A Few ways to not be a Debbie Downer...

A few ways not to be a buzz kill when someone tells you that they are expecting a baby…

Do not assume that the pregnant woman telling you her happy news is lying.

Do not by any means pretend to ignore the news.

Do not say “Again, but you just lost a baby”.

Do not think that you are more worried than we are.

Do not say “how many tests did you take, are you really sure??”

Do not assume if you are being told in February that the October is due date is over a year away.

Do not remind me that I have a child that keeps me busy, I promise, I already know that.

Do not remind us of our previous bumpy luck, we have not forgotten.

Do not start to say something and then stop and say “I just don’t want to make you mad”.

Do not attempt to stick your head in the oven. (Yes this really did happen)

Ok, so these are all very really statements that we have encountered. Seriously??? Yes. I have wanted to just shake some of these people, but what do you do if they are family? I have mastered the art of ignoring them, or kindly letting the offender know that I keep a journal of stupid things that people say and they just made the book.

Sorry I had to get that off my chest. I will post happy thoughts later.

Beautiful Boy

As I'm sure all of you, I am in love with this boy. As I am sure any momma is with their son, but there is something extraordinary about this child. I have watched him grow in the last few weeks and it has again, melted my heart. He is a constant reminder of how lucky I am to have him. He is in his third week at school and is thriving. He walks down the hall with his aid and the walker and does not even look back for momma. He charms the socks off off the ladies that work there as he does with most everyone he comes in contact with. His strength and determination are getting more pronounced every day.

We are working as much as we can to sign with him all the time. He now claps, points, touches his nose and signs "more". I freak out every time he does a sign. I know that he will keep learning signs and be telling me off in no time.


Well my mom is griping to me on the phone so I cant keep typing....
Come on Debbie....
I have been freaking out lately due to the upcoming move. I am not ready to leave my Bedford friends and I really don't want to be in Sullivan if Ryan goes to Afghanistan. I think that I will go nuts without him. He is such an awesome husband and I know that he wants to do what is best for us as a family. But seriously, 6 months without him will be torture. Ugg. Uggg. Uggggg.

Then there is the matter of the constant running for me and Jasper. We are everyday on the road. I am so sick of driving already. That's bad... Because it is not going to be any better in Sullivan. I think I am going to take a week off and fly away somewhere warm. I need a stinking break! I really need a break. Do I sound frantic and hysterical??? Its because I am! Yikes Tessa pull it together.

Whhooo... I better get to Jaspers school to pick him up..
Huggs...
T

Hmmm..

Well as usual, my brain is a mush with the weeks activities.  We spent the day a Riley yesterday for an appointment with a kideny doc and had an ear appt for the hearing aids.
So this is my job...  Being Jaspers mom and taking care of his medical appointments and taking him to his new school (the Jackson Center in Mooresville, IN-- Look it up).   I have been to Indy 3 times this week and will be up here 3 times next week not to mention the trips to Bloomington on my days off for more appointments.  So here comes my vent.... I recently heard from a person who I will not mention that I should consider getting a babysitter for Jasper and go back to work.  IS SHE NUTS>>>>????  Seriously... Nuts... I have rarely wanted to punch a person so bad, and then cry, and then maybe punch her again.  There is no amount of money that can take me away from being Jaspers MOM, protector and advocate.  I would love to continue venting about this, but I am afraid that I wont be able to stop!

So Jasper now has super cool hearing aids.  They are blue and orange and dont seem to work worth a darn. But boy is he cute with them in.

I will try to post some pics later. 
Happy Trails...

Therapy Is... & Snowflake Festival

Cute, Cute and More Cute..  I love this picture, Ryan just stuck his face through there and that was his smile.  So, on Saturday we went to the Children's Therapy Clinics Snowflake Festival, and Jasper loved it!  It was nice having an environment where he was just as regular as the rest of the kids.  No judging, or "Oh, we are so sorry", just some kind of normal.  

So I felt some evil need to make Jasper pout just so I could get a picture of it, so I had the Grinch hold him and as you can see... It worked!  He pouted!  Too bad I already did the Christmas Cards.

So, as for the "Therapy Is..." Part of my post.  I have decided that for me therapy comes in many forms.  Most of them crazy and totally abnormal but isn't that me.  Abnormal, crazy... well it works for me.  So last week my therapy was mostly making chocolate covered marshmallows and cookies.  That was great fun and kept my mind busy. 

So my new therapy just so happens to be a pair of skinny jeans and 2 pairs of Bandilino boots.  Ok, not that I am skinny or anything, just that I like my tush in them and the boots give me a false feeling of youth that is hard to get elsewhere (while sober and behaving).  So skinny jeans it is, at least until my next form of therapy comes around. 

So last night we went to Thompson Family Christmas Party, not our Thompson, its our adopted family.  It was awesome.  So, we think that Jasper has some signifigant hearing loss.  So I was trying to tell everyone that yelling Jasper to him was not going to make him look at the camera.  So, it was funny, I don't think that anyone heard me.  They just kept saying.. Jasper...Jasper..(whisteling, whooping), it was funny.  Really, not sarcasticly.  When Ryan and I got home, we were laughing.  We just thoguht it was so funny.  So, if you are ever trying to get Jasper to smile, make a face or jump up and down.  That will work a little better.  I promise!

Jaspers First Hair Cut & your warning...

Well I started this blog sometime last year to try to keep in touch with our friends. I did not do a good job of it mostly because we are so busy with therapy and other doctors appointments. I need to use it now. Now I am going to use it to vent out all of the poo that comes our way. Not all of what we go through is poo, but here lately we are swimming in it. I know and fully realize that there are many others that have it WAY worse that we do, but at the same time this is all very new to us. So if you choose to read it, be prepared. If you know me at all, you will know that I live a in a world of blunt honesty and a poorly working filter. So.. read at your own risk.

So my goal in all of this is to meet and connect with other CP parents and to also have a venue to keep all of our friends and family informed. So... here it goes.

I am sure this is one of my favorite pictures of all time (well so far).

So for all of you that don't know us, this is my son Jasper. Recently he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. It stinks and it makes me pretty mad, but in the giant scope of things, I know that we can do it. He is such a strong little dude, so if he can do it, I know I can. I am trying to get myself to be better at keeping up this blog so I can get through all of this with out loosing it. Up until last Friday we were expecting our second child. We found out on Thursday that Jasper does have the PVL, and on Friday we lost the baby. Boy, was that ever a stinker of a week. How in the heck did we make it through that week?? I keep checking the mail for the Publishers Clearinghouse check, but it is never there. I will keep checking, just in case.

Of course I am going and have been for the past 17 months of .. Why us?? Why our child?? Why did I lose my baby? Are we being tested?? What are we supposed to do so that things go better for us?? I could go on with a million other questions, but as I am sure you can see it gets pretty tiring. Well at this doing I could type forever, but instead I think I will go to sleep. I have to have something to gripe about tomorrow, right?

This is Misti at Square Hair. She is AWESOME. She is the Thompson Family stylist. Let me know if you need her#!

Much love...
Tessa Lou

Starting this over.

I have tried to keep this up before, with not much luck.  I am going to do it again.  Now that Jasper has been diagnosed and I a lost the the baby.  I really need an outlet to vent and gripe and be mad.  So here we are.  you get to listen to it, or ignore it.  Your choice really.
So tomorrow we head to Indy for yet another appointment.  Opthamology.  Last week was an MRI, MRS, Urology, nephrology, Developmental Peds, CT Scan, Audiology, blood work, a chest x-ray and a urine collection bag.  That is enough for a year, but that was 4 days.  So this week we found out that he has pneumonia (again), so he has been taking it easy. 
So recently our big accomplisment is that he is now clapping!!!!  This is so awesome.  I know that to some that is barely anything to write home about, but for us,  THIS IS HUGE!!!!   Putting it on the calander, marking it in the baby book, you name it, I am doing it. 

I am so exhausted.  I am not sure how the many moms of special kids do it.  There are days where it takes all I have not to just run away.  Put losing the baby on top of that and I all but bought a ticket to Jamacia.  I love my Japser.  He is the strongest little guy I know, there are days when I have to say, if he can do it, you can do it.,
Well I need to get to bed.  I will be better at this....I need to be.  I have to keep going.
All my best..
Tessa

Trying This Again

Ok, so I made a commitment to blog last year, but life kind of interrupted us. So now, I am going to try this again.

Happy's birthday party is tomorrow. 4 years old. O My Goodness. How can that kid be 4. It should be a good time, full of insanity and Powell family goodness.

I have to shoot a family before we head down there. That sounds really bad. Pictures, I shoot Pictures. Not people. It should be a fun shoot, we are doing it down on their property in Mitchell. After that I will drive to Puke County, Oh, I a mean Pike county for Happys b-day party. Where I am the Official Party Photog. What a title.

Jasper had PT and Speech Therapy today and both went very well. He is getting stronger and way meaner. He screamed at poor Sara, he did not want to work for her at all.

So I wanted to attach some pics, to catch you all up.

I will try this again, I need to get better at it!!!!!!!

Hope you all are doing well.