Sweetheart Run 2016

Jeremy Update:

Jeremy made it through his busy day tired but in good spirits. We facetimed him before Carter went to bed so he could say good night. He smiled, laughed, and enjoyed talking with Carter. He and my parents were given clearance to travel to different floors of the hospital without a nurse present so they now have yellow wristbands. The next step will be green wristbands which means they will be able to travel outside without a nurse present. At Jeremy's previous facility he had been walking around with a walker some. They took an x-ray of his leg today and it is not healing properly so he is not to be walking with his walker unless PT is present. If his leg doesn't heal correctly many things could happen and one would be amputation of the leg. His doctor is going to hang x-rays of Jeremy's leg in the room to remind him why he is not to be walking with the walker at this time. Thankfully he's been able to eat more. His nurse charted for him to get his medicine before breakfast comes so he is able to eat more at breakfast as he tried to eat breakfast this morning and just couldn't. He continues to make small steps forward in recovery each day. Now on to my post about the Sweetheart Run...

My mom signed us all up for the Sweetheart Run months in advance, long before Jeremy's accident. Jeremy wanted to do the 10k and I didn't want him to run it alone so I decided to do the 10k too. My mom signed us up as a team, The Sweet Sibs, and I was so excited to rock it out with Jeremy! Unfortunately, that didn't happen on race day, but I am so glad Jeremy inspired me to run a 10k. Other than one I ran due to convenience after Carter was born I don't think I'd run one in about 6 years. I tend to stay with my safe distances, 5ks and half marathons. I really enjoyed the 10k and am looking forward to another one to improve my time! Plus with so few under my belt it is easy to run PRs! The 5k started at 7:45 and the 10k was at 8:30 because there is the option to do a "doubler" and run both events which I am considering for next year's race. The forecast predicted the temperature would be in the low 20's so we decided not to wake the kids up and I'd get them ready and bring them out before my race to decrease the amount of time they were in the cold. If they woke up in time, we'd all go together but I felt it would be too cold for the kids to be there the whole time. As mom and Ty were getting ready to leave for the 5k, Carter woke up and Elise woke up shortly thereafter.

Elise bundled up to spectate.

I wanted to leave the house by 7:45 so I could watch Ty finish the race and so I'd have time to find a place to park in case there were road closures plus I wanted to get a warm-up in. I had Ty drop a pin on his phone and text it to me so I could find the parking lot they were in which was a fabulous idea. It worked out perfectly. There were some mishaps heading out the door so the kids and I didn't leave until 8:00 which made me nervous as I only had 30 minutes to make it to the race, park, and get a warm-up in. Amazingly enough I opened Ty's pin, chose to direct to the pin, and had no trouble with road closures at all! I got the kids bundled up, I had even remembered to grab special Valentine's Day hats for them, and we headed out for a warm up to the race finish to find Ty. As we were running out, Ty came walking toward us to get a change of clothes out of the car. I followed him back to the car, dropped the stroller off with him, and ran my warm-up to the start. The lines for porta potties were really long so I found somewhere else to go and then headed to the race start with 2 minutes to spare. I started talking to a woman beside me who was running the doubler and then noticed a woman standing right at the start line who I know runs 1:27 half marathons and is super speedy. I figured she would easily win the race unless she was running the doubler.

Ty with the kids during my race.

My plan for the first few miles was to run 6:55 pace or so. I was having a hard time reigning it in the first mile. I'd look down and see I was running 6:20 pace so I would slow down and then later my Garmin would say I was running 7:00 minute pace so I decided to stop worrying too much about my pace and try to run off feel. That was a little bit hard because I'm so used to running 5ks and I was afraid I would run my 5k pace on accident, but I did a great job pacing with my first mile in 6:55. There were 2 women ahead of me, neither of them was the woman I had expected to win so I figured she must be running the doubler. By the mile mark I had passed both the women ahead of me and only had a few men a ways ahead of me. Somewhere in the first mile we were running out as some of the 5k run/walkers and walkers were heading toward the finish. One of my favorite moments during the race was running by my mom as she was walking toward the finish. I hadn't been expecting to see her and got so excited to hear her voice! Mile 2 was a bit of a faster mile, but there were a lot of downhills. I should have made a mental note about that for the way back, but I was too worried about keeping an eye out for the guys running a ways ahead of me because I was worried I would lose track of them when they turned and get lost. I went through mile 2 in 6:46. I hit that mile mark right at the bottom of a very large hill. Then we turned and ran on a long, flat, straight road for a while before going up a smaller hill and turning onto a bridge. The turn around was at the end of the bridge and I watched as the people ahead of me ran back by. I noted there were no women ahead of me and I was running 6th place overall. At the turn around the woman directing us was very sweet and told me I was the 2nd overall female. I chuckled because I had seen a man with a ponytail ahead of me and knew she had mistaken him for a woman. Mile 3 was 6:50. I was right on pace to hit my goal of breaking 43 minutes, I figured I needed to run 6:53 pace or under and I was totally rocking that!

A picture mom took of me running by as she walked to the finish.

On the return trip as we headed down the long straight road the people still heading out on the course were cheering for me, and saying "Woo hoo, top women!" so I knew the woman I had expected to win the race was running along right behind me. I figured it was only a matter of time before she passed me. I went through mile 4 in 6:45 with her running behind me as a little extra motivation. I didn't have to worry too much about watching the men ahead of me as I could tell where to turn by the 10k runners still heading out on the course. I was also starting to close the gap between me and one of the men ahead of me so I could see him much better. As we entered into mile 5 the woman behind me passed me right as we went up a very steep and long hill. Up until that point I had felt like I was really cruising and could hit 6:45 pace for days, but going up that hill I realized how hard I had actually been working as my thighs began to burn. We crested the hill and proceeded to run up a slight incline for the remainder of the mile. I'm not even kidding, it took over half a mile for my thighs to stop burning. I was focusing on the woman ahead of me and trying not to let her get too big of a lead on me. I was hurting and working so hard and my mantra for tough runs came into my head and I kept saying over and over, Jeremy's not giving up, you can't give up!

When my watch beeped for my 5th mile split I was discouraged to see what a terrible mile it had been at 7:15. I knew I had lost 20 seconds just in that mile and I would need to run my last mile in 6:30 pace to make that time back up. I knew that was impossible as my fastest 5k was at 6:32 pace and my thighs were still burning a little bit, but I refused to give up. I kept pushing as hard as I could up all the small, little hills in the 6th mile. The hills were unrelenting and I was frustrated I hadn't noticed we were running downhill during the first half of the race so I would have been mentally prepared for what was to come in the second half. I had just been too focused on not getting lost. I was proud that I got mile 6 back down into my goal pace range in 6:52 and I was holding onto the gap between me and the woman in first place. I wasn't getting any closer to her, but she wasn't pulling away from me either. I looked over and saw Ty, my mom, Carter, and Elise cheering for me. My favorite moment of the race was running by while hearing Carter yell "Go, Mommy!" and seeing him smile excitedly when I waved and yelled back at him.

My sweet cheer squad giving me motivation that last little bit.

 

Coming up to the finish line I was kicking as hard as I could as I watched the clock tick over from 42 to 43 minutes. I knew I had just missed my goal, but it wasn't due to a lack of effort or a bad race. As I crossed the finish line I knew I had given that race every ounce of effort I had in me. I was disappointed in my 5th mile, but knew had it not been such a challenging course I would have run that mile much faster. My official finishing time was 43:11 so even with a 7:15 mile thrown into the mix I beat my 43:17 time from my tempo run a few weeks earlier which I had run on a completely flat course. I covered the 6.28 mile course in an average of 6:53 pace which was my goal pace going into the race so I was happy with that! Had it not been for that 7:15 mile I would have broken 43 minutes easily. Now I'm fired up to run a 10k on a flatter course so I can break 43. There's a race we normally run in early April which is really flat and the times are fast as long as it isn't too windy, so I'm planning to run a 10k there. 

 

The post race party serves pancakes so we stopped off to eat some pancakes and then headed home as it was Elise's naptime and we were all so cold. Overall it was a very enjoyable race and I was proud of how hard I ran. I was sore for days afterward which always makes me feel good about the effort I put in! I finished 7th out of 603 total finishers, 2nd out of 423 female finishers and it turned out the woman who won was not in the doubler she just ran the 10k, and 1st out of 48 in my age group. Not too shabby at all. Ty also had a good race, finishing the 5k in 27:26 which is a great time for him. He has had some hiccups in his training and has cut down from running 5 days a week to 3 days a week so he can focus more on lifting so he was pleased to see he could still run a decent time. He placed 12th out of 35 in his age group and 115th out of 883 finishers. Mom walked the 5k in 53:49. That put her 29th out of 36 in her age group and 818th out of 883 total finishers.

Mom and Carter eating pancakes while I ran my race.

 

 

Wearing my medal with Ty's heart magnet placed inside it.

I was getting pancakes and Carter wanted some more!

A Letter to Elise at 11 Months

Jeremy Update:

It's getting difficult to do daily updates on Jeremy's progress since I don't see him daily anymore. It's also a bit harder to stay up-to-date on what's going on because Jeremy is so much busier which means my parents are also much busier. Before he had OT and PT in the morning for a bit and the rest of his day was free. Now he has 3-4 hours of therapy a day including speech. My mom said he was pretty tired today but still did well. I think it will take him a while to adjust to the rigor of the rehab facility. Plus he's still not eating much which is making him weaker. They did give him a bolus tube feeding today to help get him some extra calories. It sounds like he's trying to eat but doesn't have much of an appetite. During speech therapy they gave him some scrambled 3 letter words and he was able to figure them out. They also gave him some 4 letter words and he missed a few of those. They measured him for a wheelchair so he could get one that fits and he brushed his teeth this evening. This is what his schedule for tomorrow looks like: PT from 9-10 am, SLP (speech and language) 11-11:30, OT 1-1:30, SLP 1:30-2:00, and therapeutic evaluation 4-4:30. So that gives you an idea of how busy his days are! Before he might have OT and PT in the morning for around an hour, so this has been a huge jump in services which is good and will be the most beneficial for him! He's pretty busy from 9am to 4pm now! During PT today they asked him his favorite things to do and the first things out of his mouth were running and watching his niece and nephew! I'm glad he remembers how much he enjoyed running and I'm glad he enjoys the kids so much still! Carter had a little meltdown today because he wanted to go visit Uncie J and I told him we weren't going until Friday. We ended up facetiming Jeremy which appeased him. While we were talking Carter said, "Uncie J, remember when you were in the other place and we could drive there fast and park and use hand sanitizer and go right to your room? I wish we still did that." It made me sad and the connection broke up a bit so I don't think Jeremy quite heard which I was glad about because he really wants to come home and I think hearing Carter say that would make him even more desperate to leave. On to a post about my sweet Elise...

My sweet, Eleesers, you are almost a year old! It has been an amazing 11 months and I love you so much. I'm constantly looking at you and wondering, how can so much personality be packed into such a little body?! You are so funny and sweet and tough and busy! Busy all the time! You still shove just about everything in your mouth and have gotten so used to me swiping my finger in your mouth that when you see me coming over to you, you purse your lips closed to keep me from removing whatever object that it is! Often times you even make an unpleasant noise toward me as I do it. It cracks me up! A lot of the time if I catch you before you get it in your mouth and tell you no, you'll drop it. It's hysterical because if I am somewhere where you can't see me and you start to put something in your mouth, if I say something you will throw whatever you had and high tail it out of there crawling. There have been times I've laughed until I cried when you took off crawling in overdrive! Your favorite thing to have in your mouth is socks. You are not particular about it either. They can be clean, dirty, mine, Carter's, yours. You don't care. You will crawl around the house with a sock or pair of socks in your mouth. Your other favorite toy is bath books. You will also crawl around the house with those in your mouth.

You can't wear headbands anymore because you just rip them off and stick them in your mouth!

At the beginning of the month I was having a terrible time with you when it came to sleep. You would stand in your crib and just cry and cry and cry. If I tried to rock you, you would flail around and cry some more. We thought maybe you were teething so we tried dosing you up with Tylenol to no avail. It would happen at all naptimes as well as bedtime and was just terrible. Daddy had me convinced for a while that you were crying because you were standing and couldn't get back down. So one day I showed you a toy and then put it in your crib behind you. You almost immediately dropped down to your booty and crawled over to get it. So that theory was proved incorrect. I finally realized I needed to just put you in your crib and let you cry for a bit to wear yourself out. Then I'd go back in and rock you for a couple minutes and you'd be out right when I laid you back down. It was a rough week until I figured that out! 

You still take a morning nap usually around 9-11 or 10-12 depending on when you wake up in the morning and how active of a morning you have. That makes it tough to go on outings and playdates as they are usually scheduled for 10:00 which is right at the start or smack dab in the middle of your nap. Before you would just nap in the carrier as I wore you during our playdate but that stopped cutting it at the end of last month. You just won't sleep for a darn in the thing because you get distracted when you hear other kids. It worked for a while to cover your face, but that even stopped working. Finally I figured out that if we're home by 11 or 11:30 I can just nurse you really quickly and lay you down immediately. Then you nap for 3 hours and wake up for a late lunch. Instead of an hour or 2 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, you just take one 3 hour nap and it works out really well. I try to stay home in the morning at least twice a week so you can have a solid morning/afternoon nap schedule and that has worked out great for us. At first I felt a little guilty not staying home every day so you could have your morning nap but then I remembered Carter rarely got solid naps at your age because he was in daycare and the other kids would wake him up so I think you have the better deal there. 

At night you are in bed by 7-8 and sleep until 6:30-7:30 in the morning. You've been sleeping through the night pretty consistently again but ocassionally throw a nighttime wake up in there for the fun of it. Lately you've been waking at 5:00 am which is tough for me because I have an extremely difficult time falling back to sleep before daddy's alarm goes off at 6! I think you've been waking up at night due to teething. You would wake up just so upset and wanting to snuggle into me. Finally yesterday I checked in your mouth and you have your top, left middle tooth coming in. So now you have 3 teeth. You got your first 2 teeth earlier than Carter but then stalled out and didn't have another tooth come in until just now which was surprising for us because you showed all the symptoms of teething multiple times but it never produced anything. I told Carter you had a new tooth popping in and he was so excited to see it. You weren't too thrilled for me to hold your mouth open so he could see, but he sure was proud of you!

Your favorite soothing song is Baby's Lullaby by Jill Barber. I always call it Lay Down and am reminded of it's actual title when I read you the book. I had to look it up on youtube to figure out the tune of the song and you have loved it ever since we first read it when you were just a few months old. It's the only song you immediately get quiet for and listen to. Just recently you've started clapping for me when you hear me start to sing it which is precious! I ordered you the book right after we checked it out at the library because you loved it so much and now I just sing it based off my memory. It's sweet that you have a favorite song and it's interesting to see how your taste varies from Carter's. His favorite soothing song was, and still is, a song I made up about him. I changed the lyrics around for you, but it doesn't really do anything for you. The moment I start off with "Lay down..." you get quiet and stare up at me. It's magical!

You are becoming increasingly mobile. You can crawl so fast and love pulling up to a stand. You started cruising much more on furniture, in your crib, and around the fireplace. You also like to climb up onto things like the trampoline, step stools, stairs, whatever. We like to go to a playground that has some stairs and you really enjoy going up the stairs and then cruising along on them. You haven't quite figured out a safe way to get down as your chosen method right now is driving down face first. You are a bit of a daredevil. When you are standing often times you just let go and fall backward onto your bottom and then take off crawling. You like to sit and bounce on the trampoline and Carter taught you how to bounce in your crib which you think is hilarious. You also love to play peek-a-boo and will cover your face with a blanket until I ask where you are and then you pull it off and laugh. You also enjoy it when I put something over my face so you can rip it off.

You've also started doing lots of other funny things. You like to shake your head back and forth while making noises to entertain yourself. You put your hand in front of your mouth as you make noise so it will muffle and change the sounds. You love to clap and do it almost every time I change your diaper. You also like cell phones and will actually crawl over to me while I'm sitting on the floor and pull mine out of my pocket. You don't do much with them other than wave them around and occasionally chew on them, but man do you love to get your hands on them! You have started helping put your clothes on which is nice. You'll pull your head out of clothes and shove your arms into the arm holes which is nice because changing your diaper has become quite the challenge!

Clapping your legs.

Your brother is still your absolute favorite! Anytime you see him you smile and laugh. You love to watch him play and enjoy it when you get to be part of the fun, playing along with him. One day you woke up from your nap before him and I set you on the ground while I went potty. When I went to find you I was surprised to see you were in Carter's room, standing at his bed, staring at him. I am certain it was your plan to wake him up so you could play with him! He loves you so much too. When I go to put you down for your morning nap he always tries to bargain with me so you can stay up to play with him and he'll even tell me, "Sissy's not tired!" It's so sweet to see your relationship grow and change.

 

Some new foods you've had this month are pork (1/24), zucchini (1/26), spaghetti, sloppy joe, steak, and grapes cut into quarters. We've started feeding you more of what we eat. For the most part at dinner you eat what we eat with a fruit and vegetable as your side. You love to eat and make a giant mess in the process! When we take your high chair tray off, you enjoy a second helping by eating everything on your bib and in your lap. You will eat puffs but only in between food items if we are getting something ready and you finished the first thing we gave you. If we give you puffs to hold you over until we get you food, you scream and refuse to eat them. It's so funny because your brother always loved them and even now tries to eat them off your tray! At a Valentine's Day party we went to, you snuck a Sour Patch Kid in your mouth and were so pissed when I took it from you. They start off sour and then turn sweet so I was surprised you had liked it!

Miss Elisey Leesers, you are the sweetest little baby and we all love you with all of our hearts. It makes me so happy to see you speed crawl across the backyard and explore new items in the house. You are so inquisitive and love eating and seeing new things. If we put something new on your tray, you will spit out what you had in your mouth to eat whatever went on your tray. You definitely have a sense of adventure already and will take off crawling through the crowd of kids at storytime. You have no problem letting bigger kids pick you up, cuddle you, or try to carry you. You are so outgoing and will stare and smile at special people you pick out when we are out and about. You make the sweetest noises and are LOUD! We just love everything about you. Even your poops which have been amazing in that we can just dump them into the toilet with no diaper sprayer needed. You are definitely our easy child and we love you for that! There's nothing I love more than some sweet baby snuggles while I smell your hair and feel your soft skin. I'm not ready to have 2 toddlers in this house, but you will be there so soon! At times I want to keep you a baby forever because you are such a perfect one, but then I see you playing with your brother and I look forward to you guys growing and learning together. I love you so much, precious pot pie!

Now on to daddy:

Hard to believe how old you are, and that you will soon be 1! You are always so happy and have a smile for everyone. We have gone to Lowe's both of the past two weekends, and you just sit it the cart, people watch, and pass out smiles. You get a lot of attention whereever you go.

Still not walking, but you are cruising. Won't be long now, and I am sure you cannot wait. You have turned into such a fast crawler, walking will only make you happier getting you where you want faster! Just yesterday I set you down in the back yard and you took off like a shot!

You and you brother are so much fun to watch play together. You crack each other up, and get each other jacked up! Carter loves to run circles around you as you crawl down the hallway. He will be screaming and laughing and you will be screeching and giggling. It is a sight to see!

Love you baby girl!

Jeremy Update

Today Jeremy had his first session of PT at the new facility. The therapist got him on a stationary bike to ride for a while and then had him do some arm exercises. The SLP came in to do a speech and language eval with him. I didn't get many details about that but from what my dad said in a text Jeremy has some deficits but he's not aware of them. My mom finally got him to eat by giving him smaller portions of food and telling him he had to take a bite every 10 minutes. He had some bites of carrots, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cupcake, meat, and it seems like something else. We got to FaceTime with him today and then he called to tell Carter good night which was sweet. My best friend, Ang, doesn't live too far from Houston and her parents are about 45 minutes away so her parents visited Jeremy today and he texted me to tell me how nice they were and how much he enjoyed their visit. He said we need to come visit before he leaves because there is a good zoo there. I said we are tentatively planning on visiting this weekend and he responded that he hopes to be home by then. He is still quite focused on leaving to return home which is typical for level 5 of recovery. Tomorrow will be a busy day for him and I'm interested to hear how everything goes!

Jeremy Update

There's not much to say tonight. This transition has been hard on Jeremy. He has been texting me and Thomas all day asking us to come get him and take him home. He refused his meds last night and today and hasn't eaten since his arrival. Dad said Jeremy doesn't seem to be in pain so hopefully he doesn't need the pain meds anymore. I'm hoping he's adjusted to the new facility by Monday and is ready to kick it into high gear with therapy so he can make the gains he needs and come home! We already miss him and Carter talked about missing him, Oma, and Opa off and on all day today.

The Reality of It All

Jeremy Update:

Jeremy made the move to TIRR in Houston, Texas today. He seems to like it from what my parents have said. The staff there is very professional and respectful which is nice to hear after what we experienced while he was in the long term acute care facility. He will have the weekend off and then they will start in hard on Monday. They weighed him when he arrived and he's finally put on a decent amount of weight and is up to 118 pounds. He still has a ways to go, but that's over 30 pounds weight gained so we are pleased! It still blows my mind that he got under 85 pounds. If I weighed 85 pounds it would be ridiculous and he has about 8 inches on me! Now on to a post I wrote on Wednesday before Jeremy was approved to move to his new facility...

Jeremy settled into his new facility.

For the most part I've gotten used to our new normal. Jeremy in the hospital. Mom and dad living out of our house. Nightly visits to see Jeremy and how he's progressing. But then I have moments where the reality of our situation hits me like a ton of bricks. Wednesday morning I was out for a run with the kids in the double stroller and all the sudden the image of that split second mistake Jeremy made flashed into my head. It had been weeks since I had pictured him stepping down off the curb to cross the road and looking over just in time to see the flat bed trailer slam into his leg. It reminds me that each step we take is precious, each breath we take a gift. I appreciate how lucky we are. Jeremy wasn't wearing his road ID and it took the police over 4 hours to locate his car which they did simply by having a Honda key and searching parking lots up and down the trail. The police officer who was called to the scene works fatality crashes. He was called in because Jeremy was believed to be a fatality. Those 4 hours of searching for Jeremy's car could have been the difference between us saying good bye one last time and us walking in to identify his body. But it wasn't. Somehow, miraculously, Jeremy survived. Somehow, miraculously, Jeremy is talking. Somehow, miraculously, Jeremy is starting to read and write. Somehow, miraculously, Jeremy remembers who we are.

There have been so many sweet and well meaning people who have said they just know Jeremy will be "back to normal." While he is progressing amazingly, there will be no back to normal for him. With the extent of brain damage he suffered the question isn't: will he be different? The question is: how different will he be? And, strangely enough, that doesn't bother me. All I wanted was for him to have some quality of life and we already have that. He smiles, he laughs, he talks, mostly to and about Carter. What I hoped for the most was for Jeremy to remember Carter and continue to have a sweet relationship with him and we already have that too. From here on out each step he takes toward independent living is remarkable and wonderful and more than I had reason to hope for but hoped for none the less. Each day we have with him is a gift and we know that. It makes each difficult moment easier to bear. It makes the cursing and the frustration he shows a laughable moment because we are so happy he is able to feel emotions and to say words. We continue to hope he moves forward in recovery, relearns skills, and progresses through the levels of healing from a traumatic brain injury. This is a long road for Jeremy and a difficult and frustrating one, but we are happy to walk it with him, to know we get to be there for him. To know we get to breathe the same air he breathes. To feel the warmth of his hand. To know he is here for another day. A day that we were lucky to get. One that we very nearly had taken away. We have been gifted with over a month of extra memories with Jeremy that I cherish and I know there are more to come!

We miss him already and Carter was already expressing that at dinner as he normally goes with me to visit Jeremy in the evening and he knew he wouldn't get to tonight.

Valentine's Day 2016

Jeremy Update:

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?"

Carter going for a wheelchair ride.

Group shot at the hospital.

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!