Devoted to Dominic: Very Happy Holidays

I haven't posted in awhile but I guess I haven't had a whole lot to say (which is a good thing) and we've been so busy with the holidays. We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and were able to spend a lot of quality time with friends and family. I have some fun pics at the bottom! Now that we are officially done with 2011, we are hoping 2012 will be a much more relaxing, enjoyable, peaceful and healthier year. Mike and I both remember where we were a year ago - in the hospital starting ACTH treatment. So much has happened since then, I barely remember that time of our lives. We were in such a fog and just bogged down with worry, anxiety and fear. It's amazing to see what a different baby Dominic is now.

Speaking of the main man, he is doing great! He is always standing; assisted obviously. But when he's not standing he's rolling and spinning around trying to grab anything he can. He has gone from Dominic the baby to Dominic the toddler for sure (except he's not toddling yet). He's always grabbing and pulling at things, mostly my hair, earrings or glasses. You can tell he wants to move. When he's put into the crawling position, he rocks back and forth but isn't quite sure what to do. His PT and OT don't think he'll crawl but will go straight to walking. I can understand that. It takes a lot of effort from both legs and arms to crawl. But I am thinking he will do some sort of army, one-armed crawl. He doesn't like to sit still anymore.

He's been sort of a stinker lately. He's definitely starting to express himself, especially when he's not happy. We have been doing more constraint therapy at home and at OT and he does NOT like it. He just refuses to use his right hand/arm. He'll just sit there and stare at me while his OT attempts to get him to use it. We've realized he's getting smarter and knows that if he holds out long enough, we'll take the arm brace off. And he's right. So, now he's supposed to wear it 3 hours a day at home. He hates this but mostly because he can't suck is thumb. She said it's a tough age because he doesn't understand why we want him to use the right side when his left one works so much better. But we'll keep at it!

His AFO came in last week but it wasn't the one his PT wanted, so she sent it back and they ordered a new one which should be coming in this week. Tomorrow we see the nephrologist and they'll do some blood work to check on Dominic's kidney stones and how the Bicitra is working and make any necessary changes. We are on month three of the Klonopin wean, which means he's only taking half a dose one a day. So, in about a month and a half he'll be on only ONE seizure med. Ah-ma-zing is all I can say. Other than that, life is back to normal with Mitchell at school, Mike at work and me running Dominic from appointment to appointment.

Life is good. Life is normal. Life is happy. We are incredibly blessed to have made this much progress in the past year. Dominic is a little champ and endured so much always with smile on his face. Here's to a happy and healthy 2012!