Busy & snowy, but still plodding along…
February 4, 2008 | Updates
I have a lot that I could write tonight, but I’m going to try and keep it brief since it is late and tomorrow is Monday. Since writing last, my grandmother passed away. She lived in Cedar City, so we took a very quick trip there for the funeral. There was a lot of snow and bad weather. And we left on a Monday afternoon and were back by Tuesday night. So, it was mostly driving. The funeral was very nice and we did get to spend a little time with a lot of family who we haven’t seen in a long while. So, it was VERY nice and worth the trip. I just hope, hope, hope that we can get a chance soon to see them all again for A LOT longer. And I hope that grandpa will fair well with grandma being gone. He has cared for her a lot the last few years and that kind of care seems to create a bond between people that is very deep. I know he will miss her greatly - as we all will.
The kids all did well on the trip. Samuel started coming down with a cold the second day and struggled with spitting up all day long that day. I knew something just wasn’t quite right as he just wasn’t himself and he was in a pretty grouchy mood. He ended up staying home from school the rest of the week. But he faired really well. In fact, one evening, I went to pick him up out of bed and he was so smiley and happy that I sat and talked to him for a while first. When I did pick him up, I realized he was very hot and when I took his temperature, it was 102 degrees. But the kid was happy as could be. So, all is well as he seems to be mostly over it at this point.
Since then, things have been just crazy with work, mostly. But I have been working on Samuel’s home therapy program and rearranged his room, yet again, to try and accomplish a few things - mostly crawling. I now have linoleum over the carpet in this room and I have cleared everything possible from his room to give him a lot of floor space. Then I rigged up an “anti-roll” device that will keep him on his stomach when he’s on the floor (since he tends to roll over a lot onto his back) so that he will hopefully, be able to spend a lot of time on his stomach and learn to crawl. Much of the rest of his therapy equipment remains in the garage which is good and fine except that it seems to be snowing uncontrollably here and sometimes, I seriously cannot find my suburban in the mornings. Oh, I know the moisture is a very good thing for us, but I sure wish I could have my garage back when I’m shoveling 2 feet of snow off my car :)!
We are seeing good changes in Samuel, though. I put him under an infant toy mobile the other day and he really enjoyed it and tried hard to grab at the toys. He seems to be getting more use of his hands. I put him under the same mobile a year ago and he screamed and hated it. So, just being willing to lay under it is progress. He also seems to be allowing us to do more in his mouth (though not a lot more), but anything more is definitely progress. He is still smiling a lot and he seems to be happy on his stomach on the floor a good portion of the day, which is another good change.
The only possibly bad thing I have seen lately is that he is having large seizures now and again. I hadn’t seen a large one for months and then he had one on New Year’s Day. I then saw another one early one morning in the middle of January and then this morning, he had another large one. But although these ones last 2-3 minutes and involve his entire body, they don’t seem to wear him out like the large seizures he’s had before. He is usually just tired for maybe 15-20 minutes and then he is fine again. He is also having several seizures every time he wakes up again. But we have found that he can often keep himself from having the seizures if he will concentrate on us when he feels ones coming. So, I will often watch his eyes when I know he’s having them and as soon as I see the slightest twitch in his eyes, I will grab his arms and say “Stay here with me! Stay here!” He can often focus on me when I do that and keep himself from having the seizures. But this doesn’t work with the larger ones as they are so much more involved.
Anyway, there are a million other things I have thought about and wanted to write, but I can’t think of them right now. Mostly, we are doing well, just overwhelmingly busy. But I am really working up my determination again to get him crawling and to keep working with him often despite all the other things going on in our lives. Please pray that he’ll pick it up soon and that I’ll be able to do my part despite the our crazy lives. He wants it so badly and so do I! Thanks!
Love,
The Jewkes
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