January/ Feb Update; Vacation and Illness!

It's been a while since the last post and we have been busy!
January was a busy month and included an amazing epic vacation with the extended family.
We flew down to Florida the weekend before and spent time with some good friends, MH loved going on their boat!

We all met in Miami Monday afternoon to board the Disney Wonder Cruise Ship for 5 days sailing in the Western Caribbean with stops at Grand Cayman and Cozumel.
The crew included; 11 adults and 3 kids! My parents, my two brothers with their wives and kids and my brothers in-laws and their daughter. The three little boys, Owen (5), Mark Henry (4) and Oliver (1), really enjoyed each other!
The weather was a warm 80 degrees for the sail away party up on deck, complete with Mickey and Friends, fun music, sparkling streamers to wave and of course some drinks for the adults. The horn blasted "when you wish upon a star" and we set sail for a great vacation.
Mark Henry was excited to see all his family and enjoyed the festivities.

The first day at sea we got acclimated with the ship, and found our cabins. We were fortunate to book an accessible cabin which gave us much more room for Mark's wheelchair and walker and easier access in and out of the larger doorway. We didn't bring a stroller as we knew we could rent one on board, and it was great, a Peg Perego and he loved it.
There was plenty to do onboard from the pools to the sundecks, Mark Henry enjoyed taking his walker down to the promenade deck and walk the long sides of the ship with it. By the end of the trip he made it all the way around which was .33 miles!
There was food galore, all you can eat ice cream. We had early seating for dinner which worked out great and our servers were so accommodating with requests for the kids not always on the menu. I wished the breakfast started a bit earlier as the choices were sometimes limited until the main buffet or restaurants opened sometimes as late as 8am on sea days. Room service was available 24hrs but limited menu. With little ones who wake up early would have been nice to get something earlier.

The day in Grand Cayman we tendered and got off the ship after the excursion trips left, we went ashore and did some shopping and found a local place to sit and have some lunch overlooking the harbor with many cruise ships in that day. After lunch, once back on board we enjoyed the pools and activities and then got ready for dinner.

Each night after dinner, we would go back to the cabin and get Mark Henry in his PJs and stroller and bring him to the show. Each show was true to Disney style and exceeded expectations. The talent on board was great and the characters so good!The staff on board were great and accommodating.  At the shows we were able to park MH's stroller in the wheelchair area and often he fell asleep before the show was over.

Everyday there were character meet and greet times posted if you wanted to wait on a short line to see a particular one. Otherwise you often bumped into Minnie in an elevator or Goofy by the pool. Many times in the evening after the show the characters were also available.  Although 1000 kids on board it didn't seem that crazy as the kids clubs for each age group kept them busy most of the days. The longest lines we saw were not for Mickey or Minnie but the Disney Princesses!  Many kids dressed up in Disney costumes or PJs of their fav character.  We did meet a lot of characters and got pics taken. There was not a big push to buy photos and you were always welcome to take your own. This was a great way to see lots of characters and a lot less waiting than at the parks.We especially enjoyed Pinocchio, one evening he was playing duck , duck, goose with a group of kids!

Cozumel was our second stop and we docked at the pier, we did get off the ship and did some wandering to the shops but found it was very commercialized since our last visit a few years ago and shop owners very pushy to sell items,we did enjoy some $1 beers while we wandered around. We found an authentic local restaurant just back form the shops and had a great lunch with margaritas for very little $.  Once back on board we spent the afternoon at the pool.

That evening was the pirate party. At dinner each night there was a theme, and we rotated to various restaurants on board, but kept our 2 waiters each night. The pirates night we each got a bandanna at dinner to wear and the waiters sang "yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me" which MH loved!  The deck party was a bit of a wash out as we sailed into some stormy weather and it rained. In true Disney style the party kept going and we did see our fireworks at sea but were disappointed that due to high winds Mickey Mouse was unable to zip line from one end of the ship to the other. 
The final day at sea was a bit stormy and cool, so we just made the best of indoor activities like Bingo and Oliver's second attempt at the diaper dash (a crawling race for the babies on board).

All in all, it was a good vacation. I did steal away a little time at the spa with my mom on one day, while Grandpa babysat and Mark had some time in Cozumel with my brothers and sister in law. Most evenings MH slept in his stroller while we stayed up seeing the show or visiting with family.  We didn't get to bed too late as he was up early every day!

Owen got sick on the second day and still not sure if he bought it on board or not. He was quarantined for a day in their cabin but Disney provided room service and free laundry. James ended up also getting sick but also quickly recovered.

Unfortunately, the day we got off the ship to fly home MH got the stomach bug and we called the airline to see if we could postpone our 4 hr flight home that night. Not surprisingly the airline wanted to charge $$$$ to change the flight and didn't care he was sick and may expose an entire plane of people to this illness. We managed to get home but MH was hit hard and ended up spending a few days in hospital due to dehydration and needing his anti seizure meds via IV. Not the best end to a vacation.  Almost all family members got the stomach bug the following week or other colds/illness, it was a bad month for bugs but perhaps the travel didn't help.

MHs immune system seemed to be wiped out after that bug and he has continued to have one thing after another; sinus infection, croup and ear infections. Back and forth to the doctors, I am sure didn't help and he's just finishing up his 3rd antibiotic. He missed lots of school and therapy appts and we hope he is now on the mend. I just wish the bugs would stop and people would stop sending their kids to school sick!  They just keep passing it around!  Mark and I both have had bad sinus and ear infections and both had two rounds of antibiotics!  It's been a yucky winter for sickness!

We managed to squeeze in MH's gait lab at mayo early Feb in between illnesses.  He did very well and was very cooperative. We spent a lot of time taping sensors all over him and while he didn't enjoy that part once they were on and he was able to walk around he did great. They video taped him with and without his walker and braces and even got some independent steps.  So now we wait for his team to review the data and decide if he is ready for the selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery this year!  We hope to know by March, if and when this will happen.  Until then we wait...
Meantime, Mark Henry continues to make gains in speech. He is using his ipad well and also making more sounds and trying more words. We recently got him to consistently say, "yes"!  This is great as we can ask him questions and find out what he needs/ wants! We have a review at school this week on the ipad trial as he has had it for a few months and need to check in on progress and hopefully get one for him permanently. We will also have conferences in March with his team to review how he is doing. He is so smart and his personality is really coming out, he wants so badly to be independent and is constantly testing his boundaries!  Hope 2013 has been good to you all so far, don't forget to leave a comment so I know who is still following! : )