has had a renal ultrasound (ultrasound of his kidneys and bladder) at least every 4 months since he was born, and things have always looked good. Well, since these recent UTIs his urologist wanted to do some further testing. We went in one day for a renal ultrasound, VCUG, and urodynamics, (my SB peeps will know what I'm talking about, to everyone else...these are just extensive tests on the bladder and kidneys) praying that we wouldn't find out anything too severe and that we could get to the bottom of these UTIs. During the test, our urologist's resident came in and was watching as the technician took her pictures, and right away he had a look on his face that told me that something wasn't right. He explained that Grey has grade 4-5 reflux in his left kidney and a high pressure bladder. This means that instead of the bladder emptying out the urine it spasms and pushes the urine back into his kidney. This is not good. If left untreated this could lead to severe kidney damage. This is very common with kids who have spina bifida, yet we still felt shocked that it could happen to Grey (I know, we shouldn't have been shocked.) Grey has just been doing so well that I often times don't even think about SB. OK, that's a lie, I think about SB everyday...but I don't always think of it in a bad way. I think..."this is manageable, this is doable" Well, on this day it hit me hard. He does have spina bifida and it will effect him in so many ways for the rest of his life. Not to mention the fact that while we were waiting for this appointment Grey was playing with a little car and a little boy (probably younger than him) came up to him and grabbed his car and ran off. Grey screamed (not cried, but screamed) and then sat there watching the little boy play with his car. He couldn't do anything to get his car back, luckily the other mom brought it back over, but the damage was done my heart was broken and I wanted so badly to know what Grey was thinking. Was he sad, mad, wondering why that little boy could walk and he couldn't? Maybe he didn't care, I don't know. He started playing again and was as happy as ever, so most likely he is too young to even notice...but when will he? Ok, I got waaaay off track...back to the kidney...Well, a week after the tests we had a follow up appointment with the urologists to go over the results and come up with a plan. Here is the part that gets tricky. Do I tell the world (like the whole world is reading this or something) the plan, or do I keep this private for Grey? At some point he isn't going to want me talking to everyone about this, but for now, I don't think he cares. :) For those of you who are in our situation, or will be soon...I'm sure that you are curious and wondering. The plan is to start cathing 4 times a day and to take a low-dose antibiotic daily to prevent any more UTIs. We knew that this day was coming, and to be honest we were prepared and ok with it. We want to do whatever is best for Grey...we just wish that it wasn't needed. We wish that his bladder and kidneys weren't effect by the big bad spina bifida. But they are so we will deal with it. The first day of cathing was hard. Andy was a pro at it from the begining, me...not so much. The first day was spent being totally frustrated and crying to the nurse. Grey and I went back in and I was taught again...and now I am a pro. :) Grey is the best and just plays with whatever toy we give him and is as happy as ever. So as we enter this new phase, we are just taking it one day at a time...just as we always do. :)

Sorry this post is a little down, here is a picture to lighten the mood...

Here is Grey floating all by himself...we couldn't be prouder...

stayin cool

2010-08-01T21:25:00.003-04:00

Well its August now and the weathers really getting hot lately...But don't worry, Grey's found a way to stay cool. :)

rollin downhill

2010-07-28T21:54:00.002-04:00

Just the other day the three of us were hangin out and Leigh decided to start rolling down the hill in our backyard... Grey thought this was pretty funny and proceeded to try it himself. take a look for yourself!

goof!

Grey's Mobile Stander and oh yeah, the 4th of July

2010-07-13T12:49:00.007-04:00

Wow the fourth of July has come and gone already... We're a little slow to get some new photos of the Holiday Weekend up, but here's a few!

The weekend was great, we started by going to the parade. Grey didn't care too much about it, but he was into giving everyone hugs (we weren't complaining)

Here he is giving his cousin Olivia a great big one :)

We made our way to the park for lunch...and took pictures (big surprise) :)

Not too long ago Grey's therapist brought over a mobile stander. What's a mobile stander? Well it helps Grey work on standing, but also allows him to move around freely, because it has wheels. I'll be honest, when i saw it I was like "oh man, that thing's a big giant contraption, how is grey gonna work this thing?" WE'll it took Grey about 2 seconds to figure this one out and he was off! He loves it! So while we were at the park we took over the tennis courts and he showed us his moves. He's really good at it! :)

this is what it looks like.

I'm not gonna lie, it was kinda hard for both Leigh and I to see the stander, i mean it basically resembles a wheelchair and it was just one of those weak moments we had as parents. But when Grey was in it, laughing and smiling it kinda didn't matter anymore. He's amazing and I love him!

Here's a short video of him showin off.

Ohh yeah and we celebrated with fireworks!

Love to all,

Andy, Leigh, Grey

Downhill ride part 2

2010-07-09T00:27:00.002-04:00

Grey loves this!

SB Conference...

2010-07-03T22:18:00.006-04:00

Andy and I had the opportunity to go to this years National spina bifida conference. We went with our friends Nate and Emily and although we had to leave our boys behind, we managed to have a great time! While there I was able to meet the first mom that I spoke to after finding out about Grey's SB. What a pleasure it was to meet her face to face. Seeing her son Nate run around was even more amazing than I thought it would be. I was also able to meet another mom who has answered many of my questions over the past year and a half, and a sweet baby girl and her parents who makes me smile every time I see her sweet face. Putting real life faces to these names that I know so well, was such a great feeling. Having a child with SB is an automatic entry into this club that I'm not always thrilled to be in. However, this club is full of amazing families and kids who I cheer for everyday. Seeing Jet stand up, Annabelle moving right along, Katie do a jog-a-thon, Nellie take steps with her walker, Alex scoot forward, Brenden with his new walker, Roman working out on the lite gait, seriously the list could go on and on...these kids are such an inspiration, and their families lift me up when I need it. Their moms (sorry dads, but the moms stick together) can answer my questions and calm my fears, but above all...THEY GET IT!! They cheer right along with me when Grey reaches a milsestone that at one point felt unreachable. But...back to the conference...

This conference was full of families like ours! I have never seen so many wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, AFOs in my life! It was GREAT!! The conference lasted Monday-Wednesday and was FULL of valuable information. I won't lie, there were times where we were on SB overload but for the most part, we learned so much and had a great time! I'm really looking forward to next year...ANAHEIM, CA...we're hoping that we can make it...WITH Grey this time!

I hope that you are all enjoying this wonderful holiday weekend!!

Love to all,
Leigh, Andy, and the G-man himself

Couldn't leave you without a picture!
Here is Grey working on standing! He is now able to stand leaning onto something for about 10 seconds!! WOO HOO!!

Downhill Ride

2010-06-19T07:38:00.003-04:00

I just thought we'd share a short little video of Grey doing some more "off-roadin," this time down the hill in our backyard.

AHHHH Summer, love it.

love,

Andy, Leigh, Grey

Grey's story

2010-06-16T20:46:00.004-04:00

I've been meaning to write out Greyson's story and I finally have! Here it is...
Grey's story

Love to all!!
-Leigh

Six month check up??

2010-06-14T21:43:00.004-04:00

*disclaimer---for those that don't know, I (Leigh) am a dental hygienist...

Nope, Grey isn't ready for his first visit just yet...but we are getting him ready! :) When Grey first started popping in those teeth, I of course started brushing them. And by brushing, I mean holding him down while he screams and trying to cram a toothbrush in. Yeah, he wasn't a fan. Recently though, we have come to an understanding that brushing isn't all that bad. We take turns...first I start...

Then he gets a turn...
Yum...he wouldn't be doing a good job if he didn't get a big taste! :)

My turn again...(he occasionally pulls the "I'm not going to open" bit...)
And then he is back at it...making sure to get every nook and crany!

I sure love his crooked, crazy teeth!!

Cowboys and ice cream...

2010-06-09T08:46:00.006-04:00

There really isn't too much to say about this...
Grey had his first ice cream cone over Memorial Day weekend...
He LOVED it!! (We knew he would!)

We were lucky and he wanted to share. :)
He also faced his fears about this guy
This was one of his Christmas gifts from grandma and grandpa Neal...but he just couldn't bring himself to ride it...until today...
Then we put his cowboy hat on and he REALLY got into it!

We finally decided to take it outside and he stayed on it for at least 20 minutes...just sitting there enjoying his ride...He was rockin' all over the place!
Wooaaahhh Horsey...
It was getting HOT and it was time to take a dip...I'm not really sure what kind of contraption Andy made with all of those noodles, but Grey seemed to like it!

It was quite the day for our little guy!! Ice cream, horses, and crazy noodles in the pool! Just a typical day for out Grey!!

In other Grey related news, he had his first UTI this past weekend. UGH!! NO FUN!! He is feeling much better now, but the poor baby was pretty sick over the weekend! He was back to himself by Monday and we are praying that we don't have to face another one of these for a LONG time!!!

Love to you all!!

Grey is an animal

2010-05-31T16:19:00.015-04:00

Well yesterday uncle jim and aunty em treated us to a trip to the zoo. Thanks again for bidding on those tickets at the fundraiser auction...worked out pretty good for everyone involved :) Anyway, it was a beautiful day to get out and check out the animals with the family. Turns out Grey was not exactly as pumped as uncle jim was to go to the zoo. Here he is on the way there...not too enthused.
But then when we got there, he was pretty happy!
That happiness soon faded when i pulled an "aunt pat" and wanted to get a picture of the three of us in front of the famous John Ball Statue. Just like my aunt Pat would do to us cousins every time we'd go anywhere!!! (love you for it though aunt Pat :) Here's the family, and what appears to be John Ball kissing my wifes head. hands off buddy

Grey was pretty happy as he entered the zoo stopping off and checking out the alligators, he was making his funny little noises he makes when he sees dogs and was quite content...untill we entered the aquarium...

this is when things went south...

we thought he might like the petting zoo...nope, hated it.

but wait... he kinda liked it.

We then made our way thru the zoo, and it was pretty cool. in fact heres a bear that was acting pretty cool!

So out of all the incredibly great animals that were there to view, Grey seemed the most excited with the drinking fountain...oh well. :)

oh but wait... now it was time to go and look how happy he is!!! rascal!

thanks again aunty em and uncle jimmy!

great times :)

love Andy, Leigh, & Grey

A Huge Success!

2010-05-19T08:17:00.006-04:00

Last night was our big fundraiser for the West Michigan Spina Bifida Association...It was a big success!! Emily Bush and I decided a few months ago that we wanted to do something more to help raise money and awareness so we started brainstorming. :) We came up with this idea of partnering with a restaurant and holding a silent auction.

Vitale's in Ada was kind enough to donate 10% of the nights revenue to the WMSBA. Thanks again, Vitales!!
We were a bit nervous about our silent auction, nervous that we wouldn't get enough items and nervous that no one would bid on them! We were wrong!!
Some of the top sellers were these original pieces done by non other then Greyson Gibbs and Carson Bush! Although we did realize that they are spending too much time together...their paintings look oddly similar! :)
Here is Grey with his Grandma Neal, the big winner of his artwork! (mom, it better be hanging up next time we are there!!) :)I can't say thank you enough to all of the people that were able to make it out, and to all of those that were thinking of us. I was overwhelmed at the end of the night when I thought about how many people came to show their love and support to our two sweet boys. Greyson and Carson are so blessed to have so many people who love them and care for them. When we found out that I was pregnant, I thought that my life would be full of t-ball games and soccer...instead it is full of therapy, appointments, and now fundraising!...I woudn't have it any other way. :) Last night was a big moment for us...showing people that spina bifida isn't something to be afraid of or look down upon. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!
Andy is taking the picture or he would be in it too. :)

Mother's Day...

2010-05-09T20:41:00.007-04:00

Boy oh Boy is it great to be a mother!! :) Earlier this week, Andy informed me that he and Grey needed to go to Aunty Em's house (Andy's sister) for a little "mother's day surprise". I assumed that they were going to be doing something involving clay...maybe a clay handprint or footprint. Maybe Grey would try his hand at the potter's wheel (Emily is quite the creative type and has all of these fun toys at her house.) Turns out, I was quite wrong! :) This morning I received the best Mother's Day gift...one of a kind artwork from my very talented one year old!! Here we are this morning showing it off.

Andy also made me a "making of the artwork" book full of photos of their night. Oh. My. Goodness. These pictures are HILARIOUS! Emily made Grey a beret that apparently he wore the entire time. He is just too cute!

Here he is getting started. He knew just what to do. Dip in the paint...and...
Go crazy!

All of the best artists have mustaches...Grey is no exception. :)

It's a good thing that he had this painter's smock on, he may have gotten more paint on it than the canvas!
Such a cutie, even with the painted on mustache...
Needless to say, he had a bath before coming home. :)
Thanks for all of your help uncle Jim and Aunt Emmy!
Here are some other pictures from today...Mommy and Grey
HA!! What an adventure trying to get the perfect family picture. This is us trying to get Grey to look at the camera (that was propped up on our garbage can, the neighbors must think that we are nuts!)
Ah, there it is. Our happy family!!

I hope that you all had as great of a Mother's Day as I did. I have been so blessed with such a great husband and son. God is good!! :)

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! and Mom! We love you!!

Everyone's Invited!!!

2010-05-05T07:21:00.005-04:00

We just wanted to give everyone a heads up on a fundraising event we are planning. Leigh and Emily (Carson's mom) have planed an event at a local Italian restaurant here in the Grand Rapids area. It's purpose: to help raise awareness and funds for those living with spina bifida. And somewhat more specifically to raise money for our local SB chapter to help family's go to this years SB conference in Cincinnati. We'll be there, any other SB families out there going?

Anyway, I've been really proud of Leigh for the work she's done so far, along with the responses she's received and the willingness of those out there to help. Sure it might have helped that she dropped into the envelope the cutest possible photo of Greyson when she sent out donation request letters. :) hehehe But we thank everyone that has already helped out.

Here's the invitation we sent.

(click to enlarge)

Feel free to spread the word.

oh and here's a new pic of Grey.

love to all,

the gibbs'

"Quite the DareDevil"

2010-04-25T22:02:00.002-04:00

Yup, we got ourselves quite the little daredevil. Lately he's been really getting the hang of his four wheeler and trying new tricks :)

Here's a little video of some of Grey's "moves"

I especially like the move where he shows us where his hair is, yet continues driving!!! wow, this kid's good. :)

enjoy.

Andy, Leigh, Grey

4 wheelin'

2010-04-13T21:41:00.006-04:00

So back in February Grey got a 4-wheeler for his birthday. He wasn't to sure about it.
It's amazing what a few months will do because we took it out today and the kid loved it!!!

Look guys, no hands!!!
We were all having a ton of fun tonight so we had to get out the video camera... heres a few clips of his evening ride. :) He's a goof!

our vacation!!

2010-04-07T15:56:00.006-04:00

It's hard to believe our vacation is more than half over!! arghhh!!! We've been having a blast. Here's a few pictures of what we've been up to.

Here's grey riding on the plane for the first time. He was great, but ordered a ton of stuff from the skymall catalog! silly
Grey loves the water!!! here he is with me at a water park.

All's he needs is a bucket of water and he's happy. He kinda likes the taste of saltwater too :)goof

I warned everyone that a flea market wasn't the greatest idea...i still bought a $3 hat and pair of sunglasses for Grey.

Grey found an Easter egg Sunday morning!

The funniest thing...The first couple times we took G down to the ocean his eyes got really heavy and rested his head on my shoulder... I was wondering why is this kid tired now? Then I recalled his sound machine that he falls asleep to almost every night is the OCEAN!!! makes sense that he would get sleepy.

Grey and I boogie boarding!!!

We've been having a blast, wish it wouldn't end!

love to all,

the Gibbs'

Some pictures...

2010-04-01T19:48:00.007-04:00

Grey and I have been LOVING the weather that we have had here this past week. We have been spending LOTS of time outside and he has been enjoying every second! Here are a few of the MANY pictures that I have taken. It's hard to resist a cute little boy with rosy cheeks!

Couldn't go without a few rounds of "peek-a-boo"

He hasn't used a pacifier since he was about 4 weeks old. I found one this week while I was unpacking the last of his room and he was very curious about it...

Springtime

2010-03-30T21:00:00.004-04:00

Believe it or not the weather here in Michigan is finally beginning to look like spring. And to celebrate Grey's been playin. inside and out!

hahaha, Grey's trying to make the same face as his truck :)

So friday morning we are off to Florida!!!
SPRING BREAK BABY!!!

We are all looking forward to taking some time off and just relaxing...ahhhh I can picture the beach right now. Hope Grey likes the beach, oh and airplanes :)

We'll be sure to post plenty of pics while on vacation. check back to see how vacation goes.

love to all,

the Gibbs'

the move in

2010-03-23T22:05:00.009-04:00

It's been a while since we've updated and a big reason for that is that we have been in the process of moving!!! Remember a few months back when we posted about how we incredibly sold our house in 4 days...we'll since then we found, closed and have moved into our new home!

Here's grey helping load things up.

We've been in our house for almost 2 weeks now and its starting to feel like home. At first we kinda felt like visitors in a new place. But as we started to unpack and get our own stuff in place, it quickly turned into home. :) We are very excited and blessed to have found such a perfect place for our family.

within A few days we had a swing up for Grey and he has been obsessed ever since. snow or sun, this kid loves to swing!!!

Grey has adjusted well to the new place. Here he is doing what he does...playing and stuff.

So things are going well at the Gibbs house (the new one) and we are all very excited for spring!
oh yeah, i had a birthday thrown in there too...29, here's to the last year of my twenties!!!

Grey and the Birthday boy.

love to all,

Andy, Leigh, Grey

revision free

2010-03-11T17:29:00.003-05:00

The other day Leigh asked me what the date was (we both lose track of days amongst the chaos of our lives right now) and I glanced at my phone and said it was the 5th of March. She say's "wow it's been a year since Grey had his shunt surgery."

I responded by thinking the same thing...Wow it's been a year already. A year with no revisions, complications, or emergency visits to the doctor. Oh, make no mistake there were plenty of those "Do you think it's his shunt" moments sprinkled throughout the year, but thankfully it never was. I pray every day his shunt will keep working like it is.

I'm not much for taking stock in statistics, especially after Grey was that 1 baby out of 1,000 that is born with spina bifida. Nope, Grey's not a stat or a percentage. Anyway, I do remember our neurosurgeon say something like 50% of kids with shunts need a revisions the first year.

Thata Boy GREY!!!

Here's to many, many more revision-free years!

This is Grey looking and being smart. :)

love to all,

Andy

Dear (Jet's) Nina,

2010-03-07T14:29:00.002-05:00

Thank you VERY much!! :)

Love,
Grey