Summer Adventures

The summer was full of adventure on many fronts. I started seeing Master Zhao a renowned Qi Gong Master who many have claimed to be healed by him. For those that do not know what Qi Gong is, it is the practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and meditation. Qi Gong Masters are able to channel their Qi which is like super energy into others to help restore balance and align the imbalances which are the result of illness and disease. Acupuncture is a similar concept but Qi Gong Masters don't need needles and are able to channel their energy. I know it sounds kind of kooky but it's been practiced by the Chinese for more than 4,000 years. You probably have seen it in martial arts where a kung fu guy can stick a spear tip into their neck and then push and bend it until it breaks with it impaling them. Master Zhao didn't do any kung fu tricks but does have some special energy power and I am pretty sure that he could get "Shaolin" on a mugger if he wanted too.

Anyhow, we did a series of weekly sessions with Master Zhao and bottom-line is that I found it pretty soothing when I was in his presence. He was able to correctly point out that I had suffered an injury to my brain and had problems with my GI. Typically after a session, I would get really hungry and drink a lot more formula that day and poop. So maybe it was his Qi channeling in and aligning my meridians. Mommy and Daddy also noticed that I would appear to be more happy during the sessions and able to lie on the bed and not be fussy. I not sure what they are saying because I don't think I am fussy at all. Mommy also had a few sessions with Master Zhao and she felt that she did get relief to the pains in her shoulders. Ultimately we stopped going because some of the issues I have may not be able to be resolved by some realignment of my energy meridians with his super potent Qi. The analogy Daddy has is that if you have a road and the lines on the road are faded or shifted, it's harder to drive and stay on the path. So Master Zhao's Qi is like repainting the lines and helping you get back on the right path, but in my case I need actual roads to be rebuilt in my brain.

So now instead, I have Alexandria channel her babble to help me.

The other change for me medically was that I switched from Valium to Baclofen. Daddy and Mommy were concerned that the effects of Valium was starting to diminish and that I would have to keep increasing the dosage to get the same effect. Baclofen on the other hand is another drug used for spasticity and can be used long-term without a tolerance built up and effect diminishing once you get to the right dosage. It seems to do a good job but I don't get that same "happy" feeling (if you know what I mean)...so no more "Audrey's little helper"...damn it!  I have to resort to other adrenaline rushes.

Audrey playing football with Auntie Shanie

Alexandria continued to grow...we now call her "Gordita", which means "little plump one" in Spanish. I hope it doesn't scar her later on in life....well one thing we know is that she got those genes from Daddy! 

We can just tell her that it's a nickname that Daddy choose because he was always going to Taco Bell and buying Gordita's to eat and putting on sympathy weight when Mommy was pregnant with her

One of Alexandria's favorite things is to get facial massages from Mommy and the other is sleep.

The rest of the summer was fairly uneventful, we just tried to spend time as a family and took our first family road trip to SoCal in August. Let's just say it was an adventure and a test of nerves for Daddy and Mommy to want to drive down. We packed the whole family, Mommy, Daddy, Alexandria and I, plus Wolfie, Ewok and the Nanny all into a Mazda 5 which is a "small" mini-van. Let's just say it was pretty tight and we had to strap the luggage to the roof. As some of you know, I don't like sitting in the carseat for very long, so we had to make 3 stops within the first 100 miles of the 400+ mile trip. Well the good news is that after 8 hours we made it in one piece and Mommy and Daddy are still married. The better news is that Mommy and Daddy decided to buy a new black Toyota Sienna SE for the trip home!

We also got to go swimming at Auntie Colleen and Uncle Dirk's place. They were very nice and heated the pool up for me.