Snuggling with Dad

Baby for Sale??

Steve and Kendra took us out to dinner on Sunday. They are always excited to see Anthony, and Steve joked that they would buy him if we ever put him up for sale.

Iron Chef

This weekend at the canal we held Iron Chef Ground Beef, with extra points for the chefs who also incorporated corn (two things that we have in abundance right now!).

Mike had possibly the most creative recipe - Scottish Eggs. That is a hardboiled egg inside a meatball. Interesting combination, that is for sure. He coated the outside of the meatball with corn meal he made himself. Way to go Mike!

Jared made stuffed bell peppers which were absolutely delicious! You can never go wrong with America's Test Kitchen....

Kim made Homespun Meat Pie, which turned out to taste better than expected. A layer of ground beef made the "crust" and the filling was a mixture of velveeta (does anyone even eat that any more?) and mashed potatoes.

Too many chefs in the kitchen!

Playtime with Grandma

Pajama Party at the Canal

The end of an era

Goodbye, Jared's Iphone.

Coffee

Jared is known for leaving his coffee mug in weird places, but this is the weirdest place we've ever found it. And he did NOT do this on purpose. At the canal this weekend Kim found this cup balancing on this ledge - all other cups were claimed except Jared's, so we know it was his. How did he set it down like this without even knowing it?? And yes, the mug does say "you can make it happen in Auburn."

Motorcycle Rant

Many of you may not like this post, but I have to tell you after being in the SCI (spinal cord injury) world motorcycles are so dangerous! If I guessed I'd say about 75% of the people I have met were injured in a motorcycle accident. And it's not because they are bad drivers and were careless. One guy was hit because a lady didn't see him when she was turning left. She was only going about 15 mph when she hit him. There was no damage to his bike and not a single scratch on his body, but because of the way he hit the ground, he is now paralyzed. This is one of many stories like this. I really hope that Anthony never wants to ride a motorcycle!! So please be careful when you are out there riding!

Lokomat

Here are a few pics of me at Pushing Boundaries on the Lokomat, a weight bearing treadmill that I spend about an hour on each time I go in. There are not many of these machines available for the general public to use as they are pretty expensive (about $400K) - most are in VA hospitals or in private hospitals for use with only certain types of patients, like stroke vicitims.

Oh, how I missed you Roomba

Our new Roomba arrived yesterday and I am thrilled!! http://www.irobot.com/ Old roomba hasn't worked for a couple of months now, and I've forgotten how fabulous the vacuum really is. Roomba is one of my favorite things in the entire house. Set it and forget it. He does a great job of cleaning up after Roma who leaves her hair every where. Roomba is a must have for anyone with pets or kids. Or anyone who doesn't enjoy vacuuming. Basically, I think every house needs one.

Roomba 570 is even better than the old model we had. He comes with a remote control so I can steer him to the corners I want cleaned (for that rare occasion when he misses a spot). And of course he still comes with the virtual walls, greatly enhanced from the last version. This new guy seems to have all the bells and whistles, and I'm loving listenting to him working away right now.

Anthony's first encounter with roomba was entertaining. He looked a little terrified as roomba headed his way (they were both on the floor) but he got over the fear quickly, and he too realizes how wonderful the roomba is. Anthony's eyes follow Roomba all over the house.

Welcome home, Roomba. You will always be an important member of our family.

6 Month Check Up

We continue to have a very happy, healthy little boy. He weighed in at 19 lbs, 15 oz (75-90%) and is 26.5" (50-75%) long. His head is still huge, in the 90th percentile.

An Interesting Proposition

Today was a lot of fun. Jared only worked a 1/2 day at work so that he could take Anthony and I to Anthony's 6-month doctors appointment. After the doctor we went to happy hour (on our back deck). It is so fun to be able to spend time with Jared where we don't have to worry about anything else - he is so great at making me laugh.

I LOVE happy hour, though I haven't been able to participate in a very long time, being pregnant and then in the hospital for so long. It was great to enjoy something that used to be a normal part of our lives. There is nothing like having a beer and some snacks after a long day of work (or in my case, housewife). It's hard to actually go to happy hour (do they let babies in the bar?) so I decided we'd have it at home. Today was a beautiful day and we enjoyed nachos and beer on the deck.

A couple of beers in, Jared suggests we get rid of cable completely. Right now we only have basic cable (about 13 channels). He bribes me by saying I can get a new laptop if we get rid of cable (something I have been asking for for many months now). Very tempting offer. And there is nothing good that comes out of TV - we obviously don't want Anthony watching any. I'm afraid getting rid of cable will make us those weird people who never watch TV, and I certainly don't want Anthony to be made fun of at school (about 5 years from now). But I like the idea, as TV is such a time waster. I'm leaning towards getting rid of it. There aren't many shows that are really great, and everything is available online now. Sounds like I've already made my decision - new laptop gets here in a week! ;)

Weigh in with your opinion please!

A cure

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/32950285#32950285

It's so exciting to think that there might be a cure in my lifetime. I would love to know that other people won't have to go through something like this. This will be exciting to see.

Anthony and Roma

I was trying to do a 6 month photo shoot today but had little success as Roma would not leave us alone. The quality of these pics is poor, but I wanted to share them anyways. We have best friends in the making here - Anthony looks so small compared to Roma! Maybe Roma is confused because she used to be in all of the pictures, but post-baby she is not in any pictures.

Special Delivery

Jody and Ryan have been so thoughtful throughout this journey though they are so far away (Ryan is now in his 3rd year of dental school in Virginia). Lunch was delivered today (a chicken parm sandwich and cinnastix!) and it was delicious. Thank you guys!! What a fun surprise - it certainly perked me up!

Laughing Baby

Yes, I am the crazy lady making weird noises in the background.

Play Time

In case you haven't seen Anthony lately, here is a little video of the little guy playing around.

Picnic

Today was a beautiful day so we went to the park with Mike, Colby and Lucas for a picnic - probably the last nice weekend we have for awhile.

6 Months

Well I haven't been blogging much lately because I don't have anything inspiring to say. You would think that this would get easier as the days go on, but it's exactly the opposite. Sure, physically things are easier. I'm able to do much more now than I could 6 months ago. If you visited me in the hospital and see me now, you definitely know that physically I have improved greatly. But emotionally it's so much harder. The milestones for Anthony are bittersweet. He turned 6 months yesterday, and that means that I've been sitting in this stupid wheelchair for 6 months. Not exactly how I pictured the first 6 months of motherhood would be. And sometimes I feel like people really don't get it. It's hard enough to be a new mom, and trying being paralyzed in a wheelchair. This is hard. I know I will walk again soon, but I certainly hate waiting. Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful for all of the blessings in my life. But so confused and frustrated by this situation, trying to figure out why this had to happen to me. I am really looking forward to the day when we can all celebrate because I'm walking again! And until then I will try my best to stay positive, but each day I feel I'm growing more weary on this journey.

Canal

When you're at the canal you have to wear a flannel shirt - Anthony wore his first one Labor Day Weekend. It was rainy all weekend - great fall weather. He obviously enjoyed the experience.

Grandpa's My Hero

In case you are wondering, Yes, we do make the boys dress in the same outfits pretty often. We don't have many matching shirts as they get to bigger sizes - lucky for them.

And we've got glutes....

Therapy has been going well. Today we realized that my glutes are firing. Not strong enough to move anything yet, but we have glutes and quads firing which is all I need to get walking. As soon as the nerve signal is stronger I'll be able to move the muscles more. Pray that this process is sped up as I am getting REALLY sick of being in this wheelchair. Each day seems to drag on - I can't wait to be up walking again. There are just so many things I wish I were doing right now, and it gets hard to watch other people live normal lives when that is all that I want!!