December 2009 - Praying for Parker

It hasn’t ALL been bad…..

I took Parker on a grand adventure today. Something I’ve never done even with all of the hospital stays our Brave Hero has endured. I loaded him up in a red wagon and we went exploring. I don’t usually take Parker out of his hospital room...

Published Sun, Dec 20 2009 6:38 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: Holding On Tight To My Faith, Frequent Flyin At The PCMC, Fantabulous-ness

One Week and Counting

Next Thursday is Parker’s Nissen and trach reduction surgery. They are throwing a few other goodies in there as well, cause as long as he’s under a general anesthesia they might as well. Oh. Yeah. He’s going to be under general anesthesia...

Published Thu, Dec 10 2009 12:21 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: Holding On Tight To My Faith, Frequent Flyin At The PCMC, A Day In Our Life, Special Needs, surgery, prayers, Nissen

Love At First Sight

I love this face. It makes my world go ’round. Workin’ on mastering his name! He’s doing great! Parker’s name sign is the sign for ‘brave.‘ Pretty fitting, don’t you think? We’ve been holding our breath...

Published Sun, Dec 13 2009 12:05 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: Holding On Tight To My Faith, Frequent Flyin At The PCMC, A Day In Our Life, Special Needs Homeschooling, Fantabulous-ness, People I Love, homeschooling, Nissen, special needs home school, trach, Santa

Update From Room 3071

Surgery went well. Parker was voted the recipient of Today’s Blue Plate Special here at PCMC. That’s cause he was worked on by three different doctors. He’s got new holes from the top of his trach stoma to the bottom of his belly. Life...

Published Thu, Dec 17 2009 8:41 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: Holding On Tight To My Faith, Frequent Flyin At The PCMC, A Day In Our Life, Primary Childrens Hospital, surgery, Nissen

Because Sh*t Happens (Over and over and over…….)

Well, we were supposed to blow this joint today. Because from a Nissen standpoint Parker is good to go. But I have yet to have a satisfactory answer to Parker’s trach sizing staying the same. The surgical resident feels that I should just take Parker...

Published Sun, Dec 20 2009 12:05 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: Frequent Flyin At The PCMC, A Day In Our Life, Advocacy, I'm The Mama: Hear Me Roar!

Simple Resolutions

The poppers have been purchased. The bubbly is chilling. (.88 a bottle Gingerale. WAY cheaper than the sparkling juice.) The treats (Smith’s had their Christmas candy clearanced to .89 a bag yesterday!) are at the ready. And the $1.00 a flick Redbox...

Published Thu, Dec 31 2009 5:06 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: Holding On Tight To My Faith, A Day In Our Life, Fantabulous-ness, Advocacy, Stuff We LOVE!, People I Love

Gingerbread Houses: Hodson Style

There is barely an ornament on this tree that is in the same place I originally put it: If you look closely you’ll see that the garland only goes halfway down. The other half having been snatched off by a certain little someone. Meet Someone. But...

Published Wed, Dec 09 2009 11:01 AM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Fantabulous-ness, Stuff We LOVE!, Special Needs, People I Love, Christmas, Gingerbread Houses

And Suddenly My Heart Is A Little Lighter

We received the results of Parker’s sedated chest CT. The results were “consistent with severe chronic aspiration.” For some parents this would be bad news. For us though it is actually good news. This could be a reason why his cardiologist...

Published Fri, Dec 11 2009 10:44 AM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: Frequent Flyin At The PCMC, A Day In Our Life, Advocacy, down syndrome, I'm The Mama: Hear Me Roar!, Nissen, pulmonary hypertension, chronic lung disease, reflux

I’ll Take A Nissen With That G-Tube, Please

We made it up to Primary Children’s hospital today with time to spare for Parker’s Upper GI appointment. Reed gets a bit stabby if we don’t get some place early. Unfortunately our appointment time came………..and went...

Published Tue, Dec 01 2009 6:06 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: Frequent Flyin At The PCMC, A Day In Our Life

On the Third Day of Christmas

Saturday night a surprise was discovered on our front porch. And that was just the beginning. A certain unknown Pixie is sharing with our family a little joy of the season. With a sprinkling of magic and rhyme our home is blessed with the spirit of Christmas...

Published Tue, Dec 15 2009 11:11 AM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Fantabulous-ness, Special Needs, People I Love, 12 Days of Christmas, miracles, Believe

My Heart In A Nutshell

I’m waiting for the phone call from Primary Children’s that will let us know when Parker’s surgery will be tomorrow. My nerves are a bit frayed today. But that’s pretty standard for the day before surgery. I have so much to do...

Published Wed, Dec 16 2009 12:55 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: Holding On Tight To My Faith, A Day In Our Life, down syndrome, Special Needs, Nissen, 5 Minutes For Mom

His Good and Faithful Servant

Reed insisted that we leave at 8:00 a.m. so as not to be late for the flight arriving at 10:30. Which meant that we got there with over an hour to spare. Finally our anticipated flight arrived. The kid we sent off two years ago walked off that plane a...

Published Wed, Dec 23 2009 8:58 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Fantabulous-ness, People I Love, church of jesus christ of latter day saints, california long beach mission, lds missionaries

Making My Own Commitment

I was just reading a post over at Elizabeth Potts Weinstein. She shared a story about how after having completed a vacation tour of some park caves she came across a sign that read: SERIOUS DANGER. DO NOT PASS THIS POINT. Do not pass this point without...

Published Wed, Dec 02 2009 5:27 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Advocacy, I'm The Mama: Hear Me Roar!

A Star Studded Kinda Day

Parker and I are learning about stars. It was the shape of the week last week. Perfect for Christmas, no? I took some cheap noodles and dyed them yellow with left over Easter egg colorant because one of my many children made off with my food coloring...

Published Sat, Dec 05 2009 12:12 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Special Needs Homeschooling, Cheap and Easy, Special Needs, People I Love, homeschooling

And We Made Merry

Tradition finds our family at my parents house on Christmas Eve. I love wandering my parents home remembering my childhood. Many of my Mom’s Christmas decorations come from Germany, where we lived for six years. My Mom’s china was purchased...

Published Fri, Dec 25 2009 7:33 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Fantabulous-ness, Special Needs, People I Love, Christmas, traditions, Christmas Eve, down symdrome