Alive Day!

So much has happened over the past 2 years!  In some ways it seems like I received that horrible phone call only yesterday but in others it seems like so long since Adam's accident.  It's really hard to explain but it almost seems like those first few months were someone else's life, like I was watching a movie or reading a book.  Of course, Adam has no memories of the accident and has no real memories until around Christmas time that year and after his cranioplasty that next January.  We are both just so thankful to be where we are now and for Adam's amazing recovery!

We all had a great day yesterday on Adam's second "Alive Day".  His previous squadron commander arranged for him to have a final flight--the first time Adam has flown since his accident.  Adam was so excited to be able to go up in a Kiowa again, especially on the second anniversary of his accident.  The flight turned in to much more of a production than was anticipated, but since Adam's story has such a happy ending I think a lot of people, including the local media, wanted to be there and capture the moment.  Adam flew with a guy he worked with previously and they had a great time flying!  Cohen had a blast seeing all the "helicocers" and even got to sit in one and "play" around a little.  He was very entertained on the flight line by all of the Army vehicles and helicopters while Adam was up on his flight.  After the flight, Adam was hosed down with water, as is tradition after an aviator's last flight.  Then they presented Adam and me with some things from the squadron which was very special.  That night we went to dinner with a few friends to celebrate and the guys had a great time.  Thanks to everyone who came out for this awesome day for Adam!!

Adam and Terry before they took off

Adam and Terry about to land

Adam about to get sprayed down with water!

Us with the COL Bontrager (who made all of this happen) and his wife Kelly

Dinner with Spencer, Bobby, Mike, James and Dave

Braves Game

Adam, my mom and dad and I went to the Braves game on Friday to see them play the Dodgers.  Not a great weekend for our Georgia sports since the Braves and our Bulldogs lost :( but what can you do?  Anyway, one of my dad's good friends works for the Braves now that he is retired and set up a great afternoon/evening for us at the stadium.  Thank you Loye!!  We arrived 3 hours before the game to go to batting practice then went on a tour with one of the Braves ambassadors.  The guy that showed us around was great and the tour was so fun!  We went all around the stadium and to the museum but also got to go down to the service level and see all of the "behind the scenes" happenings of major league baseball.  It was amazing and a completely different world!  Dad's friend, Loye, also had Adam recognized on the LED message board at the game which was really fun!

At batting practice

Batting practice

  

Cohen is obsessed with the Chick-Fil-A cow and "Chick A playground"

On the field before the game started

My parents

Charlotte

Adam and I were introduced to a wonderful family in Charlotte, NC back in January and have since visited the city multiple times.  This family is amazing and very generous and have hosted Adam, Cohen and me in their home every time we have visited.  I will explain later in another post more details about Charlotte and our future there :o.  On our last visit to Charlotte we were given the opportunity to go to the Tim McGraw concert through Operation Homefront.  Operation Homefront is an organization that provides assistance to service members/families and wounded warriors.  They provided us with tickets to the concert and the "pre-show" party.  We had a great time at the concert but only took a couple of pictures, and the pictures I did take were with my phone, so not great quality!

Friends to Visit

Some of our best friends, the Muschara's, came to visit a couple of weeks ago and we had a great time with them!  We did not do anything terribly exciting as it rained part of the weekend, but they are the kind of friends you don't have to entertain and we have a blast anyway!  The kids played outside as much as they could and had fun in the sprinkler.  Adam and Wes took Cohen and Colt on post to see the "Army trucks" and helicopters and the little boys had a great time doing that while Maggie, Marley and I went shopping.

Cohen and Marley

Cohen and Colt

The guys having a race in the backyard--obviously Cohen did not quite know what was going on?!

Wes teaching Cohen and Colt how to play leap frog!

First Day of Preschool

Today was Cohen's first day of preschool and he was soooo excited!!  He woke up this morning saying, "Cohen go to new school today, Cohen play with new friends today, I have fun today".  All morning he kept telling me "Mommy I ready to go bye bye and go to school".  Once we got to school he walked right in the classroom, gave his bag to the teacher and said "bye bye mommy".  When I picked him up he told me, "I was so nice to friends today" and "I had a good time"!?!  He is such a social child and loves the interaction with other children!  Here a couple of pictures right before we left the house this morning. 

Big boy bed

We decided to move Cohen to his "big boy bed" this week.  Even though he just turned 2 in May, he's been in a toddler bed for about 5 months now because he started climbing out of his crib around 21 months.  We were going to move him to a big bed when we move (whenever that may be?!) so I wanted to go ahead and do it before we move so there is not so much change all at once with a new house, new room and a new bed.  He has done great in his big bed this week and seems to be sleeping a little better and longer in the morning!  He is starting to wake up in the the 6:00 hour instead of the 5:00 hour!!

Summer fun!

Here are a few of the things we have been doing this summer....

Back in May, some of our of friends (Adam's college friends) hosted a little reunion at their house.  They rented an inflatable water slide for the kids, we grilled out and just had a great time hanging out and watching the kids play.  These are some of our closest friends and we always love getting together with them.  (Thanks Maggie for the pictures !)

Marley and Cohen

Cohen and Colt (and I think Sam's back?)

Adam and Sam

Cohen, Campbell and Marley

The girls and some of the kiddos!

Cohen got a new "Little Tikes" table for his birthday from his Mimi and Pops and he loves it!  He wants to eat breakfast every morning outside (at 5:45 am?!).

One of his favorite things to do is "call" Mimi and Pops and talk to them on the phone.

He finally started drinking out of a "big boy cup" without spilling his drink which was a big accomplishment :)

And he learned how to ride his tricycle this summer.  At first he just did the "Fred Flinstone" method with his feet, but quickly learned to pedal and can now almost make it around the block.  I just usually end up carrying the tricycle back to the house ;)

We went to my parent's house for the 4th of July to visit with family and out of town friends.  Cohen didn't want to swim the first day and only wanted to play on the stairs of the pool.  By the second day he was jumping off the diving board and swimming from one end of the pool to the other with his swimmies on, thanks to his Aunt Lorra and Uncle Ben!

Cohen and Uncle Ben

Cohen, Marley and Colt

Cohen loves playing with his friends Regan and Jack and always asks about them!

Cohen, Regan and Jack

Adam decided it would be fun if we started camping with Cohen so he bought a tent and all the required camping gear he didn't already have.  So for a trial run Adam and Cohen camped out in the backyard one night.  Cohen thought it was the best idea ever and had a great time.  He slept all night with no problem!  Now the next time they go camping I will be included and it will be at a campground.  For those of you who don't know me well, that's a pretty big deal since I have never slept in a tent outside of someone's backyard and probably never made it through the entire night without going inside.  I'm definitely up for the while camping experience, especially if I get to do it with my boys!!

 

 

Cohen LOVES the playground and we go almost everyday.  He is such a climber and loves to slide.  The child has no fear and climbs on equipment made for children much older than him.  I don't want him to be scared, but being a PT I do get a little nervous watching him sometimes!

 

There is a small water park locally that we go to sometimes and Cohen absolutely loves it!  It has a big splash area for smaller child to climb, run and play and he has a blast!

 

Medical board rating!!

Adam got his Army medical board rating back a few weeks ago and it was what we were hoping for--so much of our stress was relieved!  However, then he started the retirement process which is an entire new ordeal, but at least we are headed in the right direction and moving on with our lives.  We have had to make a lot of decisions the past couple of weeks that will effect the rest of our lives, and more decisions to come--just a little more stress!  I would go into more detail about everything but I wouldn't even know where to start or how to explain everything.  Honestly, I don't know if I understand it all myself!  I'm just so thankful that Adam is at a place now where he can take care of all the paperwork, dates, finances, etc.  So many answered prayers over the past 2 years (almost) now!  Basically Adam will be retiring at the end of September!  I cannot believe the time for his retirement is actually almost here.  After so many months of being hospitalized, going to therapy and waiting on the medical board process, the time has finally come.  Adam and I are both very excited to be moving on with our lives but I know that I am also sad to be leaving the Army.  Sounds kind of strange after what we have been through but there is some kind of security with military life. 

We have also been busy doing other fun "summer things" the past couple of months.  I am hoping to have some time in the next week to post some pictures......

Medical Board Update

I thought I would update everyone one what is going on with Adam's Army medical board process and when we are getting out of the Army since we get that question a lot.  And since that is one of the main reasons I started the blog...to continue updates on Adam after I stopped the CaringBridge website.  I have been really bad about keeping everyone updated but I think that is because Adam is doing so well!  It sounds kind of crazy but sometimes I even forget that he was injured and has a head injury at all.  Don't get me wrong, he still has some pretty major deficits, mostly visually, but he functions so well now it is amazing.  Also, I am so use to our "new normal" and I think we have both adjusted pretty well so far.  I am sure Adam never "forgets" he has a head injury because he must get frustrated; although, he rarely expresses that to me.  Adam is done with therapy now, he just goes on post for medical appointments or "work" related things which are few and far between compared to what they were.  He maybe has only 3-4 appointments a week now versus 3-4 a day back at the beginning of the year.

So with the medical board, it is a very long and confusing process so I won't bore everyone with the details.  Basically, a medical board doctor here at Fort Campbell reviewed all of Adam's medical records, wrote a summary, included pertinent medical information and created a "packet" to send to Texas for a board to review.  The board then decides on what rating Adam will receive for his medical retirement.  Adam's "packet" is now in Texas.  It can be there anywhere from 10 days to a few months from what we have heard??  So far it has been there 2 weeks.  After we receive the rating from Texas, we review it, either agree or disagree, then if we agree, sign off on it.  Then it has to go through signatures here at Ft Campbell then go to D.C. to be approved and for Adam to get a final date to get out of the Army.  Then there is a timeline to get some things done, use his extra leave time, etc.  So that being the short version, we are making progress with the medical board but still do not know when we are getting out.  Hopefully in the next few months??

2 years old!!

Cohen's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and we celebrated with my family in GA.  His birthday is also the same day as mine and my Grandmother's so we all had a birthday party together!  Such a special time for all of us.  We went to my parents house on Sunday after spending the day Saturday with friends in North GA.  Cohen is not into very many characters or television right now but he loves trains (he does know who Thomas is) and his favorite things to play with are balls, especially "basketgoals" as he calls them.  So he got a "basketgoal" for his birthday and now plays with it everyday.  Here are a few birthday pictures: