2008 - lightning, house fires, Hurricane Ike...exhaustion

Thank Goodness!
Posted Dec 2, 2008 9:18pm
Okay, so after months of waiting, hoping, dreaming, and a major hurricane...they have started rebuilding our home. For those new to Mason's page, our home was struck by lightning and burned on June 21st...construction began last Monday, November 24th!! At this point, with 6 work days under their belts, our contractor has been AMAZING...they have almost completed the roof and new 2nd story addition framing. They are asking that we pick out shingles so they can order those. They hope to get the house "roughed in" by this Thursday and "dried in" the week before Christmas so no more animals will be able to spend the night in our house. At this rate, we could be in by Spring or sooner!
The kids are doing good. Mason is the star of her pre-k classroom. She is talking a lot and getting easier for people to understand. She is coming along REALLY WELL with her sign language and has a wonderful memory, which is a God send. She is getting to that time of year where we have to follow up on her cardiac issues and leg tumor so look for more updates in the future.
Mason and Dax are now the same height and Dax weighs about 4 pounds more, despite being 2 years younger than his sister. The big boy is turning 2 on December 6th, but instead of a birthday party, Dax is walking for his (little) big sister in the Down Syndrome Association of Houston's annual Buddy Walk. It was postponed from the original September date due to Hurricane Ike.
IF you would like to donate to our team you can visit www.houstonbuddywalk.org and click on MASON'S FAN CLUB - the directions are fairly simple. There is another team for a different Mason...so make sure you click on MASON'S FAN CLUB to support my little angel.
Thank you for all the prayers and I'll post new pics after Buddy Walk!

We're home...hmmm
Posted Sep 16, 2008 10:34am
Okay, so Angleton is a MESS! Mom's house has water/sewer/electricity (it's the Taj Mahal of Angleton) but our rental house does not and neither does our "real" house. We had a little more damage at our home and I've already called insurance...our fence is damaged and some outdoor electrical things are twisted like pipe cleaners, minor things but they cost a lot to fix...nothing compared to what could've happened if we'd had a more direct hit (or if we had started rebuilding). I've seen some other homes that are in BAD shape - trees on top etc.
The city and county are doing a great job down here. Helicopters are constantly overhead and National Guard is running a POD about 1/2 mile from our home giving out water/ice. I heard our Congressman, Ron Paul, in an interview yesterday basically saying that our area (Houston too) is doing what needs to be done and that the citizens are taking care of business. They interviewed the Mayor of Houston, Bill White, and he said that HEB and Wal-Mart were providing and delivering the water and ice to some distribution sites in Houston yesterday since FEMA was needed more elsewhere. It was just nice to see people taking care of business and not complaining about what they weren't getting.
From what I've heard, Alvin is in poor shape and still without electricity. I received a message last night stating that I was to return to work at 9am next Monday and kids to school on Tuesday... all contingent on if electricity is restored and buses can run/food can be delivered for the kids. We will be living back at mom's until further notice.
Just chillin' in Aggie Land
Posted Sep 13, 2008 4:46pm
Well, we picked a good place to come to...no power outages, internet is working (obviously), and phones are working. We've been Wii-ing and Wii-fitting all day...kids are loving their time with cousins...as my friend Michelle McG would say "They are cousining!"
So far we have no idea what our house or rental home look like. We've heard that my grandparents house on the ski lake in Angleton (by Bastrop Bayou)is dry and that the boat storage has superficial damage. Our beach is awful. Surfside took a beating last night. We have seen on Angleton's city website that there is no power, water, and sewer is not working yet so we cannot go home and seems Alvin is the same.
No other news...if you've watched The Weather Channel then you know what we know. Take care of yourselves. AND MARI/CARLOS...if you read this...PLEASE CALL ME!
We have left and are in College Station
Posted Sep 12, 2008 12:42pm
We left Angleton at 12:30am Thursday morning and made it to College Station by 4am Thursday morning. We've been playing games and visiting with family for over a day now. I brought our house plans with us...though I guess the house could be damaged more in the next 24 hours...
The kids are fine. Ashton has figured out that the hurricane is headed to Angleton/Surfside but I think she felt "in control" when she helped pack up the car, got her own bag packed, and was able to grab the things that meant so much to her. We did have to leave the fish behind and she's worried about that.
We have a little stomach bug that seems to be bothering Dax and then Mason woke up with a fever today so...pray for them to feel better quickly. I'll update as I know our status.

It's been so long...
Posted Sep 8, 2008 1:03pm
Well, it's been months since my last posting and I'm sad to say...there has been no progress on the house. It is still sitting there, burned and empty. We've hassled with our city permit office, architects, and contractors all summer. As of today, the proposed plans are finished and at the structural engineers' office waiting on Wind Storm approval. They will then go to the City of Angleton, where they will HOPEFULLY receive approval and issue a demolition and rebuild permit. We are in a 2 bedroom,1 bath rental but are comfortable. It's nice and cozy!
The good news about all of this mess is that we were able to add a "bonus room" upstairs that will work as an apartment for Mason when she grows up! I'm very excited about that. We offered the space to Ashton for now but she turned it down. "I want to sleep and stay with Mason" is all she will say. Sweetie pie!
The kids are all healthy...we've had some run-ins with the local stomach virus off and on but seem to be winning at the moment. Ashton is doing great in 1st grade and working on her first project (a timeline of her life). Mason is at a new school for PPCD since the class at my campus was closed/relocated, she is also doing great. She has the staff wrapped around her little finger. She still goes to ACC Lab School half day and rides the bus to her 3 hr/day public school program. Dax is in college at the ACC Lab School and is in the Toddler room doing well. When I take Dax and Mason in the mornings, they strut into the class...I guess they feel like big kids.
That's all for now. I will update when the permits are issued...
Posted Jul 3, 2008 12:15pm
Well Mason was in the Alvin paper...they heard about how good she did in the dance recital and did a little write up on her. You can go to www.alvinsun.net to see the article. Just type "dancer" into the Archive search - it was from Sunday's paper. There's a great picture too of her dancing with our friend Abby Andrews (her mother keeps Dax when I'm working).
Demolition was delayed due to dumpster delivery issues but will be done by Saturday so insurance can come out next week to look at interior walls etc. I went to Houston yesterday with mom and kids to look at flooring and have found some gorgeous bamboo that I want. I will meet with my contractor next week to see if his supplier can beat the price of the supplier I found. We're trying to be as eco-friendly and cost efficient as possible. I am planning on cork and/or bamboo floors only and looking into straw board or reclaimed wood for my cabinets and recycled glass countertops/tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Posted Jun 30, 2008 12:05am
Things are trucking along. The clean up crew came back yesterday to inventory and clean the garage...which included emptying our freezer full of meat and an extra refrigerator full of fruit, milk, and other things we go through quickly...IT WAS NASTIER THAN NASTY! Funky, foul, disgustingly squishy things were removed! I gag just a little thinking about it. I spent the better part of the morning supervising that process and helping them sort through what little could be saved from the garage (got some of the Christmas ornaments but most were ruined). Corey did the evening shift and helped them inventory all of his collectibles that were ruined - that's just a sad list to look at. The crew wiped things down and we are now able to walk through the house without falling and tripping over beams and insulation. My Granddaddy came and took out some ceiling fans and we let the previous owners come dig up some plants they had planted years ago, take out the light/switch plates in the kitchen (which they had hand painted when they redid the kitchen) and take their old swing from the backyard. The contractor is pulling permits tomorrow and hopes to start the roof and kitchen demolition tomorrow or Tuesday. Once they remove the roof, rafters, beams, ceiling, and kitchen/garage areas then the structural adjuster will come back out to look at the interior walls/insulation, tile/bathrooms etc to add to the allowable repairs.
All involved parties have heard about Mason and her health issues so I don't expect a fight when it comes to getting new sheet rock and insulation. None of them want to be held liable for any possible long term effects that residual smoke damage could cause so the contractor is already planning on fighting for new interior walls/framing.
Kids are doing well. They're really enjoying being at my mom's but we did find a rental home thanks to a great neighbor. We will be renting his grandmother's home which is one street down from our current home. It is smaller but nice and clean; which is more than I can say for any of the other homes I've looked at. We hope to be in it in another week...they are putting in a new AC unit and cleaning out some family furniture since the grandmother has gone to assisted living.
Mason has been healthy and playing a lot outside. Ashton is being a great big sister and is doing well. Dax is his same old self...loud but cute. Corey returns to work tomorrow and is leaving most design choices and structural decisions up to me ;o) WOO HOO!!! Thanks for the prayers and I'll post again when I have interesting information.

Posted Jun 24, 2008 11:03pm
Okay, I'm really tired. I went to the house on Monday around 9:30am until half past dark. Spent Monday sifting thru clothes/insulation/ funky stuff trying to sort out our clothes that could be salvaged vs ones we wanted to donate to Red Cross (seemed like the proper thing to do) vs clothes that just needed to be trashed. I met with the "Contents Adjuster" and the Laundry Service Manager to get those things started and the Mitigation (clean up) Crew started boxing and removing the entire contents of our house...Oh My Lord that is one messy process and let me tell you, they don't throw anything away, they box it all - smoke damage and wet and all! I was running from room to room at one point gathering coat hangers and random papers and PRYING them our of their hands so I could throw them in the trash or recycle them. ;o) There was no sense in boxing and sorting through half empty bottles of baby lotion or old magazines.
Today I got to the house around 7:15am and finished sorting/trashing/salvaging what I could before the clean up crew got there. The "Structural Adjuster" came out this morning too and that's what took the majority of the day. Corey stayed with the kids at Mom's and I creeped and crawled through the attic a little bit and walked through the rooms with the adjuster...let me tell you...fire is amazing! Once you get past the whole "hey this is the crap that destroyed my house" aspect of it, it is really interesting stuff. The area furthest from the actual point of ignition and blaze is our master bedroom. The attic space above our room was all black of course but also the wood was burned from the heat of the smoke - no flames even made it anywhere near the room but the smoke was very damaging. When it comes down to it, he told us that the roof/eaves/overhangs will all be taken off and rebuilt so we're "going topless" for awhile ;o) The garage, kitchen, back office,playroom, and pantry are destroyed so they will require total gutting and remodeling. All floors except the entry way tile and kitchen tile have to be taken out. Mattresses, pillows are all trash and the exterior issues with the brick and paint will need to be addressed. He told us we would be out of the house for 4 months easily and possibly up to 5-6 months if we had weather issues or other complications. Super.
Kids are all doing good. Corey is experiencing a severe case of the "gotta get outs" and hopefully I can release him for some time to himself tomorrow. We went to the Astros tonight (have had the tickets for awhile) for about 1/2 the game but Dax and Mason were having some poopy issues so we had to come home. Just chilling with Ashton right now and will update you when I can.
Posted Jun 22, 2008 8:07pm
I want to preface this posting (like so many of our previous postings) with EVERYONE IS FINE AND UNHARMED. Our house was hit by lightning on Saturday at 6:30pm and caught fire. The fire department worked on it for about 4+ hours. There is significant damage but we will recover. I don't think we'll be going home anytime soon - thinking September is optimistic at this point.
Thank you for the prayers, well wishes, offerings of money, clothes, EVERYTHING!! I will be talking with the insurance adjuster in the morning and will have a better idea of our time lines/living situation/needs by Tuesday I hope. I am off work for the summer and a gracious co-worker and friend is writing up some of the reports that I was planning to do in my free time this summer...thank you Mary T.!!
Our friends have been wonderfully helpful with the kids. Ashton went with Uncle Carlos (Mari's husband) and kids to see Kung Fu Panda and to eat pizza while Mari and I went to Lori's house in Sugarland to get some of her old clothes for me. Our neighbors were great...there were 7 calls to 911 within 5 minutes of the lightning striking and our neighbors ran into the house without regard for their own safety to get the babies. This is why I bought a house in the neighborhood that I live in....it's a GOOD place.
I am going to take Ashton (6 year old) to a counselor this week. She is having some pretty severe anxiety issues and I think she might need to talk it out a bit. Mason is fine. Dax is fine. We are staying at my mom's for now and I have my cell phone with me.
Thank you again for everything and please just keep us in your prayers!

Posted Apr 21, 2008 8:14pm
Surgery went well. Mason was in recovery pretty quickly after the procedure. As we were leaving the hospital she threw up and had to go back up to recovery for a bit. She was re-released and we made it to Shadow Creek Pkwy on 288 South before she started throwing up again. She would gag, say "bobo" and grab her belly, then YACK...I have been asking her doctor about removing her tonsils/adenoids b/c her sinuses are so severe and she snores/breathes loudly...well this morning, after the doc witnessed her going to sleep prior to surgery, she was able to hear my concerns...she has ordered a sleep study and, depending on the results of it, she will decide about a tonsilectomy/ adnoidectomy...not sure when the study will actually get scheduled.
She slept off the anesthesia at Ms. Kim's house (where Dax stays)so
I could go into work for 1/2 day and take Ashton to dance class etc. She's running around at full speed now, trying to type as I type, and feeling great. I think we're good to go. She even ate fried shrimp for dinner!
Dax and Ashton are doing good too. Dax is walking and looks like the little Chicken Hawk from the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons. He's trying to talk and has picked up a lot of Mason's signs so, other than making sounds like a game show buzzer, from time to time...he's doing great. Ashton is in the gifted program at her school and doing well in kinder. She enjoys her ballet/tap class and even gets to perform with her little class at Alvin's Frontier Festival this weekend. She's very excited. This morning she said the Pledge of Allegiance over the loudspeaker during announcements with some of her classmates...she is VERY proud of this! (And so are we, of course).

Posted Apr 21, 2008 6:04am
Well, Mason is still going great in her PPCD class and in the Romper class at ACC. She is wearing her glasses occasionally, which only makes her cuter...but still prefers life without them on her face. She is scheduled for surgery this morning at TCH to have her 3rd set of tubes put in her ears. I'm about to walk out the door to head to the hospital. She's supposed to be on the table by 9am. I will post again when I can get to a computer.

Posted Feb 26, 2008 11:59am
Well, Mason's is 3 years old now. We had her birthday party Saturday (gymnastics party) and she loved it...though the gym smelled like feet. Once you got past the smell though, the party was fun.
Mason's first day of PPCD was yesterday and she did great. Starting today, she will be riding the bus back to ACC at lunchtime. She will come for PPCD from 7:45-10:45am and then go back to the college for the remainder of the day. She did great on the bus. I followed it today to see what route it took and see what the procedure would be for getting her from the bus to the Romper classroom. It went relatively smooth and Mason LOVED being on the bus (see picture in gallery). She blew kisses and off she went.
Last time I posted she was being evaluated for the program. For those who are interested, she did very well on the assessment. Her scores are reported with 100 = AVERAGE ability (not the 100 that means perfect on grades)and scores between 85-115 are within "normal/ average" range, scores from 70-85 are Borderline to Below Average and scores below 70 are in the Mentally Retarded range of development. There are 2 scores per area; the first is parent report (what I said she could do) and the second is direct observation (what she actually did for the evaluator)Here are her scores:
Adaptive/Self Help = 96 / 93
Personal-Social = 92 / 87
Communication = 78 / 78
Motor Skills = 87 / 86
Cognitive = 77 / 73
Developmental Level Total = 82 / 78
I am very proud of these scores. All the hard work that Mason has done in therapies, dance, at home...these scores reflect that work.
She is eligible for services as AI/SI (Auditorally Impaired and Speech Impaired). Her hearing loss is significant enough that she will be serviced by the Cooperative for the Hearing Impaired (or Deaf Ed Program).
My lunch is almost over and I really want to post some pictures so...check out the gallery!

Posted Jan 11, 2008 1:14pm
Mason was evaluated for PPCD (preschool program for children with disabilities) this morning. She did pretty good and I think they got a good picture of her abilities.
Today is her last day in the Toddler Room at ACC and her teachers are sad. She'll be a Romper on Monday!!! I'm excited to see her move up with same age peers.
We have horse riding lessons at 5pm and then I'm going to try to talk Corey and my mom into going to see the new Veggie Tales movie. I love VT!!
Have a great weekend and I'll let you know how the DSAH Talent Show goes on Saturday.

Posted Jan 7, 2008 12:26pm
Let me apologize for the horribly long time between posts. Life has been good but busy. The kids are all great. No more hospitalizations or major illnesses (knock on wood). Dax just turned one in December (and is 13 months old as of yesterday). He's cruising the room but can only take about 4 steps independently - he's very scared of falling. He's saying mama,dada,byebye (and waving),ball, and more. Ashton is still doing great in kindergarten and dance class. She's being tested for Gifted and Talented this month. Mason is a star. She's getting ready to move up to the Romper Class at ACC Lab School and will be starting 1/2 day PPCD in Alvin on February 22. She's starting to slim down a little and is getting more verbal and coordinated each day. She plays with her baby dolls, rocks them, feeds them, lays down and pats their backs. She's coloring better and trying to learn how to use scissors - I know it's crazy but she needs to learn how to use them. She's even "reading" books to me know - babbling out the words and turning the pages.
Mason will be performing in the Annual Down Syndrome Association of Houston Talent Show on Saturday the 12th. She will be doing a brief ballet routine as well as a front somersault. She is also supposed to make an appearance as Miss February during the Grand Opening of the Down Syndrome Resource Center that same day. I have the Hollywood sunglasses and scarf ready!
;o) I will be videoing the event for future reference when she appears on a nationally-aired television program due to her many amazing life accomplishments as an adult. ;o)
Also, January 19th she will be in the Little Miss Alvin Beauty pageant...should be hilarious. Ashton opted out...didn't want to be in front of all those people.
I still have plenty of 2008 Down Syndrome Association of Houston calendars featuring Mason as Miss February if you are interested in buying one. They are only $10. It is totally worth it. Email me at work if you want one.