Christmas Pictures

Driving, A Wedding and some ABR

I'm obviously WAAAAYYYY behind on this post. But here's a quick run-down of our summer vacation. We left on a Thursday night. I got off work a little early, but we only got as far as Watertown, SD. That left us with driving all the way to Clarksville, TN the next day. We drove straight south along the border of Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri and then over to Illionois and across Kentucky all in one day. Surprising our kids were amazing in the car. Having the DVD player in the van is a lifesaver for sure. The kids sure do travel well. Saturday we had some fun in the pool before getting ready for my cousin Troy's wedding. It was a great ceremony and we headed over to the reception that had an amazing view! The kids had loads of fun dancing and seeing their cousins. It was also a great chance for Andy and I to visit with some of my relatives that we don't see very often. Sunday we went to church but unfortunately had to get back on the road again right away. We drove to southern Georgia and stayed there a night. Monday we only had a few hours of driving and so we decided to stop at Daytona Beach to see the ocean! Elliot loved all the sand but wanted NOTHING to do with the water. James liked it all. James and I hung out in the sand and a little down by the water-but mostly I just sat on the sand and James laid in my lap and we played in the sand. I thought he might get upset because the sun was so bright but he did awesome. I tried my best to remember to pack everything. Well, I forgot floaties for the water, sunscreen, beach towels and hats!! We remembered Elliot's sunglasses and took a short walk to buy some sunscreen and beach towels...but still forgot to get a hat for James.He got to put his feet in the water and he got his legs covered with sand. Elliot only wanted to make a sandcastle. He also went on a walk with Dad down the beach to look for shells-no luck there. About the time we were leaving it started to rain so we finished up our drive to Ft. Lauderdale where we were headed for some ABR training. ABR training went well. This was Andy's first time. He got to meet the trainers and ask all the questions he'd been asking me for months (but wouldn't believe me when I gave him answers). We learned 6 new exercises. Wow-that's a lot of exercises. Our target is to spend 2 hours a day on James but we're finding it difficult. I am the one who is the most comfortable with ABR and the pushing drive behind it...but I don't see James :( The ABR time I do spend with him is while he's sleeping after I get home from work. We spent 2 days doing ABR and got in a little time in the pool while it wasn't raining. It rained, and I mean rained, all day both days. There were a few flash flood warnings around us. Unfortunately we weren't able to get out and see much because of the rain but just relaxing in the pool and hotel room was ok too. After ABR we headed back to ND. We made it in 2 days! We drove as far as Clarksville, TN the first night and then the rest of the way home the second day. It felt good to be home.

Christmas, Illness, Resolutions and Family

Where does the time go! Here it is December 31, 2012 and I'm still behind. This past year has been a busy year, but an amazing year for our family and James. The most recent development, that most of you probably know, is that James has been in the hospital since December 27. James hadn't been feeling well since a couple of days before Christmas. The Sunday before Christmas James was extremely constipated. We tried all the usual things and even progressed to suppositories but we had limited success. Monday, Chistmas Eve, he started a cough and by the time we were getting ready for midnight mass James was absolutely miserable. We took him to the ER and they gave him an enema and milk of magnesia to help with the constipation. A couple hours later he was successful but the next day he was still feeling pretty crappy. He wasn't too interested in opening presents and started running a fever about 99F. By the time Thursday came around and Tylenol wasn't helping I decided to take him in. His lungs sounded kinda crappy, but the x-ray didn't look too terrible. However, his oxygen saturation levels were in the 80s. They should be close to 100. So he was admitted to the Peds unit at Sanford Children's Hospital here in Fargo. They've mostly just been supporting him with oxygen but they also decided to give him some IV antibiotics. They think it's viral (the flu test was negative) but they like to cover all their bases. He's steadily been doing better. At this point the fever is gone and he's been on oxygen since midnight 12/31/12. They usually want them off oxgen for 24 hours before they discharge them, so hopefully tomorrow James can come home!! Let's keep our fingers crossed.
With the month of December has come lots of traveling and busyness. Because of this, we've been slacking on our work with ABR. That takes me to my first New Year's Resolution (yes I'm doing them!). I want to get in more and more time with ABR and get the most out of this therapy that has been awesome for us and James so far. We'll be heading back to Montreal at the end of February for another session. January is a little busy for us too, but I'm determined to get in lots of hours.
Of course I'm going to be cliche and another one of my resolutions is to lose weight. Since we moved to Fargo in April 2011 I've definately been putting on some weight and this coming fall I'm standing up in one of my best friend's wedding and now I've got the incentive-now I just need to get the get up and go.

Boys with mom and Santa gifts



Opening Presents

Grandma has the magic touch 

Auntie Julie got married 12/21/12

Daddy and James napping on Christmas Eve

Elliot likes to help James open his presents...

Especially when it's stuff he wants!

I think overall in 2013 our whole family is hoping to come together more and learn better how to help each other and not just get through every day, but enjoy it, and enjoy it as a family. Sometimes I think we get so wrapped in every day life of working, school, therapy, house chores etc that we forget we're a part of a family and we're supposed to be enjoying life ando ur ultimate goal is to help each other get to heaven. This next year I'd like to focus more on our family and God. We have lots of hopes and dreams for the future and I like to think that if we trust in God and if it's meant to be, that he'll help see these hopes and dreams come true for our family.