Physiatry negotiations and a little fun!

We've had a busy two weeks with a few updates.  Our latest appointment was with the physiatrist, Dr. Morozova to discuss the new brace for Reagan. She was happy with how she's doing but definitely concerned about the increase in falls.  We talked about Reagan having challenges wearing the brace and she decided perhaps we were moving to quickly.  Taking a step back was a little disappointing to me because adding more time later will definitely be a fight.  Reagan was given the option of not wearing it on weekends or not wearing it every other night.  She chose every other night - smart girl!  The doctor wants us having her put it on until she falls asleep and then taking it off at 10 or 11pm before we go to bed.  Unfortunately I think setting this type of lenience is going to make increasing time later much more difficult.  She said for Reagan to see increased muscle range she will need to wear it at least six hours every day.  So we will take baby steps and see how it goes.  She is wearing it every other night and will take it off in the middle of the night if her foot falls asleep (this is not uncommon for her).  I just hope we start to see a decrease in falls.

And with that, we've had the last doctor appointment for the year!  We do have another appointment to review vision equipment next week, but not more doctors.  We are excited to have all our appointments done until the second week of January and have already started enjoying the holiday. The fun started the day after Thanksgiving with a trip to Snickers Gap Tree Farm in Berryville to get our Christmas tree.  It has become a fun tradition and the kids love picking one, dragging it to the wagon and putting it up on our car.  Although last year I felt horrible I didn't pack gloves because it was FREEZING and this year the kids were in short sleeves because it was almost 70 degrees!  It definitely doesn't feel like December!

We also followed tradition by going to Photos with Santa at the fire station.  The kids always love seeing Santa there and we love not having to stand in line.  This year I was volunteering at the even so Megan got them dressed and brought them.  Luckily there were no concerns about Santa being "real" and he told Reagan she was on the AWESOME list - who knew that existed?!  Reagan has been very worried she wasn't on the "nice" list since she sometimes has trouble being nice to her brother.  I wish kids were as worried about getting into Heaven as they are being on the "nice" list!  But this is a good opportunity to talk about how important this is ALL year!

We also surprised the kids with Hershey Bears Hockey tickets.  We chose last weekend because it's the annual Bear Toss.  Several AHL teams have one day each season where everyone brings stuffed animals to toss onto the ice after the first goal.  All the animals are donated to a local Children's Hospital.  The kids were super excited about being able to throw the stuffed animals and see over 18,100 bears being tossed!  Cole was pretty excited about being able to see Cocoa again too...specifically he said, "I can't wait to tell him I'm five now!"  As you may remember Cole met him at a game last year when Cocoa gave him a puck.

Unfortunately Cole continues to suffer from pretty severe headaches.  Luckily we are catching the signs early and he is getting better about recognizing them and tell us.  We also give him medicine as soon as they onset to try to prevent the vomiting.  We are still discouraged that we haven't figured out what is causing them, but we are continuing to focus on more sleep and better hydration.

I have mentioned before that I love some of the things the kids say...so here are a few funny ones...

Reagan was crying about her brace one night and said she didn't want to wear it. He looked at her and said "It is what it is Reagan and you just gotta do what you gotta do."  He said it very lovingly, but I can't say it helped.  It does explain his personality.  Just like last week when our elf Fred returned from the North Pole.  Reagan left for school and he looked up at me and said, "Mom, he's not real."  I reinforced that he is real, can't you see him?  He said, "he doesn't move and doesn't talk and definitely doesn't look real." Reagan on the other hand decided we needed to buy him a coat because it would be cold flying all the way from the North Pole!

Here's another funny Cole story.  We were at dinner and our waitress told us her birthday is in December.  He looked at her very excited and said, "Cool, that's our when our leader's birthday is too!"  I said, "honey, what leader are you talking about?"  He said, "Well Jesus of course."  Too funny...

I wish you all the best life can offer as you enter into the holidays.  Family. Togetherness. Love, Hope and Joy.  And let us all remember the reason for the season!