Leo Clement

You may have noticed that I've given this blog a bit of a face lift to start off the New Year, and I've also posted back up all of Leo's movies that I've made for him on his birthday. You can view them from the link on the home page's title bar. The very first movie I made for him is called the Half Year movie because we weren't sure that he would make it to the One Year movie mark! But he did and the Half Year movie become almost a catalyst for the miracle of the change in his terminal diagnosis. However, at the time of making that movie, I did not know the happy news yet so it was made with a dose of grief, along with the joy that we felt in having Leo in our life. The other movies mark his amazing development and progression after that first reconstructive surgery, but I'm sure you have also noticed that the Four Year movie is missing! When Leo turned four this past August we were up to our ears in the business of buying a house and moving, and then... ...

Christmas on the PICU Shelf  Remember this time last year? Can you believe that it's been a year already? It's been a whole year since that terrifying two or three or t hree hundred weeks in the PICU . This time last year, we put up a tree just for the cat and the dog and christmas mice and the dust bunnies, because Christmas morning was just one morning in a parade of wretched mornings. My fellow bloggers are posting their pintrest quality christmases and traditions, decorations, and cookies; and all I can think about it is what Christmas is like when you are in the worst place a child could ever be. When Christmas Eve, instead of candlelight, warm hearths and toasty dinners, pretty much passes like any other PICU evening, with sickness and uncertainty. This year, I wanted to dive into everything Christmas. I wanted it to happen this year and not just happen, but happen big! Stockings, lights, tree, the works! I wasn't going to skimp on anything. I wasn't...

Lets talk about the potty. Ok that's weird, you are saying to yourself,  she's really gone batty now.. What about the potty? Other than it being a cutsie thing that parents say when they actually mean toilet and bathroom that drives their friends without kids crazy, the potty is just that. Nothing more, nothing less... Usually...  The potty is a tool that pretty much defines, or it used to, way before smart phones and the internet, modern life. Think of Marcel Duchamp’s urinal "The Fountain." As thought provoking and cutting edge as that piece was (you could almost hear the scandalized artsy gasps echoing from coast to coast) and as many people who claimed they knew what the heck it was all about; in my mind it's just an echo of the modern times. Think it about, it's not rocket science. It's a toilet. Which is all well and good when you have one, and also know how to use it. Those who don't, well they all live in third world countries ri...