Updates

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted but I just wanted to do an update on how well Ryan is doing. It's been 7 months since we've been back from camp and Ryan continues to show inprovements. His progress has plateaued a little bit now. He is still sleeping in a big boys bed which we are going to upgrade shortly to a set of bunk beds allowing Ryan to have more room. Right now he still sleeps in a toddler bed that uses a crib mattress.....yeah getting a little small.
He continues to feed and drink independently with a little help here and there but as far as his gag reflex it has never returned. Ryan's speach is a slow process with only a few words but his understanding seems to have grown multifolds. He definately has gotten a lot stronger, he hops all over the house on all fours and can even move backwards in the similar motion. He tall kneels holding the position for a great length of time and even while doing tasks. Overall I'm just so proud of him, I couldn't of been more blessed to have him. Here are some updated pictures of Ryan and his little brother.

Ryan and Cam eating daddy's chips

Cam and Ryan Playing together!

Ryan wheel around in his cart

~Ryan walking with his walker ~

Another pic of Ryan in his walker

Ryan having a blast on the swing

Ryan's BIG boy bed :)

Yesterday Cary and I purchased a used toddler bed for Ryan. It's a little tikes race car bed the one that fits the crib mattress. I figure it's low enough that if he were to topple out he wouldn't harm himself. He has been improving so much that I thought well lets try.....if you don't teach them they won't learn right! So we picked it up cleaned it all up and set it up in Ryan's room. We put a bed rail on it so that he wouldn't fall out while sleeping but I still feared he'd start to play around and fall out over the rail. Also we put down foam squares with a big comforter for extra padding. Last night he went to bed no problem with his woody doll....I tucked him in and closed the door. We have a video monitor that we turned on so that we could keep an eye on him to make sure that he was up trying to get out and what not. I went in 10 mins later and he was sleeping and slept the whole night in it. Way to go Ryan!

Ryan drinks from a sippy cup!

Last week Ryan's Speach and Occupational Therapist came to our house to have an in home session. We discussed our goals for Ryan and what we should start to work on next. Since Ryan has been very successful with self feeding we figure communication and having him learn to drink from a straw giving him more independance would be the next steps. Today while I was out I came across a sippy cup with a pliable straw.....so I thought I'd give it a try. Ryan gave me a hard time since he's not a big fan of change but eventually he gave in since I'm more determined than he is :) Today has been great he has drank from it three times today therefore I think he'll be adjusted to it completely in the next couple of days. Yay Ryan!! Since Ryan was unable to lift a bottle with both hands it made self drinking impossible now he'll be able to hold the handles and sip from the straw!

Ryan drinking from his new sippy cup that has a straw :)

Ryan enjoying being able to drink by himself now!!

This is the sippy cup that Ryan is now using it has a pliable straw which is a great transition from a bottle or sport sipper with a nipple that sort of resembles a straw. He has leart to drink from this within days. I recommend it to parents that can't get their children off a bottle or have sucking difficulties. It's a Nuby product sold almost anywhere.

Lions Club Breakfast Fundraiser

Today the Lions Club put on a breakfast/bake sale fundraiser for Ryan. It was a huge success it was so amazing the amount of people that came out to support Ryan. Thank you to everyone that attended or sent donations as well as a big thank you to the Lions Club they did a phenomenal job today. The funds raised today will be put towards sending Ryan back to camp for a second session which I can garuntee will show great improvements once again. It's such an emotional experience having so many people want to help Ryan I just can't even put it into words how much this means to us and for Ryan. You are giving Ryan a chance of a life time to better his quality of life through these many generous donations. Ryan has so much determination I believe he'll surprise all of us in th end.I will keep posting here and there with his improvements and as well as when we expect to attend the second session at camp. We hope to set up a foundation so that we can raise funds to help other children with Cerebral Palsy since every child deserves a chance to be the best they can be.

Poster I made for the breakfast fundraiser

Back at home

We have been back at home now for four weeks. The last few days at camp were really hard, knowing that it would be time to say goodbye. The second last night as we packed up the truck and prepared for our journey home the following day I began to recap all the memories from the past 5 weeks. The first day we showed up for this camp with Ryan I couldn't wait for the days to go by so we could go home, now I wish I wouldn't of let it go by so fast. It was an adjustment when we returned home, Ryan seemed to be a little more quiet than usual and I believe he also knew and felt sad that we wouldn't be seeing everyone for a very long time.
It was amazing to see Cameron after 5 weeks. He had grown so much and sprouted hair as well. Since Ryan had me all to himself for 5 weeks he really wasn't in the mood to start sharing me therefore it took him a few days to get use to having me share my time with Cameron and eventually things settled down and returned back to normal.

 Still as I drove around the streets in Lindsay without Ryan in the truck I felt off like I was missing something and told Cary as I returned home that it felt weird being home after spending such a large amount of time in the little building with three other families.
Ryan has accomplished many things since attending the camp and since we've been home. Ryan has learnt to feed himself using a spoon and bowl now sitting at his very own table. A special thanks to John for giving Ryan an amazing table. He now loves to sit kneeling to play freeing both hands. Also he is able to get into a lot more :) Before we left Ryan could army crawl but he didn't get up onto all fours now he'll army crawl to his destination, push up onto all four than push back so he is on his knees. After doing this he's able to grab onto a table or couch and pull himself into tall kneeing (bum off heels therefore able to reach many things. We have started to toddler proof our house finally......and the funny thing is we are so grateful. It's been two years and Ryan is finally able to do things that 8months old two and we are so proud of him. He's just remarkable to watch last night he was rolling around getting up and down up and down and just laughing such a hearty laugh that it just made me feel so much joy that Ryan can enjoy life that much more with the things he has accomplished in the past eight weeks.

Weekend blues!!

Well the weekend has come and went doesn't last too long. This weekend many things have happened. Firstly All the kids seem to be under the weather Friday but Ryan had a fever since Thursday night. While sitting around at dinner I  looked over at Ryan cause he was whining a bit. He hadn't been eating much and was overall just feeling terrible when I looked at him his finger tips looked a little purplish and so did the top of his lips. I gave him some Advil cause his temperature was back up and we dressed him and got him into the car for a trip to the Picton Hospital to have him checked out. I guess it must have been pediatric night cause everyone one there that night was either a toddler or a child under the age of 10 . I guess there was a bug going around which consisted of a  cough and fever. Ryan had a cough, fever, laboured breathing and now his lips were a little purple/blue. When we arrived at the hospital his colour had returned back to normal but we thought well since we are  here we might as well have him checked out anyway. It was a 1-2 hr wait and after the first hour Rhonda came through the door carrying Rhett. He too was having difficulty breathing, running  a fever and had started to throw up as well. Fortunately Ryan's ears, throat and chest were clear but they did prescribe him new puffers.  Before leaving we checked in to see how Rhonda and Rhett were doing but they were going to be a bit still so we brought Ryan back to get him to bed. We all waited up to hear news on Rhett but Rhonda called around 1am to let us know Rhett was being sent to the Bellville hospital and so Shaun and Mark ( Pattie's husband) drove to Bellville (1hr drive) to bring her an overnight bag. Cary and I decided to go to bed thinking Rhonda wouldn't be home till at least the morning. Well at 5am I had Patty knocking on our door. I was in such a daze all I heard was can you or Cary go pick up Rhonda and Rhett cause eMark hit a deer with the car. I was like what??? I guess she had said more to me but I didn't hear it but I was already thinking Mark hit a deer with Rhonda's rental car (from Mississippi and already has a huge hospital bill) and now he must be in the hospital and  Rhonda and Rhett need to be pick up. Fortunately no one was hurt and the car had little damage but Mark was just too tired to drive all the way there again so Cary went. Rhonda had told us they had let Rhett go 5minutes after Shaun and Mark had left.....urrrrrr! So everyone in the house had pretty much little to no sleep. We were walking around like zombies the next morning. Turns out they believe Rhett was just suffering from an asthma attract on top of a cold. To top it off a couple of weeks ago I went to town with Ry to send out some mail and I pull off to the side of the road to make a call, since there isn't any cell phone service within 15km of the camp but ended up putting my truck in the ditch instead. Here in Milford when they plow the roads the truck goes far over making the illusion of a shoulder of the road but like I said it's just an illusion therefore when I put the truck into park the whole truck just slid sideways and I we were tilted over. I had a guy stop and tell me to put it into 4X4 back it up a bit and I should be able to drive it out of there but when I did it the truck tip even more and now it was farther in the ditch so I called the local towing company. I got back to the house to tell them what happened and they chuckled at me. Less than a week later Shaun went to town and a few hours later we got a phone call asking to pick him up cause his SUV was in the ditch we all had a good laugh cause he had to call the same towing company and happened to get the same guy I did. Ahhh good times!!!
Saturday we went to the local Milford Carnival.........we had a blast Shaun won first place in the bed racing competition, the played tree stump ice curling, and toilet seat toss........yep it was a true red neck carnival.

Fourth week at Ability Camp

We are now entering our fourth week and things are getting much easier now. The children seem to have accepted what is expected of them and they don't put up as much of a fight anymore. Some days they even seem to enjoy it.

Though I'm getting excited to be able to go back home to my wonderful husband and our 5 1/2 month old son Cameron. 

Cameron with his party hat celebrating Ryan's 2nd birthday before he goes off to camp.

 I'm also sad to leave. I've made some great frineds during this time that I hope to stay in touch with afterwards. Also I'm going to miss the other children I love them all as if they were my own. They are all great kids even though a certain one likes to band his head on the wall and keep me up all night ;) It'll feel different to wake up and not say good morning to them as we enter the kitchen or not hearing their laughter up and down the halls as the chase eachother. We are all hoping to stay in touch and to visit in the summer and see each one's progress. 

Today we decided to go on an outing so he bundled up all the kids and took a walk to the lake. We borrowed the camps sleds but one of them had a string that wasn't long enough so it keep throwing Hudson off. It took us probably about 30-45mins one way lol we had such a hard time walking through the snow but it was fun. The children just loved it. All of us women were complaining about our leg and back pain and here's Shaun just trotting a long pulling two kids not even breaking a sweat........

Ryan, Rhett, Brody and Hudson in the sleighs waiting to go.

My little cutie waving...........super excited about being in his sled.