Thank you just isn't enough.

I am sitting here tonight, the night after Ashton's skate night, and am still in awe about how the night went. I really couldn't have asked for it to turn out any better. There were so many people I didn't get a chance to talk to and thank...I'm sorry for that. It was a crazy, crazy, night...in a good way of course. It seemed to go by in a blur and I really wish I had the whole thing from start to finish on video so I could watch it all and catch all the people and things I missed. I hardly could sleep last night. My mind just kept going over and over everything....it still all seems surreal. The people I have around me, who set this whole thing up, you should all be very proud. I know you were really stressed, hoping things would go well. Well, you did it! You all did it with grace and class, and things went so smoothly....It couldn't have been more perfect. A HUGE thank you to you all, from the bottom of my heart.

To the people who came, you have all given me a new found hope. I never really knew how wonderful this community was until now. I knew it was good, knew there are a lot of great people here, but this just blew me away. I will forever cherish all the notes that were written, cards, photos, everything and I can't wait for Ashton to get big enough to really understand how enormous this all was and to tell him it was all for him.

Ashton made it almost the whole night! Hooray! I hardly saw him much at all, he stuck with Pat most of the time, but when I did see him he seemed to really be enjoying himself. I had told him ahead of time that this was a big party just for him and that he may have a lot of people wanting to say hi. I told him to just wave if he felt shy and I think that worked out well. The cutest was how all the kids came up to him wanting to talk. I think he got a real kick out of that.

I really didn't realize how large this would all be. It wasn't until I found out that both the elementary schools sent notices home with everyone, and then the Sentinel did the story. At that point I thought it could go REALLY well. But, a couple of hours before it was to start, I got a call from KION news....they wanted to do a phone interview and send a camera man out to do a small story about us. The did end up interviewing Molly, who did SUCH a great job. If anyone wants to check it out go here.......KION - Monterey, Salinas, Santa Cruz - News Weather-Home
There is a short video and the written story is further down the page. That's when I started to believe that this was really huge. How great, and all for my little guy.

Today, Ashton has been progressing more. He is walking almost everywhere now. He holds on to walls and couches/tables, when possible, but other then that he is on his own. Also, he threw up his feeding tube early this morning which was a really great thing in my opinion. The dr.s didn't want it to come out unless he was eating, but he didn't want to eat because it was there. So today we got the chance to see what would happen, would he eat or not. Well, HE DID!
He had two slices of pizza at a superbowl party we attended and drank a lot of fluid by mouth.
We have to go to LPCH tomorrow for a check up and blood draw and I can't wait to tell his dr.s the progress he made. I'm feeling really confident that he doesn't need a new tube placed. He feels so good without it too. Just another little step forward for my Ashton, who now I am starting to see glimpses of here and there, the Ashton from before, who I had posted a while ago that I was forgetting...he's making his way back. Slowly, but he's making his way back.