My Hero

It's been one year, nine months since a doctor told us our baby boy had Spina Bifida. 21 LONG months. Most days I will tell anyone that I HATE spina bifida...I do. I HATE that it limits my boy. But...I wouldn't change him for anything in the world. He is AMAZING, and he is my hero. The first "specialist" we saw...the one who diagnosed the SB...was horrible. Her exact words were that "he would be incompatible with life. The pregnancy should be terminated." (At which point we switched doctors.) There hasn't been a single day I don't think about those words. At LEAST once a day I look at my boy...my sweet, defiant, typical toddler...and think I should take him to her office and show her just what her "incompatible with life" looks like.

My baby, with mylomeningocele spina bifida, is WALKING, CLIMBING, AND RUNNING!! All by himself!! He started climbing at 12 months, walking at 14 months, and running at 16 months! He is doing everything they said he wouldn't do. It isn't perfect...and certainly isn't "normal," but he can do it!

April 2011...climbing!

June 2011...walking!

Crossing the finish line at the Spina Bifida Association's Walk-N-Roll.

August 2011...running! :)

(Learning the proper stance for a baseball player.)

We are absolutely aware of the miracle we've been given (all babies are miracles...), and could never thank God enough for all He has done for our family.

A fellow spina bifida mom...whose own son is kicking some SB butt himself...shared this link with me a few days ago. I posted it on facebook, but felt it was worth posting here too. It's a perfect description of my boy...he was born proving all his doctors wrong and hasn't stopped yet! Thank you, Lord, for my sweet boy! And, for making me his mom...

(I canNOT figure out what went wrong with this video...it keeps cutting off the right half. Oh well. You'll get the idea.)

Catch-Up

He decided he likes climbing...EVERYTHING!

Yeah...that lives on the floor now.

Playing with the child life ladies waiting to see Dr. Roberts (neurosurgeon). The appointment went great. He continues to be amazed by our boy. :)

Waiting to get his first haircut.

He was perfectly fine as long as he had a ball...never mind that it was full of hair "goo."

Driving daddy's truck. Notice that the rat tail is gone...you're welcome. :)

(I have a picture of big cousin Logan in this exact outfit, doing the exact same thing at almost the same age. I love it.)

Playing with Logan.

I had lots of better quality pictures than this, but this one gives an idea of how fast they were going. They were FLYING! And, both were loving it.

When Davis was born, Cannon was 15 months old. D was 15 months when Carlee was born. I have pictures of Cannon holding Davis crying because D was crying. This one just cracked me up...Carlee was NOT happy, so D started crying, and Cannon was not far behind.

A time-out chair for our little stinker. We spend quite a bit of time there. *sigh*

Watching the Rangers. I love this one. Any time you mention baseball, the Rangers, etc. Davis raises his arm, and yells "woohoo!" It's the cutest thing ever!

He loves books...even shoe magazines. :)

Yep. This went exactly where you would expect it to go. My little trick rider.

His first wedding. :) My cousin Jessika got married the day before our anniversary (7 years for us!). Davis took NO nap that day. It was beautiful, but SO HOT at the reception.

I had a two day conference one weekend, and my boy missed me. He never falls asleep with us. We always put him in his bed. I had to have a picture...he looked so sweet!

Wearing Grandpa's shoe.

He thinks that he's riding this thing. He gets on, then just stands up and walks with it. :)

ALL the toys we have, and his favorites are hangers and water bottles! Save your money folks...buy him hangers for Christmas.

Big boy drinking from a big boy cup. He's not great at it yet...he tends to get a TAD wet before he's done. :)

Last weekend Trey, Ali, Cannon, and Carlee were here. The boys had a blast at the children's museum. Carlee was not so impressed. She slept the whole time.

More climbing.

He is looking so big these days! We were watching the game, and he had to have his bat too.

20 weeks and baby GIRL is doing great!!!

He's getting pretty darn good with the fork. The spoon is not so good yet. He can't quite figure out why most of the food falls off. :)

Whew! I think I'm caught up! I've got another post planned...a post dedicated to our most incredible accomplishments yet...WALKING, CLIMBING, and RUNNING! Thank you, Lord, for our little miracle!

Please continue to pray for both our babies!! I'll do my best to get the next post up in the next few days!

Walk-N-Roll

Finally, a month later...here's the walk-n-roll in pictures!

Playing in the dirt before it started. He's ALWAYS playing in the dirt when he's outside!

Meeting baby Carlee for the first time. He kept saying "baby" over and over again. Then he had to pet her. :)

Our boys!

Note Davis' foot. :)

Our little MIRACLE crossing the finish line!

He could walk by himself at this point, but wouldn't stay up. He kept sitting down to play in the darn dirt.

The entire walk-n-roll raised almost $50,000. I don't remember exactly how much we raised, but we were the top team! Ali gets most of the credit for that! And, yes...this was the BEST picture of the 7 of us.

It was SOOOO HOT! Before the "lake" opened, Grandpa and D found a cool spot to play.

So many people love and support our babies! Thank you all! And, note that Davis is screaming here...he wanted to play in the dirt! He was screaming "down!" :)

He won! We took our "family" pictures in the dirt.

Showing his muscles. I don't know why, but this is one of my favorite "tricks."

My little warrior. Thank you, God, for my miracle!