Friday, July 24, 2009

Birthday Weekend - Part 3


The backyard where we played most of the weekend  
 
Sierra and Alyssa

Sean enjoying a swim

Mommy and Nathan playing in the water

We had so much fun in the water
Alyssa loved floating around with her little bro.
 Those water wings made her fearless in the water


and bear...

it all made for a great birthday weekend

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Birthday Weekend - Part 2



The birthday Jello

Nathan does not eat orally, so we thought we would try Jello. We dressed it up with a banana piece and put three candles on it and then sang Happy Birthday. The birthday song was cut short because it really freaked him out. He did not like it one bit. Once we stopped singing and put the Jello on the tray he was okay. 

I showed him with a spoon, the Jello. He seemed a little interested

Then I made him touch it,  he didn't like it and wasn't thrilled with it at first but...

I persisted and made him taste it while he reached out to touch the Jello on his own


and in the end he played with his Jello a little bit. This was a huge accomplishment for us. Nathan you really are a big boy now!


Sunday, July 19, 2009

Birthday weekend - Part 1

Friday was Nathan's 3rd birthday and we decided to go to Vancouver. Some good friends of ours live over there and we spent the weekend with them. On Saturday, Jason (a family friend) brought over a little dog named Lulu and Nathan LOVED her, he couldn't stop laughing. She's full grown and really the prefect size for him. Nathan played( throwing the ball) with Lulu for almost 40 minutes and he was laughing so much that in the end he ended up giving himself hiccups. It was wonderful to watch him laugh and have so much fun, the dog was happy too.  I have lots more to share from the weekend but for tonight I'm just going to post the video as it's getting late. 
Stay tuned for more tomorrow.



Friday, July 17, 2009

Happy Birthday!


My sweet little Nathan

Look how much you've changed in three years.
July 17th, 2006

4 months-


11 months old

2nd Birthday

and

today as a toddler

trying your new bike out.
Those are some pretty cool new wheels you got for your Birthday.
Now you can be just like your big sister.

Monday, July 13, 2009

It wasn't a mouse...


that nibbled on the cookie, it was a little boy named Nathan...

I tried to get a picture of Nathan with the cookie in his mouth, but he sees me coming with the camera and he chucks the cookie on the floor. I guess he just doesn't want me documenting the progress. 
I'm VERY excited that Nathan likes this cookie.  I've given him this cookie on three other occasions and he's put it in his mouth each time.  I'd say it's a hit!
  

Sunday, July 5, 2009

The forever struggle

Yes...It's eating.
Nathan can't eat and has to be tube fed. It seems like a life curse. I keep trying and all I hear from everyone is that these things take time. It takes time to learn how to eat. It will be a long process... blah blah.. tell me the reality already. Am I just living in some dream world because it kind of feels like it? Will my son ever eat by mouth? 3 years and no real progress.
Nathan has a huge aversion to food and it's pretty hard to push him ( but I do or at least I try) to taste or get anything in his mouth. Other than Nathan touching food and occasionally or should I say accidentally putting something to his lips, I have seen nothing else. He shows no interest in food and I also believe that he doesn't know what it is.
These pictures are from this morning, while once again trying to get him to eat.

Yes... he touches food, and this is good
If there's a bowl he'll put anything in it because it's his favorite thing to do

then he discovers the texture isn't so great and he'll

make a face
but he'll continue to play with the bowl
because spinning bowls is an obsession for him


Our little grabber doesn't grab everything... it's like he knows. Look at that face! I love that Face but I'm tired and frustrated, truthfully I'm sick of everything.
When Alyssa was a baby I didn't analyze every little thing so why do we do it with our special needs kids? Some very good friends of mine deamed RTS to be REALLY TOUGH SHIT. Today I couldn't agree more. I am frustrated beyond belief.

Last week we met with our social worker because I had questions about Nathan and school, he will have an aid but a reccomendation to which school can not be made because they are not allowed to make recommendations. GRRRREAT! So the therapist and Dr's are the experts but I can't get a reccomendation for which school would be the best for my son. That's just perfect- That's like going to a Dr. (an expert in their field) and the Dr' saying that they can diagnose the condition but can't recommend treatment! It's ridiculous!
AT the end of August we are meeting with all of Nathan's therapist and were going to put together another action plan. I know this will be good but I kinda feel like just shrugging my shoulders and saying "whatever"

I needed to vent and this is where I can do it. My blog keeps me sane and keeps me from having huge therapy bills...
I will add for those of you that have been asking me about Nathan height and weight that he weighs 27.4 lbs and is 3ft tall. His head circumference is 17 1/4 inches.
I had a quick look at the RTS growth chart for boys and if I read it correctly, this means that he's at about the 50% percentile for both height and weight. I'll have that confirmed when I get a new pediatrician.







Friday, July 3, 2009

Douglas Richard Ashbee

Here is the slideshow that I played at my father's memorial service. There are some great pictures of my dad as a child. Sorry it took a while to get it online.

Bookmark this page if you want to check back to find out how our family is doing. Although Nathan is the focus of the blog Christine includes other family happenings as well.


Sean

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Remembering you on your Birthday


 Alyssa put a special birthday cake sticker on the calendar so that we would remember to call you and wish you a Happy Birthday. She doesn't really understand that you have left us. She seemed puzzled today when I said that we couldn't call you. She was excited about your birthday because birthdays mean presents and cake. Who doesn't love birthdays right? 
You have been in our thoughts today. I certainly hope that friends and family that have past on have at least thrown you some kind of party on the other side. I can almost hear you laugh...
Happy Birthday Grandpa, we miss you. You would have been 62 today.