I thought I would have to teach my daughter about the world; turns out I have to teach the world about her. They see a girl who doesn't speak,
I see a miracle who doesn't need words.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Dentist

Last week both the kids had dental appointments.  Zach had sealants put on his back teeth when he was 2, and apparently those are starting to crack - so we got home and, much to his dismay, all of the fruit snacks, fruit roll-ups and gummy vitamins were thrown in the trash.  According to the dentist, well not her exact words, he might as well be chewing on glass because those things are the WORST for teeth.  So we have some areas to watch for him and it's quite possible that he'll have to back "under" to have the sealants replaced. 

On to Alex, who just thinks the whole dental experience is hysterical...


No, really....

Until after her exam and we realized she had to have a tooth pulled...

 Yikes....

Oh no, wait....it's still funny...

Alex has a lot of crowding in her mouth and some of her teeth have started shifting.  The tooth that needed to be pulled is apparently a tooth you don't loose until you are 11 or 12, but it literally had no where to go and was practically laying sideways.  She has three other loose teeth too, which I didn't even realize.  Way to be observant.  



You can see that even during the extraction there was a big ole smile on her face.  I must remember to get one of those big suction hoses for the house, apparently it makes everything very funny!


I don't know what the dentist was saying to us, but the look on both of our faces just cracks me up! :)


Because Alex is an aspiration risk, and how precariously the tooth was in her mouth, they had to use the suction tube to actually catch the tooth once it came out...which Zach had a major issue with because if it was sucked up, how would the tooth fairy know to come to the house?!?  Legit question, I suppose!  The dentist assured Zach she had a direct line to the tooth fairy and would personally call her and explain the situation so that Alex could still get a visit.  He's very protective of his sissy and making sure she gets her fair share! :)

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Uncle Louie

My last post about Niagara Falls, so I saved the best for last. 



Uncle Louie....probably the most loving, kind, big-hearted, unselfish, hard working person we know.  He started planning Alex's benefit last June and has literally put in hundreds of hours of his already busy time planning an amazing evening for our family.  For most of the night he spent it behind the scenes, in the kitchen cooking for everyone, never looking for a thank you or any kind of glory for all of his hard work.  We love you Uncle Louie, you are Alex's hero and we are so grateful for you and all that you have done. 

 
Friday night Uncle Louie hosted a dinner at his restaurant, the Como for the family and our friends.  Amazing food and a wonderful night.

Alex and the love of her life...my dad


Seriously, can you not feel the love?!?

My cousin Christine and my sister, Dana

My brother-in-law Ryan and my mother-in-law Beverly

Cousins Jeff and April

Cousins Nick and Lynda

Beverly, my dad and my God Mother, Aunt Grace

My funny and crazy Uncle Mike and my Mom

Uncle Louie's better half, Aunt Barbara and Alex

Cousins!

The whole crew!


Another fabulous night in our great weekend with amazing family and friends.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Niagara Falls



As if Uncle Louie didn't do enough for us, he planned a day out for us on Friday, and this was Alex's ride for the day...


First stop was to the Hard Rock Cafe for some lunch and then we went to see the Falls and then to Whirlpool State Park.













My brother-in-law Ryan and my nephew Jack

Dara, Jerry and Jean

Jean and Dara

Jean and Jerry


Dana and Jonah

We completely lucked out with the weather - last Friday it was 60 degrees and this week they have had over a foot of snow and the high today is 15 DEGREES!!!!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Benefit

I don't even have words to begin to say how incredible of an evening Saturday night was. I've attempted to write this post five times and still it doesn't seem to do the night justice.  Over 400 people turned out to support Alex and the benefit and it was a HUGE success.  The mayor of Niagara Falls was there and spoke, the mayor of Lewiston was there and gave Alex a key to the city and a proclamation that March 19th would be Alexandra Elizabeth Hayes Day (don't think it's not on our calendar's next year for a party!).  The Chief of Police along with the Sheriff were there.  The newspaper was there.  There were over 200 baskets that were donated along with bigger ticket items like a TV, bike, trip, hockey video game machine, autographed sports memorabilia and on and on.  There was a 10 foot banner with a picture of our family on it.  T-shirts were made with Alex's beautiful face on them, video of pictures of her were playing throughout the night.  There was an amazing band.  Uncle Louie and his team made incredible food, a special cake was made for Alex.  There were home made angels on each table as centerpieces.  It was overwhelming.  I can say it was an incredible evening a million times and it still wouldn't come close to describing our emotions.

I have said it before and will continue to, I can guarantee it, but we are SO incredibly blessed with an amazing family.  Uncle Louie is the kindest, sweetest, most generous man, who put hundreds of hours into planning this event and doesn't even want a "Thank You".  He truly is a one of a kind and there are no words we could put in print that could describe our admiration, respect and gratitude for him. 

Thank you Uncle Louie and Aaron's mom, Beverly, who also did SO SO much for us, thank you to Aunt Barbara and the committee for the long hours you put into planning an amazing event, thank you to our friends and family who were, and are always, there to support us.  Thank you to each and every person who bought raffle tickets for the benefit and to the people of Western New York for making the benefit such an incredible success.  The love and support that embraced us that night is a blessing that we will treasure...forever.

There was a professional photographer there so I did not get a lot of pictures (I know, me...imagine that!) - but I will post more when I receive them!




The home made cake with one of the angel centerpieces

The T-shirts

The Guest of Honor with her Daddy

Beverly and the raffle drawing

A portion of the baskets that were donated
 

Alex's proclamation and key to the city

Thursday, March 17, 2011

We Are On Our Way!

We loaded up the RV this morning and hit the road for our trip to Niagara Falls for Alex's benefit!!


Alex loves it. A little blurry, but this is her when we first loaded her up




This is TOTALLY the way to travel!!  The kids are all doing their own thing, Aaron and Jerry are in the front driving and singing on the top of their lungs, Alex is laying down right now chilling out and we're all really, really enjoying this experience!!  We have enough food for about a month and haven't had to stop for anything but gas.




We are about three hours away - I'm so excited!!