Student-Led Conference

I can't believe it is already time for Zeke's spring conference.  Not only that, but I can't believe he is old enough to lead his conference.  It was so cute.  When we walked in, we picked up his conference table tasks.  There were four tables set up for us to visit.  Each table had an activity that he needed to talk to us about (my mom went with us) or show us. The first table we visited had a folder of some of his art in it.  He went through the folder and talked to us about some of the pieces of work he had created.  He loves art and was probably the most proud about this activity.

At the next table he was able to show us how he could cut a straight line, a curvy line, and a zigzag line.  He did a great job cutting.
 

When he was finished cutting his lines he could select a puzzle to complete for us.  He loves working puzzles so I knew this would be fun/easy for him.  He selected the doctor puzzle to complete.

Once Zekey was finished with his puzzle we moved over to the next table where he could create an 'AB' pattern out of cubes.  Once he completed his pattern then he needed to count objects, in this case bugs, of ten or more.  We reached in and grabbed a handful and he counted 16 for us with no mistakes.  Zeke had been singing his new favorite song, Scream & Shout (the clean version, of course) and he kept singing "Britney, Britney."  It was really funny.  He was using his AB pattern cubes as a microphone to sing his song.

Next I gave him a list of upper case letters, all out of order.  He had to tell me what the letter was and I needed to circle each letter he said incorrectly.  He knew every single one of his upper case letters.  Then we moved on to lower case letters and repeated the activity.  He said 'b' on 'd' and thought the 'q' was an 'a' but other than that he did great!

Then he did the same things with his numbers...

Finally, he had to match up upper case letters to lower case letters and tell us what sound each letter makes.  He did a great job!

I was very proud of my little Zekey-Pants tonight.  Through the activities he showed us tonight I could see how much he has learned this year.  I am so happy that he has an amazing teacher who works really hard teaching him wonderful things.  He just loves and adores her!

I'm sad my little boy is growing up so fast.  Before we know it he will be in kindergarten.  :(  Time flies way too fast for this momma. 

Until next time,

Please No, Not Again... :(

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted anything on here.  I figured now would be a great time to get back into it considering Zeke's health is one of the reasons why I started writing a blog in the first place.  Well, it has been a little over a year since Zeke had his bone marrow and it looks like he will have another one soon.  I post on Facebook about our doctor's visits.  Basically over the last year we haven't learned anything new about what is going on with him or inside his little body.  Since his last bone marrow his blood platelet counts continued to improve every month.  They dropped from the original count of 1.432 million down to 612,000 by the end of 2012.  I was very excited that he was continuing to do so well and his counts were coming down.  I had been told by the doctors that this could be 'just one of those things that happen for no reason' and I was starting to believe that.  In January of this year we went back for our monthly appointment to check his counts.  When I got the results I was incredibly sad and confused.  His counts in January were 1.472 million...the highest they had ever been.  I didn't understand why.  I don't understand how it took a year to get them to come down as much as they did just to shoot back up higher than ever before over night.  Since that appointment we have been going in every 2 weeks for testing.  His counts came down a little, but still remained over a million at 1.075.  Yesterday his counts were back up a little at 1.263 million.  Today Zeke's nurse, Laura, gave me a call to tell me the results from his labs yesterday.  She informed me that Dr. K wants to do another bone marrow as soon as possible.  I stressed the importance of how I want Dr. K to do his procedure.  He is the doctor that not only I trust, but that Zeke trusts.  Obviously this is not the news I have been hoping for.  I want my little guy to get better, but I also want answers...I need to know something!!  Around 12pm the hospital called me back to give me his appointment.  The first available appointment is on March 13th.  The only problem is that is not the week Dr. K is doing the procedures; Dr. Mohamed is the doctor on duty that week for procedures.  I am sure he is a fabulous doctor...I just don't want him doing it.  We have only been in the office one time when Dr. K was over booked and Zeke had to see a different doctor.  That didn't go over well with Zeke.  He was beyond upset and didn't understand where Dr. K was.  I want my little man to be as comfortable as possible...and to be honest; I want to feel good about it too.  Dr. K did his first one and everything turned out fine, so that's what I want to happen again.  The nurse said that Dr. K would be doing rounds in the hospital on that day but she would talk to him for me to see if he would be able to make his schedule available to do Zeke's procedure.  Soooo....hopefully he can!!!  On the morning of the 13th, we will check in at Dr. K's office at 8am.  Dr. Mohamed will look over Zeke and sign the orders for the procedure.  Once that has happened we will go downstairs for the procedure and hopefully Dr. K will be able to come meet us down there.  I was looking at the blog post I wrote last year about this.  It brings back memories of looking at those pictures and reading what happened that morning.  I want to thank you for your prayers for Zeke.  I do believe in the power of prayer.  I am grateful to all of my wonderful friends and family and for your love and support for Zeke during this past year.  It means so much to my family.  I promise to take lots of pictures and keep you posted on his procedure!

Mommy and Zekey Breakfast

I love all things summer!  My most favorite thing is getting to spend it with Zeke.  We try to have a daily activity of some sort.  Today he was going to his daddy's house, so we decided to go out to breakfast together.  This is something we don't do on our own often.  We usually go out to eat with Papa and Nana.  If you have never eaten with a 4 year old before, it can be quite the experience.  Today was wonderful.  Zeke was on his best behavior the entire time.  He usually gets to take some cars with him anytime we go eat.  This helps to keep him entertained.  He usually gets in trouble because his play voice is so loud.  How ever today he made sure to use his quiet play voice.  We sat down and Zeke started to order before we even got our menus.  Obviously we go there often!  He was ready for some pancakes and fruit.  We played with his cars until the food arrived.  He blessed the food...which I had to get a picture of, then we dug in.  He was a great eater today and we had so much fun talking, laughing, eating, and playing.  I love those special times with my little boy...especially when he is being GOOD!!

I love this little guy to pieces.  I'm so excited to get to spend this time with him over the summer.  :)

Carlo the Tomato Plant

Friday, April 20th, Zeke's class took a walking field trip over to the high school to visit the greenhouse.  Zeke had so much fun and told me all about the plants and flowers that he saw there.  When I picked him up from school that afternoon there was a tomato plant waiting to go home with him.  I don't have much of a green thumb so I wasn't sure what exactly we were going to do with this plant.  Then I had a great idea.  One of Zeke's most favorite things to do is go over to our aunt Tonya and Uncle JoeJoe's house.  When he is there he likes to do "man stuff" with JoeJoe in the yard.  They rake up leaves and acorns, move sticks, water, etc.  Zeke loves it.  So I thought we could plant it at their house!!  As Zeke and I were driving home, we stopped by their house to show them his new plant and he told them all about his field trip.  He taught us that his plant needs soil, sun, and water.  JoeJoe had a perfect idea of just where they could plant it and Tonya had a tomato cage and all.  We left it over there with plans to come back a few days later to plant it.  Tonya and JoeJoe called us on Tuesday and said they were ready for Zeke to come over to plant his tomato plant.  Before they called I made a trip to Target to get Zeke some gardening gloves, a shovel, a couple of rakes, and a watering can.  I picked him up from school on Tuesday and told him what were going to do.   He was very excited!  When we got to their house they were waiting for us outside with the tomato plant ready to be put in the big pot.  Zekey helped JoeJoe put soil in the pot.  Then he shoveled a hole in the center to put the tomato plant in.  After that they secured the plant with soil all around.  Once his plant had been placed in the big pot it was time to water it.  Zeke did a great job putting plenty of water in the soil.  Tonya had Uncle JoeJoe get the tomato cage out of the garage and she helped Zeke put it around his plant.  JoeJoe moved the plant over to their front flower bed.  Zekey will have to go over to check on his tomato plant and make sure it has plenty of water...that is his new job.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that we don't kill it!!!  That night when Zeke was about to go to bed, he decided he wanted his plant to be named Carlo.  :)

Carlo the Tomato Plant

Zekey is ready to plant Carlo

Yup, that's my ZekeyPants!

 Supplies

Adding soil to the pot

Digging a hole for the tomato plant

He's trying to be so careful

 Sitting back admiring his work

Time for the cage

He is taking his job very seriously

My little green thumb!
  Thanks Ms.Tami and Ms. V for our new tomato plant, Carlo!  :)

My Baby is FOUR!

Me: "Zekey I can't believe you are 4 years old."
Zeke: "I know, I'm growing up too fast."
Me: "I know, it makes me sad."
Zeke: "Don't be sad mommy, you'll always be my little sugar booger."

Oh my.  Where on earth has the time gone?  I seriously feel like it was just yesterday that I had just had Zeke and we were still in the hospital.  I remember my sister flew in from North Carolina and was actually there when I went into labor.  She lives for that kind of stuff.  My brother was flying in that day from NYC.  I was so worried that Zeke wouldn't be born while he was here because he had to fly home on the 28th which was my due date.  I can remember my family being baby hogs (especially Lisa!!), Kofi reading to him, and my brother holding him in his hands as they danced to James Brown.  I have such wonderful memories of that special day and I hope I can remember them forever.

 My little ZekeyPants 1 day old

 Aunt Lisa was such a baby hog...still is to this day!

 Dancing with Unkey...he didn't have that name at this time

 They literally would just sit and stare at him for hours.

Proud Papa

 Daddy reading Zeke a story when he was 1 day old

Zeke's proud parents.  We love him so much!!

I decided to have Zeke's birthday party for his friends the day before his birthday, on the 22nd.  He invited his friends to his party at BounceU.  That is where his birthday was last year and that's where he wanted to have it again this year.  It's his party so I wasn't going to discourge his choice.  He had about 17 friends show up to his party.  From what I could tell, they all had a really good time.  They played so hard for a solid hour.  Before it was time to go eat I had most of the kids, the ones who were willing, get together for a group picture.  Then we headed into the party room where they had pizza, pop, and strawberry cake.  When they were finished eating Zeke was able to open presents.  He loved all the cool toys, games, and dvd's that he received.  Instead of doing party favors...that they don't usually really play with anyway, I decided to do the candy buffet.  The kids were able to fill up a cup with however much candy of their choice that they wanted.  That seemed to be a really big hit.  I am glad that the kids had such a fun time at Zeke's party.  It was so much fun seeing my baby boy so happy!!

Playing a game with his party pro, Eric

My birthday boy!

Looks like they are having a great time!!

Ms. Sage

He is a nut!!

Time for the 2nd room

Had to post this becuase Nana's face is hilarious!!!

Fun times!!

Blaker going down the slide after climbing the web

Looks like a race

Ms. Leah should be a model! Love her pose.

This looks like fun!

The girls enjoyed getting their faces painted.

I like to have some fun too!!

Most of the kids that attended the party

My hungry birthday boy

Merritt's Cars Cake...just what the birthday boy wanted

Sage and Zekey...she even calls him that.  It's really cute!

I wonder what he wished for...probably more cars!!

Thanks Clayton and Creed for the Play-Doh!

I love his expressions...he obviously likes this one!

The Candy Buffet...I think it was a big hit!

Birthday boy gets to go first

 We were so glad that Trenton from T-ball joined us!

 Crazy little Hunter...we love this boy!

Creed looks excited

 I love these boys...they are best buds!!

After the party I took him to his dad's.  He had been wanting him all day.  I was really sad that I wasn't going to see him first thing in the morning to wish him a happy birthday.  That really broke my heart.  I was pretty bummed all night.  :(  The next day I was so excited to see Zeke when it was time for school to be out.  I went to go pick him up.  We were both so happy to see each other.  He ran to me and jumped into my arms as soon as I got there.  The first thing he said was "mommy, I turned 4 today.  I'm growing up!"  I gave him a ton of kisses because I missed him so much.  Again, I can't believe my baby is FOUR!!  When we left we headed home.  I decided that I wanted to take Zeke on a date for his birthday.  He decided that he wanted to go to Incredible Pizza.  I enjoy going there too so off we went.  Since it was his birthday he got to spin the birthday wheel.   He won a minature football.  I let him take a few presents with him, including what my sister got for him...which was a big hit.  After we got our food I let him open his presents.  He loved everything...I don't think there is anything from the movie Cars that he wouldn't like.  After we ate we went to go play games.  We went bowling, played minature golf, air hockey, and even rode on the go karts.  We both had such a fun time.  I hope he remembers those special times we spend together.  There isn't anything I wouldn't do to make my little guy happy. 

 Spinning the wheel for his birthday prize

 He looks excited about his yellow football

I let him pick out a few presents to bring with us to open

 You can tell he loves what Aunt Wesa got for him!!



 He cracks me up...not sure what he is doing with his hands here

 LOVE his facial expressions!!!

He was so excited that he was beating me at air hockey

 He's almost outgrown the train, but he might as well enjoy it while he can

 Unkey called to wish him a Happy Birthday

 Go Kart time!

We had a great time on the Go Karts.

When we got home he was able to open the rest of his presents.  I told him to open the clothes first because they bum him out.  He doesn't want clothes...he wants toys!!!  He was actually very gracious for everything he recevied even if he didn't look at it!!

Another boy in Zeke's class had a birthday on Sunday so that boy brought treats for the friends in his class on Monday, Zeke's birthday.  So Zeke was able to bring treats to his class on Tuesday to celebrate his birthday.  Ms. Tami said the kids really like donuts, so that's what we brought.  We got the kind that spelled out 'happy birthday Zeke.'  Ms. Tami made a birthday hat for him and  he was able to enjoy his treats with his friends from school.

 Zekey loves Ms. Tami and Ms. V

 We are really going to miss them next year!!!

 Birthday donuts

Yummy treat with friends

I am so thankful that my baby is healthy enough to have had another birthday.  I know that he is not in the clear yet as far as his health goes but I am blessed for every year I get to spend with my little ZekeyPants.  He is my world and the light of my life.  I can't wait to spend many, many, many more birthday's with him!!