The Amazing Owen

Finally!!

Mon, 06 Jan 2014 03:24:00 GMT

So yes, by finally I do mean that I'm finally getting around to posting here after a year, but I mean oh so much more than that. 2013 was a wondrous year full of the word finally.

We finally made it a full calendar year without a surgery or hospitalization.

We finally made it a full calender year without a seizure.

We finally felt comfortable enough to let Owen fly on a plane again:

so that we could take a REAL family vacation that was actually a few miles away from a hospital:

Owen had an absolute ball on this trip. One thing he loved, was when Grandpa would run down the walkways with him:

And as you can see in the video below (one large size, one small size), he was just giggly happy most of the time. Owen loves to travel and it's great that he can finally do it again:
High Resolution

Low Resolution

We spent some time in the sun:

And we finally had non-emergent checkups at Duke that were laid back enough for us to finally get to visit Duke Chapel, which we have been wanting to since Owen was born:

Owen finally overcame his fear of grass - enough to even sit in the grass and leaves and enjoy a snack!

Owen was finally healthy enough to return to school:

which he absolutely LOVES! It has been so good for him. He uses his walker every day and goes farther and farther. His class loves him and he has awesome teachers.

We celebrated his 7th birthday this year! That doesn't seem possible, but believe it or not Owen is now 7 years old. We celebrated with some yummy and vibrant Red Velvet cake:

And here's Owen looking all grown up and sitting in the grass with his best friend for a fall picture:

He dressed up as a ninja for Halloween and even got to participate in the festivities at gymnastics.

And finally Owen just celebrated his 7th Christmas.

2013 was an incredible year for Owen and we could not be more thankful for all the progress he has made this year!

Happy New Year!!

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 03:54:00 GMT

There actually isn't a whole lot new to report, but I try to blog every now and then so that you know we're still here. The Onfi + Depakote combination still seems to be doing its job in keeping the seizures at bay for which we are eternally Grateful. We've had a few run of the mill illnesses - a round of strep, some bronchitis, all the usual winter suspects, but nothing major. For which we are also grateful.

We went down to see the folks at CCCDP last month to check on Owen's cochlear implant. It is working fine and they gave us some new programs to play with. We are trying to get him a newer model because the one he has is out of warranty and is therefore a pain to fix when it breaks. Plus the new one has a remote control and can be worn in the bath so that would be nice.

Otherwise things are chugging along. We had a nice Christmas and I'll close with a video of Owen on New Year's Eve checking out the Christmas decorations at the mall before they took them down. And I think this is Barbara's first appearance on the blog...Barbara has been Owen's nurse since April and she is awesome!

Owen's First Steps!!

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:14:00 GMT

Could you hear our screams of joy all the way to your house/office? Because in therapy today Owen decided to take his first steps. He did this several times, but this is the one that I caught on video. What is there even to say about this? There just aren't words...

and a smaller version for those who don't want to download 59MB...

Oh Yeah!!!!