Lucas James Stisher: Cutie Pie

We're back from a week of vacation, and had a great time at Josh and Kami's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and Lucas was absolutely adorable in his little tuxedo!

We tried to time his naps so he wouldn't be tired during the ceremony (which was right in the middle of when he typically naps)... but of course, my plan didn't exactly work. He was so tired by the time I put him in the wagon, he kind of just slumped over while the little boys pulled him. It was hard to see his face, but he still looked very cute! I could hear lots of "awh's" as they pulled him.

It was nice to see a lot of old friends and introduce Lucas to those that had followed him last year. A few people came up to me saying, "I have to meet Baby Lucas! I've read so much about him." I was proud to have him there and looking so "grown up!" The kids also had a blast... this was the first time they'd ever been to a wedding, Nicholas insisted on wearing a suit and tie (believe it or not), and the girls had a ton of fun dancing all night. Abby (7 years old) danced with a boy for the first time, one of the ring bearers that pulled Lucas asked her to dance (soooo cute)! And she didn't stop there... she was proud to tell everyone the next day that "I danced with seven boys!"

The week at the lake was awesome, 10 adults & 5 kids in a very cool house on Lake Norris. We spent every day on the water... boating, skiing, tubing, wave runners, swimming, etc. No cell phone service or Internet access... very different for us! Everyone had a lot of fun, especially Nicholas, Abby & Anna. Anna cried when we left, mostly because she said was going to miss Kami, who she fell totally in love with. Kami and Josh are both elementary teachers, and are incredible with kids, so it was no surprise that they had two little followers all week. We were asked several times on our drive home if we could turn around and go back. It was great. Thank you Dad & Rose for doing that for all of us! Can't wait til next year!

Not much new to report on Lucas, everything is good. And after five weeks, he's finally healthy again. Other than being thrown completely off his schedule (as he felt naps were for the weak), Lucas was flexible and adaptable with everyone around. Kami asked me later in the week, "does he ever cry?" Nope. He is truly always happy!

He started something new last week -- he's now clapping with both hands open when I say "clap clap!" This is big for us for two reasons... he's never really opened his left hand to clap or hit anything. I've been working with him for several weeks to force it open to clap with both hands. I feel like I've said it a million times, with the only response from him being a smile. So the other day, Lucas was sitting in bed with us after just finishing his bottle, when I said "clap clap", I wasn't expecting anything when he started doing it! Bran and I looked at each other, like, did he just do that? So I said it again, just to make sure it wasn't an accident...and he did it again, and again, and again (and of course, with a big ol' grin). This may sound silly, but I cried, I was so proud! This also means he's showing more signs of language reception!! This is huge! All steps in the right direction!

Last year, when we were going through the most difficult days with Lucas after we learned of the extent of his brain bleed, events like this make me think back to some impactful advice that was passed on to me from a therapist when we were struggling with what this all meant. She said, "you're going to have to adjust your expectations for him, and the future... you've already heard all the worst-case scenarios about the future from doctors, but you truly don't know what the future holds for him... so you need to bring everything to baseline, to zero, and expect nothing... because then when he does something, you are going to be surprised and just that much more amazed." This is not to be confused with not believing in him. Believing and expecting are two different things... I thoroughly believe in him more than I've ever believed in anything in my life, but I try not to expect anything. That is why I write about things like rolling over and hand clapping as a big deal after what we've been told. There's no way to even describe this feeling. What some people would consider small steps, I don't, as I know that I am witnessing nothing short of a miracle.

Here's a few good pictures... there's a lot more that I'm working on getting posted.