Just amazing me everyday!

My little James is such an amazing kid. I know that I am mommy and all but he really does amaze me with his will to get up and move. Everytime a therapist, Dr or some random person tells me he "won't" do something, he will starting doing it within the month. He takes a little aftger his mom about that ;-) So I thought I would do a little All about James post and what he is up too lately as we get ready for the surgery.

James is 31 months old now and is weighing about 27lbs he is 34 inches long as well. He is still in LOVE with Blues Clues and in fact the love affair has only grown in the past few weeks. He wakes up and asks to watch one. I have always tried to keep his TV watching under 2 hours a day and most days we do well but that sweet little face is hard to say no too ;-)

He adores arts crafts. His favorite thing to do is to sit on the floor with his Giant coloring book and color his little heart out. We are working on a better grib for him to use when coloring , and he is doing well with it. The OT yesterday was really impressed with how he is adapting to it. I found him this great little desk that he loves to do his "school work" on. Everyday we work on colors, letters and shapes, He can recognize all of his letters and can say a lot of the correct sounds for them. He can recognize Star, Square, Circle,Triangle, and Heart. We are working on the others. His numbers are coming along a little slower but he is 2 so I guess I will let it slide ;-) hehe. The K teacher in me just has a hard time not jumping the gun I guess!

His gross motor skills are where he has made some of the LARGEST gains. He can now walk short distances in this Kaye Walker all by himself. We use a special band to help with the rotation that his left legs wants to do. I am hoping the SDR will help with that. James can sit unassisted on a stool and even lean down to reach things and back up again. He can crawl on his hands and knees and he does a littel bunny hop crawl too. He can go longer distances but if something gets in his way he will revert back to the army crawl.

In the pool James is able to go from a squatting position into standing! This is HUGE and me and the therapist both shed a tear the first time he did it. We have added so many new therapys for James but I am doing my best go with the recomendation of the St. Louis doctors. There are several theories on types of therapy but Dr. Park says that he only recommends traditional physical therapy for SDR patients. So that is what we have decided to stick with. James schedule really wont change that much post-op. We are already doing 4 days a week therapy we will just add one more to the week.

His speech and feeding have improved too! Feeding wise we have really made some progress. We are able to get most of the meals I would like for him to eat. He will wont eat veggies by themselve ( but what 2 year old doesnt have this battle) So I am not as worried about it. He is gaining weight! The feeding therapy has been a wonderful addition to our routine. Speeh has as well. Once we found the right speech therapist James started making leaps and bounds in his speech. He puts 2 words sentences together and even some 3-4 words sentences every now and then. He came copy anything we ask him to say. I understand most of what he says but I know that he isnt really that clear to others. But it will come :-)

That pretty much sums is all up! Overall I am amazed by my son everyday. His attitude and ability to go with the flow is just amazing!

Carnival Rain or Shine

This is the week of the BIG carnival! I am so excited but really nervous that it will rain. I have not control of it so I just have to trust that rain or shine God will give us the weather we are suppose to have. The Carnival WILL go on Rain or Shine. I just hope it is shine ;-)!

It really will be fun for everyone. We have great door prizes, A Little Gym Birthday Party, Edo' Gidft certificates, and lots lots more!! There will no no charge to get it but to ride the pny, moonbounces and things like that we will be selling tickets. 100% of the proceeds will go our hotel for the week, travel expenses, our hospital in patient co-pay, and the intense 6 month therapy post-op.

Due to the donations that we have gotten so far, we were able to go ahead and order James wheelchair and it should be here before we leave for St. Louis! We got him a Lime green racer :-) I hope it will give him some freedom to play outside until the day he can run around like his peers!

So I hope to see you there. If you want a T-Shirt it is NOT too late. You can get one the day of the carnival OR you can order on now. Just click the pay pay button and tell me your shirt size you want. I will ship them to you if you are out of town . $20 Adult sizes and $15 kids sizes

New Braces

Today was casting day for James' new AFO ( leg braces) I was really worried about this appt. If fact I cancelled the first one last week because I just didn't feel like I had it in my to deal with it. BUT on the fan site I got lots of encouragement and prayers as always :-) THANK YOU and I felt ready. These are cellphone pics but I wanted to share with everyone how well he did!

To get the AFO's just right they use the old school cast stuff. The orthopaedist wraps it on and the positions James foot int he correct position and lets it dry hard. Then on to the second foot. but check out the sweet smile on my little trooper. I mean I think I could literally kiss his face off!!



After he gets them in the position that he wants them to be he makes some marks that I'm not really sure what they are for ;-) He told me but I was singing a silly song to James and didn't really listen. I am sure they serve a some purpose though. Now we are just waiting for them to get nice and dry.Mr. Thomas was SO nice and James really like him. He treated James so respectfully I thought and showed him each tool before he started using it. It really eased his fears over what was going on. Now right after this pic was taken, it was time to take them off. And to do that they use a cast saw. It is loud and a little scary! But James only cried for a little bit and was quite brave! I was very proud!!

T-Shirts Pre-Orders!

Would you like one of these super cute tees?? Well luck you :-) you can order one now!!

The t-shirt is Yellow with the Jump In for James logo printed on the back. The front will look like this

One of James' fans on his facebook fan page is a T-shirt designer and she has designed a special logo for James. I love it :-) To check out her other cool stuff go to www.toeuptees.com and tell her James sent you !!

The shirts are $20 for adult sizes and $15 for youth sizes. All the proceeds will go to James Spinal surgery June 10th. If you would like to order one you can send a PayPal order and tell me what size you want OR you can email me at JamesSDRfund@gmail.com with the size you want and I can send you the address to mail a check too. If you are coming to the carnival on May 2nd wear you shirt! And if you arent able to come to the Carnival I would LOVE to see pictures of people wearing their Jump in for James shirts on June 10th ( the day of James surgery)

Here is a close up of the t-shirt logo!

Easter weekend

James had a wonderful Easter weekend. We started the weekend with a Easter egg hunts at his great aunt Sharron's house which was really fun. We were able to stroll him around in his Adaptive stroller and he could find the egg. I wonder what next year will look like? I wonder if he will be able to go and look for his eggs on his own? Wouldn't that be wonderful!!

That evening as I was getting him ready for his bath he felt warm and I was surprised that he was running a 100.5 low grade temp. He didn't act like he was feeling bad so I gave him his bath and think it was just from a very active day. But we did decided not to go to Josh's mother house for Easter since she lives so far away. I didn't want to skip a nap just in case he was starting to get sick.

We enjoyed a wonderful Easter worship service at our church Sunday morning. The message was just what I needed and really spoke to my heart. Our pastor spoke about discouragement and the symptoms of a discouraged heart. I like to think of myself as someone that is positive and does my best to be obedient to God and the will He has for my life. But the older James gets and the bigger the gap gets from him and his peers, discouragement is a area in my life that I really struggle with. I am embarrassed to even type this on my blog because I have personally been witness to God's miracles. But Satan knows where I am weak and if I am not studying God's word and being obedient to his will, I really struggle with being discouraged.

And this winter has been extra difficult, because we have been asked my our doctor to keep James from crowd and young children. Well if you have ever stepped foot into a church nursery you know they are the definition of crowds and small children ;-) It is also very hard to be obedient to God's will in your life when you aren't fellow shipping with other believers. This is a perfect storm for a discouraged heart. BUT as our pastor reminded me the grave is empty. What
a CURE!! :-)


After Church we came home and James discovered that the Easter bunny has left him some great surprises. The whole family enjoyed some candy and then a nice long nap!! It was great :-) That evening we went over to my mom's for a relaxed cookout and Easter egg hunt. I spent most of the evening with my oldest nephew catch crawdad which was really fun! It was a wonderful holiday and I am so thankful that my Savior is Alive and I am forgiven!!


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Here is a little eating update.....I have been getting some emails asking about James eating and weight gain. The short answer is much better!! We started feeding therapy. And the therapist has really given me some wonderful advice and also the permission to let somethings go. We have made some really great progress in mealtime. James is in general eating close to 50% of his meals. His chew has gotten stronger too!

Dont forget that James' fundraising carnival is May 2nd 12-4!! I am really looking forward to meeting those of you that will be able to come. I think it will be a great day for everyone :-)