Illness Update
Not much to report about James latest bout of pneumonia and GI issues. He seems to be doing a little bit better every day. Just taking it one day at a time and slowly adding formula back into his feeds. We’ve learned not to push James too hard. Right now we’re doing about ½ feeds with Pedialyte mixed in. Slow and steady wins the race, right?
Cerebral Palsy (CP) Awareness Month
March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month. If you follow James on Facebook, you’ve probably already stared to see the daily CP awareness posts that Stacy puts on there. I won’t be doing daily posts here, but I’ll probably do a two-part series. Part one will be for days 1 through 15 and will be posted the weekend of March 19th. Part two will cover days 16 to 31 and will be posted on the weekend of April 2nd. Hmmm. I wonder if it would make more sense to publish part two on Thursday, March 31st so it’s actually posted during Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Awareness Month
I had no idea until I walked past this flyer at work that March is also Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness Month. As the flyer states, “according to the Brain Injury Association of Illinois (BIAIL) 1.5 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury every year. Each year, 80,000 Americans experience the onset of long-term disability following TBI.”
To learn more about brain injuries, check out the Brain Injury Association of Illinois website.
Spread the Word
The “R-word”…retarded. Is it safe to say we’ve all used it at some point in our lives? Maybe we’ve used it more often than we should have. I’ll admit that I have. Now that I have a child that is mentally retarded, I am a bit more sensitive to the word, although I do still find myself using it from time to time.
Some people are overly sensitive to the word and don’t think you should use it at all. I am actually okay with using the word toward certain things, but if you ever use that word towards James, or anyone else for that matter, I’ll probably smack you across the face. Just giving you fair warning.
Girl Boss
Stacy became a consultant for Thirty-One back in January 2015 as a way to make a little extra money to help support the family since working full-time was no longer an option after James was born. She’s had fun doing it and I have enjoyed watching her grow her little side business. She’s done so well that even the CEO of Thirty-One, Cindy Monroe took notice. Stacy was one of thirty or so local consultants that got invited to a dinner to meet Cindy at a local restaurant.
Stacy had this to say after the dinner:
“Last night I had the opportunity to meet the Founder & CEO of Thirty-one, Cindy Monroe! I was one of about 30 other amazing women in the top 7% of the company! That is a pretty big deal to me & she was SUPER sweet!! But I am curious; does your job celebrate you for reaching your own personal goals? Does your boss believe in you and fly around the US to tell you that you are doing a great job and that she is proud of you? This Thirty-One journey has been noting but wonderful for me and my family. My heart is so full of hope & love… Thank you Cindy for having a dream!!”
If you would like to help support Stacy’s business, check out her Facebook group and her Thirty-One website.
Because March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month, Stacy will be donating a portion of her Thirty-One profits to Marklund, which is a local nonprofit organization that serves infants, children, teens, and adults with severe and profound developmental disabilities and special healthcare needs. As Stacy and I have been working through our wills and setting up a special needs trust for James, it really started to get us thinking about what happens to James when we’re gone. He will need around the clock care for the rest of his life. Marklund is one of the places that we’re looking at to care for him if we die before he does. We are planning on going to one of their facilities soon to see about getting James on the waiting list.
Randomness
These are just some random things from the past couple of weeks that didn’t fit in any of the above sections:
James has just over 1,300 fans on his Facebook page. He’s becoming quite popular. We’d like to see if we can get to 1,500 by his birthday, which is just about six months away.
James was born on August 29th, which would make February 29th his half birthday. We normally don’t celebrate his half birthday, but thought it was cool that this year we actually had 29 days in February. That happens, what, once every 4 years? Happy 6-1/2 years James!
I was eating through a bag of Bugles and was a bit frustrated that they don’t fit on my fingers like they did when I was a kid. They fit on James’ fingers though!
