Physical Strides

Owen checks his calendar everyday to count how many days until we get to go home.  He had his last PT and OT sessions today at the LPCH outpatient rehab.  He has made such progress since transplant.  Not only is he so much stronger, but he is getting brave!  He is terrified of stairs and slides.. and just last week he conquered the stairs.  It's time to tackle the slide.  Two days ago, I finally got him to go up the play structure at the RMH and went down the slide with me.  He even got brave enough to climb up the slide like the big kids.

At OT this week he was brave enough to swing on the trapeze and swing to the bell shaped swing.  Then he would jump off onto the foam pit mat.  He would have never attempted this before.  The energy he has is insane and he just plays nonstop. 

 

 

We are going to be sad to leave our fantastic therapists at LPCH ... but we have a good line up at home waiting for us.  Guess what else Owen did today?  He jumped for the first time ever! Well.. he actually hopped, but he got both feet off the ground at the same time and got some air.  We were all so thrilled!!  I may have shed a tear in excitement.  I didn't get it on video yet, but I will.  I did get a video of him walking into school the other day. Each morning we head to the hospital for Kindergarten and he gets so excited as we walk through the halls of LPCH.  I love this!! 

I am so excited to see the changes in Owen over the last three months.  This is not the same boy I brought to California four months ago.  His personality is totally the same.. he is stubborn, witty, and hilarious!!  The change is all physical and I hardly recognize him.  He can play until he is out of breath and he turns beat red instead of blue.  It is unreal!! We are so grateful to the donor family and think of them all the time. 

Monster Headphones

How cute is Owen sporting his new Monster Headphones??  These headphones couldn't be more perfect for him.  They are durable, comfortable and the sound quality is incredible.  With all of Owen's recent hospitalizations and soon to be monthly travel, these are going to be wonderful. 

Owen likes to listen to his music while playing his iPad games and zone out.  He doesn't like outside noise distracting him, especially on a crowded plane or in a hospital recovery room.. where we spend plenty of time.  These N-tune's seal out the passive noise so he can relax and focus on his music, movie, or game. 

 

Each pair of headphones comes with this convenient little bag.  They even have a tangle free cord so you can just pull them out, throw them on and go. 

Did I mention how durable they are?  Owen could twist them all around without breaking them.  This is a huge benefit to me, because I break everything! :)

Most importantly, for Owen, they are comfortable.  We have tried different earbuds in the past and he hates the feeling of them in his ears and they are always falling out.  He really likes that these are super padded and easily adjustable.

Another great feature is that it comes with the In-line mic.   Kam will use this feature a ton when she switching between talking with her friends and listening to her music. Owen can use it with his therapy games that require feedback from the child.

Owen's headphones are the Candy Blueberry color, but look at all these fun Candy colors! I may just grab Kam a pair of red ones for Christmas!  Kam is a girl that loves her music.. from classical, to alternative and even country.  She will love these!!  With two sets of headphones and the included music share cable, they can listen to music off the same device or watch a movie in the backseat of the car together. 

With the holidays just a few months away, these would make a great gift idea for anyone on your list!  Click on over to the  Monster Headphones page on Walmart.com and let me know which is your favorite NTunes color in the comments for a chance to win your own set of Monster Headphones!!  {My favorite is the candy purple!} The comments on this post will be aggregated with the comments on the posts from the other bloggers participating in this review, and 25 pairs will be given away. This giveaway will close on Nov 1.

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Happy October.. Pumpkin Pies

Happy October!! It's my favorite time of year.  The weather is perfect (in Palo Alto), the trees are changing colors, pumpkins, Halloween.. I love it all!  Last night, at the RMH, the kids had a cooking class with Keith from Rainbow Chefs.  There were about 10 kids surrounding an island in the RMH kitchen to make Pumpkin Pies from scratch, inside the pumpkin.  Yum.

First things first.. the kids had to clean all the pumpkin guts.  I'm pretty certain this is the best part!  After we had clean pumpkins, two of them went into the pot to be steamed so that the skin would peel off easily.

While the chef was busy burning his hands while peeling the skin, the little kids packed the graham cracker, buttery, cinnamon delightful mixture into the pumpkins.

They all waited patiently for the pumpkin filling to cook up. Pumpkin meat, heavy cream, creamed honey, cinnamon... perfectly fall!  The chef filled the graham cracker crusted pumpkins with the pumpkin pie filling and sprinkled with brown sugar.

We waited for about 20 minutes for the pumpkins to cook and the seeds to toast.  It smelled pretty delicious.  While waiting, we listened to all the little girls sing pop songs with Music Man Don. 

Here is the finished product.  Three cooked pumpkins...

Filled with a yummy pumpkin pie filling.  The chef used a spoon to scoop out pie into bowls for us all to enjoy.  The only thing missing was a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream.  We can't wait to make these when we get home with Daddy and Sis. 

Happy October to you all!  I hope this inspires you to get in the kitchen with your kiddos and make something together! :)  It was really fun.