One Year Ago

A year ago today (6/4/09) our family was able to finally to be completely together. Bryant was released from the hospital in Salt Lake and that afternoon. He was able to see his sister for the first time, and she him. The moment stays burned in my memory as it was truly an amazing moment. When Bryant saw Aspen for the 1st time his eyes lit up as if he was seeing for the first time. Aspen had a permanent smile on her face and was excited to meet her brother. To this day the same event plays over and over each time they see each other, which is why it is burned into my memory. Excitement and love for each other – truly amazing.

Needless to say May has been a busy month for us. We began with Bryant’s 1st birthday and it was a wonderful event. The Martin girls along with some Cristando women walked in the Women’s run. The men of the family took pictures of the event and probably walked/ran twice as much as the girls. It was a great event. That evening we all went to watch Aspen in her last dance performance of the year. She did a wonderful job and is looking forward to trying out soccer here soon. It was a great family weekend.

The following Friday Aspen graduation from the Little Seeds Pre-K program and is anticipating kindergarten in the fall. We have nothing but high hopes for her, she is already reading, spelling, and doing math. I along with several other moms put on the event for the kids and their families. It was fun but I was more excited to be finished and have one less thing on my plate. I am looking forward to handing the torch off to the next mom that decided to open her mouth first asking about graduation. I know better for next go around. I hope they don’t hand me the binder since I have experience. The next day we left for Salt Lake.

We spent a week in Salt Lake attending doctor appointments for Bryant and visiting family. Doctor Black, Bryant’s EA/TEF surgeon visited with us for about 10 minutes and told us that there was no reason to come back. Dr. Muntz did about the same but told us that Bryant had an ear infection and prescribed some drops along with keeping him on the prevacid (reflux meds). Dr. Muntz wanted to see us back in August, but the 600+ miles to visit about an ear infection seemed a little out of the way. So we cancelled that appointment and will see our ENT here in Billings whom we have an appointment with anyway for a follow-up on Bryant’s tubes. So we have no medical needs to return to Salt Lake. But we plan on visits to see family as we both have a lot in the Salt Lake area.

During our week Papa Lonnie took us to the Live Aquarium and we also went to a dinosaur park. Aspen got to pet a sting ray and Bryant was able to growl at the life sized dinosaurs. We left Salt Lake and visited with my folks for the remainder of the weekend. We anticipated helping plant their garden, but the weather held us off and we had to resort to bowling on the Wii since the real bowling alley was closed.

After our return we got our garden planted and the team that was working on laying 48 tons of rock has finished and we are happy to report that after 5 years in our home, our landscaping is FINISHED, well except for a few plants here and there. We have never been so happy to see rock. Yes rock, now we can have more summer fun in our backyard without looking into weeds and dirt.

In the weeks to come Bryant will have his 1 year appointment 1 month late, but designed so the pediatrician could get the info we received in Salt Lake. Bryant is also scheduled for a circumcision, again after our visit to Salt Lake to make sure nothing could cause complications as far as putting Bryant under to do the surgery. Aspen will be attending cheer camp while Bryant and Joe are walking in the Heart and Soul run. Aspen will have soccer camp the week after. We plan on being outside and looking into our yard that had no more weeks