uhh new title-don't have one

i'm running out of clever titles. Yesterday was a ruff day for Christian. He had 7 seizures so that obviously interfered with physical therapy and what he could do.

Today was better. He's only had 2 seizures which were this morning.
He worked on more of the same in PT. I love watching his progress! I'll put pics on later.
My friend Debbie and her son came up today to visit. It was nice to have company from down south . hahaha that meaning Springfield.

Another hard working day

--I'm going home after a hard days work.

Today Christian worked on a lot of sitting and propping himself up with his hands, walking further, and propping on his elbows while laying on his stomach. He is tolerating everything really well. We don't have to do all of our work on the swing. Although, when we take a break he swings and loves it.

Everyday I'm amazed at the gains he is making. Also today he only had 3 seizures and none during physical therapy. He's been going to bed earlier too! 9:30!

ps- the red thing he is chewing on a lot in the pics and video is his "chewy". Sometimes it's just to distract him and other times he just needs something to chew on.

I'm trying to use my hand to keep me sitting up.

Beautiful Monday

I'm going walking!

I walked for 15 minutes.

I have lots of video and pics. Christian did a great job at physical therapy. His sitting up and neck/head control has improved greatly. We are trying to get him to use his arms or even one to prop himself up. It's hard to get him to keep his head up since when can't motivate him by using his sight. We try to use noise and our voices of encouragement. A couple of the videos are short because I thought I was taking a picture-whoops!

Christian did not have any seizures during therapy (but 2 earlier in the morning)which is great because he can work longer. Today he worked for 2 hours and 10 minutes! And not really any crying. He's such a big boy. He seems to be enjoying moving and doing activities. Proud Mama.

The video of him on his hands and knees needs a little explanation. The things on his arms help him to keep them straight. He really does not like this position but tolerated it today.

On the walking video she is following his foot with her hand to make sure it stays straight.

*His top and bottom don't match because of the leakage during hyperbarics. Daddy loved that seeing as he was holding him:)

I'm trying to lift my head and stay on hands and knees. This is very hard.

I believe

I believe . . .

that God has a purpose for everything.

that God will never leave us or forsake us.

that God has perfect timing.

that I'm doing everything I can and when I can't do anything that's when God takes over and we all know that it was all Him.

in a God who is bigger than I could ever imagine.

God is faithful.

in the power of fresh air and pretty flowers and laughter.

that no matter what happens in my life God sent his only son to die on the cross for all of our sins so that we may have eternal life.

prayer is powerful.

friends and family help carry us.

in asking for help.

a picture is worth a thousand words.

that people really do care.

in my son.

in miracles.

I've found in the past 2 years that it's helpful to say and to really stand on what you actually believe in. It even helps to say it out loud. It's easy to believe certain things when all is well in your life but when times are rough you have to stand on what you truly deep down believe. Ask yourself what you believe?!?

I don't have any new pictures. Christian's therapy went well but did a lot of the same so I didn't want to post same pictures. Have a great weekend!

Better Day at PT

**May want to turn the sound down on the videos?

Head up and elbows under you!

Yes, he's actually smiling during therapy!

Yesterday we took the day off due to Christian being sick but today we were back to work. He had a great day at physical therapy. He worked on the "horse", stomach time propped on elbows, sitting, standing, sit to stand, and walking! whew! what a workout. Christian did much better than he did monday and tuesday. Tiffany (his therapist) adjusted his routine to accomodate his vision problems and sensory overload. We discovered that he would do a lot and do it with a smile sometimes if he is on the big swing soooo he did everything but walking on the swing.

He did the best he's ever done in his walker--he took 12 STEPS in a row with no facilitation from the therapist! I was so proud of him. He didn't even cry. He was like whatever, let's go walking.

Afterwards he had 1 dive. PaPa came in with us and gave me a break and held Christian. Unfortunatly he's had 6 big seizures today so keep praying for those to go away!

Also I was able to take a break during Christian's nap and go to Target. O I love me some target browsing- every isle-lookin at everything! Can I get an Amen from all my ladies!

Keep up the prayers-God's doing great things!

Started physical therapy

This week marks the start of physical therapy. He's having a bit of a rough time with the hard work. During therapy he has had seizures which have made him sleepy which cuts PT short. I will post pics later, due to the fact I'm tired and going to bed. Although we've had a rough start he has done well with sitting and standing that he has worked on in PT.

Continued. . .

Well we didn't get to have any therapy on Weds because Christian is sickly. We've started antibiotics so hopefully we can try tomorrow. We will see these pictures and videos are from the first day of PT. The video of him sitting on the moving contraption simulates the movement of a horse. It's helpful for shifting their wait and making the child pull with opposing muscles. It's quite interesting. The other video is him on the swing. She was trying to calm him down with the swinging but he's still working on sitting. The yellow and white suit is just that-a suit the kids wear to put more input in to their joints. It's hard to explain. All I know is that it makes the work they are doing that much tougher!

Oh Happy Day

This weekend was a nice break from therapy. Saturday it was warm so we had an outing to an outdoor mall area. We just walked around mostly but it was great to get out of the hotel room and get some fresh air. The pictures areh[t too exciting but one is of Eric pushing the stroller on our "day out" and the other is us having church via computer. We listened to pastor Lindell's sermon from the sunday before since we miss them and we don't really want to expose Christian to a church full of germs right now.

We are also thrilled, elated, overjoyed, blessed-to say that Christian's Big seizures have decreased!!! Friday he had 3, sat-1, and so far today none! We know that God is doing something great and answering all of our prayers. Thank you all ! Keep it up. We can't wait to see what next week will hold.

Luv,

The Russells