The DDA Trouble Free Zone Part 31

[bear74]

Rees update:

November 26, 2007 at 10:26 PM EST
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and it was such a blessing to finally be home together as a family. It is very nice to report that Rees is making progress! He has been able to eat real food that is literally cut up as finely as possible. It gets stuck about twice a day where he has to vomit it up, but he is so much happier not being limited to ice cream, pudding, and popsicles! They are literally baby steps, but at least we're finally going forward.

He doesn't like the feeding tube, and it upsets him at night. So please pray that he is less stressed by it and will sleep more soundly. He is still exhausted and is sleeping around 14 hours a night or more. Tomorrow he starts the Hospital Homebound school program here at the house. He will get instruction 3 hours per week from his Special Ed teacher from Big Creek. Rees will be out of school until after the Christmas holidays. I am going back to work teaching preschool starting tomorrow. John is going to work from home on Tues and Fri, and I'll be home with Rees on Mon, Wed, Thursday.

We have been trying small outings with him. Yesterday we went to see Enchanted which the kids loved, and today he went to Physical and Occupational therapy. He handled it well, but a couple of hours a day of activity is the max for him at the moment. Thank you so much for the prayers and support.

Oh, and you know that we are all (especially me) Christmas fanatics. I'm happy to report the entire inside and outside of the house is completely decorated!!!

Elin Thanks for the wonderful update on Rees

 

[Glynis]

Calling all cooks.


Say I want to have a small get together (about 20 people) and since its winter it needs to be inside. I don't want to serve anything to busy or heavy. Would just Hors D'Oeuvres be enough?

If so what would you serve? have any recipes?

I think that would be just fine. It's kind of late here, but tomorrow I'll look through my stuff and see what I can find. How complicated do you want to go? You could always buy appies at Costco.

 

[Glynis]

Jennifer -

Kelli - good to see you! That pillow is adorable.

Thanks to you all for the advice and opinions. I'm still just as confused as ever. I think I need to talk to him more about times that he would want them Christmas Eve/Day. I would be willing to let him have them Christmas Eve for dinner and Mass, as long as they are home by 9. Then I'd be willing to give them to him Christmas Day at 1 if I can have them home around 5:30. Then we could have our Christmas dinner around 6. That sounds like we would all get something that we want. I know what you all are saying about them getting older and it being more about family time together instead of just gifts. That is what got me thinking about this whole agreement thing to begin with. Thanks again.

ETA: And yes, I do have to be locked into some type of arrangement. It can't be left up to chance. However, we can deviate from whatever arrangement we choose, like if one of us wants to go out of town or something, with agreement from the other party. This sucks. Ok, I'm done talking about it.

This sounds like a good compromise to me. Do you think he'll go for it?

 

[Glynis]

Hi, I am a lurker here and I think I remember reading that some of you have gotten Disney window clings, were they at the Dollar Tree and if so were they with the Christmas stuff?

Also Tammi, I just wanted to comment on your situation, I work at a law firm and I think most of our settlement agreements that we prepare the custodial parent usually gets the children for Christmas morning. If you would like I can look at some that I have prepared and let you know how we have worked out the times and so forth. Whatever happens though, I wish you the best.

Thanks,

Libby

Hi, Libby! Stop lurking and join our family!!!

I think those clings were found at Dollar Tree. I never found any here where I live, but others have had a lot more luck.

Tell us a bit about yourself. I'm Glynis, a SAHM to 4 kids ranging in age from 10 down to twin 5 year olds. I'm 40 (almost 41, right Tammi?). I've been to WDW once, and DL more times than I can count!

 

[Glynis]

Well, we are going to be here in the house for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But, I think we are going to make reservations in DC for a couple of nights the weekend before. We will take the train up to Union Station and check into one of the hotels up near the White House or the Mall.

We can see the Pageant of Peace and the National Christmas Tree, which I haven't seen in a number of years (since our group stopped singing for it, actually) and do the museums and a night tour of DC on the trolley or something like that. We just have to pick a hotel now!

That sounds like a wonderful trip!! I haven't been to DC since I was 14, which was many years ago. I would love to visit again. There's so much in this country that I want to see. I really need to get on that!

I hope that you enjoy your Christmas at home. It's not WDW, but it might be nice and relaxing.

 

[Glynis]

Finally all caught up and there's no one around to play with! Sorry I've been MIA since Thanksgiving. We've been on the go since then.

Thanksgiving was really nice, once we finally got to eat! Alan got off work early (6:00) so we ended up eating around 7:00 which was an hour earlier than we had anticipated! The kids enjoyed being with their cousins, and the adults planned a Black Friday strategy. We were home by 10:00, and I was in bed shortly after that.

3:00 came early, but I got myself up and dressed. I dragged Alan out of bed by 3:30, and we were on our way to Walmart by 4:00. We managed to get most of what we wanted while there. We were in and out within 35 minutes. Next stop: Sears. It only took us about 20 minutes there. Target was a madhouse, and everything I wanted was gone by the time we got there. Oh well, nothing important! Radio Shack was next where Alan was thrilled to get a new router for the computer for 20 dollars. I got a couple of really cool robot bugs for Jacob's stocking. Last stop was CAL Ranch, but there wasn't really anything that caught our eye. Well, Alan did find a gun safe that he liked, but I'm not about to buy him another one. It will just encourage him, right??? After shopping, we went out to breakfast. The hot chocolate and biscuits and gravy tasted wonderful! We were pleased to have knocked out so much of our Christmas shopping.

Once we got home and hid all the goodies, I took a shower while Alan got the kids ready for a day with some friends. We loaded up our car and drove an hour to meet up with the Bradfield's. Alan and Bryce have been best friends forever, and we do a lot of things with them. We ate leftovers, played games, watched movies, and Alan and Bryce took the little boys skeet shooting. It was an all around wonderful day!!!

Saturday saw us gearing up for the biggest football game in Utah! 2 rival schools that really put on a good show! This year we went to a neighbor's house for the game. We snacked on chips and dips, and turkey sandwiches while we watched a riveting game! The first 3 quarters were pretty calm, but by the middle of the 4th quarter, it was really close!!! It literally came down to the last 45 seconds of the game! Luckily, our team won by 1 point, so it was a really happy day!!! We then spent a couple of hours playing Apples to Apples. It was so much fun!!!

Sunday I spent the day at church, and practicing my violin for grandma's funeral. I haven't played in about 8 years, so it's kind of wierd. Oh well, it's kind of like riding a bike. Hopefully it will all come together. We'll see!

Today I spent the day setting up Christmas trees, and cleaning off flat surfaces for more Christmas decorations. And now I'm all caught up here and ready for bed!

Nity nite, all!

 

[babytrees]

Glynis I am sorry I missed you..I was looking at other parts of the DIS and getting girls settled. Tomoko is a cutie but she doesn't have very strong English comprehension skills.

I am now waiting for her laundry to dry so I can hang up her uniform shirt...don't want wrinkles.

 

[tinknme]

Becky your pictures are beautiful!

Elin a weekend trip to DC sounds fun!

Glynis sounds like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

 

[tinknme]

Good morning

 

[Tammi67]

Well, we are going to be here in the house for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But, I think we are going to make reservations in DC for a couple of nights the weekend before. We will take the train up to Union Station and check into one of the hotels up near the White House or the Mall.

We can see the Pageant of Peace and the National Christmas Tree, which I haven't seen in a number of years (since our group stopped singing for it, actually) and do the museums and a night tour of DC on the trolley or something like that. We just have to pick a hotel now!

That sounds like fun. I hope you can find something that has availability.

 

[Tammi67]

Good morning.

 

[PNO4TE]

That sounds like a wonderful trip!! I haven't been to DC since I was 14, which was many years ago. I would love to visit again. There's so much in this country that I want to see. I really need to get on that!

I hope that you enjoy your Christmas at home. It's not WDW, but it might be nice and relaxing.

We are hoping it is relaxing too! I cannot imagine staying home for the holidays. With the exception of two years we have traveled to Pennsylvania or Florida every single year of our 34 years of marriage!

We are less than an hour away from DC and go up there occasionally, but have never stayed in the city before. The girls and Bob thought this might be fun. And you all know me... I am always up for travel planning.

 

[mommykds]

Good morning!

 

[PNO4TE]

Good morning, Janet and Tammi and Anne Marie!

 

[tink2020]

Jennifer -

Kelli - good to see you! That pillow is adorable.

Thanks to you all for the advice and opinions. I'm still just as confused as ever. I think I need to talk to him more about times that he would want them Christmas Eve/Day. I would be willing to let him have them Christmas Eve for dinner and Mass, as long as they are home by 9. Then I'd be willing to give them to him Christmas Day at 1 if I can have them home around 5:30. Then we could have our Christmas dinner around 6. That sounds like we would all get something that we want. I know what you all are saying about them getting older and it being more about family time together instead of just gifts. That is what got me thinking about this whole agreement thing to begin with. Thanks again.

ETA: And yes, I do have to be locked into some type of arrangement. It can't be left up to chance. However, we can deviate from whatever arrangement we choose, like if one of us wants to go out of town or something, with agreement from the other party. This sucks. Ok, I'm done talking about it.

 

[PNO4TE]

That sounds like fun. I hope you can find something that has availability.

Luckily it appears we have quite a bit to choose from. Of course it is not WDW so we are balking at the room rates that are over $300 a night. Silly, isn't it? We would pay that at WDW and hope for an AP discount to get it down to less than $250.

 

[PNO4TE]

Aidan update:

November 26, 2007 at 10:53 PM CST
So today Aidan saw his cardiologist and got a clean bill of health. We will wean him off of his Heart Medication, visit him again in three months and then another appointment he believes a year later and that will be all.

Aidan continues to heal quite miraciously, but this has come to be expected from the support we have been receiving from all of y'all. Currently Aidan has learned that smiles and laughter are a good thing and they make family members crack up. His big toothless grin, can bring tears to one's eyes, when you think of how far he has come.
We got to stop by the TCU and NICU today and see some old friends. It was nice sharing with them what has come from their hard work over those seven months.

He begins therapy tomorrow and will have people working with him almost six times a week. He is starting to roll on his own and likes batting at toys. Currently he is working on sitting up and keeping his head straight with assistance.

It's late and I'm not sure what else to write, but wanted all to know he is doing quite well. Hope every one had a wonderfull Thanksgiving. Naomi and I had birthday's over the weekend. I got to celebrate turning 40 and I'm no suppose to share that Naomi is seven years younger. (We share the same birthdate.) It was quite but enjoyable. We will have other times to get crazy at parties. Hopefully Aidan's first will be a celebration two fold. Age and Trach Removal. We talk to the Doctor's about it come March.

 

[PNO4TE]

Hi, Jennifer!

 

[tink2020]

Good morning, Elin! I have to run though, and at least try and get ready. I wasn't feeling great so I got a bit to eat.... but now I'm pushing my luck if I want to get out of work at a decent time this afternoon!

Have a great day!

 

[tink2020]

Ooh, except quickly -- -- how nuts was that football game last night?! They were practically playing in a swimming pool!