Happy New Year

Happy New Years everyone. I pray that you have a blessed 2011.

What a year it has been. It had its share of bumps but was also filled with blessings and so much to be thankful for. Life is such a gift and we are grateful for every second.

A special thank you to all of our friends and family who have followed our journey this year.
Lots of love, smiles, and hugs from Junior(me to)

Now for a quick update on Junior's day.
He had a great morning and enjoyed hanging out with Abigail.

Not sure what they were watching/playing on the ipad but it must have been exciting. They were opening Junior's day gift while watching.

Abigail had gotten Junior this Santa Cruz shirt for Christmas and was so pleased to see him try it. They match. Late this morning Mellisa came by so I ran out to do a few errands. Not long after I left I got a call to tell me Junior was crying and needed to talk to me. Once I got on the phone with him and got him calmed down we figured out that his feet hurt. When I got home he was in his recliner with Abigail and feeling much better. A snuggle always makes you feel better.
Poor guy had a tough time this afternoon. His asthma was acting up and his feet hurt. Junior was crying and I asked him what was wrong. I was told "I hurt, it is my head, I need a treatment, my feet hurt".
He is some better this evening but isn't wanting to do much. His feet seem to be causing him more discomfort with this recent cast change.

Shriners and Another Week of Casts

We had to be at Shriners first thing this morning to have Junior's casts taken off. They checked his progress and found that his right leg is right where they want it. His left leg is tighter and it needs a bit longer in the casts. His new AFOs are not ready yet so both legs went back into casts for another week. Junior did okay at the visit. He smiled, giggled, and, talked while his casts were removed but getting a new pair put on was a different matter. He picked out his new cast color, then they started putting on the new casts and the tears began to roll. Poor guy, not his idea of a good time.
Junior chose black for his casts this time. I wonder if I can find a white or silver marker for Abby to use on them
After the casts were on Junior was back to his smiling self. We met with the OT to discuss night time splinting options for Junior's wrists. His wrists rotate outwards when he is relaxing. At this point we can stretch them and get them straight but we want to prevent them from getting worse. I pray he tolerates them well tonight.
Here he is as we were getting home from Shriners. Junior didn't want to get out of his chair until he finished his show(he had been watching it on the way home). So nice to have his ipad attached to his chair like that.

This evening Abby came over and Junior was so excited. He hadn't seen her since before Christmas and couldn't wait to show her all his stuff.

Junior has had a great week so far. Very happy and energetic even with a fairly sever asthma episode yesterday. We plan on staying in and relaxing for New Years. I think an evening of games, books, and, movies will be just right.
Happy New Years!!!

Solar System

During stander time today Junior wanted to put together his new solar system.
He got a little upset when he thought he wasn't getting to help enough with the construction and told me "I want to do it myself".
Snuggled up in his recliner watching tv this evening.

Our Christmas Day

Christmas eve Junior was up late and so excited. We read the Christmas story and he watched the Polar Express then I finally got him to bed about 11pm. He kept insisting that I open his curtains. In the morning that is the first thing we do when it is time to get up so he thought if he could convince me to open them he could get up and open gifts. After his late night he ended up sleeping until after 8am on Christmas morning.
As soon as he woke up he checked out his stocking but then had to have his morning treatments.
We got all but his tobi done and then moved out to the living room to open his gifts. I had his ipad programed and ready to go.
He loved being able to ask for his presents
Here he was asking for help opening his gift
Junior LOVES Knight Rider After a couple gifts we had to pause for his Tobi so he got to choose what he wanted to watch during the treatment.
He watched for a few minutes but then got impatient and turned around to his ipad to tell me he wanted another gift. It is so hard to be patient on Christmas so we opened one during his neb.
Then he was content to hold his new movie and watch Knight Rider until his tobi was done.

Ever since we did the unit on space a few months ago in school Junior has been totally into all things space. I was laughing at his reaction when he opened this book.
Look at that mouth, he was so excited and hollering for me to OPEN it so he could see.
Then when the rocket popped out he seemed to think it was going to fly right over his head.
At lunch time Mellisa and her husband and a friend came by and we had a nice time. Lots of yummy food and fun conversation. Junior was upset that Abby couldn't be here but loved the gift she left for him. She will be back New Years Eve and he can't wait. Sorry, no pics of our company. Mellisa had just had a dental procedure and her hubby had, had a medical procedure so though we had a nice time no one was feeling up to much.
Junior sends a big hug and thank you to his parents for his cool wii game. He can't wait to try it out.
Calling Grandma and Papa to tell them Merry Christmas and thank them for his gift. This kid thinks he needs to talk on the phone allllll the time now.

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!!! Junior was so silly and got very excited when I told him that this book would scare Mellisa.
Relaxing after his busy day
Junior's asthma kicked in during the late afternoon as the weather got worse and worse. Finally the rain started pouring down and soon after that he got some relief. By bedtime he was much better and able to sleep.
Today he can't wait to play with his new stuff, watch movies, and have fun.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, God bless.


I have so many more pics of him using the ipad during his Christmas day activities but will be posting those over on his ipad blog(sometime in the next few days).

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!!! Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed day.
We had a very nice day and I will share all about it tomorrow.

Here is Junior this morning with his stocking.
Telling me he wants to open his presents(actually he was asking to open his next present)
We are off to bed but I will be sure to post lots of Christmas pictures tomorrow.

Baking, Painting,Ipad Accessibility, & Asthma

This morning we woke up to some sunshine which is something we haven't seen in over a week. Junior took one look out his window and wanted to go outside right away. It was chilly but no wind so we headed out for a walk.
When we got back home it was stander time and Junior had fun baking a cake(with a bit of help)
Of course according to Junior no day of Christmas break is complete without doing some kind of craft project.
The clouds are coming back in this evening and Junior's asthma is flaring up. Not horrible but enough to cause a problem. Our plans for game time had to be put off for another day and instead we watched a Christmas movie.

A package arrived tonight which we have been eagerly awaiting. There is a new company called Handeholder which makes a holder for the ipad along with stands and other items for the ipad. I had contacted them about the possibility of an extender arm being attached to their holder which would allow the ipad to be placed at eye level for Junior. I was so very impressed by their response and willingness to jump in and help. Tonight we received the prototype of the extender arm with the stand and are giving it a try. Junior is not up to being in his wheel chair because of his asthma so for now we attached it to a bar stool so Junior can see the ipad while in his recliner. Junior absolutely loves being able to see the screen at the correct angle. In fact I tried to take it to try attaching it to his wheel chair and he got very upset(so we will give that a try tomorrow). We will be trying the stands(with and without the extender arm depending on the situation) over the next few days in all of his equipment. I will be sure to share pics and let everyone know how they work out.
A huge thank you to Mike at Handeholder for working to make the ipad much more accessible for Junior.
Now for a few pictures of Junior with his ipad and handeholder with stand.
This is at its shortest setting, if you rotate the top portion of the stand you get about 3-4 more inches of height. Also I viewed the video on their website which shows how to adapt the cover for use with the holder. The flap over the top is just the front of the ipad cover.