Christmas 2014

Well I want a Christmas do-over!!!!!!!  I don't recall being as sick as I have been the past few days in the past few years combined.  The worst case of Bronchitis that I hope I ever have.  Finally this morning I woke up feeling like I am coming back to be a member of the human race.

A lot has gone on in past few weeks, so I'm going to do a rewind and start from the beginning.  We had the beginning of our Christmas holiday back on Thanksgiving Day.  One of my wonderful nieces was going to be able to come in to visit at Thanksgiving but would not make it in for Christmas. Nothing to do but make sure that the Christmas tree was up and Kaitlin's Christmas gifts were ready to go.  We celebrated her Christmas right after we ate our Thanksgiving dinner. A little cousin photo shoot in front of the tree.  Silly faces everyone!!!

 Come on Bobby, look at the camera!!!

 Bracelets that Bobby actually helped me with at a shopping trip to Belk.  I would hold up two and which ever one he touched was the one that we bought.

 Kait got a bunch of things she needed for Christmas.  NO FUN!!!  Pots and pans and bowls and towels.  Growing up is not much fun!!  LOL!!!  Time for a smart phone break with Grandma!!!

Daddy and I let Bobby open his present from us on Thursday evening so that he would have the gift for his doctor appt on Friday to get his cast removed.

 Whoo hoo....an iPad mini.  The internet actually works on this one unlike his old iPad, plus the headphone jacks work too.  Yippee.  FYI....Bobby has become addicted to watching his favorite shows on YouTube in different languages.  Nothing like hearing Elmo's World in Polish while puttering around the house!!

Just prior to Thanksgiving, my Grandma (my dad's mom) was put into a nursing home at age 91.  Her health was failing.  The week before Bobby's Christmas break was to begin, I received a message that Grandma had to be moved to a different section of the nursing home and she probably wasn't going to make it to Christmas.

You hate for things like this to happen around the holidays, however, it was nice to to get to see everyone from this side of my family at Christmas time.  My dad took this picture of my Grandma and I just a few days before her death.  Grandma Violet died on Wednesday, Dec 17th.

Bobby didn't go to funeral, but after the grave side service I ran home to get him so that he could be a part of the family dinner at my aunt's house.  This side of my family is large.  My grandma had 5 kids, a bunch of grandkids and great grandkids and most of them were there.  Bobby did great job, he wanted to stay outside and play in my aunt's super fun driveway, but he did calm down and sat at the table to eat.

 While we were there, I remember stepping back from people because I had begun coughing and I didn't want to spread any germs.  Oh please, don't let me get sick kept going through my head (this was the Saturday before Christmas).  Bobby and Grandpa Tom....

Bobby's cast was removed, my Grandma's funeral was over....Sunday I was EXHAUSTED!!! Bobby was now on Christmas break.....time to get everything ready for Christmas!!!  I had to plan a few activities to entertain Bobby.

 We were having beautiful weather....perfect for a rail trail walk.

 I was so happy with Bobby's attempt at decorating our gingerbread train.  Next time I'll have to let the icing set up and hold the structure together before I let him decorate.

 The train fell in with all of the weight from the peppermints!!!  Might as well eat some candy!!

 Of course we had to go SWIMMING at Stepping Stones to celebrate the cast removal!!!  Too bad that they are closed this week.

We finally made it to Christmas Eve Eve.  Bobby opened a gift that an older couple in our neighborhood buy for him every year.  They are so sweet.

 Not sure what that pose is about!! LOL!!!  Ahhh, the stillness in the house after Bobby is asleep!

 Dining room is dressed for Christmas dinner.

 Christmas Eve is finally here!!  Zoi seems so excited!!

Thankfully I got to work early in the day and got most of the Christmas Day dinner prepared and put away in the fridge.  All I had to do on Christmas Day was bake the ham and bake the side dishes that were ready to go.  Extremely happy that I did this because the longer the day went on, the worse I felt.  We got ready and were off to Grandma Carolyn's for Christmas Eve dinner.  One exit away from her house, we had to pull off of the road so that Bobby could vomit in the parking lot.  GREAT!  I had to strip his clothes and put on his pajamas that I had brought for him to wear home later on.  We got to Grandma's and he was sick a couple of more times.  He laid on the couch and in her bed and didn't do much else.

 The table was set at Grandma's house for our annual prime rib dinner.....Daddy's favorite meal of the year!!  Shrimp scampi, chicken/broccoli pasta, and much, much more was on the menu.

 Bobby opened one gift and had to take his new road signs to the kitchen to line them up while the meal was being prepared, the back to the couch.

 I had to do a load of laundry and clean her bathroom twice while we were there.  Fun.  Did I mention that by this time I felt like garbage!!??!!  Let's get these gifts open!!!

 Ashley got new bedding in the big box.  Bobby finally perked up, ate a few bites, and went outside to run up and down the sidewalk for awhile, after all it was 60 degrees outside.  He then opened his favorite gift of Christmas....a jumbo slinky.

I didn't get many pictures, because I just felt lousy!!  Time to go home and get ready for Santa.  We got in the car and started down the road and a huge wind/rain storm came out of no where.  Full tree branches were flying at our car which was blowing all over the road.  Just get us home and to bed!!!!
Thankfully we got home without any issues and our power was on when we got there, many others in our area where not as lucky and had no power.

I was thankful that Bobby slept all night long without any more sickness.  However, he didn't have an appetite for the next few days.  He sat right down and started opening his stocking.

 He dove right in and opened some wrapped gifts.  As I was looking through the pictures, I really noticed that he was really looking at his gifts.  He wasn't just opening and tossing, he opened and looked at the item.

 After he opened this gift, he was pretty much done.  He wanted to get it out of the box and play.

 He did open a few more, but his mind was never far away from his build-a-road toy.

All of the things that he had picked out on his shopping trip to Target.

 The blue sled!!  Wrapping paper is flying!

 The whole time Zoi was like a crazy girl.  She literally was like a 4 year old child, running from thing to thing and had to be right in on all of the action.

 He finally gave up on opening his gifts......he needed to put his road together now!!

 Half opened and half wrapped.  We waited to open the rest when Grandma Carolyn and Ashley arrived.  They decided to come over in the morning instead of spending the night.....staying away from the sick as long as they could!!!

We had breakfast....Belgium waffles and some sausage gravy and biscuits.  Then.....time to open gifts!!  Santa brought Ashley's stocking in a cool tote bag.

 Zoi never left the action!!!!

 Don't open any more gifts.....rub my belly!!! Woof Woof!!!

Grandma got a new throw pillow for her couch.  Daddy immediately quipped, "Someone got some new hooters!!"  We all laughed!

 A red coat for Ashley.

 I took a picture of all of Bobby's loot as a reminder to myself for next Christmas.  TOO MUCH STUFF!!!  After he opened a few things, he had blinders over the rest, he was getting too overwhelmed.  Over half of this is shoved in his closet to be brought out sporadically over the next few months.  Less is definitely more for Bobby.

We had a nice dinner and streamed a couple of movies.  The next morning I got myself up to be the first one in line at Med Express so that I wouldn't have to wait.  I was actually 3rd and the other two were as obviously sick as I was.  This has been the worst case of bronchitis that I ever recall, probably because I waited so long to get to the doctor.  Lost my voice for a couple of days, but did catch up on all of the Christmas movies that I had recorded to my DVR.  I just want to re-do Christmas Eve and Christmas Day where I feel great.  Well, there's always next year.  Here's to a sick-free NewYear!!!

Cast Removal

This blog posting is mainly for my own benefit.  I've learned something in my past few years of blogging Bobby's life......you forget way more details than you ever dream.  When I go back and read postings from a few years ago, I'm always a little shocked at the things that I had forgotten.  I wanted to remember this whole crazy cast process.

I went to pick up Bobby from school to take him to the doctors office to get his cast removed.  A lot of excitement going on in the school building.....the last day of school for Christmas vacation and pajama day=kids bouncing off of the walls!!!!!  So exciting!!  Too bad we had to go to the doctor, but at the same time super excited to get this STINKY cast off of his arm and wash his extremely dirty hand.

 Bobby has a routine when we go to this office building that also houses his pediatrician and neurologist.  First I force him with all of my might through the elevator doors to go upstairs and I loudly say to him something like, "Mommy knows how afraid you are of elevators, it's ok," so that people don't think that I am a crazy lady.  But on this Friday afternoon we got our own elevator and Bobby did so much better than he has ever done.  Last week when he had his IEP meeting, I asked his teacher if he could ride the school elevator to desensitize him to elevators.  She said absolutely and then has reported to me that he LOVES to ride the elevator at school!  What!!???!!!  The trauma the two of us have shared at the elevator doors in our lifetime together and he loves it at school.  He now likes to "push the button" and ride the school elevator.  SWEET!!  It is obviously transferring to other elevators, he pushed the button and got on with about 75% less hesitation.  Still somewhat afraid, but no where near past fear.  Then we have to go straight to the bathroom and "pee pee potty" that he announces loudly.  He doesn't really pee that much, it is just the routine.  Then we can go down the hallway to which ever office that we are there for.

Today when I opened the door into orthopedics, I thought to my self "uh oh, I've got the wrong date/time" there was NO ONE in the waiting room.  I walked over to reception and the three ladies working there couldn't be nicer and one actually said, "we don't like to say it out loud that no one is here and we are going to have an easy afternoon....because that's when it all goes downhill!!!"  I laughed and explained that this was a Christmas miracle for us because Bobby has autism and waiting is so hard.  Of course, one of the receptionists had a nephew with autism and we started sharing stories.  I literally can't go anywhere anymore with out someone telling me that they have someone with autism in their family.......breaks my heart.

 We only had to wait in the waiting room for 3 minutes while they got his file and got it to the nurse and we were right back to one of the beds in the "cast room" to let the removal begin.  Bobby sat right down and let me get his iPad set up with his earbuds.

 I was very worried about this process because his biggest fear in life is the vacuum.  When I get it out to sweep the carpets, he runs to his room and hides until it is back in the closet with the closet door firmly closed.  If you've never seen a cast removal saw, this is it.  Looks like a canister vac and sounds just like one.

I told the nurse about his fear and the potential for problems, but our second Christmas miracle of the day happened....he sat perfectly and let her saw through both sides.  He sat and let her use scissors to cut through the gauzy inside and then still held his arm out while she used the spreaders to get the cast apart.  Bobby wanted that thing off of his arm and he knew that this was the only way!!!!!!!

 He watched the whole process.

 They then ushered us over to x-ray where we sat down and waited for 20 seconds until they called us back!!!  SWEET!!!!

 He did well with x-ray with me assisting in holding his arm in place while they took the pictures. We then went back to the cast room to await the x-ray results.  I looked at the time and it was just now our scheduled appointment time....we arrived 15 minutes early.  This NEVER happens....my prayers were definitely answered.

 The dry, dead skin was driving him a little crazy and he was rubbing it OFF!!

 I got him situated again with his iPad and he was 100% happy laying there watching YouTube.

There was a thick layer of yellow crust on his hand on the perimeter where the cast was.....YUCK!!!

He also had a busted callus on the inside of his hand that was under the cast.  He did not want anyone to touch it.  Poor guy.  Felt so bad for him that he had this boo boo.

 The doctor came in to talk with us, this was the first time of the appointment that Bobby became agitated.  He got up off of the bed and was leaving.  I had to grab him twice and get him back to the bed........he was NOT getting another cast on his arm and that was all that mattered to him.  We talked, no new cast, and we were out of there!!!!  The super nice receptionists chatted with us again and we were out to the elevator.  Bobby pushed the button and got right on.  He pushed the number 1 and we were on our way out of there cast free!!

 Cheese!!!!  Now to find a swimming pool!!!!!