Keep On Truckin'

I haven't been posting much-and yes I'm going to use the "too busy" excuse again! October was a whirlwind for our family.
Of course we started the month out with the cochlear implant surgery which went well. Then we had a week of "normal" which school and outpatient therapy at Sanford and of course sticking ABR in any time we can.

The weekend of October 19-21 is one of my favorite weekends every year! My mom, her sisters and their daughters all go scrapbooking for an entire weekend. Not only do I get to scrapbook for a weekend and get a day or two off of kid duty, but I get to spend the weekend with some awesome women who inspire me to be better in so many ways from raising my kids, being good to myself and deepening my faith in God. I have to say that my mom and her 5 sisters have an awesome relationship and I admire them all so much. They are all strong women who've raised kids (or are still raising kids), worked hard for their families (whether at home or out of the home) and have such deep faith in God. I can only hope to be like them all one day. It's always fun to chat with women who are like-minded-and bonus-we get some scrapbooking done!

Immediately following scrapbooking we headed to Rochester for James' cochlear implant launch (turn on) which I posted on last time. I still haven't gotten the video up-sorry! For those of you who are my friend on Facebook it is there!

Just a few days later we headed to Devils Lake to celebrate my Mom's 50th birthday! It was supposed to be a surprise party for her-my Dad did most of the arranging but she came home early and caught us! Of course she said she was suspicious when my Dad got up early on a Saturday morning and started cleaning and then when she got home and Alex was outside cleaning the yard she knew something was up! Nevertheless we had a good time and a great turnout of family and friends! My mom is an amazing women who has an endless supply of energy (at least it appears that way). In her 50 years she graduated from college, raised 7 children, has an awesome career that she loves, goes curling, has been on numerous boards for things like United Way and Parish Council, always been active in the church community, and so many more things! She's just an awesome woman and role model who I aspire to be like.

Then it was back to Fargo for more working, school, ABR, and therapy.



Watching Netflix in the hotel in Rochester

 OH! and HALLOWEEN! James still seems indifferent about Halloween. I'm not sure he really understands, but he does like to see all the kids and their costumes! Elliot on the other hand was super excited about Halloween this year. We did a little explaning about it and of course he had all the TV shows to help. We had picked out 2 costumes and let Elliot pick which costume he wanted. Wouldn't you know he wanted Ironman. For about a week before Halloween he was constantly taking us to his closet and showing us his costume (and James' costume too). Halloween morning when I told Elliot he could put on his costume, he popped out of bed so fast! Of course that was a Wednesday morning, which also meant that we had outpatient therapy at Sanford and like every other Wednesday morning I woke up late and we were RUSHING to be on time. Elliot was ecstatic about his costume and wore his costume and mask all day long. We didn't do much trick-or-treating but we did do the whole mall thing. Of course it was busy, but not too bad. James got really excited when I'd show him his bucket full of candy. He kept trying to get something  out of there-darn spactisity and tightness.



Being Ironman is hard work



Our Ironman and Spiderman



Watching his own Netflix at the hotel in Rochester



I'm Ironman!



Sleeping on the way home from Rochester





"Ironman has never looked so sexy as he does today"



coloring in the waiting room at Mayo Clinic

November started with a bang-Elliot and I got the stomach flu :( Thankfully we both recovered fast. November 7th we had another appointment with the cochlear implant team at Mayo. So November 6th Elliot, James, and I headed to Rochester. It went well overall and James is hearing well. The only problem is getting him to keep the implant on. If you didn't already know, it sticks to his head by a magnet and he easily knocks it off by turning his head and hitting the implant with his headrest. Sometimes it's accidental, but a lot of times it's on purpse either because he doesn't want it on or he feels like being funny. He definately knows what he's doing though. I tried a surgical tape and it works but James HATES it. I'm moving on to trying to find some liquid adhesives or even possibly the same things they use to keep wigs on. It will be interesting to see what we come up with.

As for our next endeavor, James and I are headed to Philadelphia, PA for some more ABR training next week. We'll fly out on Tuesday and back on Friday. I'm a little nervous for James to fly. I hope he does good. I'm sure security will take us awhile with James' wheelchair, cochlear implant (I do have a card for that) and the excess liquids I need for his medication and Pediasure. Wish us luck!


These are just pictures I could get off my phone-maybe I'll get the good ones off my camera sometime...don't hold your breath though. I'd hate to be responsible for people passing out.