Christmastime

Wow, we have had a busy season. We got Nolan up Christmas morning and he crawled out to the living room and saw the kitchen that Santa left for him, he was thrilled. He didn't want to open any more presents.He got a baseball bean bag chair, a bead maze, a bell for his bike, jazz cds, an electric toothbrush to mention a few. He was actually great at opening presents; however, he was not interested after he saw his kitchen.

We opted for just sugar and cinnamon toast for breakfast and headed to my sister Amanda's house for the day. We spent time with my family. Nolan had so many great gifts. His favorite of all was the silverware set my mother bought him. Who knew? He was wiped out when we finally headed home, he felt asleep immediately. When we got home, he would not go to bed.

In fact, he threw everything out of his crib, took his pants off and tried to jump out.

To see more of our Christmas fun, you can click on the top right of the page where it says Our Pictures and you will be directed to flickr. I have uploaded a lot there.

It's Almost Christmas!

I can't believe it is almost the end of the year. We have had a rollercoaster 2008 to say the least. Nolan was diagnosed in February, Jeff got laid off in March, but it has been all up from there. Nolan has been walking assisted since Saturday at our house and previously at Marcia's (his sitter). What a miracle that is! It was just this year that we were praying that this day would happen. We anxiously await the big day when he walks unassisted. We feel it will be soon and what a celebration it will be. I have the day planned in my head already. And, of course, Jeff got a new job in August. His time off and hard work with Nolan is evident in Nolan's success and boy does he love his daddy!

We've been getting ready for Christmas and excited to see family. We took Nolan to see Santa which was an experience to say the least. You can see the pictures at the left. We decided on the Somerset Santa because we thought it would be "easier". Uh, no. I got up at 6 a.m. to get ready, get Nolan ready and get out the door. Then, I waited in line to get our time slot. We ran around until our time, 10:53 a.m. We checked in and waited again. Then, it was our turn. We went up to Santa and I told him, "Santa, please don't look at or speak to Nolan." He said, "Nooooo, it's ok. Hiiiii, Nolan!" Then, all hell broke loose as you will see in the pictures. Maybe next year. I have to say that my favorite pictures are the ones of him sitting at a desk and writing his letter to Santa at Macy's. Then, he was so proud of himself when he could stand at the mailbox and drop it in the slot. It was probably the highlight of his day.

Check out Nolan's videos on YouTube and pictures on flickr. You can access that at the right. We're so proud of him. He is kickin' his walker's a$$.

Time is Flying!

I can't believe that it's almost Christmas...feels like it was just Halloween. We've been getting ready for the holidays and trying to keep up with all of the therapies and appointments. Nolan got his tricycle two weeks ago and doesn't seem to like it much, especially the helmet. We'll be working on this.We got him a helmet that fits better than this one; however, he still doesn't like it. I can't help but laugh at his expressions sometimes.

For Thanksgiving, we were supposed to go to the Lions game, but didn't end up going. We spent a nice day at home, then went to Maggiano's for dinner and Michael's craft shopping. It was a very unconventional, yet relaxing Thanksgiving. Nolan still wore his Lions gear eventhough we didn't go.That weekend, we also decorated our Christmas tree. It is a tradition at our house to have a theme each year and it usually revolves around something that happened that year. This year we chose Childhood Stroke Awareness since Nolan was diagnosed this year. It was a great time to reflect on everything he's accomplished this year. And, it's pretty, too!Jeff bought Nolan a toy on Wednesday night. He uses these beads in therapy, but for some reason, he just likes to wear it as a necklace or put it on the dogs.I bought Nolan a Curious George to enhance his nurturing skills. This is something we work on continuously because he loves to throw things. I finally got Nolan to hold George the other night. Next, we'll move on to hugging. It is funny that Nolan doesn't like George because he is a very loving child.After this picture, he threw George at the camera. Ha, ha, ha.

On our way home from the store tonight, we passed a church that was having a living Nativity. Nolan loved all of the animals. It was snowing making it quite cold, but we enjoyed it for a little bit.

Yup, He's Ours

Jeff was cleaning out the basement yesterday and found this picture of my dad. I believe he was 2 years old. It was like looking at a picture of Nolan! The side-swept hair, the big forehead, the nose, the lips, the round cheeks, the ticked off look on his face!