Plans for New Year's Weekend

On Thursday morning Jeff, Nicholas, my mom & dad, brother Brett, brother Eric, Eric's girlfriend, Tina, and I will all be heading to beautiful Sunriver, Oregon for the New Year weekend. This marks Nicholas's first family vacation. My heads hurts thinking about all the things I will need to pack for him!
We are renting a house which is part of our Christmas gift from my parents...I think they are just excited to have all their children under one roof for a few days!

And we will be spending one or two days at beautiful Mt. Bachelor...

doing this!

(While Nicholas, Gramme & Grandpa stay snuggly warm indoors).
Tina and I are beginner snowboarders, while Jeff, Brett, and Eric are more experienced. I am looking forward to snowboarding with someone at the same level as me instead of having to chase my husband all over the mountain!

We are bringing lots of these to play...oh how my family loves some healthy competition!


And I will be making this cheesy deliciousness!
Each of us are taking one night to cook dinner as our contribution for weekend, so my dinner (per Jeff's request) will be baked ham, homemade mac and cheese, and broccoli.

We are looking forward to a relaxing New Year's weekend with our family!
We wish you all a safe, happy, and healthy 2010!

Family Photos

My wonderful sister-in-law, Jami, took these photos of our family of three for our Christmas cards this year. I think they turned out great! Don't let the sunshine fool you--it was super cold and very windy that day and Jami did a great job of getting a few smiles from our chilly little munchkin. Thanks, Jami!

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

We've had 3 days of Christmas so far, and boy, has it been fun! Nicholas enjoyed his second Christmas a bit more than his first because this year it was easier for him to tear into the wrapping paper. He got lots of gifts from mommy & daddy, and from all of his grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-relatives and friends. I honestly don't know where we are going to put all his new stuff! Jeff and I were spoiled this year as well-- with our best present yet to come--a long weekend in Bend, OR to snowboard, play board games, eat, read, and relax with my whole family!

We spent Christmas eve at my parents house for their annual celebration with family and friends and Santa visited our house that night while we were tucked into our beds fast asleep. On Christmas morning we went to mass, then went back to my parents's house and had a nice brunch, opened gifts, and played Scrabble (one of our favorites). The men even got to sneak in a couple of naps! Yesterday afternoon we had Jeff's family over to our house and broke tradition by making a Mexican fiesta dinner which included spicy chicken enchiladas, chicken taquitos, Mexican rice, re fried beans, and a taco bar. It was delicious! (The photos above are in order from bottom to top).

Unlike many of our friends, we celebrate Christmas until Epiphany so we are planning on keeping our tree and decorations up until then. I love that Christmas lasts 12 days...because one day is just too short!

3 days of Christmas down...9 more to go!

A Visit With Old Saint Nick

This morning my brother, Brett, and I took Nicholas to see Santa at our local mall. Nicholas was in good spirits the entire time we had to wait in line. He loved watching the other kids while we waited and he was so happy to see the big guy when his turn came! Last year Santa frightened Nicholas a bit, but this year there were no tears-just smiles!

Brett was the photographer for this photo and I was so happy he got one! Technically, you're not suppose to take your own pictures, but Brett snapped a quick one before being told not to take any more. We bought a photo package anyway...so hopefully they weren't too upset with us. I just wanted one to share with all of you!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

19 Months-Old

Today I am 19 months-old!
This morning my friend, Victor Jones, came over to play. I gave him this cool helicopter toy for Christmas. He let me check it out.

I like to keep up with the Jones'.

Later I went over to my grandparent's house for dinner. My Uncle Brett was there...he's in town for Christmas. He put these glasses on me, but I did not like them very much.

My Gramme makes me laugh.

Here's my Uncle Brett. I am so happy he's back for a visit. I missed him!

It's good to be 19 months-old. I am counting down the days until a big guy in a red suit visits my house. It's only 5 days away! My mommy says he will be bringing me lots of presents because I have been a good boy all year long.

Silly Boy

Today Nicholas and I spent several hours at my mom & dad's house because our washer and dryer are not working correctly, so my mom graciously allowed me to do several loads of laundry at their place. Anyway a couple hours after we got there, my mom brought out this toy she bought for Nicholas's first birthday and she asks him to, "Show mommy your trick."

So he proceeds to turn the little book in the middle of the musical toy with his nose! It was so cute! (see bottom photo) He was excited to show me and smiled and laughed when he was done. We brought it home with us for awhile so Nicholas can show daddy his trick.
He also did a nice job of reaching up and flipping the light switch-like object, turning the little knob, and pushing some of the keys on the keyboard...I can't wait to show his OT & Home Teacher on Wednesday!

It's the little things like this that make me the happiest mama in the world!

Christmas Tree Farm

Jeff's sister, Jami, took a few photos of us while we picked out our Christmas tree a week ago...don't be surprised if you see some of them on our Christmas card this year! Thanks, Jami!

"O Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches"...that's why we picked you!

Cousin Time

Yesterday we went to Jeff's sister's house for a yummy clam chowder dinner and Nicholas loved playing with his two cousins, Zoie and Alex. They looked at books and Zoie even read to him. She's only been in first grade for a few months and she's an excellent reader! She can put a smile on Nicholas's face faster than anyone I've ever seen...he adores her.
I love Alex's cute smile in this picture. He just turned three and he was so polite saying his "pleases" and "thank yous" like a little gentleman. I just love those kids!

Zoie's monkey gave Nicholas a big hug.


Nicholas loves his time with cousins!

Another Adapted Idea

Nicholas has been using his Boppy Pillow for support under his elbows while he plays with toys and it has been working really well! I love that Boppy...we have used it for so many different things...it was a great investment!

Happily Surprised

Today Nicholas and I went to our local Rite Aide to pick up a couple of items...Infant Motrin for Nicholas (for the two molars he's cutting) and some make-up for me. As I was walking inside carrying Nicholas I spotted the cute and reasonably small Rite Aide carts and thought, "Hmmm...I wonder if Nicholas will be able to sit in there? After all, it will only take us about 10 minutes to get everything we need and be on our way." So I placed him in the cart, and lo and behold, he sat holding the sides of the cart the ENTIRE time! Not once did his head fall over, not once did he seem uncomfortable...he just sat happily and swayed his legs and sucked on his binky. I was so impressed! Even more impressive is that he didn't even have his body brace on!

I still think the grocery store carts will be too difficult for him to sit in because of their size, and especially since grocery shopping for me usually takes an hour or so, but now I am happy when we go into Rite Aide Nicholas can sit in the cart! It made check-out a cinch because I didn't have to shuffle him from one arm to the other while trying to dig in my purse to find my debit card.

Today I am such a proud mama!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Yesterday evening we finished decorating our tree and I wrapped a few presents...so our home is officially ready for Christmas.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Another wonderful thing is that the families of Unite for the Cure have now surpassed our $100,000 goal...we are now at $111,451.05 and Dr. Kierstead's team has already started receiving some of this money for the clinical trials which are set to begin in early 2010!

St. Nicholas Day

Today, December 6th, is the feast of St. Nicholas.

He was a wonderful bishop who generously gave to the poor and needy. He is the saint who is most like "Santa Claus," and was loved by everyone who knew him. He is my favorite saint which played a part in why we chose to name our son Nicholas. We pray that he intercedes for us in Heaven and asks Jesus to love and protect our Nicholas, here on Earth, always. I treasure this beautiful prayer and wanted to share it with you all on this special day:

God of joy and cheer, we thank you for your servant, the good bishop Nicholas. In loving the poor, he showed us your kindness; in caring for your children, he revealed your love. Make us thoughtful without need of reward so that we, too, may be good followers of Jesus.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Brrr, we are experiencing chilly winds and low temperatures in the Pacific Northwest. It's just down right cold out there! The first photo is a picture of Nicholas in the car with mommy and daddy before we went to get our Christmas tree. Yep, we bundled up and headed to a tree farm and cut down our own tree. Don't let the sun fool you, it was around 30 degrees today and it was 25 degrees last night. We even had a light dusting of snow on our lawn this morning! So tonight it was time to pull out the footie pj's for Nicholas. I bought him a couple of new ones that I was planning on giving him for Christmas, but because it's so cold, he got them early!

We hope you are all staying warm!

New Stander & Wheelchair

Here is Nicholas in his new stander...it's brand new and so shiny! It is very similar to our borrowed stander, but there are a few new features that I am trying to get used to. Overall, it seems more comfortable for Nicholas than the borrowed one and he really likes the clear plastic tray so he can see objects on the ground.
He was delighted to play with a drum toy his OT left for him...he likes it so much, I think it may be a possible Christmas gift from Santa!

These are a couple of photos of Nicholas sitting in his new manual wheelchair. I think this piece of equipment is definitely going to take some getting used to. When I took it out of the car, I had a really difficult time getting the seat back on...it took me almost 30 minutes. I also am not entirely happy with the placement of the head rest, it sits too far forward and is back the farthest it will go. One other thing is that it is super heavy for me and hard to lift, so I am still going to look for an adaptive stroller for quick trips like the store (any suggestions on in expensive strollers would be greatly appreciated). This wheelchair we will probably use on longer outings. I can't complain too much though, because it was free. Our insurance paid for the seating system and the frame was donated to us. Also, this chair should fit Nicholas until he's 150 lbs. so it is nice to have knowing that we will use it more in the future.

It's an early Christmas for Nicholas in Gustafson household!

A Season of Giving

Are you a Facebook user? If so, Chase is giving away $5 million to over 100 charities and YOU can determine which charities receive grants with your votes through Facebook. We're asking you to consider helping SMA focused organizations with your votes - you have 20 votes to spread around:

Gwendolyn Strong Foundation
FightSMA (under Andrews Buddies Corporation)
SMA Support, Inc.
Families of SMA

Consider your vote a Christmas gift to the Gustafson Family. Want to know what the best part is? It's free! Plus there's no standing in line or time spent searching for just the right gift. It only takes a minute or two of your time...so get voting! Thank you so much!