Joey's Quilt

4 Years ago right after Joey's accident I joined the most wonderful support group; Parents of Near Drowns. There are so many wonderful families in this group that have and are going through the same things I'm going through with Joey. One of the members in the group however does not have a near drowning child, but loves our kids so much and wanted to do something for our children to make their lives better. She and a couple women joined together to start Circle of Hope. Circle of Hope makes very special handmade quilts for our kids. Although over time I believe that it is just her making these quilts now. So 4 years ago she put Joey's name down on the quilt list and yesterday in the mail I received his quilt. When she first put Joey's name of the list she asked me what his favorite things are. So the quilt was made especially for Joey.

Thank you Kate for Joey's quilt. It is one of the most amazing gifts ever.

The front of Joey's Quilt. Theme Trucks

Back of Joey's Quilt

I'm Still Figuring It Out.

My Body. I'm still figuring out my body.

4 years ago I found my head control, then found my legs soon after that. Slowly over the years my brain has reconnected to my toes and hips and shoulders and elbows and mouth. Ok well you get my point. My arms just like my eyes have taken the longest, but are slowly finding the new connections. The connection to move my arms have been hard to find. However long the road has been it is finally showing me those connections are reestablishing (kindergarten has taught me these big words, nice UH). When I would try and reach to touch something I had to use my whole body. My whole body would tense up and start to go into extension. Then my arm would barely move. I have been working so hard to just move my arm and reach. Well yesterday I was finally able to do it. I was able to lift my arm up, extend and reach to touch my talking button without going into extension. But the really cool part is that I didn't just lift my arm up like I normal do, I EXTENDED (reached out, for those of you that haven't gone to kindergarten yet) it out and touched the button.

Anyways, my teacher told my mommy this yesterday, but she has a hard time believing it if she doesn't see it herself. So today I decided to show her. She just about cried. Oh moms, they are so sappy. It is really cool to push the button. The teacher records different sayings in it, it is really funny. Makes me laugh out loud each time I hear it. So I plan on working hard to now really get my arms working good. Its hard because I am also trying to get my eyes to work better also. I'm not good at multitasking. My moms great though. Did you know that my mom can feed me, talk on the phone, post on facebook, yell at Jessica, clip Jacks nails and do the laundry all at the same time. She is amazing.

Well that's all for now. I'm tired and need to watch Mickey Mouse club some more before I hit the hay.

LIfe as Usual!

Life like usual has been very busy. The months of January and February are our annual doctor appt. months. Between Joey, Jessica, Jack and I we spend 2x a week at the doctors for these 2 months.

Joey has seen the eye doctor and got glasses to help his central vision. Now we need to get a vision therapist to help some more. Funny thing is Jessica teased Joey about getting glasses and a week later she got some of her own. LOL!

Joey also saw the Orthopedic. His spine is straight and his hips are in place. He will receive botox injections in his hamstrings, calfs and abductors at the end of March. Also his AFO's (ankle and foot braces) were adjusted for a better fit. He saw the Pediatrician and everything is A OK. He has gained a 1lb and grew 2 inches in 6 mos.

Joey has decided to now sit for longer periods of time. He averages about 6 minutes, but has sat for 26 minutes numerous times. We have also been trying to get him to stand on his own. This has been difficult because he has very little control of his upper body. We finally found the Theratogs. This helps stablize his trunk. It is a special suit he wears. It fits like a hug on him. He can stand with no support for only a couple seconds right now. This is how we started with sitting, a couple seconds now and 26 minutes in a year. Joey also began Hippotherapy (horse back riding while doing therapy). He loves this part of the day.