Closing A Chapter

When Clayton was born, he was not breathing.  The NICU staff resuscitated him and immediately ventilated him for his breathing.  That was just the beginning of a very long road with Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).  We were told he would battle this lung disease his entire life.  And while the battle did rage on for years, it was when Clayton was around five years old that a doctor looked at his chest x-ray and declared there was absolutely no sign of lung disease!  

At first we kept the oxygen around for the "just in case" moments.  In the past when Clayton got a small cold or was dealing with allergies, he needed just a tiny bit of help keeping his oxygen saturations up.  But as time went on, those instances were rarely happening.  And since it had been so long since Clayton had used the oxygen, his pulmonologist told me two years ago he was not going to renew the prescription for the oxygen.  Factor in the [non]-communication between doctor-hospital-TEFRA, and two years later we still had about ten oxygen tanks in our garage and an oxygen concentrator machine as well.  I could have pushed the issue long before now, but to be honest, I kind of liked having them around as a comfort thing.  I always thought of the "what-if" moments like his seizures he has had when he decides not to breathe.  [EEK!]  But you know what?  Today when they called to ask if we needed any refills (why they called month after month, I don't know), I thought to myself, "self?  today is the day we just let it go!"  Apparently the company still had not gotten the message that the doc is okay with it, so I had to sign my life away for doing this "against medical advice."  (This as the guy wipes the cobwebs off the tanks as he loads them in the truck . . .)

So there it is.  Another chapter closed in Clayton's book of life.  One we thought would drone on forever, and here it is getting killed off in the second season!  We will live in faith that we won't have the "just in case" moments to deal with and we will pray that his lungs continue to function normally!

Thank you, Lord!   

Jackson: A Photo Essay

Clayton is the lucky owner of both an iPad and iPod.  Clearly, he can't use them both at once, so while he prefers the iPad, Jackson gets to use the iPod for [limited] amounts of time.  This makes for some interesting viewing later on.  He has recorded at least 25 ten second movies and has become somewhat of an expert maneuvering around YouTube finding videos of trash trucks and trucks and ATVs stuck in the mud.  And when he's not busy with videos, he is quite the little photographer.  So here is just a taste of what I found on Jackson's camera roll when I uploaded the files . . . this might be an overshare, but I've culled them down considerably!

self-portrait:

 the office:

 ceilings and floors are a common theme:

lots of backseat photos as well:

he even used natural lighting on this one:

 change in perspective:

 Clayton, of course:

the T.V.:

Christmastime:

 his guitar:

a photo downloaded off my blog (yes, he knows how to do that because he does it on the iPad regularly):

toys:

 lots of pics taken while I'm inside picking Clayton up from therapy:

 and on the way home:

 laying in Momma's bed:

pic downloaded from a game:

Daddy on FaceTime:

 Clayton and Katie:

 the ever-present cup (I like his composition here!):

 his dinner (ugh--his food photography could use some help):

 Momma talking on the phone:

 Clayton, again:

 one of his toothbrushes:

 the cup again:

 his new rain boots (he made a production of getting this pic):

 I'm sensing a theme in the self-portraits:

 beside the desktop:

 beside the laptop:

 last one on the roll, taken yesterday:

So there you go.  A peek into the world of Jackson.  You never know--this may be the beginning of a budding career in photography!

The Art Of Improvisation

Jackson is still toting the guitar around daily--a regular one man show.  He's also a man that never misses the chance to use a microphone.  The only problem is he has taken apart the two microphones we've given him, down to each nut and bolt.  So a singer without gear must learn to improvise.

He's been pretty darn creative with lots of things around the house, namely using Brian's guitar stand to hold his various "mics."  But the other day when I left the vacuum in the living room, I had to grin when I came back to a concert in full swing.  

Tuesday

Hello, blogger people.  I am still here, and I have blog material waiting in the wings to be written, but I've just been too pooped to get it done.  For the last year or so, the majority of my blogging has been done between the hours of a 11pm-1am.  And even though I'm still a night owl, I've just been super tired lately and blogging has been last on the list.  Don't abandon me, more reading material is just around the corner!

Photo Friday

Because it's mud.  And he's a boy.