Exciting things happening

I know it has been a while since I posted. We have been super busy and I've felt icky, I guess the pollen. I went to bed early 2 nights and that is when I usually do my posting. So much has been going on and I need to do about 3 posts but I'll just give you the best news tonight!!

We changed Asa PT up again. I needed to free up some time. We've been going 2 days a week for 30 minutes each and while Asa has benefited, it is hard. With summer coming up I didn't want to be gone 3 days in a row for therapy. So we bumped him back up to a single, 45 minute session. We'll see how it goes but I hope Asa's able to give us some good work and not tire out.

So today we went to PT. Asa has loved to be up and walking and he walked part of the way into the therapy gym. Walked, with support, of course. But Ms. Nancy had a little walker out for him to try. I admit, I wasn't a believer it would work. What do you think? Do you think he held onto that little walker? Did he grin so big and start stepping? Did he push the walker out in front of him with very little support? Did Asa do it......

YEP!! He took right off! At his best, Ms. Nancy was only holding him by the back of his pants!!!! He went back and forth across the therapy gym 3 times. And how amazing that I had my camera with me! He got tired and I'm not sure how long he could go but I was amazed at his first try!!

Some other good things, Gracie got her hair cut off. Ball season has started. Gracie played 2 games Sat. and one tonight. They lost 1 and won 2. Cade played one game on Sat. They won. Asa saw the ped for a well-child (I could do a whole post on that in itself!). Dr. Woods was impressed with his progress! Some bloodwork came back good, still I can't help but question.

We are having a yard sale this weekend. Hopefully we get enough to cover our trip to Houston.

So see it's been crazy here!!! And it doesn't look to be ending anytime soon!

A pump free day

Sounds good right! Well, hold on for the rest of the story!!

I thought I'd try feeding Asa breakfast this morning. I do this occasionally! Really, I try applesauce or yogurt or cream of wheat. He usually refuses. This morning he was OK though. He ate a whole applesauce but wouldn't drink anything. I had to use some trickery to get him to eat but nothing too overboard, just some singing and dancing and he fed me.....what that isn't normal?! It only took 45 min. for him to eat 4oz of applesauce!

Then for lunch I thought I'd really push it! I went to the pantry to see what kind of torture I could find! I found a Gerber meal with ravioli and green beans. Well, the green beans would be a no go with an oral sensitive kid. Have you ever thought about green beans. They have that stringy kind of part. Plus the bean separates from the pod. You have 2 different tastes and textures in your mouth at the same time. Plus they aren't all that good when they don't have the butter and salt and stuff! Sorry, I probably just ruined green beans for some people!

Anyway, the ravioli won. I heated it and fork mashed 3-4 raviolis and put them in an applesauce container (cause that is a preferred dish!). Then I got out another applesauce. I poured 1/2 a bottle of Pedisure into a straw sippy (that he'd already refused today) and to the highchair we go!! I could have cooked a 7 course meal in the time it took me to prepare one for Asa that he'd likely refuse....but on we go!

He really liked the Pedisure this time. He drank that 1/2 cup so I refilled. He ate the applesauce and I slipped in bites of ravioli in between. I wouldn't say he hated the ravioli but he wasn't to sure about it. He ate most of the little bit I mushed up. It was a HUGE texture jump so I'm just glad he only gagged twice!!

So even though it was much more work than the pump, he was doing pretty good. Sure he was low on fluids and calories but it was ok. Then after school! He would only eat a yogurt, no drink at all, no Pedisure or juice. I was growing concerned but not too bad. Something upset him and he got gaggy and sick so I vented him and he crashed out on the couch. When he woke up he was CRANKY!! So clingy and needy. He wouldn't drink or eat. About 5, Barry fed him a sippy of Pedisure and he gulped it down and wanted more. He drank most of this down too. But almost immediately he puked it all back up on Barry!

It really just went downhill from there. He was ill and wanted nothing and everything. He cried and fussed and fussed and cried! He wanted up and then down.

It was finally 8pm and Barry gave him another cup of Pedisure. He drank it and played for a minute or two before wanting to be held and not held again. Finally Barry just put him in bed! He was happy and quiet then! We were all happy and quiet!!

So even though he was pump free, I can't call it a success! It was exhausted and by the afternoon, nobody was having fun!! I'll not try this routine again. I see the flaws in my plan. And I really didn't have a plan. I was just gonna try breakfast and then somehow I decided to press my luck!

Tomorrow we go back to 8oz of Pedisure at 500ml/hour at 8, 11:30, 2:30, snack at 5 and bottle of Pedisure before bed! Why rock the boat?! Who needs the pressure and stress?! Yeah, your right, I'll be right back at it tomorrow. It isn't a party until he pukes!!

On a completely different note.....thank you all for the comments and emails about the post yesterday. God just really laid it all out there for me to see so clearly and I'm glad it touched so many of you as well!

Plans, hope and a future

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I'm a planning person. I WAS a planning person! Then I was surprised. We didn't plan for Asa, he was a surprise to everyone but God! Then once I got settled into the thought of this "surprise", the surprise came with surprises!! That is when it become harder to plan!!

In the early, really tough days (mostly the nights!) I tried to plan and reason why Asa was suffering. What could I do about it? How could we fix it? There sure weren't baby books on any of the stuff we were going through, we had no plan! Even the plans we would make would go sour. That made the plans even worse!

So one day God gave me this verse of scripture! It has become my life verse! I have no idea what the plan is now but someone better does! God has a plan for Asa, for me, for our family! It sure isn't the one we thought we were on but it is a plan of more than I could ever ask for or imagine!!

So, I was delighted when our pastor started preaching from these verses this morning! Cause, you know, I got this verse figured out, right!! I could get an A++ if we had a test after the service! Well, turns out there is more to this verse and guess what, it fits into my life even better now!!

This verse was given to the prophet Jeremiah, by God, for the exiled people of Israel. You see, they had been taken to a foreign land, against their will. They were in a strange and unfamiliar land. In Jer. 29:4-7, God tells the people to "settle down" in this new land, to continue to "marry" and "increase in numbers" (which is basically "go on with life"), to "seek peace" and "prosperity of the city to which I have carried you". The end of verse 7 says "because if it (the city) prospers, you too will prosper"!

Wow, that spoke to me! My mind jumped right to the poem "Welcome to Holland". I wasn't given a choice to be in this land of special needs parenting. And I resisted at first. I prayed that I'd wake up in the morning and it would all be a bad dream. I prayed the supplements would amazingly "cure" Asa's tone and one day he'd just start to sit up and crawl and walk. I eagerly went to appts and sought out the experts and advice, just knowing we'd find a magic combo that got us out of Holland and on the first flight to Italy! Then one night, I decided maybe God knew what He was doing when He put us in Holland. Maybe Holland isn't so bad if we just used the guidebook God gave us. You see, it applies to Holland or Italy or any other country!

And while I didn't throw out the regular handbook and I still flip through my Italy tour guide occasionally, I have come to love Holland! And you remember the part about prospering the city you are in.....there are some amazing families that make Holland rock! You might look at a special needs family and feel pity but let me tell you, I know some awesome families who would pity a "normal" family! By sharing info and tips and ideas, not to mention the amazing support and love, we make the special needs community prosper. Not whither away in some corner. Just look at Morgan's Wonderland....talk about prosper! Maybe Walt and Co. should look out!!

I love it when I get a familiar passage of scripture and learn something new. Something relevant for me, for now! There is a ton more stuff I could say about this scripture. I could go on about how the Israelites were banished and suffered to be molded for a better, higher purpose. I could go on to talk about how the struggles and trials of life only make us rely on God more and better us for His kingdom. I could mention that many suffer more than we do and God cares and sees their pain and needs, and He has a plan for them too.

But it is just enough to rest in the idea that I don't have to make the plans anymore. That part is taken care of, all I have to do is follow the map! And at the end is prosperity, hope and a future! That is enough for me tonight.