Day 226...the x-mas bomb

Our house looks like a bomb hit it. 5 days post Christmas and it’s still a disaster.  If someone rang our doorbell right now, I'd shout for everyone to freeze and lay down and pretend we're not home.  Yah, it’s that bad.

 

But here I am, amidst wrapping paper and boxes, toys and dogs…and I’m so happy.  Happy it’s over, but happy we made it work…together.  I always took for granted spending Christmas with your family, but with Rob having to work this year it became much harder to squeeze it all in.  But no worries, we did.

 

We sang songs…Bodie loved his rendition of “Jingle Bells”, which he unfortunately changed the words to “wiener bells”…oh, Bodie :)

We ate well.  We spent time together.  Santa treated us good.  All the kids got Pillow Pets!  As Bodie was going through his stocking, he pulled out a little notepad.  He inspected it…and then said “What the hell is this?”  It was the funniest thing ever…but also not really the Christmas message you dream of your kids saying when they see the loot Santa brought them.  So I guess it’s a good place to start with New Year’s resolutions…watch what I say around the kids.  *I’ll try*

Christmas was great.  Christmas Eve at Papa and Grandma Rene’s.  Christmas morning at our house with Bri Bri and Amber and Papa and Nanny…then off to Papa and Nanny’s for dinner with Papa Don.  Then Monday Christmas in Garden Valley with Papa Bob and Sue Sue.  SO.MUCH.FUN.

If you haven't noticed, I'm a sentimentalist. I know not everyone likes Christmas, and it can be a painful time for those who have experienced hurt and have difficulty defining the distinction between reality and idealism and all the blur in between. But the pain of life always makes the good stand out even more...like water rising above the oil.

We've cried this year. We've complained and cursed and cleaned up messes, just like everyone else. There are scuffs on our walls and bruises on our heart. But, in the end, there is good. And we know when to celebrate, and celebrate we do.

And all the efforts we put into this grand celebration...it was worth it. Every bit of it. Merry Fifth Day-after Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We are glad you are here. We have had quite a year…lots of ups, and a few downs. But we love roller-coaters…that’s how we roll in the Vian house!  After inviting some new friends and family here, to our little blog, I thought I should recap…

I started this blog in May after reading about something called Project 365. Simple. Take a picture a day for a year. I committed to doing so and I thought it would be a great way to look back on a year in the life of the Vian family.  But life caught up with me and I missed some days...oh, well I tried!  The first post is HERE.

At the time I had no idea where this year would take us or how therapeutic this blog would be for me . It has been a hectic year. A rewarding year. A challenging year. In this year we have grown, cried, triumphed and most of all laughed. We laugh a lot, and we like it that way.

So let the cheesy Christmas letter…or rather post…commence!

Rob started a new job in June with the State of Idaho, Department of Corrections. He graduated POST at the top of his class, and he is now an officer at the State Penitentiary that controls the visiting department at the prison. Because of this new job, he wasn’t able to coach high school football full-time this year. He made it to the field as much as his schedule would allow, but he sure did miss it. Soon though, Bodie will be ready for Daddy to coach him! 

I am still at the GAP, 13 years and counting, baby! I am slowly doing some online courses so I can apply to nursing school next year…fingers crossed. Mostly my days are full of laundry, dishes, chauffeuring, wiping butts and noses…but I wouldn’t trade it for anything! 

McCall started kindergarten in September. She has such a zest for learning and I hope that she always carries that with her. She’s our little Rembrandt. So artistic, so right-brained. Despite being quite a little princess, McCall loved camping this summer. She is a wonderful helper and big sister although she’s a bit of a tattle-tale, but with Bodie for a brother she has to be! We are so proud of her…and it is just hard to believe our little girl is 5 ½.

Bodie turned 3 in July. He is one of the funniest kids ever. He has no filter, no volume control, no off-switch. He has embarrassed us many times, especially in Winco! He loves football, I wonder why, but is the sweetest little boy ever. He has the most un-conditional love for his family, and I am so thankful for that. Bodie started preschool this fall, and *might* have a crush on his teacher. Bodie keeps us on our toes. We are either running after him, cleaning up after him or laughing at him! He is an amazing brother, and our family’s comic relief.

Rhys turned one at the end of October. When he was around six months, I just knew something wasn’t right. He wasn’t sitting up, babbling or eating and he was always having “tremors”. Everyone kept telling me that he was fine, just a late bloomer or perhaps just lazy. Third kids are like this I was told. I wanted to believe them, I really did. But somewhere inside of me, my mother’s instinct said that wasn’t it. Our pediatrician suggested we start seeing a physical therapist and he started doing very well. However, his tremulousness didn’t stop and he had a large seizure in August while I was feeding him. I hate to say I am thankful for that seizure, but I am. It got the ball rolling, it made people believe me and it led to his diagnosis. Some of the posts from this time can be found HERE, and HERE.

We had MRI’s, blood tests and doctor’s visits for months. Finally, on over Labor Day weekend we got the call. A deletion of chromosome 15, resulting in Angelman Syndrome. I always knew it was something, however my world was rocked to the core, and I was sure life as I knew it was over. (That post is HERE.)

How wrong I was. Between the outpouring of love and support we received, some hardcore life analysis and therapeutic insights I made on this blog through it all, I have arrived at the very beautiful place of Life is hard. But it's also amazing, and we will rock the hell out of it.

Things are going well. There are emotional breakdowns here and there, and there are times where I suddenly realize...what just happened? ...but mostly there is so much love. Not everyday is unicorns and rainbows, but the majority are! For the most part, I'm really not scared anymore.  I am truly happy and overjoyed and experiencing all the beauty and laughter and soak-it-up-ness I expected.  And writing about him and taking pictures of my CRAZY kids is helping incredibly. I so believe in the whole "Go Big or Go Home" philosophy.  And we are GOIN’ BIG, baby!

We are embracing our new path with open arms. Rhys has a wonderful team of therapists and he is doing fantastic. I don’t even listen to the doctors when they say “He won’t do this, or he might never do this”, because he has already proven them wrong so many times…I fully expect him to give the theoretical middle-finger to these guys someday—and that makes me smile!  He is popping himself up, cruising along furniture and wants so badly to be like his brother and sister. His seizures are almost completely controlled though medication. Rhys and I will attend our first Angleman Syndrome walk in Philadelphia this May with my mom and aunt. Life has challenges. Life teaches you things. And life is all how you look at it. We are a happy family who loves life. 

We wish you a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy it with those you love. Make the most of 2011…we will!

 Love,

~the vian family

Day 211...Chocolate Therapy

So I've started this post a few times but just keep pecking at the backspace key because it all sounds so cliche' in that December venting kind of way. Like there's so much to do and I can't keep up and oh how I'd love to shut the phones off, call in sick to work, watch a movie and knock off a batch of sugar cookies. But that doesn't distinguish me from any other woman on the earth right now. Hence the backspace.

I tried writing about something else but accidentally hit Caps Lock and, by the time I realized it, it was a nice long paragraph. A paragraph that looked like I was shouting. "We had an interesting day" comes off as really in-your-face when you write it WE HAD AN INTERESTING DAY! So I deleted that too.

So now I'm back to where I started.  Bodie and McCall are singing "Old McFarmer" in the background, and no I just don't have the heart to tell them its actually "Old McDonald".  Just a post about the crazy radomness that is December.

I was kinda feeling overwhelmed--the kitchen is shot and the laundry is heaping, presents aren't wrapped, husband is leaving on his vacation (to Las Vegas, don't ask :) )...but then Rhys's occupational therapists came over today to help us with some feeding issues.  We had fun.  Lot's of messy, learnin' fun!

He played and ate, making a HUGE mess along the way.  Then the therapist said, "Wow thank you for being so open to trying this.  I know its messy, but it teaches so much." And I thought....why wouldn't I be open to this.  He is having fun, and eating chocolate pudding.  Isn't that what December is all about?  Eating and chocolate? (...OK maybe some other things too.)
And maybe this sounds all unicorns-and-rainbows, and yes it sucks that I even have to preface this with that statement...but, really, does stopping to realize just how much you love chocalte pudding squished between tiny fingers have to be cliche'?
I love that making Christmas meaningful is a lot of freaking work.  But somewhere between staying up to stuff a stocking and slopping frosting over a Christmas cookie...somewhere between all of it, you feel this rush of "this feels good." And it's worth it. It's worth it because your kids are laughing and you're trying to hide your own smile and it's so not glossy or magazine worthy but because of that very fact...it is.
 
My heart is happy. Busy and overwhelmed at times. Frustrated and a bit sad once in a great while. But, most of the time...it clocks out content. And for that, I am grateful.

Day 200...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have had a busy week filled with half-birthday's (McCall), snowmen, sickness, laundry, doctors and Christmas decorations...just to recap!

The kids helped as I put up some Christmas trinkets.  I love that there is snow on the ground.  I love it even more that the kids seem to love the snow just as much as I do.  They built a snow-Bodie, then knocked him down.

Then they took a break with some Dr. Pepper. 

Rhys had another neurologist appointment this week and I am so excited to announce...hold on to your seats...he has tipped the scale at 20 pounds!  Yes 20 lbs.  His seizures are still not controlled as well as we would like, so we added another anti-convulsivant to his daily regimen...and so far so good.  The past 2 days he has only had about 3-4 seizures, compared to the 3-5 an hour before the new medication.  So as usual...he's happy!

Well, more snow to shovel...

 More fun to be had...