A little piece of heaven

…for a reason. I’ve always firmly believed that, and now I’m even more convinced than ever.

Let me tell you a couple of stories. The wonderful Cybell started reading this blog some months ago. She found our blog through Sonia’s (Mamaterapeuta’s) blog. When she found out I was in Chile, she emailed me and we hit it off from the beginning, it was like we’d known each other our whole lives. Her great friend Karym is Vicente’s mom, who has CP as well. We all met and got together and Karym and I hit it off too and we’ve all gotten to be wonderful friends. You’ve seen plenty of photos with them as we’ve shared many outings. Here is one:

From Vina del Mar

Both Cybell and Karym started taking their children to see Ramon about a month and a half ago. They saw what Ramon was doing with Nathan and were really interested.

Today I got a call from Karym giving me the most WONDERFUL news. Their son, Vicente is able to walk, but has never been able to stand up on his own. His independence was very limited because he requires assistance with a lot of things – like standing, stepping up and down ledges, etc. Well, check this out. This weekend, for the first time ever, Vicente learned to stand up ON HIS OWN!!!! He’s done it several times now!! This is incredible news, it means Vicente is now on a path to independence. Karym was just blown away, she couldn’t believe that in just 1.5 months Vicente learned something that he couldn’t learn after 3 years of traditional therapy. Vicente, we are so proud and so happy for you, way to go buddy!!!!

From Vina del Mar

This picture says it all, Vicente is about to fly fly away towards independence!!!

From Vina del Mar

And something else happened today which was pretty cool. I’ve had a vertebrae “out” on my spine for a while now. Lifting Nathan up and down and in and out of his chair has really put a strain on my back. So I went to a chiropractor down here but he didnt’ help much. I decided to try a masseuse but she called and cancelled on me twice. So I went online and looked for a chiropractor and found one who does home visits (yes, doctors and health care practitioners still do that in Chile, isn’t that amazing??!!!!!!). He came over and I found out that he is a physical therapist by trade who learned chiropractic and massage therapy. He did an AMAZING job on my back and if I hadn’t played polo right afterwards, I’d probably be all better already (oops). We started talking and I told him about Nathan and it turns out he works with many people with disabilities! So, since Nathan is only able to go to therapy with Ramon once a day, it ocurred to me to ask him if he’d be willing to learn the exercises so he can come to the house every morning and do a session with Nathan. Guess what – he agreed! So tomorrow Ramon will show me the exercises so Jorge, the physical therapist, can start working with Nathan in the AM’s. This way we can maintain the same level of intensity and we can keep Nathan going in the same trajectory. Plus, he can do adjustments and massages on Nathan too 🙂

Everything happens for a reason my friends, and with faith and belief, everything always happens for the best! Just believe!

I’ve been thinking of life and luck today. How lucky to be Nathan’s mom and to get to share his life. How lucky to have a little baby girl on the way. Lucky to have the wonderful friends and family that I have. Lucky to have met the man of my dreams and to have him be the father of my children. How did I get to be so lucky?

And talking about life and luck…today, Belle is 18 weeks pre-old. She’s so eagerly awaited. Nathan smiles every time I mention her name. Owen and I daydream about her when we talk on the phone. And grandma…well, grandma’s been busy. She’s been busy knitting. Lucky Belle is going to be a princess from the minute of her birth:

Now talking about luck, I have to talk about Lucky. Particularly, how lucky Lucky is. Nathan’s teacher from preschool, Tia Pao, fell in love with him and is going to adopt him. The little bugger couldn’t have found himself a better home. She is sweet, kind, loving, and just a wonderful human being. Lucky is going to have a big yard to play in, will be allowed inside the house, and has already been promised lots and lots of love. If I described what I wanted to find in a family for Lucky, I would’ve described Tia Pao. So I am thrilled thrilled thrilled. As well as devastated. Of course I’m already super attached to the little puppy, he’s been so much fun to have around. But reality is reality and I can’t take him to LA with me so it’s best for him to find a home here sooner rather than later. He’ll be going to Tia Pao’s house on Saturday, so I have 5 more days with Mr. Lucky. Here he is playing with his favorite Elmo doll:

Now, talking about life. In general, Nathan is doing very very well. As you can see, he is finally making improvements that are carrying over into life, not just therapy! I really can’t describe how it feels to finally watch Nathan gaining new skills. It’s fantastic!

I think that the combination of CME, g-therapy, and his specialized diet is having a very positive effect on his brain. I think that the G and the diet maximize the ability for the CME to “take hold” in Nathan’s brain. I’ve also noticed that there has been a spillover effect into other areas for Nathan. I’ve been talking a little bit about it here – he’s more interested in playing, more vocal, is able to prop sit even though he hasn’t practiced prop sitting in months, improved head control, eating better. If you think about it, babies gain 90% of their development in their early years through motor development. So I think CME is helping him not just in gross motor skills, I think it’s also helping him with fine and oral motor skills, as well as intellectual stimulation.

So life is good..and I sure feel lucky.

I think this is mostly for grandparents, as the gifts are a bit expensive. But I got this promotional email and think there are some pretty good gift ideas:

Enabling Devices Xmas Promotions