MY SPECIAL FRIEND

Miss Stephanie is one of my very favorite people! We have so much fun together! She comes over sometimes to play with me, so Mommy can get some things done in the house. But Mommy has a hard time staying away, because she just loves watching how much we enjoy each other. :)

Mommy teaches her our different games and therapy goals so that our play is not only fun, but productive too...which makes Mommy really happy. Thank you Stephanie for always being so great with me. I love you very much!


I am learning how to push on this toy to make the objects go round and round. Finally this week I did it! YAY!

MAJOR "TRANSITION" ACCOMPLISHMENT

After I learned to sit independently, it was quickly on to my next goal...the transition from laying down to sitting and vice versa. This takes a lot of work! MEGA coordination and strength required!

My physical therapist was great at teaching mommy different ways to get this to happen. At first I really objected and was definitely not happy about all of this additional work. But my PT is wonderful at always pushing me to do more, more, more!

So for the past month or two, Mom and I have been really working at this. A few weeks ago I started to do it every once in a while (very exciting!), but there was no consistency.

But as of a few days ago, I do this A LOT! I cannot tell you how amazing and wonderful it is to be able to get in and out of the sitting position! This new achievement gives me such freedom!!! Mommy and I just love it! WOW! WOW! WOW!

And I always get lots and lots of praise for it. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the excitement that when I do my happy dance, I fall back down! :) But the super cool part now is that I can get myself back up again! :) YAY FOR ME!

Mommy has tried to capture this on film, but the camera distracts me everytime (as evidenced below). I was just about to sit but as soon as I saw the camera, I immediately lost interest in that and scooted over to Mommy instead!

There are more Mighty Max milestones on the way...stay tuned! :)

PRAYERS FOR BEN

My friend, Ben, is having cochlear implant surgery on Friday the 10th (tomorrow), as well as having his nose stents removed from his choanal atresia (blocked nasal passages) repair. Man, he is going to be sooooo happy when those stents come out...I know I was! Imagine a straw in each of your nasal passages, yuck!

We have a lot in common with Ben's family and our mommies have become fast friends via the phone and internet. We both arrived within a month of each other...we were both born two months early...we both had choanal atresia...both of our mommies are named Amy...both enjoy scrapbooking...and they are both wonderful (ok Mommy made me write that last part...hee hee!!!)

Plese pray that my buddy's surgery goes well and his recovery is quick. Thanks everyone.

PLAYGROUP PHOTOS

BANG! BANG! BANG!
Here we are (along with Dylan and "C") playing with the drum. SO FUN!





See me ALLLLLL the way over there? Yep, I made that journey all by myself!!! Go me go!















Here I am being funny after our group photo!

(The group photo is super cute, but sorry, we can't post that b/c Mommy didn't get a chance to ask for everyone's permission. Confidentiality is very important at playgroup.)

This was my first art session! First I was a bit hesitant...especially when they brought out the ink pads and actually wanted me to touch them. I freaked out a bit. (We were making stamps of our hands.) But I definitely liked playing with the paper.

Just sitting on the step chillin' with my friends...

WAY TOO CUTE MR. MAX!!!

Mr. Max gets cuter and cuter and funnier and funnier EVERY day! :)

Remember his trick about lifting his arm to tell me to turn the lights on and off and do the funny sounds (think ambulance lights and sirens)?

Well, if that wasn't cute enough...he has one up'd himself! Now he not only does this at home, but he does it EVERYWHERE. And I mean everywhere! The grocery store, Eliz's scrapbooking store, the doctor's office, therapy appointments...everywhere. As soon as we enter a place (which will soon be limited due to cold/flu/RSV season), he immediately wants to play our light game.

My absolute favorite is when we are outside. When I take him out of the car, he immediately looks up and lifts his arm. Yea Max, I'll get right on that..."God, do you mind turning your sun on and off for my lil' guy? He's really special and this is his first real game."

It is soooo funny and really, really cute! I am trying to turn this into a waving "HI" gesture but we'll see. For now, he makes me laugh all the time with this new game! :) How can one lil' kiddo be so darn amazing???

Speaking of the amazing lil' man, he's all mine tonight (no nurse) so I best try and get some ZZZ's before he needs his meds, tube change, etc. Tomorrow I will tell you all about his talking and crawling...BIG progress!

THE VISIT

What can I say about this weekend and Maxwell's visit with his father? Hmm....well, it was definitely more work than it needed to be and that was frustrating.

On Saturday, Maxwell was not a happy camper when I had to wake him up to take him to the hotel. He wasn't feeling all that well and simply wanted to be cuddled and loved. Instead I was lugging all of his medical equipment to the car and then giving him over to a nurse in the hotel lobby. It was quite bizarre and yet another silly chapter in this divorce. All of this for a two hour visit.

Then the next day we repeated this all over again, but fortunately Maxwell was in a much better mood. Earlier in the day, I took him to the park and gave him a good pep talk before I "handed him over." And fortunately his medications (antiobiotics and steroids) had kicked in a bit so he medically was a little stronger than the day before. For both visits, I brought his favorite toy so I knew he would be happy. (He is absolutely addicted to his playcube.)

The father's fiance and the daughter were both there as well. The nurse said everyone was cordial and very impressed with Maxwell. Not sure they still get the amount of work that goes into Max's daily care and therapy...but I'm not sure they ever will.

I have to admit it was a fairly difficult, frustrating and sad weekend. Nobody wants to experience a painful divorce, and yet sadly, it happens to families every day. I know for me, this was a big concern. I had always promised myself that I would not have children with someone unless I knew absolutely for sure that we were committed for life. My parents divorced when I was young, and I never wanted my children to experience that pain.

Yet despite my former spouse promising me time and time again that a divorce would never ever happen to us, here I was this weekend "handing over" my medically fragile/special needs baby to him and his new fiance in a hotel. That is just not how I expected life to turn out for me and my family...but really, who does? Crazy, absolutely crazy.

*Brandy, as I waited for the nurse in the hotel lobby, I thought of you because it felt like yet another scene from the Lifetime movie you want to produce! :)

Hopefully the next visit will be with much less drama and difficulty...

PLAYTIME WITH BUDDIES

I forgot to post these photos from last week's playgroup! :) They are so super cute! This is the first time that Max seemed to interact with a few of his playgroup buddies. Luckily I had my trusty camera phone with me...whew! Wouldn't want to miss such a perfect photo op! :)

We start our group with playtime and then we do songs with sign language. Our next activity is snack time. Each week, the teachers provides a snack with different textures to help the children improve their oral skills. (Many special needs kiddos have sensory issues.) Maxwell is the only one that is Gtube fed, but we still participate by tasting baby food. He made the biggest mess of everyone last time...it was great! Then we move on to playtime again and usually play with the balls or sensory table. We finish group with more songs.

We absolutely love our weekly play session. Last Monday Max was on fire with showing off all his new moves...he crawled right to the middle of the circle and everyone was astounded! Wonder what he will show off today??? :)


Dylan and Mighty Max checking each other out!


















As you can see, both of these gorgeous kiddos are quite used to the camera. Silly boys. Behind them is another sweet, amazing child...perhaps Max's first girlfriend? With so many boys in playgroup, she is quite the hot commodity. hee hee :)