15 years ago today...

I met this crazy, funny, handsome guy {although we really were more kids back then}


and my life has never been the same since!

Head control

I've been talking about head control a lot lately. It's one of the things we are working hard on right now. It will open so many doors for Matthew. And most of the time we work on head control in the sitting position either in the corner of the room or with me holding him on the floor. We've now added his stander to the routine. Also, he spends some tummy time on my tummy...so we're face to face...in the recliner. It gives him incentive to look up if he has something to look at. The other night though, I decided to put him flat on the floor to see if he could overcome gravity. Prior to this, he was always on a wedge or some sort of incline.

Boy was I surprised with the results.
The following pictures were taken in succession over a period of about 90 or so seconds.
I will also preface these pictures by telling you that Matthew is stronger on his left than his right side. Hence the leaning.

Starting to go up: Eyes looking up I guess to see where he's going???

A little farther up....REALLY starting to lean

All the way up...and starting to correct the "lean"

Getting tired and starting to bring his head down.

He's been able to lift his head off the ground (although not quite that far and definately not that long) but he always use to just let it plop when he got tired. This time he ever so slowly let it back down.

I think maybe our hard work and determination may be starting to pay off.

A new stander

Matthew got his new stander in today!! I have been looking forward to having this piece of equipment for a long time.

As soon as we got it home, we set it up in the basement and gave it a whirl.

At first he wasn't very keen about the idea:

But, after many rounds of the song "This is way we comb our hair (and brush our teeth and make the bed, and dress ourselves, {you get the picture}) so early in the morning" , he relaxed and decided he just may be okay with the idea of standing:

And then he decided he REALLY liked it:

..so we decided to add the tray and see what he thought:



And finally I got the bright idea to turn him around and let him watch some TV, and by the looks of his cheering arm in the air, I think he approved.

His first day in his stander he lasted a whole 20 minutes. This will now become part of our daily routine.

{the picture above shows the angle he tolerated for over 15 minutes before he tired out...he's really, really working hard on head control}

We're still around

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here. I think we've figured out the right "recipe" to keep Matthew from vomiting (for the most part). The kids were on spring break last week and we survived...we slept in a lot and played a lot. The very best news this week is this:




It took almost 6 months (in fairness 3 of the months were too cold to look at homes) but it's sold!!!! We are so excited. The family that bought our home is from out of town and their children need to finish the school year, so we plan on closing in June. That is fine with us because it may take us that long to find a house :)

And yes, that is once again SNOW in this picture. Last Thursday it was 60 degrees, and by the next afternoon there was snow falling! Good thing it wasn't much accumulation and it is all but gone after the weekend. Spring has to be just around the corner!

Update

Just a quick little update from our house

• Not much is new. Matthew is on the mend, slowly buy surely. He is off oxygen and his breathing treeatments, but is still coughing a bit and vomits once a day from the amount of mucous he still has. (Sorry if that was TMI)
  

• The house is still on the market. We are having a lot of showings. At least thirty or so. Just in the last week we've had 5 with 2 more on Friday. I'm growing weary of trying to keep the house "perfect" for showings. And some of the feedback we get is pretty ridiculous. Stuff they could have figured out from just looking at our listing. Or we find out, that they're just looking around, and they really aren't ready to purchase a home. That makes me crazy.

• The kids are on spring break next week. That should prove to be interesting; especially given the fact we'll mess the house up faster with everyone home all the time. They are looking forward to the break though.

• Matthew's stander was ordered two weeks ago and should be here any day now. I'm excited to have it, but not so excited to add it to our ever shrinking house. The more equipment we get the smaller the house gets!

That's all I can think of for now...just wanted to let you know we are still here!

Getting ready to split!

We are getting things ready to go home today. Matthew is still sick; but well enough to be at home with me taking care of him again. So in the next hour or so, we will be heading home!!

I sat down and figured out today that out of the last 150 days; Matthew has been hospitalized for 65 of them. That is almost 1/2. No wonder I'm getting sick of sitting in hospitals. I will be glad to get back in my own bed!!