coffee, coffee, and more coffee

The past two weeks hit us with a fairly bad case of the flu. Everyone except for Deborah, Molly and I took their turn with it...lasting for at least 4 days. I can say we are all officially tired of chicken broth, herbal teas, and smelling tea tree oil throughout the house. Tomorrow we'll spend the whole day airing out the house and disinfecting everything again. Fergus has not been up to any of his normal therapies this past week, so tomorrow, we'll try again. Hopefully, we'll get some good sleep tonight so we can back down on the pots of coffee tomorrow.





(These pictures were just before Gus was sick this last weekend. The hole in the shirt is so that we can get to the g-button even if he has an undershirt on.

He and Molly love being together.

The last of these is blurry because we kept trying to get him when he was so happy about getting the toy...but none came out clear and I wanted to share it with you anyway.)

Please continue to pray that Fergus' legs move more and become stronger. We are working hard with him to move them so that he won't be so bored being stuck in one place. He desperately wants to roll over. Please pray that God would hear his heart's desire to move and play like any other 2 year old. He tries so hard to grab the toys, swing his body over to roll, and laughs so much when he finally does. Please continue to join us in these prayers. Thank you!

just another rainy day

I wanted to let you know that Gus did good again on 'walking' today. It was really hard work for him - he was so tired and who, on a rainy, gray, St. Louis day can blame him? (Our dog, Jack, however, is anything BUT tired. We just got him back the other day - a big THANK YOU to James and Heidi for taking care of him this past year.) Here's a few pictures of us on such a sleepy-ish day.


Gus is doing well this past week. The more we do with him, the more he wants to do. He is learning to play with blocks, picking them up and letting them go (into a loud, noisy tin). He is still eating well, enjoying food. We offer him food every 2 hours and he often eats about 1/4 cup. We'll try to keep him gaining lots of weight so that the dietician will let us give less formula.


The rest of the family is doing well. This week we were visited by a fever but it wasn't too bad, especially since Gus stayed healthy. Thank you for your prayers. Please pray that Gus moves purposefully, with clear control and that he learns to communicate with us (and please pray as well, that we learn to understand him better) to reduce frustration for him.

Up and down

Back and forth. That's what they kept saying to me but the words didn't really hit home. Brain damage recovery is always going back and forth. Some days, one area is better than another. And then other days, nothing is going well. For months he would improve and then do nothing. Hope would soar high and then get shot down, only to rise again later.

(This picture is of Gus in his stander playing with shaving cream and marbles with his occupational therapist here at our home.)

For the past several months, Gus hasn't improved much. I didn't update the blog often because I could think of little or nothing to say that wouldn't be too redundant.

Hope has been hard to maintain. All day, Deborah and I work through a long checklist of therapies to help Gus of which he complains through most. Progress is difficult for us to notice but the therapists keep us going. They tell us he's improved and what to do next step.

God has been gracious. This past week, we've seen Gus do more and more:
On Tuesday, at his speech therapy appointment, meeting also with a dietician, we realized Gus is gaining a little too much weight with all of the extra food he's eating. So we can now give him less formula and more regular food (mostly mashed up).



On Tuesday afternoon, with his appointment with a vision specialist, Gus started to play with a 'light box' (now here at home) and a special box called 'A Little Room'. A Little Room enables kids to explore their world and learn to play on their own. (check it out at http://www.lilliworks.com/products.htm) We were thrilled to have Gus playing more on his own with the light box and A Little Room.

Wednesday, Gus was attentive, supported his muscles really well, and was happy most of the time.

Today, Gus did really well all morning, and did fantastic at his physical therapy appointment this afternoon. Today, they had him in the lite gait again (for walking practice) and he smiled and laughed throughout almost all of the time. He picked up his knees and then put them down again with full weight on each leg. I haven't seen him move his knees that much for the past year.

With this encouragement, our energy is renewed to keep up the work. God is good to us. Thank you for praying.

Please continue to pray for better coordination, complete recovery for the brain, and hope. Thank you!