September

The rest of September was pretty much business as usual. Getting adjusted to our new schedule with two kids in school, plus Addison in clinic based physical therapy. We were mostly happy to be back in a routine again. A few minor adjustments with our sleep habits were a bit tricky... in other words, I miss sleep! ;)

September did bring a sad goodbye for Addison. Our developmental therapist, Kaitlyn who has been with us since Addie's initial eval at 6 wks old left Easter Seals.. We are super excited for her as she embarks on a new journey in her life but we will miss her!! Kaitlyn and I discussed it and decided not to replace the position of development therapist at this time, so we are down two less therapy sessions a month. YAY for that!

Addison tried on her dress she's supposed to wear to meet Mickey Mouse! Aunt Missy made it and she looks super cute cute in it if we say so ourselves!! We are getting ready to leave for Disney on September the 25th. Addie's first trip and the first time I've been back since the hydro diagnosis. We are all looking forward to some much needed celebratory magic! 

Meanwhile, Miss Addison is into EVERYTHING. We are having to watch her like a hawk... we don't have any child proof locks on this cabinet cus we don't keep any chemicals under the sink. And she entertains herself for hours pulling plastic containers and kitchen towels out. Fun for a 15 mth old! 

A beautiful sunset I was blessed to witness one morning as I was getting the boys ready for school.

Grayson asked if he could read to his brother one night... too sweet. Had to snap this picture! 

Addie in her new pjs for the upcoming fall (thanks Aunt Missy!) and trying on Jack's mouse ears!!! 

Addie chased Jack down for some of his sucker and pretty much wrestled him to the ground for it. She's discovered the power of her head butt... let  me tell you, that big ol noggin of hers is heavy and it hurts when she hits you with it. We call it the 'hydro hammer'. I see a future for Addie in the WWF. ;)

Addie got some PawPaw time in recently when mom and dad had to come in for a doctor's appt. We snuck over to Aunt Missy's house for dinner and to watch Monday Night Football with them. She snuggled right up to PawPaw. 

Waiting for her PT appointment in the car, I snapped this pic of Addie talking on her 'phone'. She turned 16 months old that day. 

The doggies are going to stay with a friend while we are going to Disney next week, so I gave Hannah a wash and a cut. She wasn't too happy about it. 

Jackson Starts Pre-K!

Jackson started pre-k this Fall!! It was a big deal around our house, especially for momma!  Two kids in school is HUGE!  Jack was very excited but also pretty nervous... we tried to get his feet wet a little bit at at time, so to speak. We drove by his school a few times this summer, checked out his way cool, used to be at the Dairy Queen, playground, took him with me when I had to drop off paperwork, and went to the orientation to gradually get him used to the idea. He was so brave! He would ask me every day for over a week if his school started the 'next day'.

His reaction when we told him his first day of school was the 'next day'.

Big boy on his first day!

Addie got to ride with us! We switched her to her forward facing car seat because it's easier to get her in and out of it and boy are we getting her in and out more! We are go go going this year! (and yes we have adjusted her straps since this was taking so she's not so slumped down in her seat)

Thankfully Daddy was off on Jack's first day and we all were able to go up there with him. We left a very upset Jack, which was hard. He tried to be so brave but lost the battle as we were walking down the hall way. I had to peel him off of me and walk away, as we had been instructed to do. We did call about 45 mins after we left him and we were told he was playing with Leggos and having a great time - no tears! YAY!! 

It was strange being out with just one kid most of the day! We enjoyed running our errands - Adam  had to pick up a new key for work, I had to obtain a copy of Addie's birth certificate for our upcoming flight to Disney, and we managed to grab lunch at Torchy's just the three of us!  We made it back in plenty of time to pick him up and he said his school was 'the best school ever'! 

2nd day of pre-k for Mr. Jack the rockstar

A lot less tears on the second day so we were able to snap a picture in front of his classroom!

Addie's New PT Clinic

After Addison started walking, I talked to her ECI PT and asked her what was next as far as physical therapy goes. She said we would work on stairs, and different surfaces, plus ramps and inclines etc. All things we don't have in our house. Well, I called and talked to our insurance provider and found out that we don't have a limit on the number of PT sessions we get a year and since we have more than met our deductible and max out of pocket for the year, we can switch over to private therapy and not paying anything out of pocket for the rest of the year.


And now that Jackson is starting pre-k I felt like it was more doable to have Addison going somewhere for therapy instead of home based appointments. Siblings aren't allowed back into the therapy rooms at the clinic and I couldn't have left Jack in the waiting room by himself. So the timing of him starting pre-k just worked!

It was a bit sad to tell Miss Anna bye! I was so thankful that we stayed with ECI long enough for Anna to see Addie take her first steps and to start walking around the house. I think that is huge and we will forever be grateful to Miss Anna for all her help and hard work over the last year! Thankfully she understood why we felt clinic PT would be beneficial at this time!

We went for an eval on August 28 and met an amazing PT that we both loved! She noticed so many things about Addison that I hadn't and had never been told by therapists or doctors before. Addie doesn't weight bear on her left arm unless in a four point crawl. She will not rotate her trunk, especially not to the left. When she gets up from the floor to sitting or crawling she always goes to the right. So we have a lot of things to work on as well as continuing to work on her walking and gait. She does have a limp and hyper extends her left leg, though I'm happy to say after a month of walking she no longer locks her knee.

Sidenote: She just grew into a pair of Weesqueak shoes that were handed down by my cousin's little girl and she loves them. She squeaks all around the house and will stand in place stomping her feet to make them squeak. It is the CUTEST thing I've seen in a long time. So I have a feeling she'll be getting some more Weesqueak shoes to supplement her TOMS shoe supply.

Addie went to her first clinic PT appointment on the 6th of September and I let her go back by herself. She tends to come to me to be rescued, mainly during PT because it's more 'work' than her other therapies. I felt like she would do better without me back with her. Well, halfway through her appointment they came to get me becase she was bawling - total meltdown. I think it was a combination of how tired she was ... her nap schedule was all messed up with Gray starting to school one week and then Jack starting the next week. It was a big adjustment to all our schedules. I also think she noticed I wasn't there. So part of me felt bad for the therapist and part of me celebrated that she has stranger awareness and attachment to me!

We went back on the 13th and she did much better. Thanks to my mom, Addie has a new sound machine in her room. She has been sleeping with a sleep sheep and it only has a 45 min timer. So now she has white noise throughout the night and into the morning which is especially important with the boys up getting ready for school walking right by her door. She slept much later this Thursday than the last week and I think that alone helped the most. But I also went back with her and we let her warm up slowly and go from there. She did awesome! She swung in the tire like swing, working on her balance and core strength, and then did some trunk rotation work on a ball, then went up stairs and worked on the trampoline. With the exception of the ball, all things we would have had a hard time doing at home! So we are very excited to see what comes from her PT change!!




Addie working out in the tire swing! She loved it!