Welcome 2011

Well, this year has been a marked improvement over last. Benny still isn't holding his head up, but with the help of Joyce OT, we are making slow strides. We also started speech therapy, her name is Adrian & she's great!! Bennett has finally found his voice & is picking up sign language like you wouldn't believe.

He's been getting PAM treatments every 8 weeks & when we went to Omaha at the beginning of May, they said his bone density increased by almost 25%, that's great but his density was so low to begin with, I keep a positive outlook any improvement is good improvment.

He got his hernia repaired...finally. We can tell he feels better from that also.

We did just get some disturbing news today, Dr. Rose from Omaha is concerned about Bennett's head size & that he may have fluid on the brain. We're scheduling an MRI to get that tested. I swear in 40 years I've never spent more time around Dr's or in hospitals than in the last 2 years. I wish they would just come up with a bloody cure already.

Take care Mark Stamoulis.

2010 quick recap

This will be short. 2010 was a pretty boring year. Benny recieved his PAM treatments from Leann, his infusion nurse, every 8 weeks. He still had 5 or 6 breaks in his left Humerus, & 1 fracture in his left Femur.

We all went to California for Bennett's 1st birthday!! That was a blast, a week is definatley not long enough though. Summer was ok, very hot!! I took him to the lake, but with his light sensitivity he couldn't really enjoy it. I will take him again this year, but later in the afternoon, & where it's shaded more.

We made a visit to the Cox Springfield NICU & saw Dr. Eccher, he's the greatest person, truly. He held Bennett for a picture & you could see the recognition in Bennett's face, it was priceless.

We had a great Christmas, Benny got enough toys for about 25 kids, he's going to be the most popular kid on the block later.

He started talking a little bit, learned a few signs "more & please", the important ones. That's about it for tonite, talk again tomorrow or next day. Good night. Mark.

I've been away, but I'm back!!

Hi everybody, just a short note. It's was a very busy year last year, & the start of this year hsn't slowed down. I'm waiting for my gray hair to start revealing itself.

Bennett is doing great despite a few breaks, he heals so quickly it's shocking. We started him on speech therapy about a month ago & he's saying too many words to count, & using sign language!! He went to the Brittle Bone Clinic a couple of weeks ago & all the doctors were very impressed with his progress. I will update with substantially more detail tomorrow, it's bed time, bonne nuit.

I know I've been away, but I'm back!!

Hi, sorry to have been so lazy. This will be short, it's late. Bennett has been doing great!! Growing & getting stronger. He had several breaks last year, but that comes with the territory. He had Clinic in Omaha last week & they said he's doing better than expected!! I will fill in details tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who hung in for the last year or so. You can go to his Caring Bridge page, if you like. The address is www.caringbridge.org/visit/bennettstamoulis.

They don't teach this in Home Ec.

I want to preface this by saying I love my son more than anything in the world, & I want to apologize to my parents. If I was half as stubborn as Bennett, I'm surprised I made it through childhood.

Sky & I try as hard as we can to make Benny as comfortable as possible, we rock him, play with him, read to him, play music, watch those silly kids shows, nothing keeps him happy for more than 45 mins to an hour. He seems to be getting bored more easily as he gets older. He is happiest when he's moving & it doesn't matter in what direction or what room we're in, so long as he's moving he's quiet. If we stop the wailing starts.

I'm looking forward to him saying words, it seems as though he is trying to say them. We will be changing his diaper or playing with a toy & he's making all sorts of noises like he wants to communicate with us, it's hard to explain but you get the idea.

We are attempting solid food feeding with him, & he's fighting us every step of the way. I never thought I would say he's more stubborn than me, it could very well be possible...God help me.

Well it's extremely late & he'll be up soon, good night. Mark.

Reminiscing

I was thinking the last few days about Mr. B when we first brought him home after he was born

Bennett's 1st Christmas

We have had a very busy holiday this year, my mom & brother came out for Thanksgiving, we were in Omaha for Bennett's treatment. The rest of the month was spent getting ready for Christmas & getting used to our new schedule. The medicine he recieved has increased his comfort level by loads.

I have to say that even though I'm getting more sleep since his treatment, I feel more tired. It's as if getting up every 3 - 4 hours for about 20 mins made me less tired...weird. Anyway, Sky & I tried to fit in Christmas shopping, working, taking care of B & the house (decorating, planning meals). I apologize for ignoring everyone, we didn't even get a picture with Santa...I'm planning on getting one though.

We had an especially great Christmas Day!! We webcamed with Dad & Tere, then with Mom. That was really cool, it was just like opening presents right there with them. Unfortunately Skylar wasn't feeling to hot, so she slept in. When she got up, I started getting the kitchen ready for early dinner. Randy & Linda were coming over, we had decided that I would make Beef Wellington with a Port Wine Sauce, it was quite good. Once they got here, we turned on football & ate finger snacks, Mr. B fussed everytime he was being held, I thought he was just being grouchy. Linda took him into his room & rocked him to sleep, I think I have an intuition about these things.

Bennett recieved all kinds of great gifts, he got an embroidered Chinese Wish Quilt, a book of nursery rhymes with a cd, toys, clothes pretty much anything a little boy would want. Starting on the 5th I have 12 days off work, so B & I will be spending quality time together. We will start doing his PT consistantly to strenthen his neck, & he's going to start eating solid food now. He can down almost 7oz of formula it's time for solids. So talk to you tommorrow.