Merry Christmas

We hope everyone had a great Christmas. Ours was great! We had a wonderful time with the family full of lots of laughter. We did Christmas Eve at my mom's house and then Christmas day was at our house.
It is so bad when the family gets together because Stephen and his brother Keith always start trouble. The two of them together are hilarious! The night was spent with the four adult siblings-me, Stephen, Keith and his wife Marty, totally not behaving. We did everything we tell our children not to do (won't go into detail of this.) It was funny watching our children watch the adult siblings acting out. At one point Marty's mom caught her in the act which resulted in her getting the "mother's look." I am happy to say that I never got caught! :) Anyway, pictures are below....

Our Christmas tree...
Nicholas' tree. We get him a special ornament every year. The kids pick one out and then we do. This year he got a big "N" from the kids and "Gift from God" from us.

At mom's house. Sweet...

Megan's face says it all!!! The kids got a net book from Papaw. Yes, I am serious.

Nicholas is our special present. Who needs anything else? Although he is not thrilled with the bow on his head :)

Abby Sutton signed a CD for Megan with a sweet note inside. Megan was shocked. She LOVES Abby so this was the best present ever for her. Abby is a friend from church and recently released her own CD. It is AWESOME! Abby has the voice of an angel. Everyone go buy one!!!

A little break from opening presents before the guests arrive. Too sweet!

The family watching the Twister Game going on. I was winning at this point until Stephen pushed me down-cheater!

Megan kept winning the game so Uncle Keith decided to tackle her!

Megan is learning to play the piano. She debuted her first little song for us. So proud of her! Thanks Thelma!

Nicholas update

Well usually when I start off with a "Nicholas Update" it tends to be bad news. Not this time. Since we started this blog to keep everyone updated on Nicholas I figured it was time to do that.

Nicholas is finally doing well. No illnesses as of right now and he has finally healed from his tonsillectomy (which by the way took a full 6-8 weeks!) We can't say that we see significant improvement. He still does not sleep through the night. He will maybe go 3-4 hours at a time and then stay up for 2-3 hours. This leaves me with permanent dark circles, bags under the eyes and lots of wrinkles!!!! Plus, I have noticed gray hair recently! Totally not cool! Anyway, he does not cough as much which is wonderful. He would constantly have to cough up secretions. And he is not as noisy as he used to be. Those are all pluses but not in the area of sleep.

The ENT was pleased with his progress and has vowed to leave him alone for a while. He did get Nicholas hooked up with a dentist (good luck with that!) and is trying to get Nicholas involved with a special clinic at Brenner. Okay, so my first reaction was "Great! Let's add more doctors to our long list and add more visits to Brenner." His reply was "Guys, this is Nicholas' second home-get used to it." Brenner is a wonderful second home to have and we have been so, so blessed to have a team of doctors and nurses that love our son and want the absolute best for him. I would rather refrain from calling Brenner our second home though. Let's not go there!

So about this clinic...there is a special clinic at Brenner for children with neurological injury such as Nicholas. They are a team of physicians and therapists that help kids learn to eat and eat correctly. When Nicholas first came home three years ago, he had started with OT (occupational therapy) to specifically help him learn eat. He has a feeding tube in his belly where he receives all food and meds. Nicholas has lost all ability to eat and suck. He did really well and was close to a swallow study to see if he had reached the point where he could eat. Then the teething started. In his ability to cope with the pain of teething, he would no longer allow anyone near or in his mouth. That ended the swallow study.

Around a year ago, we started OT back up. He seemed to do well but had to start all over. Everything he learned was forgotten. Then one day his now previous OT said, "I do not feel like he will ever eat by mouth." At first I was so disappointed and wanted to cry but then I stopped. I truly believe that my son will eat something by mouth. He may never get rid of his feeding tube but he will have something by mouth. I refuse to give up on this. I look at my son and see and feel his determination. Aren't all things possible through Jesus Christ? Nicholas is living proof of that. Anyway, this left us stuck. We no longer had any support to help Nicholas further his ability to eat. The therapist had written him off. I was bummed. How can people just give up on these little kids and who can help when no one will? It broke my heart but I refused to let it go.

So who do I go to but our Brenner staff. First on the list was his ENT. After he had checked Nicholas out I asked him about Nicholas eating and told him the story. He had thought all along that Nicholas was receiving food by mouth!!! Yes!! This was encouraging. He was not pleased that they had given up on Nicholas and said he would get Nicholas enrolled in this clinic at Brenner-our second home :) Here they would work with Nicholas and help him develop the ability to eat by mouth. There are no guarantees but at least they have not given up hope with our son and will do everything they can to help him. With tears in my eyes I told his ENT "how can they just give up on him? Give him the chance to learn. How can anyone give up on a child without helping them to learn?" He said, "that is why we are here. We want to help Nicholas reach his fullest potential in the safest way possible." Amen!!

I am so excited. It takes around five months to get in this program. Nicholas will have more therapy, more visits to Brenner, more doctors but all to help him "reach his fullest potential." I have said it so many times but we have been so blessed to have our Brenner family that have done so much to help our son. All because they have the love and heart for these children and want to do everything they can to help them. The Lord has blessed us beyond measure!

Rudolph????

American Heart Walk...a little late

We did our Third Annual Heart Walk back in October. Yes, we are a little late with posting! The kids love doing this in honor of Nicholas. It is so neat to see their excitement every year to walk for their little brother. Every year it is freezing and we have to get up early to get to Tanglewood on time. Every year they get up with no complaints and smiles on their faces.

Some of Nicholas' nurses or girlfriends as the kids say.

Amanda wrote names of the heart kids and angels on her pants. Nicholas is on her left hip.

Sweet Jacob. Amber and Chad did this in honor and memory of their sweet little angel Jacob. Someday we will all meet again!

On the way home...he is out!! A busy morning with lots of kisses from his "girlfriends."

Disney on Ice 2010

Megan and I have been going to Disney on Ice for the past 6 years (she is now seven.) This year we brought Brandon as a surprise for him (Megan later got mad that he was interrupting our mother/daughter time.) Anyway, we had a great time together and now Brandon wants to be a part of our annual tradition.

Trying to fit all three of us in the picture.
Princess Megan.

Blurry Minnie-do you know how hard it is taking a picture of moving ice skaters with a camera phone???

Jasmine and Aladdin striking a pose.

Sorry it ended up being a rear picture-not intended.

Bye Bye Mickey...until next year!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Richardson's

We pray everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that each of you realizes the blessings in your life. Appreciate your families, your friends, your spouses and children.
We have so many things to be thankful for...our Nicholas, my three other awesome children, our family, our friends that are family to us, our Brenner family, our church family, and the list goes on. Happy Thanksgiving to all. Let everyday be a "Thanksgiving to our Lord." My mom and Nicholas.

My sister in law's mom and Stephen's Aunt.

Brandon (begging to eat)

Brandon and Megan having enough of the pictures! Out of all of the desserts, Megan wanted a doughnut.

Quick Updates

I know...I know...it has been a while since we have blogged. We have been super busy, super sick and super tired!!!

Here are the quick updates for now....

Nicholas is finally getting better from his Oct 28th tonsillectomy. He has had a rough time of healing. As soon as his 10 day antibiotic was over he developed a double ear infection. HELLO!!! They said the surgery would reduce his chances for ear infections. The poor thing never even got them before! When the ear infections were diagnosed, they also found that his throat was still swollen and the scabs were still there. So...back on antibiotics and steroids. Over the weekend he has started to smile again. Very sweet and very encouraging. Please pray he remains well. He has had such a rough time.

Steve had a sinus infection. He is on antibiotics and healing.

Stephen David got impetigo. He is also on antibiotics and getting better.

Brandon just started getting impetigo. Started him on antibiotics to fix it.

Megan has a ear infection. The ENT was a bit concerned with the amount of fluid and frequency of ear infection with her. There is a slight chance she could have permanent hearing loss. They will test her hearing in six weeks and we will go from there (another prayer request, please)

And then me...while everyone was sick, I had something too. I just did not have time to get sick or realize that I was so it got worse. I ended up having a sinus infection, double ear infection and finally had one of my ear drums rupture. That HURTS!!!! I am on day 10 and it still hurts plus I cannot hear out of that ear. The doctor said today that the rupture looks better but it is still highly infected (thus the pain and loss of hearing) So... I am on new antibiotics and praying for healing SOON!

That is our update for now. When we are better we will join the land of blogging again!

By the way...the day we came home from the hospital with Nicholas we had a guest waiting for us at the PICU doors. It was sweet JuJu and Amber!! Her scan was clear of any cancer! Huge, Huge, Praise! We are so excited for them. Keep updated at Amber's blog and keep them in your prayers.

Nicholas is Home!

Nicholas was discharged today to the surprise of us all. He was doing very well and there was really nothing that the PICU was offering him that we couldn't give him at home. In addition, a case of H1N1 was admitted which scared Nicholas' surgeon enough to kick us out the door. Praise God and thank you again for your prayers.