Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas in NJ this year and it has been lots of fun! I was busy up until the wire with work and Christmas preparations, so I apologize that the Christmas cards did not make the cut this year. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen before we left MA, baking some of my grandmother's traditional treats. It was important for me to do this for my dad, and it definitely filled me with wonderful memories.

Anyhow, it's been a lovely whirlwind here in NJ (Eve and I are going back home tomorrow and Jim has been back since Sunday). We spent Christmas morning at Scott's place with Jim's parents.





We had lots of fun, and Eve hit the present jackpot. The best was a homemade bowling ramp that Jim's dad made and my MIL decorated. I don't have pictures of it yet, but I intend to get a quick video of it in action and I'll post that soon. Christmas afternoon, we drove back to my parents' and opened presents there as well. Jim got me a brownie pan that makes all edges and corners! Yummmmm.....


Christmas evening we went to Lois and Steve's house. Josie came with us. Mistake? I don't know, but she certainly had a ball.




The outlaws:


BTW, if any family members want a copy of these pictures, just click on the picture to bring it up full size. Then right click on it and copy it to your computer.

Back at my parents' house, my nephew had a very intense attraction and hesitation to Josie. Attraction won over literally the hour before he and Josie left. He took her outside on the leash and ran around the front yard with her. She followed obediently, but I'm not sure that was the kind of play she had in mind. I think Alex really got a kick out of having her on leash.




Hope your Christmas was as fun as ours!

Mrs. Miyagi

Eve's cold wasn't getting any better, instead it was getting worse. She had a low grade fever Friday night, so we took her to the doctor on Saturday morning. She prescribed some antibiotics and Eve is already improving. She slept until 8:30 this morning!!!!

The karate party last night must have tired her out. I know I was exhausted! (Jim said it must have been like toting a medicine ball around for an hour - it was!) The kids were soooo sweet to her. When we arrived, they all shouted, "Eve! Eve! Eve is here!" Then when Eve (and I) joined in the drills, they all shouted, "Good job, Eve!" when she (I) did her punches and kicks. She really really enjoyed herself, and therefore, so did I. I am so grateful to the birthday girl for including her. It would be so easy not to. These kids are really really special.

Miss Miyagi

Eve has finally managed to catch a bit of a cold. It's not too bad, though. She started getting congested on Monday night. We've been using the humidifier and nose drops at night to help her breathe. No fever, no green boogs. Actually, no runny nose either. Keeping an eye on it. I've been amazed at how healthy she's been this school year.

Eve's been using her gait trainer at school this week. She loves it! Yesterday she used it during the whole gym class.

Eve got invited to another birthday party. It's a karate party. I'm not sure how she will participate, but I'm sure she'll love watching the other kids. I suppose I'd better limber up - I'll probably be helping her do her Miyagi moves.

Eve's new AFOs

Eve finally got her new AFOs (ankle foot orthotics). Her old ones are almost a year old and she has outgrown them. We have been waiting to get her new AFO's so she can use her stander and gait trainer again. We went for her casting in the middle of October. I'm not sure why, but it took 7 weeks to complete them (in Georgia it would take 2 weeks). We picked them up on Thursday. I'm not exactly thrilled with the results. They aren't as nice as her old ones. Her old ones (the pink ones in the picture below) had two parts and were molded better to her feet.

If you look at the toes, the pink ones have cushioning that fits under her toes. The new ones (blue) do not.


In addition, this new person who fitted Eve, did not trim the excess plastic at the toe of the AFO "so she'll fit in them longer." Well, that means we need to get shoes that are huge so they fit the AFOs and Eve ends up with sneakers like swimming flippers. *sigh* I just don't know. We put them on her and put her in the gait trainer. She couldn't really move in them. I think because she lost the flexibility to move her ankles and actually walk. We took off the AFO's and just put on her regular shoes and she went like gangbusters. I'm going to have to talk to her PT to see what she recommends. We're going to send in the gait trainer and stander to school. I think partly I am disappointed in the service (the length of time, and the quality). I think partly I am worried that I didn't make sure she got the proper AFO's (by bringing the old and specifically asking for Cascade DAFOs). I should have demanded that the guy trim the toes. (In GA, they would always start out with a long toe, and then file it down and contour it around the shape of her toes). I did ask him why there is just a thin strap on the top of her foot when her old one had a larger pad, and he said that the ankle strap is what's important to keep the foot in, and to let the shoe keep the top of the foot and toes down. I don't know. My gut is just not satisfied, but I don't know if I am expecting too much. I also don't know how much she truly needs to wear them. She really doesn't weight-bear too much anyhow. She locks her knees and then when she gets tired, she sits on the saddle in the gait trainer, or the brace of the stander.
I think I am also so crazy busy that I don't have the time (or the energy) to go back down there and ask him to fix it. I also don't know if they are good enough for now, and the next pair she needs I should just insist on getting DAFO's (like her old ones). Maybe once the semester is over for me (in 2 weeks), I'll have more time.

Christmas photos

I decided not to do photo Christmas cards this year. I'm running behind (as evidenced by tonight's multi-post on the blog), and I just said screw it. Anyhow, I took some pictures to print and put in the cards of people that we think don't read the blog. Clearly this is not you. Anyhow, here are some of the shots that I took.





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First real snow of the season

So it snowed yesterday. Apparently it's a little late for the first real snow. We really enjoyed ourselves. It's been about 3 years since we've spent any amount of time in the snow. Today we put Eve in the sled that Aunt Joyce got her the year she was born. You know, the year before we moved from Ohio to Georgia. Eve loved it!

Soup's on

Our friend Paul brought us a ton of moose meat. This weekend we had moose burgers and I also made a big batch of soup using the ground moose meat. It was really good. If I didn't know it was moose, I wouldn't have been able to tell.


Eve helped.


So did Josie.

Thanksgiving at Oma and Pop's

Here are some shots from Thanksgiving at my parents house. Dave, Trina (whom I strangely did not manage to get a picture of), and my nephews were also there. We had a ton of fun. I can't believe how big the boys are getting!