Video of Luca getting his bike for Christmas

Pictures from Jessica

There are several months old but I just saw them on Jess's computer and had to share them. I love his blue shirt and this is before his big hair cut.

Christmas!

Luca's new bike and my new puffy coat also from Grandpa Walker and Nana Walker
John's new drill from his parents

Opening a gift

Merry Christmas!

Hello, wanting to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! We aren't organied enough to get Christmas cards out. Thank you for your cards and packages! Can't wait to open them tomorrow. Here is Luca opening his new Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve. John and I will have about an hour together tomorrow before he heads into work at 1:30 pm. We will get to have a little brunch and open gifts together. (There is also a picture of Luca and Scarlett at the Christmas Eve service.)

The Mountains

The other day we had a clear day (which is about one in a million right now in rainy Seattle). Here are a few pictures I took of the mts. from near our house. The zoom was on. The mountains are so beautiful and since it isn't clear often it, we are all awed by the beauty whenever we seen them even though we live here.

Cozy

Nana has defined the word cozy for Luca or maybe Luca for all of us. Reading with a soft blanket on the couch with Nana Nancy will forever be cozy.

Two Peas in a Pod

Two peas in a pod.


Layna came over this morning. They went "sledding" around the living room in Luca's new sled (which he will get for Christmas) and then both wanted to go night-night in Luca's bed. Jess and I are curious if they would actually fall asleep and stay asleep if giving the opporutnity but I don't think we are curious enough to actually try it:) (Maybe if we had a video monitor:) They are

New AFO's

Luca got new AFO's last Friday. We all call them his "boots". They are the same pattern as the last ones (just a little bit bigger since he has grown.) We are back to the three times a day stretching the feet and taking the AFO's on and off. (Which I don't like that much) Luca often asks for his boots off but then when you take them off he might ask for his boots on. I think he enjoys learning the concept of on and off right now:) My (Katie's) parents and brother Chris are here for Christmas. The arrived last week.

Some of the highlights so far have been:
John, Chris, and Kimi going skiing
Family dinners
Watching Despicable me together (the best cartoon of all time)
Luca requesting to be cozy with Nana on the couch, with a big soft blanket and reading book after book with her
running at Lincoln park
Luca getting to take lots of baths:)
Luca loving all the attention and every time someone leaves the room he asks, where that person went. (ie daddy go?, nana go?)
Katie got to sleep over at her old house with Mari and Beth!

I am sure we will do a lot of other things together this week. Chris and my parents are here until Jan. 3rd. Yay! Can't wait to see Luca open his presents. Will put up pictures soon!

Honesty

There is a lot to be said for being honest, honest with others, and with yourself. I spent some time and tears reading through a blog tonight called Team Ewan. Ewan, mom, Kristen shares her heart and story of her dear son, who lived only a short time. She shares honestly about her faith, pain, hurt, struggle, fears, joy, and life. http://www.team-ewan.com
I know there are a lot of different people who follow Luca's blog and I write to this unknown audience, wanting to make sure I don't step on anyone's toes. So I write mostly about all the good stuff, the light stuff, the things that are easy to celebrate (and with Luca there are A LOT) of those. But I also shield my blog and readers from some of the hard stuff. I decided a while ago that I want everyone to enjoy reading it but I realize that you wouldn't truly know Luca's story (or ours) if you didn't know the pain too. John said it well the other day, "you don't truly know joy until you know pain"
I am going to try to be more open and well rounded. I don' t want to give a false image of rose colored classes, that raising a child with special needs is just easy and delightful all the time. There are huge joys and lots of obstacles. So I am going to try to put my people pleasing ways behind me and write from the heart. If you don't like it, that is ok, there will still be cute picture of Luca on it for you to enjoy:)

Early Christmas Present

I couldn't wait to give Luca his new train set from IKEA. I have wanted to get him a train for a long time because he loves the ones at Barnes and Noble but I just never go to IKEA and that is the only place they are $8 so anyway, I got a set, I pulled it out today. Luca loves it. He needs a little help but tries to do as much as he can himself. He says "self" because he always wants to try it (a few times) before asking for "help please". So sweet.
When we left for Layna's birthday party Luca said "bye-bye train" many times and was eager to play with it right away when he got home.

On the go

Luca is a moving and much faster with these little casts. He scooted two blocks yesterday...which took quite a while but still pretty impressive. I think Luca's middle name is outside which suits me just fine. He was so happy to be outside, I could not get him to look at the camera.

New short casts

We are enjoying Luca's short walking casts. He can't bear weight on his own yet but he can stand for a little while if prompted against the couch or a chair. He loves being able to scoot better, and faster, and being able to stand more easily. One more week till we get his new AFO's! His casts are still to bulky to put shoes over them so his casts are pretty slippery on the floors.
John and Dr. Mosca was very happy with how Luca's feet looks. (I wasn't at the appointment) His feet look much straighter but also are much stiffer. (remember the goal according to Dr. Mosca for Luca t0 have stiff straight feet in the end). Mosca used Luca's feet as his case study at a conference for foot dr. in FL. He was very proud to show the other doctor's Luca's success. We are praising the Lord!

NEW WALKING casts today

We are very excited about Luca getting new walking casts. Not sure what they will look like yet but we will put up a picture later. It has got to be better than the long leg casts. He is so eager to stand and walk. He has put some nice racing stripes in his current casts, they are pretty trashed after three weeks:)

Christmas tree, O Chritmas Tree

Luca's reaction to the tree what hilarious. He keeps looking at the tree and saying, "nice", "nice", "nice" over and over again. I think he likes it:) We went to a local hardware store, Maclendan's last night and found this tree. It was also on sale which I am always happy about. It is so fun to have our own first Christmas. It is the first Christmas since we got married that we aren't traveling to someone else's house. It is a lot of fun to be home for Christmas.

Luca's slide

John made a slide for Luca in our driveway with old cabinet parts. Luca had fun and I caught a great big smile at the end of the slide! We had a great afternoon together. And we got a Christmas tree this evening. I will put up some pictures when it gets decorated.

Surgery cost

We are thankful once again that Children's has given us financial aid again this year. I got the statement from the insurance agency today from Luca's last surgery. $27,000. The insurance said they would cover $3,000. Wow, that would have been painful. Thankful for Children's Hospital and God provision once again.

Accomplishment of the year

I (Katie) went successfully running with Luca at Lincoln park today. I know that it isn't really that big of a deal but it has been something I am hoping to doing on a regular bases for a LONG time. Last time I tried to run with Luca was maybe last year and a total disaster. I am optimistic that we have turned a corner and are now able to do this activity together. Luca loves to looking at the boat, dogs, and to go fast in the stroller. There is also a long swing ride in the swings at the end of the run for Luca.

wonderful coincidence

Yesterday, Luca had an appointment at Children's to have a hand dr. look at his thumbs and hands to see if a surgery could help his function increase. The dr. isn't quite sure about the answer but is consulting another dr. we have been in contact with on the east coast and will get back to us about their thoughts and recommendation.
The cool part about our trip to children's was that our friends, Chip and Becky and their son, Joshua, who also has AMC, also had a 4 pm appointment yesterday at Childrens. They live a few hours away from Seattle so we don't see them very often. We got to have dinner together and visit after the dr appointments were over. Joshua and Luca are both very happy, adorable little boys. We are glad for the chance to visit with another family going through this similar exciting and challenging journey. It would also be cool for Joshua and Luca to been friends. Wish i had taken a picture of the boys together. Next time I will.

Post Thanksgiving Post

Luca first thing in the morning, cuddling on the couch
Luca loves to sit on the counter, help us make coffee, and toast and everything else. He loves being able to see when mom and dad are doing.

John, Luca and I had a wonderful low key Thanksgiving weekend. The highlight was that John and I were both off of work. We went over to our friends, Andy and Jamie's for brunch and then over to Alicia's for celebration of her birthday! We also had a cool moment when Scarlett, Maya, and Luca were all sleeping at Alicia's so the adults got to play a game together. It was the first time since the kids were born that we have hung out as couples without them. It was a special few hours:)
Yesterday we got a turkey on sale and cooked it for the heck of it, Jess and Kimi came over. We only had the main good parts of the meal, mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing, and turkey and gravy. It was super.
The snow is all melted but has gotten me ready for Dec. and the advent season. I usually think all that comes to early but I am ready this year now that we had an few days of freezing temps. John and I are looking forward to having Christmas in our own house this year for the first time ever. There is a cool permit you can get here in WA where you can cut any tree down in the forest for $10. It sounds like fun to hike through the woods looking for a tree. We are hoping to do that tomorrow.

Luca and the snow!

It is snowing in Seattle! It is so much fun and beautiful. Luca isn't quite sure about the snow flakes falling on him but he loves looking at it. John and I are home today and am going to to make a fire and enjoy this early winter wonderland. I love the snow, a true Minnesotan at heart.

The blue casts

Here is Luca rocking in his cow in his new casts in his dog pj's. We had PT and OT this morning at Boyer. I told Luca he was going to Boyer and he said, "play?", "bubbles?", "Elmo?" at least he has a great association with the place he receives therapy:) He didn't want to leave after 2 hours this morning.

New casts

John just called me at work on his way back home from children's hospital. Luca has new blue casts. The casting went fine not too many tears and he is comfortable now on the ride home. Luca's feet looked more flexible and he has a large scar on the left foot from the surgery. I will post pictures of the new blue casts soon. Three more weeks till the walking casts and then new AFO's on Dec. 17th! Yay!

The kid just loves the bath

Luca cannot have a bath for about 9 weeks because of his casting series. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow since it began and he will have a cast change on Wed. but because he has hard casts on he cannot get a bath before his new casts go on. He is rather fussy tonight and the only thing that will console him is taking a bath. John said why not put him in a dry bath tub with his bath toys? Great idea. Luca is now playing happily in that bath. And here is a picture of it.

Aunt Betsy's Visit!

Aunt Betsy came and we all loved spending time with her and her growing baby belly! We miss her already!!!

Our Little Pumpkin

Luca has a new pumpkin hat knit by Kara Hill, at Bethany WS. Thanks Kara! He looks so cute it in. We are also getting a lot of use out of the exercise saucer these days so Luca can be "standing" instead of always sitting on his bottom. He can now play with the toys and press the buttons. A few month later than usual but I'll take it.