Christmas 2012

    
       This Christmas was busy. We started it off with a fun trip to Gatlinburg only to have to leave early because Mommy got the flu & Emerson got Bronchitis & probably the flu also! Thankfully, Beckett seems to have an amazing immune system & somehow avoided all our germs (along with Patrick)!

      So then Patrick took both boys to Pulaski for Christmas with his family & I stayed in bed for a few days :(  Watched a LOT of tv/movies. I felt so bad I couldn't even fall asleep, I think it was some type of super-flu. But anywho... so I missed seeing the boys opening presents & seeing all Patrick's side of the family. But I'm lucky that my husband is very sweet & took lots and lots of pictures for me. And my wonderful mom even risked walking right into my bedroom of death to bring me Demos' soup, medicine & more movies; cause that's what moms do and she's pretty awesome. (and also Thank You to my mom & Mike for helping me set up a train track & mini trampoline on Christmas Eve at great personal risk to themselves!)

      Thankfully I felt good enough Christmas morning to get out of bed & watch the boys open presents and go visit with my family. Emerson loved his presents & is still trying to take most of them with him to every nap, car ride, meal, etc. Beckett got clothes, books & a Nook which he really likes & we're excited to put lots of games on it for him. We asked everyone not to buy toys for Beckett this year because...
 
A. He doesn't really like toys & never plays with the ones we already have. And

B. We would prefer people take that toy money and donate it to his therapy fund so that it could be more useful to him.

       Eventually everyone agreed that was an ok idea. And we were blessed beyond belief by the time Christmas was over. Patrick's family had a surprise Money Tree for Beckett and so many people donated, it's overwhelming how supportive & generous they've been! We got several more donations from my family as well & we are making good progress toward our goal for his 2 week Physical Therapy trip! We go to St. Louis on January 14th to meet with Dr. Park and discuss whether or not he feels Beckett is a candidate for Rhizotomy (you can click here to learn about the surgery). If he does agree to do the surgery then we hope to get a firm number on how much the surgery plus the 2 weeks of therapy afterwards will cost. But we have faith that we will be able to cover everything & we aren't done fundraising yet!

      So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who has donated their time, money, talent, or prayers to support Beckett! There are no words to express what it means to us but just know that we are so grateful for every dollar, card, thought, etc and we will keep everyone updated! Here's some pics from our Christmas....

Our cabin in the Smokies. It was really pretty but is now covered in flu germs

Checking out little brother's tractor

We got a trampoline!

Checking out the Budweiser mug

 

 We must get one of these tunnels for our house

I like this one...kinda looks like Granny Sue is choking him but it's still cute!

Thanksgiving

        I have been slacking on the blogging lately. We had a busy November with 4 Thanksgivings, but we have a lot to be thankful for. Especially for all the progress that Beckett's made this year. His speech has improved more and more. He loves to play with cell phones and he has always called them "moan" but just this past week he has corrected himself & has been clearly saying "phone". Lately he tells anyone & everyone (including strangers) "Bless You!" if he hears a sneeze, and he will say "Excuse You" if he burps (still working on that one!). I'm going to try to get a video of him talking & post it soon. But here's a cute pic at least :) 

        Beckett's fine motor skills are improving too & he recently met one of his goals which was for him to drink out of a sippy cup without handles. He has trouble using his left arm/hand so he used to just grab the handle with his right hand to drink. But he's finally figured out how to coordinate using both hands to hold the cup & turn it up to drink. He still needs a little help sometimes but he is getting really good at it.

        It's weird to read over Beckett's little victories and think about how trivial they would sound to someone with only typical children. But for us every single new thing he does is a big deal. We don't take one thing for granted because we know that there's no guarantee he'll continue to learn new things or that he'll continue to just progress along a developmental timeline like other kids do. The only thing his dr's say is that they are very pleased with how far he has come but that doesn't mean it will continue & that they have no idea what he'll be like in the future. So we clap & cheer for every bite he takes holding his own fork or sippy cup and we get overly excited when he says the right word for what he wants. We pray that he just keeps getting better & we give thanks because he has already surpassed the expectations of his dr's, and shown us that maybe we shouldn't put our faith in the "experts".

       We have another little blessing who has definitely helped Beckett & that is his little brother. They are becoming closer & I know that Emerson helps Beckett learn new things plus it gives him someone close to his own age to interact with & learn social skills. The video is them playing the keyboard in Granny Sue's basement over Thanksgiving. Beckett's little hand on Emerson's back just melts my heart...