Ready for school??

Today is Sunday. 2 weeks ago, Jack was sporting an ugly fever, was coughing, and had a snotty nose. 1 week ago, the fever was finally gone but our poor boy was still sick, tired, lethargic, and still not eating. Last Thursday, he ate breakfast! And then lunch! And dinner! It was a miracle! So I'm trying to decide if he should go back to school tomorrow. We've never had an illness that lasted that long and the last thing I want to do is send him back to the land of germs. I know he has to go back eventually. I'm considering keeping him home the 2 days that are "big" class days when kids with special needs AND typically developing kids go, and letting hime go the 2 days when it's just sn kids. These past 2 weeks being off school has really only confirmed for me that I hate him going to school at 3 years old. Everyone said oh it'l be great! He'll learn so much! He'll make friends! Well, the reality is it's waaaay more work for me to get him there on time in the morning, I'm hating the germs, his little hands and face are chapped all the time, and it was nice to hang with him and get something done at home.

So, what do I do? Send him all week? Or only "small" class days? Help!!

Better, but not best

As I type, Jack is here on my lap just as he's been for the past 8 days. He's lost weight and has had NO energy at all. He's still coughing and snotty, but today my little man had enough energy to sit on the floor and play with toys for 15 mins before wobbling back over to me, blankie in hand, ready to sit again. And now he's talking to the screen, and when I said "do you want to say hi?" he waved at the computer! Such a sweetie. :) He's finally showing signs of life again! I did call and tell his teacher I'm planning to keep him home this whole week, to give him more time to recover. Who knows - maybe he'll stay home next week too, depending on his energy level. School takes A LOT of energy. In the meantime, we can do flashcards and work on signs here at home. I'm just happy to see some improvement.

Missed it by that much....

(Anyone else a Get Smart fan?)

So yesterday was the anniversary of Jack's open heart surgery. I wrote a post about it last year, click here to read it, because I could have written it today. This is a day that is nearly as important to me as the day he was born. It was the day his life began, again. In my last post, I included a couple of pics of Jack on the day of his surgery, and then 2 days later when he was moved from PICU down to a regular room (exciting day). I promised more pics and never added them, so here they are:

Here's Jack 4 days after surgery, right after getting rid of all the wires that had been stuck to him and before we took him home.

This pic is one week and 2 days after surgery, before the steri-strips had fallen off.

And this is 3 days after that, less than 2 weeks after his poor little chest was cut open, his sternum cracked open, and his heart held in the hand of the surgeon. Amazing.

And here is the most recent pic I could find of Jack's shirtless chest.

Looks good huh? I could look at that face allllll day!

And he's finally feeling better today too. Still coughing but the fever has broken! He wa trying to walk around a bit and sice he really hasn't for the past week - he was sooo wobbly! This coming week is gonna be another week off for recovery I'm thinkin'.

Diet - day 5, Jackson - day 6

The diet is fine. I mean, it's not great, but I truly haven't been hungry. Craving lots of things I can't have of course, but I'm doing it and NOT cheating! I tell you what though, the first cheat thing I get is gonna be a hot fudge sundae from Dairy Queen! YUUUUUUUM! I may have to expand my vegetables; I'm getting really tired of broccoli.

Jack is still sick. His fever is lower, even without Tylenol so that's good. Poor thing is still coughing though. He's tired most of the time but perks up enough that I'm not too worried and know that we just have to ride this out. He whipped out the sign for "apple" when I was enjoying one and I was shocked because we haven't talked about that one in months. He clapped for himself then, and smiled which was nice to see. I'll take a pic of my sweet little guy.

Day 2 of "the diet"

So Randa-Kay has me doing this crazy diet with her. It's not crazy like we're eating weird food or anything like that, it's crazy that I'm doing it! I think her goal is 3 weeks before cheating, mine is 1 week! We have a lot of stuff coming this summer, some traveling, a class reunion, so I decided it's time to try to get rid of some of this excessive weight I've been carrying around. It would probably be easier to lose it by hacking off a limb but that seems painful. I guess technically I did cheat already, but last night I had a cup of coffee, decaf, sugar-free creamer. So in addition to the 8 cups of water that are required, I had an extra! Yay me! I would post a pic but............no.

In Jackson news, he's been sick the past few days. Sat, he coughed a few times, Sun he woke up from nap with a fever, Mon he stil had a fever, cough, snotty nose and was kinda crabby, and this morning he woke up with a fever, still snotty and coughing, and occasionally very crabby. The fever was better though. I'm hopeful that tomorrow will be even better. I think this whole school week however, is a bust. No school Mon, sick Tues and Wed, so what's the point of going on Thurs? We may just take the extra day (assuming he's even well enough for school) to keep recovering. We'll see.

So we had an entire week of school...

and it kinda sucked. We made it though. Only one new thing this week. Jack now wears theratogs to help his hip and knee alignment. His left leg is an itsy bitsy bit shorter than the right, also a little bitty bit weaker. So when he walks, his knee turns out a little tiny bit. We put the theratogs on him a little crookedy toward his left side, and cover his knees so he can walk straighter, and more aligned. I don't have a pic of him wearing them yet, but until I do, you can go see some on Miss Braska's blog to see what they look like. It's the blue stretchy thing Miss B is wearing around her jeans. Kind of a pain in the patootie, but if it helps our little man, we gotta go for it.

In other Jackson news, he's all caught up with his shots as of today. Yeah, he was behind. Who knew? Not me, apparently. I got a call from the school nurse saying his records weren't complete, so I called the ped who agreed. He got 2 shots, and didn't cry. The nurse said he was the best behaved 3 yr old she'd had all day. What a sweetie. After the first shot, he signed "all done". The nurse said, "no, one more" and he let her turn him around, give another shot, and signed "all done" again. This time she laughed and signed it back. I have never had a bad experience out in public, dealing with people, with this boy. How I love him.

Where is this month going??

Time is moving fast, or maybe I'm just getting older. Hmm. Don't like that!

Everytime I come to our blog, I spend more time reading everyone else's blog, than adding to ours. You guys are so articulate, and funny, and inspiring! How can I not love it?! So in addition to all the usual New Years Resolutions (you know, organize the house, lose weight and get healthy, blah, blah, blah), I'm going to try a little harder to be a better blogger. Not that you're all out there dying for my next update (that made me laugh) but because I started this to keep track of Jack's progress and also the stuff that goes on here at our house. And I wanted a place to remind me of everything that I'm grateful for in this life. There's a lot and I need to keep remembering that.

Since this is my first post in 2010, it's a new start for me. Yay me!

Jack - is such a joy! I can give him a bowl of cereal with milk and he can use his spoon to eat almost all of it by himself! He needs help with the last few bites. But I can even walk away for a minute and not worry he'll dump the whole thing! He eats good (well??). Still have to make a dentist appt. He goes to school 4 1/2days a week, runs, is gong up and down the steps on his feet (not alternating yet), is matching objects and identifying things by us asking with words and signs. He still only says "Daddy" but we're working on words, and his signing is really moving. If I would make more of an effort, I know he'd have lots more. He loves hats, and his blankie, and talking on the phone (or calculator, or remote, or anything that fits in his hand and he can hold to his ear). He's developing a love for Holly, and wants to sit by her and pet her all the time. I'm not sure she's as happy about this development. I'm still nervous about his AOI but I'm trying to put that at the back of my mind for now, just keeping my eye on his activities.

Family - we've had a good time together over the past few weeks. Wait 'til I get off the computer - we're gonna go start cleaning the basement. We won't be liking each other after that! Still working on getting Andrew his license but this weather really is no good for driving practice. Madelyn has been babysitting for a friend down the street (who has a son with Ds!) and enjoying her new phone. My sweet boy Tyler is just that. He generally listens well, but needs a nudge to do his homework.

Today I'm grateful for - my family, of course, and my super duper friends! The kids had a snow day yesterday and Randa-Kay brought her girls over to hang out. We baked some yummy desert-y stuff (Thanks, M!) and drove RK loopy trying to get some ringtones on our cellphones. M and T kept all the little kids busy which was super amazing to me. Ty is soooo good with the little ones. We had such a nice, lazy day. And we have a warm house to live in, food to eat, our bills are paid, and we're all healthy and together. Really, do you need more than that?

Here's a few more things I'm grateful for:
New tile in my kitchen. A Christmas gift from Al's parents LAST year! We got it done before this Christmas though!

The best kids in the world!

Hangin with Grandpa! How cute is that?

Look at these cuties and their matching jammies!