Jeremy is scheduled to make the move from his current facility to rehab tomorrow morning, departing at 8:30am. His attention span has finally increased enough that my parents took him all the letters we've been saving back for him and he read them today. He kept saying what great family he has and how much he loves everyone. He later told Thomas, "I love you all. I love mom, dad, Liz, you, nephew, niece, and Ty! You all really helped. You guys kick ass." It was nice to hear that he'd said that, especially toward my dad. It's become a bit of a running joke with us that Jeremy had been calling dad Gary. Dad ended up being the one who had to restrain Jeremy and make him do things he didn't want to do. When Jeremy was upset he'd call him Gary. Jeremy took his first shower this morning and when I arrived and asked him about his day he told me he had taken a shower. I was so excited to hear him remember something that had happened earlier in the day because his short term memory recall had been pretty much nonexistent up until this point. I took Carter and Elise up to see Jeremy and he was so excited to see Elise. He kept talking about how pretty her eyes were and how she was so full of wonder. Then when she'd make noise, he'd say what cute noises she made and how adorable she was. We went on a walk and walked by a painting we'd seen the day before. Jeremy told Carter he remembered Carter had liked the painting and mentioned all the things Carter had pointed out in the picture the day before. As we were leaving I told Jeremy we were so excited he was going to Texas and he said, "Yes, to work on my brain!" I am really excited for him to get the help he needs. I'm also really sad he will be 8 hours away and I won't get to see him every day. I know the next time I see him, he'll be a different person. Jeremy has so loved all the letters from you all and they have meant a lot to him. If you would like to send him a letter in his new facility, this is his new address:
Room 608A
TIRR Memorial Hermann
1333 Moursund St.
Houston, TX 77030
Now on to a post about our holiday celebration...
Valentine's Day this year fell on a Sunday. I spent the night with Jeremy at the hospital Saturday night so I got to be the first person to wish him a Happy Valentine's Day, although Carter had already asked him to be his valentine the day before. Jeremy and I slept in until 8:00 and my parents came up around 9:00 so I could head home to nurse Elise and get ready for the day. When I got home Ty had already made breakfast for Carter, serving him eggs in the shape of a heart and my mom had been excited to tell me Ty made her toast with a heart cut out of the middle and an egg cooked in the heart. I nursed Elise and put her down for her nap right as my mom texted that Jeremy was alert so it would be a good time for Carter to head up. I just brushed my teeth, didn't change or eat breakfast, and headed back to the hospital with Carter and the bag of valentines we had made for him. We had a nice visit with Jeremy. Carter showed him his bag and the valentines. Then he let Jeremy play with his heart putty. Jeremy just poked it a few times and wasn't too interested. Jeremy's nurse came in to give Jeremy his medicine and after Carter saw her put gloves on he wanted to be "Nurse Carter". So we got him some gloves and he decided it was his job to feed Jeremy. Jeremy can feed himself but allowed Carter to feed him, saying, "Look, Carter is feeding me pudding. Isn't he cute?"
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| Carter going for a wheelchair ride. |
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| Group shot at the hospital. |
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| Carter feeding Jeremy some pudding. |
When we got home Elise was still asleep so Carter and I did some valentine activities just the two of us and then started getting lunch ready. I made Carter a grilled cheese and cut it into a heart. Then I cut hearts out of sweet potato and cut the tops off strawberries to look like hearts. We set up a blanket in the living room to have a picnic on the floor while we watched a valentine-themed show. Elise woke up while Carter was finishing up his short show so I cut some sweet potato into hearts for her lunch. Then I laid down with Carter to help him go down for a nap while Ty took Elise to the store to pick up materials for his tiling project in our laundry room. Once Carter was asleep I got up and Ty arrived home with Elise shortly after. She and I did a little valentine photo shoot and then I nursed her and put her down for her nap. Since she went down late Carter woke up quite a while before her. He helped me decorate our heart shaped cake with sprinkles and ended up polishing off both the red and pink containers of sprinkles. We did a strawberry cake with chocolate fudge frosting and I had been looking forward to eating it since we picked it out at the store!
When Elise woke up we headed out to finish up our grocery shopping at Sam's since my parents have been letting us borrow their Sam's card while they're in town. I love getting produce there because it is so much cheaper! We get apples, strawberries, blueberries, avocado, and spinach there every week! The kids were being super adorable and I couldn't get over how precious their matching shirts my mom made for them were! Elise has gotten to be quite the beast in the cart. She will turn all the way around and start grabbing things to try to eat them. On this trip she picked up the container of blueberries and tried to open them to eat some. I would have let her, but they needed cleaned. She wasn't very happy with me over that! We successfully made it home and unloaded the car while Ty continued to work on the laundry room floor. Then Carter and I made the dough for our heart shaped pizza crust and added the toppings while Elise had a snack because she was hangry. Carter was so excited about our pizza. While the pizza baked we made some chocolate covered strawberries, set the table, and facetimed with Gma, Gpa, Gigi, and Papa. Dinner was delicious and we enjoyed getting to spend some time with Ty who had been busy working in the laundry room all day.
After dinner Ty gave the kids a bath and I had him throw some of the toys from our sensory bin in with them for a special bathtime. I could hear them giggling in the bathroom as I set out dessert and their special presents and valentine bags. My parents got Elise an outfit and Carter a firetruck. We got Carter a small heart box of candies, a Hot Wheels car, and Madly Madagascar (a short movie about Valentine's Day with the characters from Madagascar, it was only like 24 minutes). Elise got a treat too, she got strawberry yogurt melts and a new sippy cup. The kids tried their treats after opening their presents and then I put Elise down for bed. When I came back in we opened our valentines and read them. I cracked up because I totally forgot about myself when helping the kids make their valentines so I opened up my bag and I had one lonely valentine my mom had snuck in there for me while Ty pulled out a big stack of valentines. It was too funny and I just kept giggling over it! Ty did get me a card, he just put it with my present. My favorite part of Valentine's Day isn't getting valentines, it's writing them and feeling all the warm fuzzies as I do so, so it didn't matter that I only got one! Carter ended the evening by watching his new movie which I actually sat down and watched with him. Normally I'm in with Elise when he watches a show after doing his chores. Then we read 2 books and he was off for bed. Once he was in bed my mom came home from the hospital and we all chatted for a while before heading to bed. It was another wonderful Valentine's Day in the books!
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