Progressing in 2013

The Norton Family is doing great. There have been a lot of exciting and happy moments in the last 9 months. We had several surgeries last Fall, but made it through the winter unscathed. Pax did have a little setback at the beginning of May but has since recovered and seems to be doing well now. He is as happy as ever and so much fun to interact with. 2013 has brought Paxton a lot of changes so far:

A new wheelchair.

An incredible hearing aid that Pax can wear around his head instead of in his ears.

Horse-back riding therapy.

Being outside more, tolerating outdoor light better (with hat and sunglasses).

1st road trip! To St. George for Spring Break! - Paxton's first time hiking. Put his feet in pool, an napped afterward like he had swam the length of the pool. :) We felt so normal and think he did, too. 

The boys fight over who gets to push him in his wheelchair or carry one of his bags. They love to push his med syringes and both have fun holding him and making him laugh. 

Paxton loves grabbing people's mouths and hair. Touching your face is his way of discovering you. But as he gets older I hope the mouth fetish goes away a bit. :) He likes to grab onto mine and Dave's mouth like a fishing hook. Not so fun when his nails need to be trimmed, which is very frequently.

He IS a ball-boy! (Just like his daddy prayed for.) He LOVES balls, especially his white baseball. Whenever he sees it he just beams and can't wait to grab it and hug it to the side of his face. He loves pushing balls back and forth on the ground to whoever wants to play with him. And he loves to kick the ball when he is in his walker. We may have a special olympics soccer player in training here.

Paxton just got a new stander, courtesy of his awesome older cousin, Carson. Pax loves to watch a show in it and bang on the tray. It helps him bear weight on his legs so he can get stronger when he tries to stand outside of the stander.

We just saw Ephraim's Rescue and Pax was sitting on his blanket rocking through the whole movie, and loving every moment of it. It was so cute, when there was a big spiritual moment, Paxton would laugh! ...I would cry; he would laugh. I love his way of expressing his joy. I think he knew something was up because he was just so happy at those miracle moments. Afterwards he got to meet some pretty special people who have been praying for him since he was born. He even got a kiss on his forehead from President Uchtdorf. Talk about a loved little guy. 

Just last night we were treated to an amazing evening with the Salt Lake Bees, thanks to the loving service of the Sons of Baseball Foundation. Wow, everything was so first class and top notch. We felt spoiled and special, and much like with the BYU football team last Fall, Paxton LOVED every minute of being there, outside, on the field, hearing the ball crack against the bats, and getting lots of attention and smiles from players and friends the entire evening. 

Deseret News

KSL Sportsbeat

Sometimes I feel embarrassed for the attention that we get at these types of events; I'm sure there are many we know who are sick of seeing us have these 'special experiences', but then, we have pretty awesome friends and family who support us and come anyway. It is so fun to share it with them. The memories made me smile today when I was loading and unloading Paxton's wheelchair and equipment in and out of the car and his dr apts today. Sometimes it is a lot of tiring work, but it is so fun to have those magical moments that keep your family going for a long time. 

My three favorite moments were seeing Mackay getting to place the bases down on the carefully groomed sand, and then continuing to pounce on them quite un-cautiously; Camden out with the grounds crew spraying the field with the hose; and of course, Paxton rolling his favorite stuffed baseball down the pitcher's mound to the Bee's catcher, just about 4 feet away. It was the cutest thing. The Bees were amazing to us, in every way. From custom-made jerseys, to pre-game field, dugout, locker room time with the players, a signed bat and ball (from the away team, too!), great ballgame food provided, and amazing kindness shown to us from every level of the park at every step of the evening. We are big Bees fans now and will smile at the thought of that day for a long time to come. Thank you, Bees, and SOBF.