Zoe Update

Well she is just about 3 months old now if you can believe it. She is quite the charmer when she wants to be. And quite the opposite sometimes too, definitely not the easy-going baby that Jackson was. She has a very strong personality!

We co-sleep with her and she sleeps really good that way, all snuggled up. She also likes to sleep a lot in the mornings in her swing.

We have been using cloth diapers most of the time with her. They are so incredibly cute on her, I love them!

She has a couple of toys that she likes to play with. One is a musical bee that was Jackson's that he really loved too. The second one has a lot of buttons to push...she is surprising good at pushing all the buttons, but she gets a little overstimulated if she plays with it for more than a few minutes.

She is also quite fascinated with looking at her hand, especially when it is balled up into a fist. We call it her fist of death.

She still very much enjoys her bath, and doesn't even cry when I take her out anymore.

She has had some very cranky days recently. Now she has started to drool a lot. And also has been shoving her fingers into her mouth. I am guessing she is teething. Jackson was an early teether too so it would not surprise me too much.

Here are some recent pictures:

Zoe and her daddy


Examining her fist of death


This morning after her bath

I'm trying to have a good attitude about this

So we had a big important court date this week. We were asking to use funds from Jackson's settlement to purchase a house in a school district that has a wonderful public school for kids like him that goes all the way up to age 21. We ran around looking at houses beforehand and we found a really nice one that was great for Jackson but also the rest of the family. We were very stressed that something would go wrong as usual and the judge would rule against us even though this was the GAL's idea in the first place.

Well, things went great in court. They gave us everything we asked for. So what's the problem? The house is no longer available!!!! We put in a backup offer but at this point I am not holding my breath.

I am trying to take the attitude that there will be a better house. But we have literally seen every property in this suburb that was possibly good for Jackson's needs that was affordable, and we had narrowed it down to that one house which is now gone. There are lots of houses that are nice and affordable that just wouldn't work for Jackson, and there are probably many houses that would be great for Jackson but that are out of our price range. Lee says most likely there will be nothing else on the market until Spring so I guess we will just have to be patient. It's really hard though.

Taking steps...

Jackson got to try out the KidWalk again in therapy this week. He does so good with it! He can take steps with his right leg but his left leg can't quite get going yet. Check it out!!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Sorry for the angle of the video, it is a narrow hallway. (And sorry Alicia...you know for what!)

Here's what he looks like from the front.

4 years ago

Just wanted to mention this sad anniversary. Four years ago yesterday was when Jackson got sick from his vaccine reaction. It seems like a million years ago and at the same time it seems like it was just yesterday. Our lives are so different now. Sometimes I try to imagine what we would all be doing now if none of this ever happened. But not too often, it's just too sad to think of all the things Jackson is missing out on and all the things Lee and I are missing out on.

I will never hear my son say "I love you". He will never be able to go run and play with the other kids in the neighborhood or have his first kiss or have kids of his own. Lee will never get to teach him how to ride a bike or drive a car...and on and on.

I doubt he even remembers what it was like to be able to walk and talk and dance and eat. He has lived most of his life this way. I often remember back to this one day shortly before he got sick. I picked him up from daycare and then we went to a little playground near our house. It was a cold and cloudy fall day. No one else was out in the park, it was just me and my little boy. It was so cold that day and his nose was running all over his face. I remember thinking "it's crazy to be out here, why am I doing this?" But he was running and playing and having a good time. I'm really glad that we had that time together even though it didn't really make sense at the time.

Is this not the best picture ever?

So I was trying to get a good pic for our Christmas cards this year. I figured if I did not get a good one that day I would try again the next day. But it turned out I got this really great picture with both kids smiling!! Jackson's smile is so beautiful!!

TMI maybe...

So you can skip this post if you are easily grossed out! ;-)

Monday when Jackson came home from school, I fed him as normal and then took him out of his chair and changed his diaper. As I was changing him, I noticed a huge lump in his stomach to the right of his belly button. I mean the thing was HUGE! And it was hard. And it seemed like it was a little sensitive when I pressed on it, but didn't really seem painful.

So my friends were thinking it could be a hernia and that is also what the doctor's office said when I called them. So I made an appointment to take him in, but unfortunately they could not see him until Tuesday afternoon which is his therapy time so I cancelled therapy because at the time I really wanted him to get looked at.

Well, it turned out that he had just been backed up with poo! He had 3 good size poops that evening and his stomach was back to normal by bedtime. He has been backed up before, but I have never seen a lump like that before.

I tried to get therapy rescheduled but I couldn't get in touch with the therapist in time. Oh well.