Day After Christmas

We decided to stay home and enjoy each others company the day after Christmas. We knew Alexander had been taken around to many different places over the last couple of weeks, and thought he needed a day at home. My best friend, Shalee, decided to come over and spend the day with us. We always enjoy her company, and Alexander loves his Aunt Shalee. She brought a couple of presents for Alexander, and he was excited to see what she had. The first thing he opened was the color wonder sound studio, and he has loved being able to color and have music on his page. Her amazing parents got Alexander Toy Story 3, and Alexander was instantly ready to watch it! Now on the outside of the present was a set of bells on string, and I must say that was definitely a hit with him. He still asks to play with the bells every single day!!! I am so grateful to have such an AMAZING best friend with such AMAZING parents!! We definitely enjoyed having Aunt Shalee spend the day with us, and look forward to her next visit.

Aunt Shalee helping Alexander unwrap his present!

One happy little boy with bells and Toy Story 3!!

Christmas

Alexander definitely had a wonder Christmas this year. He was so excited to see all the presents under the tree on Christmas morning. I am not quite sure that he understood that "Santa" brought them, but he sure was excited to sit with us by the tree and open them. Of course, this being the first year he liked to open presents, I was so excited to watch him open them. On the second present he opened he received a Chuggington train set, and he was DONE. He was so excited to play with his trains that he had no interest in opening anything else. I was so crushed, but looking over and seeing how happy he was with the Chuggington trains put the smile right back on my face. It always makes my day to see my boy that happy. We spent some time at home letting him play and enjoying the day together before we headed over to Mimi's house for dinner. We all enjoyed a great dinner with Mimi, Aunt Cheryl, and Uncle Andy. Spending time with family and friends is the best part of Christmas time, and I know all three of us loved seeing all of our family and friends during the holiday season. We are so thankful and blessed to have enjoyed this holiday season healthy and happy.

Our Christmas Tree on Christmas morning!

Daddy and Alexander by the Christmas tree!

Santa put a toothbrush in Alexander's stocking and he LOVED it!

Alexander playing with Koko... one of his Chuggington trains!

Mommy and Alexander at Mimi's!

Our family photo for Christmas cards!

Christmas Eve

This Christmas has just seemed to be so special... Alexander has really enjoyed all the lights, snow, and SANTA. It is so nice this year because he actually understands a little more about the Christmas season. We have had many gatherings with family and friends, and it has been so nice to see everyone. For Christmas Eve, we went to Aunt Alisha and Uncle Chad's house and spent the evening with family. We had a great time, and enjoyed the time with the family.

Alexander with his Nana!

Alexander drinking milk with Papa!!

Alexander playing with a big SMILE on his face!

Bounce Planet

Back in November, Alexander's Physical Therapist (Kim) mentioned taking him to Bounce Planet for his PT session. I thought it was a great idea, so that is what we did. Alexander has PT at the house, and we both thought that a change of scenery would benefit him. So on Friday afternoon, Sean and I got in the car and met Kim at Bounce Planet in Noblesville. I do not think that Alexander really knew what to think of everything, but he did so well for his first time there. We worked on many things while we were there... it was a lot of extremely hard work, but he was a trooper and did great!

Kim setting Alexander in an egg!

Alexander in the egg!

Daddy, Alexander, and Mommy at the bottom of the slide!

Wheelchair Ramp

We decided to put in a wheelchair ramp for Alexander this fall. He is getting better and better at driving his wheelchair, and we wanted to make it easier for him to go outside. It turned out so GREAT, and he already loves driving up and down it. It has really changed his life because he has the freedom to go out in his wheelchair without having to call our neighbor to help Daddy lift it down our front steps! Thank you so much to Ronnie for coming so quickly to get it done for us! We love it!

Pumpkins and Halloween

I am so sorry that I have not been updating Alexander's blog lately. We have had a lot going on and the time just has not been there. I am excited to say that Alexander is doing pretty well. He has had several check ups with his different specialists, and overall we have gotten good reports. He still gets all his weekly therapy and is doing well with all of it. He is getting so big, and grows up more and more every day.

We had a great Halloween together. Alexander LOVED seeing pumpkins every where and LOVED picking out pumpkins to take home. However, when it was time to carve the pumpkins he was not into all the goo in the middle. He just let mom and dad take care of all the goo, and he played with some toys! For Halloween, Alexander dressed up as Woody! He loved it too. He got so many visits from family, and we took him around our street to get some candy! It was the first year he actually understood going door to door, and he loved saying hi to all of our neighbors. We had a great Halloween, and we are so thankful for Alexander staying healthy through the fall. We are looking forward to spending time with our family for Thanksgiving, and we hope that everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Daddy and Alexander with our pumpkins!

Mommy and Alexander with our pumpkins!

Alexander as Woody!

Balloon Launch

On August 22, we got our family and friends together to raise awareness for SMA. August was National Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness month, and we really wanted to do our part to raise awareness for SMA. We did a small balloon launch, and every balloon had a tag with an SMA fact attached to it. We passed out information on SMA, and we took donations for Families of SMA. We had a great turn out of family and friends and was able to raise $569 for FSMA. We were excited to be able to pass that along to help provide family support and fund research for a cure. Alexander had a great time being with family and friends, and he loved all the balloons we had there. Alexander even made the front page of our local paper. They wrote a wonderful article about Spinal Muscular Atrophy and included Alexander's story in the article. He thought it was pretty cool to see himself in the paper. Thank you so much to everyone who donated their time to come raise awareness with us, and to all of those that donated to FSMA in support of Alexander. We truly appreciate all the support we receive from family, friends, and our community.

Alexander and Kenzie at the Balloon Launch

The Launching of Balloons

Summer Fun!

We have all had a very busy summer! Alexander has done so many fun things, and I think he has had a pretty great time! I have unfortunately been so busy that I have not updated our blog much. So I just wanted to post some pictures of the fun things we have been up too!

Alexander enjoying his first boat ride on the river with Daddy!

Alexander eating a Reese Cup Blizzard with Daddy!

Alexander about to see Toy Story 3... his first time at the movie theater!

Alexander with his tools in Daddy's garage!

Alexander painting during OT and PT!

We hope everyone enjoyed their summer as much as we did!

California Disneyland

After we went to the SMA conference, we decided to take advantage of being in California and we drove down the coast to Disneyland. Alexander loves all the Disney characters, and we could not pass up the opportunity for him to meet Mickey Mouse! We arrived at the Disneyland Hotel, and I don't think Alexander quite knew what to think. Everywhere he looked he saw "Hot Dog" (Mickey Mouse)! We got all our stuff to the room, and decided to go check out Downtown Disney. Alexander loved everything about this place. He saw pictures of all his favorite characters everywhere! We had a great evening at Downtown Disney, but we were all ready to go to Disneyland that next morning. Alexander had no idea how much fun he was going to have the next day.

We got up and headed to Disneyland! We could not wait to get in and start having fun. Since our hotel was within walking distance, we decided to let Alexander take his wheelchair in. He did so well with his wheelchair, and lasted about 8 hours in it! He got to see so many characters, and they were all so great to him. They would run up and hug him, and he absolutely loved it! He loved all the characters, but got a HUGE smile on his face when he saw Mickey Mouse. He kept calling him Hot Dog, and when we explained to Mickey why Alexander called him that... Mickey started doing the Hot Dog Dance. I have never seen a happier little boy!

Alexander did amazing on the rides, and he is definitely a little thrill seeker. He could not get enough of the rides, and Disneyland was incredibly accommodating to him. He rode Pirates of the Caribbean (twice), Dumbo, Casey's Jr. Circus Train, It's a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan's Flight, and many more!! We were all so impressed with how well he did on the rides.

We all had an incredible time at the park, and will never forget this day!

Alexander at the Disneyland Hotel with Mickey!

Alexander, Daddy, and Lego Woody!

Mimi, Alexander, and Nana at Disneyland!

Daddy, Alexander, Mommy, Mimi, and Nana meeting Mickey Mouse!

Alexander and Mommy about to ride Dumbo!

Alexander being goofy in his Dale hat!

A very tired Alexander, asleep in his stroller, at Disneyland!

California SMA Conference

Sean, myself, Alexander, my Mom, and Sean's Mom all traveled to Santa Clara, CA for a Families of SMA Conference at the end of June. Alexander and I got to go on our first flight together, and I was definitely more nervous than he was! He absolutely loved flying, he just kept saying "weee" the whole time we took off, and wanted more when we were up in the air. He was a great little flier! We were all so excited, but at the same time didn't know exactly what to expect since it was our first conference. When we got out to California and got to our hotel, we immediately felt welcomed. It was so exciting to see all the other SMA kids there, and we knew that Alexander was going to have a great time. They had many workshops for us to choose from (OT, PT, fund-raising, etc.) , a reception dinner, and a kids carnival throughout the 3 days. I have to say that meeting all the other parents and kids was one of the most meaningful parts of the conference. We were actually in a place where we didn't feel alone because we knew that all the other families were going through the same things. We learned a lot of helpful hints from the other parent's experiences, and were able to share some of ours with them. We also learned a ton about the research that Families of SMA sponsors, and we are looking forward to setting up a fundraiser to help support finding a cure! This conference was an incredible experience, and was an incredible opportunity for all of us. Alexander had a blast every single day we were there. He loved being able to drive his wheelchair every where and loved seeing all of the other kids in their wheelchairs! Alexander had a blast at the carnival because every one was so accommodating and fun! So, obviously we had a wonderful time and can not wait to attend next year's conference!

Our views from the hotel!


Nana helping Alexander drink some Cali OJ... he loved it!

All of us at the dinner reception!

Alexander in a Standing Dani!

Alexander driving to the carnival!

Alexander being goofy at the carnival!

Alexander wheelchair bowling!

Pool Fun!

This summer we decided to get a pool for Alexander! We have heard great things about water therapy with SMA kids, and thought we would give it a try! So far, Alexander LOVES the pool! He really loves the freedom he has in the pool. He loves splashing, and being "thrown up" out of the water. We try and get in it as much as possible because he just lights up in the water. He is definitely a little fish!

Alexander splashing with Daddy!

Alexander and Mommy in the pool!

Daddy throwing Alexander up out of the water!

Standing!

I am so happy and excited to tell EVERYONE that.... Alexander stood for the very first time on Thursday, May 20! It was for 2 to 3 minutes during his Physical and Occupational Therapy. Then, on Monday he did it again several times! He has to have his bracing on, and does best slightly propped up against the couch, but he is STANDING! We were told from the very beginning of his diagnosis of SMA that standing would NOT be possible! He proved everyone wrong!!! We could not be more proud of our sweet boy. I know that many people know the excitement that these milestones create in a family, but when you are told it will never happen and it does the excitement and joy can not be described!

Alexander, we are all soooo proud of you and love you very much! This just proves that you can do anything and everything you set your mind too! Some things may take longer than others, but with hard work you can do it! We love you Pumpkin Pie!

Two Years Old!!

I have been a little behind on posting these pictures, but I wanted to share

Alexander's Two Year Old pictures!