Flashback Friday

Seeing shoes on Ryder’s feet makes me feel like he’s such a big boy now.  I guess that’s because he IS a big boy now (unless you ask him, then he’ll tell you he’s a “baby”!).  But I can’t help but flashback to the very first pair of shoes we ever put on him, his little Harley booties, the day we got to bring him home from the hospital. 

We Have Shoes!!

I’ve been fighting with Ryder for the past few days to let me put a pair of shoes on his feet.  I tried to start simple with just socks, but it didn’t help, he wanted them “offff, offff” because they were “stuck”!  So the shoes didn’t go over any easier.  He has an appointment with the Podiatrist next Thursday (thanks to Jelena…more on that after the appointment), which means that Orthotics are right around the corner, so I knew it was time to get serious about this shoe thing.  Luckily, Nana is better at being serious than I am!  She told me to send shoes over with him every day this week, and she’ll have him wearing shoes by Friday.  Easy enough!  And what do you know…yesterday was Day 1 and this little stinker came home with shoes on his feet that he had on all day long, without fussing once!  Until I got there of course, then all of a sudden his shoes were “stuck”, he needed “help”, he wanted them “offffffff”.  But I didn’t cave and he kept them on all evening too :)

 

Uh-Oh, time for a meltdown because I wouldn’t let him go “night-night”…look how cute that sad face is! 

Best Buddies

Beasley, in all of her rambunctiousness, went to stay with Uncle G last week.  It was a great vacation for her, so that she could be spoiled and treated like the Princess that she is.  But it was also great for us because we were able to let Bubba have free reign of the house since he’s gentle enough to be around Ryder.  I knew Ryder would love having Bubba out of his cage, but I didn’t know he would love it as much as he did!  Bubba is his newest obsession…he talks about him all day long and wants to include him in everything he does.  Their relationship is so sweet, and comical, Ryder is very lucky to have Bubba as a “big brother” and best buddy!

This & That

Let me start by saying that we finally have a new computer!!  Thank goodness!  It has taken me some time to get it all set up and navigate my way through, but I’m comfortable with it now and happy to be blogging from home again!

With that said, here are a few pictures of this & that that I wasn’t able to post throughout the week:

Someone got ahold of the bag of goldfish…I think he was trying to hide the mess!

 

We had a double date with Nicki & Mikayla one evening…these two love birds make me smile!

 

We also had a cookout with some friends in our neighborhood, and Ryder had a blast in the Barbie jeep!

Just to add to the randomness of this post, I want to make note that we finally made it back to Church today.  I’m embarrassed to admit that we had taken a long break because of how upset Ryder was getting in the nursery.  But Grandma offered to go back there with him, so we took her up on that and he did GREAT!  I’m so glad to finally be getting back to normal life: being able to blog AND making it to Church on Sunday’s :)

It’s All Good!

Ever since we found out about Ryder’s stroke, the word “orthotics” has been bounced around here and there, but always in the context of something we’ll need to talk about wayyyyy in the future when he starts walking.  Well guess what…we had the conversation during PT yesterday!  His therapist thinks he is SO close that she wants to get the ball rolling now so that we’re ready to get his legs doing things the right way from the beginning. After evaluating the tone & spasticity in his legs, his stance, and his range, his PT thinks that we’re going to be able to start out small, with just an insert in his shoe that will support his ankle and help form an arch.  Right now he is extremely flat footed and his ankles pronate (turn in), but she said the muscles and tendons in his legs are doing great so she wants to hold off on doing the big braces for now.  Yayyyyyy!!  Now we just have to get a referral from the Pediatrician to go see an Orthotist and hope that he agrees with her recommendations!

Alan, my-husband-who-wins-the-award-for-absolute-best-colorer-I-know, colored this picture the other day that brought tears to my eyes.  It reminded me that whatever physical ailments Ryder has will be gone one day…whether here or in Heaven, either way, they are not permanent and he will be healed.  It also reminded me of Alan’s mom, who just had a Birthday on Saturday and will have been gone from us for 5 years on Tuesday…but is living it up in her new, perfect body, hanging out with Jesus and watching down on us :)

In other “It’s All Good” news – we were able to salvage all of the pictures off of our computer, thank goodness!  The computer is not repairable, but it was time for an upgrade anyway.  So I’m computer shopping and will hopefully be back in business soon.

Did you notice how well Ryder just climbed onto his toybox?!  This child is amazing, and so proud of himself, as you can see!  Makes Mommy a little nervous, of course, but hey…It’s All Good!

We Did It!!!

It’s official – Ryder gets to throw the 1st pitch at the Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball game on August 12th!!

 

Together with the Kidney Foundation, we were able to reach our goal and sell 200 tickets to the game!  Thanks so much to everyone who bought tickets, I can’t wait to see you all at the game, we’re going to have a blast!  And to those who bought tickets with no intention of going to the game, but just wanted to get Ryder on the field, you are SO sweet, thank you for your support!!  A special thanks to my Mother-In-Law, Cindy, Nana (pick a name) for leading a huge ticket selling campaign!  Not only has she been busy selling LOTS of tickets, but she’s helping to keep me straight with all the lists and money too! 

So, here’s the scoop: All the tickets will be held at the box office as will-call to be picked up the day of the game.  We’ll all be sitting in the same section and the NKF is asking everyone to arrive at 6:05pm, 1 hr before game time to have refreshments, talk about the upcoming Kidney Walk, and get pictures taken with Nutsy, the Mascot.  Then at 7:05, Ryder will be making his Baseball Debut!!  After the game there will be fireworks.  We’re excited :-)

Story Time With Ryder

Take a break and read a story with us.  I promise you’ll be entertained :)