Family pictures

Our Happy Boy at the park enjoying the outside and smiling big for the camera
Garrett likes to eat anything...incuding leaves

Rylynn showing how big she is...I can't get over how big she looks here

Smiling pretty for the camera

Better Late than Never

Well life has been running away from me. We have had a lot going on. Garrett was scheduled for surgery in October, however it was canceled because he was sick. He is now scheduled for December 16th. We are praying the surgery will take place.
Until then we are suppose to keep him healthy, away from communities of people, and of course happy. He is currently receiving Physical Therapy, Developmental Therapy, Speech Therapy, and Occupational Therapy. He is doing wonderful.
We are thrilled to say he is playing patty cake, waving, walking behind a push toy, feeding himself with the few foods he is allowed to munch on, and just tonight started signing "eat."
We are just thrilled at his achievements.
Our little preschooler is growing like a weed as well. She is going to preschool 3 times a week and thinks that she is in charge of the world! She looks out for her brother and wants to make sure he gets to the hospital if he is ever hurt...too cute.
Rylynn is also on a roll, she has 2 husbands already at age 3 1/2 Hunter and William...and she will tell you both of them are her husbands!

Well we are a busy little family. We are getting ready for Garrett's surgery. He will be having his palet operated on October 14th. We are hoping that they will also fix his eye. His feeding tube is now too small so we also have to have that fixed as well hopefully all in one procedure. He is currently receiving Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, and is starting Development Therapy this week.
All of his therapist are excited to see what will happen after the surgery. We have been told it will be rough at first. He will be in alot of pain, but we will come home with pain medication. Ryan will be taking the week after surgery off which the doctors have told us is extremely important. He will not be able to put anything in his mouth after surgery. So I am sure we will also come home with restraints. They told us to be prepared for that.
We are praying that Garrett does well during the surgery, the surgeons are prepared and his mouth heals properly. If for some reason his mouth does not heal properly then we will have to go back under for surgery.
Rylynn has continued to love preschool. She is also going to daycare and attending Kindermusik once a week. She is growing like a weed...we will post pics soon.

Birthday Boy

Playing Cath up!

Wow! where did this summer go? Tonight I am just going to update everyone, and some of you might already know lot of this because you keep up with us on facebook and in person.
Ryan is still working 5-6 days a week in Monticello. On Memorial Day he was promoted to manager at his branch. We are thrilled to find where this will take us. Hopefully one day he will be in a bigger store with bigger challenges.
I am staying busy. Over the summer I completed two more classes for grad school. This puts me right at 12 credit hours. I have to complete 60 credit hours before for obtaining my master's degree. However I have been thinking more and more about what I would like to do after grad school. I am also working full time, trying to get Garrett to all of his appointments, and doing Tastefully Simple parties.
Rylynn is growing up so fast! She is in preschool. She has looked forward to school all summer. She will be starting kindermusik again in the fall. She is a great big sister that is looking out for Garrett at all times.
Garrett learned how to crawl the last part of August/first part of September. So now he is EVERYWHERE. Everything goes into his mouth. His g-tube is working well. We are still concerned that he might be aspirating. He is currently in Physical Therapy once a week, and Occupational Therapy twice a week. We are at Riley usually monthly and are looking at having surgery the middle of October. We hope things continue to go well.
We had a nice family vacation. We went to Viriginia Beach and enjoyed relaxing at the beach, going to the aquarium, shopping, and just one another.

Update on our little man

Well we have been quite busy. The last week of June we were told that Garrett would have to have a G-tube placed. The first weekend in July Garrett had surgery and a G-tube placed. He did well with it until July 8th. At that time we were having trouble with the feedings, so we had to head to Riley's ER and were there until 4am and then were placed in a room.
We were released the next day. Garrett is currently doing well. He is only taking formula by the tube, nothing by mouth. His physical therapist has said she can already tell a difference. We will be having a feeding study done the end of August and an evaluation done for occupational therapy within the next two weeks.
We are all so pleased how well he is doing, he has a wonderful babysitter who has stayed with us through all of this...we love her!
Through all of this we have remained busy. Ryan was promoted on Memorial day to a manager at his branch in Monticello, I am still working for the same company and going to grad school. I took two classes this summer. So far I have finished one and it was a blast...the other one I could do without.
Rylynn is working hard on potty training. She loves daycare and playing with all her friends. She is ready for preschool in the fall. She has also helped me pick and freeze blueberries, we are up to 20 lbs and hoping to get more Monday.
We are hoping before Garrett's next surgery (in October) that we will be able to go on vacation.

And last, I must have been real emotional when I was writing my last blog. At times I don't think it is fair what we have to go through, but then I remember that there are so many people that are worse off than us. Even though this last year has been rough, I wouldn't have changed it for the world!

I have learned so much
1. I had to take a longer maternity leave and take FMLA = more time with my family and kids
2. I become even more thankful for my family, church family, job, and my husband.
3. I praise God for what he has taught us and how we can help our children that suffer
4. I realize God choose my two kids to be raised by Ryan and I, I would not change anything about them. This is what God wanted.

So I apologize for what I said. We are doing great and we owe so much to our Lord. He is wonderful. We are coming up on a milestone for Garrett. He turns 1!!!! So we will are so excited to have a BIG birthday bash and to thank everyone for how they have helped us.

Thank you for the continued prayers

It's been awhile

You ask what has the Sipe family been up to...or maybe I am crazy and you don't care at all. But I am going to pretend that someone out there is reading this. Maybe you are someone I know, I have met, or maybe someone I don't know at all. But thank you in advance and I am going to apologize. This post might be too much for some of you....so if you can't handle an emotional female STOP READING.
Sometimes I ask myself how in the world does God think I can do this? Other times I think, I have to stay busy, that is just me. I am currently a wife, (to a wonderful husband, Ryan), a mother (to my beautiful children, Rylynn and Garrett), a case worker- full time, a part time grad school student, a tastefully simple consultant...and probably several other things. This is KILLING me, but I don't want to give any of it up.
The thing that is killing me the most is how much god is giving me to handle. At this point in time I am working very hard to keep my job. I wish people would keep their appointments, I would continue getting referrals, and no cancellations. I also wish God would give me 48 hrs in a day, because that is what I need right now.
Then my children....at this point in time, Rylynn is doing great she can't wait for school to start, but over the summer the school is recommending that she gets in for therapy to help her for when school starts....so we have to check that out, of course no place here where we live.
Then there is Garrett...and that is where my heart is breaking the most right now. I am asking ' Why God?' ' Why my son? Why punish him?I can't handle all these appointments'
We found out at Riley Hospital on Thursday he is aspirating again. Therefore he will be having surgery on July 2nd. They will be insterting a G-tube in him so he can eat. At this point we have been told he will have the G-tube until Spring of 2011. So the first question that comes to my mind is will my baby be able to dig into his first birthday cake? What if it doesn't come out in the spring then what? On top of that he is to continue getting physical therapy and they want him to be evaluated for occupational therapy to be seen weekly. SO another appointment. I don't know where I am going to get my eneregy or how I am going to come up with the time, I am hoping God will help me.
Why I am sharing this? I honestly don't know. I just pray I can remain for my little man. Lord knows right now he is my rock!

Our Miracle

A couple of people have asked me a couple times and questioned how Garrett is doing. I guess sometimes I just forget that people are still concerned and praying. First of all, thank you if you are one of them. Then I started thinking....Garrett is a true miracle. I remember what the nurse told me before he was life lined to Riley Hospital and I remember the first thing we were told when we arrived at ICU at Riley Hospital and it was the scariest moment of my life right behind seeing him blue and having to perform CPR.

So an update, he has some follow up appointments in May, a sleep study in June, and will most likely have surgery on his mouth and possibly his eye in August or September. He remains in weekly therapy, where we continue to work on some physical problems. He is sitting up, but not doing anything else. We are continuing to work with him on rolling over, belly time, and hopefully crawling. We played outside this weekend, so I couldn't help but to include this picture.

Thank you for the continued thoughts and prayers.

We are eating baby solids!

Garrett is now eating baby food solids. Some of them he really likes; he is one messy eater (everyone says he takes after Ryan...so he must in this department as well)!