Archive for the 'Updates' Category

Abbie’s Mom…

May 5, 2011 | Updates

I don’t have much time to post tonight, but I wanted to quickly write about Abbie’s Mom. I found Abbie’s Site years ago. It’s been so many years that I can’t remember exactly when I found it. But I can tell you this. Her site gave me hope when I needed it the very most.

I still remember the first picture I ever saw of Abbie. She was wrapped in a beach towel and had a smile on her face. She had the longest eye lashes and the cutest little dimple. And she was a ray of light for me. And her Mother, she exuded faith. I could feel it in her posts. I KNEW it was in her heart. I loved that about her and I’d never even met her.

And then Sue, Luke’s Mom (who I’d met at a brain injury conference a few years ago), decided to have a retreat for mothers of near-drowning survivors. (Thank you, Sue, for knowing how to DREAM BIG!) At first, I thought there was no way I could go. And then, I watched the list of attending moms grow (many of whom I had followed on the internet for years) and I knew I HAD to make that trip happen. And so…I went.

While at the retreat, I showed Abbie’s Mom (Tiffany) the results we’d had doing ABR with Samuel. She wanted more information so I pointed her to Leonid’s Blog. I have to tell you that Leonid’s blog is SO TECHNICAL and difficult for me to understand even with a few years of ABR under my belt. But Tiffany, she’s incredibly smart. And she spent that whole night reading through the blog, watching the videos and absorbing the information.

In the last 5 months, Tiffany has pulled together some incredible plans for implementing ABR in Abbie’s life and, hopefully, the lives of many other children in her community. And I’ll leave those plans to her to unveil as they become a reality. But in the meantime, she is doing an incredible job of taking all the “technicalness” of ABR and writing it down on her blog in words we can all understand. Her determination, faith, energy and intelligence are astounding to me. But what I love most about her, is that she shares her knowledge in an understandable way.

So, if you’ve wanted to understand ABR and haven’t been able to because it was just too technical or because you asked me and I just couldn’t figure out how to explain it to you :), then take a few minutes and visit Abbie’s Blog at www.prayforabby.blogspot.com. You’ll be glad you did!

Easter…

April 27, 2011 | Updates

I took pictures this year of the Easter egg hunt, but Samuel didn’t go with us because it was too cold and he really hates the cold. So, no pictures of Samuel. Then on Easter morning, I only took video (not remembering that I hadn’t taken photos of Samuel at the hunt). In the end, I have no pictures of Samuel this Easter. Bummer.

Here are some pictures of the other kids at the hunt, though. (The older ones won’t stand still for my camera :).

We had a nice Easter and hope that you did, too!

How to be politically incorrect while be entirely adorable…

April 20, 2011 | Updates

Password for this video is “nathan”. Enjoy!

2 Weeks Post Surgery…

April 13, 2011 | Updates

Stitches came out on Monday. Baths were allowed today -which I’m sure thrilled Samuel because he LOVES baths. His incisions look great and are healing fine. We’ll be putting some different things on them to try and reduce the scar tissue as much as possible. His feeds are staying down better. But I’m following a pretty strict schedule of feeding him slowly all the time and making sure his feeds are done a few hours before he wakes up every morning. I really don’t want to keep using the anti-nausea medication so we’re trying to make things work with scheduling of the feedings instead.

We took Samuel to the movies on Saturday and he was SO HAPPY as I carried him to the car. Sunday, he was thrilled when we took him to church. And Monday, he was SO EXCITED to go to school. He’s done great there the last 3 days. They said they wore him out today using new communication switches with him, and they were right because he fell asleep as soon as we got home :).

I found this picture on my phone today that I forgot I had taken. It was right before they took him back for his surgery. So cute…

On a different note, I took a few pictures the other day for another photography class that I’m taking. I’ve been holding off on taking pictures of Samuel’s new bed until I get his room entirely done. However, we got the bed in December and it’s already April and I still have a few pictures to hang and curtains to sew. Ugh. I’ll probably get them done about the time I’m ready to redo his room again :). Oh, well. So, here are some pictures of him in his new bed. We absolutely love it!

Little stinker…headed out of the frame!

!

He knows I’m coming for him!

These are pictures I took the day we got his stitches out. As we passed the capitol building, I saw all these trees in bloom and had to stop. Part of that need comes from the fact that we are still buried in snow in our neck of the woods!

I know this picture is a bit cliche, but to me, it’s a bit of our backwards world as little brother pushes big brother in his stroller :).

Aren’t they adorable?

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll post again next week.

Quick update…

April 4, 2011 | Updates

Well, we came home 36 hours after we left. Samuel is ALWAYS happier at home. But, he was so cute with the nurses while we were in the hospital. He didn’t want them to touch him, but he would smile at them and watch them and give them cute little looks here and there. He’s thrown up a lot since we came home, so I put him on some anti-nausea medication today and it seems to have done the trick. He was also still constipated despite several suppositories and 2 enemas. But a little milk of magnesia and we solved that problem tonight. Yay!

I swear the kid is Superman. I gave him pain medication until this morning, but I’m not even sure he was much in need of it. Now he is just on regular doses of tylenol and ibuprophen and doing great on those. He’s happy (although he is holding still more than usual - unless I try to change him or anything and then he’s moving MORE than usual.) He’s cute as can be - smiling at me everytime I go in his room and laughing whenever I talk to him like he loves me to entertain him. I sure love that kid.

I have to say that I had some strong feelings that everything would go very well with this surgery. But I allowed myself to be worried despite those feelings. I am humbled by how well it all went. We couldn’t have been more blessed. Thank you for all your prayers, fasting and blessings. We were definitely watched over!

Here’s the only picture I took while we were there. Luckily we brought the portable DVD player since he had a specific position he wanted to lay in :).