Birthday (Part 1)

Tonight we started the celebrations for my 21st birthday (which is tomorrow)! My parents, grandparents, sister and her boyfriend, Raul, and I went out to dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant. Then we had delicious cake, and Raul even ate a bunch of frosting! I stopped feeding it to him, and he picked up the spoon and started trying to feed himself! Raul was such a good boy. We were out for two hours, and he hadn't napped, yet he was well behaved and playful the whole meal. Tomorrow the celebrations continue!

Back To The Farm

Happy Easter!

Easter Weekend

Yesterday we took Raul to visit the farm where my sister works sometimes. Raul LOVED it! There were baby pigs running around all over, they weren't kept in a pen. There were also huge rabbits, chickens, sheep, goats, and cows. I think Raul's all time favorite was the baby goat that had slipped out of the fence. We walked around behind it for a while, and he just laughed hysterically every time the baby goat responded to the mama goat crying for it. Who knows what he was thinking, but it was funny! He got to touch two baby pigs, and a rabbit. The last two pictures below show Raul wearing shorts for the first time! Thanks to some other EB parents suggestions, I was able to bandage him in a way that he couldn't just pull them right off, so he could finally wear shorts! Lastly, thanks to those who have donated towards Raul's supplies by the chipin on the left. We really appreciate your help!

Chalk and Bubbles

Today we finally opened the last present we got at the Ronald McDonald House in CO! I had gotten a box of chalk and colored bubbles and saved it until the spring. I took Raul's gloves off while we were out so that the gloves wouldn't get so messy, and so that I could re-aquaphor his hands after before putting them back on. He had fun outside, though I think more chalk got on his pants than on the ground! We also got to see lots of cars driving in and out, which of course he enjoyed! When we went back in, he actually seemed sort of happy to put his gloves back on, I think they must feel good.

New Gloves

Raul has been doing really well, lately. Being on the antibiotics has helped clear his skin a lot, so he is looking good! He has been showing off for all his therapists, and doing so well with his OT, PT, and Speech. He impresses them every week with his new skills! Raul's weight has also still been improving, and he is now over 25 pounds!! He is in the 68th percentile in weight for his height, whereas when he came he wasn't even on a chart! One problem that we are now working on is the edema in Raul's hands. It has been a chronic problem, but today at Shriner's they decided to address it. He has some temporary compression gloves right now, and then in three weeks they will make him some customized ones. They did the interim ones, because otherwise the custom ones would have been too big in a week or so when the swelling went down. So now we are trying to get the swelling down, and then the custom gloves will maintain it.

Swollen hand

Raul with his new gloves

The extra pair of gloves they gave us