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December 5, 2003
December 5th, 2003
Happy holidays everyone! Thanksgiving is over and now that Christmas is on its way, I thought that I’d better shoot out an entry before New Year’s Eve got here. We are all settled into our new home and each and every one of us LOVES living here. I have much to tell...so let me go back a little to two days before Thanksgiving.
Mark and I had decided that since the kids would be getting out of school early on Wednesday the 26th I’d just keep them with me that day. So on Tuesday afternoon, while packing up our house, I got a phone call from the school nurse. She said that Matthew had been in gym class and that a little girl tripped over him and he fell to the floor and busted his chin open. She said that I needed to come and get him right away and that he’d need stitches. Have mercy! My heart began to race and I told her that I’d be right there. Mark was at work and since I knew that I wouldn’t have time to come back and get the rest of the kids before school was out, I decided to pick them all up at once. Mark called just then and said that he had gotten a call from the nurse as well explaining the situation with Matthew. I told him that I was on my way to get him. Before I left the house, I called my parents at home in Branson and asked them to meet me in Springfield at the hospital. They said that they would and then I was off. I got to the school and flew into the nurse’s office to find Matthew in the arms of his teacher’s aid. She was the one who always helped Matthew and took care of him through out the day. I walked in and she began to cry as she told me the story of how his accident happened. Matthew was not crying by the time that I saw him, but they pulled off his Band-Aid and there was some flesh exposed. Sure enough, he would need stitches. I picked him up and asked for help getting Autumn and Gabriel from their classes. This was their very last day of school there and they had wanted to say goodbye to all of their friends. Because of Matt’s emergency, we had to rush out and they never got to say goodbye. :0( Matthew’s aid stood in the hallway with me and kept patting his head as the tears just streamed down her face. I leaned over and hugged her and told her that he’d be just fine and that I didn’t blame her. (She was right beside him when it happened.) She said that she felt so bad because it was his very last day there in the last hour of school and this happened. I told her not to worry and that we’d come by the next day to get Matt’s wheelchair and talk with her. Autumn and Gabriel showed up just then and we all ran out the door and drove to the hospital. My mom and dad (Nanny and Papa) were already there when we showed up and they helped me out tremendously. We all sat together in the waiting room (for 2 hours) until they called Matthew back there. It was a very busy evening for the ER but we made the best of it. I let the kids buy snacks from the machines and at one point my mom took Autumn and Christian to get some dinner for them all in the cafeteria. When they finally called for Matthew, I went back there by myself. Then the nurse explained that he’d need to have some stitches but first they would give him a shot in the chin with something to numb it. Woohhhooooaaaaa Nelly! I turned to the nurse and asked him to please go and get my mom because I didn’t think that I could handle seeing Matthew get this done. He said he would and returned a few minutes later with my mom. They wrapped Matthew up in a sheet much like you swaddle a baby with his hands down by his sides. We were all prepared for screams….but Matthew never made a sound. He just watched the doctor and looked at me while this all took place. We were all amazed at how awesome he did and when it was over he walked out with three little stitches and a handmade puppy dog just for being so good. :0)
I asked my parents if they’d want to take Autumn and Gabe home with them since we would be heading to Branson the next day anyway. They said sure and we all said goodbye.
Thanksgiving~
This was the first Thanksgiving in years that I got to spend with my whole family. We had lived in Texas for nearly 4 years and the holidays were pretty lonely when it came to seeing family. Mark and I and the kids stayed Wednesday night in one of the suites at mom and dad’s hotel and my brother and sister in law stayed in one too with their boys. On Thursday morning all met downstairs to have family pictures taken by a friend of my parents. We stood outside the hotel beside some trees and then went inside to have some taken. I took some with my own camera as well, which you can see on our updated website. After the pictures were done, we went over to have Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant called The Outback (not affiliated with the restaurant chain). Our meal included turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing and dinner rolls. Our dessert was included with the meal which was pumpkin or pecan pie. We had all brought some desserts to have at mom and dads after our dinner too. When our Thanksgiving feast was over we went to my parent’s home to visit and eat some more. Yum! We spent the afternoon playing Monopoly and card games and visiting with each other. It was the greatest Thanksgiving ever!
Load em up and head em out~
On Saturday night Mark drove home one of the moving trucks that he uses for work. We spent the evening boxing up the rest of our stuff and got it ready to load. On Sunday morning Mark and I packed up the moving truck with a little help from Autumn and Gabriel…and Christian. ;0) Christian just loved walking up and down the ramp. He let his toy truck roll down over and over again and he got such a kick out of that. When everything was loaded we headed for our new home. Mark parked the truck and I took all of the kids to Heather’s house (my SIL) so that she and my dad could watch the kids for us. I drove back to our new apartment and helped Mark and my brother Andrew unload the truck. It took us just a little over two hours. We drove back to Andrew and Heather’s to get the kids and then we all went out to eat pizza for dinner.
Since moving here Autumn and Gabriel have started school and they are really enjoying it. I met both of their teachers on their first day and we all walked to their classrooms together. Next Monday we will be having a meeting in our home with some of the special education coordinators to discuss Matthew’s needs and which school will be best for him. I’m really looking forward to him having the best care for his needs. This city is much bigger than any other one we’ve lived in and they have a lot more to offer. Matthew has an appointment with a new Pediatric Neurologist in a few weeks. We will talk to him about a clinical diagnosis for Angelman’s Syndrome since we are nearly 100% positive that this is what Matthew has. We are hoping that he’ll be eager to have some blood tests done and get things rolling.
Christian~
It seems as if over night Christian has become a big-time talker. He will repeat or at least attempt to repeat anything that we ask him to. He says Pooh (Whinnie The Pooh), and Blue (Blue’s Clues), Bob (Veggie Tales) and he tries to say Nemo. When we ask him how old he is he will hold up one finger and say "one". After which we all must clap and yell "YAY" for him. He has mastered the stairs in our new apartment although it still makes me nervous to see him come down them. If I am near him, he will holler “Mom” and I carry him down while making a veroom sound like a car. We go fast towards the end of the staircase and he giggles like crazy. :0)
I’ve included a link to our updated website on my talk to me board.
Have a wonderful week and a blessed holiday season~
Jennifer :0)
***Oh and I almost forgot, Matthew lost his very first tooth...right in the front. :0)
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