2011 Resolutions made public

I've never really been one to set a bunch of resolutions but this year I think I need something.  I found this idea on another blog-listing resolutions and coming back to update the post at the end of the year to see how well you kept to it.  My hope by making these resolutions public is that it will hold me more accountable.  Eh, who am I kidding it probably won't.  BUT, I am going to try!

Don't sweat the small stuff.  I tend to get lots of anxiety over the smallest things.  Drives my husband crazy (not to mention myself).  I am going to try and look at the bigger picture and keep things in perspective (and take deep breaths and possibly blow into a paper bags when needed).

Work daily with Nathan. This is a daily struggle.  No, an hourly struggle with me.  I have a lot of guilt about not working with Nate more (and IMO rightfully so) and need to make it top priority to practice things with him everyday.  Even if I don't feel like it, am too tired, had a long day etc. it's just too important to be overlooked.

Spend more time with my husband.  We just don't get much time together and I miss that.  Enough said.

Make some lifestyle changes.  This includes, but is not limited to, food, exercise and spending.  All need improvement.  (I already know this one is going to be trying).

Spend more time personally corresponding with the people who are important to me (family, friends both near and far) and less time virtually (aka the internet) corresponding with them.  If you care about someone, you should tell them.  Not write it on their  Facebook wall.
Also, spend less time on Facebook altogether (how SAD is it that?)

And the last one is to just be THANKFUL in the new year.  The more I think about it the more incredibly blessed I feel.

Cheers to 2011!

Christmas Tradition No. 2: Ravioli

This was another tradition started by my husband's family

they're Italian

So every year, we pre-make ravioli

for Christmas dinner

The boys help by rolling the dough 

(I have to give my husband mad props here

because he was the only adult male

who helped us women-folk)

And the Little Red Hen,

er, I mean my wonderful Mother-in-law

did what she does best

and folded, cut and forked

(and did a lot of bossing us around, too)

Love ya, mom!

It really was a team effort

(Even these two little cuties helped!)

And there was some fun, too

a little dancing

and some friendly taunting

(mostly due to having Bears AND Packers fans

and someone mentioning deep-frying

a turkey on Christmas)

and behold!

the yellow bowl was present!

Several hours later we had a couple hundred

ravioli in the freezer for Christmas day.

The best part?

Ryan's 87 year old Grandfather is the official taste tester

and gave them two thumbs up! 

Christmas Tradition No. 1: The Walnut Room

Eating lunch under the big tree

has been a tradition since Ryan's mom was a little girl 

and would ride the train downtown with her Grandmother 

 I've been going for many years now, 
since I started dating Ryan in high school


At first, it was just Ryan's mom, his sister and I

But over the years we've watched
 as our families have grown

and are now starting a new tradition with our own kids

It never ceases to be an interesting day

with three young kids 

(this is me taking a picture of myself
reflected in an ornament,

holding several coats at the same time)

We were a little nervous about taking Nate to such a busy place

in his chair,

but he was so excited to just GO

and see and touch everything

He kept saying, "Whas dis?"

Nearly all of the pictures I got of him

were like the one above-blurry.

We had a great day

And I'm so happy to be part of such a long and fun family tradition

that I can pass on to my children.

Mommy's big helper

Making muffins, 12-17.

Family Portrait

It's rare that I get these. Heck, I forgot to get a picture of the three of us on Christmas. And Thanksgiving. And probably several other important holidays.

Anyway, enough about my forgetfulness.

This was a random "shoot". It was a Sunday morning, we were up and dressed for church when Nate's special buddy, Carolyn called to say that the roads were horrible (it had been snowing all morning) and to just stay home.

Perfect time to try out my tripod and take a family pic. Here are some of the outtakes:



Testing out the light





Daddy love



Ryan trying to be funny (but look at that adorable smile on my little guy!)



He's going to kill me for this one


And the winner:



Not exactly sure how I got Nate to actually look at the camera, let alone smile. I think it was the blinking light from the timer. I'm pretty sure it'll never happen again though! Good thing I have a blog to document these kinds of things.

A Kismis Powdee

Nate was so excited about this-he kept talking about the "Kismis Powdee" we were going to.



It was at an old roller rink, so there was plenty of open space for him to get around. He loved it!



Gramma came, too.





He made ornaments,



played basketball,





and saw Santa. He wasn't so sure about him-I'm not sure he even really looked at him. We don't really do the Santa thing anyway-meaning we don't go through all the hoops to tell Nate that he is real. We just treat him as a kind of fun Christmas character.



He had so much fun! We'll definitely do it again next year!

Merry Christmas!

And happy birthday, Jesus!

We hope your holiday is filled with family, love, laughter and grace.

Thanks be to God
for his indescribable gift!

2 Corinthians 9:15

Solution: Ikea and a 3 letter word

Nate is doing really well with his wheel chair. Although the transition from the small loaner one to his bigger one was a little sketchy at first, he has adapted beautifully. I haven't had much opportunity to get him out into big, open spaces much but when I do he just goes! Recently my mom and I took him to a Christmas party through his therapy place, and it was at an old roller rink. There was no skating so all the kids were flying around on adaptive bikes and their wheel chairs. I don't think I've ever seen Nate go so fast in his chair! Pictures to come.

One thing I noticed right away that we were having trouble with was finding a place for Nate to play while he was in his chair. He was too low to roll up to the dining room table, and too high to roll under a coffee table. We tried the couch or a chair but those were awkward and he ended up playing off to the side or bending down really far to play.

Solution: Ikea.

We found this table there that adjusts to three heights, the tallest being the perfect height for his chair. The great thing is that we can also lower it so he can practice sitting in a little toddler chair at the table, too. It's worked like a gem and gives him a great place to play.








We have also been working hard practicing walking in his RGOs. I use the word walking loosely right now. He doesn't really have much interest in doing what it takes to actually walk himself (which, in his defense, is a series of several steps in succession and is probably a lot for him to remember). To get him motivated, I bribed him with stickers. If he walks to the end of the hallway (which is not a short distance-all the way across the living room and down the long hall to his room) he gets to pick a sticker to put on his walker. I only had Sesame Street stickers so far, but recently also got dinosaurs and sports stickers which he was really excited about. It seems to be working...a little. Still not really motivated. But we are working on it. We try to get him to walk the hall twice a day (once with me and once with Ryan). Depending on our schedules that doesn't always happen, though.



Today Ryan took him to a Children's Memorial satellite campus in New Lenox. It's still about a 45 min drive, but a much smoother ride than driving into the city. Our Ortho thought it might be a good idea for Nate to have a therapy session with someone who has worked with kids his age in RGOs before (our PT has only worked with one other kid who had RGOs and he was much older). I think Ryan and I were hoping this PT would have some miracle advice for us, but no such luck. Nate had pretty much the same session as he does with is EI therapist. But any practice is good practice. We'll just keep plugging along.

And in closing, I just had to post this. Tonight I was putting some clothes away while Nate was playing with is word builder (which he is very fascinated with lately).



He will sit there for the longest time, trying a different trio of letters to see if it will sing the song to tell him he made a word. When he finally got a word and I looked to see what it was, this is what I found



I thought it was really cute, and Nate was pretty excited, too!

The Burnett household is nothing short of crazy right now, but this Friday I look forward to having 16 days off!!! Hopefully I can finally catch up on some blogging!

Full circle, part II

I love that Nate has cousins he can grow up with (and two more on the way!) and neighbor pals he can play at the park with. But as much as they love him, and as much as they want to include him, there are always obstacles. And as much as I love my family and enjoy spending time with other mommies on the block, they simply can not understand what it means to be a mother to a child with special needs.

So, what do I do about this?

I reach out to one of my sisters, load up, jump in the car and drive three hours to Grand Rapids to spend some time with people who get me. And even better, Nate gets to spend time with someone who is just like him.

I wrote about a similar experience when my friend Jen and her family stopped by on their drive to Chicago. It was so awesome. And again, when we briefly had dinner with the Gibbs on our way through Michigan. We didn't have a lot of time together, but we hit it off right away. So when I was feeling really lonely and needed some time with another sb family, I e-mailed her about getting together and she more than graciously offered for Nate and I to come stay with them for a night. AND she put together a little sb play date the next day.

Two days just hanging out, watching our boys play and talking about stuff only we get. Awesome.

To say Grey and Nate hit it off would be an understatement.



Leigh and I had to do double takes a couple times because we realized we had just checked on the wrong kid. Must have been the blonde hair. Or the matching shirts. :)



We also got to meet Carson and his mommy Emily and daddy Nate. Carson is adorable and is walking with a walker! It was awesome to see him doing so well. Even more awesome to see the three boys together.





Yeah, I'm going to use the word awesome a lot in this post. Just get used to it!

Nate got to play with lots of other kids and I got to talk with lots of other mommies. Leigh is blessed to have a wonderful support group right in her own city, and for a day I felt like I was part of that.



Nate has been talking about Grey since we left. When he sees a picture of himself on my blog or on facebook, he points and says, "Grey".

They had so much fun together. And I think Grey was smitten. :)







I don't know what I enjoyed more. Watching these two boys love on each other,



or watching Leigh snuggle up in a big chair and read them bedtime stories,



or watching Grey try out Nate's wheel chair.

Probably all of it.

But, being in a place where I totally felt safe talking about my fears, sharing scar stories, chatting about floor plans, therapy and mobility over Diet Dr. Peppers was awesome.



I hope these little cuties can be buddies for a long, long time. Because watching Nate play with someone who is just like him



was priceless.

That's right

Our little guy



is now eating at the table



with his own plate and fork



and drinking from a cup.