Where have I been ….

So no…I did not fall off the planet and everyone in the family is doing really well.  I am sorry to disappoint my loyal followers; I didn't realize how many of you look forward to reading about us.  It blows me away when I see you in person and you mention our blog.  I am not an excuse person, or try not to be, but honestly I have been so extremely busy. Besides business of life I have been working a lot of extra overtime.  Our company is upgrading to Windows 7 and I am one of the leads from my team on this huge project.  I made many attempts to write between the last time I wrote and now, but never got to complete those entries.  I looked back as my last few blog posts and couldn't believe how long it had been since I last wrote.  Obviously so much has happened since.  I will give you some snip-its and try not to be long winded…  Ha…ya right, LOL!

Pumpkin 2012

October: We survived the move from High Ridge to Ballwin. We are still hanging pictures on the walls and getting ready for our favorite holiday, Halloween, which is also Sara’s birthday.  Growing up my family always went above and beyond for Halloween. Really it was a time for my dad to be a big kid; he really enjoys celebrating this holiday.  So when I met Sara and found her birthday was on Halloween it was perfect.  We have new and old traditions we both have brought into our family and the most important being one upping the year before costume is in full affect.  When Sara was pregnant with Jackson we dressed up as Juno and Paulie Bleaker. Jackson’s first Halloween we dressed as a skeleton family and we only took Jackson to a few houses.  I made my famous Jack Daniels chili and Sara’s parents came over to celebrate and give out candy.  I set up the fire pit to keep us warm. Chili and fire pits were something my family did every year. Jackson’s second Halloween we dressed a family of vampires and for his third we dressed as a family of pirates.  Jackson usually only makes it to about 5 houses before he is done with the trick or treating.  The first year we took him it was hard for us because I think we both wanted him to be really into it.  Either way, we keep on trying.  This year I loved our theme, Sara was a sunburned tourist, Jackson was a Shark, and I was deep sea diver photographer.  This year was also special because we had just moved into our new house.  Jackson helped us carve the pumpkins; he seemed to enjoy pulling out guts.  We also went to a Halloween party at Sara’s work where Jackson showed off for Miss Jen.   On Halloween it was go time as soon as I got home from work. I pulled the fire pit out front before dark, made the chili, and we all got ready to go trick or treating.  We took Jackson to the houses around our culdesac.  Meeting our new neighbors and working with Jackson on taking 1 piece of candy and not dumping the bowl out people’s hands.  Sara explained Fragile X to all our neighbors.  We figured we would just hit our circle and Jackson would be over it, I would start the fire pit and we would give out our treats, but Jackson completely surprised us.  He loved going from house to house, saying hi to everyone and signing thank you as we left.  He also wanted to make himself at home at each house we went to which the neighbors thought was so cute.  It was so much fun and he did so well.  Sara’s dad stayed behind giving out candy at our house and when we returned we still had two full bowls of candy and treats.  We had noticed when we were out that there weren't very many other children out and about.  After we were home there were only 2 more trick-or-treaters and by they were teenagers.  I didn't even get a chance to start the fire before the night ended.  It was great night and I was so proud at how well Jackson did.  By the way it is now May and we still have a bowl full of candy, please stop by in your costume any time for a treat…

My little carver helper

Halloween 2012

November: The month of Thanks!  I traveled back to back weekends for work so Sara had to take care of all our family stuff solo.  We still have our other house on market and there was a lot Sara had to do with that house.  She also organized a panting parting at our new house and half our basement is finished.  Yay!  One of the weekends I was gone Sara found that our house on the market was broken into and they took call the copper piping and the AC unit. No so yay…  Slowly we getting more pictures hung up on the walls in the new house.  Jackson started at his new school and everything is going really well there.  I didn't get to participate in his IEP review, but Parkway was as shocked with the lack of services that were written in his IEP from Northwest.  The most important thing Parkway did was add an hour of speech week on top of his 30 minutes of language.  Northwest argued with us when we asked for speech because Jackson didn't make 3 of the 5 required sounds. Um, hello…he is non-verbal…required sounds to qualify for speech….I know you are shaking your head with me here.  Sorry….side tracked on the negative, back to the positive because it is the month of Thanks.  Jackson’s speech is coming along wonderfully.  He is learning the sounds of all the letters of the alphabet and knows a couple letters by sight.  I am so proud of him. 

We decided to host Thanksgiving at our house and bring both our families together under one roof.  The Tuesday before Jackson had a seizure. We finally had our follow up visit with the neurologist a few weeks prior to this episode; follow up from the February big seizure ICU visit. We developed a seizure action plan in which if the emergency medicine brings him out of the seizure and he doesn't have any more that day, then we do not need to head up to the hospital or emergency room, but keep him home from school, keep his activity level low, and don’t leave him unattended.  I was at work when the seizure happened, so Sara had to take care of everything solo.  Jackson had a rough night sleeping and to be honest I was really worried he might have one.  When we saw EBK in the spring she said erratic sleep patterns could trigger a seizure.  When Sara and Jackson woke up, she said he was not himself.  When Sara tried to give him his medicine, he fought it a bit then after one bite threw up, shortly after had his seizure.  Sara administered his emergency medicine and called me while he was coming out of it.  I hated not being there for that.  Sara called into work and Jackson stayed home from school.  He got a lot of rest and by the time I got home from work he was more his high energetic self. 

We discussed it thoroughly and decided to still host Thanksgiving.  The night before I smoked a turkey breast and on the day off baked a traditional turkey.  Everyone else brought the rest of the feast.  We had yummy h’orderves, a wonderful dinner, and delicious deserts.  Jackson had a blast playing with his cousins, and Auntie Tricia. Having his trampoline and swing available is helpful keeping the hair pulling down in numbers.  It was so wonderful to have everyone together and it was great to actually have enough room to host.  I am so grateful for having such a loving, fun family on both sides.  We were told at the end of the day that we are hosting Thanksgiving from now on.

Maple glazed smoked Turkey

Tradition bake Turkey

To be continued….