Wednesday 24 April 2013

Plays of the Week April 16th-April 24th

Plays of the Week
April 16-24


-Last week Addison had the best week she has ever had. It was a week full of smiles, laughing, therapy, playing, and just having "normal" days. It gave us a taste for what life could be like if we could get her healthy for an extended period of time.

- Addison finally got to go to horseback riding. It was amazing. She got to first sit and watch the horse run around which she loved because of the noise it makes. Then she got to get on the horses back. She tolerated it for like 15 minutes. She eventually was moving her head from side to side and lifting it up and looking forward....HUGE things in our world! My Dad came with me to help and he enjoyed it so much. It was nice having him around for that!

-Landyn is moving around on the floor by rolling and going backwards when on his belly. It is amazing to watch him get better at moving everyday. He now rolls over in the tub on his own. Landyn also loves his Poppy(Leo). When he sees him walk in the house he starts to get right stiff and push his arms down until Leo goes and picks him up. It is adorable. I think his Great Grandma is in the running for another favourite person.

-Addison is having partial complex seizures again. This means we had to increase keepra. Increasing keepra causes Addison to be extremely cranky and irritable. It has been a long few days since Saturday. It is hard because she just cries uncontrollably and we have no way to calm her down most of the time.

-Tyler built Addison a sensory playhouse. It is amazing. He worked so hard at it and is very proud as he should be. Addison seems to like it and as she gets used to it I think she will really enjoy being inside.

- We have been working on yardwork starting with our garden. It is so fun having a garden again. I missed mine last summer. Tyler was outside till 10pm the other night moving rocks with his truck:) I think he is a keeper:)

- Tyler also built the kids a swingset. Landyn smiles the whole time he is in the swing it is adorable. We ordered Addi a new swing from the special needs catalog tonight. I am excited for it to come. We also ordered her a space blanket for in her house!

-Landyn is 8 months old now which is crazy. He ate little pieces of roastbeef the other night. He isn't a huge fan of little chunkie food but he will get used to it.

- Addison can't take melatonin until after her surgeries so sleeping has been rough for the last bit. Like bedtimes around 10:30, 11:30 even 12:30 one night. It makes for long days with no break. When she is cranky on top of that it makes for one tired and cranky momma.


My little bed hog!

So special












Monday 15 April 2013

April 2nd-April 15th Plays of the weeks!

Addi Update!

Well as you may already now surgery was cancelled for April and is rescheduled for May 17th. Addison's blood work was a bit funky and they needed to refer us to hematology to have it checked over. Some of the blood work they took can take up to four weeks to get back so assuming it is all fine we will go ahead with hips, tonsils and adenoids on the 17th of May. The problem with the blood work was her blood clotting factor was off and of course they couldn't risk her blood not clotting and having surgery.This was all bitter sweet to Tyler and I....Did we want our daughter to have surgery and spend a weekend in the hospital..NO...but did we want it done and over with so we could stop worrying about it...Well of course. For now we just have to no give her any of her non medical drugs which includes Melatonin, Omega, and Magnesium. It will be two months in total that she will be off of these which is unfortunate because sleep is such an important part of life and we lack it around here with Melatonin on board..so without it we just pray for the best!! Magnesium is for tone(when Addison's muscles get really stiff(people always comment on how strong she is-it is part of her CP). We never really knew if it helped her tone or not but now that she is off of it we realize it really did. She is back to "toning" alot when she is being held and when in her devices and going to sleep. We look forward to being able to give it to her again. Although it is nice not having so many syringes of meds to give her!
Addison has been healthy though which is a nice treat but her reflux is TERRIBLE.
She is just bringing up mouthfulls of vomit. It is a sin. She will just be sitting there and you will hear it and turn around and its all over her and anything else around her(chair, stander, me). She also vomits..today I gave her lunch and five minutes later she vomited lunch plus everything else in her tummy back up. We are in the process of changing up her diet again to see if we can help this. We are thinking she needs less volume so hopefully we will find a high fat blend that will require her to get fewer ounces and maybe just maybe that will mean less vomiting. With all of the CP stuff we deal with I think reflux is the one thing that comes back to haunt us regularly.
Addison has a new chair called the Seat2Go we really it as she can sit on the floor with her brother. We also got a peg board table that she can put toys on. Tyler is building her a new playhouse(little room) that will be for her special toys!
Daycare is one of Addi's favourite things. She is having super happy days there now. They said she is all smiles and the kids love her. When you wheel her in they come running saying Addi. There is one girl who loves her  we will call her M. M sleeps with Addi if Addi is fussy and is always by her side. Adorable is all I can say.
We spend a lot of time with my sister and niece and nephew. Addison loves those times also because of the noise the children make! The more kids around the better! I see lots of playdates in store for the summer and the six weeks recovery after the surgery.

The rest of us!!

Landyn will be eight months old on Wednesday! He is 18 lbs and growing like a weed! He is my handsome man who melts my heart when he smiles! I totally understand why they are "Mommy's Boys". We are amazed at every little thing he does the latest being clapping his hands.
He likes to challenge  me and give me a headache though...he hates to drink from a bottle or sippy cup. I officially started the weaning last week. Now at noon time he gets a sippy cup of breast milk..he takes 4 oz on a good day but most days 3-3.5 oz. Today we started a second sippy cup and it is at supper time. And we will continue introducing one until eventually he is only nursing morning and night...then once he turns nine months we will gradually introduce cows milk and get rid of nursing all together. I loved my time nursing it is such a bonding experience but I am ready to have my body back and who am I kidding...summer is coming and I wouldn't mind having the odd glass of bubbly sitting on the back deck on the nice summer evenings:) My girl friends and I are starting a yearly tradition of a Girls Weekend in June. We are leaving on Friday and coming back on Sunday....It will be the longest time away from the kids in a long time but am I ever excited!!!!!!!!! I actually can't explain how much I cherish my girl friend time! I am a huge family person and love my family but I think getting away strengthens that and reminds you how much you love them!! I also can't wait to SLEEP SLEEP AND SLEEP:) We have around 13 people right now so assuming they all come it should be a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The summer is fast approaching and the calander is filling up of course! We have a lot of weddings and two family reunions plus a trip to Pittsburg to see a special eye doctor for Addi and my 12 year old niece is coming to stay with us for 4 WEEKS. A teenager in the house should prove to be entertaining at times I am sure! She used to live in Nova Scotia until she was 7 and she was my little girl when she was here. I spent a great deal of time with her so I can't wait to have her back for that time. I am sure it will be sad to see her leave when the time comes. She will be a great help for me with the kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just for your own curiousity...
Right now Addison is sitting in her seat2go chair and Landyn is in the Jumperoo the country music is cranked up and I am working on this! I know some people question how I have time to do this during the day...well when Addi is having a good day it is amazing what I can get done as Landyn is a good baby and plays so well by himself.(I already did her physio, sitting, tummy time, stander, lightbox, wheel chair time, seat 2 go, back time, and cuddle and ipad time).I know those days are coming to an end soon becasue he is going to start moving(he rolls around the floor right now and can push himself backwards).

Although...I do this quite quick and don't reread it or check my spelling so forgive my grammer and spelling...and Yes I am a teacher....but that doesn't mean I don't make mistakes in spelling and grammer....especially when I am sleep deprived.

I haven't talked much about sleep but I don't get much. Addison sleeps through every now and then but often doesn't go to bed till late or wakes up right when we want to go to bed. Landyn still eats many many times a night and often needs his soother put in at other times on top of that. But who needs sleep. It has been something we haven't had for 2.5 years and may not for a long time so we function. The moms in my playgroup that are new to this are funny
 because they have to nap and will not come to playdate because they are tired. I just think of how nice a nap option would be:)
I try not to chime in to much just because if I didn't have Addi I know life would be different and I would complain the same way they do. Being a parent to a child with special needs really puts a swing on things...I have to be careful because I am the minority and No they don't know any different.  I guess in the end I just wish I could have problems like them...instead I deal with a long list of things you all know and I wont bother writing again!

We just had the most generous woman drop off a garbage full of tabs for Addison...it is a crazy amount!! A friend of ours Lesley's mom dropped them off and it was her sister who got most of them..people are just too nice. Makes us feel so fortunate to have the friends and family we do to love Addi!
Auntie Debbie, Jared and Addi

Landyn and Addi having a cuddle

So handsome

This is what they were doing while I started the blog
 

Happy Happy Happy

Cute

If that isn't handsome what is?

Dad and his girl

How cute?

Great Grandma, Addi, and Jared finger painting on the light box

Play time on Addi's new table(that tyler says is ugly and he needs to rebuild..lol)

Poppy and Landyn

Add caption


First time in a swing!


Bath time at Nana and Grandad's house!

Me and my girl






Playdate with everyone in attendance!!!!

The "big" kids at playdate






Enjoy your week everyone!!!!













Tuesday 2 April 2013

 
March 13th - April 1st
 
Well winter is over thankfully and for now so is the sickness.  We had a great visit with Jenn and Brooke although the week was full of sick people (the flu hit almost all of us throughout the week) it was still fun! Debbie and I went out for Jenn's Birthday with some of our other friends and it was great! Had some drinks and did a bit of dancing!! Made me really excited for our girls weekend that we have coming up in June!!!
Landyn got two teeth!! One on Thursday past and one on Easter Sunday! Teeth brought sleepless nights, lots of explosions, fevers, and a runny nose! Not eating solids was also brought on by teething we are working on that now. He seems to love the fruit everything else seems to be a lot of work to get it in.
Addison's surgery is Friday. We had pre-op last week after 5.5 hours at the hospital.  She is having her abductors released in her hips. She was supposed to be casted for six weeks but now they are saying they are getting a wedge made that will go between her legs and keep them spread apart for six weeks. The whole purpose is so her hips don't get out of joint as they are working the way out now. She was also scheduled to have her tonsils and adnoids out at the same time but her blood work came back a bit off so I am waiting for a phone call to find out what they are doing about that. Either way it is going to be a six week recovery from the hip surgery.....makes me very stressed when I think about it. I will be updating the blog when we are in the hospital this weekend.
Addi is home from daycare this week as we wanted to keep her healthy before the surgery!
She will also be out for awhile after the surgery.
 
We had a great Easter! The kids were spoiled like always! We had friends over on Friday for an Egg Hunt! It was a blast I was so happy the toddlers loved it!
Addison has had some really good sleeping nights and some really bad nights but we have had more good then we are used to! Landyn is still not a sleeper at all. We are working on that!
Landyn started to scoot on his belly backwards yesterday. It is amazing how far he can actually get. He also has found his screaming voice! So cute! He is in a big carseat now and we have lowered his crib! It is incredible how much he can change just over night. The smallest things we are so excited over as it seems like we have waited forever for these things!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Pictures from the month of March