It has been a year filled with so many wonderful memories. It was our first year to really let you experience life outside the walls of our home. Your day-to-day is filled with many therapies. You wake up in the morning with a smile on your face and talking/singing to your stuffed kitty cat. You never have much time to settle into your day and sometimes you are NOT ok with that. I understand, but I continue to push you and provide outlets for you to learn and grow. You eat breakfast, get dressed, 2 breathing treatments, meds given, and wait for your therapists to arrive. You have great therapists who truly care about you and your development. They are constantly praising and encouraging you. It is never about what you can’t do, but what you are doing. That makes mommy very happy because I have never put limits on your abilities. Ms. Danielle, Ms. Cindi, Ms. Courtney, and Ms. Samantha constantly push you to work harder. However, you don’t particularly care being pushed out of your comfort zone or being put on your tummy. Their guidance, our homework follow through, and your will pushed you to make great strides in your therapy goals. Way to go sister. There is NOT a single person on this earth that will label you or say that you are not worth fighting for.
After your morning therapy sessions you are ready to play. You love your standing frame. In fact, you point to it frequently and sign please. You typically spend around 3 hours in your standing frame a day. In fact, we take your standing frame everywhere we go. Your legs have built up significant muscle, and you can now stand in your standing frame without any of the support straps buckled for approximately 30 mins.
Before nap you usually have wheelchair time. You are getting really good at the wheelchair. You will actively and purposely use the joystick to move your "Power Wheels." We just have to watch out because you are not great with directions and can easily move furniture.
After wheelchair time you typically eat lunch and do a few more therapy exercises. You enjoy nap time. I think your sweet little body just wears out after all of that work. You typically take an hour and a half nap and wake up just jabbering away.
Your afternoon and evening are once again filled with two meal times, standing frame, play time with Daddy, bath (least favorite activity) and bedtime. One of my favorite times of the day is tucking you into bed. You love story time. We always sing "your song" and say night-night prayers. You almost always sweetly "sing" along and help "say" the prayer. These are the moments I cherish sweet girl. I watch you growing up before my eyes and am truly amazed at what God has done in your short little life.
Other Year Two Highlights:
You spent your first Christmas at home. We actually got snow and we spent much needed time together. It was perfect (in your mommy’s eyes at least). We even talked Daddy into having Christmas lights put on the house. We also went to Ada and celebrated with your aunts, uncle, cousins, and grandparents.
January-April: These months were spent at home mainly. You unfortunately developed RSV despite our best efforts to protect you from this nasty germ. You actually managed to stay out of the hospital, but the RSV triggered asthma (reactive airway disease) and really caused you a lot of respiratory issues during the winter months. You also caught a stomach bug which landed you in the hospital for a couple of days. Mommy caught the stomach bug from you…..you really did not have to share…ha ha! We spent several months trying to ups
We took full advantage of the non-germy summer season. Gramma took you to the Dallas Zoo. You loved seeing the animals that were close to you. Your favorite part was feeding the giraffes. It was so much fun to watch you laugh and experience your love for animals.
We took our first family vacation to Lake Texoma. We had beautiful cooler-than-normal weather and you thoroughly enjoyed the trip. You went on boat rides, spent most of your day outside, ate corn on the cob for the first time, saw fish, played with your extended family, attend the family reunion, and blossomed before our eyes. It was a great trip and your smile and enthusiasm for life was infectious (in a good way).
We ended our summer/out-of-bubble time by going to the State Fair of Oklahoma. You did not particularly care for the outside activities because it was pretty warm that day. You did enjoy the Disney on Ice show and looking around at all of the indoor exhibits.
Oh, we also got you a puppy. We adopted him through the Collin County Humane Society. His name is Maximus and he is going to be a BIG dog (part Mastiff). At 8 months old he will go through a therapy training course to help make him the BEST dog for you. You are not real sure about him, but enjoy watching him play from a distance. I think once he calms down, you will really like him.
