It is hard to believe that another year has passed by so quickly . Over the past year Ari ‘s alertness has becomes more constant. She also seems to be more cooperative as far as therapy goes. She is working really hard when we can get there. Her eyesight has improved greatly and she is also babbling a lot more. We swear she has even let a few words slip out every once in a while. On Christmas morning she was sitting in her wagon her daddy made for her and we asked her if she liked it and almost clear as day she said I do .She is paying attention to everything that goes on. She hasn’t come as far as we were hoping she would have but we are thrilled and grateful for the progress that she has made.

Ari hasn’t had much therapy since my last update between her or saydi getting sick and then Christmas vacation. Hopefully we will be able to get back on track with therapy this week when the kids go back to school. We are back to not having any OT therapist in our area so Ari will have Physical, speech, vision therapy and she will continue to go for her KI method treatments.

I posted some pictures from Christmas and a couple from her PT session . I haven’t forgot about the video I promised a few updates ago, I still haven’t found the cord for our video camera so I am going to have to order a new one. When I get it I will post that . We wish the best for everyone this new year.

Hope everyone is doing well, We had the H1N1 flu go around our house a couple of weeks ago and Ari’s Dr. put her in the hospital for 2 days just to keep a close eye on her and give her an IV so she didn’t get dehydrated (which was a nightmare in itself, will definitely be going out of town if she ever has to go into the hospital again.) and then got an ear infection right after. But she is doing great now. She has been really working hard at her therapy sessions. Her OT has been putting her on her hands and knees and she is crawling across the matt with him helping balance and supports her. She doesn’t move her hands (YET) so he has to move them for her but she moves her legs. I have a video of her I am going to try and get posted on here. She also took 6 steps her grandma took her that day so we don’t have it on video.

In her vision therapy she is tracking things consistently now and she has been looking at the pictures on the computer. Her VT gave me an awesome website to go to http://www.northerngrid.org/ . It has shapes that go across the screen and you can pick different color combos and have the option to have noise when it goes across the screen. You can also set it to where the child has to click a button in order for the shape to go across the screen.

We finally got Ari’s stander they delivered it while she was in the hospital and they came back last Friday to adjust it to fit her. She is only able to tolerate standing in it for about 25- 30 minutes right now but that’s longer than I thought she would. She is also still getting speech therapy once a week and to get the KI Method and PT when we are able to. We haven’t been able to get to Jacksonville for IMT in a while but we are doing IMT and KI method on her at home also.

I posted some new pictures of the kids and as soon as I find the cord for the video camera I will post that as well. Hope you all have a good Thanksgiving .

We have had a busy couple of months, with getting the kids ready to go back to school and all of Ari's appointments. Ari had an appointment at Shriners and had her hips and spine x-rayed all looked good, her hip is still out but hasn't change from the last xray about a year ago and her spine looks good. She also go new AFO's and they gave her a new pair of shoes with them. Now she can start using the walker we bought her.

We also took her to Sarasota Retina Institute for a neuro-ophthalmologic evaluation, she is still cortical blind but he feels that sometimes she is able to see just not all the time. We were hoping to learn of something that would be able to help her see but he said the only thing we could do is lots of stimulation and time. It wasn't what we wanted to hear of course but at least he didn't say she would never see again. He said it was a good sign that she is now able to see sometimes compare to 1 1/2 years ago when she couldn't see at all. Ari also had a GI appointment and everything went well, she hasn't gained any weight since her last visit but they aren't concerned because she is growing and is very healthy looking.

Ari hasn't had much PT or VT the last few months but has been going to OT 3X's a week and she has also been getting ST once a week. In OT Mr. Paul is really working her. He has been putting her on her hands and knees, she knows what to do with her legs she just can't get her arms working just yet but that will come I am sure. He wants to get her to where she can assist us in moving her which will be a big help cause she is getting big. Hopefully we will be getting back to PT this week, hasn't been able to go much between our schedule and her therapist has been having some health problems.
Thank you all for your continued prayers.

Bracelets for sell

We are selling some bracelets to try and raise some extra money to help pay for some of the alternative therapies Ari is doing that insurance doesn't pay for. To buy one please click on the picture in the side bar . We have also put Arianna's MRI reports and the recipe for her formula on there to view those just click the picture of the bracelets or there is a link to the website under the links section in the side bar. Thank you all for your continues support and prayers.

Hello all, sorry it’s so long in-between updates Arianna hasn’t had much therapy since the last update.
She has started speech therapy a couple of weeks ago. We are really excited about her ST she comes to the house once a week and she is awesome. We were trying to figure out how we could get Ari to Orlando every week to see Debra Beckman and Ari’s new ST Mrs. Dee has been trained in the Beckman oral motor technique . Mrs. Dee is wonderful with Ari and has already taught me some new things to do with her to help get her eating more and to try and get Ari to talk.
We went to Shriners a few weeks ago to fit Ari for another stander, we did this last year and Medicaid didn’t want to pay for it because Ari needs a special head rest to help hold her head up (she tends to let her head fall off to the left side) and after a year and a half of trying to get them to understand why she needed the headrest they said that it had been to long and we needed to retry her in more standers again and take new measurements, so please pray that they will approve this new stander quickly. Ari really needs this to help get her weight barring on her legs. We are suppose to go back to Shriners tomorrow to get her hip and spine x-rayed and check her feet splints and get any changes to her wheelchair but Ari has a cold right now so we are probably going to have to reschedule it.
Ari has also started OT last week. And will be seeing him three times a week. He just moved to town a little while ago and he has a lot of anoxic brain injury experience and has worked with a lot of near drowning kiddos. He has developed his own technique he calls the mason jar technique , I am not sure what it is other than he is stretching her whole body a lot different than I have ever been taught and putting pressure on certain muscles at the same time. Ari seems to really like him and is responding well to whatever it is that he is doing. She seems to be holding her head up more and for longer periods at a time already. We are really excited about having someone with so much experience in her type of brain injury move to our little town and can’t wait to see what kind of result he gets with her.
She has continued her PT with Ms. Lana in Lake Placid and also been going to her KI method treatments every week. We are going to start trying to do more KI method Treatments everyday with us doing them everyday so that we will see more results quicker. She is also still on the brain protocol we got from Center IMT and is doing well with that. And we are going to Jacksonville once a month to check the protocol and get her IMT treatments as well as me doing them at home.
We had a birthday party for Ari her birthday was June 25th, This year she was able to eat some of her cake and not just the frosting YEAH ARI! I am posting some pics from her party and the others I promised in the last updates. Bernie was able to get the pictures off the camera ,I think I will leave that part up to him for now on.

Easter Eggs

Happy Resurrection Day!!

Happy Resurrection Day Jesus!! and Happy Resurrection Birthday Arianna!!
Hi guys. I know we've neglected the pages for quite some time, and we ask your forgiveness as you deserve to know how we and the princess are doing. Arianna is doing wonderful, as always, and is currently whooping the butt on a cold. She's a tough little girl.
Today is difficult, but after two years it is hard to understand the difficult part. It's an emotion that all of a sudden just hits you, to remind you of the depression you came through and the road you've been down, then it's gone as quick as it comes. We've neglected to share a lot of what we are going through as it seems so petty compared to what others are going through, and yet so personaly painful it's hard to share. But God is good and has placed us in the places he needs us to be.
We are possibly losing the house. We fell behind when my painting business collapsed last fall, and have been struggling since. But although they have already filed the papers, we are fighting and hoping for a good outcome. And you know, moving or not, the house is not the home, it's the family that makes the home.
My brother n law has a roofing and construction company, and he is fighting to stay alive too. I am working with him now, helping on the construction side, as much as I know to do. So we are maintaining. We are not overly concerned with where we will be, as long as we are there as a family. Sounds strange now a days to hear that, let alone type it, but that is us. Family is first.
I have purposefully avoided adding to the page because I sound so gloomy sometimes, but I only mean to be honest. I have a wonderful wife, the best possible blessing I could ever have, especially put there under God's plan, and four wonderful, beautiful children of God. Today is Arianna's second resurrection birthday. She is here with us still, and doing absolutely wonderful. God is Great!!! WE LOVE YOU ALL!! We wish you the best Easter. Enjoy the messy eggs with your family, the lovely weather, and be glad that you can still wake up Easter morning to remember our Lord Jesus Christ, on his resurrection day.

We love you all, and may you be blessed abundantly as we continue to be.