NORTHERN DECKS

 

 It's that time of year again! The Prince George Home Show is behind us.....whoop whoop...... thank goodness! Its such a whirlwind leading up to it. Jason built another deck in our driveway but this time promoting his "TUFDEK...The World's Strongest Vinyl Decking". I have to admit its damn good! Not the cheapest but the best! It even gets used for commercial roofing. So yeppers it's waterproof. Kinda fun actually this year giving it a push as we lived with it on our front deck all winter. So were able to know how it works fantastic first hand which made it easier talking to people about it. Everyone seemed to like the whole idea of it which is a bonus for us. It sure wasn't the warmest of days though. This picture looks like it was a beauty for a weekend but man it was windy and cold! Luckily the precipitation was kept to a minimum as people are still willing to stop if they aren't getting drenched. Anyhow, a successful show. Definitely was talked out by the end of it......yes surprise surprise I was talked out. I guess the thing is you just say the same thing over and over and over again. As you can see we picked a name for his decking side of things "NORTHERN DECKS". We figured its short, sweet, and easy to remember.  We also got a website started too so check that out. www.northerndecks.com Again easy to remember and kind of a necessity with the way the world seems to be going so cyber.

 Jason's been using our little carport and Mom's farm to store stuff which has been handy in some ways but a pain in may others. Is got to the point that he was just running from one spot to the next so much that it was starting to waste valuable time. So alas Daddy has his first shop!

 Its pretty nice for him to finally get to this stage. Its been a long time coming and he's made it work in the past but it was time to take the jump to the next stage.

Even though Dad has been running nonstop he always finds time for his kidlets.....and his wifey.

 We just think he's fabulous......I guess that's because he is!

 

Switchin It Up

So I'm always trying to switch things up a bit to keep Mr Man entertained and stimulated. So today when I snapped him into his stander I was trying to figure what I should do with him to keep his mind off of what he was really doing. Basically, we just had a bunch of fun! I started off with dancing him about the living room/kitchen which I have added a video for you to check out. I'll just apologize ahead of time for the singing component! Then I wondered how he'd react to being pushed up to the piano. He wasn't too keen on doing his own plunkin on the piano but once I did he seemed to really enjoy it. He watched my hands as well as put one of his hands up on my arm as I played. It was a pretty special time. I tried taking videos but I so get stage fright with the whole playing piano in front of others....even a silly video camera that I totally make a disaster of the music! LOL Isn't that the craziest thing you ever heard. Anyhow, it was neato that he got something out of that whole experience. I may just have to try plunkin on that piano of my mothers a tad more since the kidlets love it so much!

 

VIDEOS

 

Alistair & Francis Bonding

 

Dancing with My Boy

 

Alistair Playing the Piano

 

Spring Has Sprung

 Spring has truly sprung for me when I start getting dirt under my finger nails. It happened a tad earlier this year then expected. The sun was shining with double digits warming the sole. It was gorgeous. Any reason to get out and rake a couple leaves peaking out from under the edge of the melting snow, breaking up some ice on the patio or planting some Hens & Chicks with my little girl. Its just amazing to watch her curiosity. It brings me back to the basic enjoyment one can get from life. We don't need all the shinny bells and whistles to make the world go round or feel complete. I didn't need to run to the store to get her the perfect Easter treat. Just an old rotten basket filled with dirt was a great focal point for Francis day. She got so much enjoyment out of pulling the little succulents out as I tried to plant them and shortly there after she was stuffing them back in the dirt. It continuously amazes me how many firsts are bombarding her little inquisitive brain. How exciting to join her in all these precious little moments.

 Yesterday we headed out to Grandma's Farm for Easter Dinner. The cutest thing occurred. As always we haul in the kidlets and all the gear. I dropped off Francis with Grandma and she didn't want to do anything but literally hug Grandma for a good 20 minutes. She'd raise her head and then promptly snuggle it back into Grandma's sweater. I think all parties were thoroughly enjoying themselves!

The barefoot family attempted a family photo. Out of ten shots this was the best of the bunch. Three out of four faces isn't bad.

 

I'd like to leave you today with this 8 minute video clip. Its worth the watch and it touched home for me and made me remember to not forget about "the gift of an ordinary day"  CLICK HERE

 



Standin Man

Somehow we keep finding room for new adaptive equipment in our home! This was pretty neat though as we tried Alistair in a stander quite some time ago but he really used it to his advantage ie. he'd buckle and hang in it so he didn't have to do any work. However, now with some growth under his belt, foot splints, and some consistent work at home getting him to stand in his routine day it seems to all have paid off.

He actually seemed to enjoy this stander and Lynn, his PT, was wondering if he's getting some proprioception throughout his body that helps calm all the extra movement he tends to have. Anyhow, its neat and gives Alistair a new perspective on life. Now to incorporate it into our daily routine!

Saturday Smile Stimulator

I thought I'd share a small window of the fun we have now that there are two kidlets in our house. Such uncomplicated and unstaged beautiful times.

I get to smile all the time now!

 

Click on the links below

 

Smile Stimulator #1

 

Smile Stimulator #2

 

Have a Stupendous Day!

Motivated By My Boy

If anyone knows me very well I have truly not been a fan of the gym. I've quite disliked it actually. My thinking is if I have the time to go to the gym I'd rather go for a hike, a beautiful walk, or kayak some lake. Well unfortunately all that doesn't really get you STRONG overall. After having Francis I was feeling pretty rubbery. My back always felt like it was going to give out. I was having to brace myself to pick up Alistair. I was huffing and puffing. The body was not in great shape. Yes I just had a baby girl. But I really knew I had to put some substantial focus on my body or I was going to be in trouble in the near future. I say trouble as Alistair requires me to be very physical every day since he doesn't weight bare and if he does he'll give out at anytime so you have to be ready for that. So with a splurge in weight gain (YAY Alistair!!!) from my little man I was very motivated to go get strong. I guess the other key factor was last Nov I crashed pretty good and Mom went and got me a YMCA membership and offered to watch the kids twice a week so I could go. Its so much more motivating when someone else buys you a membership too as there is a nice amount of guilt factor to not let it go to waste. Anyhow now to my utter surprise I have to say I actually love my gym time. At the beginning of March I had reached my preprego weight which was a nice treat to say the least and good for my brain. O and the other key factor to my success at the gym was the Y gives you five sessions with a trainer. The very first session all we did was talk about what has kept me from the gym, what I dislike about it, what I like about it, how to change up my diet, and basically how to formulate a plan so that I will still be coming 6 months from now. It worked! I have a great routine which I love. I still go twice a week for a good 1.5 hours a time and I definitely miss it when I don't make my Tues or Thurs sessions. YAY ME!

I didn't go on any diet plan though as again knowing myself if I go on a diet I get so food focused I just end up gaining weight and ya so doesn't work for me. So what I've done is just used a lot of common sense ie. smaller bowls of cereal, more protein less carbs, more water less caffiene, smaller servings in general, and well basically just a lot of good common sense. Its true for me though if I get happier with the state of my body which was for me getting stronger and toned I find I want to eat better too. Just a positive circle effect.

Anyhow, back to Alistair, the truth is the little man is growing. Its been a reality I've worried about and still do. How do we cope as he grows? How will we physically handle him? How do we prevent repetitive injuries ? I already have tennis elbow starting up in both arms and either tape them or wear elbow braces. What can we buy, make up, or change to make life ergonomically better for everyone? The list goes on... Thankfully he is growing relativly slow and this gives us time to plan, change and learn new methods and acquire new ideas to make life easier on all of us.

 A couple super things is that we now have a wheelchair accessible entrance which I really look forward to this summer as it use to be quite the process to go out. Now I can just whing him into the wheelchair. Zip outside and if he's not into it we just go back in. Plus now I don't have to carry the big hi lo chair in and out of the house with all his stuff just to find out we have to go right back in.

We are also done the wheelchair accessible bathroom too. So instead of holding a slippery 27lb boy we can place him in his mesh shower chair and wheel him into his rain shower. He loves it....and so so much better for all of us.

 I still have to add some color and hardware to the bathroom but for now its perfect!

 

One thing I do know is it feels great to be STRONG!

PS I do know there are no pictures of me when I'm talking all about me but I have none of me! I'll have to work on that.

Lots of Progression

WOW time has flown by! I have been meaning to get on here and do some blogging but life has been so darn busy AND have my kidlets ever been progressing. I wondered if it would make me ache to see Francis progress past Alistair because of course she has already! Frankly, all this amazing progression that she is doing Alistair is loving and benefiting in it in so many ways. It really doesn't hurt. If anything Francis makes his life so much fuller and more stimulating. Its lovely. Perhaps thats also called acceptance?!?

 Meal time still shocks me with how easy it is. Her fine motor control is amazing. The neat part is I just load up her tray and away she munches! Alistair and Francis always eat side by side and he definitely is aware of her presence. Especially when she tries to steal his spoon or wash cloth. He gives her a good tug of war.

 We've continued to work with Alistair and his mobility. Its obvious his mobility isn't what we dreamed it to be even a year ago. However, he still seems to progress at his slow and gentle rate. Jason came up with the idea of sitting him up at the edge of his crib. Its pretty fun. Sometimes he can last minutes and others its pretty short lived. But we take what we can get. Another great point is that he is weight bearing again! Everytime we go to pick him up we are making him use his hands to stablize himself to sitting and then we get him to stand for 10 seconds if possible. All with the hope I can eventually count on him to stand for transfers. The thing about our little man is its consistently a roller coaster ride. But he always seems to come back up and give us some new stuff to be so proud of him for.

Then there is Little Miss Francis and her mobility. This is at the beginning of the month. Yes doing the plank! Have you ever tried this...its HARD.

  Then she got into moving but only backwards so she was consistently under the couch!

From that sitting quickly became an easy process for her.

She makes us smile all the time with the simple pleasure she gets out of life and how easy a grin comes across her face.

Then Francis got too keen on what was above crawling level and quickly pulled to kneeling. This has been fantastic for Alistair as now everything he does has a whole other angle of stimulation. Plus he's basically never alone. Which I'm sure at times he wishes he was!

Now of course she pulls to standing so easily that I've had to quickly move things higher and of course her bed lower! She just seems to be so enthused with her mobility and the curiosity she has to her surroundings is fabulous. Although it does keep me on my toes. I'm always digging something out of her mouth.

The funny thing is I've actually strapped her into Alistair's chair in the evenings where she sits so contently while watching some of "Baby Einstein". Otherwise she's sitting on top of the laptop touching all the buttons.

 As for Alistair he has really taken a step forward in his communication. I know this may not look like communication but its on the path to what we know of it. Basically, he touches the big red button which causes the clown to frantically beat on the drum (and drive me nuts I might add hence the fact you can not see a drum there!). This understanding is HUGE for Alistair. Cause & Effect that is somewhat removed from the hands on vibrating button is another big step for him. (O and don't you love my pile of towels to hold up the clown!?!?! Good critical thinking hey?!? And no I have no idea where my ironing board is....)

 

 This is another great apparatus. The blue box down in the left corner is called a "power link" box. Basically you can plug anything into it. Then you plug in the big red switch and when its depressed it activates whatever is plugged in. Its such a great item as it really is only as limited as his mama is in finding stuff to plug in.  We attached a bunch of crepe paper to the fan and he loves the visual that goes with it. Finding motivating items is the key and presently the fan is his favorite.

 

This week they are going to look at getting Alistair using a computer at preschool. I'm really excited about this. This could be a whole new level of stimulation for him and potentially communication. Its a slow road of progression but the beauty is he is continuing to progress. Francis has definitely been a catalyst in his progression and has decreased the pressure on finding new stimulating things for him to do all the time. Love it!

 CLICK HERE to see Alistair activate the fan with his switch.