Happy Birthday Duke!

Our "little lap dog" turned four on January 17th!

I can't believe that this little guy:

Is now this big guy:

Okay, I take that back. We can believe he's that big. He's a Great Dane, for pete's sake! It's not like we weren't aware of how large he was going to be when we got him. Actually, he's on the smaller side of his breed if you can believe it. In fact, we think all other dogs are just really tiny. LOL.

In keeping with tradition, in honor of his birthday we made Duke wear a birthday hat. And then we treated him to some ice cream (peanut butter flavored!) and got him some special treats.

So thrilled to be wearing it (again)

Poor hat got left behind. Don't worry Duke, We'll save it for you for next year! :)

Mmmmm, ice cream!

Happy Birthday Duke!

Happy Birthday to our four-legged kiddo! We love you! :)

Read More 0 Comments | Posted By Robin

Catch-Up! {First Snow}

Last year Jackson didn't really play outside in the snow. Whenever there was snow, it was either too cold or too windy to actually go outside and enjoy it. Not this year though. It worked out very nicely that there was a large amount of snow on the ground Christmas morning and it was halfway decent temperature-wise. Combine that with the new sled that he got from Mommy and Daddy for Christmas and voila - time to go outside and play!

Outside and ready to go. He was laughing at Duke running around.

Daddy took him around the yard and he seemed to like it. He had a great time watching Duke run around. He loves his dog Duke! Daddy and Grandpa also took him down the slide in his sled. He thought that was fun too!

He was having a grand old time until the sled tipped over and he took some snow to the face. He was not a fan of that at all! I can't blame him though. Who would want to face-plant into snow - it's too cold! Needless to say, we went inside after that.

He's gone out a couple of times since then. Once down at Grandma and Boppy Smith's house. He didn't stay out long that time - he wanted to be inside with Boppy where it was warm!

He also went outside with me and watched Daddy put some wood in the basement. He thought the snowball fight that Mommy and Daddy got into was hilarious!

We're looking forward to spending more time out in the snow!

Read More 0 Comments | Posted By Robin

Catch-Up! {Christmas 2012}

We had a great Christmas! Lots of family, food, cookies and presents. How much better could it get, right?

A little warm and a little sleepy, but still the cutest little guy ever! ;)

Christmas Eve was spent with my side of the family. The spread was AMAZING - tons of good, yummy food!. I ate lots and lots of shrimp and had fun visiting with everyone. Jackson got some really cool toys too!

Jackson got busted checking out the gifts!

The "spread" and part of the family being entertained by Jackson

Super fly and lovin' his new Mega Bloks

Christmas morning, we had Jason's parents come down for breakfast and watch Jackson open his gifts from Mommy and Daddy (and Santa too!). My parents were going to come over too, but plans changed at the last minute.

Daddy showing Jackson how the V-twin motor works. I'm not sure who will have more fun with that toy, Jackson or Daddy?

Trying out his new sled

After breakfast and presents, we decided to go outside and try out Jackson's new sled. He loved it, right up until he wiped out into a snow drift. Poor kiddo! Want to see some more pics and videos of Jackson's first time playing in the snow? Go check out this post.

Sledding is fun!

After some relaxing and napping, it was time for dinner at Jason's parent's house. I love the holidays - lots of yummy food (and usually I don't have to cook, lol). We also watched the kiddos open their presents and snacked on cookies (cookies! yes, please!).

Christmas outfit #2 (or #3 or #4.....I lost count! LOL)

Santa's Little Helper enjoying a hard-earned reward of cookies!

Sharing his cookies with Aunt Denise. What a good little boy!

Overall, a jam-packed couple of days but we wouldn't have it any other way! ;)

(one of Mommy's favorite new toys, can you tell?)

Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas season!

Read More 0 Comments | Posted By Robin

Project: Pinterest - {Energy in a Jar}

We like to get/make all of Jackson's therapists a little gift for Christmas as a "Thank-you!" for all of their hard work throughout the year.

Thanks to Pinterest I found the perfect gift - Energy in A Jar! I figured it would be very fitting seeing as how Jackson should be getting some of his own "wheels" in the near future and they were going to need all the energy they could get to keep up with him!

The idea and instructions were provided by The Gunny Sack. I followed it for the most part although some of my items for the jar were a little different.

All the items we stuffed into the mason jar. Luckily there were some leftovers for me! ;)

Jackson wanted to help but he had more fun taking everything out of the jar instead of putting it in!

And then he decided that it would be fun to "drink" from the jar.

Added a band of shiny green paper, a Christmas tree label, a bow on top and voila! The finished product!

Along with the Energy in a Jar we included one of the Christmas cards we got from Amanda at Ten Feet Photo.

(Front)
** Sorry for the poor image quality - it's a scan **

(Back)

I think they turned out great and the therapists seemed to love them! Too bad I didn't do this January - it could've counted towards my 2013 Bucket List as a Pinterest project. Oh well, I'm sure there are plenty more projects that I could choose from! LOL.

Catch ya later,

Read More 0 Comments | Posted By Robin

Here's What's Happening in Jackson's World: Jackson's Week with a Stander

Last month I shared some pictures and videos of Jackson trying out some equipment over at Korpiel Physical Therapy. Go here to check out that post. We got to take the stander home for a week and try it out.

And the final verdict is - Jackson loved it! It gave him so much more independence and there were so many more things to see and do. You know, more cupboards and drawers to open and close!

One of the reasons for taking the stander home with us was so that we could document how he responded to it. We kept a journal throughout the week so that we could present it to his therapists and they in turn could use that info in their letters of justification to send to the insurance company. We also took lots of pictures and videos too.

Here are the journal entries for your viewing pleasure. It's a nice review of all of the fun stuff he did that week.

This is also when one of the first times that he's been able to "play" with his cousins at their level. Usually they get down on the floor to play with him. But, while we were at Denise and Amanda's house decorating gingerbread houses he was able to hang out at the table by himself and not in a high chair or on someone's lap. He also was able to leave the table and go see what the other kids were doing and go follow them around the house. That night was actually one of the times that he was in the stander for over an hour. He would've stayed in it longer but we could tell that he was getting fatigued.

Most of his therapy sessions that week were done in the stander. He also played with some toys up to a table which put him at a different eye level with them. He also got to play pool with Mommy and Daddy and bang on some drums. He was very excited to do that. In fact, he got mad when we told him we were all done and time to go to bed!

Here's a video of Jax cruising around at home in the stander:

We've also got a video of Jax playing pool with Daddy:

And, another video of Jackson banging away on the drums:

I really wanted to get another video of him playing pool and banging on the drums but the batteries died in my camera and there were no more to be found in the house. Boo! Although, in hindsight I'm sure there were a ton of toys I could've ~~stolen~~ borrowed some batteries from.

** Update - As it stands right now, we should be getting both the wheelchair and the stander. Additionally, all costs should be covered by our insurance with the EI program picking up the remaining balance. What a blessing!!! There was a lot of paperwork to fill out and right now we are waiting for our insurance to approve the requests. They say it will be a month or two before we get them. Hopefully sooner rather than later! Jackson was so happy that week and loved his new-found independence and we want him to experience that again.

And now, let's finish off this post with some more pictures, shall we? ;)

He spent more time playing with the drawers on the china cabinet than with the toy, but who cares? He was having a blast!

Peek-a-boo! I see you!

"I got this shot Dad! Let me take it!"

Baby Pool Shark

Little Drummer Boy!

Had so much fun bang-bang-bangin' on the drums!

Peace out. 'Til next time.

Read More 0 Comments | Posted By Robin

Another Smith Family Blog

I started this blog as a way to keep family and friends, near and far, up-to-speed on what was going on with Jackson. Jackson was born with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus. When he was born, he had to have surgery to close the lesion on his back and then had a follow-up a month later for his shunt placement. My goal was to make sure everyone got an updateon how things were going and what better way to mass-update then the good ole interweb ;) And since everyone isn't on FB (WHAT!?!), I figured that a blog would be the next best thing.

Since then, the blog has morphed into a plethora of stuff ranging from date nights, favorite recipes (okay, haven't posted any recipes yet, but they are in the works), our dog, our house, my awesome hubby, projects from Pinterest that I actually complete, SB awareness and what's going on in Jackson's world. I'll be honest, it's 73% about Jackson and raising a child with SB, at least according to my last calculation. Oh, and pictures. Lots of pictures.

Welcome! Welcome!

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Happy Birthday Duke!

Catch-Up! {First Snow}

Catch-Up! {Christmas 2012}

Project: Pinterest - {Energy in a Jar}

Here's What's Happening in Jackson's World: Jackson's Week with a Stander

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