Happy New Year! Onward and Upward!

If you know me, you also know it's no big surprise that you didn't get a Christmas letter this year (sorry!).  So, in lieu of Christmas cards, I thought my blog would be a great way to give all our friends and loved ones a quick break down of 2011. 

This year KC has been our rock!  Normally I just call him a tree trunk, but this year he has been promoted to "rock" ;)  In February, he broke his leg, tore all his tendons, and the mesh of tendons that keep the tibia and fibia together.  It was a LONG recovery process, but he's finally back to work and has been working long long long hours to make up for lost time. He's now the Mormon Doctrine Teacher, which keeps him on his toes, but I think he's up for the challenge :)  What little spare time he has is spent hanging out with the kiddos and supporting us in all of our massive number of activities going on around here.

As mother, I seem to be the glue that holds the family together.  I'm busy running the kids to and from school, numerous therapies and doctors appointments, transporting Elisha to all of her athletic stuff, doing all the domestic stuff, helping my sister to run her business, helping my parents with their business, and a bazillion other projects that seem to pop-up when you have 6 active people at home. My goal for 2012 is to go to bed before 2 a.m. each night.  I had a moment of insanity towards the end of the year and told our bishop that I thought Jacob was healthy enough for me to take on a job at church.  Luckily they saw through my insanity and now I'm teaching Sunbeams (3-year-olds) with Jacob in tow terrorizing those poor little kids every step of the way. Church has never been so exciting.  Luckily I bring snacks :)

Elisha is in "Beast" mode.  This year she became a Sophomore, turned 16, started driving, started her 2nd year in Varsity Volleyball and broke her foot in the 3rd game.  But of course, being Elisha, she didn't let that stop her.  As her team was practicing each day for 2 hours, she was either in the weight room lifting or in a corner perfecting some of her skills preparing for the day she could play again.  She missed the season but gained massive amounts of strength and skill as well.  She's now playing club volleyball and the track coaches are salivating over her.  Last summer she qualified for Nationals in the Junior Olympics in discus, but we weren't able to go due to time (we had a week's notice) and finances (babies with holes in their heart are expensive!). This year she plans on going and competing.  And, based on the numbers put up from last year, she will be an earnest contender to win Nationals this year.  Needless to say, some of the local colleges (WSU, ISU, and EWU) have already begun to show interest.  So these next couple of years should be interesting with her.

Nathan turned 12 this year and immediately became a pre-teen.  He now passes the sacrament at church and looks very dapper in his first real suit.  He also looks like the spitting image of his FATHER!!  He took a year off of sports to nurse his foot after surgery to lengthen his Achilles tendon and re-construct the arch in his foot.  So, to fill the time he took up reading which he has devoured!!  He goes through about 3-4 books (big ones - 500 - 700 pages each!) per week, and we just can't keep him stocked with books!  He's already as tall as his mother and stands almost a full head above everyone in his grade.  He's hoping to be able to play on the Church Basketball team this winter, and test his skills at basketball and football next year.  I have a feeling the coaches will be very happy when they see HIM show up to practice!

Courtney is our little gladiator/roller-derby/princess. You will either see her twirling around in a pretty dress, buck naked, or in various stages of undress - and often all three of those several times over the course of an hour.  Like her older brother, she stands several inches taller than her 2-year-old counterparts.  She loves singing along to the radio, watching Beauty and the Beast, Megamind, or any number of movies, climbing things like chairs, tables, counters, shelving, etc.  and listening to her family gasp and scream as she teeters precariously over the edge.  She's definitely a daredevil and I have a feeling that 2012 will be no different.  She certainly keeps a day from being boring!  But with a smile like hers how can you not love  her?

As a whole, it looks like our family has successfully learned to navigate all of the crazy obstacles and potholes life could throw at us.  We're looking forward to 2012 and all of the adventures it will bring with it.

We love you all and have appreciated all of the support you have given us in thought, prayer, service, notes, and so much more!  We have truly been blessed with an amazing group of friends, family, co-workers, and support system.  We would never have been able to do it without all of you. 

We hope that last year was a good one for each of you and that this year brings you much peace and joy. 

Very sincerely,

The Allreds

So Many Things To Be Thankful For

NOTE:  This original post was written right around Thanksgiving, but I forgot to post it!  I hope you enjoy it anyway :)

I'm sitting here in another hospital room as my mother sleeps with nothing better to do than take stock of the past year.  From the outside looking in, a person could be horrified by all that we've been through.  Since that fateful day in April 2010 when we found out that our unborn child would have a heart defect and be born with Down syndrome, we've been slammed.  First Jacob, his birth, 3 weeks in the hospital for sepsis and meningitis, then time for his heart surgery, next time in the hospital for failure to thrive, and recovery.

The same week Jacob was finally given a clean bill of health, KC broke his leg in what is apparently the worst possible way you can break an ankle, including both bones, and all the tendons and cartilage in between them.  Now, 9 months later, he has FINALLY given a clean bill of health by HIS doctor.

 In June, the same week KC was allowed to begin working light duty, Nathan had surgery on HIS leg - lengthening his Achilles, and grafting bone to two places on his foot.  The SAME DAY that Nathan got a clean bill of health from his doctor, Elisha broke HER foot in a volleyball game and was out for 6-10 weeks.  Because we apparently didn't have enough to worry about,  there was Courtney's visit to the emergency room because she'd gotten into a bottle of Excedrin PM (luckily we discovered that I'd found her before she ingested any).

Within a week of Elisha's clean bill of health, we found out that Jacob has progressive hearing loss (we're not sure if it's temporary or permanent yet).  A week after that, his blood work came back hinky, and we had to re-test to rule out cancer.  And 3 days after that phone call, we found out that my mother has cancer (ultimately we found out that it is inoperable Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer). In the last 18 months, we have had no more than 3 DAYS that have not been mired by illness or injury and I do not see and end in sight for a while.

With all that has gone on in the last 18 months, how can I POSSIBLY find anything good in it?  Well, I must admit that I have shed my share of tears, especially as of late with the knowledge of my mother's cancer.  But how can I not see the good in all of this? Dwelling on the bad would literally drive me crazy anyway - as if I need any help!!!

 First off, I have often said that kicking and screaming will do me no good.  It only wastes precious energy that must be used for more important things like caring for my family both physically and emotionally,  and making sure that they know that I love them.

I've been blessed with the opportunity to realize how important each and every one of my family is to me. And because of this, I am so much less likely to take them for granted. Especially with Jacob.  I know that I'll most likely regret it as he gets older, but I spend every chance I get just gazing into his beautiful blue/brown eyes marveling at his perpetual happiness, and resilience. I marvel at his strength of character and of body. I can't help but squeeze him tight whenever I pick him up, and often find myself breaking out into random grins as I watch him grow and progress.  At 13 months old, he is already standing on his own, and has even taken a step or two.  This is HUGE for a child with Downs.  They're supposed to be delayed. They are not supposed keeping up with the other kids their age.

With my mother's new diagnosis, I have the opportunity to tell her how much I love her, what an impact she has made on me in my life, and how she has made an impact on the lives of my children.  Cancer is a horrible thing. But it also enables our family to mend broken relationships, and become closer to one another  - something that would not have happened without such a life-altering event. And its something that my mother has always wanted in our family. I just happen to think this is an awfully extreme way of doing it, mom! :\

I have been blessed with patience.  There, I SAID IT.  I've acquired patience!!! (family joke - NEVER EVER pray for patience!  Things like the last year happen when you pray for patience!).  I've found that the little things don't bug me nearly as much as they used to.  I've learned not to sweat the things that I cannot control.  I can't control injuries or sickness.  I cannot control whether or not Jacob will be able to hear, or if he needs hearing aids in the future.  Therefore, I often find myself saying, "Whatever".  I take what I'm given and I deal with it.  I don't stress over what may or may not happen (OK, I did with Jacob's cancer scare - his blood work came back clean, by the way).  I just roll up my shirtsleeves and and get to work.

I am thankful for less grudges.  I have noticed as of late that those things that would have once hurt me or would have festered into resentment or hatred in the past, now roll off like water on a duck's back.  I don't have the time or energy to hold a grudge.  I say my piece and get on with it.  It's enabled me to hold onto relationships that, in the past, would have been discarded over petty disagreements, or being unintentionally offended. And it has enriched my life with people who touch it in so many good ways.

I look around my house and I see dirty dishes, toys on the floor, unfolded laundry, and a messy desk.  Yes, my house is messy. Every day.  Regardless of how hard, or how often I clean it.  It comes with the territory of  a family of 6.  4 children (1 of which is a human tornado), 2-3 therapy appts per week, doctor's appts, sports for the older kids, driving them to and from school, groceries, church, and working nights till 2 a.m. to name a few.  I could sit in a corner crying because my house is dirty, but why?  A little dirt never hurt anybody.  And I've got bigger battles to fight.  When I look at my dirty home, I know that my time was spent doing more important things: being a mom for my children and a wife for my husband.  We have food on the table, happy, relatively well-adjusted children, a roof over our heads, a job that KC LOVES to go to every day, friends & family who love us even more, and so much more.

Yes, I have so much to be thankful for.

I used to think that your health was the the ultimate.  It didn't matter what you went through so long as you have your health.  But it isn't until you no longer have health that you realize that this mentality is sooooo not true!  What matters most is that you have love, and laughter, an eternal perspective, and friendship.  What matters is that you keep plugging away at whatever life and God gives you, making the most out of every moment, because those moments, however many or few, are what matters - and what you do with them.

Never ever give up.  Ever. Never let life get you down.  Ever. We have been given these trials in our lives for a reason.  I'd surely like to find out what those reasons are so that I can learn from them and move on! But until then, I continue to be thankful.  For life, love, happiness, family, friends, my testimony of Jesus Christ and the life hereafter, forever families, and everything that has gone RIGHT in my life.

Thank you for letting me get up on my soap box.  I think I shall get off now....and get back to work! :)

Leaps and Bounds

People often ask me if I ever sleep.  And, quite frankly, I don't much.  Partly out of habit from the 10+ years I used to work nights running my online business. And partly because I've found that I can get so much more accomplished when the rest of the world is asleep and not distracting me from my long list of things to do. 

As the world quietly sleeps, I've been able to revel in the blessed silence of my home and reflect upon the many things that has occurred in it since my last post in July. Wow! What a busy life we've led!

In July, at 8 1/2 months, Jacob was rolling.  Soon afterward, his physical therapist told us we needed to buy him a toy that he could play with sitting up, so we chose the toy shown below: 

Little did we know what an impact this toy, and it's annoying little dancing teddy bear on top would have on Jacob's development. He fell in LOVE with his toy.  All of the sudden, we began to see progress in Jake so substantial, that the physical therapist would be taken aback.  One week he was rolling around, the next week he was frog-hopping, and doing one or two army crawls on his belly.

Soon, he was up on all-fours grabbing for that dumb dancing teddy bear.  Then, he'd crawl 1 or 2 steps to get better positioning, and before we knew it, he was sitting upright for minutes at a time...

crawling from object to object exploring every square inch of our home and everything in it.  Then he toyed with the idea of bear crawling - on his hands and feet, and was crawling the entire length of the house...FAST!!

Out came the high chairs because his back was finally strong enough for him to sit upright for several minutes at a time.  Out came the stair gates because he discovered the stairs...a couple of times.  Up went anything and everything that could possibly be thought of as small enough to fit in his mouth, etc.  Because if he could grab it, it was going in his mouth!

In spite of the fact that he still had no teeth, we began feeding him solids - and he LOVED it!!!  He'd just gnaw to his heart's contents on anything he could get his hands on. 

Jacob discovered that he needn't just let life pass him by.  He decided that he was going to grab that bull by its horns and ride it into submission!!!  He literally wakes up around 6:30 in the morning and go go go's constantly all day long, stopping just long enough for one or two 20 minute power-naps along the way.  Every other minute of the day, he explores, follows his big sister, Courtney (she fears him! - she runs screaming in the other direction whenever he gets close - I think he secretly likes this), and constantly continues to test the boundaries of his abilities.  Crawl faster, sit longer, and even climbing upward and the start of furniture walking. 

The physical therapist swears that she's never seen a child with Downs start walking before 17 months of age.  At this rate, we estimate he'll be about 14 months when he takes his first steps. 

But until then, we have speech therapy which will begin here in the next few weeks, and we just sit back and watch Jacob embrace life and all it holds for him. 

His infectious smile seems to draw everyone to him - even strangers. 

Tonight we went to a Gonzaga vs. BYU volleyball game and he caught the attention of one of the Gonzaga basketball players.  We spoke for a moment as he goo'd and gaa'd with Jacob and talked of how he missed his own niece on Oklahoma. And as the game ended, another stranger passed us by and told us how adorable he was and so much fun to watch.  This seems to be the norm every time we go out into public with Jacob.

Of course, Jacob is no fool.  When the smiles do not help him get his way, he has mastered his puppy-dog sad face which almost always gets him what he wants.  He IS the baby of the family, you know!

But right now, we are just happy to see him happy, healthy, and progressing like crazy! Including the fact that he FINALLY cut his first tooth tonight!!  Thank heaven for life's small miracles!  All is right in my world today !