Christmas - Part 5

Christmas with the Mirly's (my side)

Tyler sitting on his new bench that his Grandpa made.

Christmas - Part 4

Random Pictures with Travis' side

Tori, Eli, Tyler & Christian

Tyler with his Grandma Vickie

The boys

Tori starting to perk up after having the stomach bug

Travis didn't feel very comfortable blowing air into this part of the Rody (hehe).

Christmas - Part 3

The Lego King

Christian has earned the title of the Lego King. As soon as he finished opening up all of his gifts, he began to assemble the mountain of lego sets he received this year.

Here is some of the Lego's he got, I think there is 2 missing from the picture.

As soon as he finished one set he began on the next. He did not want to stop. After 10 hours of assembling and over 2000 pieces total, he finished all of them. Yes, ALL of them.


This is the biggest one of them all, totally 900 pieces.

Christmas - Part 2

Christmas Morning

I was sort of excited for Christmas morning. I have never experienced seeing kids wake up in the morning and run down the stairs to see if Santa had come. I was excited to see their faces as their eyes widen as they saw all the presents.

Tresa & Huts have 3 kids: Christian, Tori and Eli. The night before Christian & Tori were all excited that the following day was Christmas and that Santa would be coming. Eli is still a little young to know what is going on and Tyler really doesn't understand the concept either.

By the time Christmas morning came, the stomach bug hit Tori. So there wasn't the mad dash down the stairs to see what Santa brought for her. But Christian, Eli and Tyler enjoyed unwrapping all their gifts and Tori decided to join a little later. I felt so sorry for her because this happened to her last year. Poor little girl. The stomach bug later got to Eli. Luckily no one else came down with it.

Christian enjoyed getting Legos after Legos. He is pretty much obsessed with Legos and is called the Lego king. Eli enjoyed his Handy Mandy toy, Spongebob and remote control car. Tori got several baby dolls, Strawberry Shortcake, and princess toys. Tyler got a Rody, some books, a Sit-n-Spin, a lightsaber and an Iron Man toy.

They enjoyed playing with their toys the remainder of the day. Especially Christian with all of his Lego making (see more on that tomorrow from the Lego King).

Christian passing out the presents

Eli

Christian

Tyler

Tori

Christmas - Part 1

A White Christmas

The Christmas season has come and gone and has been filled with many joyous memories. This year was a little different. It was our first time spending Christmas out of town. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Travis' side of the family. It was well over due. We stayed at his sisters and brother-in-laws (Tresa & Huts) house.

They live in Peoria, IL and we were expecting to have a white Christmas. It had snowed before we got there and snow continued to fall Christmas Eve. It was really pretty. We see snow in Southeast Missouri but don't have many white Christmas'. Although they did have one this year. Snow just makes Christmas that much more merrier :)

Slacking

First of all, let me apologize for going so long without posting. It has been crazy busy around here lately. It always seems we try to squeeze as much as possible in before the end of the year with doctor appointments. Tyler is doing well and pretty much back to his normal self since his hip surgery. We have 1 more appointment on Thursday for his 12 week post-op. If everything checks out okay, I believe she will be discharging us and we will only need to come back on an as-needed basis.

We have also been busy decorating, baking cookies, Christmas shopping and all the other fun stuff that goes with this time of year. I will try to update more often but don't hold me to it. But for now let me leave you with this picture.

Tyler says HO HO HO!!!!

Moving more freely

Tyler has finally started to move his legs more freely on his own. It only took him 8 weeks post-surgery, LOL. He still doesn't kick them like he did before but I'm sure it won't take him too much longer. Here is a clip of him kicking.

It's so cute seeing him make those little kicking movements.

So Many Things to be Thankful for

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ate a lot of great food and enjoyed each others company. I have so much to be thankful for.

The men playing cards.

The women talking.

Aunt Jen spoiling Tyler

And of course, everybody wanting to spoil the littlest, Baby Tinsley.

Tyler giving high fives and fist pumps.

Not sure where the hat came from but Seth had a fun time playing with it.

And I guess I had to give it a try too.

Here is a little clip of Travis and I playing hide and seek with Seth. It was more of Travis hiding and trying to scare Seth. He was not a fan of wanting to go into any dark rooms (I don't blame him). Although I was trying to encourage him to go into the dark room...I know shame on me :)

Huge Improvements

Before Tyler's surgery, he would prop sit completely by himself anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes at one time. Now 6 weeks post-surgery, he is sitting anywhere from 4 minutes to a record-breaking of 8 minutes. Yes I said 8 minutes. And this hasn't been a freak coincidence either because he has come close to 8 minutes several different times.

I really think that since his hips are now in the sockets, everything is lined up better and helps his balance. So this makes it easier for him to sit up.

Here is a video of him sitting. I edited the video because he not too entertaining to watch while sitting. He has to use his hands to help steady himself and he is hesitant to actively play with his toys while in this position. So that's why you just got 3 minutes of video instead of the full 6 minutes, which is the total time he sat this time. That is our next goal - to actively play while sitting.

Prayers needed

One of our good friends Matthew is not doing so well and is in desperate need of your prayers right now. He has been in and out of the hospital for several weeks now. He has been vomiting blood and the doctors aren't sure why or how to stop it. Please keep the entire family in your prayers. We have been blessed to meet this wonderful family and they are so great and my heart just aches for them right now.

The Viking Invader

We, actually I mean Travis, transformed Tyler's wheelchair into a Viking boat for Halloween. I came up with the idea of making Tyler's chair part of his costume and well Travis took it from there. I think he did an amazing job and Tyler's boat was definitely the talk of the night.

The Viking Invader

Carving Pumpkins

It's that time of year again to carry on the tradition of carving pumpkins. So far every year we have done this, Tyler has not been a fan of helping in the process of gutting and carving the pumpkins. Every year he has pulled his hand away and avoided the situation. Although he does like looking at the end result. Which raises the question.

Why do we do this again?

I always think, well maybe this year he will like it. Maybe he will voluntarily put his hand in the pumpkin. Maybe he will play with the guts of the pumpkin. Just maybe.

If you don't give him the opportunity how will you ever know if he likes it or not. At least he is a good sport about it and tolerates it very well.

Tyler: "You are crazy if you think I am putting my hand in there."
"No mom, get it away"

"Seriously, get this off my tray."

The Final Product

Back at School

Yesterday was Tyler's first day back at school since his surgery. He has been out for 3 1/2 weeks. His cast was removed last Thursday and he is still extremely stiff and not wanting to move his legs on his own yet. So we have been doing a lot of range of motion and stretching for him. He is not a huge fan of this and really hates it when you have to move him. It's almost harder to see him like this now than it was when he was in his cast and after surgery. Recovery STINKS!!!

We wanted to ease him back into the swing of things, so he only went to school for half the day. And I think that was plenty for him to start with. He was pretty worn out last night and didn't sleep the greatest. I think he was just overly exhausted and maybe a little sore from all the extra moving and stretching. We are going to try for a full day today and so far so good.

The Cast is Off

It's been 3 weeks since Tyler's surgery and he finally got his cast off yesterday. He has done extremely well with the cast and it didn't seem to bother him too much. Although I think he was starting to get annoyed with it towards the end.

Really 3 weeks is not that long for a cast. But Tyler's situation was a little different. There was nothing broken directly under the cast, all it was doing was keeping his legs in place so they wouldn't come out of the hip socket. So 3 weeks was all he needed.

Even though 3 weeks isn't long for a cast, it is still a long time for your legs to stay in the same position the entire time. So we expected his legs would be very stiff once the cast was removed. And of course, they were. He did not want to bend them at all. So the best thing we can do for him now is range of motion.

Using the blanket to drown out the noise of the drill.

It didn't work. He hated it the entire time.
FYI
For anyone who has to have a cast removed, bring an ipod or ear muffs (anything to drown out the noise)

FREEDOM!!!

"Hmmm, so this is what's been on my legs for the last 3 weeks."