2009 coming to an end

Brady on his first day of Pre-K

DJ Wyatt !!!!!

Leigha, Travis and Wyatt in "Wyatt & Mommy's Ambulance" on Wyatt's first birthday. "His" paramedics showed up as a big surprise to us, with a little help from Jocelyn.

Pirate Wyatt.

Travis enjoying the March 2009 snow!!!

Anthony on his 13th birthday

We have at an eventful year to say the least. Now that this year is coming to an end our family can look forward to the future. We've certainly gained a new perspective on things, that's for sure. This coming year, we plan to just spend more quality time together as a family. Life gets busy, other things get in the way, but we've made a commitment to our family and to each other to be together as often as possible. They grow up so fast, we don't want to miss a second. We never know what path God will send us on, so we plan to cease every moment. Tom and I are truly blessed to have our amazing children. God trusted us with these beautiful souls and we plan to cherish that gift.

The last few months.....

Hi friends,

We have been busy the last few months, so I really haven't had a chance to update anyone.

Now school is in full swing: Leigha 10th grade, Anthony home school 7th grade, Travis 5th grade, and Brady Pre-Kindergarten. Maybe we can get into a pattern.

What's New:

Anthony started having seizures again. We were sooo close. We hit the 6 month mark, no seizures, no medicine, and then in the early morning hours of Sept 24th, God reminded me, not to get too comfortable, not to let my guard down. Since then, no seizures, back on his meds, so we're going down the 2 year road of meds. once again. He's better now, side effects from the medication is gone now. He's just bummed, because I finally relaxed a little and let him stay home alone, and now he can't. Just sucks, we've been down this road before and it's like Candy Land, we hit the ugly monster and have to go back to start. Crap.....

Wyatt is doing well. He took his first official steps on Oct 27, 2009. He is cruising now, he tries to let go and walk all the time now. Pretty soon he will be a natural. He is still having a hard time putting on weight. He's 20 months and weighs 22 pounds. That's the average weight of like a 12 month old. He had a Growth Hormone Stimulation Test about 2 weeks ago. That was a long day. He had to have an IV (which took 4 tries to get), then had to have blood drawn from the IV port every 30 minutes for 2 1/2 hours. The test just came back, negative, which means no Growth Hormone problems. So what's next, you ask. We go back to Cincinnati on Dec 1, and they will do MRI/MRS to see if that will give them a clue about his growth. Maybe he'll just be a peanut, that's okay. I tell you what, he is getting pretty heavy to pack around. Yeah!!!

Until next time.

Melissa

Anthony turns 13

Anthony at the Space Needle. He wanted to go so bad, he's been bugging us for months.

Anthony getting his new basketball hoop. He tells me he's going to play in the NBA.

Anthony and his basketball shaped birthday cake. I never claimed to be a cake decorator, but I tried, he really wanted a basketball cake.

Anthony has come a very long way in the past couple of years. We are so proud of the person he has become. We love you!

Leavenworth Washington August 2009

Here we are, all 7 of us in one place, wonders never cease!

We went on a weekend vacation with the kids and 4 of their friends. We got to the campground with only about 1/2 hour to spare, before the Ranger went home. Good thing, I didn't want to sleep in the car with all those kids (9 in all!). Travis and 2 of his buddies put up "their" tent. Leigha and her friend put up "their" tent. All in the dark of course.

The next morning we had breakfast, the boys went bike riding and shocking I know Leigha slept in. Around 1:00pm we went to Skykomish to pick up Travis's other friend (he couldn't come until Saturday, so we met him and his Mom halfway). When we got back the kids went Kayaking, more bike riding, and played on what they called, "Big Rock!" (Huge like 10 foot tall boulder in the middle of the campground). That night after dinner the kids sang karaoke. It was hysterical. You have to imagine that most people at Thousand Trails campgrounds are retired. So here we march in with 9 kids who want to sing. It was the most excitement these people have probably had in months. Everyone was laughing at the kids, it was priceless.


Sunday morning, I made a huge breakfast. I totally thought I had WAY too much food. But no, I have never seen kids eat that much food, that quickly. We didn't waste a single morsel of food all weekend. Kids did more swimming, biking, etc.

Monday it was time to go. We packed up. On the way home, we stopped at Deception Falls and the kids jumped in. It was ice cold (so they tell me), but that didn't stop them, I think my kids and their friends made some wonderful memories this weekend.

THE BEES WERE MONSTERS! (I'll leave it at that).

Wyatt at the family "ROCK" in Leavenworth. Wyatt had been camping before (last summer in Chehalis), but he was so little then. This time he ate "well gummed" smores, played in the dirt and watched the "big kids" sing karaoke. He had a great time during the day, night was a completely different story. Oh well, Mom's aren't supposed to REST on vacation, are they???

RUN FOR OUR SONS

Tom, Bill and Wyatt!!!

Tom coming into the finish line about 2 hrs. 15 mins.

Bill got in before Tom, he doesn't even look tired. 1 hr. 41 mins.

RUN FOR OUR SONS.

Thank you Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon. Tom and his dad participated in a 1/2 marathon to raise money for Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy. They raised about $1900. However, the PPMD team, I think raised over $10,000. So many people ran for so many worthy causes that day. I think over 25,000 runners hit the streets of Seattle that day.

Thanks to everyone who supported Tom and Bill. $1900 will go along way, I hope, to finding a successful treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Popsicle Baby

Messy, Messy, Messy.

I know what every mother out there is thinking. What a mess! It's the Daddy's fault, I'll just leave it at that.

The purple Popsicle did come off, took some work though.

Wyatt's first haircut

BEFORE


DURING


AFTER

I can't believe I actually have a baby that needs a hair cut before Kindergarten (hahaha). But I guess there's a first time for everything.

Strangers kept saying to me. "SHE is so cute!" I guess that's me cue.

We did a kitchen haircut, this time. Next time, we'll do something more official.

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been so busy in the last month that I haven't had a spare second for the blog update. Well, here it is quick and to the point.

Leigha - driving,
Anthony - summer school,
Travis - done with Baseball, playing outside,
Brady - playing, but a little lonely without Joey, Elyse and Blaine,
Wyatt - crawling and pulling himself up, like a mad man.

Pictures of recent events coming soon.

Love, Melissa

CONGRATULATIONS CUBS!!!! MINOR LEAGUE CHAMPS !!

Travis and his baseball team played in the Minor League Championships tonight June 11th, 2009 at Bond Field. The final score was Cubs 11 and the Red Sox 5. The two teams have had a "playful" rivalry since the beginning of the season. During the regular season, when the Cubs and the Red Sox played each team won one game. During the Minor League Tournament the Cubs lost to the Red Sox on Monday the 8th, so they were in a situation where they had to win Tuesday against the A's (which they did). Wednesday the 10th, they faced the Red Sox again, in another must win situation. The Cubs won Wednesday, which brought them to a 1 game final against the Red Sox. The two teams ended up playing each other 3 times in the tournament.

Congratulations to BOTH teams. It was a battle to the last pitch.

Melissa's Gall Bladder

Hey friends and family,
Now that I'm out of the drug haze I was in for a few days, I thought I would let you know how I'm feeling. First of all, thanks everyone, for all your thoughts and prayers over the last few days. And thanks for all your help with the kids and chores. I really can't thank you enough. I'm feeling alot better. I'm still pretty sore, but I'm getting back to my old self. The surgery went well and I'm healing nicely, not jumping rope or anything, but I'm getting around so much better. Just a few more days and I should be back to normal. Thanks again.
Love, Melissa

ANTHONY'S end of the Year field trip for school. For those who don't know Anthony attends school online through Washington Virtual Academy. They have events once a month to get the kids together. The weather wasn't that great and we didn't get to see very many animals, but we still had a great time.

This is Wyatt at Cincinnati Children's Hosptial, waiting for one of his many appointments. He's happy digging for his snacks.

Welcome

Hi family and friends,

Welcome to the Staffenhagen family blog. So much has happened with our familly in the past few months that I thought a blog would be the way to keep everyone in the loop.

Leigha has a recital tomorrow.

School is coming to an end and the summer will bring hopefully some really fun adventures.

Have a great week