We have been so busy the last few weeks and weekends that I
have not had any time to share our exciting adventures. So I will try to be brief to get everyone
caught up with our family. LOL!
Over the memorial holiday we traveled to Chicago to see
Jackson’s fragile X doctor, Dr. Elizabeth Berry-Kravis. We left on Monday for the Tuesday
appointment. We only stayed one night
and drove back, we are brave. Jackson
did really well; it took us around 6 ½ hours there and about the same back. I
think trip took more of a toll on us.
The appointment went really well.
I entertained Jackson while Sara asked as many questions as one could
ask. Dr. Kravis is such an amazing woman;
I am not sure how she fits all that information in her brain. She was very impressed with Jackson’s progress. Last year when we visited Jackson only had
about 3 signs for communication, now he has communication oh plenty. The room we were in had a computer that
Jackson was obsessed with. Dr. Kravis
said that all her FX patients love the computer and felt he couldn’t break
it. He somehow changed the video to
display sideways using nothing but keystrokes.
I might be a computer geek, but this computers system settings were
locked down, so without knowing what in what sequence the keys he pushed I
could not get the display back to normal before our appointment was over. Dr. Kravis wants to try Jackson on a
medicine during the day to help with hyper activity and focus. She also was impressed with the amount of
energy he had during the time we were in that room. Sara is going to brave the medication next
week while the two of them are both home for two weeks.
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| Watch out Bill Gates! |
The following weekend we went to a “mommies like us” outing
and we had an open house. It was nice to
meet other families like ours with two mommies.
It was hard for us to get to know the mommies as Jackson is a busy
toddler. I brought my camera to take pictures of the other families, but didn't a get a chance. After lunch we dropped Jackson
off for a nap at grandmas, and then Sara and I did a 24 hours blitz deep
cleaning to our house making it all sparkly for the whopping two couples who
came and took a look see. The only
feedback we got from the agent who was at our house, which by the way is not
our actual agent, was one couple really liked it and was going to speak with
their agent; the other couple was concerned about the roots for the tree in the
front yard. We have not heard from our
actual agent since our open house, so my guess is she did not follow up with
the agent of the couple that said they liked it. So in the 3 months our house has been on the
market we have only had 3 lookers.
Either way I am still very positive that someone will fall in love with
our house and put an offer on it soon.
Every weekend Sara and I are going to as many open houses as
we can. We switched buyers’ agents
recently and our new agent has been very helpful. We have gone to a few houses outside of open
houses and taken a 2nd look at two houses we are really interested
in. Both houses our listed outside our
budget, one of which has come down in price, just not down enough… Any spare time we have at home we have been
online looking at houses. Pretty much
that is where our spare time has gone too.
Sara started working at Howard Park Center a few weeks ago. Jackson is also attending school there over
the summer. She loves her job and
Jackson is doing well at school. Last
week he had a few hair pulling incidents, we are really trying to find the best
way to manage this. We asked Dr. Kravis
about it when were in Chicago and she said a behavior analyst would be able to
advise us best. This is the one behavior
that can’t be ignored as it harms others.
We keep trying multiple avenues, I hope we find a working one soon.
This past weekend we walked for one of Sara’s high school
classmate’s daughter at the “Seize the Day Walk”. The event was in Kirkwood at the train
station. Jackson got to see a train go
by, which was probably his favorite part of the day. They had a lot of silent auction items
available, a bubble bus, food, and beverages.
The walk started early, we were there just before 7 AM. We finished the walk just after 8 AM and it
was already very hot. Jackson lasted
till about 8:30 AM before he was ready to go.
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| Watching the train |
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| That is not Thomas Na-na! |
We stopped at his favorite store on the way home, Target. We got home in time for lunch and a nap, and
we all took part in the nap. It has
become a weekend family tradition, if Jackson naps, we all nap. After then nap, Jackson and I vacuumed that
house. We are using this as a reward for
after naptime. I was able to a snapshot
of him helping.
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| My little helper |
Sara and I had a date night for the evening. We went to Elephant Bar in West County. I have an onion allergy so it was difficult
for me to find a menu item, we didn’t realize that before booking the
reservations. We ordered the lettuce
wraps for an appetizer, but it had red, white, and green onion throughout. Our waiter was nowhere to be found after the
plate was dropped off, so I told Sara to go ahead and enjoy them while I
enjoyed my yummy adult beverage. After
dinner, we drove by a house we had on our list to go see, but the backyard was
nothing but a huge slope, no level ground at all. We drove around a little bit more in the area
and then stopped at Blockbuster. Since
the evening was falling a little short we grabbed a comedy, Tower Heist. The movie was hilarious, just what we both
needed.
Sunday we both spent time with our dads. My siblings, sister-in-law, and I took my dad
to 66 Roadhouse for brunch. Because we
booked the reservations late, we had an early bunch, but it did not
disappoint. There was plenty of great
food. My sister-in-law is related to the
owners, but I didn’t know that before deciding on that location, small world.
That did not get us any sort of discounts though. Sara and Jackson got home shortly after I did. Jackson was really tired, so we all took a
nap before lunch. We slept 2 ½ hours,
wow I guess we all needed that. Sara
vacuumed after lunch while I packed up swimming gear. I took Jackson over to my parents for a swim
so Sara could do some cleaning. She
suggested it before you go thinking I am a bad guy. Jackson and I had a blast at the pool. We bought him water wings with a chest belt
and within a few minutes he was swimming on his own. He needs some work on kicking those feet, but
by the time we getting to ready to get out of the pool he was starting to get
it. My dad grilled some shrimp and
steak. I ate some before we headed home
and it was so yummy, Jackson didn’t really want any part of it and I was still
full from our late lunch. Sara cooked
some baked spaghetti and he was ready to eat as soon as we got home.
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| Mr. Independent! |
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| Kicking his legs |
This coming week we have a lot going on. Sara is going to a support group on Tuesday
night. We might try to see a few
houses. We also are switching agents, so
we have new contracts to sign. Friday
night I have softball with my ladies. Saturday is the 6th Annual
Fragile, Not Broken Walk for Knowledge.
If you haven’t already, it is not too late to register to walk with Team
Jackson. Our team is going to be
wearing Cardinals gear. Go CARDS! It is a fun family event with games, pony
rides, and raffles. Come visit our team
page for more details and read our story: TEAM JACKSON
