Rachel's Shriner's Appointment (10/14/09)

Rachel had a great day! First of all, her first Speech Therapy session with Early Intervention (in our home) went well. Her therapist really thinks that she's got a good foundation (makes sounds, follows directions, points to things). That will continue every other week.
Her appointment at Shriner's went really well also. It's hard to explain the magnitude of it all, but essentially, they think that she will need less time and less equipment to be able to walk. Her left foot turns in quite a bit, and to correct it, they need to start at the hip. In about a month she will get a whole new set of AFO's (ankle-feet orthotics) and a walker. Her physical therapist at Shriner's (shout out to you, Janet!!) thinks that once she has stability under her with the new AFO's, she'll be up and MOVING!! I got tears in my eyes! Yeah GOD!!

The doctor did say that her left foot will need surgery to correct the turning in, but probably not until she is about three or four years old. We'll deal with that as it comes, but here's my thought:
*we were told she would die- and she didn't
*we were told she would be in the hospital for AT LEAST a week at birth and more than likely two week - she was home in less than a week
*we were told that there was, something like, a 99% chance that her shunt would malfunction in the first year of life, and she would need surgery- 18 months and she's still going strong
*we were told a year ago that she would need surgery to fix her hips- here were are a year later
*we were told she would never crawl- she's a cruising-machine!

We'll just see what God has in store for Rachel's future! Thanks to you all for your prayers! God has been very good to us!

October is Spina Bifida Awareness Month

Mom-fessions

1. I did hear my daughter calling me, and I hid...in a closet. (Don't worry, she wasn't hurt or in trouble and John was downstairs!)

2. There was no clean underwear for the little boy, so I put the older boy's underwear on him. It was pretty big in the butt, but hey, whatever doesn't ride up your crack makes you stronger!

3. I served a gourmet meal to my kids tonight of frozen mini bagel-pizzas, mini corndogs, and chocolate ice cream. So much for the "healthy, no-artificials eating".

4. I let my kids (and am currently watching them) jump on the trampoline in their underwear. The boys also like to "mark their territory" outside here too.

(I will add to these as I think of them.)

You know this is all in fun, right? ;)

Deja Vu

It has been quite some time since my high school French class, but if I remember correctly, "Deja Vu" means to have already seen. I think we've all experienced it, haven't we? To be somewhere or doing something and feel as if we have already done this.

How about reverse-deja vu? Actually, I don't know what the exact "term" for it would be, but have you ever been in a situation, and you can see clearly what the future holds or will look like? Maybe it's called an epiphany...

Josh started a sports class at the Y called Hot Tots. It meets once a week for half and hour, and he will spend two weeks playing soccer, two weeks on basketball and two weeks on floor hockey.

At the first class all of the kids and parents were standing around and the instructor (who also happens to be the Director of the Y) introduced himself and said, "This is Hot Tots", and my son, who must have bad hearing or something, yells out, "Hot dogs!!! I love Hot dogs!"and proceeded to laugh like a crazy man! Everyone started laughing, and all of a sudden I had this reverse-deja vu; I saw as clear as day the future. I saw us 10 years in the future and me getting called into school because of my little class clown.

:)

(must be something about being the third-born of four!!)

Works For Me

We hit Once Upon A Child this past Saturday morning for their Costume debut. I am glad to say that each of my kids found what they wanted to dress up as.

Josh found a DUAL costume. Let me show you:

In this picture, he is Batman.

And in this picture, he is Bruce Wayne.

My Amazing Girls

I have been blessed with four WONDERFUL children, but I would like to share with you my two precious girls.

Rebekah has been so excited to be going to school. She is usually the first one up in the morning which is NOT characteristic of Rebekah. She LOVES going to school, and she is learning so many new things. She recently saw an American flag and wanted to share what she learned about it:

Mommy! I see the flag of America...the Justice League of America!

(so cute!) ;)

And Rachel...she is making INCREDIBLE strides with her physical therapy. We have been fortunate to have a really knowledgeable and fantastic physical therapist to work with. He is not afraid to push Rachel, which she is all for these days.

The most amazing thing I would like to share with you is...dum, dum, da, dum....

Rachel is crawling!!! Yes, she is. Amazing, isn't it, especially since we were told shortly after her birth that she would "never crawl". (Oh yah, Mr. Doctor?!?!)

Please share in our *J*O*Y* and watch the video I finally got posted of some of Rachel's first steps (though it was crawling not walking...what do you call those?).

Believe me when I tell you that it has taken her NO TIME to master cruising around our house. "DONE!", she says about crawling, "What's next?!?"

She has been eyeing the stairs...