Birthdays...

My birthday has always been one of my favorite days of the year. I love the idea of celebrating a person just because they were born. I think growing up in a house of six kids, made me really look forward to birthdays when the whole day was about ME!

There have been years that the celebrations have been big todo's, but this year was very laid back. Steve had been traveling all week, and was off again for another week, so we had a lot of errands to run on my special day. There was laundry to be done, groceries to be bought, presents to open. :)

All in all it was a great day. I got to talk to my family, and was wished happy birthday wishes by all who are dear to me. I even got an extra special perfectly sweet birthday song sung to me by my niece, and a great dinner with my sister.



Then birthday night, Steve took me out to a nice restaurant, and we met our friend Krista, to also celebrate her birthday.



After dinner, more errands, then home to sleep. And it was a really great wonderful birthday. I guess I don't have to be in London or Paris to enjoy a birthday...........well........let's not go crazy.

Just another mom...

When I was pregnant with Max, one of the things I would daydream about was his school years. I hadn't even met my new baby, and already I was planning on being the home-room mom. I would make cupcakes for birthday and holiday parties, and go to PTA meetings. I would surprise my kid at lunch time and with something special brought in, and eat at those little cafeteria tables. I would help his teacher cut out laminated letters, and be at every school play, and track and field day.

There have been moments since Max was born that I have passed a schoolyard and felt a lump in my throat about those things never coming to pass. It's this grief you feel at the strangest times, about the smallest of things, when you have a child whose life is not, and never will be like other children his age.

For nearly seven years I have had wondered what school would look like for Max. And we have indeed been shocked and amazed at how wonderful it is for him. He is included far more than I ever thought he would be. And because of that, there is a feeling of inclusion for all of us. For the first time, with Max's school stuff, I feel like I'm doing things all the moms of kids his age have to do, get to do. Just a bit more adapted to what he needs.

Max has been learning colors in school through February. Each Monday and Wednesday, I set up his table with items that are the color of the day. He has learned to read the words, and then chooses with his eye gaze the color the word says. He'll wear a bandana, or shirt, or hat in the color of the day. We incorporate the lesson around the color. When his teacher told me last week the color for this week, his final color, is grey, I thought..."we don't have anything grey!".

Today as I was looking through the house for grey items, I found myself mixing black paint with white playdough. I went digging in the side yard for grey rocks. I sorted through Steve's hats to find a grey one. A black and white picture...that equals grey. A picture of an elephant in a zoo book. I came up with a hodge-podge of grey items, but was stuck on what he would wear. He doesn't have a grey bandana, or hat, or t-shirt. But, when I was looking through his dresser looking for something for him to wear, I found a tshirt my sister bought him last year. It has a large rhino on it...grey rhino.

I went up to my sewing supplies and hoped he had a onesie bottom that could be attached to this never worn before tshirt, with the very grey rhino on the front, to make him a Super-Onesie. I found one attached to the first attempt super-onesie and took it apart to prepare the new one.

My sewing machine is up in the guest room, and I can't hear Max very well up there when he's awake, so sewing rarely happens until he's asleep. I waited until about 10:00pm tonight to go upstairs, once he was tucked into bed and asleep for a bit to work on his t-shirt for school tomorrow.

I wondered, how many other moms of first graders are working on something for their little one's school day tomorrow? And I smiled, because we have achieved one more thing I never thought would come to be. Tonight, I relish in the fact that I am just another busy mom, with busy days, doing something special for my son to be involved in school tomorrow.



I just hope it still fits!

A Week of Love...

I finally got the last pieces of our Valentine's week on Friday, so I could put the Valentine's Day post together. Then we had the weekend...which was glorious. Max had the BEST day he's had in months and months on Saturday. Now that it's Sunday night and he's zonked, I can put the Valentine post together.

The week started with making a very special Valentine, for one of Max's little Valentine's!




Addie got hers in the mail! She looooves to get mail!!


We met up with our special little Valentine at the park, and she shared her handmade Valentine's with us.


I think her cutting skills are wonderful! I mean, have you ever seen so many fringes on a Valentine? The purple one is for Uncle Steve, the white one is for Auntie Deanie, and the Red one was for Max.


On the big day, Max woke up ready to chat with his friends over Skype. They had a surprise for him.


Four groups of his classmates made four extra big valentines for him since we wanted to diminish the amount of germs coming into the house. This way, we could spray them with lysol before bringing them home to him. The kids also lined up and sang Max a Happy Valentine's Day To You song. It's good I'm not on screen when he visits with his friends...because all too often I have tears in my eyes.

Here are the extra large valentines from his friends.






The "I love you Max" got me by the heart and squeezed hard!


Max made a card for his teacher during his writing time with his friends.


I set up his school table with lovey dovey Valentiney things for math time.


He counts all the items and makes tally marks on his dry erase board. He's learning to count by 5's, so I'm having to come up with a lot of items!

He and his teacher then got to work on a very special valentine for his Momma!


He insisted on it all being purple!




His teacher also brought his bag back from class that had a few special letters to him.





"Dear Max I hope you feel better We all got a surprise for you It will make you happy"


"Dear Max I hope you have a good Valentine. Your the best."

With a special picture of Max.



"Max I just like you being on the white board. You are a great student."

Max wrote a note to his friends thanking them for the "humongous cards".


It was a great week of love from his friends. He is so very loved.

Loved...

If you don't follow both blogs, I have written a couple of new posts on Max's blog.

It's LOVE week. Steve and I aren't ones to go all out on Valentine's Day. I think it's because his birthday comes, then Valentine's, then my birthday, and finally our anniversary all within a couple of months. So, we try to make Valentine's a less eventful day.

Every year, we agree on this less eventful day, no gifts, no flowers, no chocolates...a trumped up Hallmark holiday. I plan a special meal, and we'll eat at home rather than fighting for a time slot at the nicest restaurant.

And every year, I wake up to a gift. This year was no different.



Steve made this little flashing heart...geekery love!






(My favorite perfume!)



My part was dinner. Steamed asparagus, lobster, and roasted purple potatoes with onions, garlic, and rosemary.

(Followed by a bag of Chocolate Pirate's Booty!)

I even got a very special Valentine made by Max. I'll post more about all of his Valentine's tomorrow on his blog.

It was a great day, and I definitely felt very loved.

Monday...

It's definitely a Monday...



After a week of "snow days", he's not so sure if he wanted to be doing school, and therapy today. He fell asleep during school, while his teacher was reading Curious George. She quietly said goodbye, and hoped he would be more awake on Wednesday!

Then was time for physical therapy, which he hasn't had for a couple of weeks.

'A' for effort...


Oh boy...it's definitely a Monday...

Heavy lifting...

Max weighs somewhere around 55-60 pounds. It depends on the scale we weigh him on, and in which clinic. Last time we were at the special care clinic, he weighed 56 pounds. He's about 4 feet tall...I haven't measured his height recently, but closer to 4 feet than anything.

I am 5'4" and around 135 pounds. Give or take a piece of pie now and then. ;)

When Max was a baby, I used to cart him around on my hip. I would carry him in a little baby bjorn with little effort. As a new mom, I was always waiting for that extra baby weight to come off. Before Max, I weighed a whopping 110 pounds. Holy Moly!

As Max has gotten bigger, I have been thankful I have a little more weight on my bones. I don't think I could lift my guy with my old, before Max body.

I try to take care of myself, eat right, protect my back when I lift him, take walks, and get as much rest as Max lets me. But, working out has not been on the top of my list. I've gotten by up to this point with the heavy lifting each day helping with the daily work out. I can see though, if I'm going to keep up, and be able to lift Mr. Enormous for years to come, I am going to need to find a type of work out plan that works for me.

Today, I was counting how many times I had lifted Max. As of 6:00pm, I've transfered him 13 times. A transfer is from one seating device, or bed, to the floor or another seating device. This is not an abnormal day, in fact, it's a very typical day. We have another 3-4 hours before bed time, and probably another 4 more transfers. Once he's in bed, and sleeping, he needs repositioned and adjusted in bed around 4 times a night. All that to say, my back is tired!

While I was counting up the transfers today, I thought, I should take a video to see what it looks like when I pick him up. As with most things with Max, I just do them. I don't sit and think about how I accomplish the task, or if it is safe...it needs to be done, so I do it.

I already can see some things I need to do differently from the videos. Like, try not to round my back as much.



Getting him out of his chair is always more difficult for me. It's hard to get in front of him and use my legs to lift, like I do in the video above. Once I have him, and I'm standing up, he's really not that heavy seeming to me. Usually when I'm holding him like this we have a little dance. There's something about getting him up so close to me and locking eyes with him that makes time stand still, and really just calls for a little dance.



I need to be able to keep dancing with him for a long time to come. What is your preferred form of keeping strong, and protecting your back?

Wordless Wednesday...

Snow day means...







Falling asleep while Momma tries to make him do his therapy anyway.