:(

Ryan has done so well over the past few months! In fact, we all have. We had a horrific fall with Swine Flu sweeping through our entire family one by one. I thought it would never end! Ryan is sick once again. And it started out with a pretty decent fever this morning of 101.3. I'm not happy about this at all. His 14th birthday is coming up in less than a week and it will break my heart if he has to be sick on his birthday! Hopefully, this ends up being nothing more than a mild cold and he is well in less than a week. We will see what the next few days bring. Ryan may end up getting 2 weeks of spring break! Please keep my boy in your prayers. I never know which direction an illness will go for Ryan. He could be in the hospital fighting for each breath in a matter of days, or he could fight this illness at home with us stepping up his treatments!

Ryan's friend, James

Ryan had his friend, James, over on Saturday. The two enjoyed video games and chatting about school for most of the afternoon and into the evening. And as is tradition, whenever James comes over, we always have pizza for dinner! It has been quite a while since I have seen James and I was shocked when he walked in the front door. He is nearly 6 feet tall now and just towers over all of our family! I know I have said it alot recently about how shocked I am that I have an almost 14 yr old boy! But, I think it's more "real" to me when I see his peers. They are growing so tall and I can really see through them just how old my boy is getting. It's much harder to see how much Ryan is growing as he's sitting all the time and with his spinal fusion, his torso will never grow anymore. And, although, Ryan is definitely growing...he is still somewhat small for his age. And I had to snap a picture of my foot next to James' shoes. Although, I do have small feet; the comparison was pretty funny.

PS....

This is NOT typical behavior for Joshua. He really is a nice child and caring towards his brother. But, he was throwing a tantrum and Ryan happened to be in his path!

Helpless

Being completely helpless ,or in this case defenseless, is NOT a good thing when your 2 yr old brother throws a temper tantrum while mom is in another room and decides to take it out on his 13 year old big brother just because he knows he can!!! Joshua decided to take out his frustration on big brother's face. This is one of many things that are TERRIBLE about SMA. Ryan was completely helpless in not only could he not push his brother OFF of him... But, he also couldn't yell loud enough for me to run in and rescue him. Joshua had a LONG talking to and was punished for his actions! But, poor Ryan still has these scratches on his tender face. :( It reminds me of a time when Ryan was only about 3 yrs old. Our van was parked in my parent's driveway and I left him for a couple of minutes in the van while I ran into my parent's house to grab some of his things. When I returned he was crying hysterically because a bee had landed in the car near him and he was completely helpless to do anything about it. He couldn't even swat it away! I felt so terrible. I had to hold him and comfort him for several minutes afterward. Oh the joys of SMA.