Jessica's Bat Mitzvah

This Saturday my oldest turned 13 yrs old. She had her BAt Mitzvah. She did a fabulous job with her service in the morning and then partied like a rock star that evening. Her are some pictures.

Joey and Jessica

The decorated room. Well half of i.

Me, Jessica and her friends. I'm the cute blonde in the middle. J/K Ok so that cute blonde is Jessica.

How Much Does Joey Understand?

This is the BIG question. How much does Joey understand? I know I have talked about this before, but many of the days we forget.

Everyday Joey does things (very small small things) that show us he understands what we ask of him. These things are so small, yet very consistent that sometimes we question ourselves about how much he really understands. Then every once in awhile he really impresses us with something new or something BIG.

He did this yesterday. When I went to pick him up from school, the teacher had a talker in her hand. She said to me, "Joey has something he would like to say to you." The teacher puts the talker in front of Joey and says to Joey, "go ahead tell her". He then lifted his arm and hit the button. The talker said, "Hello Mommy". He was so proud of himself that he started laughing and then kept hitting the button. Some of you might say "SO, he hit a button". Well normally he would not reach out and touch a button unless you said, "Joey can you reach, reach and touch the button, come on Joey reach, touch". I brought tears to my eyes, reminding me that Joey is there and does have things to say.

Well that was just the start of him impressing me. During his behavioral therapy he impressed me more. We had him in his gait trainer. We are trying to encourage him to walk, but not just walk, walk on command. So at first when we put him in he would take a couple steps. We would reward him with a bit of pudding. Then we started to ask him to take a certain amount of steps (ie. 2 or 4). He would then take the asked amount of steps and stop, then open his mouth and say "UMMMMM", for more pudding. We did this numerous times. Then we decided to step it up a bit. We said if he could walk all the way across the room then he could be done walking and could finish his pudding. So what did he do, he turned his walker around and moved his feet as fast as he could all the way across the room. He reached the end and again stopped, opened his mouth and said "UMMMMM".

I think he likes to keep me on my toes. He wants me to think that he doesn't know much and then BAM! Just reminding me that he is a typical 5yr old inside that brain of his.

I Love You my little man.

New Normal

I am sitting here tonight watching the 33 miners being rescued and boy does it bring many emotions.

When the miners first got trapped and for the first week or so we all sat and watched. We prayed for them and their families. Then we moved on. We somewhat forgot about them because we had our own lives to live. Many of us probably didn't even think what happened to them. Possibly just assumed they were rescued or maybe forgot about them all together. I was one of those people. I forgot about them. Didn't even cross my mind. I moved on with my own life with my own tragedies.

I remember when Joey had his accident. That first day and even that first month everyone was around. It seemed to me that every ones lives around me stopped too. As the second month passed, then the third and fourth, then the first year went by I noticed others around me moved on with their lives. I didn't understand. Why did their lives move on the same way, but mine didn't. Inside I was soooooo mad at everyone. Mad that they got to continue their lives the way they were before my sons accident and my life was still at a stand still. WHY??????

Well I see now. It has been almost four years since Joey's accident. Yeah I know, FOUR YEARS have gone by. My life has found a new normal. It took about 2 years for me to finally move on in life. It was a very painful 2 yrs and most of the time I felt alone. There seemed to be only a small group of mothers who went on the same journey with me who understood.

Today as I sit here and watch the miners being rescued, I watched them hug their families and feel so relieved. Relieved that they get to find a new normal in their lives. AND it makes me feel angry with myself that I was one of those people that moved on with my life at the beginning. Makes me angry that I was mad and upset at the people around me 4 yrs ago that moved on with my life.

BUT today I understand and I am sorry. I'm sorry I don't stop more often and think about others. I am sorry to those that always supported me, sorry to myself for how I felt.

I pray all the miners make it out safe and I pray that it doesn't take to long to find their new normal.

The GOING On's.

Where do I begin without repeating myself too much, ummmmmmmmmmmm?

It has been 5 weeks since school has started for Joey. The first week was rough, new teacher, new aid, new classroom, but now 5 weeks into school Joey is doing great. I had a meeting with Joey's teacher this last week to make sure he was getting what he needed in school. I showed the teacher his ipad, which they are going to start to use. The teacher is also going to ask the school district to get one for Joey in class. He is making a lot of friends and having a great time. He also went on his first field trip. He went to the fair and he took his first bus ride.

Joey also started a new therapy clinic. His therapist is great. After 6 weeks of working with him, she has got it down. His ability to sit with no support is progressing nicely. He sits for an average of 2.5-3 minutes when you just sit him with no stretching or prompts, however when he is stretched and prepared, he can sit any where from 7, 10, 14, to 18 minutes. At therapy last week he sat on a platform swing for 3.5 minutes without falling over. The swing was moving the whole time. He is also starting to really bare weight through his upper arms and elbows. He is talking a lot, no real words besides 'I go', but you can ask him a question and he will babble away. He really loves his music, he wants it playing all the time, he will get fussy if it is not on.

Besides the PT he receives at the new clinic and the therapy he gets at school and behavioral therapy at home he is not receiving any other types of therapy right now. We are taking a break for traveling everywhere. It has been good for the whole family.

As for the rest of us; Jack has been playing football and Jessica cheerleading. Jessica has also been studying really hard for her Bat Mitzvah in two weeks. Both kids have been doing really great in school. Jeremy is working hard and I am finally getting time to do stuff without the kids.

I have posted some pictures and video's here, but will also post more on the following website; www.dropshots.com/fightingjoey