So here we are today :) (do you like my short version of the last two months!)
We rented a car to get to St. Charles again this time because our van is still broken :( The car ride here sucked. I definitely got spoiled to my minivan! There is no room in a Cobalt! And the visors are pointless and block no sun. But I still managed to sleep and so did the boys. We ate breakfast at McDonald's. While Mattie and Dad were playing in the play place (totally disgusting) I was asking Grant where the light was. He kept looking up and forming his lips to say the "L" sound. Finally he said "li" and he said it three or four more times!! I was so excited!
Session 1: Grant did Ah-mazing!! He played with Chad the entire hour. Chad actually had to give him back at 5 til so he could work with his neck. He had him side sitting and going from sitting to all fours. He had him working on arching his back and sticking his tummy out. He was also sitting on his knees playing with me. Oh and we were playing catch rolling the ball back and forth! :)
Session 2: Grant didn't do so well at all this session. He only took about a 25 min nap which was no good. I pretty much held him the entire time. Chad still got to work with him but it was while I was holding him. He did have him pushing off the mirror which worked on being flat footed and bearing weight on his heal. Other than that it wasn't all that good. :( Oh well he's allowed a bad session every now and then!
After that we checked in at our hotel! Finally a great hotel for a great price and a friendly staff!! I'm so happy!! And they have an indoor poor open til 11pm so Matthew was happy :) And it's right down the road from Chad so we are happy too. We went to a car show with awesome older cards. Then we got dinner at Subway and had a picnic by the river then walked downtown. While there Grant Man saw a dog and said "dog" but without the "G" sound. Again he said it three or four times! We came back and went swimming in the freezing pool. Well Grant and I sat and watched Dad and Matthew swim. Ryan was freezing and so was Matthew but that didn't keep him from jumping in over and over again! :) Right now we are all cuddled up ready to hit the hay! Well Dad is trying to get the bib from Grant who is cracking up everytime he says "let go!" I love my life! Good night all!!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
We Have Amazing Friends!
One thing I absolutely have to share with you is how amazing our friends and Grant's Godparents are!!!
I got a phone call from my best friend, Teresa, asking if I had heard form the Royal's. I wonder if I sounded as confused as I felt. She said that Matt (her husband) had nominated me for the Buck O'Neil seats (again long story short a huge honor!). He nominated me because of everything I've done for Grant and for starting up Grant's Giving Hands.
So on September 20th if you get the Royal's games watch in the bottom of the 3rd to see my family and amazing friends as we not only celebrate Matthew's 3rd birthday but celebrate such a huge honor!!
Thanks Matt and Teresa you guys are awesome! :)
I got a phone call from my best friend, Teresa, asking if I had heard form the Royal's. I wonder if I sounded as confused as I felt. She said that Matt (her husband) had nominated me for the Buck O'Neil seats (again long story short a huge honor!). He nominated me because of everything I've done for Grant and for starting up Grant's Giving Hands.
So on September 20th if you get the Royal's games watch in the bottom of the 3rd to see my family and amazing friends as we not only celebrate Matthew's 3rd birthday but celebrate such a huge honor!!
Thanks Matt and Teresa you guys are awesome! :)
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Oh My!!
I want to extend a huge apology! There has been so so much going on that I complete forgot about updating this blog!!
There has been a lot going on since I last updated in June! Grant is doing great!! He gained 5 oz in June then lost 5 in July but then in August he gained 10 oz!!! Yes 10 oz! He is a growing boy!
On our trip in July for ABM our van broke down a little over half way there. Engine blew! That was a trip like no other. Needless to say Grant's sessions didn't go so great! :(
Fast forward to now Grant is doing amazing. He is working so hard at so much! His stranger anxiety is getting so much better!
Now that is a long story very short version of what's been going on with us. From now on I promise to at least update once a week :)
There has been a lot going on since I last updated in June! Grant is doing great!! He gained 5 oz in June then lost 5 in July but then in August he gained 10 oz!!! Yes 10 oz! He is a growing boy!
On our trip in July for ABM our van broke down a little over half way there. Engine blew! That was a trip like no other. Needless to say Grant's sessions didn't go so great! :(
Fast forward to now Grant is doing amazing. He is working so hard at so much! His stranger anxiety is getting so much better!
Now that is a long story very short version of what's been going on with us. From now on I promise to at least update once a week :)
Thursday, June 30, 2011
ABM Day 3 for June
Ahh...well we are home at last! It's always hard to post day 3 at the end of day 3! Everyone is sleeping and I'm already watching kiddos! :) Welcome home, huh! Day 3 went as expected but I am still so pleased!
Session 1: went about the same as all the other sessions! Grant went right to Chad and played the hour away! Worked on all the same things. He is getting fast at getting those legs going! Chad said his hands will catch up. And I can already tell. We were playing with him last night and usually I have to rotate his butt to get his hands up and several times he did it right away on his own!
Session 2: not so great! But then again this session never is! By the 6th session in three days Grant Man is just exhausted! He last about 30-40 minutes and then was fussy from then on. We were still able to distract him and Chad was still able to work with him it just took a lot to do so!
I am so incredibly proud of my Grant Man! He continues to amaze me every time we go to his ABM!! It seems to take about a week or two to really start seeing the results and I can't wait! I have no doubt in my mind he will be getting around within a month or two and I have no doubt in my mind he will eventually walk!
Now we are left with a decision...Stay with the 3 days/6 sessions every 4-5 weeks or go to 2 days/4 sessions every 2-3 weeks. Hmm...guess we will see what Ryan's job has to say about that!
Session 1: went about the same as all the other sessions! Grant went right to Chad and played the hour away! Worked on all the same things. He is getting fast at getting those legs going! Chad said his hands will catch up. And I can already tell. We were playing with him last night and usually I have to rotate his butt to get his hands up and several times he did it right away on his own!
Session 2: not so great! But then again this session never is! By the 6th session in three days Grant Man is just exhausted! He last about 30-40 minutes and then was fussy from then on. We were still able to distract him and Chad was still able to work with him it just took a lot to do so!
I am so incredibly proud of my Grant Man! He continues to amaze me every time we go to his ABM!! It seems to take about a week or two to really start seeing the results and I can't wait! I have no doubt in my mind he will be getting around within a month or two and I have no doubt in my mind he will eventually walk!
Now we are left with a decision...Stay with the 3 days/6 sessions every 4-5 weeks or go to 2 days/4 sessions every 2-3 weeks. Hmm...guess we will see what Ryan's job has to say about that!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
ABM Day 2 for June
Another day done and we are all EXHAUSTED!! Day two went pretty good I guess...
Session 1: Went same as yesterday which I was so happy about! Grant went to Chad after about 5 minutes and was with him the entire time! He worked on everything he did yesterday and is already showing improvements! He is reaching and grabbing is so good. He's keeping his hand open and everything!
Session 2: Not as great! It didn't help Grant Man was so tired because he decided to only take a 20 minute nap. He went right to Chad as soon as we got in the room but he only lasted about 45 minutes before I had to take over. He still was able to get him down on the table and work with him which is great with me!
After the second session we went swimming which Grant LOVED! He was squealing and screeching like crazy! Matthew had a blast, too, jumping into Ryan and "swimming" :) Anxious to see what tomorrow brings!
Session 1: Went same as yesterday which I was so happy about! Grant went to Chad after about 5 minutes and was with him the entire time! He worked on everything he did yesterday and is already showing improvements! He is reaching and grabbing is so good. He's keeping his hand open and everything!
Session 2: Not as great! It didn't help Grant Man was so tired because he decided to only take a 20 minute nap. He went right to Chad as soon as we got in the room but he only lasted about 45 minutes before I had to take over. He still was able to get him down on the table and work with him which is great with me!
After the second session we went swimming which Grant LOVED! He was squealing and screeching like crazy! Matthew had a blast, too, jumping into Ryan and "swimming" :) Anxious to see what tomorrow brings!
Monday, June 27, 2011
ABM for June!
We should've known when the day started out with rain the entire drive that today would've turned into what it did! The boys slept the whole way which was a first. We went to the mall to kill time and get Grant Man a good breakfast before his 1st session.
Session 1: We walked in and there was hardly even any lip puckering! We went in the Chad and I held him for all of 5 minutes. Chad said "Grant do you want to play with toys?" Grant smiled his big smile and made his noise that sounds like "Yea". Chad said "Well you have to come with me and mom will get you some toys." So Chad took Grant and I got toys and Chad had him the rest of the time!!! He had Grant sitting then going from sitting to laying on his side to tummy to working on crawling!! HE HAD GRANT ON THE TABLE!!! This is a HUGE step! Grant doesn't lay anywhere unfamiliar he even cries sometimes on our floor changing his diaper. So to get Grant to lay on the table and work with him was amazing! I was in shock!!
Session 2: I never imagined this session could've gone as good or better but sure enough it did! Again it wasn't even 5 minutes of me holding him and off to Chad he went! It was the same thing this session only this time he did such an amazing job with what Chad was working on. When going from sitting to hands and knees he was putting his hand down every time to support himself. Chad had Grant on kneeling and kept saying "we are going to go down on your hands now" and Grant would put his hands down. He was grabbing toys like crazy. He even got up great on hands and knees and held it for about 15 seconds. Then when working on crawling his arms still did the same as always but instead of when brings his legs up underneath him they frog out he was actually bringing them up underneath him the way he should for crawling!
I couldn't have been happier with how today went. Afterwards Grant was talking so much and making so many more sounds than normal. BUT....
That's when it all went south. Not for Grant...he's still sitting here chatting away! No instead when we got to our hotel that we have been staying at (who helped us out a great deal and only charges us $30 per night) we find out that the owners have been putting people in rooms with mold and mildew so bad it's making them sick. So she said she refused to let us stay there because she has kids and she couldn't consciously let us do that! So she sent us down to the Super8 after calling them and asking for a king size bed and that they give us the same rate they were. Well we get here and they are charging us $60 for a queen bed for the four of us to sleep in and we can't discuss the rate until tomorrow morning when the property manager is in. Okay fine we will be finding somewhere else to stay tomorrow!! THEN...we go to Culver's to eat (because we now have no fridge or microwave for food) and there is a balloon artist doing balloon animals which was cute and Matthew loved but then this annoying lady and her annoying little boy decided to sit down at the table behind us and talk to us the entire time we tried to eat! Seriously just let eat!! Ugh...so hopefully we can find someone willing to work with us on price but I doubt it! But with Grant it was a great day and everything else not so much!
Session 1: We walked in and there was hardly even any lip puckering! We went in the Chad and I held him for all of 5 minutes. Chad said "Grant do you want to play with toys?" Grant smiled his big smile and made his noise that sounds like "Yea". Chad said "Well you have to come with me and mom will get you some toys." So Chad took Grant and I got toys and Chad had him the rest of the time!!! He had Grant sitting then going from sitting to laying on his side to tummy to working on crawling!! HE HAD GRANT ON THE TABLE!!! This is a HUGE step! Grant doesn't lay anywhere unfamiliar he even cries sometimes on our floor changing his diaper. So to get Grant to lay on the table and work with him was amazing! I was in shock!!
Session 2: I never imagined this session could've gone as good or better but sure enough it did! Again it wasn't even 5 minutes of me holding him and off to Chad he went! It was the same thing this session only this time he did such an amazing job with what Chad was working on. When going from sitting to hands and knees he was putting his hand down every time to support himself. Chad had Grant on kneeling and kept saying "we are going to go down on your hands now" and Grant would put his hands down. He was grabbing toys like crazy. He even got up great on hands and knees and held it for about 15 seconds. Then when working on crawling his arms still did the same as always but instead of when brings his legs up underneath him they frog out he was actually bringing them up underneath him the way he should for crawling!
I couldn't have been happier with how today went. Afterwards Grant was talking so much and making so many more sounds than normal. BUT....
That's when it all went south. Not for Grant...he's still sitting here chatting away! No instead when we got to our hotel that we have been staying at (who helped us out a great deal and only charges us $30 per night) we find out that the owners have been putting people in rooms with mold and mildew so bad it's making them sick. So she said she refused to let us stay there because she has kids and she couldn't consciously let us do that! So she sent us down to the Super8 after calling them and asking for a king size bed and that they give us the same rate they were. Well we get here and they are charging us $60 for a queen bed for the four of us to sleep in and we can't discuss the rate until tomorrow morning when the property manager is in. Okay fine we will be finding somewhere else to stay tomorrow!! THEN...we go to Culver's to eat (because we now have no fridge or microwave for food) and there is a balloon artist doing balloon animals which was cute and Matthew loved but then this annoying lady and her annoying little boy decided to sit down at the table behind us and talk to us the entire time we tried to eat! Seriously just let eat!! Ugh...so hopefully we can find someone willing to work with us on price but I doubt it! But with Grant it was a great day and everything else not so much!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Is It Ignorance Or Just Plain Rude?
I had my first moment of I could have kicked someone's butt over a comment made! I am usually pretty relaxed and understanding about comments or questions...even the dreaded "I'm so sorry" but there are some comments that even I can't handle!
We were at Ryan's (and my dad and my brother's :) ) softball game yesterday and I had Grant standing. His legs managed to get a little crossed and usually I fixed it but I didn't this time. Well this girl that comes (that talks about everyone!) was talking to another girl and said "That's how my dogs back legs are." At first I thought just ignore it. Well then she went on to say "That kid is just chilling but my dog can't uncross his legs."
My first thought then was did she really just compare my son to her DOG!! Really?!! I don't care if a child has a disability or not you don't compare any child to a dog!!!! Second was instant rage!!!!!!! My son is just chilling? JUST CHILLING!!! Oh listen here...how I would love for my son to just be chilling! I didn't know what to do so I got up and walked away! My mom was playing catch with my nephew so I went and told her. I was enraged to the point that I was shaking and about to cry (not sad tears...angry tears)!!! My mom was immediately enraged to. She went over to the girl and said "Before you compare a child to your dog maybe you should understand the circumstances. My grandson has cerebral palsy so no he wasn't just chilling he can't uncross his legs either!" To which the girl replied "Oh that's not what I meant." Not what you meant are you kidding me!!! If that's not what you meant then I would love to know what you did mean!! It wasn't long before she got up and left (trying to find any way out but to walk by us. Too bad that was the only way out!) But to not even come up and apologize is just inconsiderate!!!
But then after I got home I was mad at myself! I reason with myself saying that I didn't say anything to the girl because I was so mad I didn't want to say anything the boys shouldn't hear me say! I didn't want them to see me like that or to hear my say something that I would never want to hear them say. But then the more I thought about it the more my heart hurts because I didn't stand up for my son. Was I right to walk away and not say anything or should I have said something even if it came out nasty? I feel like in some way I have let Grant down! I know there are more comments in his lifetime that will be made and I hope next time I handle it with more confidence!
Needless to say if you see a child that is crossing his legs or yelling out or shaking or not holding his hands like he should...please watch what you say because you never know what is going on in that child or parent's life!
We were at Ryan's (and my dad and my brother's :) ) softball game yesterday and I had Grant standing. His legs managed to get a little crossed and usually I fixed it but I didn't this time. Well this girl that comes (that talks about everyone!) was talking to another girl and said "That's how my dogs back legs are." At first I thought just ignore it. Well then she went on to say "That kid is just chilling but my dog can't uncross his legs."
My first thought then was did she really just compare my son to her DOG!! Really?!! I don't care if a child has a disability or not you don't compare any child to a dog!!!! Second was instant rage!!!!!!! My son is just chilling? JUST CHILLING!!! Oh listen here...how I would love for my son to just be chilling! I didn't know what to do so I got up and walked away! My mom was playing catch with my nephew so I went and told her. I was enraged to the point that I was shaking and about to cry (not sad tears...angry tears)!!! My mom was immediately enraged to. She went over to the girl and said "Before you compare a child to your dog maybe you should understand the circumstances. My grandson has cerebral palsy so no he wasn't just chilling he can't uncross his legs either!" To which the girl replied "Oh that's not what I meant." Not what you meant are you kidding me!!! If that's not what you meant then I would love to know what you did mean!! It wasn't long before she got up and left (trying to find any way out but to walk by us. Too bad that was the only way out!) But to not even come up and apologize is just inconsiderate!!!
But then after I got home I was mad at myself! I reason with myself saying that I didn't say anything to the girl because I was so mad I didn't want to say anything the boys shouldn't hear me say! I didn't want them to see me like that or to hear my say something that I would never want to hear them say. But then the more I thought about it the more my heart hurts because I didn't stand up for my son. Was I right to walk away and not say anything or should I have said something even if it came out nasty? I feel like in some way I have let Grant down! I know there are more comments in his lifetime that will be made and I hope next time I handle it with more confidence!
Needless to say if you see a child that is crossing his legs or yelling out or shaking or not holding his hands like he should...please watch what you say because you never know what is going on in that child or parent's life!
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