Hi! Im Abby, and I'm writing in my moms blog today. Well, on Friday me, my other siblings, and my dad got back from Chula Vista, a waterpark in Wisconsin Dells. There were four things that I liked alot. One thing that I liked at Chula Vista was the waterpark.
There were slides, a lazy river, and a big tower with slides. But my favorite slide was Jungle Adventure. You go down a drop and go down to a big cylinder and spin a round and a round. The second thing I liked about Chula Vista was our hotel, our hotel room, and our hotel pool.
Our hotel was called the Atlantis Hotel. The Atlantis Hotel had two pools. One pool had a mini slide, a basketball hoop, and a big fountain. The other pool has three pools and an arcade. One pool is deeper and has a basketball hoop. The other pool had two slides and some sea animal structures to climb on. The other pool was just a hot tub. The arcade had really cool games. My favorite game was "spin the wheel''. Our hotel room was just right for us to! The third thing I want to tell you about is our favorite site to see.
Our favorite site was the upside down house. We especially liked the dinosaurs going into the upside down house.
The last thing I want to tell you about is the candy store story. One day we were eating at Gillys Island for lunch. Daddy said if we ate good we could go to the candy store next door. So,we all ate good so we got to go to the candy store . They were selling........salt and vineagar......crickets!!! So guess what Nolan did? He got them! So he went back to the hotel room.... and ate them! He said the legs got stuck in his teeth and throat! He ate body, eyes, and head! Gross!!!!
Well, I hope you liked my story!!!!!!!!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
PTSD
Memories and senses are funny things. You know, how certain smells, sights, sounds remind you of being somewhere else? That's been happening to me a lot lately. The other day at work, someone mentioned the word Hospitatlity, which is one of the new markets we're entering, and I heard hospital. And the immediate flash in my head was when I was in the hospital with Abby, watching her wake up from surgery. Last week I made an appointment with my urologist for my regular kidney stone check-in, which is at Froedert, which is connected to Children's Hospital, the lady asked me if I would be parking in the parking structure. I immediately thought about walking across the walkway into Children's, having to show my parent badge at the check-in station. Then, this morning, I used a different foamy antibacterial gel before I left for work. It's the one we used to keep for our hands with all of Abby's medicine, wipes, syringes, etc. As I was driving in, I smelled it and immediately thought about giving medicine through her PICC line all those months.
It's been one year since Abby first complained about leg pain. Fortunately, she's recovered 100%. This path could have been so different, the memories invoking so much more. I'm more than blessed that they are good reminders of how lucky I am today.
It's been one year since Abby first complained about leg pain. Fortunately, she's recovered 100%. This path could have been so different, the memories invoking so much more. I'm more than blessed that they are good reminders of how lucky I am today.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
My 12-month old
Today we had our final assessment for Ava on her speech therapy. Basically, today we knew that they would tell us their decision, after one intake meeting and two 30-minute speech therapist meetings, whether she would qualify for services or not. It's a strange want... I want her to qualify for services, but I want her not to need services. I want her to learn to talk, but I do love her expressions and her miming. I want her to be able to talk because she should be able to, but I want her not to talk because then she'll stay my baby.
And in the end... she qualifies for services. Basically, she's advanced and on par for a three-year-old in a lot of areas--gross motor skills, general comprehension, etc. But one area--speech--she's very behind. So behind, in fact, that they classify her in that area as a 9-12 month old. In addition, because she had many ear infections (and eventually tubes) when she was a baby, that qualifies her for speech therapy through the program.
So what does that mean? Once every other week, a speech therapist (Ms. Rachael) will come visit us in our home for 30 minutes. She'll work with Ava and work with us on things we can do, such as give her choices--do you want juice or milk? instead of just you want juice? which she can nod her head to. We also need to start playing dumb with her and act like we don't know what she wants or is saying. In a house of 4 kids... are you kidding me? I don't have time for that! Get the juice and move on! Hmmm... maybe that's why she never had to talk in the first place?
Anyway, it's another journey in our life. I'm not particularly concerned. I believe a year from now I'll be writing about how we can't shut her up. But for now, it's what we'll do.
And in the end... she qualifies for services. Basically, she's advanced and on par for a three-year-old in a lot of areas--gross motor skills, general comprehension, etc. But one area--speech--she's very behind. So behind, in fact, that they classify her in that area as a 9-12 month old. In addition, because she had many ear infections (and eventually tubes) when she was a baby, that qualifies her for speech therapy through the program.
So what does that mean? Once every other week, a speech therapist (Ms. Rachael) will come visit us in our home for 30 minutes. She'll work with Ava and work with us on things we can do, such as give her choices--do you want juice or milk? instead of just you want juice? which she can nod her head to. We also need to start playing dumb with her and act like we don't know what she wants or is saying. In a house of 4 kids... are you kidding me? I don't have time for that! Get the juice and move on! Hmmm... maybe that's why she never had to talk in the first place?
Anyway, it's another journey in our life. I'm not particularly concerned. I believe a year from now I'll be writing about how we can't shut her up. But for now, it's what we'll do.
Monday, October 24, 2011
They crack me up
I got home from work tonight, and as I was headed in, I noticed a pumpkin sitting on the recycle bin right outside the door I normally go in. The pumpkin had a face colored on it with permanant marker, and so I thought, "I'll have to tell them how scared I was by the pumpkin by the door." And just as I was thinking that, I stepped into the mud room, turned, and saw... 4 kids AND DAVE standing on top of the washing machine and dryer! I started laughing, and Ava started screaming. I think she screamed, just one scream--no breath, for about 15 seconds. It was very impressive!
We also went to the pumpkin patch this weekend. It was lots of fun. I'll get my pictures off my phone and write about it, someday when I'm not so tired!
We also went to the pumpkin patch this weekend. It was lots of fun. I'll get my pictures off my phone and write about it, someday when I'm not so tired!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
I ran!
On Tuesday, I got the all clear from my doc to run again. Well, to run a little bit, anyway. She told me I could run 1/2 mile, then cross train (bike, swim, walk, elliptical), wait a day and then do it again, and if it's ok, I could slowly increase my mileage. So yesterday I dropped Abby off at volleyball practice and then found a treadmill. I walked for half a mile, then started to jog. It felt... surprisingly good! So good, in fact, that I ran a mile instead of a half. I just couldn't stop that quickly. Then today, Abby told me she wanted to run this morning. Who am I to refuse? So we tood a 3-mile jog (it was quite slow compared to my normal pace, so it really was like cross training. Really!)
While I was jogging at the Y, and reading Runner magazine, I kind of got the itch again. Maybe I would actually like to run more. Hmmm... My friend Holly told me not to make any decisions on another marathon until I fully recovered from the first. It's like having a baby--if you had to decide right after birth, you'd never do it again. This weekend makes me wonder... is she right? I guess time will tell!!
While I was jogging at the Y, and reading Runner magazine, I kind of got the itch again. Maybe I would actually like to run more. Hmmm... My friend Holly told me not to make any decisions on another marathon until I fully recovered from the first. It's like having a baby--if you had to decide right after birth, you'd never do it again. This weekend makes me wonder... is she right? I guess time will tell!!
