We're Cruisin'!

Nolan started cruising along the couch tonight! We've barely been working on it. He mostly taught himself. He is standing and moving like a crazy man! I am so excited for him. He is such a champion! There is a video of it to the right.

This is Life...

As some of you know, I finally got someone to clean my house. It has been the best experience ever. It really frees up my time at night so that I can focus on Nolan and it frees up our weekends to spend time as a family. She passed my most important test...can I walk through my house barefoot and have nothing stick to my feet? Now, that's clean. We had a great Saturday and it was followed by an ever better Sunday. First, we went to The Goalie's Den. Nolan got some new Detroit Red Wings gear and Jeff met coach Mike Babcock and got his autograph. Nolan is always such a good trooper during Dad's excursions. Plus, he looked like hot stuff in his new shirt. Nolan that is. The only bad part was Nolan practicing "no" at the top of his lungs in line. It's so cute because we don't use "no" at home and Marcia doesn't at her house, so we are starting to believe it is normal development. Tell that to the people around us.

After that, we went to the Franklin Cider Mill. That place was insanely crazy; however, it was beautiful and felt like we were out of the city. We decided not to wait in line to see the mill, we went straight to the line for cider and donuts. Nolan surprisingly didn't like the donut, but he loved the cider. When he wasn't drinking it out of the cup, he was sticking his entire hand in the cup, then licking it off. Whatever works I guess. He did good drinking out of a regular cup. It was another wonderful day in our life.

You can tell how hard he is concentrating on his drinking by looking at how hard he has his right hand clenched.There he goes sticking his hand in the cup again...

I have no idea what Nolan was looking at, obviously not the camera.

So Much in So Little Time

Whew...we've had a busy day. We went to a church in Royal Oak that we have been going to for a few years that sells pumpkins and other Fall fun stuff. We tried to stand Nolan next to some pumpkins, but he wasn't too excited. He did like to scoot between them. Then it happened...he took off crawling at record pace back and forth across this lawn. I have never seen him crawl this fast for this long. If I only knew all I needed was a nice lawn, I would have bought one this summer. Next year, I guess.

Nolan finally ate something this week. We got him to eat a couple pieces of pasta and some of a breadstick. His eating habits haven't been the best. We even snuck in a few pieces of chicken. He caught on, but did eat a few.

My Uncle John and Aunt Georgia came to visit this week. They brought Nolan a truck that he just loves. He loves to look at and study every detail.

And, last but not least, I got the opportunity to scrapbook my second set of pages ever. I love it. I didn't think I would. There's a great place in Novi called Archiver's. I got a chance to go and get some new things. These two pages are to commemorate Nolan celebrating his dad's birthday for the first time. It brought back great memories.

They Talked Me Into It...

I have been talked into scrapbooking. I took the plunge. It has been stressing me out all week. It's all I could think about. It's not good for people like me. I was so nervous to go tonight. I left an hour early. Jeff always tells me I need a hobby. I have one...Nolan. It was really fun. My friend Kim and I went to Archiver's in Novi for a Saturday night event. We were able to buy things as we went along. That was my favorite part. It was a great store with lots of things and wonderful people to help you. Kim and I are talking about making it a monthly event. How'd I do?

Crazy Man Nolan

Nolan has been moving like crazy since he got his AFOs (leg braces) on Monday. He's been loving to bounce on the couch cushions on the floor. He gets going so fast, he's nearly standing as you can see in the picture. He has stood by himself, by accident I think. He's not really sure what's going on. It's quite comical. I think he's even surprised by his abilities. I feel like the AFOs have made him crawl more as opposed to scooting. I am not sure why yet, I am still studying him. He's also starting to cruise a little along the couch. Again, he gets stuck in positions he doesn't know how to get out of.

This afternoon, Nolan and I were able to go to the zoo. We had a great time. He finally paid attention to the animals. His favorites were the peacocks, penguins and polar bears. We also got to play at the playground there for an hour. He loves the slide. He started crying when I put him in his stroller to go home. It's amazing to watch Nolan develop his personality and for him to communicate his needs.

Another funny thing, tonight I asked Nolan if he would like to put his pajamas on and he said, "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo." I never used the word "no" to him, I say, "stop." "No" must be a natural developmental milestone because he didn't learn it from us and I am not sure he knows what it means. It was cute and certainly caught our attention. We were giggling. I hope he doesn't learn it's a funny word.

The Past Few Weeks...

Nolan has been to a lot of appointments the last two weeks. He had an EEG, went to the physiatrist, hematologist and ophthalmologist, along with therapy twice a week. He got his orthotics and was casted for his night splint. There was mostly good news. His EEG showed no seizure activity. The hematologist said that he did not test positive for any blood clotting disorders. This is wonderful in that we don't believe he will have a stroke again. He did test positive for a gene mutation. The doctor said that this did not cause the stroke, but I have found some research online that shows this gene mutation can cause neural tube defects in fetuses. So, there is no definitive answer. The ophthalmologist said that the health and structure of his eye is good. His eyes are wandering out. He will check Nolan again in four months to see if his eye muscles have strengthened. There is nothing to correct at this time. The physiatrist said that although Nolan has made huge progress in his development, the contracture in his right leg did not improve over the last three months. We are increasing his physical therapy and including intense stretching and ultrasound. We feel that his new leg braces will help him. The physiatrist will re-evaluate in two more months and we may take another course of action at that point that would include serial casting. We are holding off for now, as Nolan has been through a lot and we want to try other things first. Nolan has remained his wonderful self through all of this. It is amazing to me how God blessed us with such a little trooper. The only time he cried through all of these appointments was when his blood was drawn. He does cry at therapy, but we're not sure if it's because the work is hard or he is stubborn. His stubbornness is probably genetic...

Here We Are

I never thought that I would ever have a "blog". We are blessed to have so many friends and family who love and support Nolan in his journey to recovery from his stroke. Only eight short months ago, Nolan was diagnosed as having a fetal stroke at about 12 - 14 weeks gestation without any known cause. Jeff and I are dedicated 100% to his recovery, no matter what it takes. I hope that you find as much inspiration as I do in this little angel's desire to live his best life.