As I sit and reflect what all happened this year I must say it wasn't a dull one. After my last post we had a wonderful summer in which consisted of lots of camping; unfortunately it ended abruptly on July 30th. This was the day our precious little Jeffrey had fallen into a fire pit at Ridge Park. As a mother I feel awful to the thought of that even occurring, but yet we see that he was being watched over in that awful circumstance. It could have been worse. We could have had a flaming fire instead of coals and he could have easily burned his face instead of just his hands and belly. I will always have that awful memory to remember, but gratefully Jeffrey will never recollect that tragedy for all he will see is that he had something tragic happen to him. 
To this day we are still dealing with the aftermath of that horrendous day. It took 8 weeks for his hands to fully heal and his belly took 11 1/2 weeks. From what I understand if it takes longer than 3 weeks to heal you will have a bad scar. I don't think the doctors we saw really knew how deep his burns were or else we wouldn't be having such a problem with the scarring.
Jeffrey has been very accommodating to what has happened. Because his index finger on his right hand has such a bad scar he can't use it he uses his middle finger to do those fine motor movements.
We are going to occupational therapist's to try and straighten that finger and help soften the scar tissue but it seems to be a temporary fix. Surgery may still be necessary, we will know more in the New Year.
Our fall has been a busy one between coming and going to appointments and just being busy with our family. Despite all that, our family has become closer and my older children are a big help to our little Jeffery since he can't do everything for himself. Timothy enjoys being the big brother.
This fall our kids have been in various extra curricular activities.
Tim enjoys going Cubs and even Judo. I have also noticed how musically inclined he is, for at school he plays the recorder, and every Wednesday he goes to Piano.
Elizabeth also goes to piano and does well once she gets the hang of the new song she needs to practice. She's also involved in clogging and ballet which she enjoys but also looks forward to the end of the week so she can have free time. 
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Sophia has been her busy self. She loves to do anything and everything. She amazes me though she loves to work hard. We currently have been going to speech to help her overcome the sounds she can't produce. We are currently working on her "f" sound and she is responding really well to the classes with Ginger as well as the activities at home.
And finally Jeffrey. He is a real talker. I have seen him grow so much in the last couple of months. Not only with his adaptability with his current circumstance but the things he can do and say. He is my amazing little toddler. At times I want and encourage all my children to grow so quickly but at the same time I don't wish it so I can enjoy certain moments.
Even with all the activity of our family we have taken on a big project. We are completing a big renovation to our home. Our old sun room was falling apart and rotting so we decided to just replace it with a room and a basement. We managed to build the structure and waterproof it but we are losing stamina and momentum to get the inside done. At one point we were working hard all day long with our regular day to day things and then ending the day with more work on the addition.
With winter now settling in we have been giving ourselves a bit of a break. We can't work 24/7 all the time. With Christmas break almost here we are hoping to get some more things done.
So needless to say with all the events of this past year and all the challenges it brought we managed to grow and be strengthened; we have grown closer as a family and have learned to overcome great challenges. We look forward to a fulfilling 2012.
Merry Christmas!
