The Strasser's

Some pictures of  Evan in the NICU. 

I am finally feeling like I am going to have more time to update on here. I am  hoping to update more on here versus Facebook. The school year  is coming to a end. Cory and the kids are excited for it to end, I am to. We are ready for more trips to the river and the beach. Cory has been released as scout master and put in as assistant with the teachers. He has been busy with negotiations with the union and he has been a little stressed with it. He is excited for summer so he is able to go out and fishing more. Along with school things still happening during the summer. I am a primary worker, I am actually teaching Alyssa's class right now. I have become a jamberry consultant as something kind of fun to do on the side. I have been trying to work out more and with summer coming I am hoping to get out and run in the mornings. Something to change my workout routine. Alyssa turned 8 in April and she had a very good birthday. She is doing very well in school. Owen is doi...

Lots of things have been happening I am hoping to catch everyone up soon. Please be patient and I will get a post on here for everyone. I have been a slacker and hoping that I will be better at posting things.

Ever since we went to CDRC, It has been a little tough. We knew that Evan had something and we thought Evan might be autistic some, not sure where he fits in the autism scale. Now that it's set in stone and on paper it has been a little hard to deal with. I have  talked to some people about the whole thing. It is like a grieving period because parents have expectations for their kids,  and with having a child that is special need's all of the expectations aren't going to happen the way that we would like them to. Who know's if he will ever a family or go to college. I was told by Evan's EI teacher that it's basically we have to take one day at a time. Evan has been making lots of progress since  we have lived here. He is walking now and starting to drink from a cup now. Now we are working on eating with a spoon & fork. It is a lot to take in, and I am trying to get through this. It has been a hard 3 years. I don't think we would love him any differe...

It was a long day yesterday. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep wednesday night. I kept getting up during the night, I guess I was just worried about the appointment.  It was a long morning. Cory and I were asked lot's of questions  from the people that were observing Evan. The room's we were in there were windows in there and behind them were student's watching. Evan did really well. Well after we got the diagnosis it felt more set in stone, some things we kind of already knew. It was kind of hard to actually have it said, but it was good to know and have some answers. Ok so I am sure a lot of people are wondering what was said. I believe the words the doctor used were that Evan is significantly delayed, he is about on the level of a 1 year old. He is autistic, they were not sure where he fits on the autism scale because of him delayed. He is going to need more testing. His doctor here in town will probably draw blood sometime soon and it will be sent out for genet...

Thursday is coming quickly. It feels kind of nerve racking, and kind of exciting. Nerve racking because I am hoping there is nothing major that they will say. I am hoping that they can get all the tests done that they need to. Exciting because I am hoping that we can get answers for our questions for Evan, and to know what's going on with him. 

I have been really slacking on posting on here and I was hoping that I would get back on here and get some posting done. We are doing good. We have been busy. I guess to start off, Cory is in his second year of teaching here. He is liking it. It has been a lot of work this year. They have been adding new things and so  it has been a little stressful not just for him, but for all the teachers. He is the scout master. And loves fishing in the ocean. Alyssa has been loving school. She is doing really well. We can't believe she is going to be 8 in April. She is getting excited for her baptism. She got her dress in the mail from my mom and rick. She loves it :) Owen is having kind of a rough time in school. Hoping it will get better for him. He is in full day kindergarten. Evan is loving school, his teachers are really good. He will be going to CDRC on the 20th of this month, hopefully we can get a diagnosis for him. Emma has found her belly button we are working on finding h...

I have been lacking on updating, I am hoping that I will get back at more updating and what we have been up to. I have been sick for the past few days with mastitis. A lot of things have been going on. So hopefully towards the end of the week I will get some posts and continue to post as regular as I can. 

I received Evan's results in the mail. The MRI results are normal. The EEG results are normal. 

Yesterday I had to wake up Evan at 4 in the morning, so he was sleep deprived. Than he had to stay awake the whole to Medford. Good thing Alyssa came to help me with keeping him awake. He did get car sick on the way, good thing I brought extra clothes. We got there and the person was asking what time I woke him up and I told her that I woke him up at 4. I guess I was told wrong, I was suppose to wake up him at 2 not 4. Man I would have been really tired. He slept either way, which is what they wanted. I can't believe my mom did that test for me, she had to keep me awake for the tests I had to be awake for 24 hours. I am so glad I didn't have to do that. But he did sleep through the test which is good. Hoping the test doesn't have to be redone. After the EEG, we headed over to have the MRI done he was suppose to have that done at 10, it wasn't until about 10:30 when they took him back. Than I finally was able to eat something small. Evan wasn't suppose to eat unt...

 Evan on Friday had a fever and it finally broke. I tried getting him into the see the doctor on Friday and they weren't able to get him in. They did say they could see him on Monday. Evan woke up yesterday and he had the barking cough and after he would cough he would gasp for air. I took him into urgent care when it opened. He was pretty lethargic and stopped wanting to eat or drink Friday night. When we actually got called back they were asking if he was normally like this and I told him that he is normally a very happy boy and playing. They were worried since he was born so early, and they didn't feel comfortable because of how he was and him being premature. So they were telling me to head to the hospital. When they called the hospital to let them know that I was bringing him in to the emergency room,  the doctor felt that it would be better  if he were brought in by ambulance. I didn't want to do the ambulance because of the cost. Since the way he was looking...

Not sure if any family or friend's still come to the blog at all. I know I have been lacking on the updates. I am hoping to update on everyone. Not going to get to it tonight, hoping tomorrow. 

 I haven't really done updates on any of us in a while. It's kind of been crazy. But I will start with Evan on a update. He is 3 now. He started back with the early intervention (EI) on the 9th. He has been making progress. He actually started making attempts on standing up in the middle of the room before the program started back up. His EI teachers have seen him making lots of progress with cause and effect toys. He loves to play catch. When he is in the classroom he is not allowed to crawl or scoot on his bottom, it's a only walking zone, and they have actually let him bear crawl. They did get a walker for him to start using, he doesn't really like it. And is starting to stand up with it. But no moving with it yet. I did get a referral for the CDRC Center to get him tested for autism. The waiting list I believe is as long as 4 months maybe a little longer.  I did get him a referral for a neurologist. Will be meeting with the neurologist next month. Not sure what...

Dan, Cory's brother came and visited us over the weekend. We went up river and we also went to Chetco Point, and also had some fresh fish, and homemade pizza. Here are some pictures from our weekend. I didn't get any when we were up river. It reached up to 72 and 92 degrees while he was here. The sun was bright. 

Alyssa 2nd Grade----Owen Kindergarten

I can't believe after this weekend that summer is over with. It sure has gone by fast. I don't really post about me. This is a post about me and what's been going on. It has been a interesting summer. This summer started off with a trip to Salem We had to make a trip to Utah. My dad started having some problems on Father's Day. They weren't sure if he was having mini seizures or mini strokes. It was a very difficult trip. I was having a hard time with having to say goodbye to my dad. I know it doesn't have the brain damage anymore and is doing better now. I still am having really rough time. I have had a lot of moments, where I just had to excuse myself from everything and have my moment. I have finally held the baggie with my dad's wedding ring in it. My dad wore the ring all the time on his right hand.  I was actually handed the baggie from my grandpa I couldn't take it from him, I just couldn't take it. So Cory had it in his pocket for a ...